AND TREES 37 



mistakes in exposure. The portrait artist may, and often 

 does, send for his sitter again ; but those of us who chase 

 the gems of the field know that our subjects, many of 

 them, can be sought for, with much effort, but once a 

 year. Their delicate texture is all too frail for the 

 camera's burning glance, and the basilisk eye of the lens 

 may rest upon them but once only. Thus we see the 

 importance of getting experience with the hardier sisters 

 of the greenhouse fraternity, so that our attempts with 

 the rare and delicate treasures of the field and meadow 

 may be successful at the first chance they afford us. 



Now while development affords re- 

 Development, sources for over-exposure, it will not 

 bring out what has not been put upon the 

 plate by light action. Under-exposure is failure, notwith- 

 standing the freak developers which periodically claim to 

 give a good image at "one-third the exposure of any 

 other." Therefore, avoid under-exposure ! When I look 

 over my negatives, and see — alas, too often ! — the 

 "might-have-been" members of the family, those which 

 needed only another fraction of time, I am moved again 

 to exclaim, "Under-exposure means the ash-pile ! " — or 

 some other abode of departed possibilities. 



But to details. We have exposed according to the best 

 information, and we think we are right. It is the height 

 of recklessness to pour on the active, fresh, normal 

 developer upon the uncertainties of our exposure. No ; 

 let us feel our way. Slip the plate into the tray in almost 

 entire darkness, and cover it with a card or another tray 

 while a "tentative " developer is prepared. If we work 

 one of the benzene ring of reducers — hydrochinon, 

 eikonogen, metol, tolidol, or the like — and have kep.t a 

 little of it that has been used before, that is good to try 

 our exposures. If the image comes up quickly — within 

 IS to 30 seconds, in a temperature of 70° F. — we have 

 over-exposure to deal with : the weak developer must be 

 poured off, the plate quickly rinsed in cold water, and the 

 developer for over-exposure applied. In general, it is 

 the first 60 seconds that decide the ultimate fate of a 

 negative, for if a normal developer be allowed to act that 

 long on an over-exposed plate, flatness is sure to follow. 



As this is not a treatise on development, that subject 

 will not be pursued, more than to say that it is important 

 to avoid hardness in flower negatives. We will have 

 constantly to deal with extremes of contrast in white 

 flowers and dark green leaves, and the deposit must not 

 be of the "soot and whitewash" character. Therefore, 

 a developer is indicated which will not give the greatest 



