244 



RECREATION. 



by affidavits. Six months ago the maga- 

 zines were filled with illustrations from 

 fake photos. Zoological park animals 

 were photographed and wonderful stories 

 were written about them. Mounted speci- 

 mens were set up and subjected to the 

 same treatment. We shall not soon forget 

 the wonderful antlered Zoological Park 

 doe that Recreation lampooned, causing 

 thousands of hunters all over the country 

 to hold their sides with laughter. Equally 

 flasrant was a bird article I exposed in 

 Camera Notes. 



The result of these and similar ex- 

 posures is more accurate, truthful and 

 woodlike pictures, and still there are 

 lapses. A photo of a scarlet tanager on 

 a limb of a full fruited mulberry tree, 

 against a black, draped background, with 

 his head thrown back and his beak spread 

 wide in the act of swallowing a berry is 

 too good to be true. When a live wild 

 tanager finds himself in the neighborhood 

 of a camera on the one hand and a deep 

 sea of black draped background on the 

 other, he doesn't stop to eat berries. 



If you want a picture of that description 

 you must stuff your subject with excelsior, 

 wire him to the limb on which you have a 

 focus, and behind which you have placed 

 your background, and insert your berry. 



Stick to the straight and narrow path in 

 natural history work. If you get a chance 

 at a bird, snap! Never mind the muslin; 

 clouds and leaves will do quite as well in 

 natural history work. If you get a chance 

 at a coiled snake, snap! and don't wait 

 for a wild rose or a Virginia creeper to 

 blossom above it. The snake may move 

 while you arrange the flower. Honest 

 work is the only valuable kind. 



To renovate the leather on a camera, 

 make a mixture of: 



Shellac . 3 grains. 



Alcohol 8 drams. 



Nigrosin 4 grains. 



Rub well into the leather. 



FIXING AND WASHING. 

 How long are plates to be left in hypo 

 after the white has disappeared from the 

 back? On some plates about a year old 

 I found a yellowish white frosty sub- 

 stance. In attempting to wash this off 

 with cold water some of the films were 

 loosened from the glass and ruined. 

 Kindly tell me the cause and remedy. 

 C. B. H., New York City. 



ANSWER. 



So many conditions enter into the 

 proposition that there can be no hard and 

 fast law laid down as to how long to 

 leave plates in the fixing bath. You need 

 not fear leaving them too long. Leave 

 them until you are sure they are thor- 



oughly cleared and then leave them io 

 minutes longer. 



Your second question reveals 2 condi- 

 tions; i. e., the presence of developer, 

 also of hypo, on your negatives, left 

 through insufficient washing. The emul- 

 sion of a dry plate is composed of so 

 many parts gelatine, bromide of potas- 

 sium and nitrate of silver. If you use a 

 pyro developer you subject this; film to 

 a longer or shorter soaking in a chemical 

 compound containing pyrogallic acid, sul- 

 phite of soda, bromide of potassium and 

 other chemicals ranging through oxalic 

 acid, carbonate of r>oda, nitric acid, am- 

 monia or other agents used to serve the 

 same purpose. Some of the new devel- 

 opers produce the same results. The yel- 

 lowish tinge indicates the presence of de- 

 veloper and the white of hypo; in connec- 

 tion with which you may have used citric 

 acid, alum crystals or other chemicals. 



With traces of a part or all of these an- 

 tagonistic chemicals warring for a year 

 on the emulsion surface of your negative, 

 is it any wonder your film had become so 

 rotten and eaten that it washed off when 

 you tried to wash off the frosty substance. 



Provide yourself with a roll of absor- 

 bent cotton such as surgeons use. De- 

 velop your plate. Place it in a clean 

 tray of clear, running water under a tap 

 and with a tuft of cotton carefully and 

 repeatedly wash the emulsion surface, 

 back and edges. Hold it under the tap 

 and flood it. Swab and sop it softly with 

 the cotton until you feel sure there is no 

 possibility of developer remaining on it. 

 Then place it in a bath of alum water, 

 near if not quite a saturate solution, in a 

 tray used especially for that purpose and 

 let it remain there only 30 or 40 seconds. 

 This will serve the double purpose of 

 hardening and setting the emulsion so 

 you may safely leave the plate in the 

 hypo as long as you desire without dan- 

 ger of frilling, and the alum will pick up 

 stray particles of pyro or of alkali that 

 may have escaped you in washing off 

 the developer. Rinse the plate in clean 

 water where the drippings from it will 

 not contaminate any of your other trays 

 and never use the same tuft of cotton 

 twice. Place the plate in the hypo 

 until you are sure it is. fully cleared and 

 fixed. Then wash off the hypo thoroughly, 

 using a new tuft of cotton, and place in a 

 second fresh alum bath for % hour. You 

 are then ready for your final washing. 

 The best authorities differ as to the 

 proper length of time to wash a plate, the 

 time given ranging from one to 5 hours. 

 By placing your plates on trays under a 

 tap, frequently tipping all the water off 

 them and swabbing their surface with 

 cotton, you will find one hour in running 



