158 



RECREATION. 



darker than wanted, washed in clean 1 water, 

 handling over and over, changing the wa- 

 ter when it becomes milky in color, and 

 then toned in a bath of one grain of chlor- 

 ide of gold to 32 ounces of water. Make 

 bath alkaline with 3 grains of bicarbonate 

 of soda. Make this bath one hour before 

 use. Tone to desired shade, but leave a lit- 

 tle red in the shadows, as the prints dry 

 darker. When toned place in one ounce of 

 salt to one gallon of water. Then wash in 

 fresh water several times and fix in fresh 

 hypo, one ounce to 12 ounces of water. 



Prints when taken from ferrotype plate 

 should be placed face down on a clean 

 surface, brushed with good paste without 

 allowing print to shift in the least, then 

 placed on card, covered with a clean blot- 

 ter and rolled. This will allow them to 

 dry without the loss of gloss. — Editor. 



INDOOR PORTRAITS. 



I am much interested in your amateur 

 photography department, though I have 

 only been taking pictures the last 4 months. 

 I am living in a car on an Iowa railroad. 

 It has 3 8x10 windows on the North and 

 3 on the South. I want to get pictures of 

 the members of my family. If I take them 

 outdoors they squint, and if I take them in 

 the car their eyes do not show plainly. 

 Can you tell me why? 



What kind of printing out paper do you 

 consider the best? I have tried Aristo 

 self toning and Aristo platino, but have had 

 no success at all. I like Solio and Velox 

 the best of any I have tried. 



Mrs. W. H. Stukey,. Carroll, la., 



In taking portraits indoors there are 

 a number of difficulties to overcome, due 

 in the majority of cases to the lack of space 

 and to poor light. Place the subject about 

 4 feet from the window, toward the center 

 of the room, and 2 feet from the window 

 in the back. Have the chair slightly 

 turned and facing the light. Place the 

 camera on the side the window is on and 

 as near the wall as possible. All the light 

 available is thus thrown on subject. 



Take portraits out of doors on the North 

 side of the building, facing the North, cam- 

 era pointing South, and take care that the 

 sun does not shine into the lens. Any 

 shady spot will do, but you can not take 

 snapshots in such light. Give a short ex- 

 posure and develop with a fresh developer 

 diluted with water. Do not hold the cam- 

 era when taking time exposr "3. Do not 

 get too close to the subject with a fixed fo- 

 cus camera; 12 to 15 feet is about right. 

 Solio or any printing out paper toned in a 

 combined bath will -fade. Try cyco.— Edi- 

 tor. 



SNAP SHOTS. 

 A series of experiments in regard to 

 washing negatives has been made by Herr 

 Gaedicke. He finds that if the alum bath 

 is used the hypo is much more difficult to 

 get rid of, and several hours' washing is 

 necessary, whereas half an hour is suffi- 

 cient under ordinary circumstances. He 

 recommends the use of a saturated solution 

 of common salt in place of alum, if there 

 is any tendency to frilling, which does not 

 overharden the film, and does away with 

 prolonged washing after fixation. 



There is no reducer for oromides better 

 than 15 minims of a saturated solution of 

 iodine in alcohol, and 20 minims of satu- 

 rated solution of potassium cyanide in 

 water, diluted with half an ounce, or less, 

 of water. For clearing a slight veil, dilute 

 with an ounce of water, and immerse the 

 print. 



Wooden dishes may be made water-tight 

 with the following preparation : 



Common brown resin y 2 pound 



Beeswax 2 ounces 



Melt together in tin pan ; when fluid, run 

 solution rapidly all over where required. 

 Wood must be perfectly dry and warm. 



I have been taking Recreation for some 

 years past, and especially enjoy reading the 

 articles in the photographic department. I 

 have a suggestion to offer other amateur 

 photographers. After reading Recreation 

 I lift the ends of the binders with a knife 

 and remove the pages on photography ; then 

 send the magazine to someone out in the 

 back woods, that I have hunted or fished 

 with. They enjoy reading the hunting sto- 

 ries, etc., but sometimes are not interested 

 in photography. These pages I keep for fu- 

 ture reference, and mark on the margin the 

 month and year of the number from which 

 they are taken. I find they come handy at 

 times in hunting up formulas. I bind them 

 together with a binder that I buy at a 

 bookstore. 



O. C. Hillard, Wilkes Barre, Pa. 



A quick drying and easily removed back- 

 ing for plates is made as follows : Put a 

 cake of Newcomb's backing in an old tum- 

 bler or cup. Mix a solution of alcohol 4 

 parts, glacial acetic acid one part. Pour 

 sufficient of this solution over the backing 

 to coat the desired number of plates. Apply 

 with a brush. The cup can then be set 

 aside until wanted again, when more solu- 

 tion can be poured in and so on until it is 

 used up. The backing can be wiped off 

 with a damp cloth. 



R. ,L. Wadhams, M. D., 

 Wilkes-Barre, Pa. 



