CORNELL 
 
 UNIVERSITY 
 
 LIBRARY 
 
Cornell University Library 
 TR145.W74 W7 
 
 Wilson's photographies : 
 
 olin 
 
 3 1924 030 709 483 
 
Cornell University 
 Library 
 
 The original of tiiis bool< is in 
 tine Cornell University Library. 
 
 There are no known copyright restrictions in 
 the United States on the use of the text. 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924030709483 
 
WILSON'S 
 
 PHOTOGRAPHICS 
 
 A SERIES OF LESSONS, 
 
 ACCOMPANIED BY NOTES, 
 ON ALL THE PROCESSES WHICH ARE NEEDFUL IN THE 
 
 EDWARD L. WILSON, 
 
 EDITOR OF THE "PHILADELPHIA PHOTOGRAPHER," "PHOTOGRAPHIC MOSAICS," ETC. 
 
 The camera is fnigktier than the pen or ihepencit, 
 
 PHILADELPHIA: 
 PUBLISHED BY EDWARD L. WILSON, 
 
 912 & 914 CHESTNUT STREET. 
 I 8 83. 
 

 Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1881, 
 
 By EDWARD L. WILSON, 
 
 In the office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, D. C. 
 
 V^ 
 
 ' I ^ Ki 5? L) 
 
TO MY EXCELLENT FRIEND, 
 
 IN ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF THE MODEST AND UNOSTENTATIOUS WAT IN WHICH HE 
 HAS DEVOTED HIMSEUT, TOR OVER TW3}NTT-FIVE YEABS, TO THE 
 
 GROWTH OF AMERICAN PHOTOGRAPHY, 
 
 BY SECURING AND PROVIDING THE WHEREWITHAL TO PRODUCE THE BEST 
 RESULTS IN THE BEST AND EASIEST WAT, 
 THIS BOOK IS INSCRIBED 
 IN THE NAME OF, AND FOR, THE WHOLE CRAFT, 
 
 BY THE AUTHOR. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 Photography grows so rapidly, and so continuously widens its usefulness, that 
 an occasional lesson-book must be issued in order that the working votaries of the 
 art may keep at least alongside. During an intimate connection with it for over 
 twenty years^ nearly eighteen of which have been expended in the very whirl of 
 its progress, — indeed, with an earnest shoulder at the wheel, — I have preferred to 
 assist my colleagues to do the business of book-making, rather than attempt it 
 myself, owing to the very profound sense I have always had of the responsibility 
 and of the magnitude of the undertaking. The time, it seems to me, has come, how- 
 ever, when I must speak out, and no longer neglect to take my share in this matter. 
 What follows, then, is the result of my efforts. It is for those who read such pro- 
 ductions to decide how satisfactorily (or otherwise) I have executed the work. 
 
 I have planned it after a scheme "different" from the usual one. It would 
 have been easier for me to have gone on in one continuous strain from beginning 
 to end. But so full am I of the imbibings of these twenty years, that were I to 
 attempt such a course, the good and generous words of my co-laborers would ooze 
 and flow out to that extent that in a little time I would be branded as the most 
 shamefaced and intensest plagiarist. Therefore I agreed with myself in the begin- 
 ning that I would tell what I knew from experience in simple language-^this for 
 the benefit and instruction of the beginner — at the heads of the pages, in bold and 
 honest type, and then in the smaller and more dignified letter following, elaborate 
 with the extended ideas of those who have accelerated the advancement of our art 
 by their discoveries, their practice, and the publication of their experience. As 
 many of these are given a fair chance to agree or disagree with me as I could 
 well work in. I am sorry I had to leave anybody out. I first wrote my own story, 
 and then I set me to the weariness of research — which was the hardest task of all — 
 through volumes of books and magazines, my long-used helpers. And after all, 
 how little I have been able to use of the good which has been so freely given ! 
 You would tremble if you only knew how much larger this volume might have been 
 made. And it is due to these helpers that I should say more, besides appending 
 a list of their distinguished names. I have drawn from them without regard to 
 their rank or riches, except as to the richness of what they tell. 
 
 And to these noble men and women who have assisted me in all these years to 
 hold up the photographic colors, pure black and white, while the "fine arts" 
 
 ( vii) 
 
vm PKErACE. 
 
 fired at and besieged us with their sarcastic shot and shell — while the world-tide was 
 grinding and beating against us, I give all honor and praise. While I tried to 
 infuse enthusiasm into others, they encouraged me to cheer and lead. I have in 
 every possible instance added their names also to their helpful words. 
 
 In studying Photographies, I would advise the beginner to read the coarser type 
 continuously first. It will give him about all that he needs to begin work. As he 
 progresses, he may appeal to the wide experience of my worthy co-workers for 
 more light. 
 
 I disclaim all originality in this work. I do not remember to have ever made 
 an " original discovery " in photography in my life except one, and that you will 
 find in proper place in these pages. I have prepared my work on this peculiar 
 plan because it struck me as the best, though through my life I had intensely hated 
 books with foot-notes, until I read the following lines from Butler : 
 " Then why should those who pick and choose 
 
 The best of all the best compose, 
 
 And join it by Mosaic art 
 
 In graceful order, part to part, 
 
 To make the whole in beauty suit, 
 
 Not merit as complete repute 
 
 As those who, with less art and, pain. 
 
 Can do it with their native brain ? ' ' 
 
 Since then I have come to appreciate the work of the author who consults wiser 
 heads than his own, and I come into his plan with due humility. 
 
 I have yielded to the touching request to accompany my work with my own 
 portrait. I do it, and in sitting for it tried to look cheerful about it. I did 
 it because the picture does credit to one of our most able and patient veterans, 
 Mr. F. Gutekunst, of Philadelphia, and because it serves as an example of an- 
 gular composition in illustration of Lesson A. The prints are by the phototype 
 process, fully given in Lesson X. A better and a beautiful example of this class 
 of work is also given further on, in a plate showing eleven positions of the graceful 
 elocutionist. Miss Adelaide Detchon, which must serve as useful studies in the line 
 which I so earnestly desire to see more followed by the enterprising and cultured 
 band of men and women in whose hands and power photography and my Photo- 
 graphics now rest for their future welfare. Nearly every other illustration in 
 Photographies was made by a photographic process of engraving, and therefore is 
 entitled to be considered as a "sun -picture." 
 
 My excellent printer and tasteful binder have done their best to help make our 
 work a good example of the art of book-making. 
 
 May it all do much towards the advancement of blessed photography. 
 
 Edward L. Wilson. 
 Philadelphia, May ist, 1881 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 When the Divine Master had "created the heaven and the earth," He said, 
 "let there be light: and there was light." Then inan was made, who by the 
 genius given him promulgated " the fine arts." But, as " in the beginning," the 
 things pertaining to "the heaven and the earth" needed light, to give them life, 
 and vigor, and vim, and snap, and growth, so "the fine arts" needed photogra- 
 phy to infuse the elements named into them more thoroughly than they had ever 
 possessed them up to the time of the birth of the greatest of arts, forty years ago 
 or more, at whose shrine we are the favored devotees. And we all know that they 
 use it and are familiar with what it has done for them, and how they do lean upon 
 it for courage and help. 
 
 Is it worth while, then, to take up time and space with a lengthy " introduction " 
 to what follows, when every household is already so familiar with the workings of 
 photography, that it is only a question of a little time when the camera and the 
 lens will be as much a part of home-diversion and enjoyment as the printing- 
 press and the scroll-saw now are, and ten times as pleasure-giving and refining in 
 its influence ? 
 
 Yes, photography is already /(3j*«/a^ among the masses, full of advantages to them, 
 and dearly beloved because of its undenied truthfulness, and the knowledge and 
 happiness which it brings into the family. It is a willing helper and an indispen- 
 sable one in almost every direction. It lifts its searching eye to the heavens and 
 brings the wonders of the planets to our drawing-rooms ; it sends up its sensitive 
 messengers away above the clouds and they gather revelations which mystify and 
 confuse the senses ; it creeps back into antiquity and reveals the histories of the 
 periods long before the Saviour came ; it takes up the bit with electricity, speeds 
 alongside and compels it to share its mysteries ; it grapples with the invisible 
 musicians of the air and wrestles from them a record of their own sweetness ; it 
 goes hand-in-hand with the microscope, and helps it fill the world with wondrous 
 revelations; it has driven the old-time lecturer from the platform, and serves as 
 the right-hand helper of the modern one, by illustrating his topic through the lan- 
 tern ; it dives down into the sea and comes up smiling with a rich revelation of 
 what lies beneath ; it throws hot coals upon the heads of the " fine-art " devotees 
 who fain would crush it, by giving them reproductions in size, color, and feeling 
 
X INTRODUCTION. 
 
 of the drawings of the old masters; in book and magazine illustration it has 
 wrought a revolution ; it cheers the emigrant on his way, it helps hold the memo- 
 ries of the dead dear ones ever fresh, and it comforts the sorrowing in all lands — 
 the rich and the poor ; it delves down into the bowels of the earth and brings up 
 the glittering likeness of the stalactite and the grim stories of the catacombs ; it 
 is a household necessity and a public comfort. And yet, important, helpful, un- 
 assuming, enterprising, useful, indispensable as it is, photography claims to no per- 
 fectionism. It is a g-r-e-a-t sinner, and yet it grows and grows — never grown — 
 on it grows. 
 
 The great Alexanders of science and discovery need not weep because there are 
 no more conquests to make. Photography not only opens up a wide field yet for 
 research — because its necessities are still great — but it offers a large enough tract 
 free of all incumbrances to satisfy the wildest enthusiast. OA, come ! 
 
 What more can be said for it now, unless it be that ye who will read the instruc- 
 tions embodied in the lessons which follow, may live to see many of the terms and 
 processes therein given rendered obsolete by "future improvements"? No one 
 will dare say that we yet have even an approach to " the process of the future." 
 
 Take up Hunt's Researches on Light (V&a^') and you will read of the "solar 
 phosphoir" and the " dentiodides " and the "epipolized light"; descriptions of 
 the "cyanotype," the "callotype," the "aurotype," and the "agarics"; the 
 wise words of Becquerel and Bockman and Sir J. Herschel and Niepce and 
 Davy and Daguerre and Talbot and a host of others. These are all gone with 
 the past. Photographies with its list of wise ones comes in now, and it is proposed 
 to leave it with you ; for after all, an " introduction ' ' will be of no service perhaps, 
 since, when appeal was made to Mr. Hunt's "introduction" to see what he had to 
 say of our art as it was twenty-seven years ago, it Was found that in a copy which 
 had been through all the stages of use and abuse, and at last turned up in, and 
 was rescued from, a second-hand book-store in London, the leaves of the " intro- 
 duction ' ' had never been cut ! One appeal then. Give Photographies a chance 
 on its introduction at least, if you go no further. 
 
AUTHORITIES 
 
 QUOTED IN THIS VOLUME. 
 
 AKERS, CHARLES. 
 ALBEE, M. H. 
 ANDERSON, D. H. 
 ANDERSON, ELBERT. 
 ANDRES, MONS. 
 ANTHONY, H. T. 
 ARGENTUM, OLD. 
 
 BACHRACH, D., JR. 
 
 BAKER, W. J. 
 
 BEATTIE, JOHN. 
 
 BEDFORD, WILLIAM. 
 
 BENECKE, R. 
 
 BERKLEY, HERBERT B. 
 
 BIGELOW, L. G. 
 
 BLACK, J. W. 
 
 BLAKE, JOHN M. 
 
 BLANCHARD, VALENTINE. 
 
 BOLTON, W. P. 
 
 BOVEY, W. T. 
 
 BRIDGE, DR. NORMAN. 
 
 BRIDLE, H. C. 
 
 BROWNE, J. C. 
 
 BURGESS, J. M. 
 
 BURNET, JOHN. 
 
 BUSEY, N. H. 
 
 CARBUTT, JOHN. 
 CHERRILL, NELSON K. 
 CHLORIDE, YOUNG. 
 CLARK, FORRESTER. 
 CLARKE, ARCHER. 
 CLEMONS, J. R. 
 CLENCH, F. B. 
 
 COCKING, EDWIN. 
 COOPER, B. S. 
 CRAMER & NORDEN. 
 CRIEFELDS, HERR. 
 CROUGHTON, GEORGE. 
 CUTHBERTSON, T. 
 
 DAGGETT, M. L. 
 DALLAS, DUNCAN C. 
 DARRICAU, M. 
 DA VINCI, LEONARDO. 
 DAWSON, R. W. 
 DEBENHAM, W. E. 
 DENSMORE, JAY. 
 DE SILVA, A. M. 
 DISDERI, M. 
 DOUGLASS, GAYTON A. 
 DUNCAN, DAVID. 
 DUNMORE, EDWARD. 
 DWIGHT, M. A. 
 
 EASTHAM, JOHN. 
 EASTMAN, GEORGE. 
 EDER, DR. J. M. 
 EDWARDS, B. J. 
 ELIOT, F. G. 
 ENGLAND, WILLIAM. 
 ESTABROOKE, E. M. 
 
 FABRONIUS, D. C. 
 FARR, H. R. 
 
 FENNEMORE, GEORGE H. 
 FENTON, ARTHUR F. 
 FERGUSON, WILLIAM. 
 
 FERRARI, ALONZO. 
 FOLSbM,J. H. 
 FORREST, J. A. 
 FRENCH, C. M. 
 FROTHINGHAM, REV. F. 
 FRY, SAMUEL. 
 
 GAFFIELD, THOMAS. 
 GARRETT, C. ALFRED. 
 GATCHEL, W. D. 
 GIHON, JOHN L. 
 GILLO, R. 
 GOETCHIUS, J. C. 
 GOOD, FRANK M. 
 GRASSHOFF, J. 
 GUERIN, F. W. 
 GULLIVER, THOMAS. 
 
 HAAKMAN, H. L. T. 
 HALL, JULIUS. 
 HARDWICH, T. FRED. 
 HARDWICK, P. 
 HARMAN, R. V. 
 HARRINGTON, NEAL P. 
 HARTMAN, HANS. 
 HAZLITT, M. 
 HEARN, C. W. 
 HENDERSON, ALEX. 
 HESLER, ALEXANDER. 
 HILLARD, M. 
 HOMAN, CHARLES. 
 HOUGH, E. K. 
 HOULGRAVE, H. 
 HUGHES, ALFRED. 
 (xi) 
 
xu 
 
 AUTHOEITIES. 
 
 HUGHES, JABEZ. 
 
 HULL, CHARLES WAGER. 
 
 HUSNIK, PROFESSOR. 
 
 JACKSON, JOHN. 
 JARMAN, A. J. 
 JEWELL, FRANK. 
 
 KENT, J. H. 
 KIBBE, W. H. 
 KILBURN, B. W. 
 KIMBALL, A. W. 
 KREUGER, ERNEST. 
 KURTZ, WILLIAM. 
 
 / 
 
 LEA, M. CAREY. 
 
 LEAKE, J. C. 
 
 LIBBY, E. P. 
 
 LIESEGANG, DR. EDWARD 
 
 LOCKWOOD, MRS. E. N. 
 
 LOCKWOOD, W. H. 
 
 L. W. B. 
 
 MANFIELD, H. 
 MARSHALL, A. 
 MASON, O. G. 
 MAYLAND, WILLIAM. 
 McINTYRE, H. M. 
 MERRILL, JAMES O. 
 MITCHELL, G. G. 
 MITCHELL, REUBEN. 
 MORGENEIER, ROBERT. 
 MORRELL, FRANK A. 
 MUDD, JAMES. 
 MULLEN, JAMES. 
 
 NEWTON, H. J. 
 NICOL, ALEXANDER. 
 NOTMAN, WILLIAM. 
 
 O'NEIL, HUGH. 
 OURDAN, J. P. 
 
 PEARSALL, ALVA. 
 PETERSON, CONRAD. 
 PFEIFFER, OSKAR. 
 PHILBURN, A. 
 PHILLIP, T. C. 
 
 PHILLIPS, F. C. 
 PHILLIPS, GEO. BRINTON. 
 PHIPSON, DR. 
 PITTMAN, J. A. W. 
 PLATT, S. L. 
 POLARIS, STELLAR. 
 POTTER, J. C. 
 PRICE, LAKE. 
 PRINGLE, ANDREW. 
 "PYRO." 
 
 RANDALL, N. D. 
 REEVES, T. S. 
 REJLANDER, O. G. 
 REYNOLDS, SIR JOSHUA. 
 RICHARDSON, C. F. 
 ROBINSON, H. P. 
 ROCHE, T. C. 
 ROCHER, H. 
 ROGERS, S. 
 ROWELL, FRANK. 
 RUSKIN, JOHN. 
 
 SALOMON, ADAM. 
 SAUNDERS, IRVING. 
 SAYLOR, B. FRANK. 
 SCHNAUS, DR. J. 
 SCHREIBER, G. 
 SCHWIER, K. 
 SCOTFORD, J. H. 
 SEAVEY, L. W. 
 SELLACK, SHULTZ. 
 SELLSTEDT, S. G. 
 SHERMAN, W. H. 
 SHOEMAKER, W. L. 
 SIMPSON, G WHARTON. 
 SIMSON, A. 
 SINGHI, WELL G. 
 SLINGSBY, R. 
 SMITH, GEORGE. 
 SOUTHWORTH, A. S. 
 SPENCER, F. M. 
 STARR, J. H. 
 STEBBING, PROF. E. 
 STIFF, C. J. 
 STODDARD, S. R. 
 SWAN, J. W. 
 
 TAINE, N. 
 TALBOT, ROMAIN. 
 TAYLOR, J. TRAILL. 
 T. H. C. 
 
 THOMAS, FRANK. 
 TIPTON, W. H. 
 TISSANDIER, G. 
 TOMLINSON, C. 
 TOPLEY, W. J. 
 TOWLER, PROF. J. 
 TUNNY, J. G. 
 
 VIDAL, LEON. 
 
 VOGEL, DR. H. 
 
 VON ARNIM, BETTINE. 
 
 VON MOELKE, CARL. 
 
 VON MONCKHOVEN, DR. D. 
 
 WALDACK, CHARLES. 
 WALLACE, G. W. 
 WARNER, W. HARDING. 
 WATERHOUSE, MAJOR T. 
 WEBB, H. A. 
 WEBSTER, E. Z. 
 WEBSTER, H. D. 
 WEBSTER, I. B. 
 WELLER, L. A. 
 WELLS, F. M. 
 WELLS, S. P. 
 WERoE, J. 
 WHITNEY, E. T. 
 WILKINSON, W. T. 
 WILLIAMS, W. CLEMENT. 
 WILLIS, GEORGE. 
 WILLIS, JR., W. 
 WILSON, EDWARD L. 
 WILSON, G. W. 
 WILSON, W. 
 WINTER, J. A. 
 WOLOWSKI, J. K. 
 WORTLEY, COL. STUART, 
 
 YORK, F. 
 YOUNG, J. S. 
 
 ZENTMAYER, JOSEPH. 
 ZIMMERMAN, C. A. 
 
ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 PHOTOTYPES. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Frontispiece 
 
 Portraits of Miss Adelaide Detchon (eleven), facing, 7g 
 
 Portrait of the Author, 
 
 PHOTO-ENGRAVINGS AND WOOD-CUTS. 
 
 Line Points, 25 
 
 Diminution, 26, 35 
 
 Perspective, 27 
 
 Point of Sight 27, 28, 29 
 
 Lines of the Face, 80, 31 
 
 Aerial Perspective, 36 
 
 Marine View, by Willem Van de Velde, . 36 
 
 Varieties of Lines, 40 
 
 Angular Composition, . . 42, 43, 44, 45, 46 
 
 The Flight of yEneas 42 
 
 Mignard's Daughter, by Pierre Mignard, 43 
 The Harvest Wagon, by Philipp Wouwer- 
 
 44 
 45 
 
 Master Lambton, by Sir Thomas Lawrence , 
 
 Examples of Angular Composition (six), 46 
 Pyramidal Composition, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53 
 
 The Expulsion of Hagar, by G. Flink, . 48 
 
 Family Devotion, by Jean Baptiste Greuze, 49 
 
 The Empty Jug, by A. Van Ostade, . . 50 
 
 A Surgical Operation, by Adrian Brouwer, 51 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Studio of Adrian Van Ostade 52 
 
 The Goat and the Faun 52 
 
 Examples of Pyramidal Composition 
 
 (six) 53 
 
 Circular Composition, 56 
 
 Drawing, by Raphael, 56 
 
 The Soldier and the Laughing Girl, by J. 
 
 Van der Meer 60 
 
 Study in Light and Shade 60 
 
 Portrait of Rembrandt, by Himself, . . 68 
 Orpin, the Parish Clerk, by Thomas Gains- 
 borough 69 
 
 Study in Lighting, 69 
 
 The Syndic of the Cloth-Mongers, by 
 
 Rembrandt 70 
 
 Rembrandt Lighting, 70 
 
 The Grand Parade, 74 
 
 Study in Lines and Composition, ... 74 
 
 The Portrait Camera, 78 
 
 The View Camera, 78 
 
 ( ^"i ) 
 
XIV 
 
 ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 The '76 Stereoscopic Camera, .... 79 
 
 Application of the Diaphragm, ... 87 
 
 The Tanks for the Dark-room, ... 90 
 
 Interior of the Dark-room, .... 91 
 
 Ventilation of the Dark-room, ... 92 
 
 CoUodionizing the Plate, 112 
 
 Development of the Image 113 
 
 Retouching Machine Work, . . . . 152 
 Glass Studio Construction, 155, 156, 161, 
 
 162, 164, 165, 166 
 
 The Curved Glass Studio 157 
 
 Curtains for the Studio, ... . . 159 
 
 Interior of the Glass Studio 160 
 
 Awning-frame for the Skylight, . . . 163 
 
 Section of a Skylight, 164 
 
 Elevation of a Skylight, 165 
 
 Details of Glass Studio Construction, . 166 
 
 Hull's Background Frame, 176 
 
 Liesegang's Background Wagon, .- . . 176 
 
 The Printing-room, 189 
 
 Centennial Printing-room 190 
 
 Young's Winter Printing-room, . . . 191 
 
 Sensitizing the Paper, 197 
 
 Clips for Suspending Paper, . . . . 198 
 
 Drying-room for Paper, 198 
 
 The Fuming-box, 199 
 
 Drying-rack for Prints, 208 
 
 A Printer's Washing-room, 208 
 
 Stereoscopic Negative Guide, .... 209 
 
 Frame for Printing on Wood, .... 215 
 
 Waymoulh's Vignette Paper, .... 230 
 
 Singhi's Vignette Attachment 238 
 
 Robinson's Print Trimmers, .... 230 
 
 View Included by any Lens, .... 248 
 American Optical Company's Dry-plate 
 
 Apparatus, 243 
 
 On the Shores of the River Neuse, by 
 
 Jan Van Goyen, 255 
 
 FAGB 
 
 Model Landscape View, 255 
 
 The Ancient Out-door Worker, . . . 262 
 
 The Modern Out-door Worker, ... 262 
 
 Hot-water Cabinet for Emulsion Work, 264 
 
 Apparatus for Boiling Emulsion, . . . 265 
 
 Apparatus for Mixing Emulsion, . . . 266 
 
 Apparatus for Dividing Emulsion, . . 267 
 
 Apparatus for Breaking Emulsion, . . 268 
 
 Apparatus for Cooling Emulsion, . . 268 
 Apparatus for Filtering Emulsion, . 268, 269 
 
 Apparatus for Drying Emulsion Plates, . 272 
 
 Drying-cupboard for Emulsion, . . . 273 
 
 Apparatus for Emulsion Developer, . . 280 
 
 Carbutt's Developing Cruet, .... 284 
 American Optical Company's Dry-plate 
 
 Changing-box, 294, 295 
 
 Eastman's Lamp for Emulsion Work, . 294 
 American Optical Company's Double 
 
 Emulsion Holder, 297 
 
 Apparatus for Enlarging Card Negatives, 805 
 Apparatus for Enlarging by Artificial 
 
 Light, 808, 309 
 
 Piatt's Apparatus for Tracing Enlarge- 
 ments, 309 
 
 Apparatus for Making Lantern Slides, . 310 
 Apparatus for Drying Albumen Trans- 
 parencies, 313 
 
 Apparatus for Reversing the Negative, . 316 
 
 Apparatus for Filtering Gelatin, . . . 322 
 
 Drying-box for Phototype Plates, . . 323 
 
 Drying-cupboard for Phototype Plates, . 323 
 
 Drying-oven for Phototype Plates, . . 326 
 
 Washing-tank for Phototype Plates, . . 827 
 Drying-box for Varnished Phototype 
 
 Plates, 331 
 
 Apparatus for Making Collodion Trans- 
 fers, 834 
 
 Cylinder for Converting Silver Chloride, 341 
 
CONTENTS, 
 
 PACK 
 
 Lesson A. . . Treatment of the Subject 19 
 
 Lesson B. . . The Needful Apparatus, 77 
 
 Lesson C. . . The Objective or Lens, 81 
 
 Lesson D. . . The Dark-Room,- 89 
 
 Lesson E. . . Preparation of the Glass, 93 
 
 Lesson F. . . Chemicals and Solutions, 95 
 
 Lesson G. . . The Manipulations 112 
 
 Lesson H. . . Manipulatory Miseries, 116 
 
 Lesson I. . . Retouching the Negative, 147 
 
 Lesson J. . . The Glass Studio, 154 
 
 Lesson K. . . Accessories and Light, T 169 
 
 Lesson L. . . Managing the Model 183 
 
 Lesson M. . . Printing on Albumen Paper, 189 
 
 Lesson N. . . Printing on Plain Paper 211 
 
 Lesson O. . . General Remarks on Printing, 213 
 
 Lesson P. . . Printing on Various Surfaces, 214 
 
 Lesson Q. . . Printing Perplexities 217 
 
 Lesson R. . . Art in Printing, 226 
 
 Lesson S. . . Mounting and Finishing, 234 
 
 Lesson T. . . Photography Outside, 240 
 
 Lesson U. . . Bromo-Gelatin Emulsion Work, 261 
 
 Lesson V. . . Vogel's Collodion Emulsion 298 
 
 Lesson W. . . Enlargements and Lantern Slides, 301 
 
 Lesson X. . . Phototypes, Platinotypes, and Collodion Transfers, 816 
 
 Lesson Y. . . Wastes and their Worth, 339 
 
 Lesson Z. . . Metrical Measuring, 342 
 
 Lesson &. . . Concluding Confab, 344 
 
 Index, 347 
 
 (XV) 
 
WILSON'S PHOTOGRAPHICS. 
 
 LESSON A. 
 
 TREATMENT OF THE SUBJECT. 
 
 Jl. The one thing which the photographer needs most to consider with 
 greatest care, is the treatment of the subject which comes before him. 
 This he cannot always select; and he has but little time, as a usual thing, to 
 study it, and to decide which is the better way to treat it. The chemicals 
 are all right, and are sure not to disappoint him. Of his manipulatory 
 success he is certain. The camera is at his service, but needs handling 
 with care. The arrangement of the subject, the introduction of back- 
 ground and accessories, the management of the light and shade as well, 
 the harmonizing of the whole so as to produce the best pictorial effect, 
 are the things most apt to puzzle. and even baffle him. Let us then con- 
 sider this part of our subject first. 
 
 1. Again, whether the photographer can he called an artist or not, to obtain the highest 
 success he must have something of the education and feeling of an artist. He must know 
 what is beautiful when he sees it, and he must understand in what true beauty and grace in 
 the human figure consist. I have seen many photographs with many capital points about 
 them — good light and shade and general arrangement, the face well done, and the drapery 
 rather good; but, looking under that drapery, as it were, it was quite impossible to judge 
 whether a human being with limbs existed or not. The artist, whether painter or sculptor, 
 more especially the latter, would not tolerate this, and the photographer should remember 
 that the form of the human figure should be seen to exist within the drapery, giving the 
 picture vitality and character. Any photographer may, by happy chance, occasionally 
 produce a good picture, but chance will not enable him oft to repeat it. I have sometimes 
 conceived a picture, for the means to embody which I have had to wait for years; but as 
 I could see my picture in my mind, I knew at once when the possible or suitable model 
 for it was accessible to me, and so seized the opportunity, and got what I wanted. — 
 O. G. Rkjlakdkb. 
 
 2 ( 17 ) 
 
18 WILSON'S PHOTOGEAPHICS. 
 
 J 2. There is no cause for despair, no reason for faltering in this deli- 
 cate and diiEcult portion of our art's work. "We may learn to "produce 
 beauty by rule." Before photography was born, art was. It was agreed 
 by its masters that it should be governed by certain laws or principles, 
 which were to hold good in all its departments and in all their phases. 
 Poetry, music, painting, sculpture, architecture, dancing, all fell into line, 
 and accepted these principles at once, in the production of the delights 
 which everlastingly come to us from them. 
 
 ■/ 3. Young photography, therefore, if it would take its place among the 
 arts, must willingly bury its indiiference, and come into the procession 
 under the rules which govern its members, or as many of them as apply 
 to it. Wbat these rules are, it will be the purpose of the paragraphs 
 which follow to explain and illustrate. 
 
 The department of portraiture will be given the first attention, for what 
 
 J 2. For my own part, I lose sight of considerations as to the mechanical appliances, except 
 so far as they require to he accommodated to the necessities of the picture. The rough 
 instrument ceases to exist for me, absorbed as I am by the idea of reproducing my ideal. 
 Where there is a will there is a way. In photograph}', as in art, when the sentiment is 
 energetic, it can never be sterile. — Adam Salomon. 
 
 Jin learning the rules for composition, as in all other departments of art, the artist must 
 study nature to find his fundamental principles, and in doing so, he will learn, that in 
 accordance to this law of unity of the mind, but one feeling or sentiment is directly and 
 decidedly addressed by any one production of nature. Flowers having the strongest 
 perfume, like the orange, jasmine, and lilac, are either white, or most delicately tinted. 
 In the charms displayed by the gorgeous lilies and tulips, the eye alone is gratified. 
 Brilliant birds are never great singers. People who are regularly beautiful are not gifted 
 with strong mental capacity ; for, according to the laws of harmony, strength of character 
 is too decidedly marked in the physical development, to admit of the delicacy that is 
 essential to regular beauty. We find every degree of strength and beauty, every variety of 
 element, and every possible variety of combination in the human form and character ; and, 
 according to the law of harmony that pervades life, we also find that the intermediate 
 combination, that serves to unite and harmonize the two extremes, partaking alike of the 
 character of both, is never wanting. — M. A. Dwight. 
 
 3. There has always been much declamation about the fault-finding tendency in our cus- 
 tomers, but consider where wo would stand to-day if nobody had ever found fault with our 
 work. Some of our patrons possibly know nearly as much about good effects as the best of 
 us; at any rate, by trying to see what, and as they see, we shall more fully understand the 
 subject by getting it in a new aspect. 
 
 A too much neglected means of advancement Is here. The aim should be not solely to 
 please, but to please with the best work. It can be depended on to win in the end. In fact, 
 every one now knows something about pictures, so no one's opinion should be entirely 
 ignored. Good chromos, good autotypes, good engravings, good paintings, good photo- 
 
TREATMENT OP THE SUBJECT. 19 
 
 applies to it will also be of service in the management of subjects of all 
 classes. 
 
 V 4. The reproduction of the human body, so to speak, is the most ex- 
 alted reach of our art. Man is made by God " after His own image." 
 All the other arts imitate man in their creations. Poetry sings of his 
 loves and passions ; music mimics his ^ongs of praise, and repeats his 
 wofiil wails; the painter never tires of delineating his figure, of repre- 
 senting his life, or depicting his beauties ; sculpture immortalizes him ; 
 the architect constructs his grand creations in form after the human figure; 
 and dancing moulds his graces into the poetry of motion, thus creating 
 and completing a ring of faithful delineators of human splendors, all 
 bound by the principles of art. They express for humanity its ideas ; 
 they render its sentiments ; they tell its stories ; they imitate it in all its 
 phases, for the enjoyment of its members. 
 
 75. Photography is born, and, like a Joseph among his brethren, asserts 
 itself, and demands a place. Its youthful hand is laid upon the glorious 
 circle, and admittance asked. It is denied, and effort made by its envious 
 kindred to hide it in a pit, and to utterly destroy it. "Why ? It does not 
 comply with the rules. Yea, there is a fear that it will itself want to rule 
 over all, «!id great jealousy arises lest it should ou1>run them, and destroy 
 
 graphs, can be had anywhere ; they are educating the million, and it remains for each caterer 
 to the public to study with open eye, brain, and heart, lest he shortly be found not in advance 
 of, but behind, the public taste. — W. J. Baker. 
 
 ■/4. The utmost capacity of photography can only be reached when, with complete control 
 of his materials, the operator is possessed of a cultivated mind, is master of the principles which 
 govern art, and deeply imbued with its spirit. Mere taste is not sufficient; he must have 
 thought, too, and thought is the result of culture. Like the architect, sculptor, or painter, 
 he ought to be a man of observation, and able to segregate the essential idea from the un- 
 necessary rubbish which surrounds it. Drawing, modelling, or painting are the means by 
 which poetic ideas are unfolded in plastic art ; in photography, the chemical action of some 
 of the rays of light upon a sensitized film or medium stands for two of thele, and when, 
 within their proper sphere, they are used by corresponding intelligence, bear Corresponding 
 fruits. Their results ought to be preferred to thoughtless skill, for they give'.better satisfac- 
 tion. — S. Or. Sbllstedt. 
 
 5. Photographers„in your hands is power. The power of the wonder-world of art. Do not 
 underrate it. But whether it be great or little is of small account. It certainly iS real, and, 
 as real, the true artist will hawe it what it ought to be. He will teach all whom he can reach 
 that in the perfect truth alone is the perfect beauty ; that every thing and every person who 
 has a right to be at all has a beauty of its own ; that his own aim is simply to discover and 
 most perfectly to render the highest, exactest, and completest life of each ; and that, in a 
 word, in the highest character is the perfect art.— Eay. Frederick Peothinsham. 
 
20 WILSON'S PHOTOGEAPHICS. 
 
 their harmony and peace. But this must not be so. It is not so. For, 
 after ignoring the principles of art for the first thirty years of its life, pho- 
 tography, awakened out of sleep, ceased its obstreperous opposition, and, 
 rubbing its eyes, began to study, to practise, and to improve. 
 
 ■l 6. As a result, the productions of photography ten years ago are not 
 worthy id be compared with those of to-day in an art sense. Yet there 
 is still more room for progress and improvement in this noble direction 
 than in any other, and its importance cannot be too earnestly urged. 
 What photographers need for themselves is culture — education in the prin- 
 ciples of art so far as they are applicable to photography. "WTiat they 
 need to secure to their patrons is a likeness ; made more beautiful and 
 pleasurable, as it can be, by the application of these principles in its pro- 
 duction from beginning to end. 
 
 77. As in grammar, certain rules regulate the parts of speech which 
 make up our language — as in authorship, the rules of composition govern 
 the forms of the sentences which immortalize the author, so in photog- 
 raphy must and do the rules of form, composition, light and shade, govern 
 the production of the best pictures. It behooves the photographer, there- 
 fore, to study and practise these rules ; to educate the mind and the eye, and 
 
 J 6. The great want in the present position of photography, ii a more extended knowledge 
 of art amongst photographers. "Were this want supplied, there would soon be an increased 
 taste and refinement in photographic productions. Articles have been written on this 
 subject, but often in a style too philosophical and dreamy, so that the simple soul who wants 
 to know what he should do to improve, and how to do it, is utterly bewildered and 
 confused. — Jambs Mudd. 
 
 J There are general and specific principles in art, and the better we comprehend them, the 
 more readily do we see the intention of the artist in his pictures. Hence, it is like learning 
 a strange language ; we must first begin with the sounds of the letters and words before we 
 can communicate in sentences. Thus in art, if we understand and have acquired the faculty 
 of artistic sight, our gratification is immeasurably increased by being able to appreciate 
 what we see. — L. G. Bigelow. 
 
 V 7. I consider it requisite that a professional portraitist should previously undergo a similar 
 course of training to that which an artist, in the strict sense of the term, would do. A man 
 is not an artist because he possesses a camera and lens. Incapacity will inevitably be made 
 manifest in results— in the miserable productions, in imitation of humanity, which have 
 been scattered broadcast over town and country, plentiful as blackberries in the autumn. 
 But a student devoted to art, bringing to bear upon photography the superior taste and 
 judgment to be only acquired by years of ardent study in drawing and painting, will not 
 fail, in time, to rank with the best men and most capable artists in the profession. These 
 I have no doubt, have each gone through such a course of training in art as I have referred 
 to, before entering the domain of photography. — R. Slinosby. 
 
TREATMENT OF THE SUBJECT. 21 
 
 to train the hand to conform unto them. Carry into practice what you 
 see, what you imagine, what you invent, and apply your genius and your 
 skill to your work. 
 
 J8. Some one has said that "Genius plays and talent labors;" that is 
 truly so, but it is only the genius that plays by rule ; and the truly talented 
 labor with principles constraining every action. The dancer in his wildest 
 enthusiasm, is swayed by the silent influence of time, and the mightiest 
 sledge is swung to the reverberations of the anvil music, or to those of 
 the shaping mass beneath it. Ifl'ature herself, fickle as she seems, submits 
 to laws as eloquent as her own fascinations. 
 
 79. When a person appears before a photographer for a portrait, if his 
 mind is fraught with the culture which he needs, it will flow from him in 
 generous fulness, like a spring, as if by inspiration, just when he requires 
 it, and of the kind he requires. There is something wonderful about 
 this, but it is true. As soon as the subject is presented, the artist mind, 
 if trained, will begin to work and to simmer, and his knowledge to bubble 
 up to his aid. The pleasure he feels in the work, and that which he hopes 
 to give to his patrons, gives impulse to the power within him. "What exists 
 in his model calls up other suggestions, and he goes at the posing and 
 lighting with a will and a conscious strength which surprises him. To 
 produce the conceptions which arise from his mental power becomes his 
 passion. How wildly he would work, did he not permit himself to be 
 swayed by the rules of art; and as poetry without measure, as music with- 
 
 / 8. "We need to cultivate the sentiment of the heautiful, a feeling and taste for art, to read 
 the book of nature In all its phases and endless variety. These are the muGh..neglected 
 subjects that should be more urged and impressed upon the minds of photographers. These 
 lare the subjects that elevate, and inspire an ambition to cultivate the taste and a love of the 
 beautiful ; they furnish the mental and moral aliment that nerves our energies, and 
 embraces the whole philosophy and secret of success ; and as nothing succeeds like success, 
 why is it that so few climb their Parnassus by this enchanted but more difficult road ? — 
 
 T>. H. AlfDKKSOIf. 
 
 1/9. Whether the artist mean it or not, in every face he photographs he tells a story. If it 
 be the face of an infant or grown child, there is the sweetest of all stories — the story of 
 innocence and strangely bound-up probabilities ; if of a fully developed youth, there is the 
 story of school-battle, with life ahead and gray hairs and honor in the distance; or the 
 picture may be a register of school feebleness and an evident life of commonplace events in 
 the future. If we are photographing those who are wearing on into the afternoon of life, 
 then it is when the story may be of most interest. The wear and tear of life, with all the 
 turmoil of passion, has now gained the control, and every line and look has taken its 
 impress from the long line of past action. — John Beattib. 
 
22 WILSON'S PHOTOGEAPHICS. 
 
 out time, so his results would appear when measured by the laws of the 
 beautiful. 
 
 Aq. E"o more then about the importance of applying art principles to 
 the practice of photography. We admit that, and proceed to the study 
 of those principles as laid down by the " old masters," who themselves 
 submitted to them in the creation of the glorious works which have made 
 them immortal. And let the words of Goethe be our watchwords : " The 
 highest demand that can be made of an artist is this : that he shall hold 
 to nature — study her, imitate her ; that he shall produce something resem- 
 bling her manifestations." 
 
 >/ll. That you maybe able to discern the beauty and truth of nature, 
 and apply the same in your every-day practice of photography, is the 
 purpose, then, of the feeble instruction which follows. It is the partial 
 outgrowth of years of delightful reading and study and practice amid the 
 works of the immortal ones, at home and abroad, helped by the authorities 
 who advocate their principles. 
 
 J 10. First, I would advise you to study nature ; study it constantly, closely, and patiently. 
 Never suppose that you are perfectly familiar witli it ; the more you study it the more it 
 will reveal itself and its true character : many look and do not see. 
 
 Study works of art: paintings, engravings, sculpture, and photography, all demand careful 
 study ; and when you examine a picture, do not be content to pronounce mentally even a 
 hasty judgment upon it, saying, " Oh, how beautiful !" or the reverse, but take time. It will 
 well repay you to study out what are its qualities first, lastly its defects ; try every line : now this 
 deep shade, this high-light, this mass of half-tone ; find out if you can the purpose or intention 
 of the artist in every particular, and if you have the privileged companionship of a more 
 advanced student than yourself, exchange your opinions' freely ; the advantage of doing so 
 is evident. If your home is in a large city, be grateful for the opportunities its galleries and 
 art repositories afford you for study. If not so favorably situated, take every proper oppor- 
 tunity of seeing any private collections in the neighborhood, or of being introduced to their 
 owners. Generally they are ready to receive kindly,those who take like pleasure with them- 
 selves in studying works of art. Should no such opportunity be available, do not starve 
 while so much art is to be met with in so many of the wood-cut illustrations of the present 
 day ; first-rate art, too, let me tell you — fit to inspire — William Notman. 
 \) 11. It is an improvement in the right direction, and too much praise cannot be given to 
 our photographic journals and the writers of books on art principles who have made such a 
 persistent effort to impress upon photographers in general the necessity of an art cultivation 
 in lighting and posing. Too much cannot be written upon this point, nor can a photog- 
 rapher study it too much, for here is the touchstone to rank photography among the fine arts. 
 And not till photographers as a class have become art students, and their art knowledge is 
 apparent in every picture they make, can we hope to reach that point. It is true that por- 
 trait photography as now conducted has a certain business aspect attached to it that tends to 
 degrade it as an art. This should be kept in the background, and the artistic effect and ap- 
 
TREATMENT OF THE SUBJECT. 23 
 
 12. As a corner-stone to the structure, placed Avith the greatest con- 
 eideration, correctness should stand pre-eminent. Should the eye be allowed 
 to fall into a loose, imperfect habit of study, it will be found difficult to 
 overcome it afterwards, when you see the folly of it. The first step then 
 towards the education of the eye, is to learn to measure the distances be- 
 tween objects. Next, take in accurately the forms of the lines which 
 bound these spaces, and the shapes which are contained or excluded by 
 such lines. This gives the eye something tangible to work upon. Take 
 a pencil or a brush and make a series of dots. Then draw lines from 
 one to anether. Imitate them as near as you can, over and over again, 
 comparing their correctness Avith the original. Enlarge upon this by 
 making and imitating other forms. 
 
 13. Every figure or form holds within it, more or less, portions of a 
 triangle, square, or circle. In order, therefore, to fit the eye for the pur- 
 pose of seeing such qualities when mixed and combined with more com- 
 plicated figures, it must be taught to imitate and comprehend such objects 
 
 pearance of the gallery made as prominent a feature and study as possible; and as long as 
 photographs are offered to the public by the'dozen, so long will it have a commercial aspect. 
 Then photographers as a class are so avaricious ; the almighty dollar is what they are seeking, 
 and everything, art and all, is sacrificed upon its altar. So business and photography, by 
 usage, have become very closely allied, and to make the latter recognized among the fine arts 
 will be a very di^cult matter under the present regime. But as photographers rise higher 
 in their art knowledge and the application of it, they will have more pride in their efforts, 
 a more generous feeling towards each other (even to their next door neighbor), and a higher 
 love for their jorq/essiora, for business and its chosen god, the almighty dollar, will then have 
 some respect for the photographic art, and kneel to its dictation. — Alva Peabsall. 
 
 12. One of the very best methods of self-tuition in photography is the cultivation of the 
 habit of comparison. If the photographer is really honest and earnest in his desires to 
 improve (and by improvement I mean the improvement of his finances as well as of his 
 work, for the one is sure to follow the other), he will fall into this habit involuntarily, and 
 blessed is he if he does. He will not settle into a rut, and say to himself, "Well, things are 
 going along smoothly, and I will let them alone f" but the rather, "I am going to lift 
 myself out of this and see what is going on outside, even if it does go rough for awhile." 
 
 He will, when he picks up examples of the work of others, fall into the good plan of 
 mentally placing it alongside his own, and then going through a course of catechism, 
 honestly questioning and honestly answering himself. And the result will be, be the 
 examination in favor of his own work or not, that he will learn something which will prove 
 profitable to him. — Old AKGHNTirM. 
 
 V 13. In reference to the requirements of art, Goethe has written on this background of the 
 past, "That the highest demand that can be made of an artist is this, that he shall hold to 
 nature, study her, imitate her ; that he shall produce something resembling her manifesta- 
 tions. How great, nay, immense, this requirement is, we do not often consider ; and even 
 
24 WILSON'S PHOTOGEAPHICS. 
 
 in their simple forms. Therefore, select some of the objects used in 
 your work having these forms or partly so, and draw from them. ^ Thus 
 your eye will become accustomed to them, and gradually you will fall 
 into the habit of mentally measuring the correctness of the shapes con- 
 stantly presented to your eyes, and you will have received excellent 
 lessons in the grand principles of eye education, measurement, and form. 
 
 il4. After these come the vastly important lessons of perspective, so 
 useful in the practice of photography. Clothed with its geometrical and 
 mathematical intricacies, perspective is a bugbear which "hoodlums" 
 many a would-be art student. The effort will be made here to render 
 it understandable and of service. The Latin derivation is per, through, 
 and specto, to view ; and the drawing in perspective, may be defined as 
 the art of representing various objects subject to those laws which regu- 
 late their appearance in nature. 
 
 J 16. As all forms are made up of lines, more or less intricate, their 
 study should engage us now. All of them are subject to variations in 
 their appearance except two — a horizontal line and a perpendicular one. 
 Lines are also more or less diminished in their length as they depart 
 
 the true artist succeeds through instinct and taste, through practice and trial, in approaching 
 the outward beautiful side of objects, in choosing the best out of the good before him, and at 
 last learns how to produce an agreeable appearance ; how much more rarely does it occur, espe- 
 cially in these later times, that the artist is able to penetrate into the depths of his own soul, as 
 well as to take the measure of outward objects ; and thus, instead of producing works of a 
 merely superficial effect, emulate nature herself, and create a spiritually organic whole, giv- 
 ing to his work an import and a form that make it seem at once natural and supernatural." 
 
 This may not all be within the grasp of the student of photography, because he deals 
 more with material things, and has not the latitude for idealizing that the painter has ; but 
 that photography is susceptible of embodying all the higher elements of true art, the works of 
 to-day, which express so much of poetry and sentiment, abundantly testify. — Or. W. "Wallack. 
 J 14. The merit of our higher classes of work consists in the adaptation of recognized rules 
 of art to the end in view. Study of perspective, the effects of light and shade, of the graceful 
 disposition of lines, and of the judicious aid of simple accessories, will do more to enhance the 
 value of one's work than the collection of all the receipts ever concocted. — John L. Gihon. 
 
 15. First, of course, comes the closest study of nature in all her moods ; but, to supple- 
 ment this, familiarity with the work of her best interpreters is of a certain advantage. I 
 have said that the best likenesses in photography seem out of keeping ; the light is so dis- 
 tributed upon them that certain features are too prominent, others too receding. The 
 bridges of noses are widening, the ends made bulbous, and often the neck is without mod- 
 elling. There are flat spaces and empty spaces. This is not the case in nature. However 
 little there may be in the head, there is plenty of modelling on the outside. Nature leaves 
 no blank, all is finely modelled and diversified. — Charlks Akers. 
 
TREATMENT OP THE SUBJECT. 
 
 25 
 
 from the parallel of their base-line. Hold a pencil at its centre, by 
 thumb and finger, parallel to the eye ; now gradually twirl it around, 
 and it appears to become shprter and shorter, until it is seemingly but a 
 spot, -v^hen it is placed with the point directly towards the eye. This is 
 called the point of sight, which is always upon a horizontal line and im- 
 mediately opposite the eye of the observer. Turn it around now, from 
 right to left, or vice versa, and points without number may be described 
 along the entire line. These are called accidental points, and vary, more 
 or less, as the lines run at right angles from the base-line. 
 
 ■^ 16. Lines also vary according as they are situated above or below the 
 eye of the observer. To prove this, hold up a piece of glass on which a 
 series of lines have been drawn, radiating from the centre, and look 
 through it up a street or along an inclosure. It will be seen that those 
 lines which are at right angles with the base-line, fall in with and cover 
 many of the lines so drawn upon the glass ; for, as they run to the point 
 of sight, they will, of necessity, converge, since the spaces between them 
 diminish as they recede from the spectator. 
 
 ^ 17. The following will illustrate the above points. Let the figure rep- 
 resent a case with folding- p,^j 
 doors, placed immediately be- 
 fore the eye. The sides appear 
 to rise and descend to the 
 point of sight, A; also the o---.=:-- 
 door, B, from its being opened 
 at right angles with the base- 
 line ; while the lines of the 
 door, c, appear to run to the 
 accidental point, d. This point will vary its situation according as the 
 
 ■^ 16. Theory is the great director of experiment, the only interpreter of the works of 
 nature which is never wrong; it is our judgment which is sometimes deceived, because we 
 are expecting results which experiment refuses to give ; we must consult experiment, and 
 vary the circumstances till we have deduced general rules, for it alone can furnish us with 
 them; and general rules direct us in our inquiries into nature and the operations of art; 
 they keep us from deceiving ourselves and others, by promising ourselves results which we 
 can never obtain. — Leonardo da Vinci. 
 
 ^17. The photographer may further advance himself by the study of good hand-work in 
 the matter of composition or arrangement of his picture. I have not much to say upon so 
 profound a theme as this, and it is hardly necessary to remark that H is the subject of all 
 others which the student can least afford to neglect. It is indeed of the first importance in 
 
 t 
 
 pr- 
 
 I 
 
26 
 
 WILSON'S PHOTOGEAPHICS. 
 
 Fig. 2. 
 
 door is more or less opened, which, explains what are termed accidental 
 points. 
 
 \18. As we depart from any object, it diminishes in size, apparently. 
 Two parallel lines seem to approach each other as they recede from the 
 eye. This is termed diminution, and appears, to a degree, governed by 
 whether the lines commence from a near point or one far removed. For 
 example, a coin or a hand held near the eye will intercept more than 
 when held at arm's length. All objects diminish in an increased ratio 
 until removed to a certain distance, when the diminution appears less vio- 
 lent. "Witness the next diagram. Let the line A represent the spectator, 
 and the line b a line of pavement; the circular line c, which cuts through 
 
 the visual rays as 
 they approach the 
 eye, will show the 
 diminished ratio as 
 the squares become 
 more distant, and, 
 as they have to be represented on a plane surface, their proportions will 
 be as their diversion on d. Their appearance is represented by the hori- 
 zontal lines in the next figure. 
 
 19. What is termed violent perspective may also be illustrated by this 
 figure. When objects are commenced too near the eye, they appear to 
 be out of proportion with the other objects in the work, and, although 
 
 photographic, as in other portraiture, how the figure is placed, how the drapery is disposed, 
 how the head is turned, where the hands shall rest. The least change of action produces » 
 new comhination, which may be right or wrong, pleasing or harsh. The old definition of 
 beauty must he kept in mind : variety in unity. It must be done, but the difficulty is how 
 to do it. — Charles Akeks., 
 
 ^18. We want to see the time when poor pictures will be rejected by the public as un- 
 worthy of their attention. Now what must we do to accomplish this ? We must study the 
 principles of high art, and every time we make a picture we should endeavor to portray to 
 the best of our ability the amount of art knowledge we possess ; and let me say here, possess 
 all you can, study all the art journals you can get, and particularly study good pictures. I 
 never received so much instruction and benefit from that one source as while at the Centen- 
 nial. I had never attended a photographic convention, and had no idea of the good they 
 can do. Although I was unable to attend at the time of the meeting, I was greatly bene- 
 flted by studying the works of our eminent city artists in Photographic Hall. — C. M. French. 
 19. Now what has object-teaching to do with this ? Why I when you come to look at your 
 sitter you should observe whether you have a pale face, a ruddy, shiny, or a greasy face and 
 you should recollect that the one will absorb the light and the other reflect it. So you will 
 
TREATMENT OF THE SUBJECT. 
 
 27 
 
 Fig. 3. 
 
 according to rale, they appear false in effect to the eye. To avoid this, a 
 point of distance is chosen that will look agreeable. The farther "this 
 point is removed the more level the 
 ground will appear, as, by this system of 
 objecMeaching, is shown in Figs. 3 and 4, 
 ^20. Angles. — What has been said 
 more immediately applies to parallel per- 
 spective; so named from all the lines 
 which intersect those running to the 
 point of sight being parallel with the 
 base-line. When, however, a square 
 or any cubical form is viewed at the 
 angle, the two sides will not appear to 
 vanish in the point of sight, but run to 
 two points on the horizontal line, called 
 vanishing-points; and this mode of 
 treating the subiect is called angular perspective. Now, these two points 
 are always at an equal distance from each other, which is one-fourth of 
 a circle, therefore, 
 if one is determined 
 upon, the other is 
 easily found; for as 
 one departs from the 
 point of sight the 
 other appears to ap- 
 proach it, as one may perceive by turning around a sheet of paper, or a 
 book, from a situation where one side is parallel with the base-line until 
 it is viewed upon the angles. 
 
 have to study your faces to know how much light to give in each case. You want to know 
 how to get enough light, and not a great deal of light, but the right kind of light, on the 
 subject. Eemember that light travels in straight lines, and that even the atmosphere will 
 drive it from its course. That is the reason why a high skylight causes more diffusion of 
 the light, and gives softer results than a low one. — Edward L. Wilson. 
 
 20. The old-fashioned silhoueiies represented nothing but the outlines of the picture, and 
 yet they were very charming. This shows of how much importance outlines are. Their 
 influence is felt in every picture. Every thinking artist who desires to reproduce an object, 
 first studies its outlines. He allows his eye to glide over the lines, and tries to find the beauty 
 of their curves. He follows the changes of the stronger and the weaker ones, the longer 
 and the shorter, their windings and their easy combinations. — Dr. H. Vogel. 
 
