328 
much better printing quality and the faces 
will be totally free from the -white glare 
one sees in so many flashlight groups. 
I often wonder why the Eastman ko- 
daks—those of the cartridge order—are so 
constructed that one has to make the com- 
plete dozen exposures before being able 
to develop one of them. Necessity at 
one time compelled me to find a way to 
cut off one or more exposures and then 
attach the remainder to the roll. Take 
the camera into the dark-room, open it, 
and remove both reels—just as théy are 
found. Unroll the exposed film and cut it 
off wituout removing or cutting the black 
paper. Before doing so, note where the 
white lines are and make little incisions on 
the edge of the film opposite to them, so 
that the proper place to cut the film up 
may afterward be found. Then with 2 
small pins secure the new edge of the un- 
exposed portion to the black paper in its 
proper place with reference to the white 
line and number. Place the pins in the 
film and paper vertically, one at the top, 
the other at the bottom, then roll up the 
black paper on the exposed side to meet 
the edge of the unexposed film. Replace 
the reels in the camera and it is once more 
ready for use. 

SOME THINGS I HAVE LEARNED. 
A. B. LUCE, IN PHOTO-AMERICAN. 
To the average amateur the acquirement 
of photographic knowledge, like cutting 
teeth, is an operation equally painful to the 
individual and his family, and is only the 
beginning of more serious trouble. 
There may be exceptions, but the first 
year’s work is much alike in all cases. The 
same lot of under and over-exposures, 
buildings in a state of collapse, hydra-head- 
ed monstrosities that represent efforts to 
use one plat: for several pictures, prints 
that are spotted and fade entirely in a few 
months, discouragements without number 
and only an occasional bright success to 
keep alive the spark of hope. 
But perseverance and the ash man are 
great factors in carrying us through the 
days of darkness, and by and by we be- 
gin to feel that something has been 
learned. 
One of. my earliest discoveries was thea 
truth of Pope’s line, “A little learning is 
a dangerous thing.” Not satisfied with the 
simple instructions that accompanied my 
first camera, I began to read up. From 
the first article I learned that my methods 
were all wrong. This doubtless was the 
reason for numerous failures, so I 
changed. The results being a little worse 
than before, I resumed my reading. Writer 
No. 2 differed greatly from No. 1, so I 
made another change with no improve- 
ment. Then I went out, bought a lot of 
RECREATION. | Ri oa 
magazines, read them through and at- 
tempted to reconcile the recommendations 
of the various writers. This brought me to 
the verge of mental collapse and I went 
back to first principles, from which, in 
time, I evolved methods of my own. 
The obvious lesson in this case is to 
stick to one system, but there is still an- 
other. Two people may work under dif- 
ferent conditions and require different 
methods. If Brown does landscape work 
in an open country why should he con- 
demn the methods of Jones, whose work is 
snapshots in city streets. 
Yet, when he writes an article he often 
deals only in generalities—talks learnedly 
about light values, composition, definition 
or art, and at the end throws in a hint 
that pyro (or something else) is the de- 
veloper best suited to his needs. Now this 
is all right, but in addition we like to 
know how the results are arrived at, what 
lens, speed of plate developer and printing 
paper, as well as character of work and 
general conditions under which done. It 
may confuse the beginners to give too 
much detail but not so much as giving half 
the instructions. I remember attempting 
to do some night work on the recom- 
mendaticn of a friend. He used a full 
stop and three-minute exposure. I tried 
it and failed. Afterward I found he had 
a high-grade lens with large opening and 
used non-halation plates, while I had a 
cheap lens with smaller opening and or- 
dinary plates. 
Then the trouble I had with developers. 
I would buy a bottle and the first half 
would be fine. Then it would slow up, 
turn dark and muddy, and finally refuse to 
work altogether, or stain the plates badly. 
After a while I learned that a half-filled 
bottle of developer will oxidize in time, 
even if tightly corked. To overcome this 
I got some 2 ounce vials, filled them to 
the neck, corked tightly and dipped the 
necks in melted paraffine. This worked 
well, but later I found it much better to 
make only small quantities as required. I 
make my own so -tions, for they are 
cheaper and one knows just what he is 
using, but eternal vigilance is the price 
of good solutions. Fresh, pure chemicals 
are an absolute necessity and dampness is 
a most insidious foe. 
When I had a lot of hypo made, in 
which only one or 2 plates had been fixed, 
it seemed wasteful to throw it away, but 
after a few experiences with stained and 
imperfectly fixed negatives I concluded 
that it was poor economy to save 3 cents’ 
worth of hyposulphite and.spoil half a 
dozen negatives. Now I make up fresh 
hypo each time, no matter how few plates 
are fixed. I use no alum, but keep all 
solutions cold and have no trouble with 
frilling or softening of films. 
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