214 



RECREATION 



ways do good work, and will fetch you a 

 better price when you want to sell it or ex- 

 change it for a better one. 



GASLIGHT PAPERS. 



As the most valuable of all printing 

 methods in these days of little sun and 

 heavy snowstorms, we can count the gas- 

 light printing papers, of which the velox 

 brand is probably the best known and cer- 

 tainly the best advertised. These gaslight 

 papers, which were introduced to the pub- 

 lic some ten years ago, have pretty nearly 

 displaced all other kinds in the favor of the 

 amateur; for they place him independent of 

 the sun and enable him to do his work 

 when he has the most leisure, and that is 

 in the evenings. All gaslight papers are 

 manipulated in identically the same way. 

 Some will print a little faster than others, 

 and each particular brand calls for a par- 

 ticular developer to yield the best results ; 

 but generally speaking, the amateur will 

 find that one developer will do for any 

 brand of paper. I think the maufacturers 

 make a mistake when they say in their in- 

 structions that gaslight papers can be 

 worked in the full light 01 a gas-flame or 

 other artificial light. This leads the ama- 

 teur to think that he can place his trays 

 and paper openly in the light, and he won- 

 ders why his prints are not clear. As a 

 matter of fact the prints should be kept at 

 some distance from the light or in the 

 shade of a screen interposed between the 

 light and the trays. A large sheet of stiff 

 cardboard bent at right angles and placed 

 on end on the table will form a sufficient 

 screen. The paper itself should never be 

 taken out of its package except a sheet at 

 a time as it is required for use. 



If the reader doubts my assertion that 

 the paper will fog even at a distance from 

 the light, let him take a sheet and, placing 

 it where he proposes to do his developing, 

 cover over one-half so that the light will 

 not get to it. Then, at the end of, say, 

 three or four minutes, let him develop the 

 whole sheet, and he will notice distinct 

 traces of fogging or darkening of the un- 

 covered piece. And just so much of bril- 

 liancy does he lose in his pictures if they 

 are not properly protected from the light. 

 Many amateurs complain that it is so hard 

 to know how far to print on gaslight pa- 

 pers, as there is, of course, no visible im- 

 age, as with solio. Now this is a very easy 

 matter to regulate, and should be learned 

 at the very start. Look over your stock of 

 negatives and examine them against the 

 light, taking out one that is full of bril- 

 liancy and with good strength in the dense 

 part of the film, but not so black that you 

 can not see through it at all, and with one 

 or two parts of clear glass, with a nice 

 range of half-tones between these two ex- 



tremes. If you yourself are not sufficiently 

 expert to tell a good negative from a poor 

 one, take a bunch of your negatives to 

 some more expert friend and let him pick 

 out the best one of the lot. Now cal' that 

 your standard negative. Next, take a sheet 

 of the gaslight paper and tear it up into 

 strips, say of an inch wide. Then with a 

 strip of this paper placed diagonally across 

 your negative, make your first exposure. 

 Let it be, say, at a distance of six inches 

 from the light for a 4 x 5 negative, and give 

 an exposure of about ten seconds. De- 

 velop the strip and fix it, marking the time 

 of exposure on the back of the strip ; then 

 take the next strip and do the same thing 

 over again with the same negative, giving 

 an exposure of fifteen seconds and so on, 

 increasing five seconds at a time. When 

 all the pieces are exposed and developed, 

 examine them carefully and see which piece 

 gives the best and clearest image with 

 good pure high lights and strong shadows, 

 but not clogged up. Then, as you have 

 marked the time of exposure on each strip, 

 you have a standard by which to go. For 

 instance, we will say that twenty seconds 

 was the exposure required with your 

 standard negative at a distance of six 

 inches from the light. Now if you have 

 another negative and if it is thinner, you 

 can roughly figure out how much less time 

 it will take, but if the negative is much 

 denser you will know that it will require 

 so much more time than the original neg- 

 ative. This way you will be apt to get 

 many more pictures out of a dozen sheets 

 of paper than if you go at it in a haphazard 

 fashion. Of course, if you change your 

 source of light, all exposures will differ, 

 and, again, if you change your particular 

 brand of paper you will have to make a 

 fresh trial. Next month I propose to give 

 you the plans for a simple exposure-box 

 which will protect the light and allow of 

 proper exposure. 



INTENSIFICATION WITHOUT ME- 

 TALLIC SALTS. 

 The image may be chlorized or bromized. 

 the following formulae have given satisfac- 

 tory results : 



To Chlorize. 



Bichromate potassium 5 grains 



Chloride potassium 10 grains 



Hydrochloric acid 4 minims 



Water 1 ounce 



To Bromize. 



Bichromate potassium 5 grains ' 



Bromide potassium 10 grains 



Hydrochloric acid 4 minims 



Water 1 ounce 



The bichromate may be kept ready by 

 dissolving ]/ 2 ounce in 5 ounces of water. 

 Take 50 minims of this to each ounce of 



