camera and darkroom

Camera and Dark Room VOLUME VIII.

JANUARY - DECEMBER, 1905

EDITED BY

'JAMES P. CHALMERS.

1905

The American. Photographic Publishing Co.

NEW YORK, N. Y.

Copyri1h1, '904 by the ArKRICAH PHOTOGRAPHIC PU&LISHIHG Co, New York, N. Y.

All Rrghts Reserved .. .~ ... ~ ~ ....

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. -~lL 316b0'7

A Advice to Amateur Photographers... 22 A Few Words on Lenses ............ 152 A Gigantic Lens Concern .......... 337 A Home-made Fla .. h J oamp. . . . . . . . . . 120 A Home-made Print Washer for Use

with Running Water ............ 1411 An Amateur Washing Kit .......... 191 A Point Well Taken . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 194 A Plea for "Camera Hunting" ........ 263 A Repair Kit and How to Use It. C.

H. Claudy ..................... 174 Artistic Asp"cts of Photography. T.

tABLE OF CoNTENTS Preservation of the Photographic Im-

age .................. 172 Preserving Unstable Solutions ... 185 Print Washer, for Use with Running

Water ....................... 148 Printing and Developing the Picture

Postcard . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178 Printing without Light ........ 363 Prints on Bromide Paper. . . . . . . . . 358

Q Query Department-

Applying the Developer and Lens Terms Defined . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 342

Black-Toned Prints ............... 308 Camera and Dark Room Exposure

Tables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98 Carbon Troubles ................ 374 Caricature Photographs . . . . . . . . . . . 306 Cause of Coarse-Grained Negatives 98 Cleaning Bromide Enlargements ... 408 Combined Bath . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206 Combined Toning and Fixing Bath. 342 Composition of the Spectrum...... 98 Copying Ink for Titles .......... 407 Crystoleum Painting ............ 206 Detecting Iron In Water . . . . . . . . 98 Determining Exposure . . . . . . . . . . . . 306 Developer, Staines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32 Developing P. 0. P. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205 Development, Under-Timed Plates. 98 Distances for Enlarging . . . . . . . . . . 306 Edlnol-Hydro Formula ............ 205 Enlarged Negatives ............... 374 Flashlight Trouble ............... 374 Formula for Edlnol Developer . . . . . 206 Formula for Plate Backing . . . . . . 98 Gold Toning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 342 Good Prints from Thin Negatives ... 134 Lens for Portrait Work .......... 238 Lens Terms Explained . . . . . . . 134 Mounting Prints on Muslin ........ 374 Permanence of Prints ... 374 Photo Paste . . . . . . . . 208 Poisoning by Chemicals . . . . . . . 806 Postcard Printing . . . . . . 805 Protection tor the Hands . . . . . . . 134 Reducer tor Bromides . . . . . 408 Remedy tor Fogged Plates . . 305 Remedying Distortion . . . . .. 306 Saving Residues .... 874 Select a Brand of Paper to Suit the

Negative . . . . . . 97 Sensitive Paper tor Meters. . 306 Shutter Distortion . . .. .. .. 374

"shutter Patents . . 806 Shutter Testing . 82 Silvering Mirrors 205 Stained Prints . 97 Stereo VIews with Ordinary Camera 288 Starch Paste Good as Any. . 32 Testing Shutters . . . . . . . 82 'he DlseasA Suggests the Remedy 98

The Film Is Mildewed ........ ; . i4ll The Planes of a Picture........... 83 Tinting Photographs . . . . . . . . . . 842 Tolldol ............................ 874 Use of Uncorrected Lenses ........ 238 Washing Prints . . . . . . . . . . . . 97 White Letters on Prints............ 98 Yellow Negatives ................ 342

R Remarks by an Amateur ......... 18, 48 Reslnlzed Printing-Out Paper ..... : 364 Retouching Landscape Negatives ... 212 Retouching of the Negatives ......... 29-l Retouching Negatives ............... 121 Rudol, A New Developer ............. 366 Rules and Conditions of the Second

American Salon .................. 264

s Second American Salon. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 222 Second American Salon .............. 377 Sensitizing Silk ..................... 372 Shutter Testers and Shuter Tests .. 10, 39 Sliver Prints upon Porcelain or Opal

Glass ........................... 140 Some Contrivances for the Dark Room 76 Some Features of a New Camera ..... 166 Some Hints on Development ......... . Some Phases of Newspaper Photogra-

phy .. . .. Speedy Washing of Prints .......... . Stained Prints ........... ......... .

82

290 168 168

Stand Development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 255 Straight vs. Pictorial Photography... 182 Straining a Point ................... 389 Sulphide Toning of Silver Prints ..... 383

T Tank Developments. C. H. Claudy ... 385 Testing Color Screens ............. 289 Testing Exposure Time tor Color

Screens . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . 150 Testing Shutters. C. H. Claudy ... 10, 39 The Artistic Aspects of Photography. 258 The Box In Grandma's Garret ...... 153 The Camera at the Seaside. . . . . U2 The Detection of Developing Agents. 252 The Infallibility of the Actlnometrlc

Exposure Meter . . . . . . . . . . . 166 The Mental Kodak ................. ; 117 The Troubles of a Beginner ..... :288 Toning Gelatlno-Chlorlde Prints with

Platinum . . . . . . . . 327 Toning the Silver Image ...... 863 Trick Pictures . . . . . . 894 Two Chemical Aids to Photography. 67

w Warm-Toned Bromide Enlargements. 361 Washing of Prints and Negatives .... 137 What Paper Shall I Use? .......... 275 With Esther'& Help ............ 228 Wooden Carrying Casea ............. 1U

lNDttX TO AUTHORS. A. a. wooama..

Chemical Action In the Dark....... 36 Chemical Aids to Photography. . . . . . 68 Detection of Developing Agents . 262 Hypo Eliminators ....... 107 Preservation of the Photographic Im-

age .............. 172 Washing of Prln~s and Negatives .. 137

C. II.. Claa4J'. A Repair Kit and Its Use .......... 174 Optics of the Pinhole . . . . . . . . . . . . . 318 Photographing the Inag.uratlon ...... 101 Shutter Testing ............... 10, 39 Tank Development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 385 The Camera at the Seaside. . . . . . . . . . 241 What Paper Shall I Use? ............ 275 Wooden Carrying Cases . . . . . . . . . . . . 144

A..J. Jarmaa. Making Perfect Lantern Slides ..... 354 Platinum Printing for Amateurs..... 71 Silver Prints on Porcelain or Opal ... HO Sulphide Toning of Silver Prints ..... 383 Toning Silver Prints with Platinum . 327

J, p, Claalmel'llo Bromide Paper Printing .......... Clouds In Landacapes .............. . Film Troubles and Hints ......... First American Salon

368 379 346

3

Passepartout Framing . . . . . . il~ Retouching of the Negative . 294 Second American Salon o o o o 877

G.W.BaYIIa. Remarks by an Amateur ....... 18, 48

J, W, Little. Diffusion of Focus . . . . . . . . . . 46 Manipulation In Printing .......... 111 Retouching Landscape Negatives ... 212

Mal-Ia Deaa MWer. Photography of Medical Specimens. . . 332 Practical Notes on Landacape Work. 214

Jr, C. TllaeJ' Artistic Aspects of Photography ... 224, 258

WIUiam Ide. Papers for Art Photography ........ 217

S. Rartmaaa. How to Win a Competition. . . . . . . . . 330

Rolaatl Rootl. Commercial Value of Pictorial Pho-

tographs . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . 24

Oear Voa Eqela, A Vacation Yarn . o. 309 Home-madt" Print Washer ....... hS

ONE DOLLAR THE YEAR. TEN CENTS THE COPY

Volume VIII. New York, January, J905. No. J Edited by ]. P. CH .\LKEas.

Published on the first of every month by

361 Broadway THE AMERICAN PHOTOGRA PHIC PUBLISHING COMPANY,

(Telephon e 853 Franklin) New York Cit Geileral Agents, THE AM.ERICAN NEws COMPANY AND THE IR BRANCH-ES .

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Chancery Lane, London, E. C. San Francisco, GoRDON S. SMART, 426 Oak St.

Entered at the New York Post Office as second class mail matter. Subscription price, One dollar per year in advance. Foreign subscription price ssb . $1. 25 )

Positively n ot conn ected with any photografhic stock bouse. Matter should reach office by the 15th of month preceding date o publication. Original MSS. solicited

THE PHOTOGRAPHIC SALON IN NEW YORK.

m IEWED as a whole, the F irst Photographic Salon of America may safely be said to have sustained its avowed intention of presenting to the public the artistic possibilities of cam-era work.

T hat the public did not respond in generous numbers is unfortunate. .:\ ew York is a busy place and the Salon was a new departure, It was a noteworthy enterprise and it mer-ited wider advertising. Be this as it may, the Salon will now be held in o ther cities. It is likely to attract more attention there than in the me-tropolis and the artistic quality of the exhibit will probably stimulate_ cam-era workers in general to earnest ef-fort along the lines these pioneers in art photography have so successfull y blazed.

