AND TREES ig 



compositions for the later time when a certain basis of 

 technique shall have been established. 



It will be discovered soon that the deeper yellow shades 

 require considerably longer exposure, and will stand a 

 much stronger lighting. Also, it will appear that shadows 

 are far more easily obtained, so that the character of the 

 lighting may have to be considerably modified. 



Now come to the brilliant reds of nature, which, alas, 

 are anything but brilliant on the developed plate, even 

 though showing so crisply upon the ground glass in vivid 

 hues. They are the despair of the photographer, for, as 

 is well known, red rays have but little influence upon the 

 most sensitive photographic plate. And the brightness of 

 scarlet, which is in such strong contrast to the green of 

 the leaves, drops to a flat level with the tones of the 

 same leaves when with difficulty fastened upon the 

 photographic plate. 



But we must photograph the red posies, and do the 

 best we can. When a purely panchromatic plate is de- 

 vised,, the work will be easier, I hope. 



Taking, then, a red carnation for experiment, and for 

 purposes of comparison, accompanying it with a yellow 

 one, let us make the trial. There need be now no hunt- 

 , ing for shadows — the chemistry of our work provides 

 plenty of them — and we want the most brilliant and 

 penetrative light we can have, short of sunlight. It must 

 shine right into the red flowers, too ; and here is a chance 

 for a very neat bit of operating. If at all possible, get 

 the strongest light on the red flower, a weaker light on 

 the yellow flower, and still less on the foliage. If the 

 latter gets the light and the exposure which are abso- 

 lutely necessary for the red, it will not be of green value 

 on the finished print, but white. It is best, therefore, to 

 either light the red flowers more brilliantly by locally- 

 directed light reflected from a small hand-mirror, or, 

 giving the whole composition a brilliant light, to shade 

 locally the foliage and the yellow flower. This latter, 

 the easier plan, can be managed with a card, or palm- 

 leaf fan, or anything which will intercept and soften part 

 of the light. To so place the red flowers in the arrange- 

 ment that they get the most direct light is usually 

 quite feasible, and this will sometimes be sufficient. 

 _ . For shades of red, the exposure basis 



jjeveiopers myg^ ^e much longer — from three to six 

 _ ^" ^ times that required for white and pink. 



Development. ^^ developing, detail in the red must be 

 coaxed out by every art of the photographer, while at 

 the same time, bromide will probably be needed, locally 