 Point pfsi^t 
 
 Fig. 4. 
 
28 
 
 "WILSON'S PHOTOGEAPHICS. 
 
 21. The cause of this may, perhaps, be more clearly explained by the 
 following: Suppose the circle to represent the- line of the horizon, which 
 is the true representation of it when viewed out at sea, or where no 
 obstructions intercept it, for then the water, coming in contact with the 
 sky, presents a circular horizontal line. If a person, therefore, was 
 placed at d, and looking to the point a, the line c would be parallel with 
 
 the base, being at right angles with A, and con- 
 sequently occupying one-fourth of a circle ; biit 
 if he turned in the direction of B, then A and o 
 would become vanishing-points, though still at 
 equal distances upon the horizontal line, and 
 would appear as in Fig. 6. In a panorama, which 
 is a circular canvas viewed from the centre, this 
 mode of measuring the various points is found 
 to agree perfectly with the natural representation 
 of objects. 
 
 i 22. Circles. — If any one takes a drinking- 
 glass or cup in his hand, with the mouth of it towards him, and gradu- 
 
 -i 21. Photography is a means to an end. By its aid we are enabled to secure representa- 
 tions of realities visible to the human eye. Pictorial art in photography consists in making 
 such representations artistic and pleasing productions. 
 
 In what way should the student who wishes to excel in the art commence his practice ? I 
 •will suppose him to have mastered the chemical and mechanical difficulties connected with 
 photography through its first stages, and that his earnest endeavors for the future are to be 
 devoted in acquiring a perfect mastery of the various subjects to be photographed. A 
 knowledge of drawing is, if not essential, a most important requisite, proficiency in which 
 will enable him to design a suitable arrangement for the sitter beforehand, whenever an 
 important work may be required, thus taking a load off the mind when the actual moment 
 arrives ; such is frequently my practice when wishing to produce a picture out of the usual 
 style. A continued method of noting in the mind the beauties of nature and art is valua- 
 ble, the artist not allowing himself to pass quietly by any of the fleeting effects in nature, 
 or to neglect any beautiful pictures he may chance to see, without arriving at a conclusion 
 in his own mind as to what constituted the charms which have arrested his attention. He 
 should learn to look on nature as if looking at a picture ; this in time will have its effect if 
 persevered in by the student, in aiding the first step in art, which is the proper cultivation 
 of the eye. A cultivated eye and taste will decide what forms to arrange, and also what 
 light and shade to throw upon them. Practice alone can enable the student to equal his 
 own ideas. It is a great thing to keep the judgment ahead of the practice, so that every 
 succeeding work may present an improvenient upon the last. — E. Slinqsbt. 
 
 22. Without the eye being made acquainted with the beauties of those who have ad- 
 vanced the art to its present state, either progressively, by studying the best works or by 
 
TREATMENT OP THE SUBJECT. 29 
 
 ally turns it from him, carefully watching all the elliptical forms until 
 
 the brim becomes a straight line in appearance, 
 
 he will have a correct idea of how it is that 
 
 columns or other circular objects assume an 
 
 oval shape at top or bottom, according as they 
 
 are above or below the eye. Or if he holds the 
 
 cup with the side downwards and turns the 
 
 mouth gradually round towards him, he will see 
 
 why arches or circular gateways appear elliptical in a side view. It arises 
 
 from parts of the circle being more foreshortened than other parts ; that 
 
 is to say, those lines which come more in the line of the visual rays. 
 
 This can readily be illustrated with your lens-tube. 
 
 23. The application of these principles is easy to every one who knows 
 how to operate a camera. And in applying them, remember that the 
 base upon which all the rules of true drawing are founded, is what has 
 been explained above. And above all, keep in mind that all horizontal 
 surfaces of objects diminish in breadth as they approach the horizontal 
 line, and regain their true width when they depart from it, either by 
 being immediately above the eye or directly under it. This rule applies 
 to all flat surfaces; and this is why surfaces of objects whose lines are at 
 right angles with their base-line increase in length as they depart from 
 the point of sight, either to the right hand or to the left. 
 
 commencing a course of drawing from antique sculpture, it will be impossible to select what 
 is beautiful in nature, or be able to choose one point of view more interesting than another. 
 It will also be impossible to combine a variety of objects, unless we have a knowledge of 
 those principles upon which the various works are constructed that have given satisfaction ; 
 for though, as in the case with music, the varieties are endless, yet the science is simple, and 
 to be perceived by those who investigate the arrangements of harmony. He who attempts 
 to study from nature unassisted by education, in the first instance, will find himself often 
 mistaken in his results ; neither will he arrive at so certain or so expeditious a method of 
 delineating objects with truth and feeling, as he will be continually in dread of falling into 
 error. — John Burnet. 
 
 ^23. I do not hold it to be at all requisite that the photographer must be a complete 
 analytical chemist, a profound physicist, or that he should be capable of solving the most 
 intricate of the optician's problems ; but I do maintain that he should have a general com- 
 prehension of all these sciences ; that at least he may remark intelligently upon the 
 accidental incidents that occur in his working, and so profit by them. In fact, I am even 
 one of those who uphold that the superior excellence of a photograph can now be best 
 attained by devotion to art and its principles. These must be studied with the same assiduity 
 given to the understanding of the chemicals. — John L. G-ihon. 
 
30 WILSON'S PHOTOGEAPHICS.' 
 
 ^ 24. When the mind is fully informed of the variety of courses operat- 
 ing upon lines so as to change their appearance to the eye, natural objects 
 should be contemplated with the various changes produced in their forms 
 by their situation. The eye thus becomes familiar with these alterations 
 and the mind enriched by a variety of examples. Faces and figures 
 should be specially and continuously studied by the portrait photographer, 
 and the rules just laid down applied to them as they are measured and 
 estimated. As they move before you, you not only notice the changes 
 which occur, but you make yourself acquainted with the causes of such 
 changes. 
 
 i25. In illustration of this, a face has been photo-engraved with a line 
 
 drawn straight down the centre of it from the forehead to the chin, and 
 
 which, you will perceive, when viewed directly in front, as in 'Eo. 1, pre- 
 
 p^^ ^ sents a straight, perpendicular line, 
 
 though actually full of undulatiofts 
 
 from passing over the entire profile. 
 
 But as those projections and reced- 
 
 ings of the lines are immediately 
 
 under each other, they reach the 
 
 eye in the same manner as if a 
 
 string was held up perpendicularly in front of the face. If, however, the 
 
 ■^24. Must we admit that our calling is so low down in the scale of human occupation as 
 not to require that mental training and preparation necessary in every occupation requiring 
 the exercise of the least taste or capacity ? Then let us not invite that verdict at the hands 
 of the puhlic by flaunting our lack of information in its face, bringing our calling into dis- 
 repute, and ourselves into ridicule. 
 
 Too many photographists judge their work as a mechanic estimates a piece of nicely 
 adjusted machinery. The higher elements of his art, shades of character, feeling, and senti- 
 ment, seem to be utterly and naturally lost upon one whose education, in his profession, has 
 been limited by neglect or indifference to simple results of the dark-room. Is any real artist 
 satisfied with a delineation merely of the physical conformation of his subject? If so, his 
 work does not rise higher than a mechanical operation ; his genius is only brought into play 
 in portraying mind, soul, sentiment, and those attributes that bring his subjects nearer to 
 their creator. 
 
 The photographist can never rise to the real dignity and requirements of his profession 
 until he makes himself acquainted with the feelings, tastes, and sentiments of the true artist. 
 — D. H. Anderson. 
 
 \25. Photographs will eventually be stamped with as strong individual character as the 
 canvasses of Bubens and Titian. Such study as the painter bestows cannot be given to 
 photographic portraiture ; but in the matter of lighting the sitter, what background he shall 
 have, what accessories, what attitude, there is an infinite choice and room for any amount of 
 
TREATMENT OF THE SUBJECT. 31 
 
 face is viewed when turned round half-way, as in JS'o. 2, those parts of 
 the line which recede or project will assume one-half of their true char- 
 acter and projection, while in the profile E'o. 3, the line acquires its exact 
 similitude, from its being undisturbed by those laws which govern per- 
 spective. If we were to proceed and examine each feature in the same 
 manner, we should find that the same laws lead us into a correct view of 
 the alterations which take place upon every alteration in position. 
 
 26. To explain this more clearly : If we take one of these faces (bor- 
 rowing an illustration from Burnet again), and hold it with the chin 
 towards us, so as to observe the curve on which the mouth is placed, we 
 can easily perceive that a person viewing it in the direction of the lines 
 A B, which would give him a view of the face between a front and a 
 profile (or, what is generally termed, a three- 
 quarter), would see one side of the lip of its en- 
 tire length; while the other side, lying in the di- 
 rection of the visual rays, would be reduced to a 
 very small space,as maybe perceived byits breadth 
 on the ideal line c, which cuts such rays at rights 
 angles. Such also is the case with the nose in 
 the same view of the face ; one side remains un- 
 diminished, while the other side forms a mere 
 
 outline, being seen entirely under the influence of perspective. 
 
 27. It is now the purpose of what follows to point out how and when 
 
 originality in style. The art is yet in its infancy, and already many photographers of artis- 
 tic temperament are beginning to he felt in the character of their productions. — Chaelbs 
 Akeks. 
 
 ■I 26. If every photographic artist could have one of Titian's portraits hanging in I^is 
 studio, the result would soon he seen m our likenesses. In these portraits there are no dead 
 surfaces, there is no distortion ; the soul looks forth from its windows with a lofty tranquil- 
 lity. — Chaklbs Akers. 
 
 *27. There are many examples of the great masters with whose works all artists should be 
 familiar ; and the remembrance of these will always stimulate and suggest invention. In 
 arranging living models, however, no artist will succeed if he attempt to imitate pictures. 
 Each subject should be treated according to its own requirements — its own individualism. 
 But a knowledge of good works will aid invention, and it will be found that one subject 
 may be treated with advantage after the style of one master, and another after the style of 
 another. One subject would inspire a Titian, anothe-r a Raphael, a third Vandyck, and 
 others in succession — a Velasquez, a Lawrence, a Rubens, a Reynolds, or a Holbein. 
 
 When the artist is interested in his work, and believes in his art, it becomes wonderfully 
 plastic, and the materials wonderfully tractable in his hands. — Adam Salomon. 
 
32 "WILSON'S PHOTOGBAPHICS. 
 
 a knowledge of the foregoing principles can be of service in photog- 
 raphy. It is done with many a foregone conclusion that the camera can- 
 not err, and that whatever is rendered by its aid must, so far as drawing 
 is concerned, be faultless. This is undoubtedly a mistaken idea; and 
 even if we were to admit the instrument to be faultless, what of the 
 photographer ? 
 
 28. It has been stated that if a pencil or stick is held parallel with the 
 eyes, and gradually turned round, it will seem to become shorter and 
 shorter. The recollection of this principle will be found of much value 
 in the practice of photography. Every part of a picture is more or less 
 influenced by it, and very objectionable features may often be much 
 modified by its proper use. One illustration will suffice, and will suggest 
 to the intelligent reader many others. Por example, if you have a lady 
 with broad, square shoulders as your sitter, if taken parallel with the 
 camera, the fact of her having broad, square shoulders will be rendered 
 to its full extent ; but if the same figure be turned so as to give a three- 
 quarter, or sometimes a profile view, it will be found to lessen the pecu- 
 liarity, and more graceful lines will be obtained. 
 
 29. It has also been stated that all objects diminish in size as the spec- 
 tator departs from them, and in an increased ratio, until removed to a 
 certain distance, when the diminution appears less violent; and, that when 
 objects are commenced too near, they appear out of proportion with the 
 other objects in the work; and, a;lthough true according to ruj^e, appear 
 false in regard to their effect upon the eye of the spectator. This ought 
 to suggest the advisability of using a lens that will allow of its being 
 placed at a proper distance from the sitter or object which is being photo- 
 graphed, and thus avoid giving undue prominence to any part. This is so 
 apparent in its application, that any illustration is unnecessary, yet do not 
 overlook an error which not unfrequently occurs by violation of this rule. 
 
 \28. The art of photography is essentially a work of selection. The photographer does not 
 possess the power of the artist, who, in painting, can make alterations in composition and 
 vary his effects during the progress of the picture. In photography it is the opposite; 
 everything must be settled beforehand, or the production, if not satisfactory, must be set 
 aside and the work be commenced anew. A quick appreciation of correct contour of line, 
 with a good knowledge of composition, and the means in readiness to produce a suitable 
 chiaro-oscuro in character with the subject, combined with the ability to select the most 
 favorable view of the model, joined with an easy manner of doing the same without flurry- 
 ing either himself or the sitter, are some of the main essentials necessary in the practice of 
 a photographic portraitist. — E. SLiNQSBr. 
 
TREATMENT OP THE SUBJECT. ' 33 
 
 30. Heads of children are large by nature in proportion to their bodies, 
 but this is often considerably increased when their portraits are taken by 
 photography, and arises from their being short of stature. They are 
 generally under the eye of the camera, and as short-focus lenses are 
 mostly used for children, to secure speed in working, that again necessi- 
 tates the camera being placed near the child, and thus being near, and 
 looking down on it, the natural consequence is that a picture is produced 
 in which the head is enlarged and the figure dwarfed. The remedy for 
 this is, use a very low stand for your camera, or elevate the child so as to 
 bring the lens at least parallel with the face. 
 
 31. Circles. — A glance now at what has been said under this head. 
 Considering how many curved lines there are in the drpwing of a face, 
 it will naturally suggest itself, that a thorough knowledge of how those 
 curved lines are affected by the laws of perspective must be of great im- 
 portance to the photographer, for it has been explained how a circle, such 
 as the mouth of a drinking-cup, or that of a lens-tube, when held in 
 front, by simply turning it gradually away, the circle will be seen to as- 
 sume an oval, and pass through all the elliptical forms until the brim be- 
 comes a straight line in appearance. 
 
 Thus it is evident that faces which are naturally too round, by being 
 more or less turned away from the camera, may partake more of the 
 oval. It is surprising how much can sometimes be done by attention to 
 this rule, not only affecting the face as a whole, but when applied to in- 
 
 •iSO. Any good photographic artist will be found to have his ideal, just as any good 
 painter or sculptor — an ideal towards which he is striving, and from which he is always 
 remote. He wishes to interpret the inner truths of nature ; the impossible tempts him. 
 He points his camera, like Giotto's tower, towards the infinite. And no one knows better 
 than he that he cannot rely upon his instruments, that cameras and chemicals are but means 
 of growth ; that for all finer results he must depend upon himself. — Charlbs Akeks. 
 
 81. In lieu of a note from a wiser pen, permit an anecdote here illustrating this last point. 
 A lady with a cast in her eye applied to an artist of fame for a portrait. He chose a profile 
 view of her face, of course. Upon being remonstrated with by her, be politely answered, 
 "Well, madam, to tell you the truth, there is a shyness about your expression that is as 
 difficult in art as it is beautiful in nature. "_ And he was perfectly true to his artist-natuie 
 in trying to overcome this "shyness" the best way he could. Take a lesson from this. — 
 Edwabd L. Wilson-. 
 
 •i 32. Without any reference to the opinions of others, and without any chance of partiality 
 in your own, there is one test by which you can all determine the rate of your real progress. 
 Examine, after every period of renewed industry, how far you have enlarged your faculty of 
 admiration. Consider how much more you can see to reverence in the work of masters, and 
 
34 WILSON'S PH0T0GRAPHIC8. 
 
 dividual features of it. For instance, .a mouth that droops at the sides : 
 by selecting some pose that calls for inclining the head slightly forward, 
 as in reading, the lines of the mouth will assume a more pleasing form. 
 Lineal perspective, then, as has been said and illustrated, is that part of 
 drawing which is produced by the means of lines only. 
 \ 32. Aerial perspective is used to designate the changes made in the ap- 
 pearance of objects by the interposition of the atmosphere. By the ap- 
 plication of this principle in art, we are enabled to give our drawings the 
 space and retiring character of nature. It is agreeable to view distant 
 prospects, yet objects require a certain definition to lead the imagination 
 without perplexing and troubling the mind. ISTeither are we pleased by 
 sudden jumps from the foreground to the extreme distance. More de- 
 light is given to the eye by being carried over a gradual diminution of 
 many intervening objects, or in searching for outlets through screens of 
 ' intervening trees or clumps of buildings, or a mass of accessories. If 
 you observe these things, your understanding of them is sure to grow. 
 
 33. In thus producing the effect of distance, the atmosphere helps us. 
 Yet the mind requires a certain variety to hold it in amazement, as well 
 as a certain appearance of substance to give a reality to the scene. But 
 if the atmosphere is deprived of the means of refraction by reason of its 
 clearness, a false representation is produced, the effect of which is that 
 objects appear much nearer than they are in reality, and the eye is de- 
 prived of the gratification of viewing the outlines of objects through a 
 variety of strengths. This effect may be noticed in portraiture, to a 
 small degree, when a lens of too short focus is used. In out-door work, 
 it is produced by using a very wide-angle lens. The whole scene appears 
 to be produced on a concave surface and the sides stretched and pulled 
 
 how much more to love in the work of nature. This is the only constant and Infallible test 
 of progress. That you wonder more at the work of great men, and that you care more for 
 natural objects. I fear that the tendency of modern thought is to reject the idea of that 
 essential difference in rank between one intellect and another, of which increasing reverence 
 is the wise acknowledgment. You may, at least in early years, test accurately your power 
 of doing anything in the least rightly by your increasing conviction that you never will be 
 able to do it as well as it has been done by others. That is a lesson which differs much I 
 fear, from the one commonly taught. — John Kuskin. 
 
 i 33. Strive to do the best you can for each sitter. Don't expose the plate until you are 
 satisfied that everything is as near right as you can make it. Keep your heart and mind on 
 what you are doing. Think I read ! study I and observe I Don't be afraid of doing too 
 much, and success is sure to follow. — Frank Jewell. 
 
TREATMENT OP THE SUBJECT. 35 
 
 like lialf of a rubber ball, until the distance is brought almost on a line 
 witb the foreground. The difference in definition seems correct,, but tbe- 
 distance appears wrong, though perhaps often true to nature. 
 
 34. There are six circumstances which may be used to assist the 
 photographer in judging of the distances of objects : 1. Their apparent 
 magnitude ; 2. The strength of their shadows ; 3. The direction of the 
 two eyes; 4. The parallax of the objects; 5. The distinctness of the 
 small parts ; 6. The kind of lens used. In this last, though, is our weak- 
 ness. Our power is limited to its capacity of rendering detail and 
 distance, while the painter may with his brush " correct nature," or at 
 least more fully satisfy the eye. Still, the application of aerial per- 
 spective will often enable us so to work as to keep the several objects in 
 their perspective situations, and secure a natural reality throughout. 
 
 35. A row of columns will diminish as they are drawn true to lineal 
 perspective, but it is this quality of light to which they are indebted 
 for their effect upon the eye. Also, fig. 9. 
 
 two angles may occupy the same 
 
 space upon the retina, but by this 
 
 power one is made to approach and 
 
 the other to recede, so that one is 
 
 diminished to the size of a tent, and the other increased to that of a 
 
 pyramid, as in Fig. 9. The student may find subject for study in this art 
 
 element, wherever he goes, if he will but apply himself to it. 
 
 "^ 34. Aye, now we are getting at it I Think. Have your mind on what you are doing, and 
 your eyes to see what and how you are doing it. Note the slightest effect or defect produced 
 by this or that change Proceeding thus, other and greater things will be suggested to your 
 mind, and erelong you will know how and what to use for the various negatives you wish 
 to make. Then, too, will the thoughts of others in the different departments of photog- 
 raphy render you intelligent assistance, thereby making them your own. Again I say, 
 think. — B. Frank; Satlob. 
 
 v/35. The real trouble in life, in all professions, is the trouble of thinking ; to escape which, 
 the most laborious trifling is caught at, but if fairly grappled with in the outset, everything 
 becomes clear, and, in after life, that which is a continual annoyance to many, becomes one 
 of the greatest gratifications. 
 
 Why is it, that to the eye of an artist the drawing of the most complicated plan is rendered 
 clear at a glance, while to others it requires a multitude of figures as reference, and a long 
 explanation ? It is, that his mind has been educated in continual intercourse with the eye, 
 and the constant habit of reflecting on cause and effect has rendered a numerous assemblage 
 of lines intelligible to him, which to others, uneducated, appear like a species of hiero- 
 glyphic. — John Subnet. 
 
86 
 
 WILSON'S PHOTOGEAPHICS. 
 
 Fig. 10. 
 
 \ 36. In the fine marine view,' by "Willem Van de Velde, in tlie Cassel 
 Gallery, there is not only an excellent example of aerial perspective, but also 
 
 of that assemblage 
 of lines produced 
 by the repetition of 
 forms which assists 
 the receding of ob- 
 j ects from their dimi- 
 nution, the doubling 
 of the lines in pro- 
 ducing richness of 
 eiFect, and that har- 
 m.ony which arises 
 from one line coun- 
 teracting the' other 
 in its direction, giv- 
 ing thereby a gen- 
 eral balance to the 
 whole. It is hardly necessary to multiply examples. If you comprehend 
 any rule, it is easy to extend it. To those who understand slowly, 
 reflection on one or two diagrams will be of more service than educating 
 the eye without impressing the mind. 
 
 J 37. The effect of aerial perspective upon the eye being mainly attrib- 
 utable to the application of shadow to the several outlines, thereby giv- 
 
 h36. Do not let yourself he a mere imitator, and lose your own individuality. In this way 
 you are in danger of cultivating faults, for if you start out to make pictures like so and so's, 
 you may make them like his had ones, or may he misled by a reputation ahove merit. Rather 
 seek to form in your own mind a type of beauty, the approximation to which will stamp all 
 your work with the seal of your individual purpose. Be true to yourself. Admit no half- 
 work I make it your first object to please yourself, or rather to gratify your artistic instincts, 
 and the pleasing of your customers a secondary consideration. There is always a conflict 
 between taste and ignorance; carry it on as courteously as you may, but yield no jot. In 
 time you will be supported by those who really can discern, whose opinion is received by 
 many who do not judge for themselves. When you find that the public have faith in you, 
 feeep faith with yourself and them by always doing your best. — W. J. Bakek. 
 ^ 37. Perhaps no class of subjects better exhibit the possibilities of photography than por- 
 traits. Here in a well-constructed studio the intelligent artist is comparatively master of the 
 situation. Here he need not grope his way in obscurity, nor lose it altogether in excess of 
 light; for it is under his control. The rays of light which refuse to affect his collodion, he 
 as far as possible excludes from his lens. He has choice. Though the study of composition 
 
TREATMENT OP THE SUBJECT. 37 
 
 ing them their approaching or receding character, such arrangement is 
 to be chosen which will give them this quality, and which is to be after- 
 wards repeated in smaller portions through the piece. In accidental 
 combinations in nature, we often perceive this arrangement. We also 
 find aerial perspective indebted in its effect to the collection of many 
 parts whose shadows form a mass of half-tint, their distance bringing 
 them in appa,rent contact, owing to their diminutions ; while their 8ofi> 
 ness gives them apparent distance, owing to their want of minute parts. 
 \i38. Although this splendid principle cannot be demonstrated to the 
 same extent as linear perspective, by rule, it is needful to give it very 
 careful study. True, we must take the atmosphere as we find it — we 
 cannot alter it. Yet if we have our eyes educated to distinguish its dif- 
 ferent phases, we shall always be enabled to secure the best effects and 
 know them when we see them. It varies so much under different circum- 
 stances that its study will be found not only useful, but highly interesting, 
 
 and ohiaro-osciiro ii of vital importance in all departments of art, it is here more than ever 
 that he can make his knowledge available. True art looks to simplicity ; but to the sim- 
 plicity which results from abundance, not that which grows out of poverty. In a photo- 
 graph portrait the interest ought, as in painting, to be centred in the head, for it Is the 
 human head, after all, that contains the intelligence which makes man the beauty of the 
 world, the paragon of animals ; nothing in art is so difficult to handle with success, and the 
 feeble generallj' resort to accessory subterfuges, which deceive none but the ignorant, to cover 
 up their faults and shortcomings. As the camera, if well constructed and commanded, need 
 not fail to give sufficiently correct drawing and beautiful modelling, the photographer can 
 well afford to practise the most rigid simplicity. I do not say that accessory details except 
 in bust portraits are inadmissible, but they ought to belong to the subject. In the hands of 
 the man of genius, they enrich ; in others, they encumber. This is as true of photography 
 arit is of painting ; and the command of the greatest technical skill in one will no more be 
 substituted for real art feeling than in the other. — S. Gr. Sellsteut. 
 
 ■138. Quackery has but too much power. But one thing it cannot do, it cannot keep us 
 thinking the worst is the best. Eor the moment it may mislead, but only the best will 
 command enduring approval. So we want the best you can give us. We want it to be ever 
 advancing. Your work you cannot make too good. I hold this to be a wholesome and 
 cheering word. It has sure hope for all who are trying to do noble work, and to be thus 
 artists indeed. Let them take comfort. The best work will tell. It will tell even on the 
 quacks. The good worker will get recognition. Good photographers are like artists in any 
 other sphere of life — in sculpture, law, painting, medicine, commerce, preaching — sure, if 
 they will but be patient and loyal, of acceptance and honor at last. But they must bide 
 their time. They must wait until we of the public, ignorant as we are, knowing nothing 
 of their art, save its finished results, have found out that their work is good. Only good 
 work can stand the test. Only good work can keep favor and grow in favor. And once 
 favor sets in for the artist, it is a flowing tide. — Kbv. Pkkderick Erothinqham. 
 
38 WILSON'S PHOTOGEAPHICS. 
 
 besides enabling us to determine, to a great extent, the distance of one 
 object from another by comparing the amount of light reflected from each. 
 39. It is true that in out-door photography this principle comes most 
 into play, but the eye that is accustomed to its study there will he the 
 more apt to discern the best phases and the varied qualities and quanti- 
 ties of light in the studio. The more so now, in these days of rapidly 
 working chemicals and energetic emulsions, to say nothing of the diffu- 
 sion of focus lenses, which the opticians would have us use. As we are 
 able to work with more speed, we can reduce the amount of reflected 
 light in the picture and secure more softness and mellowness, both in the 
 lights and in the shadows. Between the hazy, lazy, wearied sort of 
 light, and that full of vigor and snap and hardness, there is a rich and 
 delicate medium. Having a knowledge of the principles of aerial per- 
 spective, we can distinguish these effects and secure them, to the extinguish- 
 ment of the defects which often destroy otherwise good photography. 
 
 \ 40. It has been the effort thus far to interest you in the rudimentary 
 principles of art, with a view to their practice in the more elaborate 
 branch thereof called composition. This embodies the arranging of the 
 various component parts of a picture, so that its general effect may be 
 one of harmony and order. The study of the rules which govern it 
 cannot be too earnestly urged upon all photographers. Their lack of ■ 
 knowledge on the subject has been one of the main hindrances to the 
 recognition of photography as a member of the circle of arts which has 
 already been alluded to. 
 
 i 41. Sound may be brought from a musical instrument by any child, or 
 
 i 39. The photographer's first care should be to study his model before placing it under the 
 ojective's inflexible and undiscrirainating eye. Here begins the role of light, with the infinite 
 gradations by which it can indicate form. It is, therefore, of the utmost Importance to com- 
 prehend the characteristics of the model, and how they may be best rendered, so as to modify 
 the action of light, and thus secure in the portrait suggestions of the true type and character 
 of the sitter. — Abam Salomon. 
 
 ■i 40. It seems to me that a careful study of photography is, after the study of nature, one of 
 the best helps to any beginner in art. It must surely correct that tendency to shirk the hard 
 work in drawing which has been fatal to so many Turners and Claudes. It keeps the multi- 
 tudinousness of nature ever in mind; it seems to place the vision of a vastly superior eye 
 constantly before us. — Charles Akers. 
 
 441. It must, of necessity, be that even works of genius, like every other etfect, as they 
 must have their cause, must likewise have their rules. It cannot be by chance that excel- 
 lences are produced with any consistency or certainty, for this is not the nature of chance; 
 
TREATMENT OF THE SUBJECT. 39 
 
 by the veriest savage ; but it would not be music with sweet harmony 
 unless the chords were touched by the skilled and law-abiding hand. It 
 is too much to expect the products of the camera to be artistic, then, un- 
 less he who wields it is governed by the principles of art. True, chance 
 pictures are produced with some claim to subject by photographers who 
 do not possess one idea of art ; but they are accidental. They should be 
 the rule and not the exception. They can be by proper cultivation. 
 
 y42. As in perspective we find linear and aerial, so in composition we 
 find that which more properly belongs to the lines in drawing — and that 
 which belongs to the light and shade. They are friendly allies, always 
 ready to help one another. Let us consider the first a little further. 
 The photographer having the subject of his picture presented before him, 
 should at once pass through his mind what material he has at his dis- 
 posal to help him, think of his power to use the same, and conclude upon 
 the final effect which he desires to produce. 
 
 743. And in thus composing, he will bring into play the most fit 
 accessories at his command, accepting or rejecting as he finds them to 
 add to, or detract from, the effect of the finished whole. And here as 
 much simplicity as possible is advised, for he is the greatest master, 
 certainly, who produces the most with the least apparent effort. 
 
 but the rules by which men of extraordinary parts, and such as are called men of genius, 
 work, are either such as they discover by their own peculiar observation, or of such a nice 
 texture as not easily to admit of being expressed in words ; especially as 'artists are not very 
 frequently skilful in that mode of communicating ideas. Unsubstantial, however, as these 
 rules may seem, and difficult as it may be to convey them in writing, they are still seen and 
 felt in the mind of the artist ; and he works from them with as much certainty as if they 
 were embodied, as we may say, upon paper. It is true these refined reasons cannot be always 
 made palpable, like the more gross rules of art ; j-et it does not follow, but that -the mind 
 may be put in such a train that it shall perceive, by a kind of scientific sense, that propriety 
 which words, particularly words of unpractised writers, such as we are, can but very feebly 
 suggest. — Sir Joshtja Kbynolds. 
 
 J 42. Concealing the art is one of its greatest beauties ; and he best can accomplish that who 
 can discover it under all its disguises. I ought, however, to ca,ution the young artist, on this 
 head, not to be too fastidious to conceal what can be obvious only to a small number ; for in 
 endeavoring to render his design more intricate, he may destroy character, simplicity, and 
 breadth ; qualities which afl'ect and are appreciated by every one. — John Burnet. 
 
 J 43. He must have » settled knowledge of what he is seeking ; he must have a quickness 
 of ej'e, to take advantage of accidental arrangements, and a plan of methodizing his ideas, 
 so as to be able to secure what he acquires, without which it -will be impossible to produce a 
 composition upon which he can calculate with any degree of certainty as to its efiEectsor its- 
 stability. — John Burnet. 
 
40 
 
 WILSON'S PHOTOGEAPHICS. 
 
 44. Before proceeding to take up the various forms of composition 
 which are the most easily demonstrated and most useful in photography, 
 illustrating each method by sketches, permit a few remarks which are 
 applicable to all. 
 
 Here is a diagram .of the three great varieties of lines which fall more or 
 
 less into every photographic portrait. 
 It is good practice to reproduce them, 
 by placing your accessories, draperies, 
 and backgrounds into various compo- 
 sitions, and then study them over and 
 over again. The three great classes. 
 then, are as follows : 
 
 45. Upright Lines, or lines running 
 upwards, give grandeur and dignity. 
 You will find this demonstrated in 
 architecture, for instance in columns 
 and spires; in the giant trees of the 
 forest; in the lofty mountains; or, what is more suggestive of grandeur 
 than the large massive clouds to be seen at times towering one upon the 
 other in the far west, bathed in the resplendent light of the departing 
 sun ? To bring this practically home, examine some of your photographs^ 
 and you will find that tall figures, other things being equal, have the most 
 dignity. It is well to remember this when posing, for much can be done 
 in assisting this effect by properly arranging the flowing lines of the dress, 
 or by the introduction of some object to carry out and extend the line. 
 
 46. Horizontal Lines tend to repose, and again the reader is asked to 
 turn to nature for proof of this. Look at a fair-weather skj- ; if there are 
 
 \ 45. For the choice of line, no specific rule can be given. The artist must be guided by the 
 general laws of harmony, which require that the line should be in keeping with the subject. 
 It may be the parabola, the serpentine, or the angle. Harmony also requires that the char- 
 acter chosen should pervade every part of the work. — M. A. Dwiqht. 
 
 46. Allston says: " By a line in composition is meant something very different from the 
 geometrical definition." Originally, it was, no doubt, used as a metaphor; but the needs of 
 art have long since converted this, and many other words of like application (as tone, etc.), 
 into technical terms. Line, thus, signifies the course, or medium, through which the eye is 
 led from one part of the picture to another. The indication of this course is various and 
 multiform, appertaining equally to shape, to color, and to light and dark ; in a word, to what- 
 ever attracts and keeps the eye in motion. For the regulation of these lines there is no rule 
 absolute, except that they vary and unite ; nor is the last strictly necessary, it being sufllcient, 
 
TEEATMENT OP THE SUBJECT. 41 
 
 clouds, you will find them generally with a horizontal hase; and even if 
 they are large cumulous clouds, you will find an abundance of horizon- 
 tal lines to give the eflfect of repose and rest. What is more peaceful in 
 effect than a large tract of level country ? The eye is carried by line after 
 line to the distant horizon. Again, the sea, when in repose, is calm; and 
 calm, level water is always expressive of peace and quiet; and, when travel- 
 ling amidst mountain scenery, as has been already stated, suggestive of 
 grandeur, what is more peaceful or symbolic of repose than the clear, placid 
 lake at the mountain base, unless it is the horizontal streak of cloud which 
 is so often to be found resting on the rough breast of some peak? 
 
 47. Wavy or Tortuous Lines indicate motion or unrest. Proof of 
 this we find, if we look at the sea driven about and tossed with the wind, 
 the mountain torrent, clouds in motion, a flag fluttering in the breeze, 
 the crowded, bustling thoroughfare. And, supposing many readers to 
 possess, or to have access to, some photographs of the great rapids of 
 ITiagara, if they are studied, they will bear testimony to the truth of this 
 remark. These lines become of great service in standing figures of ladies 
 where there is much dress to be disposed of, and also where drapery must 
 be introduced. They break the monotony of straight or unbended lines, 
 and are the most beautiful of all when permitted in proper place. 
 
 48. Having demonstrated what is meant by composition, a few of its 
 leading forms will now be explained and illustrated ; and while this is 
 done, it is not to be supposed that it is desirable to compel, as it were, 
 
 if they so terminate, that the transition from one to another is made naturally, and without 
 effort by the imagination, nor can any laws be laid down as to their peculiar character ; this 
 must depend on the nature of the subject. — M. A. Dwiqht. 
 
 47. No established rules for posing can be given. It is an art in itself, and can only be 
 acquired by diligent study, careful observation, and profound thought. See that the pose is 
 naf^ural ; no matter how graceful and easy it may be, if it is such a one as no human being 
 takes naturally, it is simply absurd. — Prank Jkwbll. 
 
 >J48. A beautiful combination in nature will often appear to evade every rule by her being 
 perfect in every mode of examination. All her varieties emanate from a straight line and a 
 curve. A judicious arrangement of objects possessing these various forms gives the strongest 
 natural appearance to a picture ; nor ought the artist to leave out rashly what he may con- 
 ceive to be void of beauty. In coloring, harsh tints are admitted to produce harmony in the 
 other colors ; and the most picturesque arrangements often depend on the presence of what 
 might otherwise be considered ugly forms. 
 
 As I have made use of the terms " beautiful and agreeable arrangements," it is proper to 
 give an explanation of the sense in which they are applied. By a beautiful arrangement I 
 mean a proper adaptation of those principles that arrest a common observer, and give a 
 
■42 
 
 WILSON'S PHOTOGRAPHIOS. 
 
 Fig. 12. 
 
 every picture produced to slavishly conform to any precise rule. But 
 rather, by directing attention to the modes of construction adopted by 
 those whose works evince a full acquaintance with the principles of 
 composition, it is hoped to cultivate the mind and educate the eye of the 
 photographer. He may then, while composing, be as sensitive to an un- 
 graceful line or incongruo^8 accessory as 
 is the skilled musician to a false note. 
 
 49. Angular CoMPOSiTioisr is the form to 
 be considered first. In compositions fol- 
 lowing this form, the greater part of the 
 lines are directed diagonally, as in the 
 caricature of " The Flight of ^neas," from 
 a Campanian mural painting. True, we 
 have not much of art here, but we have 
 the strict following of the principle in 
 question. "With a rule, enclose the draw- 
 ing in a square, and then draw lines from 
 the right upper corner to the left lower, 
 and it will be seen how true this is. And 
 yet the lines are not so severely unbending as you would draw them, 
 though directed diagonally, and strictly " in form." 
 
 pleasurable sensation, -which, to a cultivated mind, increases (not diminishes) by the investi- 
 gation of the cause which produces it. For example, a beautiful appearance in nature affects 
 the savage and the philosopher from their sensations merely as men ; but a painter, whose 
 life is spent in a constant competition with nature in producing the same effects, receives a 
 tenfold gratification in following her through those assemblages which to the world are, as it 
 were, " a fountain sealed and a book shut up." Hence, in art, a beautiful arrangement must 
 be a selection of those forms, lights, and colors that produce a similar result; and the taste 
 of an artist is shown in heightening their effect by the absence of those circumstances which 
 are found by experience to produce the contrary. Did an investigation of the means pur- 
 sued by the great masters tend to abridge an artist's pleasurable sensations, instead of being 
 the most favored, he would be rendered the most miserable of beings ; but the opposite is the 
 case, as by such means he is taught an alphabet that enables him to understand the language 
 of nature. — John BtTRNET. 
 
 49. The student will do well to observe attitudes assumed in every-day life, and adapt 
 them to his art. When he sees a beautiful attitude, let him speculate upon the cause of its 
 being beautiful, and he will find that it depends for its effect on its consistency with the rules 
 of composition ; and although these rules will not supply him with imagination sufficient to 
 enable him to perpetually invent new arrangements, he will find they aid him very materi- 
 ally in giving expression to his inventions, and will prevent him being extravagant or 
 exaggerated in his arrangements of the form. He should also store his mind with incidents 
 
TREATMENT OF THE SUBJECT. 
 
 43 
 
 Fig. 13. 
 
 50. As a farther example, a picture is taken from a more modern 
 source, " Mignard's Daughter," painted in the seventeenth century, by 
 Pierre Mignard. Now see how it will 
 instruct you to observe how beautifully 
 joined the lines are here. Every one 
 is fall of grace, uniting in the most 
 winning manner, one part of the pic- 
 ture with the other, and every curve or 
 bend having a corresponding curve or 
 bend in an opposite direction, thus 
 maintaining a perfect balance. Acces- 
 sories and lighting, too, are all made to 
 do their part in the work. This is a 
 study well worth the carefal attention 
 of the portrait photographer, for, as a 
 whole, it is a composition which would 
 not be difficult of his imitation, with a 
 living model, in his own studio. For 
 this reason it has been chosen. It is fall of suggestion and beauty, too. 
 
 suitable to his sitters, and he may then, perhaps, be able to give less occupation to the eternal 
 book we see in. the hands of photographees almost as often as a roll of paper is represented 
 in the statues of statesmen. — H. P. Eobinson. 
 
 50. It is universally allowed that Raphael excelled all other painters in a graceful arrange- 
 ment of drapery, and a natural disposition of folds. By studying the principles of the ancients, 
 he learned to consider the figure as the principal part, and that drapery should be considered as 
 an accessory. That it is intended to cover and not to conceal. That it is employed not from ca- 
 price, but from necessity. Consequently, the dress should notbe so narrow as to constrain the 
 members, nor so ample as to conceal them, but suitably adapted to the size and attitude of the 
 figure represented. His ample draperies had no useless folds, and were bent at the articulations. 
 The form of the figure indicated the form of the folds, and on the great muscles he formed great 
 masses. "When any limb was foreshortened in the drawing, he covered it with as many folds as 
 if it were extended, but crowded them in proportion to the foreshortening. By the folds of his 
 draperies, it is easy to determine the attitude of the figiire previous to the one in ^hich It 
 appears. Por example : whether the arm were extended or reposing Immediately before the 
 action in which it is represented. This was an expression he carefully studied on all occa- 
 sions. When the drapery was to cover the leg or the arm but partially, he made it out the 
 member obliquely. His folds were of a triangular form. The. reason for this is found in 
 nature ; for all drapery, after being extended and then falling again under the pressure of 
 the atmosphere, is naturally formed into triangles. His whole practice demonstrates the 
 theory that the movements of the figure cause the peculiar form and position of the folds 
 exhibited in the drapery that covers it. — M. A. Dwtght. 
 
44 
 
 WILSON'S PHOTOGEAPHICS. 
 
 Fig. 14. 
 
 51. Many artists, when composing on this principle, especially in 
 landscape pieces, so arrange the cloud lines that they form a balance by 
 
 running counter to the lines 
 in the composition proper, 
 as shown in this very beauti- 
 ful example, " The Harvest 
 Wagon," by Philipp Wou- 
 werman, which hangs in the 
 Leuchtenberg Gallery. We 
 may almost see the forms 
 of the figures repeated in 
 outline in the clouds, by re- 
 versing the picture. The 
 story is well told, and the 
 artist was true to the princi- 
 ples of his art. 
 
 62. Something- more di- 
 rectly in the line of j)ho- 
 tographic portraiture will 
 be found in the picture 
 of " Master Lambton," by 
 Sir Thomas Lawrence, that 
 wonderfully successful por- 
 trait painter whose works are always worthy of study. Many painters, 
 
 ^ 51. The sky requires careful study and arrangement to produce the right effect. The lights 
 formed by the clouda must be arranged in such a manner as not to lose their force. Small 
 clouds seldom have a good effect, and betray a feebleness of manner in the artist, excepting 
 when they are so arranged as to form a single object. Clouds give expression to the character 
 of the scene represented ; for instance, as they gather for an approaching storm, or breali away 
 tomakeanopeningforthe welcome sunbeam, after having deluged the earth with water. And 
 again, they may express the beautiful repose of a quiet summer afternoon. — M. A. Dwight. 
 62. The first condition of a good attitude is, that it should be in harmony with the age, 
 stature, habits, and manners of the individual ; secondly, that it should express the greatest 
 beauty of which the model is susceptible. As we have already stated, the perfect knowl- 
 edge of the individual is the sole guide for a suitable choice of the position ; the defect to 
 be most guarded against is that caused by borrowed and studied attitudes. The photogra- 
 pher must, therefore, observe attentively, reflecting on his subject, and try, by all possible 
 means, to engage the attention of his model, and to endeavor to make him cease to think of 
 the portrait for which he is come, seizing and noting the natural movements which are visi- 
 ble during these short intervals of forgetfulness. — M. Bisdbri. 
 
TEEATMENT OF THE SUBJECT. 
 
 45 
 
 Fig. 15. 
 
 in adopting the angular form of composition, have so arranged the 
 leading lines and points in their pictures as to form a diamond, and an 
 examination will serve to show they 
 have done so to good purpose, as groups 
 so arranged have a very pleasing effect 
 upon the eye. The " Master Lamhton " 
 requires but little filling in of a line to 
 make it of diamond form. Turn it side- 
 ways and we have a pyramidal form, 
 of which method what follows will tell 
 more particularly. 
 
 53. The Pteamidal Form of Compo- 
 sition, in many respects, closely resem- 
 bles the angular, the only difference 
 being, that although the angular may, 
 and often does, contain within itself 
 many pyramidal parts, yet the angular 
 form predominates, and vice versa, in 
 pyramidal. And while there may be 
 much in the composition or arrangement that would be apt to have it 
 classed as angular, yet the impression given, when viewed as a whole, 
 or when the leading lines are analyzed, will be that it partakes most of 
 the form ol a pyramid. This form is particularly adapted to groups. 
 
 54. It is, therefore, thought best to mark the distinction, as the pyram- 
 idal will be found to be the most generally useful in composing single 
 
 \ 53. Now what we want, good fellows, is less reality and more idealism ; less completeness 
 and more suggestions ; less of the actual and more inference in our work. This intensity 
 of truthfulness amounts to deformity and disfigurement, and is a dangerous fault hecause of 
 its negative merit. It is a rare requisite, this thing we lack. A coy, shapeless, almost inde- 
 scrihable quality ; better told in what it does not consist than in what it does. An ethereal, 
 atmospheric quality — fleeting and full of feeling ; a quality not so much of hrains as soul, and 
 yet plainly with hrains to back it. 
 
 To be literal and practical in this matter submit to the rules, although seemingly incon- 
 sistent to apply rules to idealizing photography. — J. H. Kent. 
 
 i 54. Our chemical effects may be faultless, our pictures ever so sharp, but without proper 
 pose, lighting, and expression, our resulting' pictures will only be stiff, hard, soulless images. 
 Without this soul and lifelike animation that proper care can obtain, and may always be 
 found in every face (be it ever so dull), we fall far short of what our art is capable of pro- 
 ducing, and the good to which we all should aim, and to which we all can reach, if we only 
 apply the means placed before us. — Alexander Hesler. 
 
46 
 
 WILSON'S PHOTOGRAPHICS. 
 
TREATMENT OF THE SUBJECT. 47 
 
 figures, particularly ladies — in fact, three-fourths of the portraits pro- 
 duced by photography will be found, on examination, to partake of this 
 form. It is hoped that its study will lead to perhaps a better appreciation 
 of where, and in what manner, to introduce complementary lines. In 
 arranging groups of figures, a regard to and application of this form of 
 composition will often be found useful. Remember, then, the very great 
 importance there is for having a graceful or pleasantly fiowing line, 
 either internally or in that which constitutes the leading outline. This 
 will apply to all the leading forms of composition. 
 
 55. It is not intended to advocate anything like a close approximation 
 in any composition to the lines forming a pyramid, but rather as in listen- 
 ing to any well-known air with variations we have no difficulty in tracing • 
 the air itself running through them while the piece is being performed, 
 so in the necessarily varied lines of a drawing or photograph, if there is 
 art or design in its construction, the educated eye can discover the method 
 of composition, and thus more readily enter into and understand the 
 motive or intention of the artist. From the author's collection of photo- 
 graphic portraits, six examples of the angular and six of the pyramidal 
 form of composition have been selected and photo-engraved, as proofs 
 of how these principles may be carried daily into practice. 
 
 56. To explain this point more fully, an example is given, " The Expul- 
 
 55. This art of composition is a part of photography, just as it i:i of music or architecture, 
 or of any other of the fine arts. It enters into the construction of the simplest picture. 
 One view of a face, unless it Is well chosen, is often of little value as a likeness. Suppose 
 we catch a swift glimpse of a stranger's profile ; it is very little we know of his face and 
 character until we have seen more of him. But a momentary glimpse — one look of the 
 face — is all that a photograph likeness gives us. The moment you hegin to arrange your 
 sitter to get the most of him before the camera, you are studying the art of composition. 
 Every change of position, every object you introduce, every bit of light and shade aug- 
 ments or diminishes the value of the picture. It must conform to the ancient law of variety 
 and unity, and the more variety introduced the harder the problem of unity becomes. It 
 seems reasonable that the study of the masters in pictorial and plastic art would be of ad- 
 vantage in photography as it is in the other arts. I need only suggest among the many 
 the names of Turner and Eembrandt as great masters of composition. Tintoretto is another 
 who has hardly an equal ; but I cannot understand why his work in any form is almost 
 inaccessible to us. — Charles Akbks. 
 
 56. Make it a constant practice, before removing the cap from the lens, to first give a 
 rapid glance at the sitter, to see whether the outline of the figure composes well, that the 
 light and shade are massive and round, and that there appears some indication of the expres- 
 sion you desire on the face of the sitter. If there is a lack of either of the?e qualities, do 
 not waste your plate until you have got them before your lens. — H. P. Robinson. 
 
48 
 
 WILSON'S PHOTOGEAPHICS. 
 
 Fig. 16. 
 
 sion of Hagar," by G. Flink, with the pyramidal lines running through It. 
 An examination will show the play and variety of the outlines. While a 
 
 graceful outline is obtained, do nol 
 overlook, but be very careful in ar- 
 ranging and composing, the internal 
 lines of the composition. 
 
 57. Ifothing should be considered 
 too trivial ; every part should receive 
 a due amount of care. At times, 
 simply the fold of a dress, or the 
 proper position of an otherwise in- 
 significant accessory, will put the 
 whole picture in harmony. 
 
 Euskin, in speaking of arrange- 
 ment in the smallest detail, takes notice of some leafage in the foreground 
 of one of Turner's paintings, and says: "Unless every leaf and every 
 visible form or subject, however small, forms a part of some harmony, it 
 has no business in the picture. It is a necessary connection of all the 
 forms and colors, down to the last touch, which constitutes great or in- 
 ventive work, separated from all common work by an impassable gulf." 
 
 58. , Also note, that whether it is a single figure or group that is being 
 arranged, it is of great importance to have variety in the flow of the lead- 
 
 • 57. In taking the portrait of a aitter, I generally decide at a glance the best point of view 
 of the face and the kind of lighting required to suit, securing a graceful pose, and quietly 
 making all the arrangements without hurry and bustle, keeping up a quiet conversation till 
 the critical moment of exposing the plate. To secure a happy expression on the features of 
 our sitters, so that their photographic counterpart shall represent animate instead of inani- 
 maifi beings, is the most difficult part of the portraitist's art. In this, more than any other 
 point, is seen the difference between the works of an art-photographer and those of the 
 merely mechanical one. 
 
 In posing avoid straight lines and right angles in the figure ; and try to secure flowing 
 line, hut not to overdo it, as I have seen posing run mad of late — sitters taken in the most 
 extraordinary attitudes. I know a photographer who, on seeing a fine posed portrait by me 
 or any of his friends, will rush home with it and take all his sitters for a month in that 
 pose, until a fresh idea crops up from another friend, and then, but not till then, does he 
 give his sitters a change. This I think rather too bad, and I often tell him to manufacture 
 his own. It is much better to invent one's own style of portraiture than to be continually 
 copying another photographer's work. — E. Slingsby. 
 
 J 58. Variety in our work has not been sufficiently insisted on. We go on year by year in 
 the same old grooves ; we make the same old cartes and vignettes ; the same front elevations 
 of houses and public buildings. Not that we are not fond of variety ; on the contrarv, we 
 
TREATMENT OF THE SUBJECT. 
 
 49 
 
 Fig 17. 
 
 ing outlines. Take, for example, a single figure, and suppose it to be 
 photographed, front figure, front face. You might draw a line down the 
 centre and find each of the halves exactly alike, symmetrical, if, you 
 choose, from being alike, but certainly not graceful. Turn either the 
 head or the figure, however slightly, giving a trifling bend or inclination 
 to the head, and you need not to be furnished with a drawing to prove 
 which gives the best effect. 
 
 59. Likewise with a group, do not have each figure placed at equal 
 distances, nor all look- 
 ing in the same direc- 
 tion, unless, indeed, to 
 tell the story, and even 
 then variety can be ob- 
 tained by varying the 
 pose of the heads. But, 
 as a good illustration 
 will enforce the idea 
 much better than any- 
 thing that can be writ- 
 ten, carefully study the 
 engraving, for exam- 
 ple, of "Family Devo- 
 tion," by Jean Baptiste 
 Greuze. A better one 
 could not be given, both 
 
 as to the flow of the outlines and the various inclinations of the heads. 
 Or a similar study may be found in Wilkie's "Blind Fiddler." The 
 
 like it well enough when we can get it cheap, without any trouble, ready made. If one, 
 with a little more ingenuity or imas;inn,tion than his fellows, traces out a new tract, he is 
 first allowed to test its fruitfulness, and if it ii found successful, there is a rush of all his fel- 
 lows to scramble for the nuggets oa his claim. Why don't photographers prospect for 
 themselves ? They are pretty sure to find some artistic or technical mine or other that will 
 pan out well, and bring them fame or fortune, perhaps both. — H. P. EoBiifSOif. 
 
 59. A great improvement can be made in posing (at least in some cases) ; some photogra- 
 phers, or would-be photographers, treat their subjects in a manner which is perfectly horri- 
 ble. Por instance, even in a bust picture, the head is turned to one side about a three-quar- 
 ter view, just enough for the tip of the nose to come even with the outline of the face, 
 thereby giving an unnatural appearance to most faces ; and, again, in Rembrandt lighting, 
 posing the head so that the ear of the sitter will on the right side be just visible, or a part of it, 
 ^4 
 
50 
 
 WILSON'S PHOTOGBAPHICS. 
 
 Fu;. 18. 
 
 latter will be remembered by the readers of the Philadelphia Photographer 
 for 1879, page 331, and it may be also seen, with remarks, on page 65 
 of Eobinson's admirable Pictorial Effect in Photography. ISTo one at 
 the present day can say he has no opportunity for studying art, for by 
 the cheapness of the press it is brought within the reach of the humblest, 
 in magazine and book illustration. Our news-stands are full of studies. 
 60. When you have practised this habit for awhile, you will find your- 
 self measuring every picture you see 
 by the rules of art; and the study of 
 art will become an unending pleasure 
 to you. As another excellent example 
 of this form of composition, an engrav- 
 ing is given here of " The Empty Jug," 
 by A. Von Ostade. Take these figures, 
 individually or collectively, and you will 
 find the pyramidal lines carefully ob- 
 served by the artist. How capitally the 
 story is told, too, not only by the atti- 
 tude ; but by the expression of the mem- 
 bers of this disappointed and curious 
 trio. It is a picture, too, not hard to 
 repeat by means of photography, for 
 such groups are no longer beyond the capabilities of our wonderful art. 
 
 just enough of it that when yott-look at the picture you will not be able to tell whether it is 
 an ear or a wart, or what it is. Kow I claim that such small things should not be over- 
 looked, no matter how good otherwise the negative may be. It will pay to make it over, for 
 your customer will not be satisfied with such work ; and how could you expect him to ? The 
 sooner photographers learn those lessons which go to make up in a large degree the success- 
 ful photographer, the better it will be for them, and the day is coming when those cheap 
 Johns; who care nothing about good artistic positions, well-lighted and manipulated effects, 
 must of a necessity take a back seat. Our citizens are learning how to appreciate good 
 work, therefore we must be alive to our own interest. Should you complain that your cus- 
 tomers are leaving you, and are patronizing the larger cities, just take a good square look at 
 yourself and yoJr work, and see if you are not behind the times. — P. M. Wells. 
 J 60. Some photographers pay too much attention to the dress of their customers, forgetting 
 they have a face ; this far too common habit must be changed by those who would make a 
 reputation with the general public. 
 