T he Salon, in its fixed determina-

tion to encourage artistic achieve-ment, has been a revelation to those only passing familiar with photogra-phy, and a valuable teacher to those to whom negative manipulat ion is no longer a marvel nor a mystery.

The layman sees only the artistic tout ensemble. The camera lover sees the mechanical detail that secured it, the deft handling of tbe negative, the happy selection of the printing sur-face best suited to the subj ect, the careful composition and the minor, but no less essential, points of appro-priate frame and m~t.

In the Salon every possible variety of printing paper seems to have been requisitioned. Carbon platinum, se-pia, green, even the desp:sed blue, are in evidence, each helping in its own way to bring out the true values of the picture. There are glazed papers and matte ones ; there are the mottled

4 THE CAMERA A.\"D DARK-ROOM

effects one sees in wash-drawings and in India ink sketches ; there are the filmy, luminous rice papers and the heavy ribbed mesh of canvas, and all serve a distinct purpose.

"Fuzzy" pictures were hung, some of th'em on the honor line, and since an artist jury passed them 1t were, of course, rank heresy to consider even the ridiculous ones aught but artistic. Most of them held one redeeming feature, however ; the composition was good, although in several in-stances it blindly followed the canons of the Barbizon School. Standing be-fore them one is reminded of the painter who, exhibiting his work, patronizingly bade the layman ''get way off to admire it,'' and of that gentleman's retort courteous, that he'd ''have to be way off before he could admire it."

Some . of the best examples in the Salon appeared to be a bewildering cross between a half tone and a cop-per etching. That they were really photographs seemed incredible to the ordinary visitor. But The Man Who Knew, and he was in frequent evi-dence, wore a smile all. his own and murmured something about enlarge-ments and fine bolting cloth being used outside of flour mills, on occa-sion.

No doubt the artist committee would be chilled to the marrow at the awful sacrilege of adopting lpurely mechanical devices, such as this, to produce art effects. It is scarcely more than a generation ago that their guild nearly crucified Turner for using his thumbnail, when brushes failed to express his idea. Yet the camera lover, studying the pieces that bear the stamp of their approval, de-

tects in each sure proof that both chemistry and mechanical devices have lent their aid.

And why, not, if the results war-rant? The two little winter-scenes submitted by Clarence Dudley of Chicago are like the finest steel en-gravings, yet their tones are soft as porcelain effects. Note in the "Ap-proach of a Winter Evening," No. 93~ how the harsh contrast of gleaming snow and inky earth have been so manipulated that, standing near or afar, we behold the scene as the ar-tist beheld it. We see the tonal value of high light and shadow, and no less accurately the faint blue and violet hues that linger in the depressions in every snow-scape. Note how skil-fully these are rendered in the mass of tangled foot-prints in the roadway curving gently up the hill, while over-head the sunset light caresses the gathering clouds.

Other camera artists have entered the always popular snow-scenes in the Salon, and of these many are suggest-ive of frozen music, so poetical is the treatment given. Others again, de-spite their artistic touch, show faults that judicious trimming would go far in eliminating.

Take for example No. 39, by Wm. A. Boger of Brooklyn, called "Fore-cast of \Vinter." Here the desolation of the scene is strongly marked, yet it lacks the appealing note that should awaken human sympathy. Cover the needless lower expanse of the fore-ground and note how the picture in-stantly gains upon us. Mr. Boger's work is of such high grade, one won-ders why this did not occur to him at once.

In 157, called "Winter in its Robe

APPROACH OF A WINTER EVENING.

THUS THEY HAVE EARNED THEIR DAILY BREAD.

Clarence G. Dudley. Chicago Camera Ch1b.

Wm. H . Zerbe. Jr. First Salon of th e Salon Clu iJ of Amer ica.

6 THE CAMERA AND DARK-ROOM

of White," R. S. Kaufman of Wilkes-barre, Pa., shows the effect of sun-light upon fresh snow. There is much artistic merit in the composi-tion. The curving road with its snow-capped snake fence is admir-able, but the contrast of ivory black and china white effects is positively painful , and one wishes he had toned them down after the manner of Duel-ley of Chicago and E icke meyer of New York. One would not then turn froni the picture with the impress ion that here was a clever amateur who mig ht study technique to advantage.

In Xo. 56, ''The Clam-digger," by John Chis lett of Indianapolis, the composition indicates careful study. The dark body of the clam-digger stands out clear and strong against

TWILIGHT.

the shining water, and emphasizes in the manner of Millet, the dignity even of lowly labor.

No. 44, 'Twilight," by D. H. Brookins of Chicago, breathes the poetry of repose. F ollowing a curv-ing shore a city sky-line rises silhou-etted against clouds kissed by the evening light. A towering steeple lends strength and a touch of feeling, for, even among scoffers,' every hu-man heart responds to the spirit, at least, of relig ion. A fine and unusual touch is the g roup of boats at the side rather than in front ; another ef-fect worth noting is the play of the waves and cloud-shadows over the broad bay, breaking its expanse and relieving its of monotony.

No. 302 by Dr. E . P . Swasey of the

D . H . Brookins , Chicago . F i r~t Sal on o f th e :-;don Club o f A mcn ca.

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Hartford Scientific Society, is a scene on the Roman Campagna. The tech-nique is good, the atmosphere excel-lent, and the picture tells a direct and interesting story. At the left a digni-fied_ ~tlilly" marches beside his master anJ, iike him, keeps a jealous eye on the flock. Herd and herdsmen move down a straight stretch of road that, in the distance, winds picturesquely out of sight. But why not have chosen the curve itself as the setting? It would have afforded a finer view of the herd and have been in keep-ing with the teachings of Durer and Hogarth, men who knew from an art standpoint, the full importance of the curved line. See frontispiece.

One may run curve-mad, of course, -.ide the Secessionist school with its lily pad motive, its far reaching undu-lations, its vague sinuosities. Yet the Secessionist influence is valuable in many -ways. This is apparent in the admirable work of 1\lr. Seeley of Stockbridge, Mass., particularly so in the masterpiece that he calls "The Grave's Compass." Here a maiden crouches in true Secession pose, be-tween a bubble symbolic of life, and a skull symbolizing death. The con-ception is beautiful and highly poetic.

In No. 271, entitled "The Pines Whisper," a touch of the Secession 1nfluence is felt in the woman's hair, :and again in the silent lyre. No. 272 ,shows the same youth with his lyre. lt is a fine example of the misty dream pictures Mr. Seeley evolves with marvelous skill, seemingly out 'Of nothing. The simplicity of the

Lou1s Fleckenstein. Carl Rau. AN APRIL FOG. THE SWIMMING HOLE.

First Salon of the Sa lon Club of America. First Salon of the Salon Club of America.


and add their pastoral touch to the scene.

Carl Rau of La Crosse, Wis., has done this in No. 231, but he snapped his shutter too soon to do justice to the boy about to throw water at his companion. He has caught the spirit of the scene, and has brought out the fine reflections in the water, but his background is too insipid. One won-ders why he did not get a better view of it. A bit of study and a different view point might have improved the picture, good as it is.

No. 150, by H. S. Hoyt of the Cali-fornia Camera Club, shows good work. He has called it "Along the Dock." The composition is satisfy-

ing, and the lights and shadows har-monious. The spars in the distance balance the picture admirably, and the sky and the water below are true both to nature and to art.. This com-bination is not always attainable, but Mr. Hoyt, like the men of the Dutch school, has managed to secure it.

Space precludes further mention of individual pictures although many others merit the honor. All in all, the Salon made a decidedly creditable showing, and proved conclusively that success crowns deliberate study of lines and of composition, and the final result more than repays the careful manipulation of light and shadow.

SHUTTER TESTERS AND SHUTTER TESTS.

BY C. H. CLAUDY.

In Two Parts.-Part I,

T is a matter of common knowl-edge that the speeds marked upon the dials of shutters, and particularly those which wor:(

between the combination of lenses, arc incorrect. It is not so commonly known that the percentage of error runs very high-so high, indeed that marked one-fifths may actually be one whole second, and marked seconds may be a fifth or less in duration. This is a serious matter to the beginner, or the photographer who depends upon meters or t:1bles for determin-ing his exposure. Obviously, if a fifth of a second is time enough, one second is five times too much, and while the expert can get a good nega-tive from a plate over-exposed five

times, we arc not all experts, and even so, it is much to be preferred that the exposure be right in the first place.

\\' e cannot, by any simple means at our command, correct our shutters so that they will do what their lying dials say they do! Xo more can their makers. As long as a pneumatic dashpot is the retarding device, or the varying tension of a tiat spring the motive power, just so long will shut-ters be incorrect. \Vhat we can do, however, and that without too much trouble, is to find out what the speeds of our shutters really are, and re-mark the dials to the extent of mak-ing them tell the t.ruth.

One way to do this is t.J buy a

N o . 1 s hows an expos ure of less than 1-4oth of a second, a t ma rg in oJ scale .

N o . 2 shows, with same shutter, se t at same speed, more th an one-fifth of a second nc:a r th e c.:e n trc ot scale. See arrows n a nd 6.

TWO EXPOSURES SHOWING FALLACY OF AN INCORRECTLY DIVIDED SCALE.

