AND TREES 51 



Extreme nicety in exposure will help immensely in 

 obtaining satisfactory results. 



For this outdoor tree work the outfit previously recom- 

 mended, as to camera alid tripod, will suffice. The wide- 

 an^le lens, too, is again most useful ; for we want our 

 main object, the tree or shrub or bush, largest, with the 

 landscape diminishing in size and importance. In this 

 case, then, the chief objection to the wide-angle lens for 

 landscape work becomes its main virtue. 



Isochromatic plates are an advantage, because in the 

 summer's work we have many shades of yellow and 

 green to deal with. A ray-filter will help very strongly, 

 when there are clouds in the sky ; and usually the length- 

 ened exposure will be no detriment. 



In summer tree photography the main 

 Wind. trouble is from the wind. Leaves are 



delicately hun|^, and often the perspiring 

 worker on the ground, waiting in impatience for the 

 "going in the tree-tops" to cease, wonders where the 

 twigs find the zephyrs which persistently fan them while 

 missing his dripping forehead ! It is a question of wait- 

 ing, often; but it is- worth noting that there is almost 

 always a settling down, a lull, after a sharp blow of 

 a moment or so. Wait on this, bulb in hand, quick 

 plate ready, and you may get the fraction of second's 

 stillness which is needed. 



The question of exposure is totally 

 Exposure, dependent upon the objects and the light, 



of course, but one thing may be noted, 

 and that is, that deep green trees, nearby, take two to 

 three times the exposure of an open landscape ; and they 

 are also far better rendered upon a non-halation or 

 "backed" plate. Another thing, previously mentioned 

 in these pages, but again emphasized now, is the absolute 

 necessity of working upon heavy foliage masses or deep 

 evergreen trees with the light streaming upon the main 

 object. No length of exposure will compensate for the 

 wrong direction, and the negative made against the light, 

 with a great pine as a principal point, will be a failure. 

 Of course, I must not by this be understood to argue 

 against evening views, sunsets and the like, with trees 

 between the camera and the light. Such views, often 

 delightful, are not primarily tree pictures, and my point 

 holds. 



In photographing for tree features, however, the land- 

 scape need not be neglected, and a main necessity for an 

 agreeable result is the proper balancing of the composi- 

 tion. Often an apparently irrelevant object will be just 



