AMATEUR PHOTOGRAPHY. 



HINTS FOR AMATEURS. 



Many are too careless to attain even fair suc- 

 cess in this fascinating art ; they are like some of 

 our shooters, they bang away without getting 

 anything. They never stop to reason out the 

 cause of their failures, and therefore never im- 

 prove in their work. 



Photography requires great care and patience 

 in all its details, in order, to accomplish satis- 

 factory results. 



If you fail once, study out the cause, and remedy 

 it in your next attempt ; for on the wrecks of 

 your failures you should build your success. Use 

 only the best instruments and material. Not 

 even an expert can do good work with a poor 

 outfit. 



Here is a hint on cracked negatives. Not 

 having had an accident of the kind I have never 

 had occasion to try it. 



Dr. Miethe recommends the following pro- 

 cess : Place the broken negative, the film of 

 which must be intact, film side down on a 

 metal plate which has been heated so that it can 

 hardly be touched by the hand. The break is 

 then covered with Canada balsam, which readily 

 melts and fills up the cracks. To give the nega- 

 tive more stability, a large piece of the Canada 

 balsam is put upon the centre of the back of the 

 negative, and a clean glass plate the same size as 

 the negative is laid overall. The melted balsam 

 spreads out evenly, the excess being squeezed 

 out. After cooling, the plates are still further 

 fastened around the edges with strips of Sheplie 

 gum paper. 



For Burns. — Nearly every amateur experi- 

 ments more or less with flash lights, and as a re- 

 sult is likely to have his fingers burnt occasion- 

 ally. The following is a good remedy : 



Make an ointment of equal parts of pure vase- 

 line and Pond's extract of hamamelis. Rub to- 

 gether until of the consistencv of cream. Apply 

 to the burn and cover with cotton bandage. 



Wm. H. Steele. 



One of the finest pictures that can be produced 

 by any photographic process, is a stereoscopic 

 transparency. To make them, cut your stereo- 

 negative in halves and trim so that the parts will 

 come close together at the edges. Lay them in 

 printing frame — transposing right to left — 

 on a plate of heavy clear glass. Then cover with 

 a black paper mask, having openings cut alike, 

 to size of print wanted. Put on this a dry trans- 

 parency plate in the dark room. Put back in 

 printing frame, and expose and develop same as 

 for ordinary transparency. When dry, cover on 

 film side, with fine ground glass, binding with 

 gummed paper. View in stereoscope by trans- 

 mitted light, and the result will richly repay for 

 all the work and expense. 



Elsewhere in this issue of Recreation an old 

 mountaineer says, " There is a great deal of 



satisfaction in being able to carry in your pocket 

 the evidence of a good shot." Anglers are 

 proverbial for telling fish stories. Even when 

 they bring or send home fine strings of fish they 

 are sometimes accused of having bought them. 

 Hunters are sometimes accused of prevarica- 

 tion when telling of their remarkable shots, 

 or of the big bags made on the last hunt- 

 ing trip. When sportsmen learn to carry 

 along a camera, as invariably as they carry the 

 rod or the gun, and to record each day's kill or 

 catch, on the sensitive film, with proper back 

 ground and accessories, then — and not till then — 

 will they be able to establish reputations in their 

 respective communities for truthfulness. Nothing 

 short of a photograph of the fish or game, taken 

 on the spot, with your own handsome figure 

 shown in it, will hereafter be accepted, at the club 

 or in the home circle, as evidence that you really 

 did what you say you did. 



There is an old story of a man who claimed to 

 have killed seven Indians, single handed and 

 alone, stating that if any gentleman present 

 doubted it he could prove it by showing the gun 

 that he did it with. In our day, however, such 

 evidence don't go. Hereafter, when a man 

 tells a big yarn some one will invariably call him 

 down with, "Where's your photograph? show 

 up, old man, or admit that you've been lying." 

 Take a camera along, then )OU can prove your 

 case in any court. 



STOCK SOLUTION. 



4 oz. sal soda. 



4 oz. sulphite soda. 



I qt. water (dissolve). 



To develop take i oz. stock solution, and add 

 i wood mustard spoon full of pyrogallic acid, 

 then fill the graduate with water to 4 oz. 



This will develop any dry plate, and is 

 much better than keeping a stock solution of 

 pyro. Will work quick and clean, and will pro- 

 duce negatives full of detail and of fine printing 

 quality. 



The cause of most negatives turning yellow or 

 brown, after being put away for a time is not, as 

 commonly supposed, a lack of washing, but from 

 not being thoroughly fixed. Leave in the hypo 

 for 15 or 20 minutes. After the last trace of 

 white has disappeared from back of negative, and 

 it will keep indefinitely. 



Only a little pyro stain 



In the dark room on her dress, 



He thoughtlessly pressed the button, 



His friends, they did the rest. 



Probably the finest lantern slides are made by 

 the wet plate process, but for the average 

 amateur, slides made on some of the various dry 

 transparency plates on the market, will be found 

 easier to manipulate and will produce satisfactory" 

 results. 



