SLIDES, CARRIERS, AND EFFECTS 137 



effect of distance are rendered ; but I have seen many lantern 

 slides by my friends Mr. Washington Teasdale and Mr. 

 Hepworth, which were really exquisite pictures, and would 

 have been simply spoilt by being coloured. Mr. Hepworth 

 has fully described the processes he uses in his ' Book of the 

 Lantern,' and also the practical details of tinting photographs ; 

 and those who wish to attempt this branch of art with special 

 reference to lantern purposes, cannot do better than consult 

 his work ; the subject does not belong to these pages. 



Painted photographs comprise the chief bulk of the slides 

 exhibited, and may be either wretchedly bad or exquisitely 

 good. It is very greatly a matter of price ; though not 

 altogether, since a high price may be and often is charged 

 for inferior work. On the other hand, however, a low-priced 

 coloured slide cannot be good, since excellence depends upon 

 having a good photograph in the first place, and then upon 

 spending a certain amount of skilled handwork over it, by a 

 competent artist. Really good hand- painted photographs of 

 landscapes cannot be produced under from 5s. to 7s. 6d. each, 

 according to the detail in the subject ; and it is a marvel to 

 me how they can be finished for that. By this, however, I 

 mean really beautiful pictures, such as are shown by exhibitors 

 of high reputation. Figure subjects cost much more, if well 

 executed. Coloured slides are sold at a much cheaper rate for 

 children's exhibitions and such-like an average price being 

 8s. 6d., but these are a different kind of thing altogether. 

 Hand-painted slides may cost any money. 



75. Carriers for Slides. It has been already explained, 

 that for the highest class of exhibitions each slide must be 

 separately framed, that it may be exactly ' registered.' Many 

 opticians who let slides for hire, which is usually done at from 

 1/6 to 2/6 per dozen, according to their quality, also prefer 

 to send them thus framed, as less liable to accident. But it 

 is not really needed for the ordinary class of dissolving-view 

 exhibitions, and it saves a great deal of space and weight if 



