AMATEUR PHOTOGRAPHY. 



241 



AMATEUR PHOTOGRAPHY. 



'•"A Bird on the plate is worth 2 in the bag-. 1 ' 

 CAMERA NOTES. 



GENE S. PORTER. 



I recently visited the gallery of a city 

 dealer who handles amateur negatives and 

 material exclusively, and was privileged to 

 examine a big batch of negatives and 

 prints. I immediately noticed the top- 

 heavy cloud effects. The fiat seems to 

 have gone forth, "Let there be clouds," 

 and there are clouds until one feels like 

 waiting till the clouds roll by. They will 

 roll by, for it is too much to ask the pub- 

 lic to consider seriously photos that have 

 the foreground from one negative, the 

 clouds from another, and the figures from 

 a third. It is permissible to print in clouds 

 if they are taken at the same time, with the 

 same lighting and in the same position as 

 the landscape with which they are to be 

 used, the only difference being that you ex- 

 pose in the landscape for the shadows, and 

 snap the clouds. But to get a few glorious 

 old cloud negatives, and then print them 

 into every little patch of sky, is too much! 

 Amateurs should not waste material Over 

 every craze that comes along. There is 

 no photographer whose work occupies a 

 higher plane than Steiglitz's. He has won 

 a number of medals, and his pictures bring 

 prices that turn an amateur dizzy, yet he 

 i-s content to reproduce samples of his 

 photos in a recent number of one of our 

 best magazines without a suspicion of 

 clouds in the sky. In one or 2 instances 

 there is a faint, dark shading; and well 

 may he be content, for he has both salon 

 and medal pictures, copies of which sell 

 for hundreds of dollars. 



I cannot imagine Steiglitz printing the 

 sky to "The Net Mender" from one plate, 

 the foreground from another and the figure 

 from another. It seems too much like 

 juggling. I should never seriously con- 

 sider such a composition a photograph. 

 Take your picture on one plate. It will be 

 no more trouble or expense to go again 

 and again an,d try over and over until you 

 get sky, land and water so lighted as to 

 produce well in all parts, than to patch up 

 a print from 3 or 4 negatives. It is legiti- 

 mate and right to work with your plate; 

 to develop locally, *. e., to stop back the 

 sky with bromide, and develop foreground 

 or whatever part you desire to emphasize 

 with stronger developer and brush work; 

 to intensify a weak plate, which snap shots 

 especially need; or to do anything in the 

 way of exposing, expert manipulation 

 in developing, or retouching the negative 

 in a moderate degree. When you have 

 done this, print your picture and let it 

 stand or fall by its merits. If it falls, go at 

 it again, until you get the hang of it. Then 

 comes success to be proud of. 



1 know of no better plan for the am- 

 bitious amateur than to set himself a mark, 

 high up among the shining lights that are 

 labelled "success," and then strive mightily 

 to attain it. 



The woods are full of journals of ama- 

 teur photography, and the journals are 

 full of the writings of zealous amateurs. I 

 wonder if somebody tries all their formulas 

 and advice, and I wonder what happens if 

 they do; because much of it sounds pecu- 

 liar. I have decided to present to the 

 readers of Recreation as a refreshing 

 change some advice bearing on the rough 

 places we all strike, gleaned from the best 

 authorities on photography. 



ABOUT DIAPHRAGMS. 



"Diaphragms ought not to be used to 

 lessen the light, but only to get a sharp 

 picture all over the plate. The largest 

 diaphragm to effect this is the one to use. 

 A smaller one will give only monotone 

 pictures without any advantage." 



S. C. Passavant. 



"The original purpose of the diaphragm 

 was to stop the passage of certain useless 

 rays through the lens, thus preventing the 

 distortion which would follow their admis- 

 sion, and thus to secure a correct, sharp 

 image. The importance of the diaphragm 

 is great. Too much attention cannot be 

 given to its application in practice." 



Wilson. 



"Some opticians say the diameter of the 

 smallest stop should never be less than 

 1-25 or 1-30 the focal length of the lens. 

 On the other hand, the larger the stop, if 

 correctly exposed,* the greater the amount 

 of detail in the shadow, the bolder the pic- 

 ture, and the more atmosphere. Probably 

 the best rule to adopt is to use a stop small 

 enough to give sharp definition at the 

 edges of the picture and no smaller." 



C. W. Dean. 



"Always use the largest possible stop, in 

 order to secure vigor, roundness and at- 

 mosphere in the picture. A small stop 

 produces sharpness, but at the expense of 

 the foregoing essential qualities. 



"As a rule focus on some prominent ob- 

 ject in the foreground, or on what is to 

 constitute the point of interest in the pic- 

 ture. 



"Do this with a medium stop, then in- 

 sert the next or the next but one smaller, 

 sufficient to prevent objects not focused 

 from appearing too much blurred." 



J. H. Dallmeyer. 



It may not come within the province of 

 true photography, but exquisite pictures 

 can be made by printing from good and 

 suitable negatives on sensitized linen in- 



