MAKING PICTURES OF THE HOME FOLKS 



By FELIX RAYMER 



T is the desire of 

 everyone pos- 

 sessing a camera 

 to make pictures 

 of the home peo- 

 ple as they see 

 them. And every 

 operator in every 

 studio has heard 

 and will con- 

 tinue to hear the 

 hope expressed 

 that "I wish I 

 could get moth- 

 er's or father's 

 picture as we see 

 them at home"; or "I wish I could get 

 baby playing as we see her at home," 

 and such wishes. This is a desire of 

 everyone that has pictures made, and the 

 studio man is laboring under great dis- 

 advantages when he tries to please the 

 customer who has such a longing. All 

 pictures are sized up for their likeness 

 to the people as we see them about the 

 house, in certain occupations that have 

 become familiar to us, and if the studio 

 worker cannot get the picture to show 

 these little familiar traits in his work 

 we are dissatisfied. 



But in later years, nay, I may say 

 months, it has become an easy matter 

 for the amateur with his Kodak, or 

 whatever camera he may have, to make 

 some of the very best pictures to be 

 had. It is the purpose of this article to 

 explain how it may be done. And in 

 giving these directions it will be done 

 in what we may call "steps." Each 

 step will lead to another step, until the 

 negative is complete. The reader, to 

 get the most good from the directions, 

 will do well to take each step as it 

 comes, before going to another. 



First — Select the window to be used, 

 and then secure a green shade such as 



is usually seen on all windows, and that 

 runs from the top down to the bottom 

 of the window. But to arrange the 

 window so that the best results may be 

 had, the shade will have to be fastened 

 at the bottom of the window so that it 

 can be drawn upward. In other words, 

 reverse the shade from its usual po- 

 sition. This enables the operator to 

 close of! all of the light that falls on 

 the subject from below the head. Just 

 here I will say that there is never :i 

 time in making portraits when the light 

 should fall on the subject from a point 

 lower than the head. All such light 

 serves to spoil the modeling of the face. 



Second — Draw the shade on the win- 

 dow up until the lower sash is covered, 

 leaving the the upper sash open so that 

 the light can pass through it. 



Third — Place the subject the same 

 distance from the window that it meas- 

 ures in width. That is, if the window 

 is four feet wide the subject should be 

 placed just four feet from it, and at 

 one end of it. The light should all 

 come in at the window so that it will 

 be in front of the subject. 



( Note. By referring to the diagram 

 the idea can be seen and easily under- 

 stood.) 



Fourth — Have the subject face di- 

 rectly to the windows as though he or 

 she were looking out of it. 



Fifth — Have the subject begin to 

 turn slowly from the light, and con- 

 tinue to do so, until a little spark of 

 light appears in the shadow eye. This 

 little light is called the "catch light" 

 and is the key to making the lighting as 

 it should be. When it appears have the 

 subject stop turning and then study the 

 light for a while. 



If there is a shadow running from 

 the nose downward toward the corner 

 of the mouth on the shadow side of the 



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