.


speed tester and follow directions. But you will miss not only a great deal of pleasure, but a very instruc-tive series of experiments, which have as much to do with the mechanics and physics of the subfect as they have with the "photographics," if I may coin a word. Therefore, if you are the save-yourself-trouble, buy rather-than-contrive-kind of a photographer, look elsewhere in this number for food for thought.

In the first place, it will be neces-sary to explain to those who have never considered the subject, the prin-ciple on which a shutter test is made. There is no attempt to time the ac-tion of the spring, or attach anything to the mechanism of the shutter. The means is far simpler. If we can pro-vide ourselves with any object which moves at a certain rate of speed, which we know, we can take a photo-graph of it. If wf! find it has moved a certain distance, the speed of the shutter must be equal to the t:me of the movement of the object. Had we a bicycle rider so skilled in timing himself that he could ride exactly ten feet per second, and we photographed him and found his wheel had advanced one foot, obviously we took the photo-graph in the tenth part of a second. But a body moving at a uniform speed, which is known, is not particu-larly easy to get hold of. And right here I want to introduce the subject proper by inviting your attention to the two accompanying photographs and the following incident. A friend wanted to test his shutter and, hav-ing heard of pendulums for this pur-pose, looked up that word in the en-cyclopedia and found that the length of a pendulum which beats seconds is

approximately thirty-nine inches. He made a pendulum out of a stout stick of wood, hung it by one screw-eye from another, placed behind it a twen-ty-inch scale divided into inches and went to work taking photographs of it, under the impression that his inch divisions would indicate exposures of the twentieth part of a second. Here is where he arrived in trouble, which he explained to me, as nearly as I can remember, in the following words:

"Claudy, just look at those prints! Here I've made a shutter tester on approved scientific principles, and the same exposure, with the same shut-ter, at the same indicated speeds, gives me a record which shows that at one time it ran faster than a fortieth of a second and the next time slower than a fifth! Am I crazy, is the tester wrong, or does the shutter need throw-ing in the ash pile?" Now at that time I did not have shutter testers at the ends of my fingers, so I did no laughing, bu~ told him I guessed the tester was wrong somehow. A few minutes reflection showed where the trouble lay. A pendulum which beats seconds, or any other interval, is ac-curate, if properly made, but while it makes one beat in a given time, it goes at 1:arying speeds in different parts of its beat. Consequently, equal divisions of the scale will not do. It must be obvious, to anyone who will think a bit, that a pendulum starts slowly, gathers speed as it approaches the per-pendicular, has its maximum speed as it reaches its lowest point, and then decreases in exactly the same way un-til it reaches its highest point on the other side, from whence the perfor-mance is repeated. The qu~stion is, then, how to divi,le the path of the

THE PINES' WHISPER. Geo, H. Seely. First Snlon of the Salon Club of America .


pendulum, which is thirty-nine inches long and which makes one beat a second, into intervals which will be crossed by the pendulum in equal times, no matter what part ot the beat is taken as an iiiustration.

Now see how beautifuiiy this prob-lem is solved by Nature, and admire with me the wonders of the law of gravitation as applied to the pendu-lum. Any seconds pendulum always beats seconds, whether the path be forward and back, an elipse, or a cir-cle, when it is caiied a conical pen-dulum. That is, a small weight, on the end of a fine thread, thirty-nine, and one-ttnth inches long, in the b.ti-tude of New York, will take two sec-onds to swing from a starting point to a stopping point and back again, or will take two seconds to swing from any one point arouncl a circle which is the base of a cone, back to that same point. ~ow refer to the diagram, Fig. 1. If a seconcls pendulum takes

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" Fie. I, one second to swing from A to B, and the same time to swing around half a circle from A to B, it is ob-vious that it will consume just half that interval in getting to D, if a flat beat pendulum-to C if a conical pendulum. What holds true for ar.,

one division, holds true for all. Di-vide half the circumference of a cir-cle whose diameter is the path of your flat pendulum, in the number of di-visions you wish on the scale-erect perpendiculars from the part of the flat pendulum (A-B) to the divisions on the circle, and the result will be a scale which wiii mark the path of a seconds pendulum swinging before it, so that it passes any one of the di-visions in the same interval in which it passes any other one. In the fig-ure, the entire circle was divided into forty parts, and corresponding divis-ions on either side of the line A, ll, connected with straight line.

Returning now to a consideration of the pendulum proper, I found my friend had made a very serious mis-take. It is true that a thirty-nine inch

pendulum beats seconds, re-' ~ gardless of its weight, pro-

vided that weight is all in one place. Actually, no such thing as a simple pendulum can exist-they are all cou.-pound-but for purposes of experiment, a fine thread with a weight on it is a sim-ple pendulum. But my friend had used a strip of wood for his pendulum, which had an appreciable weight, and which therefore did not beat seconds, so that even had his scale been right, his results would have been inaccurate. In figure 2 is

'.. the diagrammatic representa-tion of a compound pendu-lum. The longer the pendu-lum. the slower the beat-the shorter the pendulum, the

Fig,. faster the beat. Now it is

ALONG THE DOCK. Dr. W . F. Zierath . First Salon of the Salon Club of Ame rica.

J6 THE CAMERA AND DA RK-ROO.ll

obvious that the bar a, b, may be considered as any num ber of pendu-lums, bound together. In this case, all the shorter pendulums-the upper part of the bar-are trying to beat faster, and the lower -part of the bar -the longer pendulums-is trying to beat slower, than the rate of the pen-dulum of a whole. The upper part, then, accellerates the lower part, and the lower part retards the upper part. But there must be some one place where these two forces are equal. T hat point is called the cmte~ of oscilla-tion. And the pendulum can be hung either from its orig inal point of sup-port, or from its center of oscilla tion, and still bea t the same time ! The dis-tance from the point of support to the center of oscilla tion is the actual length of the pendulum. If fig. 2 represents a second 's pendulum, from c to d must be thirty-nine and one-tenth inches, . and supported from either point, the whole would beat seconds. The application of this prin-~iple will be made later.

F or us, who wish to construct for ourselves a shutter tester, the nearest approach we can make to the simple pendulum will be the easiesf and the best. The first thing to do is to make the scale, for which the theoretical di-rections have already been explained. In practice, the follow ing is as easy a method as any. T ake a large sheet o f paper, draw a line tw~nty inches long, with a dot in the center. With a pin , a string , and a pencil , describe a circle about this line, twenty in~hes in diameter, so that the center of the line and the center of the circle coin-cide. N ith a pair of c ividers, divide the circumference of the circle into forty parts-connect opposing clots

witl1 lines. Fold the pape r in tbe mid-dle and lay off the divisions you have secured, on a black card. Throug h these lay off straight lines, in white ink, white paint, or made of strips of white paper, pasted on. The result should look like the scale in the next photograph which shows the home-made shutter tester as I made it and used it, in a front ya rd.. Directly in front of this scale, hang a plumb-bob ( ten cents, hardware store) which has been painted white. Support it with a black silk thread, which measures from the center of the bob to the na il it is tied t~ . thirty-nine inches. The center of oscillat ion and the center of

H :>m ~ -l\1 ad e Shutte r Teste r, show ing correc tl y d1v 1ded scale and pendu lum beating seconds.

THE CAMERA AND DARK-ROOM 17

gravity in this pendu.lum are nea~ly identical-near enocgh for ac-curacy up to a small fraction of one per cent. Have the nail

~upporting the pendulum driven into a board which can be moved, so that the bob can be raised and lowered in front of the scale-this will allow you to . make several tests on one plate, and save material.

In the next photo is a picture of a shutter tester which can be bought from supply houses. Its scale is di-

which case the first ten divisions, being so tiny, had better be omitted, as in this stock-house tester. I am particularly glad to testify that I have tried this tester and find the scale accurate and the whole satisfactory. In the next paper, when tests themselves are gone into, I shall try to show why my home-made affair is fully as accurate as this one-not that there is anything against it-simply that any short pendulum, vibrating against a straight line scale, has a greater percentage of error than

A Shutter Tester ( the \V ynne) sold by stock houses. The reversed fig ures arc o( course right sid e up on the plate.

vided into hundredths, instead of twentieths, ar l its pendulum is com-pound, supported at its center of os-cillation. It is nowhere near thirty-nine inches long, but beats seconds just the same, because the weight of the upper part of the pendulum, has been condensed into the bulb at the upper end. The scale has figures on it, which appear backwards here, but which are right side up in the nega-tive. There is no reason why the home-made scale should not be divid-ed into a hundred parts if desired, in

a long one-but of this more later. The instrument described is th~ Wynne Shutter Tester, Infallible Ex-posure Meter Co. (See advertising pages).

In the second part of this little series, I shall explain errors, as noted just above, and the proper way to make tests. I shall also go into the focal plane shutter and illustrate tests made with this shutter, working with the object and working against it. Finally I shall illustrate, with photos, some practical shutter tests, and show

I8 THE CAMERA AND DARK-ROOM

the easiest methods of determining the speed and the use of proportional measurements for exactitude. Those who care to follow me in this, by do-ing the experiments described, can ob-tain black cardboard and white ink from a dealer in artists' supplies, thread from mother's work-box and plumb bobs and white paint from hardware

stores. A small lead or iro:~ ball will do as well if not better than a plumo bob, but must be so mounted on the thread that when it twists and turns, as it will do all the time, it will do so smoothly, as if it was on a lathe, and not eccentrically. In other words, the thread must lead from the center, and not from one side of the weight.

