October 3, 1908. 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
629 
experiments in a couple of camera experi¬ 
ments. In this case we may employ some 
very humble hedgerow material, viz., 
some seeding wild grasses. In the first 
case. Fig. 1, we employ a background 
of quite pale grey drawing-paper. In the 
second instance, Fig. 2, we use a sheet 
of the darkest grey paper obtainable, 
which is not very far from being black 
In the first instance our objects, of 
course, come out darker than the back- 
ground, while in the second example the 
opposite state of affairs presents itself. 
One cannot say that either is better than 
the other, because each has its character¬ 
istic uses and attractions. The somewhat 
delicate nature of the subjects chosen 
does not lend itself very well to half-tone 
reproduction, because much of the fine 
detail is inevitably lost, but at the same 
time 1 venture to invite the careful atten¬ 
tion of lovers of floral work—using the 
term 11 floral” in its widest sense—tn this 
class of subject. The number of common 
wild grasses in England is considerable 
(over 200 if we include Sedges), and while 
there naturally is a family, likeness, jet 
they vary quite sufficiently to give us 
many very pleasing pictures. Those of 
my readers who are interested in using 
photography for decorative purposes will 
find that grasses are particularly useful 
and suitable. 
A few words on technical matters may 
prove useful. First, as to holding the 
specimen. If the stalks are long we may 
easily hold them in the neck of an ordi¬ 
nary medicine bottle, and pack it in the 
neck with paper or cotton wool. Another 
useful dodge is to take a piece of kitchen 
soap, make a hole in it with a small 
skewer, insert the end of the grass stalk 
in the hole in the soap and then press 
the soap round the stalk. 
As to backgrounds, I find the most use 
ful are pale, medium and dark grey. 
Crayon or tinted drawing papers in 
various shades can be bought for about 
Threepence per sheet at shops suppljing 
artists’ materials. To hold the sheet of 
paper flat it is a good plan to laj it on 
a -heet of stout card or mill board, and 
then hold the two together (temporardy) 
by means of four wooden spring clips 
such as are used in the laundry, and ob¬ 
tainable at the oil shops at about twopence 
per dozen. It is then a matter of onlj a 
few seconds to fix any sheet of paper to 
the same card. 
Arrangement is, of course, a matter of 
artistic taste, about which little can be 
said beyond a word of general advice as 
to what to avoid. For pictorial purposes 
it is not desirable to crowd up the picture 
with too many sprays. Just two or three 
stalks are better than half-a-dozen. It 
is also desirable not to mix several kinds 
of grasses together. 
As regards lighting, a rather strong 
side light is very effective with a dark 
background. F ig. 2 was taken about 
3 feet away from a rather narrow bedroom 
window to the left of the camera. For 
light backgrounds I incline to prefer a 
more diffused and general style of light¬ 
ing. On account of the fine detail which 
is half the charm of work of this kind, it 
is advisable to use backed plates. The 
exposure should be fairly generous, but 
development rnubt not be carried to ex¬ 
tremes, or some of the delicacj' and de¬ 
tail is likely to be lost. In this class of 
work ! do not, as a rule, find it necessarj- 
>hotogfaphy for Garden Liovers. 
By the Rev. F. C. Lambert, M.A., F.R.P.S._ 
(Continued -from -page 542.) 
V. —LIGHT AND DARK BACKGROUNDS. 
One of the very important points for 
e photographer to consider is the back- 
ound. This is particularly the case for 
,wer, fruit, foliage a'nd such kind of 
irk, because the question of colour as 
;11 as form has to be considered with 
le care. Everj’one knows that a red 
iwer—say, a Geranium—shows up well 
-ainst a background of green leaves, be¬ 
muse these two colours are compkmen- 
ry to each other, and so afford a marked 
ntrast. But for the present we are not 
:aling with photographs in colour, so 
at we have to consider not so much how 
d and green form a colour contrast, but 
>w the red and green would come out 
our monochrome photograph. It 
auld be quite possible in our print to 
-ing them out very much the same 
iade. so that 3 quite wrong'impression 
auld be given by the photograph. 
Take another case. Let this be a green 
eaf-clad) tree, vdiereof the upper part 
seen against a pale grey-blue sky and 
le lower part against a quite dark back- 
round, such as we may have in the case 
: the arch of a bridge in shade. By 
irce 1 of light and shade contrast the 
pper part of the tree would look dark 
ad the lower part light, j r et both were 
‘ally of the same shade value. 
I strongly advise the reader making the 
illowing experiment with a half or quar- 
■r sheet of clean white blotting-paper 
nd a little black ink. Cut up the blot- 
ng-paper into four strips, viz., A, B, C, 
and D. Preserve strip A in its original 
clean and white state. In a soup plate 
put a tablespoonful of cold water and a 
rew drops of ink, so as to obtain a light¬ 
ish grey mixture. Dip one end of strip 
B 111 this and let the inky water run up 
into the paper until it nearly reaches the 
other end, then withdraw and allow to 
drip for a minute or so and lay aside (on 
an old newspaper) to dry. Now', for strip 
C make anotner mixture of ink and water, 
but this time add a much larger propor¬ 
tion of ink, so as to get a darkish tint. 
Finally, use undiluted ink for strip D. 
We now have white (A), light grey (B), 
dark grey (C), and black (D), papers. 
Now lay B, C and D side by side, with 
A crossing all three. \\ e at once can 
see that this white object A on the three 
different backgrounds, B, C and D, gives 
us three decidedly different effects. Again 
put A, B and C side by side and lay D 
across all three. Here, again, we can 
see the effect of different backgrounds 
with a dark object. Next compare A laid 
over B, with C laid over D. Here we 
have A and B giving us a feeble or weak 
contrast in a light kej', while C and D 
give us weak contrasts in a low or dark 
kev. Thus with our four bits of paper 
we can by such simple experiments get a 
practical grip on the principles of the use 
of backgrounds. 
Now let us apply the lessons of these 
Fig. 2. Wild glasses on a dark back¬ 
ground. 
Fig. 1. Wild grasses on a light back- 
round. 
