AMATEUR PHOTOGRAPHY. 



243 



print, and the result is usually abominable. 

 Never show a retouched print to people 

 with sharp eyes if you care a straw for their 

 opinion. 



Don't try by retouching to hide poor 

 work. Use the art solely to hide or modify 

 blemishes in the subject and to tone down 

 too sharp definition and too violent con- 

 trast. If your negative is poor through 

 faulty technique, resulting in pinholes, 

 scratches, dirt spots and that sort of thing, 

 throw it away and make another with more 

 care. 



Writers on retouching recommend the 

 use of China ink, Chinese white and va- 

 rious pigments. They are well enough in 

 their place when one has mastered them; 

 but the amateur would better confine his 

 maiden efforts to the pencil and the knife. 

 Plumbago, either in a pencil point or pow- 

 dered and applied with a stump, will cover 

 a multitude of photographic sins. To ob- 

 literate a line, such as a wrinkle, for in- 

 stance, your pencil cannot be too sharp. 

 Fine it on the smoothest of sandpaper. 

 There are many ways of touching with the 

 pencil — by lines, half circles, cross-hatch- 

 ing, and so on. The simplest and for a be- 

 ginner the most effective is the dot. Tap 

 gently on the surface to be covered, hold- 

 ing the pencil horizontal to the plane of 

 the film. 



Thousands of dots on several superim- 

 posed surfaces may be necessary. Trifling 

 defects may be penciled out on the film. 

 A better way is to touch the spot with tur- 

 pentine, allow it to dry, and work on the 

 surface thus made. If more color is needed 

 apply retouching medium and pencil 

 on that. If still more, put matt varnish 

 over all, and continue dotting. Should the 

 combined result fall short of your desire 

 turn to the glass side of your negative and 

 work there, first on retouching medium 

 and then on varnish. That gives you 5 

 layers of pencil work on as many distinct 

 surfaces, enough to blot out the darkest 

 shadow. 



Portrait retouching is a fascinating 

 amusement, and after you have gained 

 moderate skill your pretty lady friends 

 will rise up and call you blessed. When 

 you can paint the lily and gild refined 

 gold, try your hand on the picture of a 

 homely girl. If you can please her, you 

 are a sure enough artist. 



Retouching a landscape is a very dif- 

 ferent thing. When you have taken one 

 with due regard to time, light, develop- 

 ment, etc., rest content, unless you love 

 trouble for its own sake. You can, to be 

 sure, deepen the shadows and raise the 

 lights; but it is easier to make other ex- 

 posures under varying light conditions 

 until you get what you want. Yet I must 

 confess having seen one picture into 



which stump-worked clouds were intro- 

 duced with marvelous cleverness, and, 

 moreover, reflected in the water of a lake.' 

 It moved me to emulation. When I had 

 finished my rival masterpiece I looked at 

 it and wept. 



Beginners will find help and encourage- 

 ment in a little book by Andrew Young 

 entitled "The A B C of Retouching." It 

 can be bought for 25 cents from most 

 photo supply dealers. 



A CHEAP TONING BATH. 

 Kindly answer 2 or 3 questions in re- 

 gard to the toner for platino paper men- 

 tioned in August Recreation and I will 

 be much obliged to you. The formula is: 

 Platinum chloride, 15 grains; chloride cop- 

 per, 20 grains; saturated solution of citric 

 acid, 2 ounces. Will this give the distinct 

 black and white tone? Is it as permanent 

 as other toning solutions? How many 

 cabinet photos will one dram of stock 

 solution and 15 ounces of water tone with 

 safety. 



Harry E. Loftie, Syracuse, N. Y. 



ANSWER. 



The formula quoted seems a most de- 

 sirable one. It will cost less than J / 2 the 

 price of the ready prepared article; will 

 tone 2 dozen cabinets and perhaps more, 

 which makes the whole preparation good 

 for about 3 gross of cabinets. I believe 

 the cupric-platinum bath permanent. Gold 

 and copper have long been used, some- 

 times unknowingly, by those who made 

 their own gold chloride from U. S. coin, 

 in which is an alloy of copper. I would ad- 

 vise making up a solution of platinum and 

 citric acid alone, without the copper, for, 

 if a bath needs strengthening, it is not best 

 to add more of the toner, but simply to 

 replenish the platinum. A few drops of 

 platinum solution are often quite sufficient 

 to make the bath finish its work on a few 

 untoned prints left of a batch, thus saving 

 the trouble and waste of a new bath. 



My brother is a subscriber to Recrea- 

 tion, and I have read it so much I have a 

 severe case of amateur photographer's 

 fever. 



Can you make a living room into a dark 

 room by using 2 shades on windows, one 

 orange or ruby and a common green shade 

 over that? 



How long can you keep a dry plate, after 

 exposure, before developing? 



G. C. Price, Mooresville, W. Va. 



ANSWER. 



You can make a dark room out of a 

 living room with red curtains by adding 

 ordinary yellow ones, but these curtains 

 must be pinned tightly to the sides, for one 



