F ORES T A N D S T R E A M 
207 
Your Guides Would Like to Have this as a Remembrance of Their Race. 
ent dyes, the three primary colors, red, green, and 
blue-violet—and mixed in correct proportions. A 
glass plate with an adhesive coating is sprinkled 
with this mixture, and the surplus shaken off. 
The interstices which remain are filled with fine 
carbon black. The coating is then rolled, and 
covered with a waterproof varnish. Upon this 
is spread a very thin film of an orthochromatic 
collodin emulsion. Autochromes come packed 
four in a box, box of four in lantern slide size 
costing $1.20. The film is very delicate and great 
care must be exercised in handling the plates. 
The box must be opened either in an absolutely 
dark room, or in one faintly lighted by a low 
candle power light fully screened by the “Virida” 
papers sold for the purpose. In any case, as the 
emulsion is sensitive to all colors, the less light of 
any sort one has, the better. Each plate is packed 
with the film side in contact with a black card¬ 
board, and the two are loaded into the plate hold¬ 
ers together. The glass side of the plate, which, 
contrary to the practice with ordinary plates, 
faces the lens, must be wiped gently with a soft 
cloth to remove dust. 
Having your plate holders loaded, slip over the 
lens the special ray filter sold for Autochrome 
work. No other filter will answer. The object 
of this filter is to cut off the too actinic blue- 
violet rays, and to equalize the light, and the 
necessary shade of filter for this plate has been 
accurately determined by the makers. The 
ground glass in the focusing back must be re¬ 
versed, that is the ground side faced out to com¬ 
pensate for the reversal of the plate in the holder. 
Before making an exposure it is absolutely 
necessary to test the light. Color plates, for 
reasons which it is not necessary to go into here, 
have very narrow latitude in exposure, and un¬ 
less the exposure is right the colors will not be 
true. The Watkins Bee Meter for Color Plates 
is cheap and efficient. With each meter comes 
a booklet giving full instructions, plate speeds, 
etc. Having tested the light in accordance with 
these instructions, and having ascertained the 
correct exposure, follow this absolutely, regard¬ 
less of what your opinions may be as to its accu¬ 
racy. The meter is far more accurate than the 
judgment any photographer, however skilled, can 
form from the image on the ground glass. The 
Watkins plate speed for Autochromes is 3, abont 
eighty times slower than an ordinary plate. 
Having made the exposure the next step is de¬ 
velopment, and the Lumiere booklets give full 
and complete directions for this. It is best, at 
any rate until you have become proficient to fol¬ 
low these directions closely. The plate is de¬ 
veloped in the dark, or with a very feeble Virida 
light, for about two minutes, rinsed a few sec¬ 
onds, then put into a ‘‘reversing bath” and brought 
out to full light. Reversing requires three or 
four minutes, after which the plate is rinsed 
again, re-developed, rinsed half a minute, and set 
aside to dry. When dry, it may be varnished, 
and a protecting cover of clear glass is bound 
over it. The whole process of making a complete 
Autochrome does not require more than thirty 
minutes, and is simplicity itself. 
“What,” some will say, “lug around a lot of 
heavy fragile glass plates on a hard trip in the 
woods?” Well, why not? When you go out after 
big game, do you depend on a light target pistol, 
rather than be bothered by the weight of an effec¬ 
tive gun? Color pictures are the big game of 
photography. If you are content with the small 
game, stick to the roll film camera. But it is 
safe to assert that the great majority of us, when 
we go to the woods, lug along, cheerfully enough, 
many times the weight of two dozen color plates, 
in the shape of tackle boxes, repair kits, eto 
seldom if ever to use them. You will not stick 
at a few pounds extra weight in your outfit when 
once you have learned what beautiful effects you 
can secure only by color plates. For nearly every 
time it is the color in the landscape, not the com¬ 
position, that inspires the picture, and the color 
blind plate or film yields prints that are dis¬ 
appointing. By all means take a dozen or two 
color plates with you, but before you go practice 
with them enough so that you can use them 
properly. 
A color plate process which is rapidly gaining 
converts is the Paget. The Paget color plates are 
made in England, and, unlike the Autochromes, 
the taking screen is on a separate plate from the 
sensitive emulsion. The latter is a panchromatic 
one, sensitive to all colors. The taking screen 
consists of the same primary colors as that of 
the Autochrome, but in a miscroscopic, geometri¬ 
cal design, and this taking screen may be used 
over and over again. The film side of the taking 
screen is placed in contact with the film of the 
negative, and the plate holders for Paget color 
plates must be fitted with good springs, to main¬ 
tain close contact of the screen and plate. A 
special ray filter is required. The ground glass of 
the focusing back is reversed, just as for Auto¬ 
chromes. In calculating the exposure, the Paget 
booklet gives twelve as. the Watkins speed. It 
has been my experience- and that of several 
others, that eight is nearer right. From this it 
is evident that the Paget color plate is more than 
twice as fast as the Autochrome. After making 
the exposure, the taking screen is placed to one 
side for further use, and the negative developed 
according to the printed instructions enclosed 
with the plates. This negative is fixed and washed 
in the usual way, and from it is made a lantern 
slide transparency on a Paget Transparency plate. 
The completed slide is brought in contact with a 
viewing screen, having the same geometrical de¬ 
sign, and in the same colors, as the taking screen. 
When the two are registered exactly, the colors 
are true, and the two are then firmly bound to¬ 
gether. 
Each process has its advantages. A color pic¬ 
ture by the Autochrome process can be completed 
much more rapidly than by the Paget. The 
Autochrome, having the same taking and view¬ 
ing screen, shows no parallex effect by indirect 
light, while the Paget must be viewed by direct 
light. And the Autochrome costs a little less than 
a completed Paget. But in my estimation, the 
advantages of the Paget process far out¬ 
weigh the disadvantages. In the first place, 
the Paget plates being faster, permit of shorter 
exposures. True- the Autochromes may be super- 
sensitized, but not every amateur would care to 
attempt this. The Paget plates have far better 
keeping qualities, and more latitude in exposure. 
The final color transparencies are much more 
brilliant and stand the heat of the projection 
lantern much better than the Autochrome. The 
cost of failure in exposure is much less in the 
case of the Paget, as it is confined to the cost of 
the negative. The Paget process is duplicating, 
that is as many color transparencies as one likes 
may be made from the same negative, while but 
one Autochrome results from each exposure. And 
finally, the Paget color negative makes contact 
prints and enlargements in any medium one 
chooses. The quality of the prints made from 
these negatives will be a revelation to one who 
has not used panchromatic plates and ray filters. 
Whatever color plates you take on your next 
outing, I strongly advise that before starting each 
box be sealed in a moisture proof tin box, fasten¬ 
ed with adhesive tape. Do not leave Autochromes 
long in plate holders. Paget plates will stand 
more of this sort of abuse. When the plates 
have been exposed, unload the plate holders at 
night, under blankets, with no light of any sort, 
and reload at the same time. Carefully pack the 
exposed plates in the same wrappings, and boxes 
they came in, and seal again in the tins. And de¬ 
velop them at the very first opportunity. 
When one takes up this delightful recreation 
of color photography, he finds it, as he becomes 
more skilled, a most interesting sport in itself. 
