AMATEUR PHOTOGRAPHY. 
AMATEUR PHOTOGRAPHY. 
“* 4 Bird on the plate ts worth 2 in the bag.” 
RECREATION’S FOURTH ANNUAL COMPETITION. 
RECREATION has conducted 3 amateur pho- 
tographic competitions, all of which have been 
eminently successful. A fourth is now on, 
which it is believed will be far more fruitful 
than either of the others. This one opened 
on January 1, ’99, and will close September 
30, ’99- 
Following is a list of prizes: 
First prize: A Reflex camera, 5x7, made by 
the Reflex Camera Co., Yonkers, N. Y., with 
Zeiss anastigmat lens, and listed at $80; 
Second prize: A wide angle Wizard camera, 
made by the Manhattan Optical Co., Cresskill, 
N. J., with double swing, size 61% x 8%, and 
listed at $60; 
Third prize. A Korona camera, series 2, 
size 5x7, manufactured by the Gundlach Opti- 
cal Co., Rochester, N. Y., and listed at $27; 
Fourth prize: A split bamboo fly rod, listed 
at $25; 
Fifth prize: Alady’s or gentleman’s hunting 
case gold watch, listed at $20; 
Sixth prize: An Acme Rotary Burnisher, 
made by the Acme Burnisher Co., Fulton, 
N. Y., and listed at $12; 
Seventh prize:. A Bristol steel fishing rod, 
made by the Horton Mfg, Co., Bristol, Ct., 
and listed at $8; 
Eighth prize: A Baby Hawkeye Camera, 
made by the Blair Camera Co., Boston, Mass., 
and listed at $6. 
The 10 next best pictures will each be 
awarded one gross Eastman Solio paper, made 
by the Eastman Kodak Co., Rochester, N. Y.; 
The 10 next best pictures will each be 
awarded one dozen carbutt plates, made by 
the Carbutt Dry Plate Co., Wayne Junction, 
Philadelphia, Pa. ; 
The 1Io next best pictures will each be 
awarded a year’s subscription to RECREATION. 
Subjects are limited to wild animals, birds, 
fishes, camp scenes, and to figures or groups 
of persons, or domestic animals, representing, 
in a truthful manner, shooting, fishing, ama- 
teur photography, bicycling, sailing, or other 
form of outdoor or indoor sport or recreation. 
Cycling pictures especially desired. Awards 
to be made by 3 judges, none of whom shall 
be competitors. 
Conditions: Contestants must submit 2 
mounted prints, either silver, bromide, plati- 
num, or carbon, or Solio, of each subject, 
which shall become the property of RECREA- 
TION. The name and address of the sender 
and title of picture to be plainly written on 
back of each print. Daylight, flashlight, or 
electric light pictures admissible. Prize win- 
ning photographs to be published in RECREA- 
TION, full credit being given in all cases. 
Pictures that have been published else- 
where, or that have been entered in any 
other competition, not available. No entry 
fee charged. 
325 
Don’t let people who pose for you look at the 
camera. Occupy them in some other way. Many 
otherwise fine pictures failed to win in the 
last competition, because the makers did not 
heed this warning. 
Write on back of each print the title thereof; 
your name and address; name of camera, 
lens, and plate used; size of stop and time of 
exposure. 
My interest in RECREATION is confined 
chiefly to the photographic department. I 
therefore regret that there is not more 
space devoted to this very popular art or 
pastime. My ignorance of the subject is 
profound. The necessity for the following 
questions would alone indicate that I am 
a novice. 
1. What is meant by spotting and how 
is it donc? 
2. What is the formula for the citric acid 
and alum hardening solution? 
3. Is it possible to remove exposed 
plates from the featherweight double plate 
holders, with rubber sli¢es, without using 
a chisel or a jimmy? 
4. In making Sepia prints is it necessary 
that the negative should be developed in 
any special way? 
What is the simplest and easiest method 
of toning and fixing sepia prints? 
Pile Morgan, Vie) Pantego, N.C) 
ANSWER. 
I. Spotting a negative is taking a small 
camel’s hair brush and water color paint 
of a dull leaden color and filling up small 
holes in the surface of the plate, caused 
by air bubbles under the emulsion; or that 
develop in holes or tiny specks of dirt or 
dust on the plate, that cover it up and pre- 
vent the lens from cutting that part of the 
plate in exposure. Spotting a print is 
filling that part of the plate in the same 
way on the print, instead of on the neg- 
ative. 
The best way to do successful spotting 
is to avoid all necessity for it by extreme 
caution in the beginning. 
Of course, an air bubble between the 
glass and the emulsion is out of my 
province, but a modicum of care removes 
all other necessity for spotting. Provide 
yourself with a half dozen small camel’s 
hair brushes; bind them in a bunch with 
a rubber band, and dust your plate holders 
inside and out, every time you use them. 
Dust the plates when you put them in, 
and when you take them out. Have at 
hand a box of absorbent cotton, genuine 
surgeon’s cotton (none other is sufficient- 
ly fine), and before you develop slide the 
plate in a tray of water, and swab the sur- 
face over and over with the cotton. This 
will not only displace every speck of dust, 
but it is also well to wet the emulsion sur- 
