520 



RECREATION 



of proper dimensions, open at both ends and 

 blackened inside. The ends are accurately 

 squared and fit snugly between the inside of 

 the camera and the plate adapter, which is 

 thus carried several inches away from the 

 lens and is held in place by two strong rub- 

 ber bands. It takes but a few moments to 

 fit this extension in place and remove the 

 front lens, then the camera has nearly twice 

 the usual length of focus, gives much finer 

 perspectives, the field is cut down to about 

 one-fourth normal area, and objects appear 

 correspondingly larger on the plate. A small 

 stop should be used and the exposure length- 

 ened, but that is no drawback in landscape 

 work. This device can be used only with the 

 cut films. 



Of course I have a ray screen, portrait 

 lens, and copying lens ; they take up little 

 room, are not expensive, and are often very 

 useful. Non-curling film is orthochromatic 

 to quite a perceptible degree and works very 

 nicely under ray screen. I find the screen 

 of much help in getting distant mountains 

 to stand out clearly, it improves some skies 

 amazingly, and under almost any circum- 

 stances it imparts to the picture a quality 

 hard to describe but which is very pleasing 

 in the finished print. 



I never used my copying lens but once and 

 then it proved as handy as the proverbial 

 revolver in Texas. I made a dozen cabinet 

 photos from one of about half life size, and 

 it was a creditable job, too. 



Portrait work of most pleasing character 

 is perfectly feasible with a pocket camera if 

 the operator knows what he wants and is 

 willing to work to obtain results, and that 

 applies just as forcibly to the possessor of 

 more bulky apparatus. The "personal equa- 

 tion" is, in this class of work, about the most 

 important consideration, and it might be well 

 to add that it influences even the common 

 snap shot to a degree. Other things being 

 equal the man whose eyes can best tell him 

 when the vital points of a good picture are 

 before him will get the best results. 



To the severely practical individual who 

 would like to know what the expenses of this 

 sort of photography are likely to be I can 

 only say that in my experience it has proved 

 self-supporting. In the five years I have *had 

 a camera I have sold work to the value of 

 over $150 and in spite of the fact that I send 

 a few unmounted velox prints in almost 

 every letter I write this has paid for all sup- 

 plies and about half of my other equipment 

 of camera, trays, etc. 



When I had been at the business some 

 over a year I was told by a most success- 

 ful amateur, one who had two pocket cam- 

 eras and several larger ones, that he had con- 

 cluded the most satisfactory plan was to 

 take little pictures and lots of them. My 

 experience has borne out this statement. The 

 expense of loading a pocket camera is but 



a fraction of what it costs to keep a large 

 one in plates and a few failures are not of 

 much consequence. These failures are 

 bound to be more or less numerous and the 

 saving in this one item is not inconsiderable. 



As I have limited my camera to pocket 

 sizes so also have I limited my printing 

 paper to velox, bromide, and blueprint. Ve- 

 lox can now be had in so many grades it will 

 bring out almost any sort of negative to ad- 

 vantage and one acquires more skilful tech- 

 nique by working with a single maker's 

 products. 



I develop in absolute darkness on the time- 

 and-temperature plan and could not be in- 

 duced to go back to the delusive safety of 

 ruby lamps and the imaginary benefits of 

 restrainers and accelerators. I sometimes 

 intensify a film, but seldom have an occasion 

 to reduce one, though both are simple pro- 

 cesses, and quickly learned. I find that a 

 good print can be got from a very thin nega- 

 tive without intensification by giving it a long 

 exposure at five or six times the usual dis- 

 tance and using a yellowish light. I use a 

 burned out incandescent that was once of 

 sixteen candle power, but which now has 

 about as much illuminating effect as a red 

 string in a bottle. 



If you care for artistic effect or originality 

 of style don't, donU, stick your prints int;; a 

 ready made "Store Album" or paste them 

 all on mounts of the same size and color. 

 Have a good assortment of black paper 

 masks, not the kind that seem to include 

 every . known combination of curves and 

 angles, but some shapely ovals and rec- 

 tangles of varying proportion and size, and 

 then print under the smallest one that will 

 include all that is worth having in the nega- 

 tive. Trimming off what is of no real value 

 is one of the hardest things for the average 

 amateur to learn, he wants to get all he can 

 for his money and goes in for all the area 

 the paper will cover. 



Often a narrow strip out of a picture 

 printed with a liberal white margin will 

 prove very effective when the whole plate 

 was rather uninteresting. Select your 

 mounts with a view to heighten the effects of 

 the picture and do not be afraid to have 

 them of liberal size. I shall have more tc 

 say on this point and also on how to make 

 some very original and attractive albums 

 out of inexpensive materials that are to be 

 had almost anywhere. 



The dream of photographs in color ob- 

 tained by purely photographic manipulations 

 would seem now nearly to be realized in a 

 new printing-paper which has been put on 

 the market. As every lover of out-door pho- 

 tography will surely be glad to see his fav- 

 orite landscapes in almost their true colors, 

 we shall shortly give a full description of 

 this fascinating process. 



