AMATEUR PHOTOGRAPHY. 



3*i 



STAINS. 



One of the troubles of the photographic 

 worker is the appearance of all manner of 

 stains, on the hands and fingers, on the 

 films, on the prints. 



Stains on the fingers can generally be 

 removed by the application of a little paste 

 made of a- quarter of a pound each of 

 Glauber's salts and chloride of lime in 

 about 4 ounces of water. Applied with a 

 bit of pumice stone or a nail brush. 



To remove nitrate of silver stains 

 from the hands, few things are so good 

 as a little solution of chloride of iron. 



A reducer such as ferricyanide and hypo 

 may stain the prints, especially bromide. 

 A better way is to use a reducer made of 

 chloride ot 'me. An ounce of bleaching 

 powder stirred up in water, and the solu- 

 tion filtered, gives a capital agent for the 

 purpose, since it not only reduces the print 

 and picks out the high lights, but clears it 

 and takes away the yellow color so often 

 present. In fact the solution gives clean 

 whites, and altogether renders the print 

 more vigorous and brilliant. After this 

 process all that is wanted is a good wash- 

 ing. 



. The chloride of lime solution will also 

 clear away the yellowing of platinotypes. 

 Indeed, the bath may easily be made still 

 more active in that direction by the addi- 

 tion of a dram of hydrochloric acid to each 

 pint. 



Many a good negative has been spoiled 

 by haste in trying to print quickly from it, 

 putting a piece of silver paper ->n to the un- 

 fortunate negative before the latter was 

 tnoroughly dry. These silver stains are 

 often difficult to remove, but a good plan is 

 to use a solution of 3 grains of iodine in 

 an ounce of methylated spirit. Wash the 

 negative thoroughly and then lay it in the 

 iodine solution until the silver stains lose 

 color. A good washing in running water 

 should follow, after which the process 

 should be completed by a bath of hypo. If 

 this process is found to reduce the nega- 

 tive considerably, intensification may have 

 to be resorted to. Placing the stained nega- 

 tive in clean hypo solution is often suffi- 

 cient to remove any markings of this class, 

 though a prolonged soaking is sometimes 

 necessary to thoroughly clear the plate. 



For most chemical stains on the hands a 

 dabbing with any weak or diluted acid 

 proves sufficient. For pyro stains rub the 

 fingers with a crystal of citric acid, giviug 

 the skin plenty of washing between the 

 rubbings. — American Photographer. 



lutions as those containing metol, hydro- 

 quinone and soda, which have the unde- 

 sirable effect of leaving a filmy white sedi- 

 ment behind that not infrequently leads to 

 yellowness of the whites in the prints. 

 Probably every one has at some time or 

 other added a few drops of sulphuric or 

 hydrochloric acid to the fixing bath, with 

 the intention of rendering it acid, only to 

 find a yellow precipitation of sulphur take 

 place with the accompanying evolution of 

 sulphuretted hydrogen. Fixing baths con- 

 taining sulphite and sulphuric acid, unless 

 scientifically mixed, must inevitably pro- 

 duce sulphuretted hydrogen, and thus be as 

 dangerous as, or more so than, the much 

 condemned though useful combined toning 

 and fixing bath. It will be found, how- 

 ever, that the addition of sulphurow,? acid 

 to ordinary 20 or 25 per cent, hypo solu- 

 tion, in the proportion of one to 2 drams 

 a pint, renders it acid, and though on ad- 

 dition a faint trace of H 2 S is to be de- 

 tected, no precipitation should take place. 

 A good bath is thus made, of remarkable 

 keeping qualities. The sulphurous acid 

 may be prepared easily by putting sodium 

 sulphite and sulphuric or hydrochloric acid, 

 50 per cent, with water, into a flask which 

 is connected by a delivery tube with a 

 bottle filled with distilled water, the tube 

 going to the bottom of the bottle. It is 

 safe also to substitute a bottle for the flask. 

 The bubbles of gas are dissolved in the 

 water until it is saturated, the chemicals in 

 the flask being replenished from time to 

 time as necessary. — Photography. 



THE ACID FIXING BATH. 

 The acid fixing bath is frequently recom- 

 mended by writers and manufacturers alike, 

 especially for use with plates and papers 

 which have been developed with such so- 



TROUBLES WITH CYCO PAPER. 



In response to the complaints of J. C. C. 

 and J. E. Bates in regard to the blistering 

 of Cyco paper, I beg to say that the trouble 

 probably lies with their method of handling 

 it. Just the other day a dealer handed me a 

 dozen 5x7 Cyco, with the remark that he 

 wished me to try it. He went on to explain 

 that it blistered as soon as it was trans- 

 ferred to the wash water. I told him that 

 he was probably at fault, upon which he 

 told me he would give me 2 bits if I got 

 one print out of the dozen that was not 

 blistered. I got my own formula for de- 

 veloper and in a few minutes we were at 

 work. All came out beautifully, and there 

 was not a blister in the lot of nearly 2 

 dozen. My method is as follows : 



After printing remove from the frame, 

 slide the print into the developer, and rock 

 the tray vigorously, so as to cover the pa- 

 per as quickly as possible. Do not wet the 

 print before development. Use metol-hydro 

 developer, and plenty of it, say }i inch 

 deep, in a deep tray. If air bells appear on 

 the print remove them and if the printing 

 has proper time the spot caused by the bell 

 will soon catch up and be of the same den- 



