
156 
small, deep tray so that there will be no 
difficulty in keeping prints well under the 
bath. It is a good plan to start toning of 
prints face down. When toning is well 
started they may be turned face up for ex- 
amination. 

If I were asked to name the most im- 
portant rule in the successful taking and 
finishing of a photograph I should un- 
hesitatinely “reply” “Wort: Hurry.” in 
almost every other ~ccupation there may 
be times when an increase of speed will 
help things along, but not in photog- 
raphy. Here the old fable of the hare 
and the tortoise will apply, except that in 
the fable, the hare did finally reach the 
goal, while in photography the one who 
hurries will never reach it. Each step 
must be taken with care and deliberation, 
painstaking attention to detail and reck- 
less disregard of the  ti:zne consumed. 
Otherwise the little hills of difficulty fre- 
quently met with grow into towering 
mountains, and defeat will be the result. 
- When composing a picture, don’t hurry. 
It those who are posing for you grow im- 
patient, appoint another time when they 
have more leisure, or their nerves are 
steadier. If you lose the desired picture 
never mind. You would have lost it any- 
way as a spoiled plate, an evening’s work 
and, a disturbed temper would have in- 
evitably resulted from a hurried and un- 
satisfactory posing. 
If you are desirous of photographing 
a landscape don’t hurry. View it from all 
sides and deliberately make up your mind 
which will be the most attractive. Focus 
carefully, and after making sure that all is 
ready, ‘press the button.” 
Perhaps the one great mistake made 
by amateurs more often than any other is 
this disposition to hurry. If you desire 
clear, sharp, beautiful pictures take plenty 
of time. I was much interested in the ar- 
ticle in the June number of RECREATION 
by G. S. P. Her ideas are excellent, and 
if she will write me, I will cheerfully give 
her the formula for compounding the 
platinum solution she desires. 
Fannie M. Webster, Tomahawk, Wis. 

SNAP SHOTS. 
Gus EP 
Trim your finger nails. 
Rinse your hands between baths. 
Save half your old developer. 
Save your empty plate boxes. 
Open diaphragm wide to focus. 
Leave it wide open for snap shots. 
Close from 32 to less for time. 
Don’t focus against the sun. 
Remove plate holder slide before you try 
to take picture, 
RECREATION. 

Don’t set tripod with one leg on your 
frock, and upset camera when you move. 
Never lay plate holders on damp ground, 
or in sun, they are frail affairs and warp 
easily. 
Don’t feel you have to waste a plate every 
time some monkey asks you to. 
Never snap anything you can Bacsiiie 
give a little time. 
If you can’t afford all the material you 
want miss the circus and give up ice cream 
soda. 
Don’t take pictures of people without 
asking permission. It isn’t decent. Other 
people have some rights. 
If you can’t get sutheient high light on a 
portrait subject, use a powder puff. 
Trim photos to suit the subject, and find 
a card to mount them on afterward. 
Have plat. hypo., and gold baths be- 
tween 60 and 7o degrees in cold weather. 
Flower pictures, water and landscapes, 
look well in blue or green print. 
When you enter your dark room for 
business lock the door. 
Don’t try to take outdoor pictures when 
the wind blows. 
If water is so still as to take like glass, 
heave in a good big stone just before you 
expose. 
In answer to A. G:: 
If you have been unsuccessful in get-— 
ting clouds in your pictures it is due to 
the fact that without a ray filter or color 
screen you can not get good clouds on a 
properly exposed and developed plate. 
A short shutter exposure and a strong de- 
velopment will bring out the clouds. 
Amateur, Flemington, Pa. 

Will someone please inform me as to 
whether a too weak hypo. bath will turn 
negatives brown, or what is the cause of 
it. I have had some troub . with such. 
Hydrochloric acid will remove it, but I 
wish to know the cause of the plates turn- 
ing brown. 
B. W. R., East Hardin, Vt. 

A lady with her son went into a gallery 
and asked: 
“What will you charge to take a picture 
of my little boy?” 
“Fifty cents, madam, but we can take 
them cheaper by the dozen.” 
“Well, this one and another is all I 
have, so I’ll just wait,’ said the lady as 
she turned and walked out.—St. L. and 
Can. Photographer. 

Will some camera fiend tell a brother — 
fiend through. the columns of RECREATION — 
how “spotting out” is done? 
Ferdinand, Port Jervis, N. Y. 


