188 THE FORMATION 
PHOTOGRAPHY 
235. The camera is an indispensable instrument for the ecologist. Al- 
though it has too often been employed to give an air of thoroughness to 
work of no ecological value, it is as important for recording the structure 
of vegetation as the automatic instrument is for the study of the habitat. 
No ecologist is equipped for systematic field investigation until he is pro- 
vided with a good camera and has become skilful in its use. For this reason, 
it is felt that a few hints concerning photographic methods and their appli- 
cation in ecology may not be out of place. No written advice can take the 
place of experience, but certain elementary suggestions and cautions will 
greatly shorten the apprenticeship of one who does not have the good for- 
tune to be taught by a professional photographer. To the student of 
ecology, the camera is not a toy. It must be understood and operated with 
as much thoroughness as any other instrument, and when this is done, the. 
results will be equaliy certain and desirable. 
Fig. 56. 4 x 5 long focus ‘“Korona” camera (series V). 
236. The camera and its accessories. Although two cameras are desir- 
able whenever it is possible to obtain them, a single one will meet all the 
requirements of field work. This should be 4 x 5 inches in size, since it is 
much more convenient and will do all the work that a larger camera can. In 
the comparatively few cases in which larger views are needed, the 4 x 5 
negatives can be readily enlarged. The smaller instrument is less expensive 
in operation because of the cheapness of the plates, and it gives a negative 
of the proper size for lantern slides and for reproduction. A 6% x 8% 
camera is valuable in special cases, such as making a series of photographs 
for maps. In the writer’s own experience, the 6% x 814 camera, although 
used exclusively at first, has been almost completely supplanted by the 
4.x 5. The best field camera is of the folding type with a good stout box. 
It must be what is known technically as a long-focus instrument, which 
