PHOTOGRAPHY 



AS IT SHOULD BE 



Some readers seem to have taken our 

 words last month to heart, and consequently 

 we have a number of questions on various 

 subjects which we have been called upon to 

 answer. This is just what we desire. We 

 want to make this department an open ex- 

 change of ideas. We, on our side, will an- 

 swer your questions and help you out of your 

 difficulties, while you can help us by sug- 

 gesting topics you wish to know more about, 

 and occasionally sending in a few notes 

 yourself on the way you do things. You may 

 be making bromide enlargements, for in- 

 stance, a little better or a little differently 

 than others, and we would like to know your 

 method. Or your tank developer formula 

 may be a specially good one of your own. 

 Let our other readers share in your good 

 fortune. 



ENLARGEMENTS. 



A reader writes for information as to 

 how to make enlargements from engravings 

 and drawings. He states he remembers see- 

 ing some method described in which reflec- 

 tors are used, evidently with the idea of do- 

 ing away with a negative of the print. How 

 this could be done, we are quite unable to 

 say, never having heard of the arrangement. 

 The simplest way is to make a negative of 

 the print, from which, then, any size enlarge- 

 ment can be made. Any one with a camera 

 and a room with a window in it at his dis- 

 posal can make enlargements, and a method 

 of using the ordinary camera at the window 

 for this purpose was described and illustrated 

 in these pages some five or six months ago. 



If the print or engraving is small and has 

 no printing on the other side, a negative can 

 be made by contact. If the picture to be en- 

 larged is in a book, it is best to place a sheet 

 of glass tightly over the page, so as to hold 

 it in position and smooth. 



ABOUT EXPOSURE. 



Wiil you please tell me what exposure and 

 what size stops to use in my camera in order 

 to take successful snow pictures? 



Not an unusual question at this time of the 

 year. Snow pictures are by no means the 

 easiest to take, and the average snow picture 

 has as much resemblance to the real thing 

 as a camera has to a rifle. Over-exposure is 

 only too easy with brilliantly lit snow land- 



scapes, but yet the general fault is under- 

 exposure, giving nothing but harsh contrasts 

 of black, formless trees and white snow with- 

 out any idea of those soft half-tones which 

 are so necessary. When the sun is shining 

 and the snow lies heavily on everything, a 

 very short exposure must be given. It is 

 frequently advised to use the smallest stop 

 of your lens and to run the shutter to its 

 top speed. This generally results in under- 

 exposing the shadows, making them hard and 

 lifeless in the picture. It is better to use a 

 slow plate and preferably a non-halation or- 

 thochromatic plate. Seed makes a good one 

 which, if used with a very weak yellow ray- 

 screen, will give fine results. Snow pictures 

 sTiould be taken in the morning hours, or 

 when the sun is setting, casting long, trans- 

 parent shadows on the snow. Development 

 should not be too strong. A thin plate will 

 give a better print, with more atmosphere 

 and half-tone quality in it than one which 

 has been developed until the high lights are 

 as hard as rocks and the shadows so black 

 that they seem fit to write with. 



REDUCING A NEGATIVE. 



In answer to a couple of inquiries, I would 

 say that generally I use just plain ferricya- 

 nide of potash when I want to reduce a nega- 

 tive. I make a very weak solution, just a 

 small crystal or two in four ounces of water, 

 and after bathing the negative in a hypo so- 

 lution I place it in the ferricyanide. The ac- 

 tion can be stopped by bathing in water, or 

 can be repeated as often as wanted. This is 

 called Farmer's Reducer. Some of the pat- 

 ent reducers are all right, but the old Farm- 

 er's is usually good enough, and its action 

 pretty certain. 



TANK DEVELOPMENT. 



Have my readers ever tried tank develop- 

 ment when they have had a bunch of nega- 

 tives to finish off? I tell you, it is a great 

 institution. You can make a tank for your- 

 self, with grooves down the side to hold the 

 plates, if you are of a mechanical turn of 

 mind; but here is one tank on the market 

 now, called the Auto-Tank, which is a tre- 

 mendous time-saver. A slow-acting develop- 

 er, usually compounded with glycin, which 

 does not stain, is used in a tank and the 

 plates can be dropped in and the tank covered 

 up while you go out of the dark-room and 

 attend to other business. According to the 



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