THE GARDEN I NO WORLD. 
129 
February 27, 1909. 
Photography for Garden liovers. 
By the Rev. F. C. Lambert, M.A., F.R.P.S. 
(Continued from -page 57.J 
XL— PHOTOGRAPHING OBJECTS TO SCALE, 
The garden lover, be be amateur or pro- 
essional, is naturally very proud of him- 
elf when he has produced an extra large 
, r exceptionally small specimen of some 
and, and also very naturally washes to 
(reserve a record of this bloom or fruit 
vhich in a short time will fade or vanish 
n some way or other. 
Of course he turns to his camera and 
nakes a photograph, but is sadly disap- 
jointed on finding that his giant Primrose 
Dr mammoth Apple looks just the ordin¬ 
ary size in his picture. P his, of course, 
results from the lack of anything in his 
picture with which to compare the size 
of the object showm. Therefore we can at 
once easily see that in order to give the 
spectator an idea of size we must include 
some object with which not only we are 
familiar, but with which we are ac¬ 
customed to regard as of fixed size, or at 
any rate of a kind that does not vary much 
in size. 
If, for instance, we say that a Plum is 
“ about the size ” of a hen's egg this gives 
a good general idea of its size, but as 
hen's eggs vary somewhat, it is not abso¬ 
lutely definite. If we said a Gooseberry 
was as big as a hen’s egg we should know 
it was extra large, but a Lemon of this 
size would be extra small. 
In Fig. 1 I show an Orange, a lemon, 
and a quite ordinary hen's egg in a com¬ 
mon penny egg cup. If we cover up the 
egg and cup for a moment we have no 
very definite idea as to the size of the 
other things. The Lemon may be extra 
small, or the Orange extra large; but if 
the fegg and cup be included in our 
picture we at once recognise that the 
Lemon is of the ordinary size, and there¬ 
fore the Orange is extra large. 
In Fig. 2 I show an ordinary sherry 
wine-glass half full of water and an 
Apple. By comparing the two we at once 
see that the Apple was a fine specimen, 
but without the wine-glass to help us in 
forming a scale of sizes the Apple may be 
quite ordinary or very small in size. 
But for flower and fruit “ Show re¬ 
cords we require something more de¬ 
finite than “fine,” “extra large,” etc.; 
we want to be able to say definitely what 
the size was in inches. Therefore we must 
include a scale of inches, feet, etc., in 
our picture. To give some idea of the 
size of a forest tree we may include a 
standing adult figure, or a yard stick; for 
ordinary garden foreground subjects a 
foot rule may serve, but for indoor work 
with small table specimens a scale of 
inches is required. 
J find two such scales are very useful. 
The first is drawn with black ink on white 
card. It shows one clear inch, and a 
second inch marked in eighths of an inch 
(Fig. 3). For the second I paste a piece 
of black paper on card and then rule 
white lines with white ink or water colour 
paint diluted with a little 'water. This 
second scale shows three full inches and 
also 5, i, and f inch (Fig. 4). I think 
these two diagrams will sufficiently ex¬ 
plain themselves. 
They should be carefully and ac¬ 
curately drawn on stiff card — a post card 
will do—with pen and black ink. W hen I 
sav black, I do not mean the usual blue 
or violet office ink but a good jet black, 
preferably Indian ink. The ordinary 
blue-black ink would photograph badly. 
Fig. 2. 
Fig. i. 
In Fig. s we have two prize Apples 
from a recent show in the Royal Botanic 
Gardens, and between them is the two- 
inch scale, so that anyone wishing to 
know their exact size only need take a 
pair of compasses and measure the Apples 
with this inch scale. I do not know their 
name, but I can answ r er for their excel¬ 
lent flavour. Their colour when photo¬ 
graphed was a rich lemon or light orange 
tint, and very beautiful in surface. 
In Fig. 6 we have what might very well 
pass for a giant Orange and ordinary 
Lemon had we no scale with which to 
compare the objects; but the black scale 
of inches on our left tells us that the dia¬ 
meter of the Orange is only about 
3 inches, so it is only a giant when com¬ 
pared with its companion, which is not 
an ordinary Lemon, but an unusually 
small Lime. 
The card scale showing us its black 
face in this instance is made to stand up 
nearly vertically by leaning it against a 
long "stout pin which is stuck into the 
table top. 
Perhaps it would be just as well to say 
that as long as our scale of inches is the 
same distance from the lens that the ob- 
Fig. 4. Fig. 3. 
jects are, it matters not what actual size the 
objects and scale appear in our picture 
(for they are all reduced in size together). 
The inches on the scales in the reproduc¬ 
tions in Figs. 5 and 6 are not actual 
inches, but that in no way affects their 
value as measuring scales. Thus if we 
lav our compasses across the Orange in 
Fig. 6 and then apply them to the scale, 
we find the Orange is just 3 inches in dia¬ 
meter. Similarly the greatest diameter of 
the Lime only measures two marks, that 
is, inches, on the scale. 
(For Figs. 5 and 6 see page 130.) 
-- 
THE Royal Horticultural Society of Ire¬ 
land will hold their summer show on July 
20th. Every effort has been made in 
drafting the schedule to attract high-class 
exhibits,- 