REMARKS BY AN AMATEUR.

BY GEO. W. HAVLIN.

Second Part.

m FEW more words on the sub-ject of exposures, and I shall take up ~he matter of development, and endeavor

to give the readers of this journal the benefit of what I have learned regard-ing the most practical methods of de-veloping a negative.

The advice which my friend gave me: "You must always go by what you see on your ground glass," was after all a good, sound piece of advice, had it only been accompanied by the proper explanation. This however, he omitted to give, and for that reason it was of no value to the writer at that "stage of the game," to make use of a slangy, but very trite expression.

My experience has taught me that with a first class plate, such as Seed's "27'' or the same quality or grade of one or two other makers, it is a safe rule to guage the length of an ex-posure by the manner in which the subject appears upon the ground glass, with the full opening of the lens. \Vhat is seen on the focussing screen, will be reproduced in the negative as

accurately as it is possible for the plate to render it, both in lighting, and in general effect, if a good plate is used. This, some of the cheaper plates will not do as the writer has found from sad experience.

Of course when stopping down, the diminution of the quantity of light ad111itted by an opening of reduced size, must be taken into consideration. The camerist must recollect that the amount of light decreases as the square of the diameter of the opening in the diaphram ; thus a stop of F8 admits four times the quantity of light that one of F16 does, and that F32 gives but the~ as much as F16. Therefore the time of exposure must be made in proportion.

Now as to development. The first negative of the writer was developed by hydroquinone, the firm from whom my camera and outfit was purchased, putting up a liquid developer of their own. The directions on the label of

the bottle, stated that the plate must be kept in the liquid until the image was plainly visible through the back

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of th~ plate, in order to bring out the proper degree of intensity of the nega-tive. At the same time however, the tyro was strictly admonished to be careful about over development of the picture ; no other guide as to how far development was to be carried, was given, save the remark that "our hydroquinone developer acts more rapidly than pyro, or other developing agents, especially those of other manu-facturers and the plate should be taken out of the liquid, and development stopped, in about two-thirds of the time required for pyro, etc."

This was plainly another case of cut and try, so I went ahead and de-veloped my first negative as I had ex-posed it-on my own judgment-and made a first class job of it. A few more trials gave me an insight into the mystery of development, and I then began trying other developing agents; the results of these experi-ments I shall embody in the follow-ing paragraphs.

In developing with hydroquinone, or a combination of it with metal, the image comes up very quickly, much more so than with any other agent that I have used, and in the case ot an over exposed plate becomes black-ened all over in a very few seconds. In this case, about the only thing to do is to take the plate out of the solu-tion as quickly as possible, and rinse the developer from it then replace it in a very weak developer for a min-ute or so, in order to allow the finer details of the picture to be brought out. A few drops of bromide of potassium added to the developer acts as a re-strainer, but r myself do not like the use of bromide to any great extent-a quantity of the old developer that has

been used until about exhausted, is much better to use on over exposed plates, providing it is not too badly discolored from oxidation.

But for negatives that are knowll to be over exposed, a very diluted Sv-lution is the best, as it allows the. chemical action to proceed at a more uniform rate, thus giving the details. in the shadows time to come up, with-out at the same time, over developing those portions of the plate tliat have received the greatest share of light. The rapidity with which this agent acts is a drawback to the use of it in a great many cases, more es-pecially for over exposed plates, al-though after one has used it awhile and become well accustomed to it, this same quality is often very useful if time is an object to the operator.

But for the amateur, in most cases at least, a slower. developer is to be preferred, for the reason that the tyro in photography usually likes to see the image come up slowly and to watch the gradual building up of the details, especially the finer ones. This is one .of the greatest pleasures of am ateur work, at least the writer has always found it so. Of course a great many do not do their own developing, but give it to some professional to do for them ; these people however miss one of the greatest pleasures to be found in amateur photography, i. e., that of knowing that the completed picture is their O'Wil work from start to finish.

Pyro, is by the greater portion of photographers, both amateur and pro-fessional, considered the only develop-ing agent to use, and no doubt there are a number of reasons for their be-lief, but we need not dis-::uss them


here. One thing about pyro that many photographers like, is the fact that it imparts a slight color or stain that adds vigor and brilliancy to the printing qualities of the negative. A negative that has been developed by pyro can be readily recognized by the yellowish tinge of the film, that may be seen upon holding it up and look-ing through it. One who has handled the various kinds of developing agents can easily pick out a pyro negative among a thousand of others. Hydro-quinone, or eikonogen, alone or with metol, on the other hand, produce dear, colorless films, perfectly free of stain-that is if the solution is clean and unoxidized; if discolored from the absorption of oxygen from the air, the film of a negative becomes more or less stained, according to the degree of oxidation the solution has undergone.

Eikonogen does not seem to stain the film nearly so much as hydroqui-none, for the same amount of dis-mloration of the solution, and I have used it wheq it was very dark. It also seems to retain its strength after discoloration longer than other devel-oping agents.

All authorities advise the beginner in photography to choose the kind of developer that seems to work best with him or her, and to always stick to that one kind, in preference to all others. Now while this is good ad-vice to follow, yet in the writer's opin-ion it is well to learn to use either of the above three equally well, for the reason that for some kinds of nega-tiv


ment a little beyond the limit as nega-tives developed with these agents fix out somewhat in the hypo bath; all

ne~tives do this to a certain extent, in my opinion, but far more so with the above developers than with any other. By fixing out, it is meant that the hypo dissolves away a little of the image.

Now while developing is regarded, and justly so, as the most important part of picture making, yet it is not the immensely difficult operation that many amateurs imagine it to be. That is one of the things that the writer had to leam, or unleam, as it may be, in the course of his work as an ama-teur photographer. \Vhen I first be-gan to take photographs, or rather be-fore I began to do so I was of the impression that there were but a few, other than professionals, who were able to make really good pictures; as to development! that was a thing far beyond the ability of ordinary mortals to accomplish. Many amateurs have that idea of the matter, and for that reason spoil a great many good nega-tives-over anxiety to develop just right often causing the operator to go too far, or to fog the negative by hold-

ir~ it too close to the red light, which is often itself defective. A red light that is of a purplish tinge will act very strongly upon a sensitized surface, for the reason that there is in it a great deal of blue light-that part of the spectrum that contains the actinic, or chemically active light. Or in other words, the light that silver salts are so sensitive to.

Now it is quite evident that such a light will, if the plate is exposed to it very long, fog a picture consider-ably; such a light should not be used

it is true, but it is quite often the case that the tyro in photography is not aware of this fact. To one who is not posted, a red light is a red light. Of this the writer intends to speak a few words in a future article.

A plate that has been exposed cor-rectly, or nearly so, does not require the attention that many suppose-with a developer that has been accurately compounded, such a plate will almost take care of itself, as witness the Kodak developing machine, in which. the operator sees nothing of the film whilst being developed and fixed.

Of course the developer that is used in these machines, is made especially for that purpose. All manufacturers of films and plates put up a series of developers that their experience has shown them to be the best for the plates and films o.f their respective make, and if the amateur will use them, he or she will have very little trouble with his or her negatives.

The writer would strongly advise the amateur to do less fretting anti worrying on the subject of develop-n:ent, letting it take care of itself a little more, and (premising that reas-onable care is used as regards the cleanliness of trays, solutions, etc.) everything will be 0. K.

The factorial system is an excellent method of developing, and for. the benefit of those wh


quired from start to finish. Divide tiplying 20 by 75 we get 150 seconds, the total time of development by the or 20 minutes, as the time necessary time it required for the first appear- for the c.omplete development of our ance of the image; the result is your negative. And for all subsequent ex-factor, or number by which you obtain posures (using the same kind of plate, the correct length of time that the and the same developer) the "factor'' plate must be allowed to remain in the 70 must be used to determine the sr lution for all other exposures there- proper time of immersion in the solu-after. For example, we will suppose tion. Different developing agents that the image became visible in 28 have different factors however. seconds, and the entire time of de- There are many more points that velopment was 30 minutes, or 210 I would wish to discuss, but space is seconds. 210 divided by 28 equals 70 too limited, and I must therefore de-exactly. VIe now expose another fer these things until some future plate, and place it in the solution, find- time. In the next chapter we will take ing that in this case the image makes up the subjects of printing, fixing and its first appearance in 20 seconds; mul- toning.

(To be continued.)

ADVICE TO AMATEUR PHOTOGRAPHERS.

BY DR. VICTOR BLES.

tmHA T is an amateur, any-way? There are men who. th rough circumstance and surrounding, have been able to spend a great deal of time and energy on this entrancing hobby-photography. They have used all the methods, all the experience of others, all the tricks of the trade and have ob-tained wonderful results. They call themselves amateurs, but, having spent so much time and money, hav-ing competed in exhibitions for cash or other prizes, having sold of their brain creatures at one time or an-other, they are professionals in every way. Every little while some of their efforts are reproduced and published. These are magnificent, but to the or-dinary amateur not the least bit in-

structive. The process which brought these results is often far too compli-cated for any beginning amateur to attempt. Cattle are taken out of neg-atives, reduced in size, and put into the backgrounds of other negatives. Clouds are brushed in which never ex-isted in the original view. A train is taken out of a canyon and replaced by a prairie schooner drawn by six or eight oxen.

