408 
With a perfect negative, velox makes 
the handsomest pictures. From a thin, weak 
negative, the Platinotype cold bath makes 
the best picture of all. Snap shot plates are 
usually under exposed and come up strong 
black and white, with harsh contrasts. For 
these use aristo platino, with long time 
shade printing, or velox printed by gas 
light. Plates properly exposed and de- 
veloped print well on any paper. Over ex- 
posures come up dull, with a flat, washy ap- 
pearance... ere velox is good, but pla- 
tinotype excels itself. 
When the present craze for snap shoot- 
ting everything under the sun shall have 
subsided, then if amateurs have not out- 
lived their ambitions and depleted their 
purses—look for some pictures. As a gen- 
eral rule snap shooting is an idiotic pro- 
ceeding, and the pictures produced thereby 
are harrowing. But, you say, that is non- 
sense. A snap shot represents an object in 
motion, and the essence of grace is em- 
bedie in motion. I grant it, but the grace 
lies in completed motion. A snap shot rep- 
resents arrested action. .To stand-on a 
street corner on a busy day and watch the 
people surge by, each on ‘daily task in- 
tent,” is well enough, but to snap shot the 
crowd—saw it off short, as it were—set 
each person and thing down for all time 
to come with one foot in the air is the 
most ludicrous thing of modern times. 
Either rig up a studio, bring in living 
models and photograph them according to 
the laws of photographic art, or learn these 
same laws asappliedto nature. Take to the 
woods and waters, and instead of burning 
plates by the dozen—make a few real pic- 
tures. 
Backed plates are the best. The emul- 
sion .on a dry plate can be so fogged 
through the glass as in a degree to spoil 
the brilliancy of the negative. Amateurs 
should raise a concerted howl for backed 
plates until they get them, and then leave 
the backing on until they take them from 
the developer. -I fancy manufacturers are 
reasonable people, and there is every rea- 
son why plates should be backed. 
Frequently prints are weakened by 
being made from negatives with dirty 
backs. Most amateurs give the backs a 
wipe, and rush into print. Really the glass 
should be washed perfectly clean with the 
last flushing of the negative, and when the 
emulsion is dry, wiped carefully and pol- 
ished to cut-glass brilliancy with powdered 
pumice stone, applied with the ball of the 
finger and dusted off with cotton. 
The brighter the polish on the negative 
back the cleaner the print. Look over 
your old negatives and see the snipes, water 
stains, drops of gelatine, etc., you have 
been printing through, and you will see 
what I mean. I know I advocate an end- 
RECREATION. 
less amount of detail about work, but no 
great picture was ever made without rigid 
adherence to just these small points. The 
sooner you quit rushing through dozens 
of failures and make a few careful, pains- 
taking pictures, the sooner you will get on 
the sure path to the success we all covet. 
Hot weather so assists chemical ac- 
tion that it is well to reduce the strength of 
both developer and hypo. If the water is 
too warm add a little ice, or the emulsion 
will slide off your plates. 

HOW TO MAKE CLOUDS. 
Will you please tell me how to print 
in clouds in “‘bald-headed”’ skies, by means 
of cloud negatives? 
DB. D:: Blair, Detroit; Mach, 
ANSWER. 
With tissue trace the horizon line by 
laying the paper on the negative and trac- 
ing with a pencil while holding against 
a window pane. Paste the tracing on a 
square piece of cardboard several inches 
longer and wider than the negative and 
cut as per pencil line right across the card- 
board, keeping both pieces. Have a large 
printing frame (say a 64%x8% for 5x7 
prints) with clear glass in it. Build the 
front of the frame up with half-inch stuff 
all around, so that when the card rests on 
the built-up print it will be about 34 of an 
inch from the glass. Now tack the upper 
part of the card, which is called a mask, 
on the built-up print, in frame, and place 
the negative on the clear glass on the in- 
side; so that the sky is masked when you 
look through. Having found the right po- 
sition, secure the negative there with 
gummed strips, and print. If the sky of 
the negative is dense and has no defects 
the operation may be dispensed with so 
long as a clean print can be had with a 
pure white sky, without masking. 
Now select a negative Having clouds in 
the sky, of whichevery photographer should 
secure at least a dozen, which are lighted 
from the same side as the view, and which 
are just high enough up from the horizon 
line. Place this in the frame under the 
other half of the mask, which will protect 
the already printed portion, and a in 
the clouds. 
It is well to make the cloud esate 
quite thin, so they can be- quickly printed. 
In this case, finer blending of sky with 
previously printed picture can be had by 
holding the foreground mask in the hand 
and moving it up and down as necessary 
on the joining line. In this way, by fre- 
quently examining the progress of printing 
a sky can be printed in which, if properly 
selected to harmonize with the view, can- 
not be distinguished from the Simon pure 
article that we rarely secure. Even when 

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