 In the now fashionable large head on the card size, always draw the focus well forward ; 
 if not, the back hair will be too sharp, the whole elTect inartistic, the picture lacking round- 
 ness | also, for the reason that, if too far back, the features will be out of proportion, the 
 
TREATIIENT OP THE SUBJECT. 
 
 51 
 
 Surgical Operation," by Adrian 
 
 61. Permit another example — "A 
 Brouwer, from the Stadel Gallery 
 at Frankfort. Here, too, it will he 
 observed how the artist has been 
 constrained by the form of com- 
 position in question. The diagonal 
 form is also well represented in it, 
 amid the internal lines, and the 
 whole is in most excellent harmony. 
 When the study of light is under- 
 taken, this excellent picture may 
 be again referred to with profit. It 
 is a wonder in that line, showing the 
 abihty of the master in a high de- 
 gree. The interest in the picture is 
 all derived from circumstances actu- 
 ally present, truly expressed on the 
 canvas. The girl who 
 
 "... Never told her love,' 
 But let concealment, like a worm i' the bud. 
 Feed on her damask cheek," etc., 
 
 would have been much more difficult to represent in a picture. 
 
 nose, mouth, and chin will he distorted and enlarged, thus the drawing will he faulty. 
 
 Charles Waqek Hull. 
 
 It will be readily seen that the study of costume is of great importance to the artist, yet 
 he must be careful not to go too much into detail in regard to time, place, etc. The promise 
 of art allows him a certain latitude, of which he must avail himself if he would make a 
 pleasing picture ; on the other hand, he must be careful not to err in taking too much, be- 
 tween the two extremes he will be guided by his taste and judgment; rejecting what is un- 
 necessary to truth, and admitting all appropriate beauties and characteristics. 
 
 There is, perhaps, no department of art where taste and propriety are so requisite, yet 
 many instances occur among the works of the great masters where they apparently attached 
 no importance to the costume of a picture. These the student must not take as a guide. 
 For instance, a picture of Eve, having her hair tied with blue ribbons ; or the Israelites, rep- 
 resented with ihuskets, as in Tintoretto's picture of ' ' The Falling of Manna. " — M. A. Dwiqht. 
 
 61. In the posing of the model, it should be our first care to see that each and every part 
 of the figure is natural, and that the muscles of the body, and especially the neck, are relaxed 
 and easy. Avoid sharp angles and straight lines, and, as a general thing, the head and body 
 should turn in difTerent directions, and a gentle curve of the neck will frequently give ease 
 to the whole position. — Frank Jewell. 
 
52 
 
 "WILSON'S PHOTOGEAPHICS. 
 
 62. In the Dresden Gallery is an admirable painting of the studio of 
 Adrian Van Ostade, whose "Empty Jug" you have just looked upon. 
 
 Fig. 20. It is 80 wonderfiiUy full of suggestion 
 
 that it is given here as a study, more 
 especially in the arrangement of acces- 
 sories. Look into it well, and see how 
 wondrously the artist has been influ- 
 enced by the form of composition now 
 under contemplation. It is full of pyr- 
 amids and diagonals, and yet how beau- 
 tifully harmonious it is in every partic- 
 ular, and how true to nature. 
 
 63. Should you desire to farther ex- 
 ercise in the study of this style of 
 composition, take prints from your own 
 negatives and study them, taking note 
 of where you have erred and where 
 you have preserved the proper form. 
 Draw pyramidal lines if you will, as in the figure above, and then invent 
 improvements agreeable to the subject and the accessories you may pos- 
 sess. As has been said, it is not intend- 
 ed that a rigid following should always 
 be observed of the form of composition 
 chosen by you for your picture in hand. 
 Only let it mjkwn.ce you, as the sun and 
 the clear air do when you walk. How 
 even the ancients worked pyramidally 
 is shown by " The Goat and Faun," 
 taken from a mural painting at Herculaneum. These illustrations par- 
 
 63. If you would have success, you must work for it. Look at the example of Mr. W. 
 Kurtz, the artist-photographer. Let us look into the cause of his great success. In the 
 first place, he is the very hardest and most faithful worker in the whole establishment. 
 Every pose is made either hy him personally or under his immediate supervision 4 the 
 lighting especially claiming his entire attention. I sometimes think he knows exactly what 
 he is about. The features of every individual undergo close scrutiny, and the most is made 
 of his or her points. Nothing is "all right" until he has thoroughly examined it, and 
 every negative taken is carefully studied by him before he says it is "all right." Again, 
 he examines every "proof" before it is shown to the sitter, and such as do not come up to 
 the mark of "all right" are destroyed. — Elbert Andeeson. 
 
TEEATMENT OP THE SUBJECT. 
 
 53 
 
 ■;•?;■* 
 
 firm 
 
 EXAMPLES OF PYRAMIDAL COMPOSITION, PHOTO-ENGEAVKD FROM NATURE. 
 
54 WILSON'S PHOTOGRAPHIC'S. 
 
 take rather of the grotesque, sometimes, but such are believed to be 
 most easily remembered. They are all impressive works of art. 
 
 64. Circular Composition. — Having now endeavored to explain and 
 illustrate the angular and pyramidal forms of composition, it is desired 
 to draw your attention to the circular form. It will be found the style 
 of composition to some extent applicable to photography — ^particularly in 
 grouping. Before attending to the examples given below, note, for your 
 guidance, a few things which it is necessary to attend to when grouping. 
 
 65. The story must be well told ; that is, one figure must be so linked 
 to the other that the spectator has little or no difficulty in discerning the 
 purpose or designs of the photographer; see that the parts assigned to each 
 figure be appropriate and natural ; that the general outline be graceful 
 and pleasant to look on ; that the grouping afifords an opportunity for a 
 judicious arrangement of light and shade ; and not only should the lines 
 of the group so run that the eye is led to the principal figure or figures 
 composing it, but the principal focus of light should also be so managed 
 as to assist in doing this (see Fig. 19). Use all the appliances at your 
 disposal to reach the highest point of excellence; and, to tliose who have 
 not yet tried a camera with a swing-back, be it said, if you can affiard it, 
 by all means get one, and see that the arrangement is such as to swing 
 both horizontally and perpendicularly. 
 
 66. To succeed in photographing groups, the photographer must not 
 only possess quickness of perception, but promptness in decision, and 
 
 J 65. The art of posing (for it is an art) should he studied hy photographers as carefully, as 
 any other part of their business, as in this direction lie important aids to success. Gentlemen, 
 look into and study this subject. Discard the methods so long in use which have led to the say- 
 ing, " As stiff as a photograph. " It is too horrible for you to go on putting people into stocks 
 and pillories, and then making pictures of them in their torture. What will our grandchildren 
 say when they see the cast-iron appearance you give to your subjects ; and while you are about 
 it, carry your studies still further into the realms of grouping. Tou know that composition 
 pictures are always attractive, but when made by a single exposure the imperfections are so 
 prominent that no one is satisfied. No\v, to try this plan. When the skies are leaden and 
 , the streets sloppy, and no one thinks of going to your rooms, then get up your designs, remem- 
 bering, above all things, the necessity of correct perspective; call in a few friends, one by 
 one, as you have leisure, put them in position, and get up your specimen. Tou will find that 
 the consciousness of being in a position that means something will take away the statue ex- 
 pression every one assumes when a camera is pointed at them. — W. D. Gatchel. 
 ■^66. In making the sitting, study your subject well in all the different views ; make up your 
 mind which is best, or will harmonize best with your sitter's taste ; stick to that position 
 until you get a satisfactory negative. However, should you have several negatives, and are 
 
TEBATMENT OP THE SUBJECT. 55 
 
 ttat in a very marked degree, for, while these qualities are required in 
 the posing and arranging of single figures, the difiiculties to be over- 
 come are tenfold when you have to compose and arrange a group, even 
 of three or four figures, for it must be remembered that not many minutes 
 often intervene between the conception and the completion of the work. 
 To succeed, then, all the powers of the mind and the eye must be put forth, 
 and that with an energy that many do not understand. The painter, in 
 composing, has more leisure to arrange, complete, and perfect his ideas ; 
 nor is he so tied down as to depth of focus, etc. 
 
 67. But do not entertain the idea, that all the advantages are on his 
 side. The rapidity of production which the camera affords, if properly 
 used, is a very powerful means of educating — the work, good or bad, is 
 at once before us to study — and, by studying, we can see many of our 
 faults, and discern points of excellence, which the careful photographer 
 stores for future usq ; and many of the mechanical difficulties, when 
 earnestly grappled with, give way to our will. It is hoped that not a few 
 of those who have given this subject their careful study, will find help to 
 a quick perception of what is good or bad, and be enabled to promptly 
 decide on what to accept or reject. 
 
 68. Some hastily reject all rules, and consider them only a hindrance 
 to their progress in art, because men have arisen, from time to time, 
 whose works were formed by no rule, yet became a model and a rule to 
 other men. Still, as Professor Sedgewick has remarked, " Few, however, 
 
 in doubt as to which is best, prove them all, and then make the selection yourself, and show 
 only one. If, however, your customer is not pleased, you can then bring forward the others, 
 if you think there is anything in them to remedy the difficulty. — F. B. Clench. 
 
 V 67. Make your sitter at ease with himself, draw out his finer feelings, and, if possible, bring 
 all that is good and noble within him to the surface, and being prepared, your light in har- 
 mony, watch and catch the right expression. As a photographer you may be ashamed of 
 the resulting picture, but you have reflected from that face the soul and beauty within. — 
 Alex ANDES Hesleb. 
 
 ■168. Now, no doubt, it is well to be humble. The first test of a great man is his humility; 
 but I do not mean, by humility, doubt of his own power, or hesitation in speaking of his 
 opinions, but a right understanding of the relation between what he can do and say and the 
 rest of the world's sayings and doings. All great men not only know their business, but 
 usually know that they know it; and are not only right in their main opinions, but they 
 usually know that they are right in them ; only they do not think much of themselves on 
 that account. Arnolfi knows that he can build a good dome at Florence ; Albert Durer 
 writes calmly to one who finds fault with his work, " It cannot be better done;" Sir Isaac 
 Newton knows that he has worked out a problem or two that would have puzzled any one 
 
56 
 
 WILSON'S PHOTOGEAPHICS. 
 
 among us are permitted to show this high excellence ; ordinary minds 
 must be content to learn by rules, and every good system must have ref- 
 erence to the many and not the few." We have undoubted authority in 
 the example of the great Raphael for being humble and apt to learn. 
 J 69. The accompanying wood-cut is a copy of one of Raphael's draw- 
 ings, at the margin of which is the following memorandum : " It is to be 
 
 observed that the first thing to be con- 
 sidered in an historical composition, 
 is where the point (that is the specta^ 
 tor's eye) is to be placed, whether in 
 the middle of the work or on one side, 
 and so to determine its situation that 
 the important figures be distinctly 
 visible, not concealed by others; and 
 then begin the Resign. It is my opin- 
 ion, confirmed by the practice of the 
 most skilful men, that the mode ex- 
 plained by a drawing in the margin is 
 generally fittest; viz., by contriving 
 that those figures which are nearest 
 to the point should present their back, 
 those furthest removed, their sides, 
 and so on in perspective ; as if a circle were drawn and figures were ar- 
 ranged around it, so should an historical composition." 
 
 70. The student is again referred to the engravings, which are now so 
 
 else I only they do not expect their fellow-men to fall down and worship them. They have a 
 curious under-sense of powerlessness, feeling that the greatness is not in them, but through 
 them ; that they could not do or be anything else than G-od made them, and they see some- 
 thing divine and God-made in every other man they meet, and are endlessly, foolishly, and 
 incredibly merciful. — John Buskin. 
 
 ■'69. Figures should be more or less varied in attitude, because an exact repetition of lines 
 produces formality. The manner and extent of variation must be decided by the subject. 
 They must also vary in regard to prominence. The artist who represents all the figures in- 
 troduced in his picture as holding the same rank, making each one equally prominent, 
 understands nothing of the principles of nature or the laws of art. The same artist will, 
 with great labor, bring forward on his canvas the most insignificant objects ; for trivial minds 
 ever value trivial things. — M. A. Dwiqht. 
 
 J 70. Experience tells me the best way to "elevate our art" is for each one to do the very 
 best work he can under all circumstances, and let our customers know something of the work 
 and expense needed to attain the end desired; and the better they understand the intricacies 
 
 Frninir ft '"nil Fh"*^ 
 
TREATMENT OP THE SUBJECT. 57 
 
 easily accessible, for farther studies in this form of composition. It is 
 not needful to multiply them here, since enough has already been said 
 to give you a clear insight into the matter, with the hope, too, that you 
 are fully interested enough to- pursue it and profit by it largely. The 
 circular foi-m in its internal lines also requires the use of the angular 
 and pyramidal in the arrangement of its parts. They always come into 
 play — are always useful in the great work of elevating our art. 
 
 71. Much has been )vritten, and very properly, too, on the best method 
 of constructing the glass-house or photographic atelier, and doubtless 
 the papers which have appeared on the subject have been of good ser- 
 vice to many. But it is believed the subject about to be treated is one 
 of graver importance ; the former being the means to the end, while the 
 present topic is the end or purpose itself, viz., ckkiro-oscuro, or light and 
 shade ; and it is aflS-rmed that if the recognized principles of light and 
 shade, as applied in art, were more fully understood by photographers, 
 there would be much less information required on how to construct a 
 light, for knowing how to use it would solve many a difficulty. 
 •172. Let the light be ever so perfectly arranged, it must, of neces- 
 
 of the art the more it will be appreciated ; and a picture that is well paid for is treasured far 
 more, and its good qualities more apparent, than when a few cents will purchase a peck or 
 less. People always appreciate anything according to its cost, no matter what it is.v- Mks. 
 E. N. LocKWOOD. 
 
 J71. On the proper management of his light depends the chief success of the photographer. 
 This is the most difficult part of the art to learn, because no absolute rules or exact formulae 
 can be laid down. It is as well it should be so, as each one who studies to light his pictures 
 artistically is certain to receive his immediate reward by the superior results he will produce. 
 Mere mechanical skill is easily acquired ; but artistic excellence is only secured by a study 
 of the conditions of light and shade. 
 
 The first thing a photographer has to learn on this subject is that no reliance whatever is 
 to be placed on lens, camera, and chemicals. These, valuable enough in their places, can 
 teach him nothing here. He must go to the fountain-head — light itself. Whatever light 
 falls on, it enlightens, whitens. White is the representative of light ; black that of dark- 
 ness. If an obj.ect be wished to be represented white, it must be placed in the light ; if black, 
 the light must be excluded from it ; if partially white and partially black, the light must be 
 so allowed to fall on it that while the parts that are to be represented white must be illumi- 
 nated, the others that are to be black must be protected from illumination. If the object is 
 to be represented as being neither white nor black, but of some of the manifold gradations 
 that separate the two, then the object must be so illuminated that just such amount of light 
 and shade falls on it as represents the desired tint. — Jabbz Httghbs. 
 
 V 72. We are here reminded of a passage in Ruskin's Modern Painters, wherein he observes : 
 "When the eye is quite uncultivated, it sees that a man is a man and a face is a face, but has 
 no idea what shadows or light fall upon the form or features. Cultivate it to some degree 
 
58 WILSON'S PH0T06EAPHICS. 
 
 sity, vary with the season or the day, and still more, different models 
 require different arrangements of light and shade. The subject is one 
 deserving of deepest study, and those who know most will assuredly 
 seek for a better acquaintance still with its subtle gradations. 
 773. This rendering of light within light and shadow within shadow, 
 is peculiarly the province of photography, and there is no branch of the 
 art that affords more scope for constant study. 
 
 74. The first thing to be noticed is, that when the sun is abroad in a 
 landscape, the most characteristic feature to be observed is the decided, 
 sharp, well-defined shadows, and in proportion as the objects are brill- 
 iantly lit, in like proportion will it be found that the shadows from them 
 are deep and intense, and throughout the whole this last will be found 
 to be observed in beautiful harmony, giving here brightness and preci- 
 sion, and there softness and delicacy, while in every direction an endless 
 variety pervades, giving a charm indefinable by words. Also observe 
 that in bright light and' deep shadows the texture or detail is very 
 limited, and that in nature neither bright light nor deep shade is to be 
 found in large masses, but rather in points. 
 
 75. Where there is a large mass of light, either in sky or water, it will 
 
 of artistic power, and it will then see shadows distinctly, but only the more vigorous of them. 
 Cultivate it still further, and it will see light within light and shadow within shadow, and 
 will continually refuse to rest in what it had already discovered, that it may pursue what is 
 more removed and subtle, until at last it comes to give its chief attention, and display its 
 chief power on gradations, which, to an untrained faculty, are partly niatters of indifference 
 and partly imperceptible." 
 
 n|73. Now, what is lighting? Tou take a common watering-pot and remove the rose, and 
 the stream of water goes out in a body. Tou put on the rose, and it causes the water to 
 flow in little streams and scatters it. The same effect is produced on the light coming 
 through the atmosphere; the atmosphere divides it, scatters it, diffuses it. We take a rod 
 and strike the surface of water gently, and we drive the water in all directions or 
 according to the direction of the blow. So it is with light. It comes through a steep sky- 
 light, and it has to pass through the atmosphere to get to the subject, aud tl^e further it falls 
 the more it is diffused. — A Voice at the Buffalo Convention, 1873. 
 
 74. What is the philosophy of arranging a face under the light? What is the first thing 
 to be done ? The first thing is to admit as much diffused light over the whole face as you 
 can : I will say pretty near as much as the eye will open and shut comfortably in, as will 
 not affect the eye at all, or oblige you to close it. So that you can open the eye naturally ; 
 so that it shall not make you blink or want to look down. You want a light that will be 
 diffused over the whole face and figure. — A. S. Southworth. 
 
 75. A few questions : How do we recognize brilliancy in a photograph? Answer. Bv 
 the contrast of light and shade. How do we recognize softness and delicacy in the same"? 
 
TREATMENT OP THE SUBJECT. 59 
 
 be found secondary to some brighter light, such as the bright edge of 
 a dark cloud in the sky, the glancing wave on the sea, or the white sail 
 of a boat ; and, whatever may be the means used by nature, it will be 
 found small in proportion to its brilliancy, and by its brilliancy it will 
 give to these larger masses of light the effect of half-tone by comparison. 
 Also notice that the highest lights and deepest darks are generally found 
 in nature side by side — ^the dark giving brilliancy to the light, the light 
 intensity to the dark. And again, we find when the sun is veiled and 
 the light soft, and a half-tone pervades the face of nature, some soWbre 
 pine or overhanging rock will give the deepest shade — a small break 
 in the sky, the highest light. 
 
 76. "What can be more magnificent in light and shade than when, 
 after rain, a stream of light shoots forth from the hidden sun and illu- 
 mines, as if striving after effect, a selected spot of verdant field or wooded 
 brake glistening with moisture and refulgent with color; or, when it 
 selects the white sail of a distant vessel, or the beach of an opposite 
 
 Answer. By the harmony of the light and shade therein displayed. Let every one strive 
 to attain a medium between the two, and the result will be satisfying to any one. You ask, 
 how to set about it? Screen your skylight, and cut off by curtains all the superfluous light, 
 leaving only enough to properly light the sitter ; suitably contrast the dress and com- 
 plexion with the right shade of background, and you will, by the proper strength of 
 developer and correct timing, get all the intensity you desire. By hanging your plain,, 
 ordinary background on a pivot, and tilting it, you can have a different shade every time, 
 suiting the most exacting sitter. — C. A. Zimmerman. 
 
 76. The grand point, for those who have not paid sufficient attention to this most important 
 of photographic questions, is to accustom the eye to constant watching — out of the studio as 
 well as in it — for any unusual effect of light on the human face which may happen to be 
 pleasing, and at once to analyze, as far as possible, the cause. I shall best further my object, 
 before I speak of special studio arrangements, by describing two extremes of light, one 
 favoring perfect relief, but with contrasts too strong for general photographic purposes, and 
 the other — unfortunately too common amongst photographers — producing flatness and 
 almost total absence of texture. By putting these two extremes side by side, I shall the 
 more readily make clear what I desire to say. Those who have been in the studio of the 
 sculptor for the first time, will have been struck by the wonderful delicacy and relief of any 
 work in marble which may happen to be in hand. Should his curiosity lead him to watch 
 the effect of the same kind of light on the human head and bust, he will be equally delighted 
 with the novel effect of light and shade before him. He-will notice a delicacy and texture 
 quite unusual in ordinary lights, combined with the most perfect relief. The whole effect 
 will be more striking and forcible; but after some time spent in close observation, he 
 will find, that whilst the high-lights and those next approaching to them are wonderfully 
 rendered, the deepest shadows and those allied to them are much too heavy for photographic 
 purposes. The observer will feel less of this, however, if the subject examined should hap- 
 
60 
 
 WILSON'S PHOTOGEAPHICS. 
 
 Fig. 23. 
 
 shore ; or, as all have often seen, and. wondered at its constant choice, 
 the whitened walls of distant villages ? In these two moods of nature, as 
 it were, may he found the true foundation for all authentic principles in 
 art. And the painter or photographer will select the mood most suited 
 
 to his subject, and, like the writer of 
 history or romance, he vsdll use his 
 highest powers, his brightest light, 
 or deepest shadow, or both, to give 
 fiill prominence to the leading point, 
 judiciously obscuring others. 
 J 77. In the foregoing remarks, your 
 attention has been drawn outside the 
 studio, and to many this may socra 
 of little practical value as regards 
 their every-day work. But it is not 
 so, for the same principle prevails 
 both within and without. As a par- 
 tial proof of this truth, witness this 
 fine copy of " The Soldier and the 
 Laughing Girl," by J. Van der Meer, 
 of Delft, now in the Double Collection of Paris. It is a grand study in 
 
 pen to be a blonde dressed in light drapery. A little investigation will, therefore, show that 
 the marble, being a semi-transparent substance, permits — indeed requires — this strong treat- 
 ment, in order to produce the proper amount of relief, and that, in the case of the blonde 
 with the drapery light in color, the shadows are softened by the reflections carried into them, 
 and thus reducing their intensity. Every one must at some time or other bave been struck 
 with the wonderful effect of relief, combined with perfect transparency in the half-shadows, 
 when a lady dressed in very light diaphanous material has chanced to be pla..'ed near an 
 open window in a well-lit room. The effect is totally different if a swarthy, black-bearded 
 man, in the mournful livery common to this age, should happen to be seen under precisely 
 similar circumstances. In the latter case there are no reflections to help out the effect; 
 hence, the difference. I may say here, that the most perfect effects of lighting I have ever 
 seen have been produced at a lofty side-window, the lower portion of which wac covered 
 with a semi-transparent material, a suitable system of reflectors being used to carry light 
 into the deepest shadows to lessen the contrast. — Valentine Blanchard. 
 <J 77. As to the study of light, I follow it intuitively. I find my models everywhere, in par- 
 lors, halls, churches, offices, shops, railway cars ; wherever there are windows or gas-jets, and 
 heads for the light to shine upon, there are my studies — sometimes more, sometimes less inter- 
 esting, but studied all the same. Frequently in common conversation, or in the course of a 
 business transaction, I give as much attention to lighting the head of my model as I do to 
 the drift of his talk or the character of the business in hand. "We may be introduced to a 
 
 
 im-fi ..R.'-KSPI 
 
 Ht 
 
 
TREATMENT OF THE S'UBJECT. 61 
 
 cHaro-oseuro, a model for photographic imitation, and seems to have 
 heen made for this very purpose. It will hear the closest study. 
 v/78. It is also a fact, that in photographic portraiture it is not consid- 
 ered desirable to illuminate the sitter with direct sunlight, but, if we 
 wish to produce the broad, open effect of daylight, with well defined 
 and equally illuminated line, we must use a broad, open, well diffused 
 light, so arranging the drapery of figure and accessories that we obtain 
 enough of sharp and well-defined shadows to give the necessary pith and 
 precision to the whole. 
 
 79. Carefal attention to this point will give a much greater effect of 
 brilliancy and light than any amount of over-intensifying. Again, if we 
 wish to produce those effects which might be styled a la Rembrandt, we 
 must use a more direct, concentrated light, and so arranging the figure 
 or sitter that the light falls upon and fully illumines the portion of the 
 figure we wish to give the greatest prominence, allowing the other parts, 
 both of the form and outline, to be partially lost iu shade. Do not mis- 
 understand, blackness is not meant. By this means of lighting some 
 
 stranger, and while assuring him of the pleasure we have found in his acquaintance, and 
 wondering if it will rain before night, we have discovered that his nose is a little out of true, 
 and that a three-fourths face, away from the light, will suit him best. 
 
 In this study or pursuit much is to be gained. We learn to recognize the true from the 
 false, the good from the bad. An education may be so acquired that would he obtained in 
 no other way. We see and fix in the mind many peculiarities and eifects of light that by 
 accumulation become knowledge. There may be a lesson in the shadow thrown from a 
 hitching-post, if we look for it, as much as there are " sermons in stones." 
 
 These hints and bits of observation, picked up in promiscuous waj's and places, carried 
 into the operating-room, give power to the possessor of them, and make him master of the 
 situation. When we once get into this way of " trying on," we are not likely to abandon 
 the habit. — J. E. Etder. 
 
 78. Place the sitter so the light is diffused. I open the light for forty-five degrees usually. 
 Why use that angle ? Why not straight up over-head ? The reason is, that I want to show 
 the lines of the brow, the lines of the nostrils. I want to show the shadow falling off to 
 this direction so as to give the shape of the nostrils. I do not want to show it as if I were 
 standing under you and looking up into your nose. I do not want to throw a shadow on the 
 noblest part of the human countenance. — A. S. Southwokth. 
 
 »79. In these likenesses there is no striving for any transitory effect. No part of the face 
 iir head is put.in deep shadow, all is clear and sunny. There is no flinching from hard work. 
 Wherever shadow is used, the modelling is continued perfectly throughout the whole. In 
 the best faces of Titian no shadow is apparent, yet there is no flatness ; they are full and 
 round, like nature herself. And some of the best heads of Rembrandt, fond as he was of 
 shadow tricks, are painted in this broad and sunny way. These great artiPt8!itudied;to give 
 the sum of human life— not five minutes of it. — Charles Akj:bs, 
 
62 WILSON'S PHOTOGRAPHICS. 
 
 very grand effects are produced. Many have supposed, however, that this 
 style is conventional and unreal. Such is not the case, for the same effect 
 may be seen in any apartment which is but partially illuminated, whether 
 by artificial means, or by the opening by which the daylight enters being 
 small in proportion to the size of the apartment. Both ways are correct 
 in principle and equally good if suited to the subject; the former will be 
 found most serviceable for general use, and may be considered as nature's 
 sunshine, while the latter may be appreciated as we do nature in her 
 grander moods, as in the coming storm or the play of the forked lightning. 
 
 80. If you are a landscape photographer, having selected your point, 
 the proper time of day to give the best eflfect of light and shade, look 
 closely into nature, mentally note down its most observable peculiarities, 
 and when you have completed your negative and printed from it, com- 
 pare notes, those mentally taken and those in the photograph before 
 you ; find out what of nature's beauty you have caught, and where you 
 have fallen short. Do not be content with the fact that you have ob- 
 tained a passable, nay, a good picture, for by such close observation you 
 will acquire a better knowledge of the laws of nature, discover the weak 
 and the strong points of photography, and thus be able, as experience 
 ripens and increases, to assist the former and make good use of the latter. 
 
 81. If you are a portrait photographer, do not be content with having 
 your light built and arranged on the same piinciple as an adored model 
 
 80. Among some photographers the impression seems to prevail that the reflection of the 
 image upon the ohject-glass is to be depended upon exclusively in judging of the proper 
 lighting. Let me state that these glasses are great flatterers and deceivers, as negatives fre- 
 quently testify when left to them. Should you be using a number of instruments, the chances 
 are the color of each glass is different, which makes them still less reliable as guides. Trust 
 your eyes in arranging your lights, and when once accustomed to the manipulations in that 
 particular, you will prove yourself competent in your position, and have secured much that 
 Is all-important to success in your profession. — A. Simson. 
 
 81. There is no part of the human face that should be represented in a portrait as white. 
 There may and must be parts that are lighter, but these parts should never be white. The 
 whole face should be shaded, while the most prominent points, such as the nose, brows, 
 chin, etc., should be touched with light. The retiring parts of the face must be shaded 
 more and more as they retire, but care must be taken that they become not too dark and 
 lose definition. As a general thing, too much light is used (I suppose for the purpose of 
 shortening the exposure) ; but this is an erroneous idea. The light should come from one 
 direction, and more from one side than the other. 
 
 There are three kinds or qualities of light used in portrait photography, viz., diffused, 
 direct, and reflected. Of these three, diffused light bears the most important part, and is 
 
TREATMENT OP THE SUBJECT. 63 
 
 of yours, who produces pictures worthy of the art ; and having found 
 out that on a certain day and on a certain spot, under such a light, you 
 have produced a photograph as good or better than your neighbor, that 
 from henceforth that is the spot, and that on that spot every future sitter 
 must be placed, irrespective of age, form, or feature, or color of dress. 
 No ; on the contrary, carefully select the best situation and arrange the 
 lighting, having a keen, quick eye to its adaptability to bring out the 
 points, losing the others in the shade, and, while the general effect of 
 the whole is seen to, do not lose sight of the tender variety of lights 
 within lights and shade Avithin shade ; and when you have given atten- 
 tion to all this, in the posing and arranging, observe that the effects thus 
 far sought for are not lost by a wrong exposure, or by under- or over- 
 developing. Be fully assured that if you do not habitually accustom 
 yourself to look for these finer and more subtle gradations of light and 
 shade, and use your highest powers to secure them, your works will 
 neither be a credit to yourself nor to the art. 
 
 82. Having now tried to explain the value of a knowledge of chiaro- 
 oscuro, or liglit and shade, to the photographer, and to urge the import- 
 ance of the study thereof, it is in order to proceed to investigate this 
 principle in its various situations. But, before doing so, please to notice 
 a few of the more palpable and self-evident combinations. Do not neg- 
 lect these important points. They may be divided into five parts, viz. : 
 li^ht, half-light, middle-tint, half-dark, and dark. These are the five grand 
 points of the subject now to be studied. In beginning any work we 
 should know which one we desire to secure, and work and arrange accord- 
 
 the one used in the largest quantity ; reflected light, the one used least. A diffusion of light, 
 however, over the vsrhole face would render it flat, and with a lack of vigor. Direct light 
 now comes to our assistance, and by a judicious use in small quantity lights up the prominent 
 parts of the face, rendering the whole image bold and vigorous ; and it is sometimes the 
 case that a little reflected light may be used with advantage, but should be used judiciously. 
 — Frank Jewell. 
 
 82. My reading and my observation amount to simply this : Have a room where you 
 can control your light thoroughly and perfectly. Have a room where you can give as much 
 diffused light on the face, without making it one particle more on one side than on the 
 other than the eye can bear ciimfortably ; then grade it. Then open your sky-light just as 
 you want it, to give the right light on the nose and forehead, giving the shadows as they 
 ought to come, and you have your light right for the subject; and for the different lights, 
 change your subject around the room, and if the nose happens to be a short one, you have 
 got to manage it, or if it is very long, and if there are wrinkles your diffused light lights 
 them up. — A. S. Southworth. 
 
64 WILSON'S PHOTOGRAPHICS. 
 
 ingly. After the work is done it should then be compared with what 
 it was intended to produce, and see how far success has been attained. 
 
 83. When the picture is composed of light and half-light chiefly, the 
 darks will have more force and point, but the picture will look feeble and 
 weak, to use a common term. When it is composed mainly of dark and 
 half-dark, the lights will be more brilliant, but they will be apt to look 
 spotty for want of half-light to spread and connect them, and the picture 
 will be in danger of becoming black and heavy; and when the pic- 
 ture is composed chiefly of the middle-tint, the dark and light portions 
 would have a. more equal chance of coming into notice, but the general 
 eifect is in danger of being insipid and common. This will be more 
 fully understood if the operator will take examples of his own or other 
 M'ork, lighted differently, and carefully study the effects mentioned, so 
 far as the pictures will permit. 
 
 84. The results which light and shade may produce are very many, 
 but the principal ones generally sought for are relief, harmmy, and breadth. 
 By the first we are enabled, so far as the camera, lens, etc., will allow, to 
 give the distinctness and solidity of nature, ?'. e., so near as we can, a 
 stereoscopic effect to our pictures. The second is the result of a union 
 and consent of one part with an'other ; and the third, a general breadth, 
 gives the idea of extent and magnitude. N'ow, these three properties should 
 employ the careful and most attentive examination of every one who de- 
 
 83. Perhaps, among beginners, there is no more common error than the employment of 
 too much light. The natural instinct of the artistically uneducated mind seems to be to 
 surround the sitter with light, to throw it in on all sides, and as much on one side of the 
 face as on the other. How grave a mistake this is. — "W. J. Baksr. 
 
 84. It will be found that whilst one operator rigidly adheres to the plan of contrasting the 
 lighted side of the figure against the dark part of ground, another will as uniformly practise 
 the reverse, i. e., placing the illuminated side of a face against the light side of the ground, 
 and the shadow side against the darker. Pictures in these two styles will be found most 
 numerous. A third party will, for all kinds of subjects, invariably use the darkest side 
 uppermost, and a fourth the lightest. There are subjects suited to all of these plans, and it 
 often requires much study a'nd care- to know which is the proper one to adopt. . Where the 
 operator is unable to decide which is best, we would advise an entirely plain background. 
 
 The principal objections to the mode of operator No. 1 are, first, the resulting picture often 
 has a cut-up, patchy effect, in which the proper breadth of light and shade for a fine artistic 
 effect are destroyed. Second, a homely feature (or maybe a homely face) is made too promi- 
 nent, by contrast centring interest to that part. In the pictures of No. 2, breadth is secured 
 and a- fine result often obtained, but unless the subject is entirely suited, a plain ground would 
 behest.— "Pybo." 
 
TREATMENT OP THE SUBJECT. 65 
 
 sires to improve ; for, by giving too much relief, a dry, hard effect— cast- 
 iron it might be called — is produced; by too much softness and blending 
 of the parts, woolliness and insipidity; and in a desire to preserve a 
 breadth of effect there is danger of producing flatness. 
 
 Relief is desirable, to a certain extent, in all our productions, and 
 the larger the work the more relief required ; but, as has been said, we 
 should be careful not to get too much. 
 
 Harmony depends upon the intermediate parts of a picture serving as 
 a link or chain, either by conveying a sensation of the same light or 
 shade with those in immediate contact, or by reducing, neutralizing, or 
 breaking down entirely the harsh asperities of the two extremes, and 
 thus producing a connection or agreement, — a fallen tree leading across 
 the turbid stream from the darkness of the wildwood to the bright 
 sunshine on the other side. 
 
 85. Beeadth of Effect is only to be produced by a great extent of 
 light or shade pervading the picture. If an open, daylight appearance 
 is intended, it will be best produced by leaving out part of the middle- 
 tint, and allowing a greater spread of light and half-light; in this way one 
 may also give the darks the relative forces which they possess in nature. 
 If a breadth of shadow is required, the picture ought to be made up of 
 middle-tint and half-dark. In the one treatment the dark ought to tell 
 sharp and cutting, which is the characteristic of strong daylight. In the 
 
 85. When too much light is reflected on the shaded side of the face it prevents the 
 spectator from tracing the direction of the principal illumination, and, trivial as this state- 
 ment may seem to those who have not considered the subject, it involves the most important 
 characteristic of a picture, that of unity. Unity cannot be obtained without breadth, and 
 the quality of breadth is entirely dependent on the eye being able to trace with facility the 
 direction of the illuminating force. The idea is a perfectly natural one. The sun's rays at 
 any given moment sweep through the entire landscape, casting shadows in but one and the 
 same direction, and this is the type of breadth. It establishes, by association and the analogy 
 of nature, a law in our minds to which all representations of natural objects should con- 
 form f and the simplest form of picture, that containing but one object, as a face, is just as 
 much subject to this law as the presentation of miles of landscape, with its infinite diversity 
 of objects. 
 
 Very much allied to the notions of unity by breadth is that of massing the light and 
 shade, keeping each in its separate place, the lights on one side of the face, the shadow on 
 the other. The same illustrations which show the first law exhibit the second. Where a 
 simple object, as a cube or a globe, is presented to the sun, we see easily the separation of 
 these masses, sharply divided in the two sides of the cube, graded into each other in the 
 globe ; and it is quite as essential, to the unity of a composition, that the shadows be united 
 5 
 
66 WILSON'S PHOTOGEAPHICS. 
 
 other the lights ought to appear powerful and brilliant, enveloped in 
 masses of obscurity. When shadow is carried beyond the necessary 
 depth for the relief or distinct marking of the several parts, it gives the 
 effect of breadth to the picture, from the fact that it absorbs many of the 
 half-tints and renders the dark less cutting. It also has the influence 
 of repose, as fewer of the outlines are visible. 
 
 ^86. A few explanations further, using imaginary pictures, but trying 
 to make them plain to you. Let us imagine ourselves in a railway tun- 
 nel or cave, say twenty feet from the entrance, and looking out. Now, 
 by a lens outside, let the light be collected into a focus and thrown ob- 
 liquely upon one of the walls of the tunnel. We shall then have explained 
 to us one of the principal properties of light, upon which many of the 
 old masters have doubtless formed their principles of light and shade. 
 Where the bundles of rays are collected, the light is increased in bright- 
 ness ; and when they become more diffused and spread out, it naturally 
 becomes more feeble, losing itself in half-tint. In the experiment sug- 
 gested to your imagination, we have some of the most essential qualities 
 of light as applicable to photographic portraiture. We have a principal 
 light, which, being produced by the collecting of the rays, leaves that por- 
 tion of ground the darkest which comes in contact with it, thereby as- 
 sisting its brightness. We obtain an innumerable variety of gradations 
 until the light is dissipated and lost. 
 
 87. ISTow, the question may be asked, how can these properties be made 
 use of in the management of the light and shade of the picture ? As fol- 
 
 into one mass and the lights into another, as that the direction of illumination should be 
 discoverable and single. As in the other cases, the type has its foundations in nature and the 
 laws of the mind, and obtains in complex as well as in simple forms. If our globe were at 
 all rough or irregular, it would follow that the grading of the masses must correspond. The 
 human head is approximately an irregular sphere, and we find the masses of light and shade 
 it presents broken and varied. — "W". J. Baker. 
 
 86. Burnet very justly says : " Every light, however small, ought to have a focus, or one 
 part brighter than another, this being the law of nature ; and for the same reason we ought 
 to have one portion of a dark more decided than the rest. Bring these two extremes together 
 and thej' assist each other, one becoming darker and the other brighter from the effect of 
 contrast. If they are placed at the opposite sides of the picture, we have greater breadth 
 and a more equal balance." 
 
 ■J 87. If, now, the chemicals are in every direction in perfect order, and the carrying of the 
 process of the plate from the beginning of coating it with collodion till fixing it after rede- 
 veloping is well executed, why does not the negative show the result of complete harmony 
 in all its details? The fault will he found in an imperfect lighting of the subject, for surely 
 
.TREATMENT OF THE SUBJECT. 67 
 
 lows : Let the principal light, or focus of light, be on the upper part of 
 the face ; then allow the light to fall down on the figure, and you thereby 
 produce a union, and an appearance of light giving out rays of the same 
 hue as itself. This was Rembrandt's plan, who rendered the most compli- 
 cated compositions subservient to the simplest principles of light and shade, 
 and who was equally happy in his portraits of single figures. Further 
 on, an effort will be made to explain more fully his method of lighting. 
 ^88. ITow, again, imagine yourself in the tunnel, and the focus of light 
 coming towards you directly from the centre, gradating to the extremi- 
 ties, with a border of dark binding in the whole. By this mode the light , 
 has great brilliancy, as you will see, giving less breadth, but less contrast 
 — a soft union of the lights with the shadows. It need hardly be repeated 
 to you, that upon the management of light and shade depends the general 
 look of the picture There is an art, too, in their management and dis- 
 position, and that art can only be acquired by close attention and the 
 careful examination of the works of those who have excelled in it. 
 
 89. Having now spoken of the manner of lighting the subject adopted 
 by Eembrandt, a further explanation of what his method was becomes 
 necessary. Rembrandt was in his early days a great stickler for bright 
 light in his pictures, often at the sacrifice of other qualities, and in his first 
 
 there will not be any more details on the picture than are to be found on the ground-glass in 
 the camera, after having fooussed properly and exactly. 
 
 As to the appearance of the picture on the ground-glass, it ought to contain a general 
 brightness and a soft gradation between high-lights and deeper shades, in order togive the 
 picture a perfect relief, not forgetting the drapery, furniture used for posing, and background, 
 the proper lighting of which is also impcr'.antfor the harmony of the whole picture. Know- 
 ing his chemicals, the photographer will be able to expose his plate just the right lime, which 
 is of no little importance. — J. K. "Wolowski. 
 
 88. Reynolds says : " The same rules which have been given with regard to the regulation 
 of groups of figures, must be observed with regard to the grouping of lights ; that there shall 
 be a superiority of one over the rest; that they shall be separated and varied in their shapes; 
 and that there should be at least three lights. The second lights ought, for the sake of 
 harmony and union, to be of nearly equal brightness, though not of equal magnitude, with 
 the principal." 
 
 J 89. The Eembrandt light means a limited strong light, not all over the face, but just 
 merely on the forehead — a small portion of the forehead— and a little oii the nose. The rest 
 of the face not total darkness, but you can see in the darkness— dair-obscure—Wght in the 
 shade. There is Eembrandt again. The Eembrandt is dark, and yet you see everything in the 
 picture, because it is all transparent. It is just like going into a cellar ; at first you do not see 
 anything, but as you remain two or three minutes you begin to see everything. That is dair- 
 oJgcwr-e— light in darkness— everything visible and yet in the darkness.— D C. Fabronius. 
 
68 
 
 WILSON'S PHOTOGKAPHICS. 
 
 works it fr;equently forms a circumscribed spot, for, as Reynolds has ob- 
 served, "that light must appear the brightest which is surrounded by the 
 
 greatest quantity of shade." His plan 
 is followed by many photographers of 
 the present day. They select the face of 
 the figure for a blaze of light, and work 
 their chemicals so intensely as to make 
 hair and drapery so black that the beauti- 
 ful half-tones that should be secured in 
 the flesh are entirely gone. An example 
 of this will be found in the portrait here- 
 with, of Eembrandt, by himself. 
 
 90. This is a mistake. All know that 
 the sun-burned people of the country 
 like "nice white faces," but they must 
 be educated to what is tasteful and right; or, if the photographer mmt 
 give in, let him manage some way to introduce other lights into the 
 picture to detract somewhat from the face, and prevent it from looking 
 quite so glaring. This can be done in very many ways, governed by cir- 
 cumstances ; for example, a handkerchief in a side-pocket, a book held 
 open in the hand, the hands folded on a chair, and dark cloth, or some- 
 
 \/90. It is hardly necessary to observe that I do not advocate such violent contrasts as 
 would destroy all transparency in shadows, or all detail in the lights. But I do maintain 
 that this style of lighting, judiciously managed, frequently reveals a beauty in nature, 
 •whether contemplated in landscape or human faces, that would never be seen in the mild 
 contrast of a difiFused light. No cultivated eye has failed to observe this fact, and no experi- 
 ence, it matters not how limited, but has had occasion to note, under the ever-varying con- 
 formations of nature, how frequently contrasts will best subserve the purpose of displaying its 
 beauties. Frequently by this means lines are so softened, and angles so rounded or modified, 
 as to turn what otherwise would be harsh and unsightly almost into the very poetry of form 
 and expression. 
 
 I have taken pains to test the effect of this style of lighting upon hundreds of subjects, 
 watching closely its advantage or disadvantage upon merely personal beauty as well as its 
 effect upon the mind of the sitter. Prom want of cultivation or taste, most sitters dislike 
 strong shadows; but even in such cases, if you submit proofs of the two styles of lighting, 
 the Eembrandt effects will so much better display the personal good points of the subject, that 
 in eight cases out of ten this style of lighting will be selected, the natural prejudice against 
 strong shadows being overcome by the greater desire to be beautiful. The photographer 
 should take advantage of these conflicting elements as pointing the way by which the public 
 taste can be educated up to a proper appreciation of really artistic photographic composi- 
 tions. — D. H. Anderson. 
 
TREATMENT OP THE SUBJECT. 
 
 69 
 
 Fig. 26. 
 
 thing draped near them, so as to bring out the light more prominently — 
 in a hundred ways one may counteract the evil spoken of with useful 
 effect. A good study in this dirfection 
 is given in " Orpin, the Parish Clerk 
 of Bradford," by Thomas Gainsbor- 
 ough, as the light on the hands and on 
 the edges of the book show. 
 
 91. But Rembrandt's extending of the 
 light through the picture gradually became 
 more enlarged. He finally illuminated 
 even his darkest shadows by. streaks of 
 red, or rich brown color, running into 
 them. The same effect may be secured 
 by the photographer if skill be exer- 
 cised in lighting. One of the greatest 
 charms of Mr. Adam Salomon's ex- 
 quisite work is in this very thing. 
 While there seems to be consider- 
 able clear glass in his negatives, judg- 
 ing jfrom his prints, yet, when we examine them, little delicate streaks of 
 half-lights are seen dancing about here and there, like colors in a dew- 
 drop, giving a tone and charm to the picture which is truly fascinating. 
 Very often, in a composition picture, accessories may be introduced to 
 receive the light and secure the desired effect of light and shade. A 
 ray of light falling into the operating apartment upon a light object, 
 may, as in nature, reflect back the rays and illuminate the surrounding 
 objects, giving thus the principal light the properties of light itself. 
 
 91. My method of securing these brilliant effects is as follows : I place behind the model, 
 to serve as a background, a large window of glass of the color of red fire. This background 
 window is placed on the best lighted side of the studio, so as to secure the most luminous and 
 transparent effect. The model is placed about twenty inches in advance of the window — 
 just a sufficient distance, in fact, to permit the moving of the head-rest. At a greater dis- 
 tance the effect would not be so good. The size of the window may be determined by the 
 artist in relation to the class of work he may wish to produce, and the glass should have a 
 simple frame of wood. The oblique rays of white. light are especially effective, and, com- 
 bined with the red light, permit of the production of some very interesting and varied 
 effects. By varying the position of the model in relation to the window, the varied com- 
 bination of the white rays with the red present some very interesting points of study, and 
 the process produces Images in very powerful relief upon a black background peculiarly 
 transparent. — Adam Salomok. 
 
70 
 
 WILSON'S PHOTOGRAPHICS. 
 
 92. The shadows of all objects receiving such rays, we shall generally 
 find well defined, as in nature, and Eembrandt frequently introduced such 
 objects for the purpose of producing lights, giving an appearance of truth 
 to the whole effect. At other times we find the shadows swallowed up 
 
 Fig. 26. ' in the splendor of 
 
 light, as if afraid 
 of disturbing its 
 breadth. He always 
 had some end to ac- 
 complish, and that 
 should be the plan 
 of the photographer 
 who desires to ex- 
 cel. Hare a plan, 
 a purpose, and work 
 up to it. To illus- 
 trate, a copy of 
 Re mbrandt's c e 1 e- 
 brated group, " The 
 Syndic of the Cloth-Mongers," is given. The original is now in the 
 museum at Amsterdam, and is one of the wonders of art. 
 
 93. It may not be out of place to give a few examples in the practice 
 
 J92. One (if Dr. Jiihnson's definition.s of softness is " vicious delicacy," which admirably 
 expresses its relation to art. Now I look upon gradation as one of the most valuable of art 
 qualities, which may be defined, in contradistinction to softness, as delicacy without vice. 
 Gradation will include every tint and tone between abfolule white and absolute black. It 
 is true that, in «, limited sense, every progress of one tint into another, however narrow 
 the scale, is a gradation, and would therefore include softness; but in art the word grada- 
 tion is used to express a much wider scale than can be included by the word softness. Ruskin 
 says there can be no true gradation that does not include the extremes of black and white — 
 the whites to lie precious, the blacks conspicuous. The whites tender and delicate, and 
 limited, if you like, but bright and lustrous where they are required (and they are required 
 in every picture) ; the blacks must be conspicuous — however small a piece of black may be, 
 it ought to catch the eye. There is gradation in every inch of nature; but without the 
 judicious introduction of pure black and pure white, the luminous beauty to be gained by 
 ever-varying gradation is lost, or becomes that " vicious delicacy " called softness. — H. P. 
 
 EOBINSON. 
 
 93. I am considering the pose of my sitter and the lighting. I judge that the dark space 
 behind will absorb or obliterate the dark side of the sitter, and I cannot well put there a 
 light, permanent screen, — <Aa< would cnt him in Iwn by its line, — so I ask my assistant to take 
 that little white canvas screen on a stretcher and move it behind the figure while I yet have 
 
TREATMENT OF THE SUBJECT. 71 
 
 of chiaro-oscuro, or rather to illustrate the same. When the light part 
 of the composition is placed upon the dark side of the background, and 
 the dark part upon the light side, greater firmness and solidity are pro- 
 duced, and a more equal balance is kept up. The contrary method has 
 more breadth and softness of effect, but there is danger of the picture 
 being flat. In a single head, as we often have but one light, it is there- 
 fore necessary to get it to harmonize with the shadow, either in the back- 
 ground or upon the dress. This you may secure by throwing your light 
 on your side-screen in a way that the drapery will be lighted about the 
 same as the shadow side of the face. When the principal light is kept 
 at one side, there is an opportunity of introducing a larger portion of 
 shadow than when the light is in the centre, which is often of much 
 consequence. Our object in photography should be tO get neither too 
 strong light nor too strong shadows. Both are repulsive and both are 
 equally inartistic. Modulation in all proper places, in quantity to suit 
 circumstances, is the best, and should always be sought after. 
 
 94. The adoption of a purpose, and the striving to attain it, has been 
 advised. " To form the purpose is one thing," you remark, " and to ac- 
 complish it is another." Very true; yet a photographer has more under 
 control in his studio than he sometimes imagines. He sees the work of 
 others superior to his own. The lighting of the figures seems to strike 
 him as the main source of beauty, — and truly so, perhaps, — and he forth- 
 
 my plate in the bath. I now look into the camera, and as he moves it at the rate of two or 
 thr%e vibrations in a second, I direct him: "A little higher;" "a little further back;" 
 "there now;" "a little lower ;" and so forth, just as I imagine the light should be, accord- 
 ing to the outline of my Fitter. When I am satisfied with the light, I make my assistant 
 notice how far he has extended the screen forward and upward. I now insert the plate, and 
 expose the figure with the full, dark background behind him, but only for a moiety of the 
 time I intend for the full exposure ; then I cap the lens for an instant, while my assistant 
 takes the place to which I had schooled him. He then commences to move the screen in 
 the proper manner, when I again uncap the lens and complete the required exposure. It 
 was in the way here described I took the well-lsnown portrait of my friend Gustave Dore. 
 Prom the movement, the outline of the white screen is entirely lost, and it gives a beautiful 
 graduated effect. Even when you want an entirely light background, it is better to expose 
 at first for a short time with the dark ground, afterwards inserting a light ground; for a 
 face taken in this way is finer than when a uniformly light ground is used throughout. — 
 O. G. Kejlandbr. 
 
 94. Now this admired, but certainly not admirable, softness is a totally different quality 
 to gradation, for which it is sometimes mistaken, just as adulteration may be sometimes 
 nearly undistinguishable from purity, except to the taste of the adept. Softness is that sort 
 
72 WILSON'S PHOTOGBAPHICS. 
 
 with proceeds to tear out and rebuild his glass-room, all the while hav- 
 ing it in his power to secure the same results without the expense and 
 trouble of alteration, if he but use what brains he may have in applying 
 himself to the work. His light may be the same precisely as that of 
 his more successful and skilful neighbor, but he cannot produce as good 
 effects, for the reason that he has an idea it is " all in the light," or 
 in some " secret formula " unknown to him. He can produce pictures, 
 black and white, such as have been described, or he can, by covering up 
 his defects by the application of the " patent mezzotint" or " softness" 
 dodge, secure prints fuzzy, feathery, flat, and feeble, entirely void of 
 force and vigor. But neither of these are what you should make the 
 effort to produce. 
 
 J%. Study and imitate the works of -others. Do not be confined to 
 those of photography, however. There is much, very much, outside of 
 them worthy of study, in the multitude of engravings and drawings to 
 be seen or had almost anywhere. Some of the grandest studies of light 
 and shade are to be found in the engravings in old books to be had at 
 the book-stands. The habit of studying such is a very laudable one, and 
 will repay for the time it takes. It is a good plan, too, to collect a series 
 of engraved portraits from the paintings of many of the old masters, 
 copy them, and mount photographs of them all on one board. These 
 can be studied with great benefit, and will be found to aid much in manag- 
 ing the chiaro-oscuro of your pictures. 
 
 i 96.. As in photographic manipulations a photographer should not only 
 know that certain combinations of chemicals produce certain results, but 
 why they do so, so in studying and finding out the beauties of the work of 
 
 cf muddled effect that has no high-lights nor brilliant touches of black, as though the pho- 
 tographer was afraid of the wide gamut of light and shade afforded him by his art, and 
 could only venture to play a few notes in the middle of the scale — a sort of dull pictorial 
 mud, without life or pluck. — ^0. G. Ebjlandek. 
 
 J 95. Sir Joshua Reynolds has truly said : " The great use of studying our predecessors is 
 to open the mind, to shorten our labor, and to give us the result of the selection made by 
 those great'minds of what is grand or beautiful in nature ; her rich stores are all spread out 
 before us ; but it is an art, and no easy art, to know how or what to choose, and how to ob- 
 tain and secure the object of our choice. Thus the highest beauty of form must be taken 
 from nature, but it is an art of long deduction and great experience to know how to find it. 
 We must not content ourselves with merely admiring and relishing ; we must enter into the 
 principles on which the work is wrought ; they do not swim on the surfaces, and consequently 
 are not open to superficial observers." 
 
