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RECREATION. 



SOME SPECIAL METHODS FOR 



MARINE WORK. 

 Work around the water is the hardest 

 thing a photographer can try, though 

 nearly everyone thinks the contrary. It is 

 extremely hard to make the sea look wet in 

 a photo, as it often does in paintings. 

 Most photos of water are lacking in trans- 

 parency, color, depth, wetness, beauty or 

 truth to nature. It is also difficult to repre- 

 sent motion of waves or of what rides the 

 waves. Pictures of yachts often fail utter- 

 ly to convey any idea of the speed they are 

 maintaining. To photograph a rocky coast, 

 with surf dashing on it, the water wet, the 

 waves in motion and the exposure right for 

 black rocks, white sand and breaking surf, 

 is apparently impossible. A great deal more 

 thought is involved in a half perfect ma- 

 rine photo than in a fine one of a landscape. 

 The color of the water is most satisfactor- 

 ily represented if Carbutt's orthochromatic 

 plates are used. Sometimes I use a light 

 yellow screen, made with extract of bar- 

 berry root and gum acacia, sometimes a 

 light blue screen ; often none at all. The 

 Carbutt ortho plate of highest speed is al- 

 ways placed in the holder in the dark, and 

 I use covered trays in development. For 

 developer nothing else is equal to Car- 

 butt's old pyro-soda potash formula, 

 and those who compound it carefully 

 will not regret it. The formula is given 

 in the instructions sent out with each box 

 of plates. The plate is sensitive to each 

 trifling addition of pyro or alkali. The 

 way to get results is to begin with weak 

 developer and strengthen as may be de- 

 sired. With care it can be made to pro- 

 duce a perfect negative. It is without 

 equal for all greens nd blues. We hear a 

 great deal about the blue sea ; if the water 

 reflects the color of the sky it ought to be 

 blue ; but the nearer I get to water the 

 oftener I find it green to my eye, and when 

 I have treated it as green I have come near- 

 er to picturing wet water than at other 

 times. Distance on the water is often blue 

 and purple, but near water is generally 

 green. 



What shutter to use is a problem, for it 

 is sometimes necessary to do 2 things in ex- 

 posing which are contradictory; that is, 

 make a slow shutter exposure to imply a 

 little motion and at the same time a rapid 

 one to get a clear picture. If the photog- 

 rapher is in a small boat the top speed of a 

 really good shutter will be a necessity, 

 else he will obtain the same effect he would 

 on land making a time exposure with a 

 shaking tripod. A focal plane shutter 

 seems the best for the work, and next best 

 is a drop shutter worked sideways by a 

 rubber band and having a narrow slit in- 

 stead of a round opening. The slit may 

 vary from Y+ to l / 2 inch in width. I used 

 such a shutter many years, and obtained 

 satisfaction from its work. It should be 

 placed on the lens so as to slide in an oppo- 

 site direction from that of the vessel to be 



photographed. Such a shutter can be easily 

 made at home, and does not cost a cent. 

 If the slit be narrow enough and the shut- 

 ter sent in cross direction from that of the 

 object, some difficult work can easily be 

 done by using this simple shutter. For 

 work from the shore where the camera is 

 on stable ground I always make a slow 

 snap and seldom stop my lens down small. 

 Slow exposures, showing some of the waves 

 not too sharp, convey more sense of mo- 

 tion than fast ones. I may lose the fine 

 spray in detail, but to compensate me I get 

 waves that seem to be rolling in, surf whose 

 motion does not appear suspended. If one is 

 on a large boat and the sea is compar- 

 atively smooth a compromise may be made 

 between the slow and the rapid exposure. 

 This will help both the water value and 

 the motion of the object pictured. Of 

 course such a plate must be treated as over 

 exposed, and developed accordingly; but 

 with an over exposed ortho plate I am 

 sure not to have chalky white sails, harsh 

 lights or troublesome developing. I never 

 like the light full on my subject. Get be- 

 tween the light and the object. If one is 

 in a boat on a rough sea he should keep 

 one eye on the finder and the other on the 

 boat's motion, and select such time for re- 

 leasing the shutter as exists between each 

 rise and fall. There is one brief space be- 

 tweeneach motion when rising has reached 

 the climax and falling has not begun, and 

 that is the time to snap. Do not use a tri- 

 pod, but hold the camera, no matter how 

 large, in the hands. A tripod is a good 

 thing ashore, but not afloat. 



I have improved my work greatly by 

 using EWN Non-Halation Backing. My 

 outfit consists of one 8 x 10 camera, with 

 focal plane shutter and lenses of 8, 12, 16 

 and 22 inch focus. Having my shutter at 

 the rear of the camera and each l'ens with 

 an adapter so that all fit the one flange 

 on my front board, I am not burdened 

 with extra shutters, fronts and the like. 

 Besides the camera and lenses I have 12 

 holders and a changing device, which is or- 

 dinarily flat, but which, at the touch of a 

 spring, jumps out like an opera hat, and 

 becomes a box with sleeves. This is neces- 

 sary on many occasions when 30 to 50 

 plates may be exposed in a day's cruise, and 

 I don't want to go below to change plates in 

 a leaky dark room. Those who have few 

 holders would better make a rubber cloth 

 bag lined with red or black flannel. Failing 

 m that, use Eastman's film. Give all the 

 time the motion of your vessel will permit* 

 develop tentatively; avoid direct lighting' 

 open your lens and use a slide shutter- keep 

 one plate for the unexpected; stay amid- 

 ship rather than forward or aft ; and print 

 on glossy paper if you want the water to 

 look deep and wet.— Peter Young, in The 

 rhoto-Amencan. 



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 MENTION RECREATION. 