But the great army of amateurs "snap off" whatever they see on the spur of the moment or take a time-ex-posure of some interior and have the negatives developed and the prints made, or do it themselves, without any more to do. It is to this army that this article is addressed.

In the first place: Don't! This is

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always an easy advice to give and a hard one to follow. Don't snap off everything.

A little forethought, a little patience is all that is necessary. If it is late in the afternoon and the shadows long, if you have a kodak which is not ar-ranged for different time-exposures and shutter-openings, don't take chances. You are only wasting time and money with the certainty of being disappointed. If the flies are bad and your horse will not stand still, if your dog gets scared and thinks you are go-ing to whip him when you only want-ed to pose him prettily, don't force the issue, wait for some other day to bring you better luck.

As a rule, don't take foliage for background for your groups or single persons. Have at least the head out-lined against the white sky. Keep hands and feet out of sight as much as possible. Don't be too particular about the neatness of clothes. If you must fix up before having your picture taken, use soft colors and textures, cream, lavender, pink, baby blue. Nothing looks worse than a freshly starched white frock.

If you take a picture of anyone on horseback, don't face the horse half to the front, as beginners so often do, for then the horse's head will be as large as the rider's whole body. Take the horse squarely from the side, but make the rider turn just a trifle to-wards your lens. Don't watch your object through the finder; get your distance and have your camera in place; then watch the subject and as soon as you get repose or the right

smile or the eyes wide open, snap for all you are worth. If the "subject" has a long nose, tilt the face up ; if a short one with long lips, tilt down. Make the best of your faces. If the teeth are good, show them ; if not, then keep the face religiously closed. Don't take receding chins en prolil or generous mouths en face, for, al-though the camera always speaks the truth, that truth can be mollified and toned down and yet remain the truth.

This brings me to my closing re-marks. Mountains seldom lend them-selves to artistic photography and landscapes which to the naked eye are beautiful, inspiring, peace-rend(ring, often do not "pan out" on account of the lack of ability to reproduce color and the crowding up of detail. This sounds pedantic, but it is not. A tree, a rock, beautiful foliage, a ripple on the water, may be perfect to the naked eye and lose all its beauty when repro-duced in black and white.

I firmly maintain that most artistic landscape photography is accidental and as such very inferior to portrait-ure, which is the outcome of the pho-tographer's knowledge of artistic ef-fects in lights and shadows, of the sur-face anatomy of different physiogno-mies and of his appreciation of the values of lines as they appear to the naked eye, in perspective and in the finished results. It is to this latter branch of the art-the natural field of photography-that we should devote more of our energies. No other is more interesting and no other affords more opportunity for the cultivation of artistic taste.


PICTORIAL PRINTS HAVE NO COMMERCIAL VALUE.

BY ROLAND ROOD.

That pictorial photographs in themselves have no monetary value, that their eco-nomic position in the make-up of our mod-ern civilization is the same as that held by paintings, and that the only value that "works of art, of any description," can have is "what you can get for them," but that "literary productions fulfill a certain practical demand and for which conse-quently a certain market value of so much per word has been established," is the theme upon which Sadakichi Hartmann in the December number of this magazine di-lates to some extent.

It is well known that whenever Hart-mann attempts to touch on economic ques-tions he exhibits the grossest ignorance of the laws which govern, and always have, and always will govern all forms of com-merce; but this time he has sunk to the level of plain rot.

The price and exchange of, and traffic in all commodities, whether they be the product of man or of nature, are alike governed by the same law, namely: THE LAw OF DEMAND and supply. That liter-ature is no exception to this law ought to have been made evident to Hartmann by this time, for were there "a certain market value of so much per word" he would, in common with others, not be so often at-tempting to, and failing in placing his productions in the literary magazines. He would be writing for them at "so much per word" instead of receiving whatever they may choose to pay.

Bushels of manuscript are rejected daily by the literary magazines because the writ-ers have completely failed to bring them to the required literary standard. In other words, there is no demand for them; pic-torial photographs are not wanted by the collectors because the photographers have not yet had the time nor the opportunity to demonstrate to the collector the excel-lence of their wares, viz.: they have not yet succeeded in creating a dcma11d for them.

One suggestion that Hartmann makes has value, but only one, and that is "that the pictorialists, like the etchers, should publish their prints in limited editions of one hundred or less." The value of this suggestion, however, is greatly marred be-cause it conveys the idea that pictorialists, are in the habit of publishing large editions, whereas, in truth, of many of the best plates there are not even one hundred prints in existence. I would say that it might be advisable for the photographers, in some way to make it generally known how difficult it is to get a good print, especially a gum print; and if they choose they can also limit their editions, but cer-tainly not to one hundred; very few etch-ers have ever been selfish enough to limit to such a small circulation that which is beautiful, merely to make a little more gold.

But there is a side of the question which is apparently without the range of Hart-mann's vision; that is the idealistic side. To him the dollar-eash down-is the all-important question ; he deplores that pho-tographers are so unscrupulous in their dealings with magazines as to sell the right of reproduction of any particular print (for from $3 to $10) over and over again, but at the same time admits that the sales are not made to the magazines, "for the exclusive right of reproduction," but only for the "use" ; he fails to see that the small remuneration of $3 to $10 can hardly be the incentive to the multiple sales; he does not understand that many photographers have an honest and praise-worthy desire to h~ve their work seen as often as possible and thus gain a reputa-tion for themselves and their art.

What is most amazing, though, is this "scrupulous" pose on Hartmann's part, for when I turn over the pages of the Decem-ber number of the Photographic Times. Bulletin, I find almost the identically same article as the one I am quoting from. He calls it "What Is the Commercial Value

THE CAMERA AND DARK-ROOM

of Pictorial Prints," and the one in CAMERA AND DARK RooM is entitled "Have Exhibition Prints Any Monetary Value?"

The text of the two is as like in char-acter as two potatoes-pretty sour ones-and would be more alike had not the lat-ter one been so freely blue-penciled-mind you, they are both paid articles. I sup-pose, however, that to the minds of some people this may seem all right. A man's "literary productions fulfill a certain prac-tical demand for which consequently a cer-tain market value of so much per word has been established," and he thinks that money is owed him every time he writes words on paper.

No! No! There is something more worth and more necessary to strive for at the present moment than are gold and silver. It is recognition, a recognition and acknowledgment in the eyes of all lovers of art; an acknowledgment that the camera as well as the brush may be a means of personal expression; and it appears to me that the quickest way to attain this is to interest the painters, for, after all, it is always the painters and not the critics or buying public who make the reputation of other artists. There may be fads lasting possibly over periods of years when the public falls in love with the wrong thing, but in the end the verdict of the painters is the accepted one. The Italian pre-Raphaelites, the French painters Puvis de Chavannes and Millet, our own Whistler, are really hated by the public which only illusions itself into believing it likes them, because the concensus of opinion of many of those practicing art have sufficiently swayed the thoughts of the writers on art and the connoisseur and through them the picture-buying public, and so forth.

It is often said that the dealer is a great power, and so he is, to boom any whom he may choose to take up, but the dealers' almost invariable policy is to take up those they think "boomable" ; that is, those whose work will fall in with the already preconceived idea of what the public ac-cepts as art. The dealers are nothing but merchants who feel the public pulse and cater to it. Few of them have the initiative of exploiting unrecognized art as have one or two French picture merchants when

they ventured to force impressionistic art on the public.

Therefore cultivate the painters; be nice to them when you meet them; give them a cigar or a drink, or a meal if you have the change; talk to them a little about your work, but not too much; don't forget that even if photography is your intense in-terest that they, too, have an intense inter-est. Talk to them also about their work; do not make them feel that the only object you have in cultivating them is because they may be useful to you, but that you really care for their strivings (you prob-ably don't, but fake up the appearance); pat them on the back; they are human beings with human feelings, and if you flatter them they will begin to think that you are intelligent and may amount to something, and they will in turn want to see what you are doing.

But whatever you do, don't pose and dictate, for as things stand at present, you should be teachers, and to teach and effect an intellectual revolution requires the greatest patience. You should be willing at all moments to explain, and never for an instant forget yourself and take the stand that those who cannot understand are lacking in perception; that it is waste to "throw pearls before swine." For so surely as you do this, the artists will class you as "art students," a type with which they are necessarily well acquainted, a type at which they laugh and from which they run.

In the respect of flattering and instruct-ing painters I think l\Ir. Bell and his Salon ha\e already done some good. To many of the painter jury for the Salon, pictorial photography was comparatively new, and they were impressed; and if only enough of them can be impressed and taught, why, they will, like the European painters, open the doors of their exhibitions to the pho-tographers, and then will half the battle be won, for the critics and picture-buying public will in time accept the verdict of the painters, and a pictorial print will be-gin to have some commercial value. It may not be evident to you to-day, but the time will come when you will recognize that painters are the last court. Therefore cultivate painters.