TREATMENT OP THE SUBJECT. 73 
 
 others he should be able to tell why and how such beauties happen to 
 exist. This taxes his knowledge, his taste, and his inventive' genius, and 
 is capital exercise. The true photographer is not content, either, with the 
 quiet acknowledgment of the superiority of the works of others over 
 his own. He finds out by thought and experiment how the perspective 
 is secured, how the composition is arranged, how the light is disposed, 
 and all the purposes of the artist in making the pictures. He looks and 
 studies until he has a good, distinct idea of what makes any picture 
 beautiful, and with the means at hand endeavors to imitate the goad and 
 overcome the objectionable. 
 
 97. What is learned by such hard study is not apt to leave one, but 
 will influence him in his daily work for good or bad ; therefore be taught 
 rightly. A few final hints on light and shade may be "useful. Always 
 have the management of the light uppermost in your mind. A subject 
 ever so gracefully posed is easily spoiled in lighting. Let that part of 
 the picture which is of greatest importance — the face — ^be the subject of 
 your special care. When introduced to a stranger, our attention is first 
 directed to his face ; and so it is with a picture. Light your face well, 
 then; give good exposures, and you will secure eifects that will reward you 
 for your care. At the same time do not overlook those helpfal append- 
 ages in every picture — the hands. They may spoil your composition, or 
 they may serve largely in making it. They are never to be disregarded, 
 even if they do not show in the picture, for their disposition has much to 
 do with the carriage of the body. 
 
 V97. Lavater told Goethe, that, on a certain occasion, he held the church-bag for the 
 collection of offerings from the people, when he tried to observe only the hands, and satisfied 
 himself that in every Individual the shape of the fingers and hand, and the action expressive 
 of the feeling in dropping the gift, were distinctly different and characteristic. 
 
 Thus we see how important a member is the hand ; second only to the face in its capacity 
 for expression, it should receive nothing less than secondary attention, and be kept in 
 harmony with the face, as well as with the whole action of the body, whatever may be rep- 
 resented. The hand should be studied with as much care as the face. There are twice as 
 many of them ; we see them in our daily life under all conditions, and doing all sorts of 
 things. Wherever we see one that is pleasing, make a note of it ; remember it, and the time 
 will soon come when in our daily practice we can make the hand of some sitter take the 
 same beautiful form that impressed itself upon our own mind. When we see a hand that is 
 not pleasing, let us consider why it is not so, and remember it as well as the other, so as to 
 avoid ever photographing one like it. Thus we learn ; and let us remember that every jfic- 
 ture is made up of parts, details, all of which require oarfeful attention, and there are none 
 more important than the hands of our sitters. — " YouNO Chloride." 
 
74 
 
 WILSON'S PHOTOGRAPHICS. 
 
 J 98. The wondrous potency of composition— lines and effect— is dis- 
 played in the closing illustration of this lesson. In it we have examples 
 
 Fig. 27. 
 
 of all the various fornis of composition ; all the varieties of lines ; light 
 and shade; perspective; balance; unity; Rembrandt effects; massing of 
 
 ■J98. After man has- fulfilled all of his requirements as an animal, in making himself secure 
 against his neighbor, a superior life dawns on him — that of contemplation, by which he is 
 led to interest himself in the creative and permanent causes on which his own being and that 
 of his fellows depend, in the leading and essential characters which rulo each aggregate, and 
 
TKBATMENT OF THE SUBJECT. 75 
 
 the lights; action; repose; the careful introduction of accessories; and, 
 if we could hear it, doubtless there is perfect harmony, also, through- 
 out. It is a wonderful study, and will reveal its merits to you — show 
 you new beauties afresh each time you examine it. It is full of 
 excellent lessons and suggestions, and is produced strictly upon the 
 principles just expounded. 
 
 799. This endless subject must now reluctantly be dropped here. It 
 has not been exhausted by any manner of means. In the beginning, the 
 most that was hoped for was to interest you sufficiently in it to help you 
 comprehend its importance, and to know somewhat of its nature. If 
 this has happily been accomplished, then, from being sensible of the effects 
 of art from instinct, you are already so far advanced as to be able to 
 reason out the causes of your respect and esteem for it, and it will be- 
 come a part of your nature — of your life. And if it has thus become 
 
 impress their marks on the minutest details. Two ways are open to him for this purpose. 
 The first is science, by which, analyzing these causes and these fundamental laws, he ex- 
 presses them in abstract terms and precise formula. The second is art, by which he mani- 
 fests these causes and these fundamental laws no longer through arid definitions, inaccessible 
 to the multitude, and only intelligible to a, favored few, but in a sensible way, appealing not 
 alone to reason, but also to the heart and senses of the humblest individual. Art has this 
 peculiarity, tha* it is at once noble smA popular, manifesting what is most exalted, and mani- 
 festing it not at all. — N. Taikb. 
 J99. "Ah! what do you ask about art ? I can say nothing that shall satisfy you. Ask about 
 
 love, that is my art ; in it I am to perform, in it I shall recollect myself and rejoice " 
 
 But this breaking forth to light of the mind, is it not art? This inner man asking for 
 light, to have by the finger of God loosened his tongue, untied his hearing, awakened all 
 senses to receive and to spend ; and is love here not the only master, and we its disciples in 
 every work which we form by its inspiration ? 
 
 Works of art, however, are those which alone we call art, through which we think to 
 perceive apd enjoy art. But as for the producing of God in heart and mind overpowers 
 the idea we make to ourselves of him and his laws, which in temperate life are of value, 
 even so does art overpower men's valuing of it. They who fancy to understand it will per- 
 form no more than what is ruled by understanding ; but whose senses are submitted to its 
 spirit, he has revelation. All production of art is a symbol of revelation, where the con- 
 ceiving mind is often more imparted with revelation than the producing one. Art is wit- 
 ness that in our world the language of a higher one is plainly to be perceived f and when to 
 explain it we venture not, then it will make us ready for this higher spirit's life, of which it 
 is the language. We want not to understand it, but to trust in it ; faith is the seed through 
 which this language spirit germs in us ; so as all wisdom springs from faith, as it is the seed 
 of an immortal world, as the highest wonder is true, all that lies there between must be an 
 approach to truth and but the judging mind of mankind misleads. What, in fairness, may 
 and dares make us wonder, but our own meanness ?—Bbttine Von Arnim, in " Goethe's 
 Correspondence with a Child." 
 
76 WILSON'S PHOTOGEAPHICS. 
 
 a part of you, then it will pervade your every act when prosecuting the 
 department to which you are devoted, and mould you and influence you 
 in its own sweet, seductive way, until you live it, and the results of your 
 study and labor will show its impress upon them to a degree that will 
 surprise and delight all for whom you labor. Your works will be you, 
 and you will be honored and patronized as you deserve. 
 
 /lOO. The preceding pages have been devoted more especially to the 
 treatment of the portrait subject, although some of the illustrations have 
 pointed somewhat to work out of doors, necessarily, as the same rules 
 of art come into play with all classes of subjects. Further on, the fas- 
 cinating department of landscape photography will be attended to, with 
 different illustrations and notes. 
 
 Use the instructions given with due abstinence, and they will act as a 
 healthful tonic in your work; indulged in intemperately, as an enervating 
 opiate. Stick to stern realities, and do not let them be usurped by 
 visionary ideas. Measure things for what they are worth, and not on 
 account of the day dreams they engender. K your imagination is al- 
 lowed to transcend these rules of art, some of you will be made lunatics 
 by them, some somnambulists, and very few attain the heroism of art. 
 Enthusiasm is good M'hen controlled. Only a staff" is givtn you here 
 to walk with — only the suggestion that you viust walk by principles, to 
 succeed. 
 
 As a final illustration of photography done upon art principles an ex- 
 cellent phototype by Mr. P. Gutekunst follows. Here are eleven pictures 
 of one person, in as many attitudes, showing that when art is used as a 
 helper, there is much more than one set position attainable for every 
 model presented for a portrait. As studies with the rules here so imper- 
 fectly explained, these pictures are invaluable. Please to give them 
 studious attention. 
 
 ilOO. Art is the microscope of the mind, which sharpens the wit as the other does the sight, 
 and converts every object into a little universe in itself. Art may be said to draw away the 
 veil from nature. To those who are perfectly unskilled in the practice, unimbued with 
 the principles of art, most objects present only a confused mass. — Hazlitt. 
 
 Excellence in art is to be attained only by active effort and not by passive impressions- 
 by the manly overcoming of difficulties, by the patient struggle against adverse circum- 
 stances, by the thrifty use of moderate opportunities. The great artists were not rocked or 
 dandled into eminence, but they attained to it by that course of labor and discipline which 
 no man need go to Eomeor Paris or London to enter upon. — Hilliard. 
 
^>l' 
 
 ^M&^'l 
 
 4wS 
 
 Vt' T^ ;# 
 
 
 J 
 
LESSON" B. 
 
 THE NEEDFUL APPABATUS.* 
 
 J 101. The choice of apparatus and materials with which to wo^k should 
 have the wisest attention in photography. If good results are to be se- 
 cured, then the wherewithal to produce them of the best quality must 
 be employed invariably. In no department of the arts or of the sciences 
 or manufactures is this more true than in photography; therefore 
 the good rule — ^et the best — should be carefully followed in the purchase 
 of all the articles employed in its practice. 
 
 /102. Let us therefore proceed to inform us — 1, as to what are needed; 
 and, 2, as to how to select them ; or, in other words, how to procure the 
 proper outfit for the practice of photography in and out of doors. The 
 camera comes first. This must be absolutely first-class in every respect — 
 compact, light, strong, exact in all its parts — made of carefully seasoned 
 wood and well wrought metal, carefully put together with all modern 
 improvements, with the best workmanship throughout. The cameras 
 supplied now by our American manufacturers leave nothing to be 
 desired; they are the best in the world. So there is no excuse for 
 the purchase of an imperfect or spurious one, whose movable parts 
 will not work; which allows light to creep through its joints, thus 
 spoiling every attempt to get a good result with it; or distorts all nature 
 villanously. 
 
 J 103. A modern camera comprises a dark chamber, varying in size ac- 
 cording to the dimensions of the picture to be made with it, which is 
 provided with a bellows and focussing machinery, by means of which 
 the image may be sharply defined through the lens upon the ground- 
 glass at its back, the lens being placed at the front. The ground-glass, 
 
 * The illustrations in this lesson were made from apparatus manufactured by the American 
 Optical Company (Scovill Manufacturing Company, New York, proprietors) especially for 
 this work. 
 
 (77) 
 
78 
 
 WILSON'S PHOTOGEAPHICS. 
 
 Fig. 28. 
 
 after a focus is procured, is displaced by a dark-slide, containing the sensi- 
 tive plate which is to receive the image of the object being photographed. 
 104. The Porteait Camera is usually constructed with a square bel- 
 lows, long enough to permit such distension as will enable us to make 
 
 various sizes of pictures with it. 
 It is heavier than the view cam- 
 era, provided with a longer 
 platform and a double " swing- 
 back." This last convenience 
 is for the purpose of enabling 
 one to change the position of 
 the plate when difficulties oc- 
 cur in focussing. When lenses 
 of short focus are used, for old 
 people and children, the " swing- 
 
 TL- 
 
 PORTRAIT CAMERA. 
 
 back " is a great help. It also saves much annoyance, both to the opera- 
 tor and his subject, for frequently an entire change of position or arrange- 
 ment would have to be made, or the place of the apparatus changed, 
 were it not possible to accomplish the desired end by means of the 
 "swing" or adjustable "back" of the camera. 
 
 105. The View Camera of the American apparatus- maker is his pride. 
 He has applied all his ingenuity to its construction, to make it light, 
 
 Fig. 29. 
 
 strong, convenient, accurate, and ele- 
 gant in appearance. In principle it 
 is precisely the same as that of the 
 portrait camera. In construction 
 every effort is made to secure a de- 
 crease of weight. The bellows is 
 made of " cone " shape; the frame- 
 work of the toughest and strongest 
 wood; the metal parts of the most 
 improved form, and the whole so 
 skilfully put together as to stand 
 any climate and much abuse, as well as use, before it gives way. In a 
 view camera the " double , swing-back " is absolutely essential, and the 
 plate-holders should be so constructed as to enable one to make the view 
 vertically or horizontally. 
 
 CONE-BELLOWS VIEW CAMERA. 
 
THE NEEDFUL APPARATUS. 
 
 79 
 
 Fig. 30. 
 
 '76 STEREOSCOPIC CAMEKA. 
 
 J 106. The Stereoscopic Camera may be mentioned as a form largely 
 used in America, and, although a view 
 camera, it has a few points which are dif- 
 ferent. It is made after the plan of the 
 view camera, but so as to use two lenses, 
 that a double image may be had at one ex- 
 posure upon the same plate. Modern ones 
 are provided with a movable division, so 
 that the same camera may also be employed 
 for taking a single view with one objective. 
 The best size for such work is 5 x 8 inches, and this sort of a camera is 
 the best for a beginner in oui>door work to employ, until he can aspire 
 to something larger. Anything smaller is unsatisfactory, and insufficient 
 to inspire much enthusiasm for out^door photography. The regular view 
 camera is made of all sizes from 4x5 inches to 22 x 28 inches, or even 
 larger when required. 
 
 107. How TO TELL A GOOD CAMERA. — As a usual thing, the modern 
 American camera of the best quality is assuredly " all right " at the 
 time of purchase. It may be well, however, to know how to test its 
 quality. It may " leak " light. If it does, it will fog and spoil everj- 
 sensitive plate you trust to its care. To prove its good faith with you, 
 cap the lens, remove the ground-glass, and, with focussing-cloth tightly 
 over you camera and your head, peer into it for intruding beams of 
 light. If none are seen, your camera is so far faultless. Kow you un- 
 derstand that the inside of your " ground-" or " focussing-" glass receives 
 the reduced inverted image of the object you are about to photograph, 
 and that by the adjustment of the lens you there secure it defined to the 
 highest degree. This surface is replaced by the sensitive film, when you 
 are about to expose, and the last must take the place of the first ex- 
 actly, or your picture will be " out of focus " — ^illy defined. Therefore, 
 if you have focussed carefully upon an object, and after taking a picture 
 you find that the object is not defined so accurately as you saw it upon 
 your ground-glass — as it should be — then there is a lack of coincidence 
 between the chemical and visual or actinic foci; the camera is at fault, 
 and must be so altered as to produce the proper result. 
 
 ^108. Care of the Camera. — Once possessed of a good camera, learn to 
 take excellent care of it. It is not made for abuse, neither should it be 
 
80 WILSON'S PHOTOGEAPHICS. 
 
 expected to stand combat -with the elements like a plough or a mowing- 
 machine. Remember this : Once knowing that bad results are produci- 
 ble, damage possible, do all in your power to prevent them ; exercising 
 always every care. " Dirt is matter in the wrong place," says the philos- 
 opher. Light is dirt when it intrudes at the wrong time into the camera 
 or upon the sensitized plate. Keep it out and off by covering the camera 
 when in the sun, and carrying the holders containing the sensitized plates 
 also covered. Cover up the camera, when not in use, from wind and 
 storm, dampness and sunshine. Keep it cleaned fromsplashings of sil- 
 ver and droppings of dust. Some manufacturers supply flannel coverings 
 with each elegant camera they produce. These should always be used. 
 
 J 109. The Camera-Stand is used to so place the camera in relation to 
 the object to be photographed as to secure its image in proper position 
 upon the sensitive plate. It should, for portrait work, be strong, steady, 
 solid, provided with rack-work for raising and lowering it, and with an 
 adjustable top by means of which a proper inclination of the camera can 
 be had. It should have castors on the two fore-legs, that it may be 
 readily moved about. For oul^door work a strong, slender tripod is used, 
 whose jointed legs spread out, thus enabling one to secure any desired 
 height with it, but it often acts with the comic and incomprehensible 
 treachery and perversity of the American mule. Unless extreme care 
 be taken in its management, disastrous results are of frequent occurrence. 
 Never get out of patience with it. 
 
 ^ 110. Other Articles ISTeeded. — "We have us provided now with the 
 apparatus required to make a photograph. For portraiture, various 
 other articles are needed before we can enter the studio for work. 
 Among these are a head-rest, for the proper support of the figure, chairs, 
 backgrounds, tables, and other accessories, with side- and hand-screens 
 in number varying to suit the fancy of the user and the variety of the 
 subjects which come to him. Upon all of these more will be found far- 
 ther on, when work is absolutely entered into. First, we must consider 
 the optical tools needed for our purposes. It shall be done in the next 
 lesson. 
 
LESSOIT C. 
 
 THE OBJECTIVE, OR LENS. 
 
 / 
 
 111. Perhaps the most important of all the apparatus needed by the 
 photographer in this work is the objective, or lens. It should be se- 
 lected with the greatest care, though, indeed, our opticians now produce 
 lenses of such exquisite workmanship that one runs no risk in making a 
 purchase from any of the well-known makers. The matter of selection, 
 then, lies in the form or kind of lens desired. Any sort of a gun will 
 scare a bird, and any sort of a hammer drive a niail. So will any sort of 
 a lens make a picture. But as excellence is always to be aimed at and 
 after, the photographer should choose the lens which will produce the 
 kind or class of work he desires, of the best quality. No lens will do all 
 classes of work, any more than one hammer will. It seems to be a rule 
 in optics that if one quality is secured to a high degree, there must neces- 
 sarily be a compensating loss in some other direction. For example, we 
 
 •/ill. Light is propagated in a straight line. We cannot see around a corner. If a ray 
 of direct sunlight passes through a small hole of any given shape into a darkened chamber, 
 and we hold a screen near behind the aperture, we observe a bright image of the shape 
 of the hole. If we increase the distance of the screen and the aperture, the image of the 
 hole disappears in the penumbra, and the round image of the sun takes its place ; and, if the 
 hole is small enough, you will see not only the image of the sun, but the image of all the 
 external objects will appear likewise. This is only true when it continues in a medium of 
 the same density, or it enters a medium perpendicular or normal. But, if a ray passes from 
 one medium into another of different density obliquely, its direction is changed — it ia re- 
 fracted. — Joseph Zbntmater. 
 — ■ I have long noticed the peculiar effects produced by rapid-acting lenses, and by extra 
 sensitive chemicals. In the one case, I have remarked that a certain softness, which is the 
 first and most evident peculiarity of negatives made by rapid-acting lenses with a proper 
 exposure, interferes very materially with the clear brilliancy of definition that is most desir- 
 able, and, when not too cold and hard, is the highest attainable perfecting chemical effect; 
 while with the extra-sensitive chemicals the contrary is the most usual effect; the negative 
 is prone to hardness and intensity (when not over-exposed, and then it is fogged), and lack- 
 ing in definition, a very bad quality, and not to be tolerated except under compulsion. 
 
 It will thus be clearly seen that the rapid-acting lens, when used with full aperture, 
 smothers the image with its full volume of light ; while the lightning collodion does not give 
 6 ■ ( 81 ) 
 
82 WILSON'S PHOTOGKAPHICS. 
 
 may secure depth of focus, rapidity of action, and exquisite - definition, 
 but only at tlie expense of the size of the image. For as you increase 
 the latter, you decrease the other good qualities named. 
 J 112. All lenses either scatter (diverge) or concentrate (converge) the 
 rays of light which are transmitted through them. They are, for conven- 
 ience in grinding, all made with a curved surface or surfaces, and are 
 usually of the following forms: 1, double-convex; 2, plano-convex; 3, 
 concavo-convex; 4, double-concave ; 5, plano-concave ; 6, meniscus. The 
 effect of the curves of a double-convex lens, say, would be to collect the 
 parallel rays of light which pass through it to a point or foeus, while 
 those of the double-concave lens would scatter them, and the other forms 
 more or less converge or diverge, according to their forms. In order, 
 then, to prevent the distortion or spherical aberration which would occur 
 if single lenses only were used, opticians resort to combinations of lenses 
 of various forms together, and to the use of diaphragms or stops. But a 
 few years ago the photographer had but two grades of lenses to choose 
 from — the single combination and the double combination, the former 
 for landscapes and the latter for portraits. Much more attention has 
 been given to their wants of late years by opticians, until now it becomes 
 
 a properly balanced effect, because of its extreme sensitiveness ; the diffused light admitted 
 through the lens (an always appreciable amount) fogs the shadows under a fair exposure, 
 and with a shorter time the high-lights are unduly affected, and harshness results. — E. M. 
 
 ESTABROOKB. 
 
 J 112. Many of you are aware that in nearly all human eyes there exists an aberration, also 
 called astigmatioQ. Although in its effect similar to the astigmation of lenses, just mentioned, 
 it is of a different character. JSIature Intends that the curves of the cornea and crystalline 
 Jens of the human eye should be spherical ; but the exceptions seem to be the rule. The 
 curves of the cornea and crystalline lens of the eye are, in nearly all cases, more or less 
 elliptical, egg-shaped, and consequently have in one meridian a longer focus than in the 
 other. If such an eye brings the image of a line parallel to one meridian to a focus at the 
 retina, the images of lines parallel to all the other meridians do not collect at the retina, 
 especially the one at right angles to the former, and a distorted, blurred image is the result. 
 The advancement of science has lately enabled our oculists to correct this evil by spectacles, 
 of which the glasses are parts of cylinders instead of spheres. — Joseph Zentmaybr. 
 ~~- The lenses in a portrait combination are occasionally removed from their cells for the 
 purpose of cleaning. Generally speaking, it is sufficient to unscrew the mounting and wipe 
 with chamois leather the two surfaces exposed. They can then be easily replaced ; for the 
 brass fittings are usually so made, that if by mistake the cells are screwed into the wrong 
 places, the hood, or projecting shade, will not go on. The mistake is, therefore, easily de- 
 tected and corrected. When, however, the lenses themselves are taken out of their cells 
 
 and, except for curiosity, this is rarely required, for the inner surfaces do not become dirty, 
 
THE OBJECTIVE, OK LENS. 83 
 
 somewliat a difficult matter to select. Knowing the class of results you 
 want to secure, however, it is a comparatively easy matter to find what 
 will satisfy you. 
 
 113. A brief description of the various forms, and an idea of what 
 they are intended to accomplish, will therefore be all that it is necessary 
 to give here, so often have the lines and principles and forms of the 
 various grades and kinds of lenses been given in more pretentious works. 
 We have then : First, the " single " combination, for use in making pic- 
 tures of objects without motion, when the time of exposure is not neces- 
 sarily a consideration. They are usually of longer focus than the double 
 lenses, and therefore a much larger picture may be obtained with one of 
 a given diameter than with one of the double form. Second, the " double " 
 combination, which works with greater rapidity than the single, for the 
 following excellent reasons : Behind the first pair of lenses a second pair 
 is placed, which so intercepts the rays refracted from them as to cause 
 them to focus about one-half the distance of the other, thus making 
 them work with far greater rapidity. Third, we have the " triplet " com- 
 bination, wherein a third pair of lenses is added, or such a combina- 
 tion as to diminish the distortion or obliquity of the rays which pass from 
 the front pair, thus making it the most desirable form for landscape work. 
 
 114. These three combinations give us, then, for the two great classes 
 
 like the outer ones — the case is very different, for they may be variously transposed, and 
 thus rendered incapable of producing good pictures. There is a risk, also, of breaking one 
 of the glasses of the back lens in screwing it in, unless it be put together in the proper 
 manner. Many good lenses have been condemned as hopelessly bad through being thus 
 transposed. — Jabkz HtjGHBS. 
 
 113. In a portrait combination there are four lenses in all, the so-called front and back 
 lenses being really each formed of a pair. The front ones are always cemented together, 
 and may thus be easily taken for one lens ; the back pair are distinct, and are usually sepa- 
 rated from each other by a narrow ring. To place them in their proper positions, proceed 
 as follows : Take the front lens, the pair cemented together, and observe that one surface is 
 considerably curved, and the other almost flat ; place the lens in its cell, so that when screwed 
 into the tube the curved side will be to the sitter. The two glasses forming the back lens 
 are very unlike each other ; one is thick at the centre and thin at the edge, the other thick 
 at the edge and thin at the centre ; put the thin-edged one first into the cell, resting on the 
 least curved side ; next put in the ring, and then the thick-edged glass, concave side towards 
 the other lens ; fix them in their places with the part provided, and screw the cell in its place. 
 — Jabez Hughes. 
 
 114. With many portrait lenses there is an arrangement whereby the front lens may be 
 used as a landscape lens ; to use it for this purpose proceed as follows : Unscrew the back 
 lens and lay it aside altogether, as it is only required in the double combination ; then remove 
 
84 WILSON'S PHOTOGKAPH.ICS. 
 
 of work, portraiture and landscape, the necessary rapidity and correofe- 
 ness of figure or freedom from distortion, with all the roundness, depth, 
 detail, and sharpness of outline which we see in nature. As to dimen- 
 sion, that is governed by the length of focus of the lens used. Given 
 a lens of a certain diameter, the size of the picture will increase with 
 the focal length of the lens, and vice versa. It is also increased or dimin- 
 ished according to the convergence or divergence of the lens. 
 \. 115. There are four other points which must be borne in mind when 
 operating with lenses. 1. If you place the lens too near the object to be 
 photographed, or fail to use the proper diaphragm, so as to stop the action 
 of the lateral rays, you lose definition, obtain an insipid image, and, for 
 your pains, have a distorted picture. 2. If you use too large a diaphragm, 
 or increase the length of focus in the camera, you lose a quality in your 
 pictures known as depth of focus. 3. The illumination of your subject, 
 the size of the diaphragm used, and the focal length of your lens, all 
 govern the time of exposure. 4. Some lenses are so carelessly " cor- 
 rected for color " as to cause the rays to overlap one another, and thus 
 destroy the quality of definition. 
 
 the trass hood before the front lens ; next unscrew the front lens and rescrew it in the place 
 where the back lens was. In doing this the^ai surface will be presented to the object. The 
 lens tube may be now put on the camera, and the central stops will be in their proper place 
 for use. As the focus of the front lens, when thus used singly, is much longer than when 
 used in combination with the back lens, the picture it will yield is proportionally larger, 
 ,but a much smaller stop must be employed. — Jabkz Htjghes. 
 
 115. Now, knowing all the defects of lenses, and the different modes of correcting the 
 same, let us look back to that primitive instrument — the pinhole camera. The pinhole 
 camera is free from all the errors, as spherical and chromatic aberrations, distortion, curvature 
 of field, astigmation, and the only objection against it is the extremely small aperture. 
 "What an amount of speculation and hard labor of the most eminent men was necessary to 
 furnish a substitute, equally free from errors, having a larger aperture, giving a brighter 
 image. And, even now, none of the aberrations can be completely corrected, and the best 
 that can be done, and that for a limited aperture only, is to reduce the errors so far as to 
 diminish their extension, so as to make them appear to our eye at a smaller angle than the 
 eye is able to distinguish. In lenses used as objectives, where the image is magnified by 
 high eye-pieces, even that is extremely difficult, as the errors are also magnified. Our most 
 celebrated opticians, such as Praunhofer, never attempted to give a telescope objective a 
 larger aperture than the focus divided by ten, except in very small pocket telescopes. And 
 his larger telescope, the one he made for the Dorpat Observatory, and which he considered 
 his best objective, has a focus of one hundred and sixty inches, while the aperture is only 
 one hundred and eight lines, that is one-seventeenth of the focal length, and its highest 
 magnification is seven hundred and twenty times. The larger telescopes of DoUond are 
 nearly twice as long. The same artist, Fraunhofer, took precaution to warn young opticians 
 
J. 
 
 THE OBJECTIYE, OR LENS. 85 
 
 116. If a lens be found faulty in this respect, it should be returned to 
 the seller. Indeed, in these days there is no reason why a photographer 
 should "manage" with a lens in the least bit defective. Many pages 
 could be filled describing the various methods of testing lenses; their 
 varied constructions and grades, and abilities. That seems so much to 
 be the business of the dealer in them as to be uncalled for here, and it is 
 omitted. K you want a new lens, you are supposed to know what you 
 want it to do, to begin with. The dealer in them should be able to sup- 
 ply you with what you want, and, as a usual thing, is willing to exchange 
 if your desires are not met with in the first trial. There are so many 
 makers now that one has the riglit to expect every opportunity to select 
 the best, or at least what he believes will answer his purpose best. The 
 excellence of your results and the enjoyment you will have in producing 
 them, depends so much upon your decision in this matter, that you ought 
 to use every meafis to secure a good instrument- 
 
 and amateurs not to listen to the very natural desire to try their skill on large apertures, and 
 giving higher magnification, if they do not wish to he disappointed, and lose time and money. 
 But the school of experience seems to be the only one to cure this desire. — Joseph Zbntmatbb. 
 JThere are two causes, from either of which such a defect might arise. It may be that the 
 sensitive plate does not occupy precisely the same plane as the ground-glass. This you can 
 only certainly ascertain by very careful measurement, although it is possible that a slight 
 examination will suggest the existence of such » defect. Examine the dark-slide, and see 
 if the corners on which the plate rests are all firm and in their proper position. If these are 
 all right, proceed to measure. Take out the lens, and measure carefully from the aperture 
 in the front to the ground-glass ; then remove the ground-glass, place the dark-slide con- 
 taining a plain plate of glass in its place, and measure again ; if the distance coincides, all is 
 right there ; if not, make the proper correction. If the fault is not in the position of the plate 
 and ground-glass, it may be in the lens. In some lenses the visual and chemical foci are not 
 coincident — that is, the rays which come to a focus, and give a sharp image to the eye on one 
 plane, come to a chemical focfwi another plane. In this case, there is no remedy but obtaining k^ 
 a better lens, or, else, always making an allowance for the defect in focussing. — Unknown. 
 
 116. I give below a resume of tests made in selecting lenses for a friend. I started with no 
 fixed ideal which the performance of the instruments was to equal. I did not expect a mammoth 
 to " cut " in the same proportion as a f or 2B. Knowing something of the rapidly increasing 
 ratio of the imperfections that have to be equalized and corrected (the spherical aberration 
 increases as the square of the aperture, the chromatic as the cube), I resolved to be contented 
 with the best that leading opticians offered : and here I will say that, as far as I can, I shall 
 refrain from indicating who the makers were. The lenses will be designated as A and B. A 
 was made to order, subject to approval. B was one of a number of the same size ready made. 
 
 Test first, of price. A cost over fifty per cent, more than B. 
 
 Test second, for whiteness of glass. The lenses were unscrewed, and placed side by side 
 on white paper. B proved to be of much clearer, whiter glass than A, which latter had a 
 rather yellowish-green tint. 
 
86 WILSON'S PH0T06E.APHI0S. 
 
 hll. The use of the diaphragm now demands your conBideration. 
 Some idea of its mission and value has already heen given. The dia- 
 phragm is a piece of metal, wood, or card-board, with an aperture in the 
 centre, varying in size, and is placed before or behind the lens both to 
 stop or prevent the action of certain rays upon the lens, and to neutralize 
 their effect upon the negative, even though they do pass through. The 
 diaphragm is, therefore, also called a " stop." 
 
 Test third, for comparative ratio of aperture to focal length, B was by measure a fraction 
 of an inch larger in diameter than A. The focal lengths were obtained by measuring the 
 distances of the image from the object (dots twelve inches apart on white card); the image 
 was in each, case made the same size as the object when focussed with the full opening. Had 
 a small diaphragm been used there might have been an error, as in this case there is some 
 latitude in focussing. The distances when quartered gave pretty nearly the equivalent solar 
 foci. B had a somewhat longer focus than A, but in each case there was about the same 
 ratio between the squares of the apertures and the focal lengths respectively, from which it 
 might be expected that they would work in nearly equal time, while the superior whiteness 
 of B would be an element in its favor. 
 
 Test fourth, for actual time of working. This test was very carefully conducted, repeated 
 several times on different days, always about noon, with a clear sky. A still subject in half- 
 tone was used, and care taken to distinguish between an increase of intensity, which might 
 make the detail in the shadows more apparent, and actual amount of detail obtained with 
 similar and dissimilar exposures. These trials showed that A with forty seconds equalled B 
 with forty-five seconds, a difference of but little practical value. 
 
 Test fifth, for definition, made by copying an engraved head of four inches length to the 
 same size with full apertures. Very decided in favor of B. 
 
 Test sixth, for flatness of field, made by copying a newspaper to actual size, and by push- 
 ing in the ground-glass till the centre letters were barely sharp. Much in favor of B, which 
 had a field of sharp letters almost double the linear extent of A, though it was surprising 
 how small the extent of apparently flat, well-defined field was in either case. "When, after- 
 wards, the lenses were tried on standing figures the comparison had the same result. 
 
 Test seventh, for marginal definition, conducted with the newspaper as above, by focussing 
 as sharply as possible the letters that came on the outside of the field. A was nowhere with 
 B in this test. 
 
 Test eighth, for depth. This I have always, by theory, held to be a quality decided, other 
 things being equal, by the ratio of the aperture to the focal length j and these trials only con- 
 vinced me of the correctness of that opinion, as there was no perceptible difference. A 
 finely engraved card was focussed, and then slid to and from the lens on a line, as nearly as 
 practicable coincident with the optical axis of the lens. 
 
 The above seemed to include all the important qualities of portrait lenses valuable in prac- 
 tice ; and, to recapitulate, gave tests first, fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh, in favor of B; 
 tests third and eighth, neutral ; test fourth, in favor of A so slightly that I formed In my 
 mind the conviction that while the " best is the cheapest," the highest priced is not always 
 so. — W. J. Bakbb; 
 
 117. The accompanying diagram will give the student a good idea of the action of the 
 diaphragm on a portrait lens. The dark lines, a a, represent the depth and direction of the 
 
THE OBJECTIVE, OR LENS. 
 
 Jr 
 
 87 
 
 /118. By the use of diaphragms the definition of the picture is in- 
 creased, and they increase the focal depth. This, however, is at the 
 expense of light, and a consequent increase in the time of exposure. 
 This latter drawback compels us, in portraiture especially, to give up 
 some of the qualities we should like to secure, lest a too long exposure 
 try the patience of our sitter too severely, or, if he keep still, cause him 
 to assume an unpl easing expression. Thus it will be seen that in pho- 
 tography, as in life, each advantage gained is at the cost of some other, 
 in a measure, and we must be content with a fair medium or measure 
 of what is desirable. 
 
 focus of the lens at full aperture. The curvature of the field is purposely exaggferated in 
 order better to show the subsequent result. We will take the pj^ 31 
 
 full aperture ti be four and a half inches; it will be observed 
 that in this condition the field is curved — which gives bad defi- 
 nition at the margins — that the depth of focus is limited, which 
 gives enlargement and distortion to all projections, and that the 
 size of the picture is small. Now on placing a diaphragm of three inches aperture between 
 the combinations, the result is represented by the dotted lines B B ; it is then seen that the 
 field is extended and depth of focus increased both before and behind the central point d, 
 the consequence of which is that a larger field of clear definition is shown in the picture, - 
 and features which before were fuzzy and enlarged in their form, assume their natural aspect. 
 If, to include more objects in the composition, or from other motives, still greater sharp- 
 ness is desirable, a diaphragm of one and a half inch opening is substituted ; immediately the 
 qualities recapitulated above are still more improved, as seen in the lines c c. Light has 
 now, however, been much diminished by the small remaining area of aperture, and very 
 considerable addition becomes necessary to the time of exposure. — Lakb Price. 
 vll8. A represents a section of a four and one-half inch double or portrait lens at its 
 full aperture, with the manner in which the pencils of light from the subject pass through 
 the combinations, and are refracted by them to the film, a is the front, B the hack lens, CC 
 the central rays, E B the lateral ones, E c E the line P,^ 32 
 
 of focus at the film. . 
 
 The attention of the reader must be directed to the 
 width of the pencils refracted from the lens at this 
 aperture, and the obliquity of the direction of the 
 lateral ones, ee, in order that he may observe the 
 changes which the application of a diaphragm will 
 at once effect in them. B is the same lens with 
 the pencils of light drawn to scale; a diaphragm, 
 DB, of two inches aperture, A, is now added between 
 the combinations, the effect of which has been to 
 diminish the obliquity and give more parallelism to 
 
 the rays proceeding to the film, and more depth in the focus. On contrasting the width 
 of the pencils ee with those in the last diagram, they will he found to be diminished in 
 their diameter by one-half, with more accuracy of delineation,. but at the loss- of rapidity of 
 
88 WILSON'S PHOTOGEAPHICS. 
 
 ■' 119. The proper use of ptops can only be attained by careful observar- 
 tion and practice. It becomes, like exposure itself, almost a matter of 
 inspiration— of feeling, at least, — and no rule can be laid down. A few 
 bints, though, may not be out of place. Each lens is usually supplied 
 with five or six stops of varying sizes. The light, the subject, and the 
 quality of picture you desire are the three governing items in the em- 
 ployment of stops. Study all these, and experiment with all the stops. 
 Usually focus with the open lens or the largest stop, and then shift for 
 the one most desirable to use for the exposure. 
 
 ■J 120. Photography is as susceptible to the variations of time of ex- 
 posure, the quality and conditions of light, the atmosphere, the chem- 
 icals, and the diaphragm employed, as sound is to the instrument, and 
 the other means employed for its production. Hence, there is always 
 much to learn, and great room for careful experiment and practice in all 
 departments. In no other is it more so than in the application of the 
 stop to the lens. Therefore, employ spare time in studying this depart- 
 ment of your work, that when you are required to produce the best 
 results, you may go about it most intelligently. 
 
 execution by the abstraction of a corresponding illuminating area. The length of the focal 
 distance from the hack lens to the film is increased, but with a well-corrected lens of long 
 focus, the field, under such conditions of aperture, is very nearly flat. — Lake Prick. 
 vllQ. Enough has been placed before the reader to show him that arba of apbrttjke is the 
 very helm which regulates and guides the photographic action ; if too much diminished, 
 not only the time of exposure becomes irksome, and the expression of the sitter's countenance 
 suffers, but a harsh and unnatural edgincss characterizes the picture. If, on the other hand, 
 it is allowed to be too great, the oblique pencils, which it should have corrected, interfere with 
 the perfection of the image, and distorted forms and misty outlines are seen. — Lake Price. 
 
 120. It is often necessary to know the focal length of a lens or combination of lenses, es- 
 pecially in photography ; but if no plano-convex lens of known focal length is at hand, for 
 the purpose of comparing the size of the image, the following way may be adopted : first, 
 focus the lens for a very distant object, on a screen, and mark the position of the screen. Do 
 not move the lens, but place a bright object, about twice the focus of the lens, in front of it, 
 as near as you can suppose ; now move the screen about the same distance from the lens as 
 the object was placed, and focus thereupon. If you find the object and the image not of ex- 
 actly the same size, move object and screen accordingly, and focus sharp, until the object and 
 image are precisely the same size ; mark the position of the screen again, and the distance 
 of the first and second mark is the focal length of the lens, or the equivalent focus of a com- 
 bination of lenses.— Joseph Zbntmayer. 
 
 In conclusion, a few words yet about treating your lenses. Always keep them from 
 light and dust when not in use j never drop them on the floor, and when dusty or soiled 
 clean them carefully with a piece of old linen or old silk handkerchief. Prom sad experience 
 I almost feel inclined to add to this : Never loan them out. — E. Benecke. 
 
LESSOS" D. 
 
 THE DARK-ROOM. 
 
 121. The dark-room for the manipulations of the plate should be 
 convenient to the glass studio, so located that it can be thoroughly 
 ventilated at top and floor, and kept of even temperature all the year 
 around. It should be as large as your space will admit, say not less than 
 twelve by fifteen feet. It should be provided with a developing sink, 
 another for fixing, and a third, under a tap, for washing the plates 
 thoroughly. Just enough shelving to accommodate the needfal articles 
 of use in the dark-room, and no more. 
 
 121. The dark-room should be, of course, in the immediate vicinity of the skylight. It 
 should be wholly lined, floor, sides, and ceiling, with wood, and painted in oil of a light 
 yellowish color, which allows of its being wiped off, as occasion may require, with a damp 
 cloth. If the room happens to be papered, and the ceiling white-washed, the paper, 
 if in good order, should be painted as above described ; the ceiling must be scraped off and 
 also painted. No projecting ledges must be permitted as deposits for dust. This room 
 should contain absolutely nothing except what appertains immediately thereto, such as 
 bath-holders, a shelf to stand the plate-holders, a small shelf handy to the sinks for the de- 
 velopers and strengthening solutions, and a small shelf to contain the plates and collodion 
 vials. Everything else in the shape of bottles, chemicals, boxes, etc., must be banished. 
 This room need not be larger than eight by ten feet square. 
 
 A sash about two feet square, glazed with yellow (orange-yellow) glass should be let in, 
 immediately opposite the tank, at such an elevation that the operator, in developing, need 
 not stoop or bend over too much. This room is never to be swept out, but a mop is pro- 
 vided, with which the room must be< mopped out every morning before commencing work. 
 The sash above alluded to must be provided with shutters or covers, that more or less light 
 may be shut out as desired. I need scarcely add that every particle of white light must be 
 carefully excluded. When such a window is impracticable, you may use either gas or a 
 lamp, inclosed in a lantern-frame glazed with orange glass. Do not commit the too 
 common error of having this room too dark. It should be sufficiently light for all operations 
 without the least fumbling. The shelf containing the plate-holders should be covered with 
 thick bibulous paper, for absorbing all drippings of silver, and for resting the edge of the 
 plate a moment or so after its immediate extraction from the bath. Above all, do not 
 neglect the great precaution of thorough ventilation. If possible, a trap-door should be let 
 into the ceiling, or else the door should face the window, when a draught of air can at any 
 time be admitted. — Elbert Anderson. 
 
 (89) 
 
90 
 
 WILSON'S PHOTOGRAPHICS. 
 
 122. A cupboard for chemicals is also a good arrangement. The most 
 rigid cleanliness should always be practised here, and "house-cleaning" 
 of frequent occurrence. All white light should be excluded, and only 
 that which is yellow, ruby, or orange admitted. A great convenience, not 
 only, but a great necessity in the dark-room, is plenty of clear, pure 
 water, and a proper arrangement of the tanks, with a means of saving 
 such waste as is of value, and of getting rid of the rest without injury 
 to the health. Dust in every shape and form should be most enthusi- 
 astically opposed in the dark-room. It should not be allowed to enter 
 the door ; it should not be brought in, or created by allowing the drip 
 from your solutions to crystallize on the floor. "Walk the floor gently ; 
 wipe it up vigorously with damp cloths daily. 
 
 122. The Tanks. — The arrangement of the tanks for developing and washing may be 
 something after the following plan : 
 
 Immediately in front of the yellow-gla?ed sash, A ii (which should be constructed so as to 
 raise and lower like an ordinary window), are placed two trays, c D, about two feet long by 
 eighteen inches wide, and throe inches deep. The water is admitted from a reservoir by a 
 pipe containing two cocks, b f, which are so constructed as to give a smooth crystal bar of 
 water without spattering. The plate is to be developed over the tank D, and well washed, 
 
 both on the back as well as the front. The sil- 
 ver, which is perfectly precipitated by the iron 
 I the developer, and also the excess of nitrate 
 1 eing washed off, flows from the tray d through 
 tlie waste-pipe H into the tank o. Observe that 
 the pipe H should be led to the side of the 
 t ink Q, the water thus flowing against this side 
 prevented from stirring up the settled silver 
 
 Fig. 33. 
 
 a the bottom of the tank G. The negative, 
 rtor being removed from the hypo, tray (which 
 hould be in a convenient neighborhood), is 
 trained a few minutes, and then thoroughly 
 washed over the tray c, the water flowing 
 through the pipe j into the general waste-pipe 
 L. Into the tank a is inserted a stop-cock, K, 
 four inches from the bottom of the tank ; this 
 cock 19 connected with the waste-pipe k by means of an india-rubber hose, which may be 
 removed and replaced at pleasure. No farther treatment is required. The precipitated sil- 
 ver settles quietly down during the night ; the water, being quite clear above, may be drawn 
 off every morning. 
 
 Finally, this room should be provided with a gas-stove, upon which is placed a tin of water 
 during the winter, for maintaining a healthy and breathable atmosphere j a thermometer 
 should be hung conveniently, and an even temperature kept up between sixty and seventy 
 degrees Fahrenheit. — Elbkrt Anderson. 
 
THE DAEK-EOOM. 
 
 91 
 
 123. As in any other work, so in the dark-room, the photographer 
 should look well after his light supply. If the light is alloM'ed to come 
 into the dark-room from the side, it should be from a window sufficiently 
 low and sufficiently forward to enable one to receive a good light under- 
 neath the plate when held for development. The drawing below supplies 
 an admirable model, though supplied Avith rather more than properly 
 belongs to the work of the dark-room. 
 
 124. Requisites foe t^ Dark-room. — The dark-room is, or should 
 be, the operator's pride. Hither he sends forth the wondrous mysteries 
 which are to win him fortune and fame, and all depends upon his man- 
 ners and manipulations therein. It should be supplied with every need- 
 ful article, of the best quality, Without stint, and kept everlastingly clean. 
 
 123. The dark-room should he arranged with the greatest care ; in it the sensitive plates 
 are prepared, and the various delicate proc- p^^. g^ 
 
 esses which have to be guarded from day- 
 light are performed. We have said that 
 every ray of white light must he carefully 
 excluded. It should be conveniently ar- 
 ranged, so that the operator has ready at 
 hand all the things he requires while ma- 
 nipulating, which he has to do as quickly as 
 possible. A narrow table is fixed to the 
 wall for supporting the sensitizing baths, 
 which have to be placed in a somewhat in- 
 clined position. There should be a row of 
 shelves for holding the bottles of collodion 
 and other chemicals. It is well to have a 
 sink near the table, with a tap above it 
 for washing the proofs ; this tap may be 
 advantageously fitted with a piece of india- 
 rubber tubing, having a rose at the end, 
 so that the water may be quickly and 
 easily applied over a large surface. — G. 
 
 TiSSANDIEK. 
 
 For real comfort and convenience, I like 
 one grand, large tank for the dark-room 
 first, in which I place all the smaller tanks, 
 as described by Mr. Elbert Anderson in his 
 excellent work. The real advantage of 
 such a large tank is this : It saves the floor 
 from the splashings of the solutions and the 
 consequent damage done to the plates bj' the raising of crystals in the air by the feet, 
 which are sure to cause pin-holes. — G. W. Wallace. 
 
 
 
 ■ 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 lllHjln] 
 
 i"%ii,j 
 
 
 
 ,1 
 
 
 H^p 
 
 lifllfl 
 
 J^l 
 
 
 
 |k 
 
 
 i|KnU(tK 
 
 
 .1! 
 
 
 
 K 
 
 
 ^^P^^l 
 
 ■ 
 
 
 
 n^^S^nHHlil I 
 
 M 
 
 
 hrS'UBSi 
 
 M 
 
 
 m 
 
 ^^ 
 
 
 W 
 
92 
 
 WILSON'S PHOTOGKAPHICS. 
 
 Fig. 35. 
 
 Besides the required chemicals, we need a glass bath-holder for our sen- 
 sitizing solution; a silver dipper for lowering the coUodionized glass 
 plate into the bath ; pouring-bottles for collodion; developing-trays and 
 bottles; draining-racks ; graduated measures; funnels; a spirit-lamp; 
 tanks ; dishes ; a goodly supply of water, and a multitude of minor use- 
 ful articles, whose names and use will be explained at the proper time. 
 
 125. The ventilation of the dark-room is a matter which must be rig- 
 idly-attended to. At the floor, openings a few inches high should be cut, 
 the light kept out by inward strips, for the poisonous fumes usually work 
 
 downward. A plan devised by Mr. 
 Nelson K. Cherrill is shown by Pig. 
 35. It consists of a long box of any 
 length required, vrith an opening(A b) 
 all along the lower side of the front, 
 and a similar one (o p) all along 
 the upper side at the back. The 
 two inward partitions (d d) are made, 
 one extending from the bottom to 
 within six inches from the top, the 
 other from the top to vdthin six 
 inches of the bottom. The box is 
 about eighteen inches square. The 
 opening in front (a b) should be the same with the space left above and 
 below D D, and also the same as the opening o p. The other spaces 
 should be about the same, say six inches. There is a door atF; the 
 passage of air is shown by the arrows. No light can enter, s s is 
 intended for a zinc shade, fitted outside, to protect from the weather. 
 Blacken the whole inside. One should be at the floor and one at the 
 top of the dark-room, to suit all seasons. The scale of the drawing is 
 one inch to a foot. 
 
LESSOlSr E. 
 
 PREPARATION OF THE GLASS. 
 
 126. Too much care cannot be given to the selection of glass for pho- 
 tographic use. It should be flat, clean, and free from scratches, bubbles, 
 and rust. Fortunately, it is not difficult to find such in the market; so 
 that about the only room there is for care, is in seeing that the plates are 
 perfectly clean before they are coated with collodion or immersed in the 
 bath. There are various ways of securing this — on^being by the exer- 
 cise of manual labor, and the other by the employment of a preliminary 
 coating of albumen. 
 
 127. The use of the albumen substratum is now the most general. It 
 
 126. For cleaning glass and bottles, the best I have ever found is, viz. : 
 
 Saturated Solution of Bichromate of Potash, .... 2 ounces. 
 
 Hydrochloric Acid, 1 ounce. 
 
 Water, 5 ounces. 
 
 Let the glass or bottles remain in this twenty-four hours, or until clean ; wash well, and I 
 guarantee you will have clean glass ; even old varnished negatives, or anything, it will clean 
 them. — W. B. Cbitchfield. 
 
 The task of bringing glass plates to a condition of perfect cleanness is a well-recognized 
 nuisance in photography, and anything which alleviates it will doubtless be received with 
 satisfaction. None of the methods now in use seem to give satisfactory results without much 
 trouble. It is otherwise with that which I am about to describe, and I think I may say that 
 no one who tries it will ever employ any other. A convenient and large porcelain tray is 
 to be appropriated to this purpose. In it is placed the following solution : 
 
 ^ Sulphuric Acid, 1 ounce. 
 
 ® Bichromate of Potash, 1 « 
 
 Water, 1 pint, = / i ^* 
 
 preparing a sufficient quantity to cover as many glasses as are to be cleaned. Glasses left in this 
 solution over night (except in very obstinate cases, which may require a little longer treat- 
 ment) will generally be found to require only rinsing off, or at most a gentle rubbing, to be 
 perfectly clean. Grease-spots, obstinate stains, remains of old collodion, and all the other 
 troubles, lose their hold, and the task of cleaning loses almost all its trouble. — M. Cakey Lea. 
 127. To bring the albumen into a suitable condition, and preserve it ready for use, is the 
 problem to be solved. This is accomplished in the simplest manner possible ; Take a wide- 
 mouth bottle of the capacity, say, of sixteen fluid ounces (provided with a well-fitting cork), 
 
 (93) 
 
94 WILSON'S PHOTOGRAPHICS. 
 
 is the easiest and the surest. It is less liable to cause failure, provided 
 fresh eggs be used and the directions given are followed. Previous to 
 any other treatment, the plates should be roughened on the edges and 
 corners by means of a file or by emery-paper, or by drawing the edges 
 of the plates together. This saves the fingers from injury. Now im- 
 merse the plates in a pan of strong concentrated-lye solution, or commer- 
 cial nitric acid, a couple of hours — ^the former if the plates are- old, the 
 latter if new — then well wash them and, while wet, fiow the most concave 
 surface with the albumen solution. 
 
 \i 128. We are ready now to proceed with the manipulations, and, as we 
 make the trial, let us ever remember that care, coolness, cleanliness, thought- 
 fulness, and a sincere desire to secure good results are of absolute importance. 
 If one does not want to do a thing well, one is apt to have sorry success. 
 Photography needs all the desire and heart you can put into it, for chem- 
 icals are obstreperous, the elements are fickle, and constant changes need 
 that 3'ou should always be on the alert. 
 
 and into it pour the whites of a dozen fresh eggs. Take a lump of camphor gum of the size 
 of a hickory-nut, and inclose it in.a bag of thin muslin, formed by puckering the muslin to- 
 gether over the camphor. Tie the bag around the neck with twine, which pass through a 
 hole (previously perforated through the centre of the cork) from the under side ; draw up 
 closely, and fasten in place by a knot above. If the albumen is to be used for the substra- 
 tum of negatives, I add one or two drachms of strong ammonia. Cork the bottle, and let 
 stand about a week, when the albumen will be ready to be used from as required. Dilute as 
 usual. In this way a year's supply may be put up when eggs are plenty and prime. If 
 the albumen is to be used in a preservative or organlfier for dry plates, the ammonia must 
 be omitted. — "W. H. Sherman. 
 
 In the Photographic Times, September, 1875, is a receipt as follows : 
 
 Albumen, 1 ounce. 
 
 Water, 8 ounces. 
 
 Ammonia, ........... 1^ " 
 
 Iodide of Potassium, ......... 30 grains. 
 
 Bromide of Potassium, , . . . 15 " 
 
 Shake well, then fill up stock-bottle with water, eight ounces. This is worth gold. I for- 
 get the author's name. — E. T. "Whitney. 
 
 4 128. For negatives, the artist needs for good work glass of ordinary strength and thick- 
 ness, and free from waves and blisters. Perfection of clearness is only to be obtained in the 
 finest plate-glass, but as it costs four or five times as much as good sheet-glass, it is but sel- 
 dom used by our photographers. "We know one who used it, who afterwards substituted 
 successfully a very superior article of clear and light-colored glass, called the " Berkshire 
 Crystal Sheet," made from the beautiful white sand of the Berkshire Hills in Massachusetts. 
 American glass-makers have, of late years, greatly improved their quality in regard to 
 color, clearness, good annealing, and consequent strength and toughness. — Thomas Gaffield. 
 
LESSON F. 
 
 CHEMICALS AND SOLUTIONS- 
 
 129. The Collodion. — Collodion is a mixture of alcoliol, ether, py 
 roxylin or gun-cotton, and sundry iodides and bromides, which are 
 sometimes called " salts." When of proper consistency it is of the thick- 
 ness of cream, and of a rich straw color. Spread upon the photographic 
 plate, it serves to retain the sensitizing agent while 'subjected to the light, 
 and to unite with it in forming the film from which the photographic 
 image is developed. It is made as follows : 
 
 Ether, . . ... . .10 ounces. 
 
