PHOTOGRAPHY 



Hints to an Amateur 



A series of really interesting questions came to 

 hand recently from one of my readers. They are 

 the questions of a man who really wants to know 

 something definite about what he is doing and are 

 of sufficient interest to go into at length in these 

 columns. He writes: 



Editor Recreation: 



This is a direct response to your invitation of December last, 

 to bring our troubles to you. If I come with too many, you 

 have only yourself to blame for having made us have too much 

 confidence in you. I will be as brief as possible, for I know 

 this is your busy day. 



First, I would appreciate a word of advice as to the correct 

 plate to select to allow me to engage in general amateur work. 

 I wish to do landscape work largely, some interior work, take a 

 few flashlights occasionally, and take a few flower pictures. 

 I have in mind now Seeds' non-halation ortho, and Lumiere's 

 non-halation ortho. Would you disapprove my choice? 



Second, if the Seeds is chosen as above, how long should I 

 expose an orthochromatic ? That is, presuming that Seeds' 

 26X requires one unit of time, should I give the ortho the same 

 relative time, or one and a third or one and one-quarter units? 

 How would a light yellow ray filter affect the exposure further ? 



Third, I am about to be converted to the "tank" system 

 of development, as suggested in your January notes. Will 

 you please give me the exact formula to use in this way, in 

 connection with either of the above plates or the ones you may 

 suggest? If you are favorable to glycin, will you also give 

 me a formula for metol-hydro for the tank? 



Fourth, in seeking for " atmosphere " in my pictures, am I 

 to understand that softness is to be obtained by having the 

 subject slightly out of focus? If so, and I am taking a land- 

 scape, should I have the foreground sharp, and the distant por- 

 tion a little less so? If this is not the method pursued, is the 

 softness I see in so many prints due to the method of printing ? 



Fifth, do you believe in the use of an exposure metre as an 

 aid? If so, will you advise me in purchasing one? 



This is all that I am bold enough to submit. I suppose that 

 most of these questions have been covered in past issues of 

 Recreation, but as I have not been one of your family for 

 a great time, I have missed the good things. For this same 

 reason I am reluctant to make suggestions to you, but will 

 venture on two. 



First is a question that I know vexes many amateurs. It is 

 this: when one has ordered a new lens, a double anistigmat, 

 and has it in his hand for the first time, what qualities should 

 be expected, and how should one go about it to test it to ascer- 

 tain if these qualities are really present? You would be sur- 

 prised to know the number of your readers who would derive 

 great help from a short talk from you on this subject. If this 

 strikes you favorably, I will look for some information on this 

 subject in some of the coming issues. Again, I have found 

 that a shutter of the kind on most cameras, say the Woilensak, 

 for example, is a delicate piece of machinery, and will at times 

 get a little out of order — not enough to prevent it working, but 

 enough to cause it to vary a little on the intermediate speeds. 

 This will, of course, cause a variation in results, which to a 

 novice is hard to understand. A little talk from you as to a 

 method of testing our shutters from time to time, without hav- 

 ing to resort to the unsatisfactory pendulum, would come in 

 about right. Now I am afraid I have been forward, but will 

 hope that you will see that my aim has been to assist in the 

 production of a bigger, better, more helpful Recreation than 

 ever. Charles B. Piper, M.D. 



The first question concerns the correct plate to 

 use for general amateur work, mainly landscape, 

 a few interiors, a flashlight or two and now and 

 then a flower study. The questioner suggests 

 Seed's non-halation orthochromatic or the Lumiere 



non-halation ortho. Most emphatically I endorse 

 the Seed p'ate, but as a plate for general amateur 

 work it is possibly a little expensive, and further 

 requires careful handling in the dark-room. It 

 must be remembered that the orthochromatic plate 

 is more sensitive to the rays from the dark-room 

 lamp than the regular non-color sensitive plates, 

 and very few dark-room lamps, such as usually s^li 

 round about a dollar, are worthy of the name. 

 I have always recommended the beginner to use 

 Seed 2 6x plates, a plate of excellent uniformity, 

 fast enough for all ordinary work, including 

 moderate speed work, and yet not too sensitive 

 to bother the amateur. Or if a plate is needed 

 for slender purses, there is nothing better than the 

 Stanby, an old-timer and generally to be relied 

 upon. However, if the amateur has a sense of 

 color values, knows how to appreciate the harm 

 halation does in a landscape negative where 

 tree branches intersect the sky, and can use a 

 color or ray-screen, there should be no hesitancy 

 in using the Seed non-halation ortho, in every case. 

 Brighter, snappier negatives will result, with truer . 

 color values; the light blue of the sky will not be 

 as white on the print as the white sail of the yacht, 

 and so on. As to the speed of the Seed non-hala- 

 tion ortho, it is about the same as the Seed 2 6x. 

 The non-halation is double-coated, the two emul- 

 sions being of different speeds, consequently a 

 greater latitude in exposure is permissible than 

 with the single-coated plate. With a light yellow 

 fLter used in connection with the ortho plate, an 

 exposure about four times the ordinary will be 

 necessary, but this depends largely upon the depth 

 of color of the fi.tcr, and there are so many different 

 kinds upon the market it is hard to give a correct 

 estimate. The deeper the color, the longer the ex- 

 posure, and the harder and more pronounced will 

 be the color renderings, until frequently an exag- 

 geration occurs. This is often noticeable in land- 

 scapes with clouds, where too strong a filter causes 

 an unnatural, stuck-on appearance of the cloud 

 masses. Flower studies should not be attempted 

 without a filter. 



TANK DEVELOPMENT 



The questioner states he is about to be converted 

 to the "tank" system of development, and I hope, 

 for his own sake, that by the time he reads these 

 lines, he will not only be converted, but be a con- 

 stant user. I have been using the tank now for 

 a considerable period, and have uniformly better 

 results with infinitely less labor. Let me give a little 

 of my own experience. I have been doing quite 

 a little commercial work lately, photographing 

 pianos, to be exact, and I have used the auto-tank 

 right through with splendid results until last night, 



