Io8 THE WOMBAT. 



^without any harshness. All boats will not make pictures. 

 If you see a yacht with soiled and dirty canvas, save your 

 plate for a better subject. If you want patches from a 

 picturesque point, take a fisherman's boat, the more dilapi- 

 dated the better, and you will get them pure and unadulter- 

 ated and worth taking. A print with a mathematically 

 square patch in a conspicuous position will catch your eye in 

 the picture, and keep it fixed there by a sort of mesmeric 

 influence. The lighting depends so much on the wind and 

 the position you are able to occupy that it is difficult to give 

 any definite line to work on. The positions may be roughly 

 divided into weather and lee views, and your choice must 

 greatly depend on the direction of wind with relation to 

 position of the sun. A southerly wind with morning sun 

 would give a totally different effect to either a north east or 

 west wind as the direction of heel would be different in each 

 case. A yacht may be taken in many positions and look well, 

 but there are two or three that should be avoided as a general 

 thing. First is that taken by broad over the weather side, 

 which rarely gives a good picture. There is a want of curve 

 in all the lines, the boat is horizontal, and the edges of the 

 sails run up to a point resembling a pyramid. There is 

 not a graceful curve in the picture. On our own bay with a 

 southerly wind these are the pictures you will get if you take 

 the boats as they pass the wharf, while if you wait a few 

 seconds till they pass the end and take them at an angle, 

 the straight, stiff lines disappear, and you get graceful curves 

 instead. Another reason against the broadside view is that 

 few of the shutters in general use are fast enough for a boat 

 in this position, unless it is at a respectable distance, and 

 then it is hardly worth the plate. Broad on the lee side is 

 better than the former position, but the liability to blur is 

 great. The lee bow point of view gives fine curves, and a 

 suggestion of both grace and motion, while a weather quarter 

 has a bolder and more vigorous effect especially with a good 

 breeze. Perhaps the most effective is the view from the lee 

 quarter, but it requires considerable angle of heel and suitable 

 lighting. On a race day I know that, as a rule, you must 

 take a yacht as she happens to be, and for this reason pictures 

 taken under these circumstances are rarely at their best. If 

 • one could follow them in a steamer the opportunities would 



ROBT. R. STANESBY, tk 



PLAIN & FANCY MOUNT CUTTER. 



jpiotographo * UrcrWingo jfjrtidtieallg gfountec 



YARRA STREET 