 Alcohol, ... ... . 10 " 
 
 Iodide of Ammonium, ....... 50 grains. 
 
 Bromide of Potassium . . 20 " 
 
 130. In hot weather cadmium-bromide may be used in place of potas- 
 
 ■^129. The following modification is good ; 
 
 Ether, . . ... 6 ounces. 
 
 Some Brains, 
 
 Aloohol, 6 " 
 
 Some more Brains, 
 
 Cotton, '!2 grains. 
 
 gome Iodide, and a little more Brains, 
 Some Bromides, and a large quantity of Brains. 
 After the aboye is all dissolved and settled, add enough brains to make a good negative. — 
 Hugh O'Nbil. 
 
 Having made a number of trials with a view of determining what is the best strength for 
 
 salting the collodion, and what the best for the bath, I have arrived at the conclusion that an 
 
 increase in the sensitiveness is obtained when the collodion contains thirteen grains of iodides 
 
 and bromides, and the bath is reduced to twenty-eight grains per ounce. — Elbekt Anderson. 
 
 130. Collodion for hot weather. — 
 
 Ether, 1" ounces. 
 
 Alcohol, . . . . . . • ■ • ■ . 12 _ - " 
 
 Bromide of Cadmium, 1 grain per oz. 
 
 Bromide of Ammonium, ........ 1 
 
 Iodide of Cadmium, . . ...... li * 
 
 Iodide of Ammonium, 3 ' 
 
 Add to the ether and alcohol, and shake until all is dissolved, filter, and add your cotton. 
 A reasonable amount of age helps this collodion.— Htjgh O'Nkil. 
 
 (95) 
 
96 WILSON'S PHOTOGEAPHICS. 
 
 slum. It improves the keeping qualities of the collodion, but it cannot 
 be used so soon after making it. A potassium collodion may be used a 
 few hours after it is mixed. After weighing out the ingredients, we put 
 the alcohol in a bottle, and add the iodide; after the latter is dissolved 
 add the ether. The potassium must be dissolved in water, as little as 
 possible being used, and then added to the other. A precipitate is at 
 once formed, the bromide entering the collodion and the metal base fall- 
 ing to the bottom. This we filter out by means of filtering-paper, and 
 then add sixty grain^s of gun-cotton to the whole. After settling a few 
 hours, and filtration through a tuft of clean absorbent cotton, the col- 
 lodion is ready for use in coating the sensitized plates. 
 
 131. If the novice is not aware of the fact, one day he will be, that 
 photographers are an exceedingly dogmatic species. They will stickle 
 
 131. For collodion, the best chemicals should be used. Ether and alcohol equal parts. 
 For thirty-five ounces, use 
 
 Iodide of Cadmium, . 135 grains. 
 
 Iodide of Potassium, . . . . . 70 " 
 
 Bromide of Cadmium, .... .... 70 " 
 
 Iodide of Ammonium, 12 " 
 
 This I use in winter ; for summer it is not limpid enough, cadmium making it tend to 
 fogginess. I have another collodion. 
 
 Alcohol, 12 ounces. 
 
 Ether, 8 " 
 
 Iodide of Ammonium, 5 grs. per oz. 
 
 Iodide of Cadmium, . . . 1 gr. " 
 
 Bromide of Cadmium, ...... . . 2 grs. " 
 
 Take two parts of the first and one part of the last. This makes a combination that will 
 work in the hottest of the season. The last collodion is fine for copies. Developer is twenty 
 grains ; solution of iron in water, acetic acid, little. — S. M. Eobinson. 
 
 The following suggestions for modifying the tendencies of collodion will be found use- 
 ful, both in relation to commercial samples and to making others. Por subjects having 
 violent contrasts, and for instantaneous collodion, a large proportion of bromide may be used 
 to secure softness and harmony. The tendency of bromides is to decrease contrasts and se- 
 cure detail. When the contrasts are great, and there Is a tendency to hardness and over- 
 intensity, the amount of bromide may be Increased ; when want of Intensity is present, 
 the proportion of bromide may be decreased. A quarter of a grain, or less, per ounce, 
 will secure cleanness. 
 
 Collodion yielding a thick, creamy film generally gives a vigorous, fine image. The ad- 
 dition of an extra grain or two of pyroxylin will often confer this quality on collodion 
 giving a thin image, as the use of a good body of pyroxylin tends to give a dense image. 
 When the film repels the bath, and gives a thin image, a drop or two of distilled water to 
 the ounce will often be an improvement, if the defect proceeds from the use of anhydrous 
 
CHEMICALS AND SOLUTIONS. 97 
 
 for a favorite salt, or an extra grain thereof in their collodion, with as 
 much tenacity as Shylock did for his "pound of flesh." Some use the 
 hromides only. Some others modify their formula "to secure more in- 
 tensity," or " a better color," or what not. Oftentimes there is reason 
 for these modifications, and it is as well to understand them, though, 
 since light and atmospheric changes rule the matter largely, experience 
 is the best teacher. 
 
 132. A "slow" collodion, and one giving flat effects without brilliancy 
 and roundness, is not difficult to produce, hence effort is made to secure 
 such a mixture of the ingredients as will enable the operator to work 
 quickly and at the same time get the proper printing density. Perhaps as 
 many varieties of formulae could be given as would fill this book — one 
 or two will suffice, though a great many Imow that they are by no means 
 the best. They have been found sufficient, however, to avoid the ne- 
 cessity of procuring a " lightning " rod. 
 
 133. Among others, the veteran photographer, Mr. J. W. Black, of 
 Boston, advocates a collodion entirely without bromides. This neces- 
 sitates the working of an extremely acid bath, and, as that is difficult, 
 
 solvents. Over-iodized collodion generally produces streaks at one end of the plate, and, if 
 the iodide he present in great excess, it leaves the film in flakes whilst in the nitrate bath. — 
 Gr. Wharton Simpsoit. 
 iiSZ I will give one of the quickest and finest collodions in existence : 
 
 Alcohol and Ether, . . . . . . equal parts. 
 
 Iodide of Potassium, ..... 5 grains. 
 
 Bromide of Potassium, ........ 2i " 
 
 Pyroxylin (to ounce of plain collodion), . . . . 5 to 6 grains. 
 
 Now it is the way this is made that makes the difference. "Weigh out the excitant and the 
 cotton, and put them into the ether and alcohol, and shake the bottle until the whole hath is 
 dissolved ; let it stand until it settles ; then filter, and you have it. — James 0. Merrill. 
 
 133. "With regard to the preference of the hromo-iodized collodion over the purely iodized 
 collodion , it is found practically in the greater sensibility of the former for the reflected light 
 of the shadows. Having stated the difference of quality of the direct and reflected light, the 
 following will be easily understood. A plate of purely iodized collodion is sensitive only for 
 violet and violet-blue rays, purely bromized collodion is sensitive for violet, violet-blue, and 
 blue rays, hromo-lodized collodion is sensitive for violet, violet-blue, blue, and even green rays. 
 The decomposition of the white light into the pure colors which nature shows in the rainbow 
 can be effected by a prism of glass. By photographing the rainbow-like colored spectrum, 
 which is obtained by the prism, these remarkable facts have been stated. 
 
 It is obvious, therefore, that the bromo-iodized collodion is the most susceptible to impree.. 
 sion by the light of the shadowy parts, in which the violet and violet-blue rays are much 
 7 
 
98 WILSON'S PHOTOGRAPHICS. 
 
 and since the most lovely effects can be and are secured with the bromo- 
 iodized collodion, there is no good reason for going into trouble for the 
 sake of avoiding its use. Yet, as long as the collodion and the nitrate 
 bath are used, doctors will greatly disagree on this point. 
 
 134. " Double-iodized " collodion is preferred by some manipulators. 
 It was introduced commercially some years ago by Mr. Alfred L. Hance, 
 of Philadelphia, and his brand is yet very popular in some sections. 
 Its preparation is about as follows : 
 
 Iodide of Potassium, . . . . . 166 grains. 
 
 Iodide of Cadmium, . .... 183 " 
 
 Dissolve in as little water as possible, and evaporate by heat to dryness, 
 stirring constantly. To each ounce of plain collodion add 
 
 Double Salts, . . G grains. 
 
 Bromide of Cadmium, .... 2J " 
 
 In making up the plain collodion the quantity of alcohol per gallon 
 should be about eight ounces short, and when the iodizing solution is 
 
 weakened, as it is sensitive also for blue and green rays, while with purely iodized collodion 
 this sensibility is wanting. — Shultz Skllack. 
 
 Intense Collodion. — As a means of obtaining density in negatives, it has been recom- 
 mended to introduce into the collodion organic matter in the shape of sugar. Dissolve one 
 grain of white sugar in a few drops of water, add this solution to the alcohol in making the 
 collodion ; one grain of sugar being sufficient for four ounces of collodion, and causing it to 
 yield negatives of the utmost intensity. The introduction of too much sugar renders the 
 film rotten, and in some cases it will be found desirable to reduce the amount here given. 
 
 J. L. GlHON. 
 
 134. It was in the year 1857, I believe, that I first made use of the Iodides of potassium 
 and cadmium in combination. I have, in connection with this double iodide, used the 
 double bromides of cadmium and ammonium in the manner to be described, to prepare the 
 double iodide and bromide, which is simple and easy to do, and leaves you with but two 
 salts to weigh out when c mpounding your collodion. The potassium-cadmium iodide is 
 prepared thus ; 
 
 Potassium-Iodide, 332 parts. 
 
 Cadmiam-Iodide, 366 " 
 
 Dissolve together in as small a quantity of distilled water as will dissolve them ; evaporate 
 by a gentle heat to dryness ; stir at the last with a glass rod to granulate the salts. When 
 quite dry, bottle for use. Ammonium-cadmium bromide in the following proportions : 
 
 Ammonium-Bromide, 196 parts. 
 
 Cadmium-Bromide, 272 " 
 
 Dissolve and prepare same as the iodide. I now prepare two collodions, one iodized, the 
 other bromized, enabling one to mix the collodions. to suit any subject desired. 
 
 Iodized collodion, made with equal parts ether and alcohol, cotton to suit, and with six 
 grains of iodide to the ounce. 
 
CHEMICALS AND SOLUTIONS. 99 
 
 added as below, the quantity will be correct. For one pound of col- 
 lodion take 
 
 Double Iodide, 96 grains. 
 
 Bromide of Cadmium, 40 " 
 
 Alcohol, 1 ounce. 
 
 Carefal watching is needed in evaporating the salts to complete crys- 
 tallization. 
 
 135. Both the quality and the quantity of cotton used in the mixture 
 of collodion are to be regarded. Our American manufactures run very 
 uniform in quality as a usual thing, and once you find out a sample that 
 
 Bromized collodion, made with five parts ether to three parts alcohol, cotton to suit, and 
 ten grains bromide to the ounce. 
 
 Mixed in the following proportion, this collodion will be found to meet the wants of both 
 landscape and portrait photography. 
 
 Two parts iodized to one part bromized; suitable for dry plates, and used wet, for interiore 
 and dimly lighted subjects. 
 
 Three parts iodized to one part bromized ; suited for children and quick exposures. 
 
 Pour parts iodized to one part bromized ; a generally useful collodion. 
 
 Pive parts iodized to one part bromized ; suited for copying and subjects presenting little 
 contrast. 
 
 The nitrate bath should be sufficiently acid with nitric acid to immediately change blue 
 litmus-paper, for the collodion has the property of neutralizing the bath. It is better not to 
 use this collodion till it is one to three' months old. Tet it can be brought into working con- 
 dition in as many days by the addition of tincture of iodine ; but I would recommend those 
 who desire to try it, to bottle it up and lay it away in a cool place for a few months, for, like 
 good wine, it improves with age. — John Cakbtjtt. 
 
 There is no difficulty in preparing the double salts. To produce double aramoniun-cad- 
 mium iodide, dissolve one hundred and forty-five parts iodide ammonium and one hundred 
 and eighty-three parts iodide cadmium in water, and evaporate till it crystallizes. It 
 crystallizes quite easily in slightly distorted cubes, and can be freed from the yellow mother 
 lye by pressing. If you wish very clean salt, you will have to crystallize it again. 
 
 The single ammonium-cadmium bromide is prepared by dissolving three hundred and 
 forty-four parts of crystallized bromide-cadmium and ninety-eight parts bromide ammonium 
 in water, evaporating till crystallization ; the latter may also be repeated. — Dr. H. W. 
 
 VOGEL. 
 
 135. When we increase the quantity of cotton in a collodion, the sensitiveness of the 
 preparation increases also. Dr. Zettnow recommends to use as much cotton as possible, but 
 practically we soon reach a limit, as thick collodion does not flow readily ; to this must be 
 added, that if the proportion of collodion is increased beyond two and a quarter per cent., a 
 decrease of sensitiveness takes place instead of an increase. The high-lights, of course, 
 become more intense with a thick collodion, but the shadows are paler and the picture 
 looks hard. The boundary-line to which we may go in increasing the thickness of collodion 
 depends on the nature of the pyroxylin employed ; of a short-fibred cotton a larger quantity 
 may be taken than of a long-fibred variety. Dr. Zettnow maintains that the beauty of a 
 
100 WILSON'S PHOTOGKAPHICS. 
 
 pleases your fancy, you will have but little trouble to secure it again. 
 The action of the acids used in the manufacture of gun-cotton, with 
 some samples of the raw cotton, produce such foreign bodies as gum, 
 glucose, etc., but as a rule, they cause no injury. As to the quantity of 
 gun-cotton to be used in collodion, there can be no real rule, but the for- 
 mulae given are enough to guide one. 
 
 136. The Sensitizer. — To render the collodion film sensitive to the 
 light, it must be immersed in a solution formed of nitrate of silver crys- 
 tals, and water. The water must be pure, and the silver free from con- 
 tamination, used in the following proportions : 
 
 Water • -36 ounces. 
 
 Nitrate of Silver, 3 " 
 
 After the crystals are dissolved, add to the solution two grains of iodide 
 of potassium to each ounce of silver used, first dissolving it in a few 
 drops of water, or, what is better, make a solution of iodide of silver, 
 and add it. The iodide mixes with the solution and the potassium is 
 precipitated. Eiltration follows, when a few drops of chemically pure 
 nitric acid are added, drop by drop until blue litmus-paper is slowly 
 turned red by it. This solution is usually called the " bath," or sensitiz- 
 ing solution. Placed in the glass bath-holder, it is ready for use. 
 
 picture increases with the amount of pyroxylin contained in the collodion; this, however, 
 is a matter of taste: a thick collodion gives stronger contrasts, i. e., the shadows are thinner 
 and the lights more intense, hut a limpid collodion will yield a softer picture, provided the 
 time of exposure has been suflSciently long. When the contrasts of light and shade are 
 very strong, as in a sunlit landscape, I prefer taking a thin collodion, and by lengthening the 
 time of exposure I obtain a softer picture. — Dr. H. W. Vogel. 
 
 136. Most collodions require a faint acidity of the bath, but the utmost care is requisite to 
 avoid adding too much. Putting a glass rod into a nitric-acid bottle, and stirring the bath 
 with it, as some do, is a most clumsy way, and introduces a great deal too much — several drops 
 at once. The best way is as follows : put four ounces of distilled water into a stoppered vial, 
 and drop into it sixty-four drops of pure nitric acid. Each half drachm will then contain 
 exactly one drop of the acid. When you mix your bath with the crystallized nitrate, you may 
 find your collodion work well with it at once. But where fused nitrate is used, acidification 
 is apt to be required. To a twerity-five ounce bath, add a half drachm of the dilute acid, that 
 is, one drop of nitric acid, and try a plate. If it fogs, add another drop and try again. In 
 the last trial which I made, a twenty-ounce bath of fused nitrate required just two and a half 
 drops of nitric acid to make it work right. — M. Caret Lea. 
 
 To Make Iodide of Silver.- — Take twenty grains iodide of potassium, and dissolve in 
 one ounce of water ; twenty-five grains of nitrate of silver, and dissolve in one ounce of water. 
 A precipitate is formed, which is iodide of silver ; wash the precipitate six or eight times and 
 it is ready for use. — Hugh O'Neil. 
 
CHEMICALS AND SOLUTIONS. 101 
 
 Jl.S7. -No witch of the Vesuvian Caves ever exercised more diligent 
 care in the preparation of her potent philtres than should the photogra- 
 pher in the preparation of his bath solution. And moreover he should 
 be generous about it. It is not enough to merely have solution sufficient 
 to cover the plate. It should not be expected to bring you good results 
 without a plentiful supply of that which renders it capable. Therefore, 
 a good large solution is recommended, and is indeed necessary, if the 
 best results and least trouble are an object. And more than this : Do 
 . not trust to a single solution, for, like your health, it is liable to break 
 1 down at any and the most unexpected moment. Therefore, always have a 
 second solution in good condition ready for any emergency. This will re- 
 lieve you from anxiety, and it will save you from many a mortifying failure. 
 Indeed, there is a great deal of " human nature " in a bath solution. 
 
 137. To make a good bath buy a pound of silver. Do not let this startle you, for in a 
 year's time you no doubt buy much more; buy a pound of silver, I say, at once; that is 
 your first step. Oh, that I could impress it upon your mind not to be niggardly in the 
 matter of silver I Dissolve the aforesaid pound of silver in one hundred and sixty ounces 
 of the purest water you can find. Sun the same -well, and filter enough into your bath-dish 
 for use; into this drop enough nitric acid, C. P., to redden litmus-paper a trifle. Coat a 
 glass plate well with collodion, and leave in your bath (which latter is perhaps a, sixteen- 
 ounce one) over night; then go ahead with your sitters until you begin to perceive that the 
 bath fails to give the good results it did in the beginning, from the introduction of ether 
 and alcohol and iodides ; then filter it back into the large bottle of solution, which I take 
 for granted has been sunning, and that you are clean about your fingers in the dark-room 
 generally. Out of your stock solution you may now fill up your bath-dish again, acidifying 
 and iodizing should it need it. 
 
 Tour first bath should dip at least fifty plates before needing renewing, and your next the 
 same. When in turn this bath fails, proceed as you did with the first one, viz. ; filter it back 
 into the stock solution, and fill up your bath-dish again out of the same, this time and ever 
 afterwards omitting the acidifying and iodizing. Proceed in this manner, using the solution 
 over and over again, until from continued use the whole bath becomes charged with alcohol 
 and iodides. 
 
 At this stage you will find that you have on hand a little over one hundred ounces of 
 solution, testing about forty grains per ounce. I would then advise the following treatment : 
 Heat the solution until at least one-half the water la evaporated, then while still hot drop 
 carefully, a little at a time, ammonia into it until red litmus-paper is turned blue by the 
 same ; immediately set in the sun, when all the impure matter will be precipitated, and may 
 on the solutions cooling be filtered out. You have then a solution on hand about eighty 
 grains strong, slightly alkaline. To this may be added pure water to bring it up to its 
 former strength. You may now add to the same four ounces of silver and forty ounces of 
 pure water, and you have a bath which, after acidifying, will work for the next six months 
 better than an entirely new one. — C. A. ZiMMBRMAif. 
 
102 WILSON'S PHOTOGEAPHICS. 
 
 Jl38. The desire for greater rapidity lias been one largely in the minds 
 of photographers always. This is all right enough, eo long as good quali- 
 ties and necessary ones in the negative are not sacrificed. Sometimes 
 they are. During the past two or three years, many " quick " processes 
 have been published, but in result they are never superior, and often in- 
 ferior, to what is obtained by the usual photographer by ordinary means. 
 It is an acceptable thing to the sitter to be released a few seconds sooner 
 from the grip of the head-tongs, but it is no honor to the artist if his 
 results are spoiled. 
 
 138. To ninety-six ounces of pure water add eight ounces of nitrate of silver, forty grains 
 of iodide of potassium, and two hundred and eighty-eight grains of nitrate of baryta. Shake 
 until the whole is dissolved. Now filter thoroughly through two thicknesses of fllter-paper ; 
 filter several times until the milkiness has all disappeared, then make suflBciently acid with 
 C. P. nitric acid. Any good developer will do, but I make mine in this way : 
 
 Pure Crystals of Iron, 10 ounces. 
 
 Granulated White Sugar, . . 6 " 
 
 Water, 32 " 
 
 Acetic Acid, 3 " 
 
 Of this stock solution take three ounces, and add twelve ounces of water and one ounce of 
 acetic acid. 
 
 I have been able to make pictures of infants in one second, that were full-timed negatives, 
 *nd averaged sittings in from three to six seconds. — E. P. Libbt. 
 Bapid negative bath : 
 
 Nitrate of Silver, 35 grains. 
 
 Boric Acid, ........... 4 " 
 
 Water, ............ 1 ounce. 
 
 Iodide of Potassium, quantum tujfficit. 
 
 A few drops of nitric acid, sufficient to render the bath slightly acid. Developer: 
 
 Sulphate of Iron, 29 grains. 
 
 Acetic Acid, 20 drops. 
 
 Acetate of Lead (Sugar of Lead), 3 grains. 
 
 ■Water, 1 ounce. 
 
 Put a filter in a clean funnel, and fill it a quarter full with boric acid, filter the developer 
 always through it ; the solution will take up the necessary quantity of boric acid ; the filter 
 and boric acid will last a very long time. — Alexander Henderson. 
 Por extra rapid work try the following : 
 
 Nitrate of Silver, 8 ounces. 
 
 Iodide of Sodium, 40 grains. 
 
 Nitrate of Baryta, . 288 " 
 
 Distilled Water, gg ounces. 
 
 Conrad Peterson. 
 I do not believe in this "lightning" business. I can produce as "quick " results as any 
 of you with my ordinary solutions. — Old Arqentum. 
 
CHEMICALS AND SOLUTIONS. 103 
 
 139. ( The Developer. — The collodion may flow never so smoothly, and 
 the nitnate solution prove ever so sensitive, yet they are powerless to pro- 
 duce results, unless a third solution known as the developer be employed. 
 It startlfes the latent image from its slumbers within the film, as the 
 sunshine startles the morning and develops it into " the perfect day." 
 The development of a photographic plate is probably the most beautiful 
 operation 3,n chemistry or physics. Once the developer strikes the ex- 
 posed film,Wmies of molecules are started into action, and move in solid 
 phalanxes ak well as in tiny squads, with one intent, to build up the 
 grand result. \. To make the developer, have a stock-bottle containing 
 
 "Water, 64 ounces. 
 
 Protosulphate of Iron, 4 " 
 
 From this separate fourteen ounces, and add thereto two ounces of 
 dcetic acid. Shake well. 
 
 I wish here to confine myself to showing how a rapid negative bath may he made that 
 will keep in working order for an indefinite period, with only the usual strengthening and 
 occasional boiling to get rid of the ether and alcohol. Formula for bath ; 
 
 Nitrate of Silver, 2^ ounces. 
 
 Common Water, 30 " 
 
 Nitrate of Barytes, 90 grains. 
 
 Iodide of Potassium, 20 " 
 
 Nitric Acid, . Enough to show slight acidity. 
 
 filter, and the bath is ready for use. 
 
 The filtering-paper containing the undissolved iodide of silver must not be thrown away, 
 but used every time the bath is filtered. To obtain the full effects of this bath, it is necessary 
 to have an excess of iodide of silver. "When the bath requires strengthening, add three 
 grains of barytes to each ounce of solution in addition to' the nitrate of silver, otherwise it 
 would be difficult to estimate the strength of silver in the bath. By the argentometer this 
 bath will register about thirty-five degrees. Any collodion will do ; it must not be too horny. 
 — "W. E. Debenham. 
 
 139. Developmes^t. — Photographers who aim at good work, and at ease in getting through 
 it, are recommended to use a saturated solution of iron for their developer. It saves a great 
 deal of time in making up solutions, and a great deal of trouble in weighing, shaking, etc., 
 and the strength of the developer can be altered at pleasure to suit the particular subject in 
 hand. To use it, take 
 
 Saturated Solution of Iron, li ounce. 
 
 Glacial Acetic Acid, 6 drachms. 
 
 Water, 18 ounces. 
 
 This gives a fifteen-grain developer. To make a twenty-grain developer, take 
 
 Saturated Solution of Iron, 2 ounces. 
 
 Glacial Acetic Acid, 6 drachms. 
 
 Water, 18 ounces. 
 
 "W. T. WiLKINSOK, 
 
104 WILSON'S PHOTOGEAPHICS. 
 
 140. It will be s/en that there is diversity of opinion here also. The 
 real fact is development, like exposure, is a matter of inspiration or of 
 feeling. It is the/department of manipulation above all others which re- 
 quires the most fcareful watching, the most attentive thinking, and the 
 clearest-headed handling. It is the file by means of which all the rough- 
 ness of previou^ manipulations may be smoothed down and modified 
 tolerably, if thl head and hand help it. The simile is a mechanical 
 one, but propeil development is an art, or mayhap, a science. 
 
 I like the following : 
 
 Protosulphate of Iron, 2 drachms. 
 
 Common Alum, . . . 4 *' 
 
 Acetic Acid, 2 " 
 
 Gum Camphor, broken up in small pieces in a bottle of water, . 6 ounces. 
 
 If the hath be stronger or weaker than thirty grains, the alum must be increased ot de- 
 creased in the same ratio. — A. L. Henderson. 
 
 We want to produce a negative brilliant in contrast, transparent, and solid. First, let us 
 make a developer. 
 
 Iron, 2 parts. 
 
 Epsom Salts, 1 part. 
 
 Acetic Acid, 1 " 
 
 Hydrometrical test — Iron , fifteen grains. 
 
 This I consider the most perfect combination for a developer, as the astringent Epsom 
 salts reduce softly. Then there must be the proper amount of acid in the iron to insure a 
 slow and continued deposit. Of course, a continued deposit depends mainly upon the con- 
 dition of the bath, which must not be too acid. — S. P. Wells. 
 
 140. I offer a method of modifying the plain iron developer which shall produce any 
 desired effect in ordinary gallery work, both positive and negative, and which will be found, 
 for cheapness and convenience the best thing out. 
 
 The basis of stock solution of this developer is that used by a majority of photographers, viz.: 
 
 Water, 64 ounces, fluid. 
 
 Protosulphate of Iron, ....... 4 " by weight. 
 
 Acetic Acid, No. 8, 4 " fluid. 
 
 If the silver solution has been in use for a length of time, it will be necessary to add 
 from one to four ounces of alcohol to the above, which is to counteract the effect of the 
 alcohol and ether, which may have accumulated in the silver solution from the collodionized 
 plates. 
 
 The process of development by this solution should be carried on over a large glass funnel, 
 which should receive all the solution which runs off the plate and the draining of the plate 
 after development. This surplus or wash should pass through a loose filter into a receptacle 
 below, and saved to be used again in the proportions of two-thirds of old to one-third new 
 for positives, and for negatives in proportions to suit the purpose, but usually a greater 
 proportion of the new to the old. 
 
CHEMICALS AND SOLUTIONS. 105 
 
 141. For delicate effects, preference is often given to the ammonio-sul- 
 pliate of iron developer. If your subject is dressed in white draperies, 
 or is himself fair-skinned and fair-haired, this form will be found of ser- 
 vice to you. Make it as follows : 
 
 Double Sulphate of Iron and Ammonia, . . . 2J ounces. 
 
 Acetic Acid, No. 8, 5 " 
 
 Water, ... 40 " 
 
 Apply with the same care as the other. 
 
 Now by the above method any desired effect can be secured both in negatives and in posi- 
 tives, and it only requires a short experience by an observing operator to determine the proper 
 proportions. It will also be observed that this formula, or rather method of development, 
 has the great advantage of economy, reducing the expense of material for developing 
 solution one-half ordinarily, in very few instances more or less, as the work may be in 
 positives or negatives. 
 
 In the development of a negative, if it is desired to obtain a very soft effect with fine 
 definition, increase the quantity of new solution up to the exclusion of the old, as the case 
 may be; to secure intensity, the proportion of old may be increased. It will at once be seen 
 what a range of modifications is here obtained, and what great advantages may accrue from 
 so simple a device. — B. M. Estabrookb. 
 
 141. My preference has always been for the ammonio-sulphate of iron developer. Make 
 a saturated solution of ammonio-sulphate of iron in water, filter, and to every ounce of so- 
 lution add one drachm of glacial acetic acid. This is a stock-bottle, and by making six or 
 eight ounces, it will be sufficient for a large number of plates, and has the advantage of 
 keeping any length of time in good condition. Before developing a plate, it is necessary to 
 reduce the strength of the saturated solution. Take a small wide-mouthed bottle, and to every 
 five drachms of water add two drachms of the stock solution. The developer is now ready 
 for use. Time may be saved by marking with a file or diamond upon the bottle the exact 
 amount of water desired, and another mark for the iron solution. The proportion of five 
 to two is the formula that I generally prefer, but it can readily be altered to suit the subject 
 by increasing or decreasing the amount of iron. When the bath is new no difficulty will 
 be experienced in fiowing the developer evenly over the plate, but by constant use, alcohol 
 and ether being absorbed into it, the developer may require the addition of a little alcohol 
 to make the solution run perfectly even. After standing for some hours a crystallization 
 will take place in the bottom of the bottl? , but that is to be expected, and will do no harm to the 
 solution. I have had no experience with this developer for portraits. 
 
 Negatives developed by this double salt are peculiarly suited for making glass positives for 
 the magic lantern, also for solar enlargement. Indeed, for every purpose that I have used 
 it(except instantaneous photography), perfect satisfaction has been given. The concentrated 
 character of this developer makes it well suited for out-door work, where every pound of 
 additional weight is to be avoided by the operator. It is, of course, necessary to use as pure 
 water as can be readily found for diluting the strength of the developer. Water containing 
 chlorides in considerable proportions must be avoided. The time of exposure requires to be 
 rather longer when this developer is used. — J. 0. Bkowne. 
 
106 WILSON'S PHOTOGEAPHICS. 
 
 142. The Fixing Solution.— Still, the teautifal, delicate image which 
 the developer brings forth would be fugitive, and disappear when ex- 
 posed to the light, were not a fourth solution appealed to to fix it. This 
 may be a saturated solution of hyposulphite of soda in water, or of cyan- 
 ide of potassium, say one ounce to six ounces of water. The last is a 
 deadly poison, and should never be used. The "hypo." solution should 
 be changed frequently to avoid the creation of pin-holes upon the plates. 
 The old, used solution contains considerable silver, and should be saved 
 and sent to the refiner for reduction. 
 
 143. The Intensifiee. — ^We now have the four prime solutions or mix- 
 tures with which to make negatives ; but as variations in light, tempera- 
 ture, atmosphere, and subject cause the chemicals to vary in their action, 
 we must provide us with a further mixture to meet emergencies. This 
 we call the intensifier. If, from over-exposure or any other cause, there 
 is insufficient contrast between the lights and shades, the printing quality 
 
 J\i2. This matter of the principle on which the fixing capacity of the hyposulphite de- 
 pends is one that is scarcely as generally understood as it should be. Be this as it may, its 
 importance would justify any amount of repetition. Photographers are perhaps too often 
 disposed to think that, from a given quantity of hypo., they have a right to ezact a given 
 amount of work, no matter when they happen to be ready to require its performance, for- 
 getting that a fixing bath begins to change from the first moment of its use, and continues to do 
 60 until gradually its silver is finally precipitated as black sulphide of silver. — M. Oarby 
 Lea. 
 
 143. When a negative properly exposed is developed, and all the details are properly 
 rendered, we have a picture in which there is a complete scale of light and shade. That it 
 ie too feeble to print does not aflfect this principle. But, as soon as we begin to intensify 
 this, we increase the amount of the lights, leaving the darks of the picture unaltered. We 
 thus entirely alter the scale of light and shade, and often make what would have been a quiet, 
 harmonious negative, a harsh and discordant one. One of our great defects is that we treat 
 all faces and subjects alike. If the face is finely moulded and will bear being brought into 
 high relief, we can well bring !t up into strong light; but it would often be better to keep it 
 in low half-tint. This is now being done much more frequently than heretofore, and we can 
 only hope that the practice may be extended to our ordinary work. — J. C. Leake. 
 
 I do not, as a general thing, believe in intensification, but we all get caught up sometimes, 
 and are compelled to resort to it. Take a saturated solution of bichloride of mercury, add 
 to it a saturated solution of iodide of potassium until all the iodide of mercury is taken up, 
 and the solution is clear again ; use two or three drops of this in one ounce of water for in- 
 tensifying. Should a negative become too intense, it may be reduced again by a weak solu- 
 tion of cyanide. No abrupt chalky lights result from the use of this intensifier, and it will 
 bring out wondrous detail in the shadows hardly suspected before. Wash well, and do not 
 make the negative any more intense than you desire to have it after varnishing, as the var- 
 nish will reduce it but very little. — E. Benecke. 
 
CHEMICALS AND SOLUTIONS. 107 
 
 of a negative may be improved by intensification. After the first, or 
 iron development, wash the negative thoroughly all over, and then flow 
 it once or twice with the following solution : 
 
 PyTOgallic Acid, 20 grains. 
 
 Citric Acid, . .... 20 " 
 
 Water, . . . . . . . . 10 to 15 ounces. 
 
 Allow it to remain a moment or two upon the plate, and then drain it 
 back into the vessel whence it came. From your bath-holder dip a small 
 quantity of solution and double its bulk with water. Of this add a few 
 drops to the once used intensifier, and pour the whole over the plate 
 again and again, until the desired intensity is obtained. It should be 
 the aim of every photographer to obtain sufficient strength in his nega^ 
 tives without intensification, the latter being a sort of a manipulatory in- 
 temperance, and an evil habit. 
 
 144. " The best method of intensification is not to intensify at all," is a 
 maxim held to be true by many. The great trouble about it all is that 
 
 144. First solution. — 
 
 Sulphate of Copper, 400 grains. 
 
 Bromide of Ammonium, 10 " 
 
 Water, 20 ounces. 
 
 Second solution. — 
 
 Sohlippe's Salts 6 to 10 grains. 
 
 Water, 1 ounce. 
 
 John Oarbutt. 
 Take a few grains of iodide of potassium, and dissolve in a few ounces -of water; then add 
 a solution of bichloride of mercury, which will at once form a red precipitate ; add mercury 
 (a few drops at a time) until the precipitate is all taken up, or until the solution becomes 
 clear after a good shake. — Hugh O'Neil. 
 Sulphuret of potassium may be also used in solution as an intensifier. 
 A friend of mine, the other day, gave me a good point (which I think worth, noting) in 
 the use of sulphuret of potassium ; it was to use it hot ; and it is really surprising what a 
 wonderful printing-power can be obtained by this method when occasion requires it. — A. M. 
 De Silta. 
 
 Eeferring to the use of pyrogallic acid for intensifying or strengthening negatives after 
 development with iron, I stated that I had always found that the very best class of negatives 
 of a beautiful non-actinic color were obtained by slightly intensifying, either before or after 
 fixing, by means of pyrogallic acid in combination with acetic acid. The following formula, 
 which I have used for many years, may always be depended upon to produce good results : 
 
 Pyrogallic Acid, 45 grains. 
 
 Citric Acid, 10 " 
 
 Glacial Acetic Acid, 1 ounce. 
 
 Water (distilled), 20 ounces. 
 
 The above solution should be poured over the washed plate, and then returned to the de- 
 
108 WILSON'S PHOTOGRAPHICS. 
 
 the photographer soon learns to depend on this questionable power, and 
 neglects to take the care with his previous manipulations that he should. 
 Thus it tends to make the careless more careless. It should only be re- 
 sorted to as a sort of a resuscitation in case of accident, and not habitu- 
 ally. With the hope that they will not be abused, the usual methods 
 are given in the notes below. 
 
 145. As portrait photography is the branch of the art now chiefly 
 under consideration, formulae for securing much greater intensity than 
 any of these will be deferred until further on in this work. There are 
 
 veloping-cnp, and, after adding » few drops of a fifteen-grain solution of pure nitrate of 
 silver, again applied to the plate, If the latter has received the right exposure, full print- 
 ing density is very quickly obtained ; if, however, the plate has apparently been much 
 under-exposed, the pyrogallic solution of the above strength will probably act too energetically 
 on the dense parts of the negative, leaving bare glass in the shadows, and producing a hard 
 negative with too much contrast. In order to remedy this, and obtain more detail and 
 softness in the negative, it will be found an excellent plan to avoid forcing in the first 
 development, and to Increase the strength of the redeveloping solution by the addition of dry 
 pyrogallic acid ; the latter may be added to the extent of ten to fifteen grains to the ounce 
 of solution. This addition has the effect of curiously changing or modifying the effect of the 
 redeveloper, which seems to lose the power of piling up the deposit on the high-lights, and 
 acquires the faculty of bringing out the detail in the shadows to an extraordinary extent. — 
 B. J. Edwards. 
 
 Instead of pyrogallic acid solution, I have, for some time past, at the suggestion of Dr. 
 Vogel, employed the ordinary developer for the purpose of intensifying negatives. This is 
 prepared of 
 
 Sulphate of Iron, .......... 50 grammes. 
 
 Glacial Acetic Acid, ......... 30 " 
 
 Water, 1000 " 
 
 Or, instead of the above amount of sulphate, seventy grammes of the double sulphate of iron 
 and ammonia may be used. 
 
 The silver solution, used in equal proportion with the above, consists of 
 
 Nitrate of Silver, 20 grammes. 
 
 Citric Acid, . . 30 " 
 
 Water, 1000 " 
 
 K. SCHWIBR. 
 145. Very closely allied with this is the consideration of what is the best means of giving 
 that reinforcement to the negative which is sometimes necessary to furnish full printing 
 power. I have before laid down the axiom that, given collodion, bath, developer, light, and 
 operator, all of the best, the negative will possess, at the first intention, the proper printing 
 qualities, with merely addition, and often not even that, of a drop of silver'to the developer ; 
 but in practice, we all know, you cannot always have this combination of excellences, and 
 then the negative, not possessing suflBcient intensity, reinforcement becomes desirable; and 
 the object of this part of my note is to point out once again the importance of letting this 
 be the result of coloration rather than piling up by silver. A negative having its printing- 
 
CHEMICALS AND SOLUTIONS. 109 
 
 times, of course, when all these will have to he resorted to in order to 
 save a negative which cannot be replaced. But, as a rule, the exposure 
 should he so carefully timed as not to require any reinforcing of the 
 negative whatever. 
 
 146. There are times, too, when, hy under-exposure or unavoidable 
 circumstances of light, the negative is too dense and harsh, thus pro- 
 ducing not only results harsh and hard in tone and color, but producing 
 them with a slow unwillingness exasperating to the printer. It is well, 
 
 power by the flrst development, or by coloration, looks, when varnished, as smooth and bright 
 as the glass itself; whilst intensification by silver causes it to have a clouded appearance, 
 partly smooth and partly rough. 
 
 Mr. Lacy employed the solution of iodide of potassium and bichloride of mercury, poured 
 on and off alternately, and his pictures have been equalled by very few ; but, unluckily, 
 a change takes place in negatives thus intensified by the light, and the negative gradually 
 loses its details and becomes flat and poor. But a far better effect is produced, and no after . 
 change takes place, when a solution of the two in combination is employed. Prepare it thus : 
 Take a saturated solution of bichloride of mercury, and add a ten-grain solution of iodide 
 of potassium. A dense vermilion precipitate of iodide of mercury is seen, and the potas- 
 sium is to be added carefully until this precipitate is exactly redissolved. This is very im- 
 portant. If too much potassium is present, this negative has a yellow tinge given, which is 
 liable to change under solar influence ; but with the exact quantity of each a very rich print- 
 ing color is given. It may be kept in a dropping-bottle, and about ten drops in an ounce of 
 water will do a dozen half-plate negatives. A peculiarly valuable printing quality is given 
 by this means, and the increase is so gradual that special parts are readily brought to higher 
 intensity or less, as desired. — Samuel Try. 
 
 My practice, for many years past, has been to so manage my light that I had no occasion 
 to intensify the negative, for I have long held an opinion that the most perfect results could 
 only be obtained from a negative on which no deposit of silver, other than that which came 
 in the ordinary course of development, was permitted to take place. It has frequently 
 happened that, in consequence, I have created difficulties for myself which a little denser 
 deposit of silver on the negative would have entirely removed. The results, on the whole, 
 have been so much more to my taste, and the difficulties so easily removed by an intelligent 
 management of the paper in printing, that I have been well content to go on in the same 
 way. Of course, it would be quite impossible, except at the present time of year, to employ 
 a bath of one hundred grains per ounce, and get from the negatives I have indicated the 
 best proof possible; for though the deposit is comparatively thin on the negative, the 
 contrast of light and shade is greater than that formed in the generality of negatives now 
 produced. Over-exposurewouldbefataltomymethod of working. — Valentine Blanchard. 
 
 146. A secondarj' exposure of the sensitive plate to light before development, I also find, 
 will enable me to make a passable picture where the exposure in the camera has been una- 
 voidably too short. To effect this, I prefer opening the shutter of the dark-slide within 
 about three feet of an ordinary fishtail burner which I have fixed in the dark-room ; a few 
 seconds' exposure will cause a slight fogging of the negative, which, in the case of a subject 
 presenting strong contrasts, will cause the resulting prints to appear softer and more pleas- 
 
110 WILSON'S PHOTOGEAPHICS. 
 
 therefore, to have a means at hand for correcting this evil also. Yarious 
 methods of doing it are given further on, to which refer in time of need. 
 147i Vaenish. — To protect the delicate film from injury while print- 
 ing, the negative must be varnished with something like the following : 
 
 Alcohol, 28 ounces. 
 
 Gum Camphor, i ounce. 
 
 Oil of Lavender, i " 
 
 Brown Shellac Gum 2 ounces. 
 
 Gum Sandarac, 2 drachms. 
 
 These ingredients are placed, in a bottle, in a vessel of hot water over the 
 fire, until the gums are dissolved. Occasional stirring should be given, 
 and finally the whole filtered before use. Before the varnish is applied, 
 the last trace of the fixing solution must be washed from the film. 
 
 jng. Of course care and judgment must be used throughout, and the intensifying of the neg- 
 ative must be done with due discretion. As the gaslight is practically a fixed quantity, after 
 a few trials it is easy to cause just the amount of fogging necessary for removing the hard, 
 bare patches in an otherwise good negative. — Alfred Hughes. 
 
 A method of reducing the strength of negatives proposed by Mr. Letalle promises to be of 
 much value for other purposes than a mere reduction of an over-dense negative, the process 
 being one that may be termed suggestive. He operates as follows in the case of pictures 
 that have been under-exposed and over-developed so as to force out the shadows : The neg- 
 ative, after having undergone all the ordinary operations, is cleaned and washed, remarking 
 the want of harmony or too much opacity. He pours upon it quant, suff. of a solution of 
 fifteen grains of chloride of gold in one pint of water. This is poured alternately from the 
 negative into a glass, and from the glass on to the negative till the picture is properly dark- 
 ened. He then washes and pours on a corner of the negative sufficient nitric acid to cover 
 it. The whole of the silver of the negative is dissolved instantly, and the picture appears to 
 be totally gone. On washing it carefully there is left in the texture of the collodion, how- 
 ever, an image, exceedingly delicate, of reduced gold. This picture can be intensified with 
 the greatest facility by means of sulphate of iron, in the -first instance, the picture coming 
 forth with the greatest transparency, the mezzotint more intense, and the high-lights re- 
 maining transparent ; or by means of pyrogallic acid, in the second instance, the primitive 
 connection between the mezzotint and the high-lights being the same, and the advantage in 
 this case lying in the ability to check the reinforcement on this side of the first, carried on 
 too much. The golden, delicate picture which remains after the use of the nitric acid seems 
 very excellent for enlargements by the solar camera, on account of its great transparency 
 and delicacy. — J. Traill Taylor 
 
 147. Castor-Oil in Nboativb Varnish. — Varnish made after the following formula 
 will never check nor split on the negative. 
 
 Alcohol, 2 quarts. 
 
 White Lao, 12 ounces. 
 
 Gum Sandarac, 14 " 
 
 Castor-Oil, a)>out one drop to each ounce of varnish. 
 
 Unknown. 
 
CHEMICALS AND SOLUTIONS. Ill 
 
 148. All the labor and all the art thus far expended upon the negative 
 may be sacrificed by heedlessness in varnishing. The varnishing-rooms 
 should be absolutely free from dust. It is a good plan to gently sprinkle 
 the floor before beginning. Some varnishes require heat both for their ap- 
 plication and for their drying. After the plates are varnished they should 
 be placed in a rack to thoroughly harden, and the printing paper should 
 never be allowed to touch them until the varnish is free from all tacki- 
 ness. Above all, let no dust settle on the varnished surface before it is 
 hardened. Beware also of flies and insects. 
 
 148. The method I have adopted for some time past is simple, efficient, and reliable ; and 
 if not novel, is still, I telieve, not very well known. It is to flood the negative, in the 
 first place, with dilute amber varnish, and when dry, to coat it with ordinary hard spirit 
 varnish ; by this means the latter does not come into hard contact with the collodion film, 
 and the alcoholic solvent is therefore without any action upon the same. Moreover, double 
 protection is thus aflbrded to the negative, and from the fact that the intermediate varnish 
 film is of a pliant and elastic nature, there appears to me less chance of any injury resulting 
 to the negative from change of temperature, splitting of the film, etc. The amber varnish 
 does not attack the negative film, by reason of the solvent employed (chloroform) being in- 
 capable of acting upon collodion. 
 
 I may also remark, that where it may be desirable to add to the durability of a negative — 
 such, for instance, as when u large number of copies are wanted — -it will be found an ad- 
 vantage to dissolve in the ordinary spirit varnish a small quantity of shellac, which will 
 tend to give a harder and more durable coating to the negative. The brown or orange 
 shellac, not the bleached quality, should be used ; the former makes the varnish somewhat 
 darker in color, but this is of no consequence. — Wm. England. 
 
 The property which wire-gauze possesses of intercepting the passage of flame, as exempli- 
 fied in the safety-lamp, may be turned to account in the varnishing of plates. 
 
 A clear fire, every one will agree, is the best source of heat in the operation of varnishing, 
 but there are times when it is not possible nor convenient to have fire-heat, and, in that 
 case, the spirit-lamp or Bunsen burner is usually resorted to, and with the not infrequent 
 result of the vapor of the varnish catching fire, to the detriment of the coating of varnish. 
 
 Now, by forming a strong wire frame (somewhat larger than the plates to be varnished), 
 bent on one of its sides so as to form a handle, and covering this with fine wire-gauze (of 
 either copper or iron), a plate-holder is made, upon which a plate coated with varnish may 
 be warmed without the slightest danger of catching fire. The plate heated on this "quid " 
 will also be more equally heated than when held naked over the flame. 
 
 If the wire-gauze is simply stretched over the frame, and stretched to it by fine wire, 
 so as to form a flat bed for the plate, then it is evident that there must be something to 
 prevent the plate from falling off when held in the nearly vertical position in which it is 
 desirable the coating of varnish should "set." The iron frame, if formed of stout wire, 
 will give a sufficient rim to keep the plate from falling off; or the same end may be gained 
 by slightly dishing the wire-gauze, so as to make it like a flat photographic tray, or by even 
 making it of the form of the dipping-bath, with, of course, in either case, a wire handle to 
 hold it by.— J. W. Swan. 
 
LESSON G. 
 
 THE MANIPULATIONS. 
 
 Fig. 36. 
 
 Fig. 37. 
 
 i 149. CoLLODiONiziNG. — With a stock of albumenized plates before us, we 
 now proceed to make some negatives. In a collodion pourer at our right 
 
 hand is our collodion. "We seize the 
 glass plate between the thumb and 
 fingers of the left hand, at the left 
 lower corner, raising it sufficiently to 
 permit the eye to scan its whole sur- 
 face, holding it perfectly level. Keep 
 the breath from the plate and gently, 
 with the mouth of the pourer close 
 to the plate, pour out upon it a small oval puddle of collodion, sufficient 
 to cover, say, two-thirds of the glass surface. ISTow rock gently so as to 
 
 cover it wholly while flowing towards the right 
 lower corner, whence return the surplus to 
 your pourer. As soon as the surface or film 
 is dried so as to be barely tacky to the finger, 
 place the plate upon the dipper, still holding 
 it in a horizontal position, that the film may 
 be dried evenly before it enters the bath solu- 
 tion. 
 
 -1 150. Sensitizing. — The plate is now slowly 
 and gradually lowered into the sensitizing so- 
 lution, taking care not_to stop it in the least 
 until it is thoroughly covered, lest streaks occur upon it. It may be 
 
 m49. When a glass plate is coated with collodion and dipped into the nitrate bath, the 
 salts of iodine and tromine will decompose and iodide and bromide of silver (which are very 
 sensitive to light) will take their places on the film, while a combination of nitric acid with 
 a base will remain in the bath. — Dr. H. W. Voobl. 
 
 150. Observe that the plate should always be put in the plate-holder in the same direction 
 in which it is put Into the bath, and be careful at all times to keep the plate-holder in the 
 (112) 
 
THE MANIPULATIONS. 
 
 113 
 
 Fig. 38. 
 
 
 " churned " gently up and down while in the hath solution. When upon 
 examination the film appears smooth and free from greasy-looking lines, 
 it is ready for exposure, and, being placed in the dark-slide, is carried to 
 the camera, exposed, and brought back to the dark-room for develop- 
 ment. 
 
 151. Development. — Open the shutter of the dark-slide, tip it towards 
 yoii with the right hand, and seize the plate by the left upper corner with 
 the left hand, holding it horizontally. 
 Having prepared your developer before 
 leaving the dark-room, joxi now quickly 
 pour it completely over the film. There 
 should be no hesitancy about this, lest 
 one part develop more rapidly than 
 the other. Rock the plate back and 
 forth, the eye sharp upon it, to prevent 
 the solution from gathering in uneven 
 greasy patches, until it lies smoothly 
 and does its work properly. If rightly exposed, the image will begin to 
 appear in six seconds. If over-exposed, it will not be so slow about it. 
 
 same position. Before putting the plate in the holder, hold it up to the light a moment, 
 to notice the density of the film, which should be perfectly smooth, creamy, not bluish, and 
 semi-transparent. You will observe upon returning to the dark-room, after exposure, that 
 the plate has gained considerable in density during the time it remained in the holder, 
 showing conclusively that the decomposition was still going on during exposure. ^ — Elbekt 
 Andbrson. 
 
 151. The developer precipitates the silver from its solutions as a fine metallic powder, and 
 this precipitate is formed also when we pour an iron solution on a collodion plate which is 
 itill wet from an adhering silver solution. "When this solution is not present, sulphate of iron 
 will not develop a picture. Acid has more the property to maintain the development clear 
 than to retard the formation of a precipitate. Acetic acid also causes the developer to flow 
 readily over the collodion film. Like alcohol, it also facilitates the adhesion of water to the 
 collodion^ — De, H. W. Vogbi,. 
 
 iThe developed picture, viewed by transmitted light, differs in its appearance, even when 
 possessing equally favorable printing qualities. There are variations of color in the image, 
 and of real or apparent intensity of deposit, which are caused by the changes and relations 
 towards each other of the bath and collodion, as the acidity or neutrality of the one or the 
 other predominates. Likewise, independently of duration of exposure, varieties of appear- 
 ance are caused by change in the quality of the light ; often in the same locality, on the 
 same day, with the identical chemicals, negatives differing in translucence or opacity or 
 color are produced, but which may, notwithstanding their varied character,, all have nearly 
 equal properties. — Lake Prick. 
 8 
 
114 WILSON'S PHOTOGEAPHICS. 
 
 152. Fixing. — The plate is now thorougHy washed and then placed in 
 a tray containing the fixing solution. Should it be a properly exposed 
 negative, all the yellow iodide unacted upon by the light will have been 
 cleared away and the image indelibly fixed upon the portions of the film 
 which remain — a perfect negative. 
 
 153. Intensifying. — It should be the effort of the manipulator to so 
 time his negatives in the camera as not to be compelled to resort to in- 
 tensification. It is a bad habit to get into. The best results are obtained 
 without it, and the skill of the good photographer is proven by his re- 
 fraining from it. 
 
 il54. Varnishing. — By any convenient method heat the negative gently 
 and evenly, until the hand may be borne upon it without pain. Now, 
 from the varnish-bottle, pour upon the centre of the plate a pool of 
 varnish, in the same manner exactly as the collodion is- applied. Pour 
 
 ll52. Prom the developed picture we must remove the sensitive material, iodide and 
 bromide of silver, on the one hand, in order to make the plate transparent; on the other 
 band, to protect it against further changes through the influence of light. — Dr. H. W. Vogkl. 
 
 \153. iNTENSiriEE. — This term is used to denote those substances which, when applied 
 to a negative, serve to increase the actinic opacity of the deposit already formed. One class 
 of intensifiers acts by increasing the deposit of silver forming the image. To this class 
 belongs a mixture of protosulphate of iron and acid.- — Lake Pkice. 
 
 "When the negative has been assisted, in an inefficient exposure, by the addition of drops 
 of nitrate bath to the developer, the peculiar " bloom " of high actinic quality will not ap- 
 pear when examined by diffused light ; in its place darker tones and more opaque deposit of 
 a blue or black character are seen. They are less satisfactory, being deficient in the truth 
 and delicacy of gradation possessed by the former, and are apt to be very deceptive when 
 printed ; dark and vigorous-looking negatives occasionally allowing the light to permeate 
 through their texture, whereas the most translucent of these, impressed under favorable ac- 
 tinic conditions, have a great power of resisting it, although their weak-looking, light-brown 
 deposit would appear ill adapted to do so. — Lake Price. 
 
