PHOTOGRAPHY 



3 C >3 



when I had a batch of eighteen 6x8 negatives to 

 develop. Imagine my horror when I found I had 

 no developer for my tank. I had to turn to and fix 

 up my bath-room for a dark-room (with the tank 

 I only turn out the light and don't bother) and 

 develop in a tray one at a time. I only finished 

 ten and was then dead tired. My negatives, ex- 

 posed as carefully as always, did not give me as 

 full values in the clear parts as I had gotten before 

 with the tank, and it took me three hours to do 

 what I could have done with a total loss of time 

 of half an hour using the tank, for with that the 

 plates look after themselves. I was using a metol- 

 hydrodiman developer, and also a new developer, 

 Ensignol, and some may ask why I did not put the 

 metol-hydro. in the tank. Metol-hydro. is not a 

 good tank developer, as it will cause chemical fog- 

 ging of the plate during a prolonged exposure, 

 for which reason glycin is usually used, as glycin 

 will not stain or fog a plate. Here are two good 

 glycin tank developers: 



Water 20 oz. 



Soda sulphite 2 oz. 



Potass, carbonate 100 gr. 



Glycin 20 gr. 



or, 



Water 20 oz. 



Soda sulphite 1 oz. 



Glycin So gr. 



Soda carbonate 100 gr. 



Rodinal makes an excellent tank developer, 

 the formula being: 



Rodinal 1 part 



Water 100 to 1 ,ooo parts 



according to the length of time it is desired to have 

 the negative in the tank. The Cramer book gives 

 the two following developers as excellent for tank 

 work: 



PYRO TANK DEVELOPER 

 A. 



Pure water 16 oz. 



Citric acid 20 gr. 



Sulphite of soda' (dry) i oz. 



Pyrogallic acid 1 oz. 



B. 



Pure water 16 oz. 



Sulphite of soda (dry) 2 oz. 



C. 



Pure water 16 oz. 



Carbonate of soda (dry) 2 oz. 



Mix for immediate use: 



A 1 oz. 



B 1 oz. 



C 1 oz. 



Water at 50° 50 oz. 



Here is the Cramer Edinol formula: 



A. 



Pure water 32 oz. 



Sulphite of soda (dry) 2 oz. 



Acetone sulphite \ oz. 



Edinol \ oz. 



Bromide of Potass 5 gr. 



B. 



Pure water 32 oz. 



Carbonate of Potass 4 oz. 



For use mix in following proportions: 



A 1 oz. 



B 1 oz. 



Water at 50 24 oz. 



These all make good working developers, but a 

 metol-hydrochinane formula I frankly do not 

 know, and would not give it if I did. A tank 

 developer must necessarily be very much diluted, 

 and metal-hydro., when too much diluted, gives 



streaks and markings on the negative, besides 

 causing stains. 



ATMOSPHERE IN PICTURES 



The fourth question is on this interesting sub- 

 ject, and the writer asks if softness is to be obtained 

 by having the subject slightly out of focus. Not 

 necessarily. I have seen exquisite landscape photo- 

 graphs sharp all over, full of atmospheric effect, 

 but these are rare and, generally speaking, we 

 obtain atmosphere or sense of distance and airines,' 

 in a picture by rendering the principal subject c. 

 plan with a certain amount of sharpness and sub- 

 ordinating the rest of the picture. This is effected 

 by focusing on this one object or plane using as 

 large a lens opening as we can to get that and that 

 only in definition. The other planes of the picture 

 will then be out of focus, not necessarily foggy, but 

 sufficiently unsharp to hold them back. The fore- 

 ground is generally the most prominent part of 

 the picture, and if a study of landscape paintings 

 be made, it will be found that nearly always the 

 foreground is brought up strongly. 



The method of printing from negatives has much 

 to do with the rendering of atmosphere in a picture, 

 but to describe this fully would require an article 

 in itself. Platinum paper naturally lends itself 

 better to this than a glossy paper, which brings up 

 every detail strongly. 



Is the exposure metre an aid? Do I believe in 

 the use of exposure metre as an aid to correct 

 exposure? Most certainly I do, and the man who 

 uses a metre that is accurate will find that he has a 

 far better set of negatives at less cost than the man 

 who simply relies on his own judgment or intuition. 

 I used to believe that a metre was a fool thing to 

 have, that my right hand knew when to squeeze 

 the rubber bulb of the shutter involuntarily. And 

 I made all kinds of hits or misses, though usually 

 my luck was pretty good. But one day I was 

 called upon to make some photographs of the 

 foundation of a house which was falling into a hole 

 in an adjoining lot. The pictures were wanted for 

 legal purposes, and they had to be done in a hurry, 

 and right. It was a dull day and I didn't dare trust 

 to luck, so I just bought a Wynne metre and the 

 negatives were the best I ever made. I use a 

 Wynne metre all the time now indoors and out, and 

 I know that my negatives are going to be perfect. 

 That sense of security is worth a great deal, when 

 you are making pictures that cannot be secured 

 again. As to the kind of metre, the best is the 

 cheapest, and I personally use the Wynne, though 

 the Watkins Bee metre works along similar lines 

 and probably is equally effective. 



My correspondent winds up with a couple of 

 suggestions for articles, one of which I will take up 

 right away The anestigmat lens is very much 

 used to-day and very much misunderstood. The 

 qualities to be expected from an anastigmat lens 

 are extreme rapidity, minute definition, great 

 covering powers, even illumination, flatness of 

 field or elimination of curvature, whichever way 

 you put it, and chromatic correction. These last 

 two qualities are not so interesting to the amateur, 

 although of great importance, as the one of speed. 

 But, curiously .enough, the average amateur 

 usually uses a small stop or diaphragm when 



