PHOTOGRAPHY 89 



a spotty effect that is not pleasing. Again, I look at a 

 very beautiful orange with its foliage, also apparently 

 decorative, because the direction of the line is beyond 

 criticism. But here, again, the mass of high lights makes 

 the use of it for the decorative frieze that was planned 

 entirely unsatisfactory. 



The onions above mentioned are entirely successful. 

 A bunch of cucumbers bade fair to do perfectly well; 

 but here a false direction of line, leading the eye out- 

 ward and away, has made the little section of frieze in 

 my experimental room anything but pleasing. Next to 

 it is a joy, a section devoted to a bunch of celery, 

 which has been repeated so that it gives a smooth, clean 

 and altogether pleasing effect, beyond criticism as to 

 mass color and line, and ideally satisfactory for a 

 dining-room decoration. 



. It will be observed here that I have 



Vegetables in jp^j^g^j familiarly of vegetables as deco- 



uccor£ition 1 t j 1 j 



rative, and 1 do so purposely and 



advisedly. Some years ago my work made it necessary 

 for me to undertake the photographing of vegetables in 

 full size with the vertical camera-stand described in 

 the preceding monograph, page 25. I will confess that I 

 undertook the work with some displeasure, because it 

 seemed to me that I could find more pleasing objects to 

 work with, if I were given any choice, than the prosaic 

 vegetables of the markets. No sooner, however, had I 

 undertaken to make composition of peas and beans, the 

 first objects it was necessary to handle, than I dis- 

 covered the most attractive possibilities. Delightful 

 arrangements of lines proved to be practicable, and 

 there was enough difficulty in the composition, in the 

 lighting, and in the proper exposure, to make the satis- 

 factory results that finally came all the more pleasant to 

 consider. 



In this experimental room I look also at a section 

 devoted to a bunch of white grapes photographed on a 

 dark background, almost full size, and entirely in the 

 proper key in every respect. While the grapes carry 

 high lights, these lights are so distributed in the bunch 

 as to avoid the spottiness that spoiled the oranges and 

 peaches before mentioned. 