 154. The best printing qualities for a negative to possess are the following : The high-lights 
 in the picture, that is to say, the most intense portions of the deposit, should allow the flame 
 of a candle to be just seen through when held behind them ; if of too great an opacity to 
 admit of its being perceived a£ all, the resulting positives will probably be chalky and bare 
 in the lights, and deflcient in half-tones. Very small portions, representing actual white, 
 should be of absolute opacity. There should be a general deposit of silver, with considerable 
 variations of intensity over the whole surface, with the exception of the most vigorous darks, 
 and in them it should approach very nearly to the bare glass, but only in small portions ; 
 if in large masses, it would denote under-exposure. Held up to the light, their color should 
 be of a warm inky brown ; when the plate is held horizontally over a dark ground, and 
 viewed by diffused light, the appearan<;o which especially distinguishes the deposit on the 
 film in all negatives of the highest capabilities is a warm drab color, technically termed 
 
THE MANIPULATIOSrS. 115 
 
 off the residue into a separate vessel, to settle before using again. Keep 
 the plate in a horizontal position until the varnish be nearly set, and then 
 stand it upon nails driven into the wall or upon a rack to dry. See 148. 
 s)155. Retouching the ]SrEGATivE. — After the negative is varnished, it 
 must be retouched. This is done by means of lead-pencils of various 
 grades, which are so worked by hand or machinery as to improve the 
 printing qualities and the appearance of the model, too. The greatest 
 care should be exercised by the retoucher not to alter the likeness or overdo 
 the thing. The roughness of the skin, freckles, and blemishes need to be 
 obliterated, but the half-tone in the negative must also be carefully and 
 judiciously preserved, lest all the charm of the picture be gone. 
 
 156. For this work a retouching-frame or desk is needed; a few of 
 Faber's black lead-pencils ; black-lead powder ; India ink ; a few sable 
 hair-brushes, and some stumps. There are various preparations also for 
 giving a " tooth " to the varnished surface, which must be applied in order 
 to'smake it take or "bite" the pencil. A rough proof from the nega^ 
 tive should be before you to guide you. Once knowing what is required, 
 one can^, by careful practice, become expert in a short time in this delicate 
 and important operation. This done, the negative is ready for the printer. 
 
 "bloom" in negatives developed by pyrogallio solution; in those by iron it is rather more 
 silvery gray and metallic. Such negatives are sure to print well ; all the objects represented 
 by them will be rotund in appearance, because their forms are thoroughly delineated by 
 delicate half-tints, and the extremes of light and dark, with all the intermediate tones, will 
 be well expressed. Their effects will be bright and spirited, equally removed from the vapid 
 monotony of over-exposed negatives, which, deficient alilie in both whites and blacks, lose 
 the power of the scale and range of chiaro-oscuro which the two extremes should give them, 
 and, from the crude and misshapen forms of the under-exposed, which fail because wanting 
 the softening beauty and drawing given by middle tints. — Lake Price. 
 
 il55. Retouching the negative has grown somewhat unpopular from excess or lack of skill, 
 but seems to me quite legitimate work. But that is not the kind of aid of which I am 
 thinking. I have lately been examining some of the best plain photographic portraits I can 
 find, and they seem to me to be, as the artist says, "out of keeping." At first sight they 
 appear perfect, and all right, but they don't wear well. 'After a little study they grow 
 weak, and, unlike good art, they do not reveal some fresh beauty every day. The likeness is 
 there, but is thin and spectral. — Chakles Akers. 
 
 -*156. Eetouching, like any other good thing, is liable to abuse, and it is due to this abuse 
 that the opposition to it has arisen. Unfortunately, in a great majority of cases, the re- 
 touching of a negative is intrusted to unskilled hands, — persons who have no idea of the 
 drawing and modelling of a face, the artistic effect of the touch, or even the printing 
 requirements of a negative. This is all wrong. Eetouching should only be done by an 
 artist — ;I mean a- person with artistic taste and ability (for all of the so-called artists do dot 
 possess these qualities). — N. H. BtrsET. 
 
LESSOl^ H. 
 
 MANIPULATORY MISERIES. 
 
 il57. From what has been written of photographic manipulation thus 
 far, it would seem to be all clear sailing. But it is not. Troubles innu- 
 merable occur continually — daily — which baffle all our experience, and 
 which would send us far out at sea oftentimes, were there not sundry — 
 not always certain — indications to prevent too much drifting, to hail us 
 and to guide us on the journey. It should be the rule with every care- 
 ful manipulator to act as soon as the least danger-signal makes its appear- 
 ance. Make no delay in tracing whatever trouble or defect comes to its 
 very source, and annihilate it, if you can, immediately. Stop the leak, 
 disperse the fog, turn from the storm impending as soon as the " indica^ 
 tions " warn you. Thus much trouble and loss will be avoided. Care- 
 lessness, uncleanliness, lack of attention to what you know, and lack of 
 desire to do well, are the great causes of annoyance. 
 
 158. The troublous effects, or defects, will now be treated fully. One 
 of the most common, and therefore the oftenest met, is known as veil or 
 
 il57. I have travelled a great deal, and have found the trouble solely this : that the 
 photographers who do not have success In working have no rule or system to work hy ; and 
 if so, they neglect it and are careless. Now, my rule is as follows: TJse your chemicals as 
 you do yourself. In cold weather strengthen them, and keep them in a temperate state. 
 Test everything ; never ^'wess, as it iscommonly called. Be sure you are right, then go ahead, 
 and success is certain. — Cakl Von Moelke. 
 
 \/ Then, when once you are in a decently clean shape, for the love of humanity, the respect 
 you ought to have for the profession you have chosen (from whatever motives), do not let a 
 lot of old trash or dirt accumulate. If we ever expect to-be anything but poor photographers 
 (in every sense of the word), if we ever expect to bring our profession up " to the mark of 
 its high calling," if we ever expect the " dear public " to respect us, and ever speak of us in 
 any other way than as " only a photographer," we must come to that point where we can at 
 least respect ourselves. — H. E. Parr. 
 
 158. PoQGiNQ. — "When a precipitate is thrown down over the entire plate by the action 
 
 of the developer, so as to obscure, in the deepest shadows, the transparency of the glass 
 
 when looked through, that precipitate is called "fog," and the picture is said to be "fogged." 
 
 The principal causes of fog are : alkalinity. of the nitrate of silver bath, or neutrality of the 
 
 (116) 
 
MANIPULATOET MISERIES. 117 
 
 fog. It is as insidious as foul air, and both causes and hides many other 
 imperfections. It is caused in many ways. Among them the following 
 surely produce fogging : 1, want of union between the collodion and the 
 nitrate bath; 2, want of sufficient acid in the developer; 3, want of suf- 
 ficient acid in the nitrate bath (or an excess of acid will sometimes pro- 
 duce the same effect) ; 4, diflEused white light in the dark-room, camera, 
 etc., caused by not shutting the door close; having cracks and chinks in 
 the partitions ; not having the yellow glass sufficiently dense to obstruct 
 all the white light ; taking the plate out of the bath too near the gas or 
 lamp, and by developing too near the same ; by want of care in rede- 
 veloping, and light reflected from surrounding objects, thereby obstruct- 
 ing the direct rays from the sitter, which alone should pass through the 
 lens. It may also be caused by excessive over-exposure, and by under- 
 exposure, with too long a development ; also by keeping the plate too 
 long after taking it out of the bath before development. It is also very 
 frequently caused by the fumes of ammonia, turpentine, and other vola- 
 tile chemicals standing about upon the shelves of the dark-room. It is 
 easy to produce foggy negatives without the chemicals being in fault. 
 
 159. How are we to tell, then, the cause of this monstrous trouble ? 
 "We naturally look first at the chemicals. Is it in them or not ? How 
 
 same when a bromo-iodized collodion is used ; over-acidity of the bath ; diflfused light, either in 
 the camera or dark-room ; dirty plates ; and sometimes from the lens itself. An alkaline bath 
 and a very acid one seem to have very similar properties as respects " fogging." It is only 
 when the acid and alkaline elements are properly balanced, so as to suit the nature of the 
 collodion, that a good photographic negative can be obtained. No collodion can be worked 
 in an alkaline bath, but a pure simply iodized collodion when it turns to a pale sherry color, 
 can be used with the best effect in an absolutely neutral nitrate solution. Collodion, paper, 
 or any sensitive medium which contains besides the iodide an organic compound, must 
 always be sensitized in an acid bath to prevent " fogging." Should the bath " fog " upon 
 trying a plate, and the cause be in the bath, add five or ten drops of nitric acid, stir well, 
 and try another plate. — Elbert Andbbson. 
 
 159. "Fogging" is a general obliteration of the forms of the subject in an opaque film, 
 which prevents them from being clearly distinguished, in whatever direction they may be 
 viewed. This is caused in a variety of ways. It may result from the unskilful use of the 
 developer itself; if it is of too great strength in warm weather, when it should have been 
 reduced in power by the addition of distilled water and acid, "fogging " will ensue, or, at a 
 more moderate temperature, prolonging the time of development beyond a certain limit 
 will cause the same blemish. If weakening the solution in the one case, and shortening the 
 developer in the other, does not remedy the evil, the nitrate bath must be tested for alkalinity 
 with reddened litmus or turmeric paper. 
 
 When there is only a very slight tendency to "fog," it is better not to touch or alter the 
 
118 WILSON'S PHOTOGRAPHICS. 
 
 shall we determine it ? "We will make a search. Darken the room and 
 light the gas. Take a perfectly clean plate, coat it with collodion, dip it 
 as usual in the bath, and cover it over. While it is coating, take the 
 plate-holder and lay it flat down, open it and put in a negative, varnished 
 side up. Then lay a narrow strip of cardboard on each end of the neg- 
 ative, so that when the sensitized plate is put in it will be as near in con- 
 tact with the other as possible, without touching. The plate being now 
 coated, turn down the light to the lowest point, remove the plate from 
 the bath, and, after draining it carefully, lay it collodion side down upon 
 the strips of cardboard, and fasten the frame. Now turn up the light, and 
 hold the plate-holder three or four inches from the gas, draw the slide, 
 and expose it four or five seconds ; if the light should be a lamp, expose 
 longer ; shut the slide, and then turn down the light as before, and de- 
 velop. The result will be a positive by transmitted light. K it is clear 
 and brilliant, free from fog, there is no fault with the chemicals. 
 
 160. If on the other hand it proves foggy, the trouble is probably in 
 the collodion, because, if the bath is made according to directions, and 
 
 bath ; by using a more highly colored sample of collodion perfect clearness of definition will 
 be restored to the film, whilst at the same time every plate of such quality of collodion that 
 is dipped will tend gradually to displace, more and more, the small tendency to alkalinity 
 existing in the bath. — Lake Price. 
 
 160. The developer will naturally reduce the silver on any part of the plate that has been 
 "struck" by light; this will be in irregular masses, and only at such places of the plate as 
 were "light struck." The collodion is rarely, If ever, the cause of fogging, for a collodion 
 made as I have directed cannot be or become alkaline ; for if it should be colorless -when first 
 made, I have directed the use of a few drops of tincture of iodine, or the addition of one- 
 fourth of its volume of an old and red collodion made by the same formula. 
 
 If the chemicals have been prepared according to the directions given, and the bath is 
 slightly acid, as also will be the collodion, fogging cannot occur until the bath becomes dis- 
 ordered, or a change is made in the collodion or in the developer. Coat a plate carefully, 
 and immerse it in the bath slowly ; when properly coated, develop it (exactly as if it had 
 been exposed, and keep on the developer for about the same length of time); wash oflF the de- 
 veloper under the tap and " fix." If a universal layer of mistiness cover the entire plate, and 
 lie only on the film and notm it, the bath is in fault ; if, however, there should be any portion 
 of the plate perfectly clear, the chemicals are not to blame. Should the bath prove alkaline, 
 which is not to be expected, the cause of fogging in this instance is the presence of organic 
 matter, which a slight addition of nitric acid will dissolve. Should the bath prove acid, no 
 more acid should be added at this, nor at any other time, to the bath. If a newly prepared 
 bath " fog " but very slightly, let it stand quiet all night, and it will be found to work clean 
 and bright on the morrow. — Elbert Anderson. 
 
 With certain kinds of developers there will form, after a lapse of twenty, fifty, or some- 
 times of sixty or eighty seconds, on the surface of the liquid floating figures of a description 
 
MANIPtJLATOEY MISEEIES. 119 
 
 without doubt is slightly acid, the .chances are not one in a hundred that 
 the trouble is there. So, in such a case, examine the collodion ; if it is a 
 very pale color, it is neutral and perhaps alkaline. This is the very worst 
 state it could be in if clear negatives are desired. An alkaline collodion 
 coming in contact with an acid bath causes a slight effervescence, which 
 is fatal to a perfect union between the collodion and bath. To secure 
 perfect harmony between them, if one is slightly acid the other should 
 also be. Such a condition is far preferable to a neutral one. 
 
 yi61. The nitrate bath probably comes in for more censure than any of 
 the solutions used in photography. It is often innocent, and more often 
 
 exactly similar to the appearances produced by this sort of fogging upon the plate. Thej 
 consisted of groupings of particles of metallic silver, changing their shape and figure a( 
 every instant, but always having a resemblance to the figuring of marbled paper, which is 
 made, as every one knows, precisely in a similar way, by the distribution of colored films on the 
 surface of water, from which Ihey are transferred to the surface of the paper. Just in the same 
 way these curious silver figures are presently transferred to the surface of the plate, to the 
 inexpressible annoyance and discomfiture of the operator. Why films thus loosely deposited 
 should adhere with such tenacity to the collodion, it is difficult to say; perhaps they are 
 presently soldered fast by the advancing deposits of silver. 
 
 Almost all developers when examined In this way, by daylight in a capsule, showed a 
 tendency to this form of fogging if their action was continued long enough. Developers 
 which quickly become muddy show these figures simultaneously with the muddiness, but 
 they were smaller and less marked. Strong and well-balanced developers did not show 
 them nearly so soon ; but they were larger and most conspicuous, and would present iheinselves 
 when there was not the slightest turgidiiy in the liquid. It seems like a sort of reversed 
 development — a development upwards instead of downwards. 
 
 These spots first form and show themselves on the surface of the liquid, on which they 
 float freely. "When the plate is tilted in order to pour off the developer, they do not follow 
 the liquid; but the latter slips out from between, and deposits them delicately on the film. 
 It would seem, then, that if the plate were carefully watched, keeping the eye on the surface 
 of the film, as well as on the developed image, and the moment a tepdency to the formation 
 of these figures was detected, the operator, instead of pouring off the developer, was to 
 quickly set the plate (always holding it quite level) under a good stream of water issuing 
 from a rose, these figures could not get down to the film. It is not their nature to sink 
 through ; they seem to adhere to the surface, and only reach the film by being left behind by 
 the retiring wave of water, and then the whole stratum of developer is suddenly washed 
 away by a stream of water which floods the whole surface. The floating figures must be 
 carried away without an opportunity of fastening themselves to the film. — M. C-ARBY Lea. 
 ■ilei. I could write a chapter expressive of my annoyance at that disgrace to professional 
 photography — a dirty operator. In no respect does he more exhibit his obnoxious character 
 than in the way he misuses the nitrate of silver solution. He splashes the walls with it, stains 
 the floor, corrodes the metal-work, rots the dark-slide and camera, spoils curtains, chairs, 
 and carpets, saturates his clothes, dyes his hair, blackens his hands, and defaces his 
 
120 WILSON'S PHOTOGEAPHICS. 
 
 abused and misused. While it is the photographer's best friend, it is 
 hated by him as though a " poor relation," and for years the inventive 
 genii of the craft have been racking their brains for some means of abol- 
 ishing it. The bromo-gelatin process promises much, but we cannot 
 give up the nitrate bath for a time yet. Therefore, a few more thoughts 
 concerning it and its treatment properly belong here. If difficulties 
 occur with it, nine cases out of ten they result from the neglect of your- 
 self It may be you abuse it — it may be you have overworked it. To 
 discover the trouble, the first step is to test its strength by any of the 
 well-known methods. Pile's silver-test is the best. 
 
 162. Oftentimes a simple means of rectifying the bath is sufficient to 
 put it in perfect working order. If it is too acid, cyanide of potassium 
 
 countenance. The idea never seems to occur to him that the solution was not intended for 
 any one of these purposes, and that it is not only wasted, hut doubly so, by doing nothing 
 but injury by its misuse. — Alfred Hughes. 
 
 This method, which has been proposed by Professor Towler, consists, in brief, in pre- 
 cipitating the metal by means of zinc, drying and fusing it to a metallic globule, and then 
 weighing it. Take an ounce of the bath solution. Next, in a porcelain vessel place a slip 
 of zinc weighing about half an ounce, together with an ounce of water and a drachm of 
 sulphuric acid. Effervescence will at once take place, and during this the silver solution is 
 stirred in. The silver rapidly deposits as a gray powder. After a few minutes, brush off 
 the silver from the zinc with a hair pencil, add water, and wash several times, taking care 
 that no silver is allowed to escape. Now drain off the water and dry the mass ; mix it with 
 about twice its weight of borax, and fuse it by a blow-pipe flame. The quantity of silver per 
 ounce of solution will thus be seen. But Professor Towler's method, as described, is not 
 quite so good as the following method: Take a measured ounce of the bath solution and 
 immerse in it a strip of magnesium ribbon, stirring well. Silver is at once thrown down, 
 and after ten minutes a few drops of acetic acid are added to dissolve all traces of magnesium. 
 The silver deposited is free from all impurities. It is washed and fused as before. Twelve 
 grains of magnesium will precipitate one hundred and eight grains of metallic silver. This, 
 as I have said, is a more convenient, simple, and accurate way of testing the strength of a 
 silver bath than that proposed by Dr. Towler, and it can be very strongly recommended. — 
 J. Tkaill Taylok. 
 
 162. The value of permanganate of potash for rectifying disordered negative baths and 
 printing baths has received much confirmation during the past year. A correspondent of 
 one of the journals describes his experience thus : 
 
 •'Permanganate of Potash, ........ 15 grains. 
 
 Pure Water, ........... 4 ounces. 
 
 " I poured into my bath about a teaspoonful of the above. In one minute it had the appear- 
 ance of very dirty ink. I filtered it, after which it looked very yellow ; I dropped in a little 
 more of the permanganate, and set it in the sun for ten minutes. It then assumed a clear, 
 bright, pink appearance; I filtered again, and again set the solution in the sun. In fifteen 
 minutes the excess of permanganate had precipitated in the shape of a black, gummy-looking 
 
MAIiTIPULATOEY MISBKIES. 121 
 
 may be used, or nitrate of barytas is often found helpful. The per- 
 manganate of potash is also resorted to with good results. The choice 
 of these should depend upon circumstances and conditions, though their 
 action is much alike. 
 
 163. In handling a bath solution, much waste may occur if the operator 
 is not careful in pouring the solution to and from the bath-holder. A 
 siphon may be used for the larger solutions with greater assurance 
 against accident and loss. With care, no loss need necessarily occur by 
 either method. 
 
 164. One of the gentlest ;nean8 of curing a disordered bath is by giv- 
 
 raatter. I coated a plate, and placed my subject, exposed, developed, and the nicest chemical 
 effect I had ever seen was the result. I have worked that bath for six weeks with all sorts 
 of collodions, and only once has it given a foggy picture ; then a few drops of the perman- 
 ganate set it right." 
 Another correspondent, speaking of its use in printing-baths, says, " I proceed as follows : 
 " Permanganate of Potash, ........ 1 drachm. 
 
 Water, ............ 2 ounces. 
 
 Dissolve the permanganate in water, and add with caution to the old bath until you obtain 
 a milky-purplish color ; let it remain over night, after giving it a thorough shaking. You 
 will find quite a large amount of foul matter has fallen during the night. The solution can 
 now be filtered nearly clear. Now proceed as with an old negative bath, which is, to add 
 the solution of permanganate of potash as above to this filtered solution untij you obtajin a 
 stronk pink color ; let it remain for a few hours, after stirring well before filtering ; if quite 
 alkaline, add nitric acid until it turns litmus-paper pretty deeply red, then aqua ammonia 
 until it is as alkaline as you usually use your bath." — G. Wharton SiMPSOif. 
 
 163. The following is a good way to empty a bath^holder without wasting the contents. 
 Simply use a white cotton string or twine, tied about an inch or so from the edge, and if the 
 glass and twine are dry not a drop will be wasted. — J. L. Gihon. 
 
 Take any length of rubber hose, of size required for business in hand, press one end tightly 
 on a wooden roller (almost anything will do), rolling up till just enough is left to reach in the 
 solution ; be sure you keep it there, and commence unwinding, keeping the end not in the 
 solution held tight, pass it in the bottle or hold over the vessel used; in this way you will 
 find the solution to pass over and out readily. I think this is more feasible than the one 
 with glass tube intervening, but that is very good. — J. C. Goetchitjs. 
 
 Another thing which may be new, and therefore valuable to some of you, is, how to draw 
 off your bath. Get a piece of rubber tubing, say four feet long, put one end in the bath and 
 drop until all is covered except just j-our finger-hold ; pinch lightly, pull out, and insert in the 
 mouth of a bottle. When that is full, pinch together until you direct into another bottle. 
 In this way, simply by having the tubing reach the bottom of the bath, and discharging out- 
 side at an inch or two lower, you can draw off your whole bath without much trouble and 
 with no waste. — N. D. Eandall. 
 
 164. A QtriCK Way to Stjn a Bath. — Pour it out into a fiat porcelain dish and leave 
 it in the sun, sheltered from the dust. The bath should first be neutralized, say with 
 
122 WILSON'S PHOTOGEAPHICS. 
 
 ing it a sun-bath. Many disbelieve in such treatment, but it is largely 
 practised and is very good. It is slower than some other means used, 
 but it is none the less sure, and is certainly not liable to accident. 
 
 165. Another method is to "boil down" the bath. The water and 
 other fluids it contains are thus evaporated, when the silver crystals are 
 again dissolved in water as when the bath solution was originally made. 
 A still further method is to fuse the silver, the advantages of such a 
 method being considered greater than those gained by simple evapora- 
 tion to dryness. 
 
 carbonate of soda. In a few hours a black scum will 1 5 found on the surface of the bath. 
 This can readily be removed by a strip of blotting-paper, and the solution is again free to 
 the action of the sunlight. This should be repeated every few hours until the bath remaint 
 clear, or nearly so, when it is ready to be filtered and diluted by the addition of water, for, 
 as will be readily understood, during the process of sunning in a flat, open dish, there has 
 been considerable evaporation of both water, alcohol, and ether. After being diluted, filtered, 
 and acidified, it will be found to work as well as ever it did, free from streaks, stains, and 
 pinholes. The advantage of the dish over the bottle, so generally used in sunning, is, that 
 the black scum which collects on the inner surface of the bottle obstructs the rays of the 
 sun, and prevents the free access of light to the solution, and thus renders the process of 
 sunning much more lengthy and tedious than when the dish is used. — J. L. Gihok. ■ 
 
 I should be very sorry to show disrespect to any one whose opinion differs from mine ; nor 
 do I intend to. I only wish to express my own very forcibly in regard to "sunning" the 
 bath. That is all bosh I It can possibly do no harm and does some good ; but half an hour's 
 ioiling is worth a year's "sunning." — Elbert Andbkson. 
 
 165. There is a compound of silver which a photographer might unwittingly produce — 
 the fulminate of silver. If a solution of nitrate of silver containing nitric acid be warmed, 
 and alcohol added, a white precipitate forms, which is the compound in question. A pho- 
 tographer evaporating to dryness an acid bath which had long been in use, and contained 
 alcohol, might find himself and his dishes elsewhere towards the termination of the boiling 
 down of the solution. — Old Arqentum. 
 
 To fuse a bath pour the bath into one-fourth its volume of water, and filter out the pre- 
 cipitated iodide ; place the solution into an evaporating-dish on the stove, and evaporate to 
 dryness, without neutralizing with ammonia or any other agent. As the solution becomes 
 dry, a series of phenomena takes place; minute bubbles commence forming in the centre of 
 the dish and gradually spread out to the sides. They increase in size and become violent in 
 action, finally breaking open and emitting masses of vapor. "When this has all ceased, 
 scrape the mass into the centre of the dish, where it will commence to liquefy again ; or, in 
 other words, to melt. It will soon have the appearance of a heavy oil or syrup, and may be 
 considered /Mscd. "When cool, it can be dissolved in pure water, diluted to any extent, and 
 used as required. — Elbert Anderson. 
 
 Boil down in an evaporating-dish the refractory bath, and, when nearly dry, it will froth 
 up very much ; therefore take care to have the vessel large enough. After a time the froth- 
 ing will cease, and the contents of the dish will settle down into a crystalline mass. Con- 
 tinue the heat, taking care not to have too much, or the silver will again froth up, and after 
 
MANIPULATORS' MISERIES. 123 
 
 7l66. And yet the means of rectifying the bath — of saving it from 
 being utterly cast out and aside — are not yet exhausted. "While ingenuity 
 has been greatly exercised to find a substitute for it, as much thought 
 has been given to discover means of saving it and making it do its duty. 
 There are those whose time is so valuable that they can better afford to 
 make up a new bath than spend time in doctoring an old one ; all cannot. 
 The notes which follow will be found very helpful to all who are in the 
 midst of bath troubles. 
 
 a time become perfectly liquid. It is now fused, but the operation should be continued 
 until all bubbles have disappeared. The dish should now be set aside to cool. When cold, 
 a gray cake, not unlike toffee, will be formed at the bottom of the dish. The fused silver 
 should be dissolved in distilled water, but it will be quite a work of time, for the cake will 
 be found as hard as a stone, and very insoluble. When in solution, sufficient water should 
 be added to make forty grains per ounce. On trying a plate after the addition of a drop of 
 dilute nitric acid, the result will be quite equal, if not superior, to that obtained in a bath 
 of new silver. — Valentine Blanchard. 
 
 Put the solution to be clarified into a porcelain dish over a slow fire or a Bunsen burner, 
 and, when boiling, drop by intervals into it pieces of caustic potash, stirring all the time 
 with a glass rod. Continue this operation until the solution ceases to precipitate in the 
 form 'of a brown-black powder, which is an oxide of silver. In order to be certain that the 
 reaction is terminated, take a few drops of the solution and put it into a glass with a little 
 distilled water; in adding a small quantity of hydrochloric acid, if the solution remains 
 clear, the operation has been well conducted; if it turns of a milky appearance, more potash 
 is required. The oxide of silver obtained must be well washed ; it can then be dissolved in 
 nitric acid, in order to form pure nitrate of silver. — Prof. E. Steering. 
 
 166. I will now describe my process of treating an old bath, by which it may be made not 
 as '-good as new," but better; that is, as good as old. First. Filter the old bath into a 
 bottle. Add silver, if necessary, until it is forty grains strong. Second. Add an excess 
 of cyanide of potassium (about one grain to each ounce of silver nitrate is sufficient) ; shake 
 thoroughly until no more cyanide of silver will dissolve ; let settle ; decant the clear liquid,' 
 and filter the residue. Third. Add three fluid drachms of No. 8 acetic acid to each quart 
 of solution. Fourth. Neutralize with bicarbonate of soda, and set in the sun until it settles 
 clear. Filter. Fifth. Add pure nitric acid, beginning with one-half fluid drachm to the 
 gallon, until all tendency to fog is removed. When more bath, is needed, proceed in the 
 same manner with the new, after having dissolved the silver and iodized it as usual ; add 
 the new to the old, and your experience will be different from mine if you do not find it 
 better than a new bath. 
 
 The composition of this bath is peculiar. The addition of the cyanide alone causes mat 
 silver stains in abundance ; then, after adding the acetic acid, the most intense fogging will 
 follow. The next step is also remarkable ; for, in neutralizing the acetic acid, a consider- 
 able quantity of acetate of soda is introduced, the usual result of which would be precipitation 
 of acetate of silver. Instead of this, a double salt is probably formed, more soluble than 
 acetate of silver. Finally, the addition of nitric acid liberates a portion of acetic acid, and 
 forms nitrate of soda. 
 
124 WILSON'S PHOTOGEAPHICS. 
 
 167. As has been hinted already, the abiise of the bath solution is 
 oftenest the cause of its refusal to do its duty. It should not be over- 
 worked. It should be kept at a proper degree of warmth in winter and 
 of coolness in summer. All the other chemical solutions should be made 
 to work in harmony with it. These things being properly attended to, 
 there should be no unusual trouble with it. 
 
 The developer which I use with this hath, and recommend, is composed as follows : 
 Protosulphate of Iron, ......... 4- ounces. 
 
 Acetic Acid, No. 8, 10 fl. ounces. 
 
 Alcohol, i " 
 
 Water, 2 quarts. 
 
 W. H. Shkkman. 
 When the bath yields dull negatives without vigor, or fogged pictures, it is usual to render 
 the solution alkaline by the addition of carbonate of soda until a permanent precipitate is 
 formed, and then to expose it for several days in the sun, to filter it, and finally to add a few 
 drops of nitric acid to bring about a slightly acid reaction. Thus doctored, the bath usually 
 becomes good; but in winter, when there is no sun, the bath sometimes freezes externally, 
 and several days are necessary before it is again in good order. 
 
 The method I am about to indicate is not only very rapid and very effective in removing 
 the iodide of silver, but likewise puts the bath into such order that it is capable of produc- 
 ing negatives as clear and brilliant and free from fog as a new bath in good condition. 
 Two solutions are prepared as follows : 
 
 A.— Citric Acid, 10 grammes. 
 
 Distilled Water, 100 " 
 
 B.— Caustic Soda, 10 grammes. 
 
 Distilled Water 100 " 
 
 Por each litre of silver solution to be corrected, two cubic centimetres of solution A are 
 added, and the bath well agitated to disperse the citric acid through the liquid. Five cubic 
 centimetres of solution B are next put in, the liquid being again shaken, and there becomes 
 formed a brown precipitate of oxide of silver, which partially, or even entirely, disappears 
 if the bath happened to be in an acid condition prior to the addition of the citric acid. A 
 further quantity of five cubic centimetres of solution B is added, and if, after energetic 
 agitation, no more of the brown precipitate disappears, no further quantity of the solution 
 should be added. 
 
 The bath is now poured into a glass bulb without being filtered, and heated under a spirit- 
 lamp until it boils. The solution will by this means become perfectly black by the precipi- 
 tation of the organic matter, which, as we know, was the cause of the plates becoming fogged. 
 The boiling should not, however, last for more than a minute, after which the solution is 
 allowed to cool. — Wm. England. 
 
 167. Never work a bath after it has become necessary to add alcohol to the developer to 
 avoid " crawling," but dump it into an evaporating-dish and boil the alcohol out of it. Let 
 it get cold, and reduce to forty grains strength ; add enough new solution to renew the 
 original quantity, and the bath will not be over-iodized, and will work splendidly again 
 without any sunning, unless it was also overcharged with organic matter. In that case the 
 
MANIPULATORY MISEEIES. 125 
 
 168. A method of testing the strength of a bath has already been given. 
 This for the photographer who really has some conscience and a little 
 feeling for his stock-dealer. For those who have not, the following note is 
 given to show about how much can be honestly expected from a given nitrate 
 
 boiling should have been continued until only a few ounces of solution remained, and sufS- 
 cient oxide of silver ( AgO) added to talse up all the free acid, and proceed as before to reduce 
 to forty grains, and increase in quantity ; then filter and sun until perfectly clear ; filter 
 again, and add fresh nitric acid as to a new bath. — r. M. Spbncek. 
 
 The cold affects the chemicals by rendering them torpid, whereby they lose one-half of 
 their power and energy. The collodion sets slowly, and the resulting plate, instead of coming 
 out of the bath rich and creamy, will be thin and transparent, of a bluish colot ; the de- 
 veloper works slowly, depositing nearly ali the silver upon the whites, thereby giving too 
 great a density to the negative, and with difSculty bringing out the details. The result is 
 an imperfect negative, with very little chance of doing better next time. Heat increases 
 chemical action and cold decreases it. Cold renders long exposures necessary, and produces 
 hard negatives without detail. On the other hand, too high a temperature will give fiat 
 negatives without contrast, with a tendency to spontaneous reduction, otherwise called fog. 
 We must, then, to be successful, steer clear of both extremes. If possible, the temperature 
 of the rooms should never be below 55° nor above 70° Fahrenheit. This temperature 
 should be maintained as near as possible, night and day, by the aid of artificial heat. More 
 particularly is it necessary at night, because, when the heat is allowed to go down after the 
 work of the day is done, the chemicals are all chilled by morning, and, although it may take 
 but a few minutes for the room to get comfortable, it will take many hours for the heat to 
 penetrate through the bath and solution, and just as they begin to get in tolerable work- 
 ing order it is time to close business, and you go again in the morning to find the same 
 trouble. 
 
 Another strong reason for an even temperature is to be found in the fact, that a sudden 
 rise of temperature in a cold room condenses moisture upon your negative glass and the 
 lenses of your instrument, upon the same principle that it does upon a pitcher of ice-water 
 when carried into a warm room. This moisture will cause the film to slip off your plates 
 during the manipulations, unless they are warmed sufiSciently to drive it off before coat- 
 ing. — GEOBoa H. Pbknbmoee. 
 
 Years ago I used to carry ice for miles, and have my bath stand in a box of ice, and im- 
 agined it was a great thing ; but in many places it could not be got, so I had to look for 
 other means of working in extremely hot days. Krst of all, I learned to keep my best bath 
 for hot days — I always carry two— and, by judicious use of acid in my developer (putting it 
 in in addition to what is already in the developer, after putting the developer in my de- 
 veloping'-cup, altering the charge of acid as I see I need from one exposure to another), I 
 get along. Next be careful and not over-expose, for this is one great source of failure. In 
 hot weather a plate but slightly over-exposed has lost its snap, and cannot he relied on for a 
 brilliant negative.— B. W. Kilbubn. 
 
 168. A 12 X 10 glass hath, holding about 80 ounces of new solution 35 grains to the ounce, 
 and made with distilled water and three drops of nitric acid, did 213 plates 7Jx 7J inches, 
 being about 60 square feet. It gave up suddenly, needle-like crystals being formed all over 
 the plate, on the inside of the bath, and on the dipper. Before this point was reached, the 
 
126 WILSON'S PHOTOGRAPHICS. 
 
 of silver solution, and how much more may not be expected from it. And 
 with it well digested you are in condition to investigate further troubles. 
 169. Collodion is liable to frequent and rapid changes, and needs to be 
 continually modified to suit the condition of the bath. This is easily done, 
 however. The best remedy for a pale, neutral collodion is to take 
 from the stock-bottle as much as will last for the day, and add to it a little 
 old red collodion until it assumes a rich orange color ; or a drop or two 
 of tincture of iodine will do as well. Let it stand a few minutes, when 
 a great improvement will be found. On the other hand, if the positive 
 picture is clear and brilliant, and the negatives are foggy that are made 
 by day, the trouble undoubtedly comes from light penetrating in some 
 place where it ought to be excluded; the only remedy for which is to 
 find the enemy, put him out, and keep him out. 
 
 plates developed very weak, and there was difficulty in getting the developer to stay on the 
 plat«. The developer was 
 
 Saturated Solution of Iron, 4 ounces. 
 
 Methylated Si^irit, 4 " 
 
 Glacial Acetic Acid, ......... 4 " 
 
 Bottle filled up with Water, 80 " 
 
 Now that nitrate of baryta is used in the bath (ten or twelve drops of saturated solution in a 
 12 X 10 bath), probably more plates could be done ; but it is usual to discontinue the use of the 
 bath as soon as itis found difficult to keep the developer on the plate. Probably about 170 or 
 180 plates may be done before this happens. A bath holding 80 ounces of solutiou'SS grains 
 to the ounce, when it was discarded as worn out, was found by the argentometer to register 
 16 grains ; it had also diminished in quantity nearly one-third. The number of plates sensi- 
 tized in it was about 180 7Jx 7J. 
 
 Quantity of Silver at first, 2,800 grains. 
 
 Quantity in the Bath left, 880 " 
 
 Quantity used, ] 920 " 
 
 Practically about ten grains a plate ; about two cents' worth of silver, or six cents a square foot. 
 With a bath made of new silver and water, the plates at first come beautifully bright; but 
 rapidly a surface fog accumulates, which gets worse and worse with every plate that is put in 
 the bath. When this occurs, the bath has to be taken out, and a few drops of a saturated solu- 
 tion of baryta added, and stood in the sun for a day or two, when a deposit takes place, and, 
 after filtering, the surface fog never appears again. In the former case, when the surface 
 fog is rubbed off, the 51m under is bright, like bare glass, whilst in the latter, after the addi- 
 tion of the baryta, the film is granular, looking something like very fine ground-glass. The 
 glass plates are all albumenized before coating with collodion ; probably this has something 
 to do with it. In every case the development is pushed to the utmost. The fog Viere spoken 
 of would not be noticeable in a negative, nor the granular film ; but in the case or trans- 
 parencies for the lantern, where absolutely bare glass is needed, it is very obvious. 
 
MANIPULATORY MISERIES. 127 
 
 170. And not only does the collodion sometimes cause very annoying 
 troubles, but it is itself subject to annoyances which either impair its 
 value as a helper or render its work useless altogether. If it is suffered 
 to evaporate, it becomes thick and unmanageable. Should it be kept 
 too long before use, it becomes red, thick, and works with too great in- 
 tensity. "When it is salted in a certain way, it may not be used with good 
 results until it is several days old. If diluted, or impure chemicals are 
 used in its mixture, it will rebel; and if the bath is not in harmonious 
 condition there is no end to the troubles which will occur. 
 
 Adding more nitric acid to the bath did not diminish the surface fog nor the granularity 
 of the film. Adding iodine to the collodion did tend to clear the film, particularly the granu- 
 larity, but did not remove it unless an enormous quantity was added, making the collodion 
 quite dark, in which case the exposure was very much lengthened, and the resulting image 
 very weak. The best result was obtained with the collodion a dark sherry color. — R. Gillo. 
 
 170. I have suffered great annoyance from collodion admirable in every way except being 
 too thick, thus making it impossible to flow a plate evenly. The trouble was intolerable 
 when I had occasion to make a picture with a delicate sky. I tried to remedy the evil by 
 reducing the collodion with alcohol, but it was always at the expense of sensitiveness, making 
 the exposure necessarily longer and the resulting negative very inferior. I then tried equal 
 parts of alcohol and ether. I found that better than the other, but by no means satisfactory. 
 
 This state of affairs had cost me a good many pounds of collodion, perfect in every respect 
 except in being iuo thick, when the query arose in my mind, "What does a perfectly 
 balanced collodion lose first, when it begins to deteriorate?" "Why, ether, of course," 
 answered- reason; "and it wants ether to replace that which is lost." "I tried this with 
 perfect saccess, and now find a bottle of good ether one of the e very-day necessitfes in my 
 practice. 
 
 I mention this because I have been much tried and could find no remedy. I have seen 
 alcohol alone recommended, and equal parts of ether and alcohol, too ; but my experience is 
 that a perfectly-balanced collodion, when it Is new, wants ether when it gets thick. Add 
 from day to day as you see it. It is a perfect cure. — B. W. Kilburn. 
 
 Stbttctitral Cbapt Lines. — Marks from glutinosity will sometimes occur when using 
 cadmium as an iodizing solution. A sample of plain collodion which gives these markings 
 will probably be free from them after keeping for a few months without any further treat- 
 ment. Structural lines on the film also frequently depend upon the plate not being properly 
 rocked whilst pouring off the collodion. Some operators dilute glutinous collodion with 
 ether, but in doing so there is always danger of precipitating the iodide of potassium, and, 
 if the pyroxylin be of that kind which sets very rapidly, the use of too large a proportion 
 of ether will produce markings of a different kind. — T. Fkedbkick Hardwich. 
 
 A source of great waste among photographers is that of old collodion. It can be reno- 
 vated and used again by the following process : Pour off the collodion from the sediment, 
 and add subchloride of mercury (HgjClj— calomel— until a greenish color is assumed when 
 shaken. Then allow it to settle, and add more calomel until, by shaking again, the collodion 
 appears of a canary-yellow color. Now, if it is very old and thin, either add more cotton 
 to it or mix it with your new collodion. When thus treated,. it will never turn red again. 
 
128 WILSON'S PHOTOGEAPHICS. 
 
 171. Semi-zigzag lines, running from the edge of the plate that first 
 enters the hath solution upwards, attract us next. These are also caused 
 by a want of harmony between the bath and the collodion, but for a rea- 
 son different from that which creates fog. If the collodion be too highly 
 iodized to suit the strength of the bath, then these lines or marks will 
 occur. The remedy is to test the bath, and add silver until it reaches the 
 strength of a newly-made bath. Should the lines, after trial of a plate, 
 still appear, then add plain collodion to the iodized, a little at a time, 
 until the lines are no longer seen on trial of further plates. 
 
 If it should not work as sensitive as new collodion, add one drop of aqua ammonia to each 
 ounce of collodion as you use it. — J. K. Clemons. 
 
 You will find in practice that a sojt, spongy collodion will always be highly sensitive, for 
 the reason that its mechanical constitution is such that the molecules of silver move more 
 freely within and throughout it, — that is to say, with less friction, — and rearrange themselves, 
 by the action of the light, more readily than they do when enveloped in a tough or hard 
 collodion. No doubt, a part of the success of the " acid bath " is due to these facts, for the 
 great quantity of acid tends to make the collodion film peculiarly tender, velvety, and soft, 
 and thus affordo the most delicate gradations of light and shade. I will give the formulae for 
 collodion and bath, such as I am now working, and will only say that, like all other formulae, 
 they must be used with judgment. Chemicals, particularly solijble cottons, are not always 
 uniform, and ihe formulae must be modified to suit varying conditions. For general work, I 
 use collodion made as follows : 
 
 Alcohol, . . ......... 9 ounces. 
 
 Ether, 6 " 
 
 Soluble Cotton, 108 grains. 
 
 Iodide of Ammonium, 18 " 
 
 Iodide of Cadmium, . 18 " 
 
 Chloride of Calcium, 9 " 
 
 The nitrate of silver bath I make of nitrate of silver, twenty grains to the ounce of water, 
 and for every two quarts of the solution add half an ounce of C. P. nitric acid. The amount 
 of acid used must depend upon circumstances ; you will probably require more acid. I often 
 use as much as two ounces, or more, with success, in two quarts of solution. To develop, I 
 use from fifteen to twenty grains of protosulphate of iron to the ounce of water, with enough 
 acetic acid to cause it to flow smoothly. — J. W. Black. 
 
 171. Foggy lines or streaks, in the direction of the dip, on negatives often appear after 
 freeing the nitrate bath from organic matter, or strengthening with new silver. I am not 
 aware that any remedy has been proposed for this trouble, except moving the plate 
 horizontally in the bath for the first thirty seconds after immersion, which had scarcely any 
 appreciable effect in my case. I was induced to give this some consideration through having 
 about one hundred and sixty ounces in this condition, although free from organic matter 
 and 8ufl3ciently acid. My other bath working well with the same collodion, I inferred that 
 the bath, having been continually strengthened with a stronger uniodized silver solution for 
 a long time, had not the same amount of iodide in it when it was still further strengthened 
 
MANIPULATORY MISERIES. 129 
 
 172. Another defect is shown in the form of streaks and lines, starting 
 at the lower edge of the plate and extending upward in the form of a 
 triangle. These come from a scum to be found floating on the surface 
 of the silver solution. If the dark-room is kept clean, the bath covered 
 when not in use, and the habit followed of filtering the solution every 
 day or two, this defect will rarely annoy you. 
 
 173. Dark, opaque lines running down from the top of the plate are 
 also frequently met with. Unequal or irregular development is their 
 usual cause. If, for any reason, a greater amount of silver is deposited 
 upon one part of the plate than the other, these marks will occur. After 
 
 with new silver and cleared from organic matter. I therefore added. a few grains of iodide 
 of potassium, and filtered, letting it stand all night. On trying it the following day the 
 lines had entirely disappeared, the negative having all the beautiful bloom of one taken in a 
 new bath. Before the iodide was added, the negatives were thin and weak, without body. — ■ 
 Henby Gkbqson. 
 
 The iath will never "streak " the plates if the latter are moved about in the solution as soon 
 as dipped, and kept in motion until smoothly coated. This is necessary more particularly 
 when the bath is charged with ether and alcohol. The alcohol mixes with the solution, but 
 the ether rises to the surface and sometimes causes scum. — Elbkkt Andekson. 
 /l72. A very common and often unsuspected source of streaks is the presence of scum on 
 the surface of the bath, which, if the room is very dark, is not observed. 
 
 There are other causes of streaks and stains, but this is the chief. "We mention it that 
 the inexperienced photographer may see the necessity of carefully overhauling the whole 
 of his operations when he meets with any of these difficulties, and not fancy that, by making 
 his dark-room so dark that he cannot move in it ■without upsetting something, he is forth- 
 with to rid himself of further trouble in this respect. 
 
 Nevertheless, too much stress cannot be laid on the importance of excluding all actinic 
 light from the dark-room. The more perfect the working condition of the chemicals, the 
 more dangerous will necessarily be every stray beam of white light. — Old Argentum. 
 
 173. A network appearance on the film after developing, when universal, and accompanied 
 by rottenness of film, often depends upon the use of collodion containing water. Or, if not 
 due to this cause, the plate may have been immersed too quickly in the bath, and the soluble 
 pyroxylin partially precipitated. This is very likely to happen when using collodion con- 
 taining a sufficient excess of alcohol to interfere with the setting properties of the pyroxy- 
 lin, especially in cold or damp weather.— T. Fkbdekick Hardwich. 
 
 Surface stains are a botheration wherever occurring. One great cause is too long a time 
 between the sensitizing of the plate and its exposure to ihe light ; but there are many others. 
 The way to prevent them ia what we want to know ; the cause we need not care for, though 
 that often rules the cure. The shields should always be kept clean, and a good plan is to in- 
 terpose strips of blotting-paper between them and the plate. All varnishes which have any 
 action whatever on nitrate of silver should be avoided. In case of long exposure the dark- 
 slide should be wrapped in a thick, damp cloth, and, as far as possible, when the plates must 
 be long kept, use a new nitrate bath, or one nearly new. Very often these stains can be 
 
130 WILSON'S PH0TOGBAPHIC8. 
 
 the developer is flowed over the plate and the image begins to appear, if 
 the plate is held vertically, the developing solution will, left to its own 
 action, form in irregular lines, and carry in its train more silver upon 
 some parts than others, thus causing the uneven development spoken of, 
 and the consequent lines or streaks. 
 
 174. The best rule for development, if the exposure has been right, is 
 to proceed with it until the image fully appears, appearing slowly. If 
 the image flashes out immediately upon the application of the developer, 
 thus indicating over-exposure, watch closely until all the details are out, 
 then quickly stop further action by holding the plate under the tap. 
 
 175. Lines of a still different character often appear. They form in 
 irregular squares resembling the lines upon the shell of some quaint old 
 
 overcome by using in each ounce of collodion, tromo-iodized with ammonium accordingly, 
 a grain of chloride of calcium dissolved in a few drops of strong alcohol ; or dissolve twenty- 
 five grains of iodide of magnesium in two ounces of strong alcohol, and add one drachm of 
 this to each three ounces of the collodion. — Geokqe W. Wallace. 
 
 174. In developing, see that the developer is -filtered clear, and flow it over the plate in 
 one even wave. Do not have it too strong, or semicircular lines radiating from the corner 
 will be the result ; neither must you have it too weak, or hardness and want of half-tone 
 will be the result. Prom twenty to thirty grains to the ounce will be about right. Have 
 all your developing clean, and wash both your negative and your hands well after each 
 
 operation. Finally, fix your negative, wash it wel 
 apparatus. If it is not in good condition, all the ti 
 
 and dry it. Lastly, a few words on the 
 ouble spent on chemicals is useless. See, 
 
 then, that the camera is in (he best condition to as;;ist the chemicals to produce the best re- 
 sults, i. «., see that there are no chinks or cracks ir the woodwork, nor holes in the corners 
 of the bellows, by which white light is admitted ; iee that the lenses are clean and covered 
 with a hood to keep out reflected light. Keepitlin the dark as much as possible when 
 operating. Having accomplished the above necessdry conditions, go to work, pose and light 
 your sitter artistically, and I (hink you will soon gd home at night with a lighter heart and 
 heavier pocket. — George H, Pennemokb. I 
 
 175 The first signs of failure of the negative bath with me are generally a refusal on the 
 part of the silver solution to lie perfectly smooth on the plate after the latter is sufficiently 
 sensitized. 
 
 I do not mean that the plate does not coat smoothly, but, after it is all ready and with- 
 drawn from the bath, the silver solution runs down in an irregular manner (lumpy, I call 
 it), and the plate takes rather longer to sensitize than usual. Cause : Too much ether and 
 alcohol in the hath. Remove the bath and test for strength. (I frequently run mine down 
 as low as twenty-five to thirty grains, and produce as good effects as at forty.) Boil about 
 one-third its volume away, let cool, add water enough to make from thirty-five to forty 
 grains, filter, and you are all right. One hundred more plates may now be dipped before 
 the next signs of failure present themselves. — Elbbri Anderson. 
 
 Now, in order to get delicacy in our picture, reduce the strength of iron on the plate by 
 adding water, and an entire change takes place; the silver deposits finely over the entire 
 
MANIPULATORY MISERIES. 131 
 
 tortoise. These arise from etker and alcohol being present in the bath, 
 which cause the nitrate of silver solution to run into lines after taking the 
 plate from the bath, and also prevent the developer from flovs^ing smoothly 
 over it. The remedy is, to boil the bath down about one-half, and add 
 fresh rain-water or distilled water u.ntil it is the proper strength again, 
 after which filter and it is ready for use. 
 
 176. The developer causes other troubles. Occasionally it will be seen 
 on a negative that, at the lower right-hand corner, there is a large semi- 
 transparent spot, and from it lines radiate in a curve all over the plate. 
 
 exposure, softening the strong outlines in contrast, and giving a roundness and delicacy not 
 possible with one strength of iron. — S. P. "Wills. 
 
 Try my method of pneumatic development. By its use the details are developed quicker 
 and with more clearness, and designs produced whereby lights and shades are brought out. 
 This method consists in the following operation: Take a small india-rubber ball, with tube 
 attached to it, and direct a current of air on to the deep shadows. By this operation the 
 collodion film becomes more sensitive, and the development goes on more quickly, whereby 
 greater precision and distinctness are given to the details. — Ernest KBEtrasB. 
 
 Keep a saturated solution of iron on hand. Eor use, reduce to fifteen grains, by hydrom- 
 eter, the quantity required for a day's use ; acetic acid, one ounce to twelve ounces of the 
 fifteen-grain solution. If my bath is new, I don't use any alcohol unless it gives too strong a 
 contrast. By adding one-half ounce or more of alcohol it will work softer. I think the 
 adding of acetic acid j ust before you use it, works better and quicker; but if the negatives 
 lack vigor, I think that an older developer will work better ; also for copying. So it is a 
 good plan to have some old on hand. Sometimes the best effects can be had by mixing old 
 and new. I sometimes add a few drops of acetic acid to the developer just before I use it; 
 I find that it has more to do with results than many are aware of. I have tried a great 
 many articles in connection with the iron, but I believe that one can work more sure and 
 get as good results without any of them. — A. W. Kimball. 
 
 176. The developer flows in a greasy manner : 1. Frqm the bath being old, and con- 
 taining much ether and alcohol. In this case a purely aqueous liquid is not capable of 
 flowing at once over the film, and a portion of spirit must be added to the developer. 2. 
 From use of too much spirit in the developer when the bath is newly made, and nearly free 
 from alcohol ; if the surface liquid of the film is entirely aqueous in character, the developer 
 should be aqueous also. The developer refuses to wet certain parts of the film, and will not 
 flow up to the edge. A gelatinous collodion often repels the developer, and especially so with 
 a newly-prepared bath. Old baths, containing ether and alcohol, render the surface of the 
 film less gelatinous, and remedy the defect. The plate should not be dipped too quickly, or 
 the difliculty will be increased. Acetic acid and spirit, added to the developer, are service- 
 able. The stronger the alcohol in the collodion the more marked the defect. In hot weather, 
 when large plates become partially dry and repel the developer, redip them in the bath, or 
 use a developing solution greatly diluted with water. — T. Fbbdbbick; Habdwich. 
 
 Of developers I cannot say very much, except to strongly recommend adding glycerin 
 instead of alcohol, or using half alcohol and glycerin when the bath is greasy. Glycerin 
 gives such a command over the development, allows for such deliberation of treatment, and 
 
132 "WILSON'S PHOTOGKAPHICS. 
 
 That indicates that the developer has been too strong, and without suffi- 
 cient acid in it; that it was also carelessly applied, — instead of flowing it 
 over evenly, it was thrown over with a dash, causing the spot in question. 
 The danger of spoiling your negative is not over when exposure is made. 
 Many troubles arise with the developer. When the iron is too strong, and 
 without sufficient acid to restrain its action, it causes an unequal reduction 
 of the silver, which produces the ugly markings just now mentioned. 
 7177. And there are still more kinds of defects constantly occurring to 
 mar the peace of the working photographer. They are, as a general 
 thing, however, resultant from heedless manipulation, and may be avoided 
 if the proper care be taken, and your purchases are made from a reli- 
 able dealer, whose prices are fair enough to keep him from the practice 
 of adulteration. "WTiile chemicals are exceedingly obstreperous, they can 
 be kept in comparatively good order if they are given the attention laid 
 down in the rules. Knowing the causes of defects, then, it should not 
 be difficult to avoid them. 
 
 has all the exquisite flowing qualities of gelatin, without the retarding effect on exposure, 
 that once an operator gets used to its easy manipulation he will never go hack to tJie simply 
 alcoholic developer. For indoor working, I use fifteen grains of protosulphate of iron to 
 one ounce of water, and for outdoor work from five to ten grains. Acetic acid is added ac- 
 cording to time of year, kind of euhject, and quality of light. — Alfred Hitghes. 
 
 177. OiLT Lines. — 1. Lifting the plate out of the nitrate bath before it has hee'h 
 immersed sufficiently long to be thoroughly wetted, or before the ether upon the surface has 
 been washed away. 2. Eedipping the plate in the nitrate bath after exposure in the camera, 
 and pouring on the developer immediately ; if a few seconds be not allowed for the purpose 
 of draining off the excess of nitrate, the pyrogallic acid will not readily flow over the film. 
 3. From too small a quantity of fluid having been employed to develop the image. In this 
 case, the whole plate not being thoroughly covered during development, the action does not 
 proceed with regularity. 4. Opaque, oily, diagonal markings are very commonly produced 
 by pouring off the developer, and examining the plate by transmitted light, without washing 
 the film ; the solution of pyrogallic acid runs into lines which show after fixing. 5. Ad- 
 dition of old collodion in making a new bath. The ether mixes with the bath and gives a 
 greasy appearance to the immersed plates. 
 