HOW A SUCCESSFUL PHOTOGRAPHER GOT HIS FIRST

START IN BUSINESS.

A prominent New York photographer whose name now appears on hundreds of pictures of stars in tne theatrical firmament, m an interview published in the N. Y. Telegraph, gives the following interesting account of how he laid the foundation of his fortune :

''During a vacation in the Maine woods 1 discovered a gold mine, so to speak, that gave me my start in business. An uncle of mine had a farm in the Rangely Lake dis-trict. I had just begun to get interested in amateur work with a camera, so I took one along with me. One day while I was fish-ing by the lake, with my camera and lunch-eon basket with me, two men in a dugout came along.

" 'Say, bub,' said one of the men, 'can you t;.ke pictures?'

" 'Sure thing,' I replied. " 'Is that your string of fish?' asked the

other man. " 'Right again,' I said. "In less than three minutes the deal was

fixed up. Those two Boston sports, who had been fishing all day without getting more than a bite, posed in their dugout, in all their fancy fishing togs. My string of fish was hanging over the side. One of them had his pole over the side of the dug-out, as though waiting for a bite. The other was in the act of hauling in a fish-one that I had caught an hour before.

"I took three poses of them doing the heavy sport act, and, later on, one show-ing them sitting on a bank, after a hard morning's work, enjoying my luncheon. Five dollars was my bribe, for the string of fish and for holding my tongue, and five more was promised when I delivered the proofs next morning.

"The dead game sports were delighted. They ordered a dozen of each negative, and mailed them to their friends in the city-'just a snapshot, you know, taken by our guide.' More than that, they took me

fishing with them for two days and sent presents of fish back to town to back up the photographs.

"I made a good thing and got an idea. I established the reputation of a dozen city sports that summer. My old uncle was delighted. All the cunning of a native New Englander in doing some greenhorn up came to the surface.

"'You wait till Fall,' he said to me, 'and go north a few miles where the fellers come shooting for deer and moose. I'll go with ye. We can make quite a penny, I'm think-ing.'

"The old man took me to a place where hunters in the north woods stopped for a day or two on their way back to Bangor. On the outskirts of the town he put up a little log shanty, and made it look for all the world like a hunter's cabin in the heart of the wilderness. There was no difficulty in shooting a deer or two and a cub bear, which we stuffed.

"The first victim came along as soon as we were ready for business. He had been out three weeks and never got a smell of a deer. But we threw one of ours across the back of his pony, and he went back to the city with a photograph of himself plod-ding along on one side of it, and his guide on the other, returning weary, but triumph-ant, from a day's chase. We sold him a fine pair of antlers to hang in his dining room. He was only too pleased to give us $25 for that job.

"Ivfy uncle figured in about thirty sport-ing pictmes that fall. He was guide, cook or anything else required. Once he made up as an Indian to please a young chap who wanted to tell about a visit to the Ojibways. The graft worked so well that I went back the next summer and did the same thing. One of the men I helped to make a valiant sportsman through camera evidence gave me my start in the business."


A HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL. Not finding it necessary to cut our sub-

scription price in order to keep enough names on our list to satisfy the postal au-thorities, CAMERA AND DARK RooM starts the New Year on the old basis of ONE DoLLAR PER YEAR IN ADVANCE.

We have no apologies to offer, but an explanation is in order as to the late ap-pearance of our December issue, which was caused by a fire adjoining our print e rs', the effects of which will be noticed in the latter pages of the number.

We have no promises to make other than to say that we will do our best to make the magazine worthy of support, or, in the words of an .old subscriber: "The best dol-lar"s worth he ever invested in." To that end we have engaged the best writers and ha,e much good matter to serve up, among which will be a series of rarely illustrated a rticles on "Art Applied to Photography."

* * *

We take this opportunity of thanking our readers for many appreciative and kindly meant expressions, but would im-press upon them that if these words were spoken or written to their acquaintances who dabble in photography our subscrip-tion list would soon reach five figures, and we could afford to give them so much more f or their dollar.

* * *

Yes, it takes a lot of money and much bard work to run a publishing business and we must here thank those manufac-turers who show their appreciation of our efforts by their continued advertising. Of course it pays them. Some see it in direct returns, others . benefit by it in the continued demand for their products, while ~here are some who do not seem to realize wi1at they owe to the photographic maga-zines. Do not they stimulate i;1terest, and


paid for on delivery, and negotiations are pending for twelve more. Sixty-eight al-together, not at all a bad showing for the First Salon of the American Federation of Photographic Societies and by all ac-counts away ahead of any similar show

The Salon en route will be shown in the

following cities : Corcoran Art Gallery, Washington, January 15th to 30th; Carne-gie Gallery, Pittsburg, Pa., February 1st to 15th; Chicago Art Institute, March 5th to 20th; San Francisco, April 1st to 12th; Portland, Oregon, April 15th to 30th; Bos-ton, Mass., Art Club, May 5th to 20th. Toronto, Can., and other dates to be an-nounced later.

The Federation now includes the fol-

lowing societies: Baltimore Camera Club, Boston Camera Club, Brooklyn Camera Club, Capital C. C. of Washington, D. C., Chicago Camera Club, Columbia Pho. Soc. of Philadelphia, Hartford Scientific So-ciety, Metropolitan Camera Club, New York; Portland (Maine) C. C., Portl~nd (Ore-gon) Soc. of Phot. Art, Pittsburg Pho-tographic Society, Salon Club of America, Toronto Camera Club, Wilkesbarre Camera Club.

We have to thank the Rochester Pano-ramic Camera Co., of Rochester, N. Y. for a print of a group of the members of the P. A. of A. at St. Louis. . The print is on Velvet Velox and remarkably clear, in fact a rarely good photograph of each one of the several hundred photographers presern, and not a 'l!isible sign of movement. We would like to reproduce it but the print is over four feet long. This is only a frac-tion of what the camera can do, however, and we will describe its merits at another time.

From the Hammer Dry Plate Co. comes a copy of the new (7th) edition of "Hammer's Little Book." Practical and thorough, with its carefully worked out formulae, it should be in the hands of all who aim at perfection in negative making. A new feature is the introduction of half-tone cuts showing negatives with false and correct lighting and modeling. The book-let is free. Hammer Dry Plate Co., St Louis, Mo., or at your dealers.

G. Gennert asks for 20 cents to cover the postage on his new catalogue to en-sure it getting intci the hands of interest-ed parties. The price is cheap for an il-lustrated catalogue that embraces every conceivable article tl1at is liable to be need-ed in a photographic workshop or studio. G. Gennert, 26 East 13th street, New York.

The apology of the editor of the Pho-

tographic Times in its December issue re-minds us of a familiar story of an apol-ogy" under pressure. Admitting that he was in "error" in publishing uncalled for attacks on the members of the Photo-Se-cession and its aims, he concludes as fol-lows : "We regret any unpleasantness that has been occasioned by anything we may have editorially expressed, but tt'e have nothing to retract and our platform re-mains the same." The italics are ours. We will wager our fountain pen against a pot of mucilage that this apology was written by a son of Ireland.

Apologies being in order, we apologize

on behalf of our printer for mixing up his type and giving the Obrig Camera Com-pany the address of 176 Broadway in-stead of 167 Broadway in a notice in our December issue. In this connection it is not out of place to say that this progress-ive and reliable firm publish a little month-ly "Down-Town Topics,'' which is distrub-uted gratis. Although given away free, its pages generally contain original articles from well-known authorities who do not write for glory. The December issue con-tains "How to Color Lantern Slides," by Dr. F. G. Kneer; "A Reliable and Simple Intensifier for Negatives," by A. K. Hour-sault; "Developing in the Tropics," by L. M. McCormick, some remarks on the Salon and a unique pen picture of ]. Craig An-nan, of Scotland, one of the Art Jury at the World's Fair, by Joseph T. Keiley. Mr. Keiley had already outlined his article on Mr. Annan, which appeared in last Camera Work, but had never met Mr. Annan.' His account of the accidental meeting is so in-.teresting a proof of mental telepathy that we take the liberty of quoting it from Down-Town Topics:


"I had already formed my estimate of and prepared the outline of my article on Mr. Annan for Camera Work. It rarely happens that our pre-conceived ideas of a person whom we have never met, and whom we have come to know only through common interests or by reputation, are confirmed when we meet personally the subject of our impersonal consideration. In-deed, the contrary is usually the case, and as a rule, the more favorable the pre-conceived impression, the ruder is the shock of disappointment. All too often we find that the person under considera-tion does not measure up to the standard our imagination has set-that previous ig-norance of personality has kept out of the picture personal eccentricities or shortcom-ings-that materially mar and change the impersonal conception. When, therefore, it is our good fortune to meet with one whom we have for some years known by reputation and of whom, from whose work and utterances we have formed a high ideal, who measures up to and even sur-passes the picture that, in our imagination we ha\e painted, it is a source of pecul-iarly gratifying pleasure. For many years I had known of ]. Craig Annan, had ad-mired his work and come to esteem him highly from what I knew of him through that work, without ever having met him.

