August  1(5,  1900. 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
145  ’  ^ 
Floral  Pliotography. 
How  rare  is  a  good  photographic  picture  of  a  flower  !  The 
representation  of  flowers  and  trees  by  means  of  photography  is  an  art 
but  ver^  little  understood.  True  enough  that  thousands  and 
thousands  of  plates  are  exposed  on  such  subjects,  but  the  effort  of  the 
miny  would-he  photographers  are  not  very  satisfactory  in  their  final 
results.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  floral  photography  presents  greater  diffi¬ 
culties  and  more  special  problems  than  almost  any  other  branch  of  the 
art.  Thus,  for  instance,  colour,  which  is  an  essential  feature  in  the 
make-up  of  most  flowers,  presents  great  difficulties  in  proper  trans¬ 
lation  into  the  photographic  tone  ;  every  device  of  advance!  photo¬ 
graphy  and  skilful  ingenuity  of  the  adept  practitioner  are  called  into 
use  for  the  proper  reproduction  of  plant  forms  in  anything  like  life-like 
•values  in  grace  of  composition  and  illumination,  especially  the  latter. 
But  floral  photography  is  receiving  more  attention  nowadays,  and 
of  recent  date  many  more  or  less  pretentious  articles  have  appeared  in 
the  photographic  press  and  also  in  other  publications.  Yet  to  the 
students  these  have  all  been  disappointments.  The  fact  is  that  very 
few^practitioners  appreciate  the  problems  which  arise,  and  whatsoever 
have  often  had  to  a'^gue  the  case  with  “  artists  ”  in  the  photographing 
of  subjects  for  the  press.  As  to  the  claim  often  made  that  the  flowers 
have  a  tendency  to  follow  the  sun  during  the  time  of  exposure,  no 
such  thing  has  ever  been  experienced.  While  orchochromatic  plates 
are  recommended  as  far  better  than  ordinary  ones,  a  ray  filter,  we 
learn,  is  not  an  advantage  save  for  deep  orange  and  blue  shades. 
This  is  so,  because  the  best  isochromatic  plates  are  already  quite 
sensitive  to  yellow  and  repellant  to  blue,  and  the  use  of  even  a  weak 
ray  filter,  in  conjunction  with  them,  would  be  likely  to  render,  say, 
a  bright  canary  yellow  about  as  densely  as  a  pure  white  ! 
In  the  matter  of  backgrounds,  to  which  little  or  no  attention  is 
given  as  a  rule,  the  operator  is  advised  to  have  several  pieces  of  c  ird- 
board,  the  full  22  x  28  size,  or  larger  if  possible,  these  cards  to  be  both 
white  jand  dark.  The  mounting  card  known  as  “carbon  black,”  is 
most  excellent  as  a  dark  surface ;  and  a  large  shaded  “  Rembrandt  ” 
mount  will  also  be  found  of  much  utility.  The  backgrounds  must  be 
free  from  gloss,  else  one  has  an  extra  trouble  on  hand  when  there  are 
sufficient  other  items  of  bother.  A  dark  grey  cloth  of  rather  smooth, 
even  texture — as  serge  or  flannel,  or,  what  is  even  better,  felt — 
forms  a  very  useful  background ;  but  it  must  be  so  kept  as  to  be 
free  from  sharp  folds.  One  of  the  very  first  things  the  flower  operator 
needs  to  do  is  to  photograph  the  various  backgrounds,  or  pieces  of 
Fig.  39.— GAYHURST,  OR  GOTEHURST,  A  PAYOURITE  RESORT  OP  COWPER. 
successes  are  attained  are  the  re.sult  of  fortunate  accident  rather  than 
skilful  manipulation.  The  floral  photographic  artist  can  be  no  mere 
beginner  in  photography  ;  hence  the  uselessness  of  cumbering  up  such 
special  instruction  with  the  elementary  principles. 
Mr.  J.  Horace  McFarland,  who,  says  “  American  Gardening,” 
stands  in  the  enviable  position  of  being,  if  not  the  leading  exponent 
of  plant  photography,  at  all  events  one  of  the  very  few  men  who  are  on 
the  top  in  this  special  branch  of  work,  and  it  is  in  re  erence  to  a  recently 
published  monograph  from  his  pen  that  we  are  led  to  reflect  on  the 
present  status  of  floral  photography.  In  “Photographing  Flowe  s 
and  Trees,”*  that  gentleman  gives  the  public  the  first  really  complete 
treatise  on  the  subject,  and  stepping  from  precept  to  practice, 
demonstrates  the  truth  of  his  words  by  ample  illustrations  of  such 
difficult  subjects  as  groups  of  Pansies,  Dahlias,  and  Tulips  from  his 
own  negatives.  He  also  has  a  few  selected  specimens  of  other  artists’ 
work,  G.  H.  Woolfall,  Henry  Troth,  and  W.  J.  Cassard,  the  last  of 
whom  has  a  splendidly  lighted  study  of  the  Paper  White  Narciss, 
incorrectly  called  the  Poet’s. 
As  a  lens  for  floral  work,  a  medium  wide  angle  has  been  found  to 
be  “by  far  the- most  generally  serviceable  for  all  parts  of  flower 
photography,  outdoors  and  indoors,”  which  is  contrary  to  the  general 
preaching.  The  merits  of  the  argument  are  of  a  too  technical 
natu'e  for  notice  in  this  place,  but  we  agree  with  thn  author,  and 
*  Photo-Miniature,  Vol.  II.,  No.  13,  April,  1900.  Price,  2oc.  (Tennant  and 
Ward,  New  York.l 
1  them,  all  together,  so  that  a  comparative  view  of  their  various  tone 
I  values  may  be  had. 
j  Several  of  the  best  workers  lean  strongly  to  either  pure  white  or 
dead  black  backgrounds — the  former  obtained  by  white  cardboard  and 
;  the  latter  the  result  of  the  use  of  black  velvet.  While  these  adepts 
get  some  charming  effects  with  the  violent  contrasts  thus  afforded,  the 
novice  is  advised  to  study  first  the  neutral  grounds — arising  from  the 
use  of  the  grey  cloth  above  suggested,  and  then  to  work  also  with 
the  shaded  “Rembrandt”  card,  before  attacking  the  white  and  black 
effects.  The  shaded  or  neutral  grounds  are  richly  artistic,  they  are 
far  more  easily  reproduced  by  half-tone  if  typographic  use  is  ever  made 
of  the  photograph,  and  they  give  a  vast  field  for  interesting  graduated 
effects  by  varying  the  lighting. 
The  representation  of  red  flowers  is  surrounded  with  all  sorts  of 
difficalties,  as  a  look  over  a  few  portraits  of  such  things  as  Roses  or 
Paeonies  will  easily  satisfy  anyone.  The  chemical  value  of  the  colour 
makes  it  rendering  in  proper  illumina’ion  value  a  stumblingblock  to 
most.  Mr.  McFarland  in  order  to  overcome  this  uses  an  extra  local 
light,  which  is  diiected  right  into  the  flower  by  means  of  a  mirror  or 
other  suitable  appliance.  'I'his  is  a  hint  that  should  interest  our 
readers,  but  it  is  only  one  of  many  that  they  may  gain  from  a  study 
of  this  little  thirty-four  page  treatise. 
The  practice  of  photography  is  becoming  more  and  more  intimately 
connected  with  the  garden,  and  young  gardeners  will  find  it  a  most 
i  interesting  and  instructive  hobby. 