 Teanspaeent Marks like Ocrtaiks. — These occur at the edge of the plate which is 
 most depending in the camera, and are produced by the bath solution draining down, or 
 sometimes ascending by capillary attraction, from the corners of a dirty slide. They are 
 ' most common with a gelatinous, simply-iodized collodion, and are seen in cold and damp 
 weather more than in hot and dry weather. To obviate their occurrence, allow the ether to 
 evaporate from the film before dipping, so that the bath solution may run completely off; 
 or turn the plate round, that the upper and dryer part may be below ; or place it across the 
 dipper so as to bring the curtain mark to the side of the picture, where it will be less visible. 
 — T. Febdeeick Haedwich. 
 
MANIPULATOET MISERIES. 133 
 
 178. A generally wretched negative, that seems to possess all the ills 
 which occur in negative-making combined, will look thus : In the first 
 place, it is full of pinholes and large streaky patches of white scum, as if 
 somebody had poured a solution of chalk and water on it ; secondly, the 
 film is thin, and the image harsh and without detail ; in fact, destitute of 
 a single good quality. First, there are two distinct kinds of transparent 
 spots ; one kind is called pinholes, caused by a large excess of iodo-nitrate 
 of silver in the bath, and the other kind is specks of irregular shape, such 
 as are caused by dust, sediment in the collodion, etc. ; then there are the 
 large white patches, spoken of above, which indicate that the plate-holder 
 is very dirty, and that, the plate not being properly drained, the silver has 
 run down, absorbed the deleterious matter, and has again been drawn up 
 by capillary attraction and settled upon the plate, adhering to it with 
 great tenacity. In addition, that the bath is full of ether and alcohol, is 
 shown by irregular greasy markings which are all over the plate; finally, 
 the image is hard and chalky, and lacking detail, proving that the col- 
 
 178. Pinholes may he formed in five ways : First, dust ; Second, unsettled collodion ; Third, 
 over-iodized bath ; Fourth, too strong iron solution ; Fifth, over-iodized hypo. All of these 
 have a different and distinct appearance. 
 1. Pinholes from dust are irregular, as regards size, and scattered irregularly over the 
 
 ^ plate. The remedy is obvious. 2. Pinholes from unsettled collodion are very numerous, 
 and regularly scattered over the entire plate. Upon examining them, however, with a 
 microscope, they will be found to have little tails attached to them, which indicate at once 
 the source from which they arise. 3. Pinholes from an over-iodized bath are very numer- 
 ous, scattered evenly over the plate, are sharp crystals without tails, and leave a clear spot 
 oh the glass after fixi ng. 4. Pinholes from too strong iron solution are caused by the pre- 
 cipitate of oxide of iron ; they have a close resemblance to those of an over-iodized bath. 
 5. "When the hypo, solution has dissolved as much iodide of silver as possible, it will be satu- 
 rated, and, after a short time, will deposit fine crystals of iodide of silver on the plate. In 
 this case, however, these may be detected by there being no signs of pinholes until after fix- 
 ing. If there should be any doubt as to whether the bath is near a point of saturation with 
 
 ■ iodide of silver, you may easily determine the state of the bath by the following experiment: 
 Into four ounces of water pour gradually four ounces of bath solution, and watch narrowly 
 the time when the precipitate of iodide of silver takes place. If you can add nearly the 
 whole amount of the bath solution before the milky precipitate takes place, the bath is far 
 from saturation; but should this precipitate take place before much addition of the bath 
 solution, continue to add the four ounces of solution, and stir the mixture thoroughly. Next 
 add crystals of nitrate of silver gradually, stirring until dissolved. When the mixture just 
 clears, and no more, test with your hydrometer, and you will see at once the state ot ttrfrbfttli^ 
 If the hydrometer marks thirty grains, or nearly thirty grains, the original strength of the 
 bath, your bath is nearly/ saturated ; but if the hydrometer mark only twenty grains, or less, 
 you need not fear pinholes from over-iodizing for some time to come. — Elbert Andebson. 
 
134 WILSON'S PHOTOGRAPHICS. 
 
 lodion is old, red, and insensitive, or that the bath is highly charged with 
 acid in the vain endeavor to get rid of fogging, or perhaps both. 
 V 179. The authorities do not always agree as to the cause of these an- 
 noying spots, and sometimes their appearance is so mysteriously sudden 
 and so persistently continuous as to baffle even the doctors of photog- 
 raphy themselves. It is often serviceable, when such annoyances occur, 
 to go back mentally and think over what you have done, and mayhap 
 the cause of your annoyance will come to you. The causes of this an- 
 noyance, at least, are well laid down in the notes. 
 
 J 180. There is this one agreeable thing about photographic manipula- 
 tion, however: the chemicals, under certain conditions, are pretty sure to 
 
 179. The following are frequent causes of spots on the collodion plate. First. Newly- 
 iodized collodion. 1. Containing bromide of potassium in quantity more than the collodion 
 will dissolve; in this ca?e the spots will he round and transparent, thickly studding the 
 plate. Allow twenty-four hours to subside, and draw off the upper part. 2. The collodion 
 is free from undissolved particles of iodide, but contains a fine sediment of pyroxylin ; specks 
 from this cause are extremely minute and abundant. Three or four days' setting will clear 
 the collodion ; but very often the specks will disappear if a portion of a more intense col- 
 lodion be mixed with the newly iodized. 3. The collodion is free from suspended iodide or 
 undissolved pyroxylin, but, nevertheless, the plate shows transparent specks. In this case, 
 the specks may be due to dust, but the remedy last given is the most likely to prove 
 successful. 
 
 Second. Faults of the bath. 1. Newly made from impure nitrate of silver. In this case 
 the image will be very weak as well as spotty, and the bath will require a trace of acetate. 
 2. Iodide of silver, previously dissolved in the bath, crystallizing upon the film. The film, 
 in such a case, exhibits little projecting points upon the surface of the iodide before exposure 
 in the camera, and transparent pinholes after fixing. Add to the bath a sixth part of a 
 thirty-grain solution of nitrate of silver, not containing any iodide of silver, and remove the 
 plate from the solution after an immersion of two minutes. Or, leave a sensitive plate in 
 the solution all night, that the excess of iodide of silver may gradually crystallize upon its 
 surface, and so be removed. 3. A fioating film of iodide of silver upon the surface of the 
 bath. These spots are not universally distributed, and are larger than the last. Eemedy : 
 Change the collodion or the time of dipping. 4. Deposits of reduced silver on the sides of 
 the bath and dipper, or fragments of iodized collodion which have fallen into the solution. 
 Spots so produced are easily recognized, and the appearance of the picture at once shows 
 that the bath requires filtering. — T. Fredkeick Hardwich. 
 
 180. To Find the Cause of Pinholes. — Pour one ounce of the bath into a glass graduate, 
 and add, slowly, a drachm at a time of pure water to the solution. If, on adding one or 
 two drachms of water, the solution turns milky, the holes are caused by an excess of iodide, 
 which at once remove by pouring your entire bath into an equal quantity of pure water, 
 allowing the iodide to settle to the bottom, and filter, and either boil down the bath to forty 
 grains per ounce or add new silver. If, on the contrary, you can add from one to four 
 ounces of water, and the solution does not turn milky, the pinholes are caused by a lack of 
 
MANIPULATORY MISERIES. 135 
 
 behave handsomely and satisfactorily. Knowing these conditions, then, 
 obey them, and your results will be what you desire. If they are not, 
 there is a cause, and the sooner you think it out, look it up, and eradicate 
 it, the sooner you will " be happy;" 
 
 181. Blueness of the film after immersion in the nitrate bath some- 
 times occurs. This may be caused by a bath too strong for the collodion ; 
 a bath not iodized sufficiently ; too cold a temperature (your dark-room 
 
 iodide; then add more to the bath. Plate-holders, tablets, and cameras, as well as your 
 bottles and shelves and floor of the dark-room, must be wiped damp every day. 
 
 As the remedies in all of the above instances are very obvious, I will only give the treat- 
 ment for removing them from an old weak bath. Say your bath is a twenty-ounce one, pour 
 it into twenty ounces of ice-water ; a canary-colored, cloudy precipitate will be the result. 
 Allow it to settle, then filler the solution clear. Tou may now either add to it two ounces 
 of nitrate of silver, or boil it down to twenty ounces of solution, when it is again as good as 
 new. The above treatment will restore a badly-working bath almost without fail. If it 
 does not, waste no time, but iliake it into a printing-bath by neutralizing the acid in it with 
 ammonia; the iodide remaining in it may or may not be removed, as it does not seem to 
 affect the tone of the prints. — C. A. Zimmeeman. 
 
 My process consists in adding five drops of chemically-pure hydrochloric acid to every 
 hundred ounces of the bath, and stirring it thoroughly for some time, then filtering it. By 
 this means the excess of iodide of silver will combine with the chloride of silver, and, throw- 
 ing it down, leave us a bath that will give clear negatives without any of the so-called pin- 
 holes. For every drop of hydrochloric acid added to the bath an equivalent amount of 
 nitric acid is set free, probably rendering the bath too acid. In order to neutralize the acid 
 and bring the bath to its original strength, the best way is to add carbonate of silver, which 
 is taken up by the nitric acid, setting carbonic acid free, and forming again nitrate of silver. 
 In order to prepare the carbonate of silver in a simple way, add a solution of chemically- 
 pure carbonate of soda to a solution of nitrate of silver so long as a precipitate is formed, 
 which is to be thoroughly washed and dried at common temperature. I use the carbonate 
 of soda in preference to the carbonate of potassa on account of its being more easily obtained 
 in a pure state. — J. Traill Tatlok. 
 
 When my bath becomes charged with alcohol and ether, but works well otherwise, I pour 
 it into a bottle containing one-third its bulk of water ; filter, neutralize with liquid ammonia, 
 and pour into an evaporating-dish, and boil down to its original strength. Filter, and add 
 nitric acid suflicient, and it is ready for work again. But if the bath has become contami- 
 nated with organic matter, it will be best to boil it down and fuse it; then redissolve in 
 purified water, acidify, and it generally works better than a new bath. Keep three or four 
 baths .on hand, and while you are working one have the others in the sun, after being first 
 treated as above. — J. A. "W. Pittman. 
 
 181. One of the great secrets in making nice, clean negatives, is to keep your chemicals at 
 an even temperature both winter and summer; and in order to do so, make a wooden 
 bvix, or, better still, have your tinner to make you one out of galvanized iron, large enough 
 to hold your baths, having a V-shaped trough back of the baths for the receptacle of ice in 
 summer, and made so as to lift out in order to empty the water in the morning, then replace 
 
136 WILSON'S PHOTOGEAPHICS. 
 
 should never be below fiS" or 60°), and, also, by too thin or old and 
 insensitive collodion. 
 
 182. Black and "White ISTegatives without Half-Tones. — Such are 
 caused by under-exposure ; by the contamination of the nitrate bath after 
 long use ; by using a collodion that is too old and red ; too much acid in the 
 negative bath; too strong a developer; and, finally, by boiling your 
 nitrate bath to fusion. A great many recommend this latter method to 
 get rid of organic matter in the bath, and yet so few know how to do it 
 properly. If it is fused beyond a certain point, solarization of the nega^ 
 tives is sure to result, and you get chalky whites and deep blacks with- 
 out detail or half-tones. 
 
 183. Flatness and Want op Contrast. — This may be caused by over- 
 exposure ; by using too large a quantity of developer, thereby washing 
 
 and add ice for the day ; the whole to be covered with a top hinged just back of the baths so 
 as to open both ways — one part to cover the baths, the other to cover the ice-dish. Then 
 the door in front is made so that you may utilize the space under the front of the baths for 
 your collodion and developer ; consequently, you have your bath, collodion, and developer 
 all of the same temperature in summer. — Fkank Thomas. 
 
 At night, when all work is ended for the day, I take my heater to the stove and carefully 
 put a couple of shovelfuls of hot ashes out of the stove into thfi heater, put on the cover, 
 wipe off any superfluous dust, carry it into the dark-room, and stand the whole thing in the 
 middle of the room on three clean bricks, and in the morning I repeat the operation (leaving 
 the old ashes in the heater, and only taking them out to make room for fresh, but always 
 leaving some in), and my dark-room, after the usual cleaning, is ready for business, and will 
 keep evenly warm until night, as the ashes hold their heat a long time, and are almost as 
 hot at night as when they were put in in the morning. It is a very cheap contrivance and 
 answers admirably, entailing no expense, and being free from disagreeable smells, like coal- 
 oil stoves emit. It will last a lifetime. I made mine myself out of an old five-gallon oil- 
 drum, and any handy man can make his own. — L. A. "Wblleb. 
 
 182. "When a negative is under-exposed, it will look much like an ambrotype ; it is black 
 and white, and generally too intense for a good picture. An over-exposed negative is just 
 the reverse ; you can hardly see the image when looking at it by reflected light. Prints 
 from it are flat and gray, face and drapery being nearly <rf one color. — G. H. Fennemorb. 
 
 I suggest that when a bath ceases to work well, it is not worth while to waste much time 
 in coaxing it. Success is doubtful, and, if a single trial or two does not succeed, it is better 
 to turn the bath into a bottle, and make a new bath. It is no waste of material, and con- 
 siderable saving of time and patience. — M. Cakbt Lea. 
 
 183. The introduction of iron for development has almost entirely changed the method of 
 working, and now the rule is to employ a much weaker printing-bath and use subdued light 
 instead of sunlight. The time, however, necessary to produce a print is very nearly the 
 same, notwithstanding the very thin character of the negative as compared with the old 
 ones. I do not, however, wish it to be understood that I consider half a day needful for the 
 
MANIPULATOEY MISBEIES. 137 
 
 off most of the free nitrate of silver, or by using too new a collodion ; 
 by plates remaining too long in the nitrate bath ; by too much time in- 
 tervening between the removal from the bath and the development, and 
 by the use of too much bromide in the collodion. 
 
 184. An Apparent Formation of N^etwork after the Film is Dry. — 
 This may hi, caused by using alcohol that is not absolute, and therefore 
 containing too much water ; or, if you use potassium salts for iodizing or 
 bromizing, you may use too much water in dissolving them. It is some- 
 times caused also by impure ether. Crapy lines are formed by the col- 
 lodion being too thick ; in which case thin it down with iodizing solu- 
 tion. Sometimes they result from the collodion being too gelatinous ; in 
 that case add some old limpid collodion to it. 
 
 185. There are two other negative trials which are apt to occur, and 
 which are too important to be overlooked. One of these is known as 
 
 production of a print from an average negative of the present day. The experience of many 
 will, however, bear me out in saying that from negatives yielding, in summer, prints full of 
 gradation, the results at this time'of year are totally different, and that hardness is the rule; 
 whilst from many negatives that printed respectably in bright weather, presentable results 
 cannot now be obtained at all. On the other land, many negatives, that in very bright 
 weather, even in the most shady street possible, gave flat, poor prints, are now found to yield 
 perfect results. — Valentine Blanchard. 
 
 184. A great number of experiments have recently been made in order to discover the 
 best method to adopt in the chemical laboratory to detect the presence of water and alcohol 
 in commercial ether. After many trials it appears that the old method, which consists in 
 washing the ether, is, after all, the best. A given quantity of the sample is put into a flinely 
 graduated tube; the volume is noted; the same volume of cold distilled water is added; 
 the tube is corked to prevent a loss of ether by evaporation, then the whole is shaken, 
 frequently reversing the tube. "When the ether contains alcohol, this last is dissolved in the 
 water ; the column of ether which rises to the top is measured with care, and the difference 
 between it and the original volume represents that of the alcohol and water contained in the 
 sample. As ether is slightly soluble in pure water, the results are a little too high. In 
 reality, one hundred parts of water dissolve ten parts of ether, whilst the same quantity of 
 water dissolves an indefinite quantity of alcohol. To be exact, allowance must be made for 
 the quantity of ether which may have been dissolved in making this little experiment. — 
 Dr. Phipson. 
 
 185. Should the " lighting " be correct, and the bath yield harsh or black and white plates, 
 it can be from two causes: 1. Insufficient time of exposure. 2. Insufficient iodide in the 
 bath. Should the latter be the cause, coat the largest plate the bath can take on both sides 
 with collodion, and leave it in the solution over night, or at such times when the bath is not in 
 use. — Elbert Anderson. 
 
 "Where I know that the negative has received too brief an exposure, I expose to the 
 gaslight, regulating my development carefully according to the result; and here (in the 
 
138 WILSON'S PHOTOGKAPHICS. 
 
 density. I^fegatives afflicted witli this are a trouble to the printer, and 
 the prints made from them are usually of an indifferent character. This 
 fault may be in a measure cured by the employment of a reducing pro- 
 cess, which is always one which requires the nicest care and a knowledge 
 beforehand of the quality you desire to secure. 
 
 186. The second trial alluded to is known as "weakness" of the films, 
 and is caused most generally from oyer-exposure. A bath too strong for 
 the collodion used, or a bath that is weak; collodion insufiaciently salted, 
 
 development) we have a wonderful power if we observe closely. Then, again, in intensify- 
 ing, we possess another power of modifying the resulting picture ; so that, with care and 
 judgment, by the secondary exposure, a negative that has had insufficient time in the camera 
 may be made to give a fairly -good print instead of being rejected. There is not a photogra- 
 pher, I suppose, who is not fully alive to the importance of keeping the chemicals at a suitable 
 temperature during cold weather, and there is no way so good as having the dark-room 
 continually warm both night and day. — Alfred Hughes. 
 
 This method of reducing the intensity of the negative has reference only to that class 
 of negatives which is produced by under-exposure, too strong contrast of light and shadow, 
 collodion too thick, or bath too acid, where the high-lights are so dense that the negative 
 yields only white and black, hard, chalky prints. In such cases pour over the negative, 
 after the fixing solution of hypo, or cyanide has been washed away, a very dilute solution 
 of perchloride of iron. Allow this to act on the deposit of the high-lights until a slight change 
 of color takes place, then well wash and pour over again the usual hypo, or cyanide fixing 
 solution. The dense deposit on the high-lights will be found to be reduced in intensity pro- 
 portional to the action of the perchloride of iron solution. The best advice I can give is to 
 bear in mind the principle of the chemical change that takes place. The original dense de- 
 posit forming the high-lights of the negative is composed of metallic silver; this is not 
 soluble in either hypo, or cyanide. By pouring on solution of perchloride of iron, the outer 
 layer of the deposit is changed into chloride of silver, and chloride of silver is very soluble 
 in the fixing solution. If the perchloride solution be allowed to remain on too .long, all the 
 silver forming the deposit will be changed into chloride of silver, and will all be dissolved 
 away. This is clearly doing more than is required ; the real point to be gained is to dissolve 
 away only that excess which renders the negative too dense. The whole operation is a deli- 
 cate one, and requires quite as much judgment to be exercised as in developing or intensify- 
 ing a negative. It is really a process exactly the reverse of intensifying ; but there is this 
 difference — that Intensifying is usually done at one operation, and the process can be ob- 
 served as it proceeds. In this, however, the real action is done by the perchloride, and the 
 exact amount of the action cannot be told until the fixing solution is employed to show the 
 change that has taken place. The greatest care is, therefore, necessary in using the per- 
 chloride, otherwise a negative may be injured instead of being improved — Jabez Hughes. 
 
 186. A correspondent of the Philadelphia Photographer says: "As the tendency of all 
 intensifiers is to flatten and destroy the beauty of the photograph, it is desirable to omit them 
 as much as possible. I often avoid their use by the following ' dodge.' If, after the negative 
 is developed, fixed, and washed, it needs a little reinforcing, I dry it rapidly by the stove or 
 otherwise, which usually brings it right for printing. Any one who will try the experiment 
 
MANIPULATOEY MISERIES. 139 
 
 and insufficient immersion of the plate in the bath also cause thinness or 
 weakness of the film. This class of negative is the easiest to make, be- 
 cause it allows the most latitude for the careless, heedless, sloventy ma- 
 nipulator. In such cases resort is had to intensification, but in it, also, 
 trouble occurs, unless care be exercised. Formulae for intensifiers are 
 given at page 106. Here only the troubles of it are treated. 
 
 187. All who have the patience to make portraits of children a specialty, 
 know the value of an intensifier close at hand. In such extreme cases it 
 is excusable, but as a habit it is uncalled for. In making copies, too, 
 where sufficient printing density cannot otherwise be had, resort is had 
 
 will be surprised at the difference between a negative thus dried and one that is allowed to 
 dry spontaneously. Negatives, after washing, should be flowed while wet with a solution 
 of gum-arabic in water. This prevents the hard varnish from changing them." 
 
 It often happens with an under-exposed negative that it is desirable to intensify only certain 
 portions of it, as, for example, a portrait in which the hands and face would be completely 
 spoiled before the other portion obtained sufBcient density. With careful manipulation, 
 the following dodge will be found useful : After development, stand the negative on end 
 to drain, and when half dry — i.e., when it has lost its watery appearance — hold it over a 
 tiny gas jet, allowing the flame to come and the drying to commence in the centre of the 
 face. Have the water ready to hand, and, when the small dry patch has extended to the 
 edge of the face, dash the water over the negative. The intensifying may now be proceeded 
 with, and much of the detail in the features will be saved which would otherwise have been 
 
 lost. — E. v. HAKMi.N. 
 
 The chief defects that arise through intensifying are those which may also occur in de- 
 velopment. Eog and a red deposit are chiefly to be anticipated. The former may occur 
 before fixing if the pictures be over-exposed ; the latter, both before and after fixing, by the 
 addition of too much free nitrate of silver to the intensifier; or again, after fixing, by the 
 imperfect washing of the film before the intensifier is applied. The red stain will often yield 
 to treatment with a solution of acetic acid and water (half to half). It should be noted that 
 the larger the amount of silver added the more rapid will be the intensification ; but the 
 half-tones will not be brought up proportionally to the high-lights. The smaller the quantity 
 of silver used, the greater will be the comparative force given to them, and the longer time 
 it will take. Thus, a negative lacking in contrast may be corrected by using an intensifier 
 with large, and one too rich in contrast with small, doses of silver. When the mixture of 
 pyrogallic acid and silver becomes turbid, it must be rejected, and a fresh solution poured on. 
 Sometimes a bluish precipitate will form in the shadows ; when this takes place, it is an indi- 
 cation that the intensifier is not sufficiently acid. Intensification with iron is equally as rapid 
 as with pyrogallic acid. When using the former, however, it is necessary to use about twice 
 as much silver. With landscapes and portraits, intensifying is comparatively easy work. 
 With reproductions of drawing, plans, or manuscript, it requires more time and great care. 
 The fine lines become easily veiled or the plate unequal. — J. L. Gihon. 
 
 187. Permanganate of potash is much used, but concerning it, one thing, however, can be 
 said, namely, that It lacks force in its operations upon a negative, does not thicken, as it were,. 
 
140 WILSON'S PHOTOGRAPHICS 
 
 to intensification. There are manj' methods of procedure in this line, some 
 acting with the dehcacy of a jeweller's tool, while others possess the 
 power of a veritable sledge. Thus all sorts of eiFects are obtainable. 
 
 188. As will be observed, some methods of intensification secure only 
 a change in color of the negative, while with others an actual chemical 
 change is caused in the films. Experience will teach the manipulator 
 
 but merely changes the color of the deposit. This, I have found, can be entirely obviated 
 by adding bichromate of potash. My formula is : 
 
 1. — Permanganate of Potasli, ........ 5 grains. 
 
 Water, 1 ounce. 
 
 2. — Bichromate of Potash, 10 grains. 
 
 Water, .1 ounce. 
 
 These solutions are made up and kept separate, being mixed in equal proportions when 
 wanted. It is exceedingly useful for intensifying a negative of a baby which has been 
 much under-exposed, or for enlarged copies or negatives of line engravings for silver print- 
 ing or photo-lithography. The improved intensifier is used after fixing, and after the 
 negative is strengthened and washed it should be flowed with a solution of gum-arabic. In 
 some instances it is not advisable to varnish, but print with care without varnishing. — 
 David DuiicAif. 
 
 I claim to have originated this intensifier. The formula is as follows : 
 
 1. — Hydrochlorate of Ammonia, .1 ounce. 
 
 Bichloride of Mercury, . 1 ** 
 
 Distilled Water, 20 ounces. 
 
 2. — Chloride of Gold, 1 grain. 
 
 Distilled Water, 1 drachm. 
 
 To make the intensifier, put two drachms of each solution into a four-ounce bottle and 
 fill up with water. A small quantity of this should be poured rapidly over the negative, 
 from a glass measure, and kept moving upon the surface in the usiSal way until the necessary 
 density is obtained. If it has lost its yellow color, and become white when returned into 
 the glass, it should be thrown away, and the operation, if incomplete, must be continued 
 with fresh solution. I may add that there is yet another and not unimportant merit in this 
 ' intensifier. A small quantity applied to the film of a well-exposed and fully developed 
 negative will enable you to view the portrait through the glass, and then it has the appear- 
 ance of a very delicate and beautifully'shaded positive, thus permitting the sitter to judge 
 at once of the likeness, expression, etc. In the case of a very thin negative, the intensifier 
 may be followed by a weak solution of iodide of potassium — half a grain to an ounce of 
 water. — J. A. Winter. 
 
 188. Perchloride of iron is a salt easily obtainable in commerce. It is very deliquescent, 
 very cheap, and a little goes a long way. My method of using it is thus : I make a stock solution 
 of, say, ten or twenty grains to the lounce of water. This makes a dark, cherry-colored solution. 
 At the time of using I add a few drops of this solution to an ounce of water in a measure-glass. 
 This dilute solution should not be darker than a pale golden tint. I pour it over the well- 
 washed plate and watch the change. In a few seconds the deposit forming the high-lights 
 changes very slightly fi-om its drab color to a pale ashy hue. I then wash it off well, and 
 
MANIPULATORY MISERIES. 141 
 
 whicli to choose in time of need. Knowing how far short the negative in 
 hand comes from being desirable in every way, he must select the means 
 of recovering it which will be the surest, as he would select a tool were 
 he a mechanic. The perchloride of iron, perhaps, acts with most cer- 
 tainty and is the easiest to manage, though it is largely a matter of choice, 
 
 next pour over the hypo, solution used for fixing. This dissolves away the thin layer that 
 has changed color. I wash well again and examine the negative to observe if sufficient 
 deposit has been removed. If it has, the operation is complete; if it he still too dense, I 
 repeat the operation with the perchloride and the hypo, as before, well washing between the 
 operations. If the perchloride be too strong, or has been left on too long, the negative will 
 be found to have been reduced too much, and recourse must be had to the usual intensifying 
 process to recover what has been lost. This, however, is not nearly so desirable as reducing 
 only to just the desirable extent. I should mention that this method leaves the silver in a 
 spongy state that is easily penetrated by the varnish ; it is better, therefore, rather to under 
 than overdo this reduction, otherwise the negative, when varnished, will be too weak in the 
 high-lights. I rarely reduce my negative by only one operation of the perchloride and hypo., 
 but I generally use the solutions alternately two or even three times, and thus gradually 
 approach my result, it being very difficult, especially if there be much density, to exactly 
 estimate the influence of the perchloride solution. In this method it is best to experiment 
 on a useless plate or two. At .first most persons will either carry the process of reduction 
 too far, or will not carry it far enough. I know few processes requiring more judgment in 
 its use than this one, but it is really at times so useful that all photographers should be 
 acquainted with it. By its employment many otherwise useless negatives may be made to 
 produce passable prints. It can be used advantageously to reduce the intensity of a negative 
 in local parts. It may be poured on hands or foreheads, shirt-fronts, white skirts, or similar 
 parts that are relatively too dense. I use a dropping-bottle with a fine orifice, and, holding 
 it close to the plate, pour on a fine stream to just where I want to localize the effect, washing 
 Instantly the solution away before it sensibly acts on the adjoining parts. This I repeat two 
 or three times in succession, washing between, when I have a small part — say the side of a 
 face, hands, white gloves, or handkerchief — prior to using the fixing agent. — Jabez Hughes. 
 The ferridcyanide of potassium system is also very valuable, but the chemicals are rather 
 more difficult to obtain. I had often admired the negatives produced by Dr. Maidstone 
 Smith, of Bath, sent to me for enlargement, and he has kindly given me his formula, which 
 works admirably, the only drawback being a slight liability to stain ; the increase of power 
 is obtained solely by change of color, and, as in the above, the solutions keep permanently. 
 
 1. — Persulphate of Uranium, . 1 drachm. 
 
 Water, 6 ounces. 
 
 And, in a separate bottle, 
 
 2. — Ferridcyanide of Potassium, 1 drachm. 
 
 Water, 6 ounces. 
 
 Take a drachm (according to size of plate) of number one, and flood the plate whilst wet; 
 pour back to the measure, and add number two, drop by drop, and work over the plate. It 
 is the latter that gives the intensifying power, and it must be slowly added ; the intensity in 
 gradually given, and the result very beautiful. Which of these two systems is preferable I 
 
142 WILSON'S PHOTOGEAPHICS. 
 
 i 189. After the negative has run the gauntlet of all the preceding 
 troubles it must be varnished, as has already been stated. (See page 114.) 
 It is then entrusted to the tender mercies of the printer, who, if in sym- 
 pathy with the manipulator, will secure from it the best possible results. 
 He is not always careful, however. The negative that produces the best 
 results is the most used, and often the most abused. The varnish be- 
 comes full of dust and specks which are allowed to fall upon and become 
 imbedded in it, and it must be removed and the plate revarnished. Or 
 it may be that the negative is no longer serviceable, and it is required to 
 remove the film in order to use the glass again. 
 
 really find it difficult to say, both are very good ; and I fancy the composition of the image 
 equally good in either case. Such negatives, when varnished, are as smooth as the glass 
 itself ^Samuel Fry. 
 
 I read of a man whose health suffered from the use of intensifiers. Why use mercury, 
 sijlphuret, etc., when iron will do the work quickly or slowly, as you choose to have it ? Beside 
 it works very effectually. Below is a formula for which I am indebted to the editor of the 
 Philadelphia Photographer ; since using it I have had no trouble in getting all the intensity 
 I want. If it turns muddy, increase the dose of the acid a little. Here it is : 
 
 Sulphate of Iron, .......... 1 ounce. 
 
 Citric Acid, .... ...... i " 
 
 Water, ............ 1 quart. 
 
 Use either before or after fixing, as you like best, with a few drops of silver in it just before 
 use, as in case of the pyro. intensifier. — Rana,ld Dotjolasb. 
 
 189. Many methods have been suggested for removing the varnish from old plates. A 
 mixture of benzine and alcohol in equal parts, agitated and poured on the plate, generally 
 acts very quickly and very well. The last traces of reduced silver which may yet adhere 
 are then removed by iodized alcohol (alcohol 100, iodine 0.50). When the surface is properly 
 cleaned, it is rubbed over with the finger or a tuft of cotton lightly impregnated with tallow, 
 and wiped dry. Plates thus prepared may be kept indefinitely, and are protected from 
 dampness, the enemy which too ofieii imposes itself between the collodion and its support. — 
 Elbbbt Anderson. 
 
 Pill a large, flat, and deep porcelain dish with as many old negatives as it will hold, or 
 that you may wish to destroy, so overlapping their edges or placing them that there will be 
 a small space between the surface of each of the plates. Then pour upon the entire batch 
 sufficient commercial nitric acid to entirely cover it. Add about four ounces of strong alcohol 
 to each quart of the acid. No action takes place immediately; but in about ten minutes 
 ebullition commences, and dense noxious fumes will be violently emitted. In an incredibly 
 short time collodion skins, protected by the hardest and most impenetrable varnish, will 
 entirely leave the glasses, and they are ready for a slight washing, albumenizing, and 
 further use. It is scarcely necessary to suggest that the dish should be placed in the strong 
 draught of a chimney, or in the open air. In half an hour you can more simply and effectually 
 cleanse more old negatives than by days of treatment with alkalies and acids used in any 
 other manner. — John L. Gihon. 
 
 Cover the bottom of a dish with the negatives, face upwards ; pour oil of vitriol (sulphuric 
 
MANIPULATOET MiSBEIES. 143 
 
 190. Another sort of carelessness also causes trouble with the var- 
 nished plates. If they are kept in a damp place the film will rise up and 
 form inequalities, which, when pressed upon, burst, and the plate is 
 ruined — checkered hopelessly to all appearance. Again, rents occur in 
 the film, resulting from dirty plates as well as dampness. Often a valua- 
 ble negative is brought out from the rack, where it has been stored for 
 some time, looking pitiful enough. Sometimes racking it away in a cold 
 place, while it is still hot from printing in the sun, will cause such defects. 
 
 acid) on the top of one, in quantity equal in size to a half-crown. Then place another 
 negative, face down, on the acid. It will soon spread itself all over between the negatives 
 if sufficient is added, and the dish level. Now do the same to all the other glasses lying on 
 the hottom ; after which, another layer, face upwards, and another, face downwards, with 
 acid, of course, between them. The varnish is removed almost instantly, and the plate left 
 chemically clean. When the dish is full, tip it up, and pour off the excess of acid into 
 another bottle until it ceases to run in a stream, but not longer. The acid is now black with 
 the charcoal from the decomposed organic matter on the plate. This used acid is the first to 
 be employed on the next occasion, but requires a little more to be used, and allowed to 
 rest an hour or two after the excess has been poured off as before directed. The next thing 
 to do is to upset the dish in a pan of water, separate the glasses, and rub their surfaces with 
 the hand under water, and then let a little stream of clean water play on both surfaces for 
 half a minute, and stand up to drain. There is no danger of the acid Injuring the fingers 
 under water, nor is it liable to splash when being poured on the plates — it is- too oily for that. 
 This acid is far more rapid than nitric acid, gives off no corrosive fumes, and is very cheap. 
 The bottle ought to have a stream of water played over it before put aside, so as to be clean 
 and dry for the next occasion. I never get a dirty plate by this means. — T. S. Beeves. 
 
 190. When the film blisters, tie plate should be laid, varnished side downwards, upon a 
 vessel filled with equ^l parts of ether and alcohol, when the film would be softened and lie 
 down again fiat. The varnish might also be removed by dissolving it at once with alcohol 
 and potash, but that often displaced and injured the collodion film. — Hbrr Criefelds. 
 
 Rents in the varnish of negatives may be removed thus : I had been frequently troubled 
 by worm-like rents in valuable plates, and tried a variety of ways of removing them. With 
 powder I got no good results, nor with rubbing in black with oil of turpentine ; indeed, that 
 sometimes loosened the film. I now always use a little dust from a corner of the studio, 
 rubbed in with a piece of wadding. Of course, when the rents are wide they must be filled 
 in by retouching. Herr Brischke used powder scraped off lead-pencils. — Hbrr Cribfblds. 
 
 Some are inclined to attribute the cause to dampness, others to dirty plates ; but my ex- 
 perience has, I think, exposed the real fact that, air dry or damp, plates dirty or clean, an 
 abrupt change of temperature is the guilty worker of the damage. I remember on one oc- 
 casion (which, by the way, prompted my study of the subject) taking a quantity of nega- 
 tives safe and sound from the storeroom over night, preparatory to printing from them on 
 the following morning ; but, when that morning dawned, on going to the box I found that 
 mischief had preceded me, and had worked ruin in shapes labyrinthine and fantastic. The 
 lesson was imparted in brief; but I quickly learned the necessity of transferring negatives 
 at once from the storeroom to frames when their removal happened in dull winter. The 
 
144 "WILSON'S PHOTOGKAPHICS. 
 
 191. And now, having piloted your negatives safely across this wide sea 
 of troubles, do not forget that there are one or two things that may give 
 you personal trouble, and even cause your death if care is not exercised. 
 The first of these is from the use of cyanide of potassium. It can be en- 
 tirely and utterly dispensed with, and it should be. But there is a perver- 
 sity about the photographer, also peculiar to human nature, which causes 
 him to employ means to secure his results in his own way, despite the 
 many drawbacks pointed out by others. Hence a note further on on this. 
 
 tetter plan, however, of avoiding the danger is, doubtless, that which would make such acci- 
 dents less liable — better still, impossible. 
 
 Happily, an efficacious remedy lies within reach of every sufferer. They have only to take 
 heed that they be not again ensnared by the fallacious promises of brilliant, crystal-like var- 
 nish ; for therein lies the secret of the primary cause. Hard and non-elastic, the varnish 
 film refuses to budge when the glass expands under pressure of heat, or contracts when ex- 
 posed to extreme or, as it sometimes happens, even moderate cold, and the fruits of that 
 stubbornness consist either in the varnish coat separating into transparent, hair-like lines 
 or in rising in marbled ridges — in either case dragging along with it the collodion film-, 
 and thus ruining the most valuable negative beyond the chance of redemption. Varnishes 
 that yield a hard, brilliant surface at all times are indicative of danger, and, as such, suggest 
 the propriety of modification — either by adding alcohol to reduce the non-yielding body to 
 subjection, or by an addition of an elastic gum, such as gum frankincense, to Induce pliability. 
 — W. T. BOVEY. 
 
 191. Whenever an accident occurs from imprudent use of cyanide, such as sometimes 
 happens from an operator placing his chapped or otherwise broken hands into cyanide solu- 
 tion, the first thing to be done in case of giddiness or faintness, is to wash the wound in 
 a saturated solution of chlorine at an ordinary temperature. The patient should also im- 
 mediately swallow two or three grammes of the same solution in a glass of water, without 
 waiting to put sugar in it. He should be at once put to bed, or on the nearest couch, and 
 covered up with warm blankets, hot-water bottles being placed at his feet and along the 
 whole length of his body. The windows are opened everywhere to secure a good circulation 
 of outdoor air, for plenty of pure air is as necessary as warmth in such cases. Tea or coffee 
 is now prepared, and the patient receives a cup with ten drops of laudanum and one or two 
 spoonfuls of any alcoholic liquor, such as rum or brandy. This dose is repeated three or 
 four times, at intervals of from fifteen to thirty minutes. 
 
 In cases where the symptoms are very severe, or where the poison has been taken in- 
 ternally, in addition to the above precautions, the dose of chlorine should be five instead of 
 two or three grammes. 
 
 The patient should be allowed to inhale frequently from a vessel containing chlorine 
 water. Every five minutes a teaspoonful of the following potion should be administered : 
 
 Chlorine Water, 5 grammes. 
 
 Chlorohydrate of Ammonia, ... . . . 2 " 
 
 Sugar Water, .... 250 
 
 As soon as the patient is better, the laudanum is left out of the tea, and the potion given 
 only once in fifteen minutes. 
 
MANIPULATORY MISERIES. 145 
 
 192. The other affliction general to the photographer is the staining of 
 his hands. As cleanliness is advocated all through his manipulations, 
 when the work of the day is ended he also wants to appear clean. This 
 is laudable enough, but do not use cyanide of potassium for vanity's sake. 
 It is, perhaps, the easiest and quickest means of cleansing the hands, but 
 it is also the most dangerous, and should never be resorted to. 
 
 193. Still another evil — and perhaps the most insidious of them all — 
 is the inhalation of poisonous fumes. Photography is not necessarily an 
 unhealthy vocation. There are many veterans in our art who are still 
 
 It is well to have the above potion and the solution of chlorine always on hand, and 
 labelled with directions for use. A case of such poisoning may not occur in a gallery once 
 in a lifetime ; but still, if it does occur, a valuable life may be saved by the prompt use of the 
 above remedies, and on the delay of a minute vital issues may depend. — J. L. Gihon. 
 
 192. I have kept silver stains from my hands for the past six or seven years by the use 
 of pumice-stone. Take a piece the size of an egg, and file it smooth on all sides. When 
 through the day's work, rub the hands with the stone under the tap, and away go the stains. 
 I got poisoned with cyanide some years ago, which induced me to try the above, and, until I 
 find something better, I shall stick to the pumice-stone rather than have the silver stick to 
 m?. — "Well Gt. Sinqhi. 
 
 Sulphate of soda and chloride of lime, equal parts each. Add just enough water to make 
 a rather thick solution. When about to clean the hands, smear them well with the above. 
 It will not act instantly, but in about five minutes every trace of silver will have disappeared. 
 Wash well in clean water, and after drying the hands rub them over with a little glycerin, 
 diluted one-half with rose-water. This will soften the skin, which the lime is apt to render 
 harsh, and prevent chapping in cold weather. — P. C. Phillips. 
 
 193. Many persons are now using the alkaline development, and it is well to point out 
 that if the ammoniacal vapors are allowed to mingle with the air of the laboratory they pro- 
 duce a fog on plates treated by the wet process and developed with the iron salt. To avoid 
 this serious trouble, it is necessary to ventilate'lhe laboratory after having used the alkaline 
 development, otherwise there is a risk of losing the plates which are successively treated 
 there. It is not only necessary to renew the air as much as possible, but to sprinkle a little 
 acetic acid on the floor to absorb the ammoniacal vapors. — Unkkown. 
 
 The ventilation that is necessary is certainly more than that which would be accomplished 
 by having two or three small openings for the admission and exit of air. Some system 
 should be devised whereby a rapid and constant change of air in these little apartments 
 can be certainly produced, and it never is a difficult thing to accomplish. A tallow candle, 
 lighted and placed in a little flue, or a small kerosene-lamp, in such a position that it will 
 cause a current to pass up through the flue, and outof the laboratory, and a few holes at the 
 bottom, for the admission of air, make a constant and tolerably rapid current to pass through 
 the room, and insure a rapid change of atmosphere ; and, certainly, tallow candles and 
 kerosene are sufficiently cheap. The ways of securing ventilation are simply numberless, 
 and no photographer, with a little care of this sort in ventilating his rooms, need ever com- 
 plain of- the harmful effect of fumes and gases. By diluting them with atmospheric air in 
 10 
 
146 WILSON'S PHOTOGEAPHICS. 
 
 living at a ripe old age, and life insurance companies consider photog- 
 raphers quite as good " risks " as any other class, but too much care 
 cannot be given to the avoidance of unnecessary inhalation of the fumes 
 arising from poisonous chemicals. Ventilation and a frequent airing of the 
 dark-room will secure you from evil results in this direction. (See page 92.) 
 194. There are other defects, many of them, vphich annoy, but they can 
 be largely avoided by regarding the following rules : Have your glass 
 very clean ; keep your bath well filtered and slightly acid ; let your col- 
 lodion be a good orange-yellow color; have your developer fresh and 
 clean ; see that there are no splits or cracks in your dark-room, by which 
 white light is admitted ; see that your cameras and plate-holders are in 
 good condition and perfectly light-tight ; never allow reflected light to 
 enter your camera, but so screen your light that the direct rays will fall 
 on the sitter, and leave your camera in the shade ; never take out or de- 
 velop your plate by too strong a light ; if you use yellow glass to light 
 your dark-room, coat a plate, and expose it for three or four minutes near 
 the glass, and then develop it; if it fogs, put a yellow cambric curtain over 
 your glass ; keep your hands and everything about you perfectly clean. 
 
 abundance, he will breaihe them in such attenuation that they will do no harm. — Dr. Nor- 
 man- Bridge. 
 
 v/194. "Closet speculations," as I will term them, are, perhaps, the most dangerous things 
 which can be thrust forth on far-oif and credulous readers. Of these we have ever and anon 
 • a surfeit. They are, of all things, most difficult to detect. No doubt many are given in 
 good faith, but there is a good deal of "hap-hazard " to be gone through before we arrive at 
 the realization of our hopes. One will tell you to a centigramme how much silver he dis- 
 solved in an equally certain quantity of alcohol ; that it was heated, etc. ; but he cannot for 
 the life of him tell you, short of an almost unheard-of experiment (for an ordinary photog- 
 raphed), whether every atom of that silver nitrate was " got in." By the addition of certain 
 bromides, chlorides, and iodides (one or more combined), he has obtained about that which 
 was necessary to the successful working of his process. Luckily for photographers, the 
 "chemistry of photography " is good-natured, and seems to admit of a "rule of thumb," but 
 in order to appreciate this, we must always be on the lookout. — A. M. Da Silva. 
 
 Little THtNos worth Looking after.— Keep the inside of your camera-box free from 
 dust : I have heard bath solutions condemned when the fault was dust from the camera-box. 
 Every time you shut your ground-glass, or put in the shield, draw the slide, or remove the 
 shield, you start a current of air that will put any quantity of dust in motion if it is in the 
 box. Keep your shield or dark-slide well greased. Be sure you wipe off all, only what goes 
 well into the pores of the wood. It will not injure the working of any of your chemicals, 
 will keep the shield in the best of order, and will make one shield last longer than two 
 would without ft. Lard or mutton tallow will do. — Frank Eowbll. 
 
LESSOlSr I. 
 
 RETOUCHING THE NEGATIVE. 
 
 yi95. The practice of retouching tLe negative is too general now to use 
 any argument against it. Its legitimate object is to remove natural 
 blemishes in the skin, and to help to preserve the half-tones or middle- 
 tints in the negative. But it is used to such excess in many instances as 
 to make the likeness hard to discern, and to utterly destroy the delicate 
 work of the manipulator. There is a mechanical sort of retouching, and 
 there is an artistic one, too. Strive always after the latter. 
 
 196. Retouching the negative consists in working upon the collodion 
 
 195. Ketoitchinq. — I think the practice of retouching the negative a sad thing for pho- 
 tography. It is impossible, for even very capable artists, to rival or improve the delicate, 
 almost mysterious, gradations of the photograph. Magnify the photographic rendering of, 
 say, the human eye, with a strong lens, and it is found to be almost startling in its marvel- 
 lous truth. Magnify the retouched image, and it will look like coarse deformity. It ceases 
 to be true. I have sometimes seen a touched photograph which looked very nice, but it pos- 
 sessed no interest for me ; I knew it could not be trusted. I have been charged with sophis- 
 ticating photographs because I combined and masked and sunned prints. But there is » 
 great distinction between suppressing and adding ; I never added. I stopped out portions 
 of the negative which I did not require to form my picture ; I sunned down that which was 
 obtrusive, and where one negative would not serve, I used two or more, joining them with 
 as much truth as I could. But I never attempted to improve negatives. I never believed 
 that I could draw better or more truly than nature. I consider a touched photograph spoiled 
 for every purpose. — O. G. Ebjlandbr. 
 
 There are many negatives taken that require very little, if any, retouching. The retouch- 
 ing-frame, however, is the best place to determine that, and consequently I take my negatives 
 there for examination. There are three points that can be made here upon this subject: 1. 
 Are there skin blotches that would make the print unpleasant, if left as they appear upon 
 the negative? If there are, remove or soften them. 2. Has some unfortunate circumstance 
 produced more or less holes in it? If so, stop them up. 3. Were you unfortunate enough 
 to get too strong a contrast between the lights and shades ? If so, blend them. These are 
 the three principal points to be considered. — I. B. Webster. 
 
 196. The following formula I find of the best proportions : 
 
 Best Orange Shellac in flakes, 2 ounces. 
 
 Carbonate of Ammonia, pure crystals, ..,.,, 4 " 
 
 Soft Water, clean, 24 " 
 
 Quantity when finished tu be sixteen ounces. 
 
 (147) 
 
148 WILSON'S PHOTOGKAPHICS. 
 
 film with pencil and color, after first securing a "tooth" or a "biting" 
 surface for them by the application of a varnish, or by rubbing, in order 
 to modify the image to suit the ideas of the artist and his patron as to 
 beauty of result. It is a safe process, if the one practising it knows what 
 it is desirable to produce. A rough proof from the untouched negative 
 should be at hand as a guide, and the greatest care taken not to alter the 
 likeness. 
 
 197. Those who have had no practice in this delicate department of 
 our art, should experiment upon useless negatives until the hand be- 
 comes accustomed to giving a refined touch and the taste is educated to 
 
 Heat the water in a tin vessel, of a capacity of at least one gallon, with a convenient handle 
 attached, to facilitate quickly removing from the fire when inclined to froth over. When 
 near boiling, add the ammonia crystals slowly, as a fierce ebullition will take place; when 
 nearly dissolved, add the shellac and stir rapidly to keep the shellac from running together; 
 continue the boiling until all is dissolved, which will require about twenty minutes. Don't 
 get impatient and throw in more ammonia, because it is not necessary, unless the shellac is 
 allowed to run together, and the ammonia should be evaporated by long boiling ; stir rapidly 
 and boil quickly. Continue the boiling until the hot solution can be poured into a tin pint 
 measure. The time usually required for the whole operation is half an hour. Let the 
 solution remain in the measure until cold, say over night, when there will be a scum on top, 
 which remove ; then filter, and it will be of the right consistency for use. Procure two 
 wide-mouth pouring-bottles, but use no stoppers or coverings, as in removing them they 
 will dislodge dry scales from the mouth of the bottle, which will flow upon the negative. 
 Label them No. 1 and No. 2 ; the use of No. 1, first, is to avoid the dilution of No. 2, or 
 ■final flow, which should be retained at a proper consistency, for retouching upon it will need 
 an occasional filtering, and even with two bottles will in time become too much diluted, 
 when it will be necessary to boil a little. If in boiling it becomes of a milky color, it is a 
 sign of precipitation of the shellac. Remedy, throw in a small lump of ammonia, when it will 
 soon assume a dark cherry color. Always flow the negative while wet. — C. M. Pkbnch. 
 
 Take one ounce of turpentine and add twenty drops of balsam of flr, and you will have a 
 retouching varnish putting benzine clean out of sight. Hub on the part you wish to retouch 
 with a piece of cotton, then with another piece of cotton rub off the surplus moisture, allow 
 a moment to dry, and rub again, and a nice retouching surface will be the result. — R. W. 
 Dawson. 
 
 197. Let us take a negative as an example. It is, in consequence of under-exposure, out 
 of harmony; the scale of tones is broken. Now, what is wanted is to supply, with color 
 skilfully applied, the tones missing. In the first place, then, commencing with the lights, 
 I find there are no high-lights ; the lights all over the face have spread too much, and a flat 
 tint half across the face is all there is, where there should be at least three tints or tones. 
 The flrst thing to be done is to put on the highest lights. These are upon the forehead, the 
 nose, and chin; these must be made two tints deeper, that is, more opaque than the sur- 
 rounding parts. Next, work near these lights, gradually up to them, but still leaving them 
 one tiat higher than the color you are putting on, and, working from them, gradually blend 
 
RETOUCHING THE NEGATIVE. 149 
 
 a degree that ■will guard against excess. First remove the worst blem- 
 ishes, and then very carefully, indeed, attack the minor ones, referring 
 frequently to your proof. Both stippling and hatching may he used, 
 according to your own feeling in the matter. 
 
 v/lQS. IJTever allow yourself to grow into the habit of careless manipu- 
 lation with the expectancy of " making it up " in retouching. Make the 
 very best negative you c&n first, and then improve its delicacy by retouch- 
 
 the color into the tint of the negative. By this means there have been two tones added 
 to the scale. Now, taking the shadows, I find they are too much spread, and come too 
 abruptly up to the lights ; in fact, that numbers four, five, and six of the scale are missing. 
 Now, working from the lights, and using less color as I get nearer the deepest shadow, 
 I supply the tones missing. I have now a negative that will be perfect both in harmony 
 and gradation. 
 
 Another negative has been over-exposed, and the print wants depth and vigor. As we 
 cannot take out shadows, we must add color, to build up the lights to sufficient strength to 
 allow the shadows to print deep enough. This is done in the same way as in the former 
 case, putting on the highest lights very strong and working from them. 
 
 And now a word of caution : Do not use much gum in the color ; if possible do without it 
 altogether, for if gum is used, and the printer is not very careful, the silver on the face of the 
 paper will come off upon the retouching, and, darkening with every exposure, will eventually 
 stop the light out altogether, and white spots upon the face are the consequence. This can 
 be avoided by warming the negative and paper before putting them together. — Gbokqk 
 Croughton. 
 
 If there is a crooked nose, try and straighten it by making the high-light appear as it 
 would if the nose were straight ; cut the corners of the mouth ; lighten the shadow under 
 the eyes ; fill up the sunken cheeks ; modify any unfortunate wrinkles ; sharpen the eyes by 
 intensifying the white and drawing the line of the upper and lower lids. Now proceed to 
 smooth the complexion, but be careful not to smooth all the roundness out of the picture ; 
 see that you do not reduce the high-lights too much by bringing up the shadows and half- 
 tones. But if there appears to be a flattening of the face, judicijusly intensify the high- 
 lights ; avoid, of course, too great a distribution of the high-lights, which will give the pic- 
 ture a glistening or choppy effect. One of the greatest things in retouching, and one that 
 requires considerable practice to attain, is an artistic touch. By this I mean so manipula- 
 ting the pencil as to produce that transparent and peachy texture which may be observed in 
 a fine water-color or india-ink picture. This effect is produced by a series of hatches done 
 in a perfectly true and free manner, each stroke of the pencil being put exactly where it be- 
 longs, and not overlapping its neighbor, and producing that spotty and unquiet effect so ob- 
 jectionable to the educated eye. Do not take the pencil, and start in with the purpose of 
 laboriously stippling the whole negative, regardless of what comes in the way, whether it 
 be light or shadow, so that the picture comes out as if it had been sand-papered. Such a 
 manner of working produces nothing but a tame and insipid effect, and has been the cause 
 of most of the objections to retouching. — N. H. Buset. 
 
 198. Eetouching cannot produce a perfect picture from a really bad negative ; and yet, 
 nevertheless, there are photographers who, before retouching was generally used, worked 
 
X50 WILSON'S PHOTOGRAPHICS. 
 
 ing. For such purposes only should this power he used. Eetouching is 
 not " making smooth." You want a delicate play of half-tone, light, and 
 shade preserved over the face, and no retouching should ever be allowed 
 to cover it up. 
 
