74 



RECREATION. 



AMATEUR PHOTOGRAPHY- 



" For sport the lens is better than the gun. " 

 / wish to make this department of the utmost 

 use to amateurs. I shall, therefore, be glad to 

 answer any questions and to print any items sent 

 me by practical amateurs relating to their experi- 

 ence in photography. 



LEARNED BY EXPERIENCE. 

 The use of a citrate instead of a bromide 

 as a restrainer should be given a trial. 

 Good authorities have advised its employ- 

 ment, claiming that its addition to the de- 

 veloper as soon as all desired detail was 

 out not only restrained but entirely pre- 

 vented further increase of detail, while al- 

 lowing density to build up to any desired 

 degree of which the plate is capable. With 

 it one may over expose quite freely. The 

 plate must be started in a developer weak 

 in alkali, so the image will come up slowly, 

 and then the production of detail in the 

 high lights can be stopped at any point 

 desired by adding 2 drams of citrate solu- 

 tion to the 4 or 5 ounces of developer em- 

 ployed. It is best to throw away this first 

 solution after adding the citrate and rock- 

 ing the tray a few minutes and secure 

 density by applying a developer similar to 

 Cramer's" bromo-hydro formula. Used in 

 smaller quantities as a simple restrainer it 

 has advantages over bromide. The compar- 

 atively high cost of the chemical in the 

 solid form is no doubt the cause of its not 

 being more nopular. When it is once under- 

 stood that the solution is easily prepared by 

 adding sulphuric acid to a solution of the 

 carbonate, either potassium or sodium, until 

 it becomes slightly acid, this drawback is 

 at once removed. It is only the difficulty 

 of crystallizing the chemical that gives it its 

 high cost at the chemist's. 



I had occasion the other day to insist 

 that an amateur friend furnish me with 

 some mounted pictures for wall decoration 

 at a boys' club. He complained, with some 

 truth, that he had no time to print any. I 

 took 3 or 4 sheets of melton faced mount- 

 ing board out to his house and made him 

 show me what he had on hand. The stock 

 consisted of some proofs of negatives that 

 he considered unsatisfactory and some 

 Velox prints that were rejected because 

 stained on the edges. They all needed 

 trimming down to get out the best there 

 was in them. Some of the rejected nega- 

 tives contained bits that were gems. One 

 of them produced a 2 x 10 panel that would 

 have been an honor to any exhibition. Fif- 

 teen or 20 of them were trimmed and past- 

 ed, some on the backs of other spoiled 

 prints and others on the black paper that 

 comes around plates. These were again 

 trimmed to leave a narrow border of either 



white or black and then mounted on the 

 large sheets of different colored mounting 

 board which I afterward cut up with scis- 

 sors and trimmed with a card cutter. The 

 prints were a revelation to my. friend. His 

 dealer will have a hard time selling him 

 any more stock sizes in mounts, but per- 

 haps he will sell him enough of the mount- 

 ing board to balance. 



When the fascinating process of using 

 platinotype paper is taken up, it will 

 not be long before some negatives are 

 found which, being strong in con- 

 trast, require the printing to be carried on 

 for such a length of time that the shadows 

 are perfectly bronzed, and when develop- 

 ment takes place the deep shadows re- 

 fuse to come up anything but a dull 

 brown, being much as if they had rusted 

 like old scrap iron. It may so happen 

 that the general appearance of the print as 

 a whole does not materially suffer when 

 looked at straight in front, but on viewing 

 it from one side the defect is evident. The 

 remedy is to brush over the parts solarized 

 a wash of wax water magilp, which may 

 be obtained at art supply stores. It is 

 used in water-color painting to add force 

 to deep shadows, and the improvement it 

 brings about on a faulty platinotype print 

 is marked. The dingy, rusty color will in- 

 stantly depart, and the shadows will lose 

 their bronzed appearance. 



The directions that accompany develop- 

 ers say to do this for under exposure, and 

 to do that for over exposure, but no allow- 

 ance is made for the fact that there is a 

 vast difference in the behavior of a plate 

 exposed on a contrasty subject and one ex- 

 posed on a subject that is flat, or contains 

 a short range of tones. An ordinary por- 

 trait contains a short scale. A strong de- 

 veloper, acting quickly, is required. The 

 average interior contains a long scale of 

 gradation from deep darks to highest 

 lights. A weak developer and plenty of 

 time are needed. For over exposure on 

 subjects with a short scale of gradation 

 use a weak developer well restrained. With 

 a long scale, use less alkali, more reducer 

 and no bromide. For under exposure with 

 a short scale of gradations use as strong a 

 developer as the plate will stand for a 

 long time. With a long scale of grada- 

 tions in the subject, use a solution weak 

 in reducer and strong in alkali. 



Daylight as an illuminant in developing 

 is too variable. Besides, almost any color- 

 ing matter will lose its value to some ex- 

 tent if exposed to strong daylight for 

 months. However, a fairly durable glaze 

 for a dark room window. may be made as 

 follows : Coat each side of the glass with 

 a solution of gelatine, coloring one solu- 

 tion with erythrosin and the other with 





