324 



'RECREATION. 



by experience. Of these the Erst to claim 

 attention is the comparative speed of plates 

 and roll film. 



Every well known extra rapid plate on 

 the American market has an advantage 

 over films in speed. The shutters of the 

 various roll film cameras are so nicely ad- 

 justed to the speed of the films in use that 

 the shortcoming of the film in regard to 

 speed is not much in evidence, save when 

 they are substituted for plates for high 

 speed work in a camera designed to take 

 both plates and films interchangeably. My 

 own experience would not warrant the use 

 of films in the stead of plates with a focal 

 plane shutter working at its maximum ra- 

 pidity, for under some circumstances even 

 our fastest plates have demanded the use 

 of the largest apertures of the Steinheil, 

 Goerz, Zeiss convertible, and of the new 

 Plastigmat lenses, and were then found 

 wanting in speed sufficient to offset adverse 

 conditions. But the matter of the com- 

 parative speed of plates and films is not of 

 so much importance as their keeping qual- 

 ities. 



That plates are much superior to films 

 in this respect is due to the support on 

 which the emulsion is coated. In plates 

 there is nothing extraneous to the emul- 

 sion itself, save natural causes, to set up 

 deterioration. In the case of films the de- 

 terioration of the emulsion is directly trace- 

 able to the celluloid support, so that if the 

 emulsion would keep well on a glass 

 support, it may not do so when coated 

 on celluloid. 



Cloud effects are desirable, and halation 

 is not; hence ordinary films give better 

 renderings of clouds in ordinary landscape 

 work and greater freedom from halation, 

 than do ordinary plates. But roll films are 

 all ordinary and one inquires in vain for 

 roll films giving correct color values, and 

 for roll films of various speeds for vari- 

 ous kinds of work. 



Here I am at a loss for a corresponding 

 advantage in roll films to offset this great 

 advantage attending the use of plates. The 

 professional takes your portrait, employing 

 fast plates. He copies your paintings, using 

 color-sensitive plates, medium with a 

 screen, slow without. He has a line draw- 

 ing to copy and uses a contrast plate. He 

 photographs the interior of your house ; 

 if many windows are to be included, he re- 

 sorts to non-halation or backed plates, or 

 uses ordinary plates to which he has ap- 

 plied a backing .of his own. Nor does the 

 professional landscape or seascape pho- 

 tographer use roll films, notwithstanding 

 the amateur uses them outdoors, largely be- 

 cause of his objection to the weight of 

 plates. Who has not admired Jackson's 

 landscapes and Bolles' seascapes? No one 

 asks : Do these men use plates or films ? 

 Ndr do the foremost amateurs in any 



country use roll film cameras for any pur- 

 pose other than the making of memoranda, 

 that is, as a sort of pocket sketch book for 

 the recording of bits here and there thought 

 worthy of after, and more serious, con- 

 sideration. I know of no instance in which 

 highest awards have been made to pictures 

 printed from film negatives in competi- 

 tions open to the users of both plates and 

 films. 



I believe in the making of large negatives 

 for direct printing rather than employing 

 small plates or films and afterwards throw- 

 ing up enlargements from small negatives. 

 In this I agree with a vast majority of 

 American workers, both amateur and pro- 

 fessional, always excepting the button- 

 presser. 



There is little to be said in favor of films 

 as against plates so far as development is 

 concerned. Never having known anyone 

 to prefer handling films, I will not afgue the 

 advantages of plates, but simply mention 

 rigidity, tank development, fixing in alum- 

 acid baths in grooved boxes, non-use of 

 glycerine, and convenience in printing, as in 

 favor of plates ; development in rolls of 

 small sizes, quick drying and printing from 

 either side of film, as in favor of films. 



Electric markings, incident and peculiar 

 to roll films, never appear on developed 

 plates. I have developed whole rolls of 

 films and found the markings to run 

 through the entire rolls. 



Plates, being rigid, if in focus at all, are 

 in the focal plane throughout their length. 

 Under the same conditions, because of its 

 curling propensity, a roll film might have 

 its edges only in the focal plane, receding 

 therefrom gradually toward its center, 

 which might be decidedly out of focus in 

 some instances. 



I should mention the breakage of glass 

 negatives and the room required to store 

 glas's negatives as against glass and in favor 

 of films. Breakage is a small item, how- 

 ever ; not more than one negative a year in 

 my own experience. 



The advantage of using glass plates for 

 making enlarged negatives, and other ad- 

 vantages and disadvantages of plates and 

 films will occur to the reader.— Photo 

 Times. 



FLASHLIGHT PHOTOGRAPHY. 



The most important rule is the position 

 of the light and its proper diffusion. The 

 work of the tyro is recognized by its harsh 

 shadows and unnatural, staring look on the 

 faces of the sitters. As a rule, persons 

 have a dread of flash powder, and the 

 strained look of expectancy may be avoid- 

 ed by setting off a small preliminary flash, 

 of course with the lens closed. Instantly 

 the set faces will relax, and if the flash 

 proper is then immediately ignited, before 



