AMATEUR PHOTOGRAPHY. 



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AMATEUR PHOTOGRAPHY. 



RECREATION'S FOURTH ANNUAL COMPET'- 

 TION. 



Recreation has conducted 3 amateur 

 photographic competitions, all of which 

 have been eminently successful. A fourth 

 will be held, which it is believed will be far 

 more fruitful than either of the others. This 

 one opened on January 1, '99, and will close 

 September 30, '99. 



List of prizes to be announced later. 



Subjects are limited to wild animals, 

 birds, fishes, camp scenes, and to figures 

 or groups of persons, or domestic animals, 

 representing, in a truthful manner, shoot- 

 ing, fishing, amateur photography, bicy- 

 cling, sailing, or other form of outdoor or 

 indoor sport or recreation. Cycling pictures 

 especially desired. Awards to be made by 3 

 judges, none of whom shall be competitors. 



Conditions: Contestants must submit 2 

 mounted prints, either silver, bromide, 

 platinum, or carbon, of each subject, which 

 shall become the property of Recreation. 

 The name and address of the sender, and 

 title of picture to be plainly written on back 

 of each print. Daylight, flashlight, or elec- 

 tric light pictures admissible. Prize winning 

 photographs to be published in Recrea- 

 tion, full credit being given in all cases. 



Pictures that have been published else- 

 where, or that have been entered in any 

 other competition, not available. No entry 

 fee charged. 



Don't let people who pose for you look at the 

 camera. Occupy them in some other way. 

 Many otherwise fine pictures failed to win 

 in the last competition, because the makers 

 did not heed this warning. 



DIFFERENT GRADES OF PLATES. 



I. What is the difference between iso- 

 chromatic, orthochromatic, and color-sen- 

 sitive plates? Please give brief instructions 

 for exposing and developing same. Can 

 they be developed in ordinary ruby light? 

 2. How long will the average gelatine and 

 collodion printing papers keep? 3. How 

 long should dry plates keep? I enjoy Rec- 

 reation from cover to cover and shall al- 

 ways thank you for that sample copy, which 

 led me to subscribe. 



E. L. Dupuy, Blackstone, Va. 



ANSWER. 



There is practically no difference between 

 the plates mentioned. The ordinary plate 

 is not very sensitive to red, yellow and green 

 and therefore does not render the color 

 values in their proper relation. By adding 

 to the emulsion or soaking a plate in a dye 

 such as eosine, erythrosine, etc., and an al- 

 kali, such as ammonia (many other dyes 

 are used to render the plates sensitive to 

 special colors), the plates are rendered more 

 sensitive to red, yellow, etc., and less sensi- 

 tive to the blue and the violet. 



The plate is developed the same as any 

 plate, but the light should be deep ruby and 

 the plate covered, except when it is neces- 

 sary to examine its progress in developer. 

 There is no set limit to their keeping qual- 

 ities. The fresher they are the better. They 

 would probably keep well for 2 months in a 

 proper place. 



It is impossible to say how long plates or 

 paper will keep in a dry, cool place. I have 

 seen plates several years old that gave good 

 negatives, free from fog, and others that 

 spoiled in 6 weeks in hot, damp weather. All 

 photographic plates and papers are best 

 when perfectly fresh. 



Mcdonough color photography. 



The New York Herald's description of 

 this " discovery " shows it to be identical 

 with Dr. Joly's, which surely must have an- 

 ticipated it by some years. It is thus de- 

 scribed: 



The process is purely mechanical, and an 

 ordinary camera is used. The negatives are 

 developed by the usual process, but before 

 exposing the negative in the camera, a trans- 

 parent screen, ruled with the 3 primary 

 colors, is interposed between the negative 

 and the object to be photographed. After 

 developing the negative a positive plate is 

 produced from it. When this is laid on the 

 viewing Screen, ruled with the 3 primary 

 colors, the colors in the object photographed 

 appear. Every hue of flower, tree, grass or 

 other object can thus be accurately pro- 

 duced, and all by the sun, as in an ordinary 

 photograph. 



HOW PLATINUM BATH IS MADE. 



Please explain the platinum bath men- 

 tioned on page 399 of November Recrea- 

 tion. Where can I get the chemicals, and 

 how is the saturated solution of citric acid 

 mixed? 



H. W. Dixon, Minneapolis, Minn. 



Chloride of platinum is put up in small 

 vials, 15 grains each, and costs 65 cents to 

 75 cents a vial. Chloride of copper costs 

 about 10 cents per 20 grains. 



To make any saturated solution, put into 

 a vial more of any substance than water will 

 dissolve. For instance put a teaspoonful of 

 salt in 2 tablespoonfuls of water and the salt 

 will all dissolve. This is not quite saturated 

 but merely a solution of salt. If a table- 

 spoonful of salt is put into 2 tablespoonfuls 

 of water and stirred, there will still be salt 

 in the bottom of the v.essel which will not 

 dissolve in that quantity of water, because 

 the water has dissolved as much salt as it 

 can hold. Therefore the water is saturated 

 with salt and hence you have a saturated 

 solution of salt. 



Now as to citric acid: Buy 2 ounces of 

 the crystal of citric acid, at any drug store; 

 put into a vial; add 3 ounces of water and 