"One evening in the latter part of August I had gone to Chinatown for the purpose of selecting from the exquisite bits of Oriental art-ware there to be found-a wedding gift for a friend-had made my purchase and was waiting for the same to be wrapped by the Chinese salesman, when my attention was attracted by the rich, low reverberations of a trinity of Chapeaux-Chinoisesgongs hanging from the ceiling of the shop. He who had called forth the tintinnabulations of their chor-ussing voices, stood before them, knocker in hand, listening intently and critically to their fine metallic melody, as though loth to lose the slightest curve of their grace-ful rhythmic sound-waves, a gentleman in rough gray traveling suit and panama hat, a man some few years my senior, who instantly intensely interested me, so much so that I could not take my eyes from his face, while within me arose the conviction

that somehow I knew him, though I was just as positive that never before had 1 seen him. It seemed absurd I Impossible I and yet I could not put aside the con-viction. The man before me more than filled a niche that I had constructed within my inner consciousness on very definite lines ; corresponded in likeness wonder-fully, measured-up-to fully, the portrait of some one that in my imagination I had painted. He was tall, with a lithe, well-proportioned figure. His smooth shaven, rather long face, was firmly moulded in fine, strong, sensitive lines. The eyes were rather full and of the calm, quiet, observ-ant sort, full of intelligence and decision. The firm, yet flexible mouth, was peculiar-ly sensitive and expressive; and the hand that had struck the gongs, in shape and poise clearly bespoke the artist-where had I known him? Yes-just what I had im-agined, Craig Annan-but that was not possible ! I had no idea that Craig An-nan was in the country at the time, sup-posing him to be in Glasgow. I had in the past seen several photographs of him, none of them particularly like the man at whom I looked, yet, nevertheless, for some unaccountable reason, and though it seemed to me the most improbable t~ing in the world, I felt convinced from the first that it was Craig Annan. Amused at my-self for entertaining an idea that seemed so remotely removed from the possible. and the chances being one to a thousand against Mr. Annan's being in . that part of the world at the time, and even if he were there, of me recognizing him-never-theless, determined not to let that one chance slip, walking up to where he stood, I held out my hand and called him by name-:-and it was Craig Annan."

Book or the I,ooo Kodak Exhibition. This is the title, stamped in gold, on

the cover of a handsome portfolio just is-sued by the Kodak Press. "To show some-thing of the work that is being accom-plished in pictorial photography by the devotees of the Kodak system." The world-wide interest in the Kodak compe-tition of 1904 naturally brought together much of the best work of the camera and


the public exhibition of the competing pic-tures in London was an eye-opener to all who could attend. From this exhibition sixty.or more prints were selected and have been reproduced in half-tone, which will enable photographers in the most remote localities to see the work of others and note the kind and quality of the work which fi nds favor with competitiOn judges. Printed on the fine st paper, the price, 25 cents, does not begin to cover the cost of reproduction and the collection of pictures is of such interest and quality that, aside from being a desirable possession,. it is a handsome gift to send to a fri end. "The Book of the r,ooo Kodak Exhibition" is obtainable through all dealers or direct from Eastman Kodak Company, Rochester, N. Y. Price 25c.

Tha 1905 Kodak Competition. We have pleasure in announcing that an-

other g reat picture competition is to take place during the year. The Eastman Kodak Company offer $2,000 in prizes and have a rranged for two classes of competitors, "Open" and "Novice." The "open'' class is for all who may care to enter, but the "novice" is open only to amateurs who have never won a prize in a photographic contest. Thi s is a feature which will g reatly please many who do good work but who do not care to compete against the regular pot hunters.

The classes and conditions are as fol-lows;

C lass A. Ope n to all. For K odak pic-tures 3 1-4 x 4 1-4 o r large t, Inc luding the P a nora m K oda l< s .

C lass B. Op e n to a ll. For K od a k pi c -tures 3 1-2 x 3 1- 2 or sma ll e r , Inc ludin g No. !A Foldin g Poc k e t K odak .

C lags C. Ope n t o a ll. F o r e nla r g e m e nts of ai)Y size f r om K od a k or Browni e nega-tives o n Ea~tman, N e pe ra o r Photo-Mate-ri a ls Brom id e Pape r .

C lass D . N ovice. Ope n o nl y t o a m a-t e urs who h ave n ever b een a w a rde d a prize in a ph o tographic contes t . For K odak pkture s 3 1-4 x 4 1-4 o r la r g e r, in -cluding th e P a nora m K o da k s.

C lass E. Novicf'. Open on l y t o a m a t e urs wh o h a ve n eve r b ee n a w a rded a prize in a photogra ph ic eon t es t. F o r Kodak pi c -turPs 3 1- 2 x 3 1-2 or small r. In c lu ding No. 1 A F o ldi ng P ock e t K o d a k .

C lass F . Nov iC'i.'. OpP n on l y t o a m a t e urs wh o h a \'(' n f'vf'r h e

THE CAMERA AND DARK-ROOM 3l

Club activities have been at a stand-still for some time on account of the enormous amount of work entailed in the handling of the Salon entries, but the new house committee promises to make the coming winter evenings both lively and in-teresting.

\ .Yednesday evening, February 15th, was decided on as the date on which to hold the Annual Club Auction and all parties who have apparatus, books, pictures or anything photographic that they desire to convert into money for their own benefit and that of the Club should make up their li st at once and mail same to the secre-tary so that a catalogue may be prepared.

Brooklyn Camera Club. The Brooklyn Camera Club announces

the following rules to govern the entries of its coming Exhibition and competition to be held at its rooms on February 16, 17 and 18, 1905.

The competition is open to Amateur and Professional Photographers.

Pictures must be framed or passe par-tout, and forwarded express charges pre-paid to the Club Rooms, 776 Manhattan avenue, Brooklyn, N. Y., not later than February I I , 1905.

The name of the exhibitor and address, also title of picture, must be written on back of each frame and a li st of same sent to the chairman of the print committee.

The following are the awards: Presi-dent's award for the best picture in the exhibition, a silver medal, a bronze medal and honorable mention in the following classes:

Genre, Portrait, Landscape, Marine and Miscellaneous.

The jury having full power to withhold any awards in the different classes where there is not sufficient merit in thei r judg-ment to warrant same. Al so are privil-eged in discriminating on the pictures sent in, or any such pictures that do not meet their approval for hanging in thi s Exhi-bition, as the jury is requested to select up to two hundred pictures. Further informa-tion will be gladly furnished by addressing

MR. c. M. SHIPMAN, Chairman of the Print Committee.

]OHN F. MERz.-"Helen's Dolly." This is a very cute picture of child life that could be considerably improved by more natural grouping of the figures. The re-sult is always stiff where one tries to pose children. Let them play, all unconscious of the fact that you want them to pose, and watch for the opportunity that shows the best position, then press the bulb. Over-development of this negative has given you chalky whites with no detail in the white dress. The position of the chair is also awkward and dwarfs the figure of "Helen."

"Blast Furnaces by Night" is a lost op-portunity. Had you used a non-halation plate or a . plate properly backed or kodoid film you would ha,e avoided the great halation and probably secured a striking picture.

H . R usHTON.-"New Recruits." A good print from a technically good negative, but -Oh! such posing! "Six football play-ers, to get their picture strive; one, of course, must press the bulb, so then there is five. Five football players, standing in a line, trying to look pleasant, and think that they are fine." Yes, five burly foot-ball players in their toggery, all in a row, smirking at the camera like a lot of giddy school girls, makes ridiculous what with pr.oper grouping and natural posing might have been a fine picture. Try again.

W. A. BoTTOMLEY.-"The Fair by Night." The two prints are excellent ex-amples of night photography and the ex-posure of fifteen minutes with f-8 has brought out much detail, while the non-halation character of the film used has prevented the high lights from spreading. It is a pity, however, that you did not shade your lens while the electric launches passed in front and so have avoided those curving lines across the lagoon. I met


all sorts of photographers on the fair grounds and had some amusing experi-ences which may take the form of an article in a future number. One know-it-all gentleman would not be convinced that he could not get a good picture of the illuminations by holding his camera against his breast and giving a ten-minute exposure. I am still awaiting the prints he promised to send.

E. H . WILMOT.-"Gathering Fagots." This is a hackneyed subject, yet you have fallen far below the standard set by Kauf-mann and others who have taken this for their theme. The figure in the foreground is badly placed-too close to one side; moreover it is out of focus, in common with the rest of the foreground, while everything in the distance is crisp and sharp. This is just the reverse of what we look for in a good picture. See reply to Thos. Lange in "Answers."

FRANCEs E. W AGNER.-"Mary Had a Little Lamb." This is very well done. Mary and her lamb are nicely posed in a natural attitude, and, as they should be, seemingly all unconscious of the presence of the camera. Not so, however, the chil-dren in the background and their pres-ence mars what would otherwise have been a fine picture. If we possessed this nega-tive we would block out the objectionable features and print in a suitable background. Try this, and if not satisfactory, get your subjects together again minus the on-lookers.

Shutter Testing. GEO. E. LEwrs.-How can I measure the

speed of a shutter without a speed tester? Ans.-Certainly some kind of a tester is needed to record the time, and if you do not feel like investing $1.50 for a Wynne tester you can contrive one for yourself with a plumb bob and a string 39 I-2

inches long. Mr. Claudy's article in this number should set you on the right track.

