AMATEUR PHOTOGRAPHY. 



79 



The plate is then removed and washed 

 thoroughly in running^water to remove all 

 the mercury solution; then immersed in 

 a tray containing No. 2 solution, where it 

 quickly changes and where it must remain 

 until the grayness has all disappeared from 

 the back, but no longer, as the cyanide in 

 the solution would then begin to reduce the 

 density. The plate should then receive a 

 final washing which should be thoroughly 

 done to ensure permanency. The secret of 

 success in intensifying is to remove all the 

 chemicals from the film before and after 

 all operations by thorough washing. 



Both solutions are deadly poison. They 

 should not be used by anyone having cuts 

 on the fingers or sores on the hands. — 

 Wally, in the Camera and Dark Room. 



DARK ROOMS EVERYWHERE. 



When on a photographic tour it is some- 

 times desirable that the exposed plates be 

 developed, to ascertain if proper exposure, 

 composition, lighting, etc., have been ob- 

 tained. Most photographers leave the de- 

 veloping of the plates until their return 

 home, being under the impression that it is 

 impossible to do otherwise. It is, however, 

 a simple matter, and one that well repays 

 the slight trouble involved. I have devel- 

 oped plates in log cabins, farm houses and 

 city hotels, with perfect cleanliness, as fol- 

 lows : 



Every room being a dark room at night, 

 requiring only the closing of doors and 

 drawing down of window blinds, the only 

 articles necessary are 2 trays, one for the 

 developer and one for the fixing bath ; a 

 folding candle lamp, one yard of oilcloth, 

 a packet of powdered hypo and a bottle of 

 developer. Also borrow 2 ordinary pails, 

 each half filled with water. Laying the oil- 

 cloth on the table, pin the corners up so 

 as to form a large dish, place the lighted 

 candle lamp in the center with the develop- 

 ing tray in front and to the right side, the 

 fixing tray in front and to the left side. 

 Just behind the lamp place the 2 pails, one 

 to the right and the other to the left. All 

 operations will be conducted over the oil- 

 cloth dish, and not one drop of any kind 

 can fall on the floor. 



Close and fasten the doors, throw a towel 

 over your shoulder, draw a chair up to the 

 table and sit down. Take the first_ plate 

 from the holder, rinse it thoroughly in the 

 pail on the right side of the table, place it 

 in the developing tray, and, when developed, 

 rinse off again in the same right-hand pail, 

 to stop developing. Having carefully in- 

 spected the plate pass it over and into the 

 fixing tray, where it remains while plate No. 

 2 is being developed; after which the first 

 plate is removed from the fixing bath to 

 the left-hand pail, slightly rinsed, and stood 

 up on end, face in toward the sides of the 



pail ; the second plate, meantime, going into 

 the fixing bath. Leave the plates in the left- 

 hand pail an hour, after which stand them 

 around the outside of the pail to dry and 

 pack them in the morning. These negatives, 

 of course, contain some hypo, which would 

 in time spoil them, therefore wash them 

 thoroughly on returning home. 



To change the plates in the holders during 

 the daytime, draw down the blinds, making 

 the room as dark as possible. Turn down the 

 bed covers and place the holders with the 

 exposed plates in the center of the bed, 

 with a box of unexposed plates alongside. 

 Replace the bed covers, and by passing the 

 arms underneath, one can, without diffi- 

 culty empty and refill the holders. The 

 film side of the plate is easily recognized by 

 aplying the finger nail. Place the exposed 

 plates in the box and close it before lift- 

 ing the covers. — W. B. Blackhall, in the 

 Canadian Photographic Blue Book. 



CHAT HERE AND THERE. 



Waxed paper such as is used to wrap 

 around butter is a fair makeshift for a tray. 

 I used 2 pasteboard boxes recently for de- 

 veloper and hypo, merely pressing 3 thick- 

 nesses of this paper down in the boxes first. 

 A ream of such paper costs about 25 cents, 

 and it will be found excellent for this and 

 other photographic purposes. A funnel 

 made of any stiff, clean paper is just as 

 good to return chemicals to their bottles 

 with as a glass funnel, and does not have 

 to be washed, since it is cheap enough to 

 throw away each time. — E. W. Newcomb, in 

 the Photo American. 



Did you ever have a plate fall into the 

 camera when the slide had been drawn 

 from the holder? It sometimes happens, 

 and one need not lose the plate if he hap- 

 pens to wear a dark coat. Cover the front 

 of the camera with the coat, push the hand 

 up one sleeve and remove the lens and 

 front board while the bellows are extended. 

 Let the lens stay in the sleeve while you put 

 your hand through to the plate, and then 

 by turning the camera over, the plate can be 

 replaced with one hand. 



A handy little instrument is a reducing 

 glass. It is merely a round, double concave 

 bit of glass on which I pasted a few strips 

 so as to form a parallelogram, but that little 

 tool tells me at a glance whether things 

 compose or do not, and aids me in mak- 

 ing them compose if they do not. One can 

 not take in a whole landscape or room so 

 well by looking at the scene itself as by 

 looking at a reduced picture of it, and that 

 is where the reducing glass comes in. 



It is remarkable what a great improve- 

 ment is effected by ruling a line around a 

 print, on the mount, with a blunt instru- 

 ment, A Suited puneh <\ Kitting needle, 



