8o 



RECREA TION. 



struments, try the same day to remove 

 someone's vermiform appendix and step 

 full blown into fame and fortune. He puts 

 in years of study and experimenting be- 

 fore he buys his instruments and goes to 

 work. The same is true in almost every 

 other profession. It is the would-be pho- 

 tographer alone who expects to leap to 

 success in an hour. I have seen fairly in- 

 telligent people buy a camera and a box 

 of plates and start out the same hour, be- 

 fore they understood the combinations of 

 the shutter sufficiently not to waste plates 

 by their ignorant workings of it. If be- 

 ginners could only be persuaded to spend 

 half the money they waste on plates and 

 paper for a few well chosen books and 

 study before beginning to work, it would 

 help them more than anything else. It is 

 impossible to tell anyone how to time a 

 picture unless you are on the spot, know 

 the camera, plates used, and all the details. 



"Exposure is largely a matter of in- 

 spiration, of feeling. You must learn how, 

 just as you acquire musical excellence or 

 master a language. You must go through 

 the experience, and the plate spoiling, 

 with the disappointments incident there- 

 to. Then it will come to you to stay. 

 When to expose is the first consideration. 

 How to expose becomes the next anxious 

 inquiry, and it might be answered with the 

 single word — enough." — Wilson. 



"Undertimed photographs may be seen 

 everywhere and in nearly all places. Stop- 

 ping off the light just a little too soon 

 seems to be a common disease among pho- 

 tographers. They thereby spoil what 

 would otherwise have been a good produc- 

 tion. Short exposures, in most cases, pro- 

 duce startling effects. As a general 

 thing, however, there is a lack of detail 

 which nearly ruins the work. A little more 

 time given the exposure would have pro- 

 duced a first class photograph. On the 

 other hand, too short an exposure pro- 

 duces a flat, low toned, worthless print. 

 Too much or too little are equally bad, 

 but the failure in the latter is much more 

 frequent than in the former." — I. B. Web- 

 ster. 



"The time of exposure, like many other 

 features in photography, can not be 

 learned, as can a process; it requires, a 

 true artistic feeling in the photographer, 

 strengthened by experience. For views, I 

 always maintain that a long exposure and 

 a weak developer give far the best results. 

 In making exposures one should try to 

 gain an accurate idea of the actinic power 

 or value of the different colors in Nature, 

 such as the light and dark greens, browns, 

 grays, yellows and reds. This can only 

 be acquired by carefully noting the ex- 

 posures and afterward examining the nega- 

 tives, carrying the landscape in the eye 

 as well as possible, By so doing a better 



idea of the required length of exposure is 

 obtained than by any other method I am 

 acquainted with. We can not rely on ap- 

 parently equally lighted subjects or recol- 

 lect the exposure of one subject and apply 

 it to another. What appear to be equally 

 lighted subjects are often not so. By mak- 

 ing this a little point of study many nega- 

 tives will be saved from under or over 

 exposure." — H. A. H. Daniel. 



"Where the angle of lighting is unusual 

 or extreme, allowance is to be made. For 

 instance, if the lighting is much from the 

 side, the exposure should be the same as 

 for diffused light. The golden rule is to 

 expose for the shadows and let the lights 

 take care of themselves. This rule has 

 exceptions, of course, but where the 

 shadows are broad they must have plenty 

 of detail always. It will frequently be 

 found in midsummer, especially in photo- 

 graphing perpendicular objects in sun- 

 shine, that less exposure is required an 

 hour or 2 before and after midday than at 

 midday; not because the sun is more pow- 

 erful, but because the angle of reflection is 

 more favorable. It is generally necessary 

 to give more exposure with sunshine and 

 a .clear sky than with the sun shining be- 

 tween patches of white sky, as the shadows 

 are then better illuminated and contrasts 

 less violent." — From a paper before the 

 Philadelphia Amateur Photographic Club. 



T. H. Jackson, of West Chester, Pa., 

 submits 2 beautiful prints, as far as the 

 work of the lens goes, that were made by 

 slipping an enlarging lens over the lens 

 of an extension front camera, and wants to 

 know if as good results can be obtained by 

 using any of the Nehring Ampliscopes. I 

 can do as good work; yes, even better, 

 with the No. 1 copying and enlarging lens 

 of that series, and there is no reason why 

 Mr. Jackson or any one else can not do 

 the same, if he will have the patience to 

 figure out how to focus, use the dia- 

 phragm and time the combination. It 

 takes some study and patience, but it is 

 well worth working for, as it costs 65 to 75 

 cents a negative to have birds nests en- 

 larged, and they lose a great deal in the 

 process; while with this combination they 

 can be taken ]/ 2 , 24 or full life size, or en- 

 larged. So can any other stationary ob- 

 ject small enough to go on the plate. 



I do not offer the illustrations accom- 

 panying the fishing sketches now running 

 in Recreation as samples of composition 

 or timing. They are plain, honest fishing 

 pictures, each taken at the time and place 

 described, and for the most part snap shot 

 or short time exposures, as were demanded 

 by the movement of wind and water. Some 

 of them were taken from boats or marshy 

 places where a tripod could not be set up, 

 under circumstances where only a snap was 