The Planes of a Picture. THOS. LANGE.-In referring to a certain

picture a writer in one of the magazines says that the maker made no attempt to differentiate between "the planes of the picture." What is he driving at. Ans.-Take another look at the reproduction of this "picture" and you will note its per-fect sharpness. The di stance, supposedly miles away, is as sharp to the eye as the foreground and the middle distance equally so. The principal object is divided be-tween the foreground and middle distance. This is all that it was necessary to render with any degree of sharpness in this special picture. As rendered it is a flat map-a vulgar transcript of nature, without relief or show of perspective and as the human eye does not see it. Viewing the scene from nature, if we rested the eye on the principal objects we would be conscious of a dimly defined distance. This end is attained in photography by focussing on the principal object and raclcing out the bellows or opening the diaphragm until the "different planes" of the view are subor-dinated to their true values.

Developer Stains. ALFRED AMES.-Hydrochinon developer"

should not cause stain if it has not become oxidized by needless exposure to the air or if it has been properly compounded. Plates or papers developed with this agent should be well rinsed before inserting in the hypo bath. Weak Farmer's reducer applied lo-cally with cotton wool might help in re-moving the stain. A good clearing bath or stain remover is citric acid, I -oz.; fer-rous sulphate, J oz.; alum, I oz.; water, 20 oz.

Starch Paste Good as Any. MRs. R. WoRDEN.-A good paste that is

easily made and that will stick. There is nothing better than freshly made starch paste. To I-2 oz. pure starch add a very little water to make a stiff paste, then add about 6 ounces boiling water, stir-ring constantly until it jellies. Let stand till cool before use. A drop or two of oil of cloves will make it keep.

CORRIDOR IN MANSION OF HON . WHITELAW REID

Photo~traphed by Curtis Bell.

ONEDOLLARTHEYEAR TEN CENTS THE COPY

Volume Vlli. New York, Febtuary, 1905. No.2 Edited by J. P. CH .\LKERS.

Published on the first of every month by

361 Broadway THE AMERICAN PHOTOGRAPHIC PUBLISHING COMPANY,

(Telephone 853 Franklin) New York City Entered at the New York Post Office as second class mail matter.

Subscription price, One dollar per year in advance. Foreign subscription price ssb. $1.25) Positively not connected with any photographic stock house.

Matter should reach office by the 1 sth of month preceding date of publication. Original MSS. solicited

PHOTOGRAPHY THROUGH A CHEMIST'S EYES. BY A. G. WOODMAN,

VI.--Chemical Action in the Dark.

-:\ a previous article 111 this series of papers on sub-jects relating to photography which possess also chemical

interest I have written very briefly concerning the chemical effects pro-duced upon the photographic plate through the agency of light. It may not, perhaps, be so generally known that many substances possess a very marked and curious property of so affecting the photographic plate, even in the absence of the light, that a dis-tinct image may be produced, which c:1n te rendered visible by subsequent development in the ordinary way. And, moreover, apart from the theo-retical interest in the question, it will be shown later in this article that it has much practical value as offering an explanation of many obscure sources of fogged plates.

The substances which produce upon the plate these effects so strongly re-sembling those of light are, some of

them, of a metallic nature, while others are of vegetable origin. At first sight it seems quite remarkable that metals like magnesium, zinc and aluminum, which we ordinarily regard as chemically inactive should exert this peculiar power, and to such a degree. The action is of course, much slower than with light, but un-der favorable conditions a picture may be produced in two or three seconds. A description of one or two experi-ments which may be easily carried out with a plate of zinc and an ordinary rapid dry plate will serve to explain better this phenomenon.

If a sheet of ordinary dull or tar-nished zinc be scratched so that the bright metal shows through and then laid upon a photographic plate for some time, say for several hours, in complete darkness, a strong and sharp reproduction of the scratches will re-sult upon development. If, however, the finger is drawn across the bright


metal surface, so as to dull it, its ac-tivity will be much diminished, as shown by the picture that it will give. If a bright piece of zinc is immersed in water for about twelve hours the surface will be acted upon; oxide of zinc is formed, showing generally as a curious pattern. If now the zinc be dried it will be found that this zinc oxide is "active" and will im-press a good picture of its design upon the photographic plate.

An important peculiarity of this ac-tion is that it will take place without actual contact with the sensitive sur-face or even when a thin sheet of some other medium is laid between them. The action will take place, for example, if a thin sheet of gelatine is interposed. Celluloid, albumen, collodion, goldbeaters' skin, are all "transparent" to the action of the zinc or other active bodies. On the other hand many bodies do not permit the transmission of the action through them. Of this class are paraffin and common writing ink, as may be con-veniently demonstrated by placing or-dinary paper with writing on it be-tween the zinc and the sensitive sur-face.

With bodies which are porous, such as most papers, for instance, the action passes gradually through the pores and prints upon the plate a picture of the intervening structure as well. This is well shown by allowing the ac-tion to proceed through a printed page, when the apparently much con-fused picture is accounted for by the fact that the printing on the side further away from the photographic plate, as well as that next to it, prints through the paper and is of course re-versed.

The second class of substances which show marked examples of this action are for the most part organic and belong to the group of bodies known chemically as the "terpenes." Typical substances of this nature are ordinary oil of turpentine and cam-phor. The strongly smelling sub-stances known as essential oils contain terpenes in many instances and are strongly active. Such are oil of bergamot, oil of lavender, oil of lemon and the like. Ordinary perfumes or scents are active and pictures can be produced by cologne water, by cinna-mon, by copper, and by tea. Other oils than the essential ones are also active; linseed oil is especially so, and olive oil to a lesser degree. Mineral oils, such as paraffine oil, are with-out action on the photographic plate.

Many interesting results are to be obtained with bodies which contain small amounts even of these active substances. For instance, wood, es-pecially resinous or pitchy varieties, will give its own picture, often indi-cating clearly the location of knots, peculiarities in the grain, etc. The peacock's feather gives a very hand-some picture and one, moreover, that possesses scientific value in that it serves to distinguish the beautiful in-terference colors, due entirely to the action of light, from colors due to pigment. The brilliant blue in the eye of the peacock's feather is with-out action on the photographic plate. A butterfly's wing, for example, may be made, as it were. to draw its own picture. Printers' ink, is an active body by virtue of the linseed oil that it contains and it is sufficiently power-ful to act through considerable dis-tances. Examples like these might be


multiplied but enough have been men tioned to show the character of the phenomenon and the wide range of substances that exhibit it Of more im-portance is to discover, if possible, the cause and to show how it is of prac-tical value in elucidating obscure ef-fects long noticed in photographic work.

An interesting phenomenon such as we have here, has of course attracted the attention of chemists and various ingenious explanations such as "dark light" and vapors given off from the metals, have been offered to account for it. The most satisfactory expla-nation, however, is that offered by Russell, who has made a thorough study of the question and from whose results I have largely drawn. By him it is ascribed to a chemical compound, peroxide of hydrogen, a substance largely used in medicine and much more common now than formerly. Without going largely into the details of how this was shown, which was chiefly by method of indirect proof, it will suffice to recapitulate them briefly.

A German chemist showed as long ago as 186o that when zinc turnings are shaken up in a bottle with a lit-tle water, this hydrogen peroxide is formed and the delicate tests known to chemists by which its presence can be detected show that in the presence of water the various metals as zinc, magnesium and aluminum, can not only produce the hydrogen peroxide but that their power of doing so fol-lows exactly the same order as their power of acting on the photographic plate. Water is necessary, but always present. We speak ordinarily of a dry plate. As a matter of fact, an ab-

solutely dry plate, if we could make and keep it so, would be perfectly in-active and for photographic purposes would be of as much value as a piece of window glass. It will be remem-bered that in mentioning the organic substances which show this action on the plate it was mentioned that it was only those which contained the class of bodies known as the "terpenes" which possessed the peculiar property. It is a most characteristic feature of this Class of bodies that in the pres-ence of air and moisture they cause the formation of hydrogen peroxide. Hence in every case, whether the pic-ture be produced by a metal or by an organic body, it is one which is cap able under suitable conditions of gene-rating hydrogen peroxide. Further, every effect obtained by using either a metal or an organic body can be exactly duplicated by using a solution of the hydrogen peroxide itself. Even when in very dilute solution it is ex-tremely active. One part of the per-oxide diluted with one million parts of water will still give a picture.

The action of hydrogen peroxide can be easily demonstrated by using white blotting paper which has been wet with the solution and then al-lowed to dry in the air. The paper will remain active for about twenty-four hours. What is still better is to take some common plaster of Paris, wet it with the peroxide solution and let it harden in a mold, so as to get a slab of it. The slab will increase in activity for a day or two after making and retain its acticity for a couple of weeks or so. Such a slab gives a good strong picture in three or four seconds. It is even possible to con-vey this power to an inactive body, to


charge it by contact. For instance, if a copper stencil is laid on an in-active piece of pasteboard and a slab of active plaster of Paris placed on the stencil for a short time, the paste-board will give a good picture of the s

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