 199. The appliances needed are a retouching-frame, pencils, brushes, 
 some crimson-lake and Prussian blue color, a cake of Gihon's "Opaque," 
 a brush for each of these, and a magnify ing-glass. "With their judicious 
 use by careful hands, and with feeling for the work, negatives can gen- 
 erally be helped in their printing qualities to a pleasing degree. They 
 may also be spoiled to a hopeless degree, if the appliances are not care- 
 fully used. 
 
 with the greatest ambition to produce the very best work, have now become careless, " as all 
 that can be helped by retouching." To such, instead of improvement, it is a drawback, and 
 they must reform, or eventually be superseded by the more zealous and careful ones of the 
 craft. A competent retoucher should be acquainted with the general anatomical features of 
 the face, a slight knowledge of drawing at least, and a thorough understanding of the effect 
 of light and shade, that when working, none of those soft shades and little wrinkles which 
 characterize the face are erased, thereby destroying the likeness, and causing the picture to 
 appear jflaf. In working up a negative, never overdo it. This is the greatest mistake, and 
 one generally practised; the face in such work appearing like the smooth, stretched head of 
 a drum, or in disagreeable splotches, termed chalky. Another metliod is to produce what is 
 called eggshell surface, the whole appearing as speckled as the surface of a guinea-egg re- 
 duced. This is the mostobjectionable, as itentirely misrepresents thesurfaee of theskin, and 
 yet some artists take special pains to produce such pictures, which, to any one of artistic taste, 
 must seem ridiculous. The right manner is to remove glaring imperfections, or hard shadows, 
 and to regulate disagreeable features in such » manner that the marks of the pencil do not 
 show in strokes or dots on the finished print. — Eobbrt Mokqeneiek. 
 
 199. I have at hand a cake of water-color, called neutral tint. Upon a piece of china 
 (porcelain) plate drop about two drops of clean water. Now take the cake between the 
 thumb and finger and rub one end of said cake a very short time in those drops of water, 
 and a sufficient quantity of the color will be deposited upon the white plate to last a long 
 time. Do not attempt to use it until the water has dried out of it, which consumes very 
 little time. Now provide yourself with a two-ounce wide-mouth bottle; half fill it with 
 water, and set it upon the table near the white plate with color on it. You will also need 
 two eamel's-hair pencils, with \ong handles, and a cake of Gihon's " Opaque." Let's see now; 
 is there anything else needed? Yes, you need a painter's rest-stick. To do this well, your 
 hand must be perfectly steady, and at the same time flexible. You must have a stick of 
 some soft, and this is the best. — I. B. Webster. 
 
 With the articles that I have mentioned, first-class touching can be done by care and 
 patient practice. One great advantage of the water-color over the pencil is the facility with 
 which the work can be undone if not satisfactory in the first, second, or even the tenth effort. 
 In some cases the pencil is good, especially if there is very little to be done. Even when 
 using the pencil, do not use any modern means recommended to roughen up the surface of it 
 
RETOUCHING THE NEGATIVE. 151 
 
 200. As the retoucher progresses, if he thinks, he will discover many 
 methods of doing this delicate work which will serve him to good pur- 
 pose. Inspiration comes in here, too, and the " learning how " will never 
 end, because no two negatives require the same treatment exactly. 
 Study your negative well before you begin. Give it credit for all the good 
 there is in it, and then he careful you don't rob it in the least. 
 
 to what is termed tooth. All this can be effectually overcome by first whittling the pencil 
 down to a long slender point, and finishing by means of sand-jiaper. Whenever the pencil 
 fails to deposit on the negative as required, pass it over the sand-paper a time or two, and it 
 goes off all right again.. Rather a hard pencil does better in my hands than a soft one. 
 This, however, depends somewhat upon use. The practice, however, of disturbing the 
 varnish by the use of pumice-stone, fish-bone, emery, etc., to secure tooth, is too dangerous 
 to be successful. I would therefore advise you not to practise it. When the skin blotches 
 are too deep to remove with the pencil, then the neutral tint and brush come in first-rate. — 
 I. B. Webster. 
 
 In my practice I have found the patent pencil with movable leads, made by Faber, the 
 best for retouching, as the lead is of very fine quality and perfectly free from grit ; they are 
 also much more convenient than the ordinary lead-pencil, as they do not require to be 
 sharpened. I have tried metallic and most every other kind of pencil, but find these the 
 best. A pretty hard lead is best for fine work on small head's, but f.)r a large head, where 
 the strokes are to be bold, a softer lead is required. As a general thing, it is not necessary to 
 roughen the surface of a negative, as the varnish will have sufficient tooth to take the pencil ; 
 but when the surface is too smooth, or it is necessary to put a great deal of heavy retouch- 
 ing upon a negative, pulverized pumice will be found to be very useful ; just dip the finger 
 into the pumice, knock the loose powder back into the box, and gently rub the finger over 
 the part of the negative required to be roughened ; this will be all that is necessary in most 
 cases. Such things as grit- varnish, etc., are not only of no service, but decidedly detrimental, 
 making too rough a surface entirely. The retouching-frames sold by the stock-dealers are 
 very useful, and are all that is required ; but I prefer to substitute for the mirror a piece of 
 white cardboard, and to remove the ground-glass from the frame, which gives a soft, agree- 
 able light that does not in the least dazzle the eyes. If you have a ground-glass window 
 to work by, the mirror will do. It is much better to work in a darkened room where there 
 is no other light than that which comes through the negative from the reflector. As far as 
 any definite instructions can be given, the rest depends upon skill and artistic taste. — ^N. H. 
 
 BtJSET. 
 
 200. It was also in Scotland that I saw a very good dodge for saving time in retouching. 
 On the film side of the negative was strained a piece of ordinary tracing-paper; the paper 
 was slightly dampened, and the edges being gummed, it was laid on the face of the negative 
 and let dry ; when dry it was strained quite tight, and so interposed a thickness of tracing- 
 paper between the sensitive paper and the negative, which considerably softened freckles and 
 other accidental markings, and gave a good surface for working in the high-lights, etc. I 
 have tried this dodge for enlarged negatives, and can highly recommend it. — Geoeob 
 Crouqhton. 
 
 A friend communicated to me a simple and very good way of sharpening the lead-pencil 
 
152 
 
 WILSON'S PHOTOGBAPHICS. 
 
 y201. The photographer who has not enough retouching of negatives 
 to do to employ a retoucher steadily, will find a retouching-machine to 
 help him over the most time-taking portions of the work, the fine finish^ 
 ing only, requiring the labor of his hands. There are various kinds of 
 these advertised by the dealers. They are useful and helpful. 
 
 202. Books and chapters have been written upon this subject, and the 
 one who desires to become an accomplished retoucher, or doctor of neg- 
 
 used in retouching ; and I find that a fine needle-point can be made by it in a moment. 
 Take a small piece of ground-glass and moisten a place suflBciently large, and grind the lead 
 on it by rubbing lightly endwise (not sidewise, as that would be likely to break it), while 
 turning the pencil so as to grind the sides equally. — Feank; A. Morrbll. 
 
 Here is the method I have adopted : Take a two-ounce glass measure, fill it with old bath 
 solution (the strength is a matter of no moment); put in next a little pyrogallic acid — the 
 exact amount, so that you put in enough, does not matter ; the result is the immediate pre- 
 cipitation of silver. In a few minutes stir the whole well up, and throw it upon a filter; 
 when the liquor has run through, fill up the filter again with water ; repeat this two or three 
 times, then set the filter aside. In a day or so, when dry, carefully remove the powder from 
 the filter by some little scraping instrument. Put it away for future use. A small portion 
 of this is prepared for use at a time by being ground on the palette with a little gum-water ; 
 the less the better. I work the pigment with a knife, giving a gentle circular motion, and 
 keeping it up till the whole dries ; the gradual thickening of the gum solution as the water 
 evaporates seems to assist in breaking up the particles to an extreme state of fineness. This 
 pigment can be used with water in the usual way ; but I think care should be taken not to 
 suck the brush, as a daily dose (people who retouch negatives at all generally do so every 
 day, I suppose) of silver in a state of fine powder might lead to serious consequences. — 
 Stellar Polaris. 
 
 201. Of the varied motions of a retouching-machine an actual drawing by the machines has 
 been made. The annexed cut shows a very much enlarged copy of such » drawing. 1 is 
 the "horizontal;" 2, the "perpendicular;" 3, the "diagno-horizontal;" and 4, the "diagno- 
 perpendicular" motion, all at the highest speed, which, with the fact that these strokes are 
 
 greatly magnified, accounts for the coarseness 
 of the drawing. If the drawing represented 
 the actual size of the strokes secured by the 
 machine, they would be so fine the eye could 
 not see the difference. In number one the 
 greatest variations are shown purposely, be- 
 t cause it must be remembered that, although 
 the negative is moved by the machine to meet 
 the pencil-point whenever it is applied by the hand, the hand controls the size and form of 
 the touch. 
 
 i 202. On what principle is the necessity of retouching based ? Notwithstanding skilful 
 lighting, posing, and chemical manipulations, without exception the result obtained is 
 always such that we are forced to reduce the too hard, troublesome contrasts formed by the 
 impurity of the skin, such as freckles, scars, and other unpleasant features, which, by an 
 
 Fig. 39. 
 
 
RETOUCHIKG THE NEGATIVE. 153 
 
 atives, will do well to gather all the hints he can. In the hands of a 
 skilled artist, the needle-point, the brush, the gas-flame, and smoke will 
 all be found useful appliances. In all cases, however, be merciful in your 
 handling of a negative that is fall of good printing qualities, before you 
 proceed to — make it worse. 
 
 ordinary glance at the subject, are scarcely perceptible or wholly unnoticed. Blemishes, 
 also, may occur in other parts of the negative which call retouching into requisition. — 
 
 J. "W. MORQENBIEB. 
 
 Retouching is misunderstood entirely. A negative being made, when the proof is pro- 
 duced it shows wrinkles, it shows spots, it shows lights too strong, or shades too deep. 
 Well, we are going to retouch the negative properly. Now, here is a little line or mark 
 that shows you the place of a bone ; these little lines, if the person does not understand any- 
 thing about bones, he will destroy, and the bone is gone. Here is a little mark, a little light 
 which forms a dimple in the cheeks or in the hand, he will destroy that. Suppose it is a 
 Jittle strong and ought to be subdued, he destroys it entirely, and that little dimple is gone, 
 which is one of the beauties of the face. "Well, the same of the nose. I have photographs 
 brought to me of which the nose is entirely destroyed. There is no bridge to it ; there is 
 no bone in it ; it is entirely destroyed ; it is a person without a bridge to his nose, an empty 
 line without any significance. — D. C. Fabkonius. 
 
 In conclusion, I would remark that none but those who have received and benefited by 
 an artistic education, improved by constant practice, can hope to emulate the masterly ex- 
 amples to be found in the works of Keutlinger, etc. ; such perfection can only be achieved 
 by the experienced miniature painter, who, more than any other, should possessa keen ap- 
 preciation of the. value of every touch. There is still this to be borne in mind, that however 
 unskilled a person may be in the use of either brush or pencil, if he but bring to his task an 
 earnest and careful desire, he cannot fail to be both surprised and gratified with the amount 
 of improvement he will be enabled to eflTeot. Let it always be remembered, however, that 
 the object of touching should be to remove such defects as are incident to the limited capacity 
 of photography in rendering color, or such as are merely temporary blemishes in the sitter; 
 and in no case to smooth away the truth of nature. — William Mayland. 
 
 Two common errors with beginners must be particularly guarded against, that of marking 
 the eyelashes too strongly and that of obliterating them completely, making the eye look as 
 if it had been singed. The upper edge of the lash must be softened into the lid, and the 
 lower edge must melt imperceptibly into the shadows which it cajts upon the orb beneath it. 
 Under the outward extremity of the lash the thickness of the lid is perceptible ; this must 
 be represented as it is seen, that is, distinct from the lash and tender in tone. The form 
 assumed by the pupil of the eye is, of course, governed by the relative position of the head — 
 round in full-face portraits and oval in profile, intermediate forms with half profile, three- 
 quarter face, etc. These positions in turn control the lighting of the eye. — J. P. Ourdan. 
 
LESSON J. 
 
 THE GLASS STUDIO. 
 
 203. In order to secure the best eflfects in portraiture, it is necessary to 
 have a covered enclosure free from the action of the elements, and where 
 the light may be controlled to suit the purpose. Such an enclosure is 
 called a " glass studio " or " skylight." The former, because it is neces- 
 sary that it should be of glass in order to admit the light, and as the 
 work-room where the painter produces his effects is called a studio, so is 
 this, the work-room of the photographer, called the studio. The latter 
 name is given because it must, in order to be properly lighted, be erected 
 so near the skj'that no surrounding objects can interfere with the supply 
 of light from the right direction. In constructing photographic studios, 
 more gross and expensive blunders have been made, probably, than in 
 any other photographic direction. Some of the wildest theories have 
 been followed by our best photographers in all countries, regardless of 
 expense, in this line, and there are countless wrecks lying about as useless 
 
 ^ 203. Now do not be deluded with the idea that, whenever j-ou see a good photographic 
 effect, it is all owing to the light. It is not so. "What I mean is, that a picture may he 
 good, and yet he made in a very badly constructed light, and that the construction of the 
 light is not the only thing to consider when you desire to make a good picture. I have seen 
 men have splendidly constructed studios, without one idea as to the best way of working 
 them. I have seen men worlcing most beautiful results in most inconvenient and cramped 
 up places. Thus you will perceive that the "light" is only one means of assistance in 
 securing the best results. So, when you examine good work again, j-ou must not only say, 
 "His light is better than mine," but he has more feeling, more brains than I, together with 
 better manipulative skill, and I must think how I may reach up to him. — Old Akohntum. 
 I will say here in the beginning that a skilful artist, who knows how to use his eyes and 
 how to judge of the distribution of light on his model, will know how to turn out a good 
 picture even if the atelier should be faulty in its construction. The cook of our old Fritz, the 
 hero king of the last century — and not to be confounded with the present " Our Pritz," who 
 is his great-grandchild — made a splendid fricassee from an old kid glove, but this does not 
 prove, by any means, that an old kid glove is the best material for making a good fricassee, 
 but it proves the excellence of the cook. In Germany we have generally longer glass-houses 
 than in America, and I give the preference to &\ich.,for we can shorten them at any time hy 
 curtains, but it is very difficult to lengthen a glass-house which is too short. — ^Dr. H. Vogel. 
 ( 154 ) 
 
THE GLASS STUDIO. 155 
 
 as a defunct oil-well. There should be no difficulty iu the matter at all, 
 however, though indeed there are fewer mistakes made now than there 
 used to be. This is accounted for by the fact that the principles govern- 
 ing studio construction are better understood of late years than formerly. 
 
 204. In choosing a locality for a studio, the first consideration is the 
 source of the light supply. This should, if possible, come mainly from 
 the north. A clear top-light is needed at an angle of about forty-five 
 degrees, and a side-light, vertical, or nearly so, running from the lowest 
 point of the top-light to within say two feet of the floor. This side- 
 light is best also towards the north, but answers well a good part of the 
 day if it be on the east or west side of the building, or both. All these 
 should be clear from shadows or reflections thrown by other buildings, 
 for the obvious reason that any such interference would cause annoyance 
 in the management of the light. 
 
 205. The size, form, and direction are largely governed by the site of 
 the studio, and as photographers are usually dependent upon the altera- 
 tions made in buildings for them, they must make the best of their re- 
 sources. After all, it is vastly more in the management of the studio 
 you have to operate in than in its construction. It has been impossible 
 
 ''204. I believe that every photographer will admit that a northern exposure, free and 
 unobstructed, is the most desirable, because the light is more uniform, consequently it is more 
 easily managed. Still, an east, west, or south light sometimes has a 
 decided advantage. An east light for early, a west light for late, and 
 a south light for dark weather. My own experience proves that pho- 
 tographers generally have to take the best they can get, and make the 
 most of it. But there are others who might have something better, 
 if they only know what they really ought to have. I have seen 
 some outrageously defective lights, when it was simply the fault of the 
 liners (see Fig. 40). Here was originally a passable side-light, western 
 exposure, with an 8 x 8 feet skylight, flat on the roof. Now this was 
 not so dreadful bad, but the artist concluded that he must "go for a 
 northern exposure," with the result as you see. Now, he might about 
 as well have set his " patients" in an old-fashioned chimney-corner, 
 depending upon what light came down the chimney. Of course, the 
 side-light took off some of the deep shadow under the eyebrow, nose, and chin, and the 
 reflectors "countered" on the other side; still, so many cross-rays put goggles on all except 
 "pap" eyes, and the best results obtainable were uhartistic, because there was no harmony 
 of light and shadow. — E. Z. Wbestbr. 
 
 205. Here is the most common form of skylight (in the Eastern States), but it is by far the 
 most expensive, costing twice or three times as much, and not one whit better than a plain 
 flat sash, laid out at an angle suflScient to insure the rapid passing ofl" of the rain. Three 
 
156 
 
 "WILSON'S PHOTOGEAPHICS. 
 
 Fig. 41. 
 
 to secure good effects of light and shade in some of the most expensively 
 constructed studios, while they have been " managed " in some which 
 seem to be the most simple and hopeless in every way. 
 
 206. The glazing of the glass portions is of considerable importance. 
 The brand of glass known as the " best double-thick American " is suit- 
 able, though some give preference to heavy ribbed or corrugated " sky- 
 light" glass. The glass being chosen, and leakage provided against, the 
 next thing to give attention to, is the management of the light which enters. 
 
 advantages have been claimed for this plan. 1st. Greater strength. 2d. Less leakage. 
 .3d. More light The first claim may be tenable, although the extra weight of glass vitiates 
 
 the claim. The second claim holds good to a certain ex- 
 tent, because the steepness of the pitch overcomes some 
 of the back-flow of the water.— E. Z. "Webster. 
 
 In the New England States, what is called a "cone" 
 light is used considerably. A square hole is cut in the 
 roof, and an elevated square cone fitted into it, glazed at 
 the top and sides, varying in height, and the roof slanting 
 both ways. By means of such a construction the light 
 floods into the room in a diffused state, and the operator 
 must work all around the room underneath it, shifting his 
 backgrounds and accessories several times during the day, 
 in order to escape the direct rays of the sun. There is such a thing as getting used to 
 such a light, but I could not be persuaded to work in one unless I had to do it. — Old 
 Akgentum. 
 
 This is a drawing of a much better light ; and, in fact, for some styles of work it is good 
 enough. Still, exactly the same results and effects would have been produced if the light 
 had been laid flat upon the roof and down the side of the build- 
 ing, thereby saving the disfigurement of the house, and also of the 
 room. — E. Z. "Webster. 
 
 206. In procuring glass for skylights, the photographer who 
 would provide against hailstones and accidents should purchase 
 glass of double thickness, or about one-eighth of an inch thick; 
 although the single, of about one-twelfth, will stand all ordinary 
 usage very well. The second or third quality will answer as well 
 as the first, as the slight imperfections which they contain will not 
 interfere with the passage of the rays of light. In very bright 
 days, I notice that our artists have sometimes an excess of light, 
 which they shut off by means of curtains or screens. But in a very dark day, when they 
 need all the light they can obtain, it is highly necessary that the glass should not be of a 
 dark color. "When we speak of the color of colorless glass, we mean that which is perceived 
 in looking at a piece through its edge. The color should be of a light-green or bluish-green, 
 and it should be of a quality which shall not be deteriorated in the lapse of years by the 
 moisture of the atmosphere, which sometimes produces rust or stain, and sometimes a dis- 
 integration of the surface, which gives all the appearance of ground-glass. This defect is 
 
 Fig. 42. 
 
THE GLASS STUDIO. 
 
 157 
 
 Considerable has already been said as to this in Lesson A. First, a like- 
 ness is to be secured ; next, a round, natural eflfect, by means of a gradation 
 of light and shade. The eyes must not be sunken ; the nose and chin 
 must not cast shadows ; too glaring a mass of light must not fall upon 
 any one part, and the lights must not cross, and so on. 
 
 occasioned by the use of an excess of alkali in the composition of the glass, and a hurried 
 and insufficient melting of the materials. Another defect, occasioned by impurity of ma- 
 terials or an excess of manganese in the composition of the glass, is the liability to change 
 by sunlight exposure to a yellowish or purplish color, thus diminishing its power to transmit 
 the chemical rays. We are Most happy to record that so much has been written concerning 
 these two great defects in glass-making, that they have been almost entirely remedied by glass- 
 makers at home and abroad. 1 have no doubt that a great source of trouble with some skylights 
 has been, that through a want of cleanliness, the coating of dirt and moisture on the glass has 
 presented as eflFectual a barrier to the sun's rays as the stain occasioned by rust or the change 
 of color by sunlight. As blue-glass and ground-glass cut off a much larger proportion of the 
 chemical rays than colorless glass, it is not advisable to use them, unless the photographer 
 has so light an apartment that is necessary to exclude some of these rays, or to soften and 
 diffuse the light because of its discomfort to the ej-es of the sitters. But it would be much 
 better to accomplish these objects by means of curtains in bright weather, rather than lose 
 the advantage of colorless glass on a very dark day. — Thomas Gaffield. 
 
 The slope of the glass roof should be so arranged that at the part where the sitter is placed 
 the light may be incident upon the subject with the least disturbailce of its components ; an 
 angle of forty-five degrees, if the angular form of roof is used, will be the best, but if the 
 extra expense is not an object, much better results will be obtained from the adoption of the 
 half-cylindricalform.asthe Fig, 43. 
 
 writer's experience of the 
 qualities possessed by two 
 glass studios, in identical 
 aspect and in juxtaposi- 
 tion, but of the two forms 
 in question, leads him to 
 give greatly the preference 
 to the circular, as possessing 
 more evenness and greater 
 rapidity under equal con- 
 ditions of light. It may 
 be accounted for in this 
 manner — owing to the con- 
 tinual variation in the posi- 
 tion of the sun, it is not 
 possible to adjust the angle 
 of the straight-sided glass 
 roof in such a manner that the light may pass at right angles, and with the least disturbance 
 or loss of a portion of its power ; by the obliquity of its impingement on the glass it will, 
 except at one particular interval, be incident at an oblique angle to the glazed surface, and 
 
158 WILSON'S PHOTOGRAPHICS. 
 
 207. Screens and reflectors are made use of, of many forms, to control 
 and drive the light as and where wanted. Top and side curtains also come 
 largely into service for the same purpose. At one time it was very fash- 
 ionable to blue-frost the inside surface of the glass, in order to soften and 
 modify the light. Some used ground-glass, others paint, to soften the 
 'effect of the light, but always at the expense of rapidity. Screens and 
 curtains are the best, because the most adjustabk, and give one the power 
 and control over the light to change it as the days change, which any 
 permanent coating uptin the glass could not allow. 
 
 thus suffer a derangement or loss of some portion of its actinism, which is probably the 
 reason that in practice the quality of light is found better which has passed through a circular 
 form of glazed surface, which always presents the same conditions to the incidence of the 
 ■ luminous principle, whatever may be the angle at which it impinges upon it. — Lake Pkice. 
 207. How can we obtain perfect control over the effect of light on our model, without 
 materially diminishing the photographic power of that light? That is the problem to be 
 solved, and we may as well say at once we have not wholly' solved 'it, but we believe we 
 have found a valuable clue to its solution, and it has the advantage of having been practically 
 tested in our own studio, instead of being a mere theoretical suggestion. We have a large 
 amount of skylight, with very little side-light; hy which we mean, that our principal light 
 is derived from the roof, with only two small windows at the side. This roof-light is a 
 ridge roof, thus a, facing north and south, and contains two lights twelve by fifteen feet 
 each. Thus we have a large source of light to begin with, and we have tried to manage it 
 by various systems of blinds. None, however, satisfied us, for when we had shut out the 
 light by blinds until we obtained the desired effect, the exposure was considerably lengthened, 
 and this we hold to be, on many grounds, objectionable. Here was the difficulty, and every 
 photographer who aspires to the production of a picture must have felt it. We have 
 largely overcome it by abolishing the blinds and substituting a flat roof at the base of the 
 angle formed by the roof-light, thus, a. This flat rcof consists of a light wooden frame- 
 work, upon which are laid screens, formed by covering very light iron frames of about one 
 square yard with oiled paper. Any one of these screens can be raised by pulling a string. 
 And what is the effect? Above, there is all the light that the roof can admit, and this 
 penetrates the roof formed by the paper screens we have mentioned, and gives a soft 
 diffused light all over this part of the room. But this cannot produce the harmony 
 you speak of, and must enormously lengthen the exposure. Stop a minute; let us raise 
 one of Ihe screens to an angle, and observe the effect. A strong light enters through the 
 aperture thus formed, all the stronger by the reflection from the screen ; and do you not 
 see it falls exactly where we desire it? Any effect may be thus obtained by raising and 
 lowering these doors in our false roof; and as the light has but a short way to travel, you 
 obtain a far more powerful effect than by admitting the same amount of light at the glass 
 roof above. — J. M. Burohss. 
 
 Another system which is very practical and easily managed where there is plenty of room, 
 is, first, one set of white curtains for the light and an inside room, mounted on casters, and 
 covered on both sides and top with sectional curtains of white muslin ; the form of the 
 room to be as our glass-rooms are usually constructed. It must be high enough for a half or 
 
THE GLASS STUDIO. 
 
 159 
 
 Fig. 44. 
 
 208. Of the curtains, it is best to have two systems, one working from 
 the bottom towards the top, and the other from the top towards the bot- 
 tom of both top- and side-hght. They 
 should be of blue or gray stuff, thick 
 enough to exclude light entirely, and 
 worked upon spring rollers. The edges 
 should lap. The screens may be of 
 thin white muslin. Paper will answer, 
 but it soon gets out of repair and is 
 troublesome. They should be stretched 
 on light frames running on wires and 
 moved to and fro by means of cords or 
 a rod. "With enough of these, almost any possible effect can be managed 
 by the skilful operator. 
 
 209. In constructing a glass studio, certain other items should be con- 
 sidered, as follows : a means of cleaning the outer surface of the glass 
 of the accumulations of diist and dirt ; a protection from hail ; outward 
 sun-shades ; proper ventilation ; leakage ; a solid floor to prevent move- 
 ment of the subjeet during exposure ; lastly, a proper color for the walls, 
 which should be of some cold, neutral tint. As to this last, a word more. 
 Remember that if the walls are too light in color, the reflections which 
 they cause will continually annoy you. A dark gray is easily kept clean, 
 and does not disturb your management of the light used in making the 
 portrait. 
 
 three-quarter length figure. It should be provided with a semi-opaque screen which may be 
 adjusted over the head of the sitter, and another which may be used at the side to increase 
 the strength of the shadow if necessary. This for a south light is the best arrangement which 
 I have ever seen. — L. Ot. Bioblow. 
 
 208. There is no better color for shades than white, for you are enabled to judge correctly 
 the strength of every light, and the depth of every shadow. For semi-opaque shades, a drab 
 color will never confuse by false impression of' the density of your shadows. — L. G. BiaELOW. 
 
 209. The writer has applied with success, a simple means whereby cleanliness of the 
 glazed roof, at the least trouble and outlay, is promoted, whilst at the same time, the intense 
 heat to which the glass studio is exposed during the summer months is greatly mitigated by 
 evaporation from its surface. Carry along the ridge of the top a leaden or zinc pipe per- 
 forated with holes ; it can either communicate direct with a cistern — above its level — and be 
 made to act by turning a stop-cock, or can be connected with a small forcing-pump, which 
 is inexpensive. By allowing the water to percolate from it, at intervals during the day, the 
 heated glazed surface is greatly cooled, whilst at the same time accumulated dust, soot, etc., 
 are removed. — Lake Pkick. 
 
160 
 
 WILSON'S PHOTOGRAPHICS. 
 
 210. The best form and pitch of the studio is not agreed upon uni- 
 versally. A great many plans have been given in the magazines. The 
 
 annexed drawing is one 
 of many which have ap- 
 peared in the Philadelphia 
 Photographer from time to 
 time, and represents a 
 good model throughout. 
 The pitch is about forty- 
 five degrees, and it is 
 what is known as a " low" 
 one. Undoubtedly a low, 
 long room gives the oper- 
 ator more advantages 
 than a high, short one. 
 K the light is long, it can 
 readily be shortened by 
 means of screens, and it 
 is often an advantage to 
 have it long. If it is 
 steep, it will undoubtedly 
 difiiise the light more than a low one, and, therefore, be more difficult 
 to manage — ^perhaps slower as well. 
 
 210. A steep light, about fifty degrees incline, extending to within five feet of the floor, and 
 not less than fifteen by fifteen feet square, is probably a form of light more easily worked 
 and with better results than any other, for small groups and single figures. Such a light is 
 always from the right direction, and even a novice in lighting would scarce find difficulty 
 in producing very acceptable pictures. Lights are often constructed with the top-light 
 inclining toward the position usually occupied by the camera, giving, of course, laore front- 
 light than in the usual plan where the incline is toward the side-Tight. Such form of light 
 may be in a few exceptional cases of benefit, but in the majority of sittings a disadvantage, 
 because the tendency to make a flat picture is sure, and in many instances to entirely 
 destroy the delicate modeling which indicates the form of the forehead. There is so much 
 of character in this feature, that the preservation of it is of very great importance in 
 finishing a characteristic and artistic picture. — L. G. BiQKLOW. 
 
 It must be strictly borne in mind that light in striking glass is diverged ; it does not travel 
 in parallel rays. You will find it out in practice ; it is good in theory, but not good in prac- 
 tice. That is my objection to it. Those -w-ho think a steep light does not work quickly are 
 much mistaken. — W. H. Lockwood. 
 
 A few years ago I moved into rooms having a side- and top-light, the lowest point of 
 
THE GLASS STUDIO. 
 
 161 
 
 _Mf». 
 
 211. As has already been said, the site which a photographer is com- 
 pelled to choose, must, in a measure, regulate the construction of his 
 studio. Enough has been said to supply ideas for the building of almost 
 any form, and to suit almost any circumstances. It is a matter which 
 should have the most careful thought, for, remember, it is your means of 
 living, and should not be stinted in any degree. Some photographers 
 think the reception-room should have the first consideration; but it is a 
 blunder. The operating-room is where the money, and the reputation, 
 and the work which brings them, are made, and it should be well built 
 and well furnished, even if the other departments have to be robbed to 
 support it. Give it your best consideration. 
 
 which was fourteen feet from the floor. I found it to be quite unmanageable, and went to 
 
 the expense of putting in a second sash eight feet from the floor, glazed with ground-glass. 
 
 This was an improvement, with the objection of too much loss of light on cloudy days. 
 
 I have now taken this second sash out, and 
 
 substituted a double set of curtains, blue and '' 
 
 white, made to slide on wiresstretchedlength- 
 
 wise of the room, with the lowest set seven 
 
 feet from the floor. They are one yard wide, 
 
 and can be drawn, of course, to the extreme 
 
 size of light, or shut up so as to admit but a 
 
 small portion of light on the sitter, the rest 
 
 of the room being in quite a deep shade. I 
 
 find this a great improvement, besides being 
 
 easier for the sitter ; the negatives are much 
 
 more excellent with no more exposure. — A. 
 
 Mabshall. 
 
 211. I have drawn a hastily prepared sketch of a skylight that I think would be superior 
 to anything I have seen. I think its advantages are these: First, being low, it will work 
 soft and quick ; the first slant of the glass Fig. 47. 
 
 roof being at an angle of only twenty de- 
 grees, it brings the highest point near the 
 sitter. Second, the second slant being at 
 an angle of sixty degrees, it shuts out the 
 sun's rays, and gives a fine illumination 
 upon the sitter at an angle of fifty or sixty 
 degrees, and in the exterior drawing it will 
 be seen that the corners of the roof being 
 cut off' or slanted back from the light, gives 
 full scope for all the light obtainable. Of 
 course, the light would have to be boxed in, 
 to secure aceiling, which I have represented 
 at an angle of forty-five degrees. It seems to me to have less faults than any construction 
 I have ever tried, though it may not be free from faults.— C. M. Fkench. 
 U 
 
 Saai AlH to thefcol. 
 
162 
 
 WILSON'S PHOTOGEAPHICS. 
 
 •^212. The greatest of all trials in skylight building is the proneness to 
 leak. Sashes of peculiar construction, guttered sash-bars, and inside gut- 
 ters have all been used, and all are good. Guard against the trouble 
 thoroughly in the beginning, if you would avoid annoyance. It can be done 
 — do it. 
 
 213. Finally, protection against the sun at such certain times of day as 
 when it shines too directly upon the top-light, and from damage by hail. 
 When a flood of direct light comes upon the top of the glass-house, as 
 it is apt to do in the longer days, no system or amount of screening or 
 curtaining is sufficient to prevent the annoyance which it gives. You 
 never know when it is going to trouble you the most. It destroys all 
 your calculations, gives trouble to your sitter as well, and is an end- 
 less aggravation. "Wholesale shading only will prevent it, and for this 
 outside screens are the best. For the prevention of damage by hail, wire 
 cloth with large meshes may be placed over the entire glass portion, but 
 some light must be lost. As to these difficulties, the best ideas will be 
 found in the notes below. 
 
 Fig. 48. 
 
 Fig. 49 
 
 212. It does not cost much more to build a skylight that never leaks than one that is 
 leaking all the time. The form of guard should be made in this 
 shape. 
 
 It will come down (the rain) and run to the sash and meet this 
 gutter and run out-doors, and the room is always dry. My skylight 
 has not leaked a drop since it was built, and I do not suppose it will 
 in a hundred years. — Alexander Hesler. 
 
 I gi^e you a sectional view of the sash-bar. a shows the end of the 
 
 bar ; B, the groove or gutter ; c, the putty ; d, the glass. This is the 
 
 best plan; and, after more than twenty years of constant use, I am satisfied that it is the 
 
 only successful one. — E. Z. Webster. 
 
 Many other plans and devices have been tried, but all have proved un- 
 satisfactory, or but partially successful. Some have recommended raising 
 the lower end of the upper glass at the lap about one-eighth of an inch, to 
 lessen the effects of capillary attraction, but a strong wind against the 
 laps drives the rain back in torrents. (See Pig. 50.) — E. Z. Webster. 
 
 213. Another question of importance is the exclusion of sunlight from 
 your glass-room. Por a north light of the usual inclination, there is no 
 better way than to erect a solid screen of suflB- 
 cient height to accomplish the object. 1 have 
 tried inside and outside blinds of canvas and solid 
 material, but no system is so free from objection 
 as the roof-screen or shade. Any system which keeps the sun from the glass is, of course, a 
 very great consideration in summer, on account of the lessening of the extreme heat. The 
 way mentioned does this, and does not exclude light.— L. G. Biqklo-w. 
 
 Fig. 50. 
 
THE GLASS STUDIO. 
 
 163 
 
 Fig. 51. 
 
 214. To enable photographers who are entire novices in this direction 
 to construct a glass studio, an amateur photographic friend, and a skilled 
 professional architect, Mr. Gr. W. Hewitt, of Philadelphia, has provided 
 suitable working drawings and specifications, especially for this work. The 
 terms used in his description and directions are such as should be under- 
 stood by any builder, and the dimensions given are in good proportion 
 for a rapidly working and easily managed apartment. Following these 
 instructions, no photographer can fail to make his carpenter understand 
 his wants, and no one can go far wrong. 
 
 I have an unobstructed north light, 12 x 14 feet, at an angle of 40°, lowest point seven feet 
 from thefloor,withside-light 5x12 feet, two feet from the floor. My awning-frame is made of 
 one and a quarter inch galvanized iron pipe, 23 
 feet long by 9 feet wide, with two middle bars, 9 
 feet long and about 7 feet 6 inches apart. The 
 frame is supported on the peak of the skylight 
 by studs 1 foot high, which allows the free pas- 
 sage of wind. Prom the peak of the skylight 
 the frame rises %.t an angle of about 18°, the 
 whole properly braced and fastened to the roof. 
 
 The awning — 8J x 23 feet — is made of drill- 
 ing, securely tied to the bar on the peak of 
 the skylight, and with rings on the side and 
 middle bars, so that it will slide up and down 
 free and clear of all obstruction. On each of 
 the 23-feet sides are fastened two pulley-blocks, 
 through which ropes pass, for the purpose of 
 raising and lowering the frame by a sliding 
 
 motion. Thus it will be seen that all that is required is to raise it in the morning, tie it 
 securely, and lower it at night, or on the approach of a heavy wind or storm. 
 
 As will be seen from the above description, 
 the awning extends east and west about five 
 and a half feet over the light, thereby cutting 
 off the rays in the early morning and late in 
 the afternoon ; and on the north side extend- 
 ing up, and by dropping a plumb-line would 
 cover about two-thirds of the light, thus shield- 
 ing the light completely from the sun. 
 
 I have used this with the most perfect suc- 
 cess, and would not, in the future, be without 
 it. It relieves the eye from that glare which 
 is so objectionable to a great many, and, be- 
 sides, makes the operating-room several de- 
 grees cooler. — John Keid. 
 
 Make a good substantial frame, full size, of your skylight, 
 
 Send to some manufacturer or 
 
164 
 
 WILSON'S PHOTOGEAPHICS. 
 
 Fig. 53. 
 
 QuXam^ tiM^ 
 
 215. The drawings which follow were made after the glass studio, 
 under the inspiration of which a goodly portion of this work was pre- 
 pared, at 912 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia. It is modelled after the 
 fashion most in use in this city, with the glass portions, hoth top- and 
 side-exposure, erected towards the north, and its interior in appearance 
 much like the plan shown in Fig. 45, page 160. 
 
 Before going into the details of its construction, it will, perhaps, be 
 well to have a good impression of its construction as a whole. 
 
 216. For this purpose, please first attentively examine the sectional 
 view shown in Fig. 5-3. By the numhers, it will be noticed that the in- 
 terior, from the side-light 
 to the rear line of the 
 top-light, is nine feet; the 
 distance from the floor 
 line to the lower height 
 of the top-light or ex- 
 treme of liie side-light 
 is eight feet, of which 
 one foot three inches are 
 wall, before the lower line 
 of the side sash begins. 
 The height from the 
 floor line to the ceiling 
 line is ten feet, and to the 
 highest point of the sky- 
 light it is about thirteen 
 feet. This is a matter 
 which the building in 
 which the studio is con- 
 structed must govern 
 somewhat. It is believed 
 
 vSEtfioiCof^K^yutHT that seven feet from the 
 
 ' lower incline of the top- 
 
 sash and ten feet for its upper height would be better and work more 
 
 dealer In wire-cloth and get enough wire-cloth, of one-half-inch mesh, to cover the frame. 
 Stretch tight on frame, then paint white on both sides, and place over the skylight about ten 
 inches from the glass, fasten securely, and you can depend on it your skylight is safe from 
 anything short of a tornado or cyclone.— Z. P. M'Millen. 
 
THE GLASS STUDIO. 
 
 165 
 
 speedily. As has been observed in the previous notes, opinions differ on 
 this point. 
 
 217. In Fig. 53a we are given our architect's elevation of the sky- or top- 
 and side-lights, and by this we learn, too, that the working length of our 
 studio is sixteen feet. At each end of the side sash sliding sections are pro- 
 
 FlG. 53a, 
 
 Ll.EVAT'O'^ Of SKy^^'Hj: 
 
 mvH- vtUKiii 
 4 -T fi y g 
 
 =|?'*Y 
 
 vided fo;r purposes of ventilation, while the central section is permanent. 
 The method of glazing is described further on in the specifications. This 
 latter differs, however, in the matter of the top-light, which must be so 
 constructed as to oppose the elements, keep out the dust, and provide for 
 the condensation of moisture which is apt to occur inside. An iron bar 
 is run across inside, underneath the sash, for sake of strength. For 
 farther details, please proceed. 
 
 218. Now please examine the various sections of Fig. 54 attentively 
 before going into the details of the specification. They are given for the 
 guidance of the carpenter or builder. Section a shows the junction of 
 
166 
 
 WILSON'S PHOTOGEAPHICS. 
 
 the skylight sash with the vertical sash ; section b shows the construction 
 of the bottom rail of the side sash and the permanent and the sliding 
 sash at each end, together with the outside post and the inside casing; by 
 the plan, c, we are shown the bottom rail of the skylight sash and bars 
 with one-quarter inch strips on the bottom rail to throw the water, which 
 
 Fig. 51. 
 
 *-..... 
 
 
 . . lun-W-S-W i»»..*t.l!... . .^....r^ „ ,, 
 
 ^•^ann 
 
 j' j-inriFT'iNM^ 
 
 pX-J 
 
 ? ....i ■■ ... 
 
 r i 1 
 
 i i--- 
 
 n 
 
 — 
 
 1 1 1 if'i f"i ji ■ 
 
 i 1 r-l r-i 1--^ 
 
 fi....""tJr L..I"1 
 
 lil 1 1 1 1 r"^ 
 
 
 
 I J a^-tJ | y>qn> 
 
 llMll^U 
 
 ^talKi^iWoJ* 
 
 F vSMwii/MuMvia . , 
 
 4 
 
 comes either from leakage or condensation, out at the opening d, said 
 opening allowing ventilation as well ; section b shows the form of post 
 required in front of the permanent sash, and section f shows the end of 
 the vertical or side-sliding sash. An end view of the sash-bar construction 
 of the top-light is also given, showing the relative places of the glass, the 
 putty, and the drip-line for catching condensation or leakage. To these 
 is added a plan of the top sash, looldng down from the rear towards the 
 junction with the side sash. 
 
 219. Before proceeding with the specifications for the construction of a 
 
THE GLASS STUDIO. 167 
 
 glass studio after the model given, it must be understood that the di- 
 mensions given are not arbitrary. They are mere suggestions given with 
 the hope that more intelligence will be devoted to this important branch 
 of preparation for the practice of our art also, both for the sake of the 
 results and for the welfare of the pocket photographic. 
 
 220. For the further information, then, of the glass studio constructor, 
 find now the architect's specification of workmanship and material 
 required in the- construction of a skylight in accordance with the ac- 
 companying plans : All material, unless otherwise specified, is to be of 
 first quality white pine, worked fair and free from all defects. In general 
 construction, the skylight is supposed to be inserted in a roof already 
 built, and to occupy a space on the floor plan of nine feet in width by 
 sixteen feet long, other dimensions being marked. The four central 
 portions of the vertical sash are stationary, the sash at either end sliding 
 back of the next adjoining as shown. In the event of the skylight being 
 built independent of other work, the thickness of the partition beneath 
 the sash need be only just sufficient to receive the sash and stop-bead on 
 the inside. As drawn, it is' supposed to be inserted in the uj^per story 
 of a building, with a nine-inch brick wall for support under the sash. 
 The heel-plate on which the skylight sash rests is supported at intervals 
 by two by four posts, chamfered on the outer edge, and resting on a sill 
 made wide enough to receive them. The sash bars of the skylight are 
 two and a half inches deep, as shown, with a groove etc., at the sides to 
 receive the condensation and any leakage that may occur, and to 
 conduct it to the bottom of the sash, where it is turned to a central open- 
 ing by one-quarter inch strips planted on the bottom rail of the sash. 
 The bottom rail is one and three-eighths inches thick, and the bars are 
 cut square on it, allowing the rabbet for glass and groove to pass above 
 it, as shown. The vertical sash to be made of two-inch stuff", divided 
 into lights, as shown, with numbers, and a top and bottom rail of the 
 dimensions marked. The skylight bars are to be supported at the 
 centre- of their length by a wrought-iron purlin three-eighths by three 
 and a half inches, with angle plates at the ends, and screwed to one and 
 three-quarter by six-inch facia on the slope, as drawn. The sash, through- 
 out, is to be glazed with the best quality double-thick American or 
 ribbed glass. The vertical sash must be well bradded, glazed, and back 
 stopped with black putty, the top sash well puttied, the glass not lapping 
 
168 WILSON'S PHOTOGEAPHICS. 
 
 more than a half inch. Before glazing the skylight, a cord should be 
 placed in the grooves, to be drawn out after puttying up, in order to keep 
 the grooves clear. The glass must be left clean and whole on completion 
 of the work. All wood and metal work to be painted with three coats of 
 the best white lead and linseed-oil paint, in such plain tint as may be 
 directed or agreed upon. 
 
 With all these details in hand, no photographer should find trouble in 
 securing for himself the construction of a glass studio that will, with 
 good management, enable him to produce the very best of results, — such 
 as will make him both reputation and riches. As to the length and 
 height of the studio, you have been given argument sufficient to guide 
 you to a choice. It is easier to shorten a long room by screen or back- 
 ground than it is to lengthen a short one, and there are times when, in 
 case of a group being demanded, for example, a long room will be found 
 extremely convenient. As to height, a high light must naturally ditiiise 
 the light more than a low one, and therefore be more difficult to manage. 
 It must, for the same reason, work more slowly. These difficulties may 
 be overcome, but why have them at all ? In a low light, less time is re- 
 quired to cajole and drive the falling rays where you want them, and they 
 act more rapidly, too. 
 
 As to glass, a good deal of breakage and trouble from leakage can be 
 avoided by using the best white, thick, ribbed glass, since it comes in 
 large plates. Its first cost is greater, but, all things considered, it is 
 believed to be the best in the end, and the most economical. 
 
LESSON" K 
 
 ACCESSORIES AND LIGHT. 
 
 221. Taste must be exercised in the choice and use of backgrounds 
 and accessories by the would-be superior portraitist. There can be no 
 rule to guide him in their selection, except his judgment and feeling, 
 and the requirements of his patrons. Plain and fancy backgrounds, and 
 plain and fancy accessories are both needed. Your manufacturer and 
 dealer will sometimes be able to guide you in their selection, and assist 
 you. Consult the first lesson of this work, follow its injunctions and 
 you will scarcely blunder. A plain, tidy carpet, or rug, will complete 
 the furniture of your studio, and fully equip you for work. 
 
 222. Frequently, the background is about the last thing the photogra- 
 pher seems to think of; but it should be one of the first, for the reason 
 
 /22I. The power behind the throne in many of the composition pictures which have 
 attracted the attention of the public is the background — silent, substantial, powerful, exert- 
 ing a deep and ofttimes mysterious and unrecognized influence over the products of the 
 knight of the camera. Atmosphere, delicacy, refinement, strength, vigor, elaborations, 
 balance of light and shade are imparted by the background. It indicates the hour of the 
 day, morning, evening, starlight, moonlight, and leads the subject by the sea-shore, up the 
 mountain height, through the garden, or over fields of snow and ice, surrounds him with 
 the evidences of luxury and cultivated taste, or the extreme of poverty and simple wants, 
 helps to tell the many incidents of every-day life, records the triumphs of the stage, and is 
 ever susceptible of new and untried forms ; in fact, affords the widest range to photographic 
 representation and to the play of the artist's imagination. — L. "W. Sbavby. 
 
 By many operators the background is considered of but little importance, but by the 
 thinking, successful worker, a thorough knowledge of its uses is considered of as much 
 importance as the knowledge of chiaro-oscuro or photographic chemistry. And our most 
 feeling and finest photographers are not only well informed in the foregoing, but also possess 
 a certain knowledge (whether they know it or not) of anatomy, physiognomy, and phre-- 
 nology. And my humble advice to the hungry photographer, who seats himself down to 
 the table of photographic literature, now so bountifully spread, is to call for a few of these 
 last-mentioned side dishes, and do not leave them for the last courses, either. — W. H. Tipton. 
 
 222. In regard to the relief of figures, objects contrasted with a light background will 
 appear much more detached than those placed against a dark one: Those parts which are 
 farthest from the light will remain the darkest, and every distinction of outline will be lost 
 
 (169) 
 
170 WILSON'S PHOTOGRAPHICS. 
 
 that it has very much to do with the general effect of the picture. ISTow 
 what is a background for ? Very evidently, in the first place, to shield 
 improper objects from appearing in the picture. What difference does 
 it make, if any sort of an object does appear in the picture? "Well, the 
 aforesaid object might not harmonize with the subject, and would not 
 perhaps give the proper relief to the figure. Well, now, we have hit it. 
 It is the latter reason that we wish to bear more particularly upon. The 
 former has been borne so long, and many photographers seem so impreg- 
 nated and saturated with the idea that a background has nothing to do 
 with the figure, but is only to serve to hide the objects behind it, that it 
 is almost impossible to filter or dissolve it out of them. 
 
 It is relief that we want, in both senses — relief from the old, stupid 
 way, and relief for the figure. Sitters should not be planted up against 
 a flat nonentity, as plaster is "thrown" upon a wall, looking as if they 
 were going to slide downwards and forwards. The figure should stand 
 out in relief like a marble statue. Much of this effect must be secured by 
 proper lighting, but not all, for the background does its full share when 
 it is a well chosen one. 
 
 With one plain distemper background, not very dark, you can manage 
 to get some very nice effects. ; not very dark, because you can shade such 
 a one, but you cannot lighten a dark one very well. You can secure 
 gradation by using your background placed at an angle to your lens, or 
 you can, by the careful arrangement of a curtain at one side, shade it 
 gradually so as to get a similar effect. 
 
 In placing the figure, of course you know that the shadow side should 
 be against the light part of the background, and vice versa. Again, that 
 the shade should be increased or diminished according to the complex- 
 ion of the subject. Work by contraries. 
 
 223. By the choice and use of the backgrounds, the real talent of the 
 
 in the general mass of shadows ; and unless they have their reflexes, they will either cut 
 hard upon the ground, or appear to hecome a part of it. All bodies being surrounded by 
 light and shade, the artist may so arrange his ligures that the dark side will fall upon a light 
 ground, and the light side upon a dark ground. This arrangement serves to detach the 
 figure, and, at the same time, contributes to harmony of effect. The reflected lights will be 
 more or less apparent in proportion as they are seen against a, darker or brighter ground, 
 because of the force of contrast. Reflected lights may be so thrown as to modify the force 
 of a cast shadow. — M. A. Bwight. 
 
 ^ 223, Puseli says, "By the choice and scenery of backgrounds, we are frequently enabled 
 to judge how far a painter entered into his subject; whether he understood its nature; to 
 
ACCESSOEIES AND LIGHT. 171 
 
 photographer is often discovered. They may be too obtrusive, attracting 
 the attention of the eye first, and distracting it from the portrait proper ; 
 they may not harmonize with the age, dress, character, and general ap- 
 pearance of the model, and their color and lighting may also prove 
 ignorance on the part of the artist who introduced them into the picture. 
 Again, if they are " fancy " backgrounds, they may be so placed in rela- 
 tion to the sitter as to produce some ridiculous incongruities. 
 
 224. " Fancy " backgrounds, so called, are such as are painted to rep- 
 resent some scene or " bit " in nature, art, history, etc., and are to be used 
 in the more pretentious class of portraits. When they harmonize with 
 the principal object in the picture, namely, the living model, they serve 
 an excellent purpose, and relieve the dull monotony which would be 
 caused by the constant use of a " plain " background. The figures upon 
 them should usually be represented with much less distinctness than the 
 accessories and the model, and the whole of the former should be sub- 
 ordinate to the latter. 
 
 what class it telonged; what impression it was capable of making; what passion it was 
 calculated to arouse. The sedate, the solemn, the severe, the awful, the terrible, the pleasing, 
 the solitary, the gay, are stamped by it. Sometimes it should be negative, entirely subordi- 
 nate, receding or shrinking into itself. Sometimes its forms, sometimes its colors, ought to 
 command. A subject in itself, bordering on the usual or common, may become sublime or 
 pathetic by the background alone, and a sublime or pathetic one may become trivial and 
 uninteresting by it." The student will readily perceive that no definite rules can be given to 
 guide him in this department. In some subjects it is required that the principal figure 
 should be distinctly seen, and again that it should be partially lost in the background. 
 Success depends as much upon an eye for effect as upon artistic skill. — M. A. Dwiqht. 
 
 The effects produced by obtrusive backgrounds are sometimes very ludicrous. Here is 
 the full-length "carte" of an old gentleman who is standing against a background of panel 
 scroll-work. It happens that he is so placed with reference to this scroll, that a short, 
 sturdy piece of it, with a heavy turn at the end, seems to issue from his coat-skirts, and he 
 stands furnished with a stiff, curly, and powerful tail! A still more funny example is that of 
 a youth who stands half turned towards a screen representing a waterfall and rocks. The fall 
 consists of many little streams, one tiny rill of which seems to spring most conspicuously 
 from about the centre of the youth's anatomical structure. In another picture a fountain in 
 a garden issues, apparently, out of the head of a child, whose vacant look and helpless 
 attitude, as she stands in that highly horticultural region, is strongly suggestive of water on 
 the brain. — James Mttdd. 
 
 224. Backgrounds, as a rule, and as they are generally painted, convey to the eye alone a 
 very pleasing effect artistically, and we admire them for it; but when they become a part of 
 a finished picture by combination, they lose that effect and become mere indistinct masses 
 of light and shade, conveying no apparent meaning, at least not that which we fondly hoped 
 to see as the result of our thought, desire, and brains ; neither does it to the sitter. And the 
 
172 WILSON'S PHOTOGRAPHICS. 
 
 225. " Plain " backgrounds are such as are painted in one color all 
 over, sometimes being gradated from light to dark, horizontally or di- 
 agonally, in order to produce greater relief. More latitude is allowed in 
 their use if one depends for this gradation upon the management of the 
 light and shade which is caused to fall upon them. The background 
 used for the vignette picture should be lighter in color than that used for 
 such as are not to be vignetted, and should not be gradated. It may be 
 circular in shape, square, or oblong. 
 
 remark the photographer constantly hears is, " Why must those ugly markings always be on 
 such nicely (otherwise) executed photographs? That was a beautiful scene," etc. Very 
 encouraging, truly I Well, the fact seems plain to me, and it is only on account of the 
 artist making a background a picture in itself, instead of having any reference to the com- 
 bination it takes part in. As it is always out of focus, it is always indistinct, or, as we call it, 
 not sharp. Now, the remedy is to have a background painted as sharp and harsh as it is pos- 
 sible to make it, seeing always that the drawing is thoroughly correct, taking as much care 
 with that part as though it was to be a finished drawing alone, and that every detail is 
 thoroughly and carefully correct and clearly worked out. Mere suggestions of shape, light, 
 and shade will not do, as is proved by our daily practice. Then, as the background is behind 
 the sitter some ten to twenty inches, it is necessarily out of focus if the sitter is in, and the 
 sharpest background that can be made will not be too distinct to make or form a harmonious 
 whole in connection with the subject, provided it is intelligently chosen. — C. Alfred 
 Garkett. 
 
 225. The law of massing is by no means confined to the head. The background should 
 present a mass by itself, sustaining those of the head, and by sustaining being in unity with 
 them, and also enforcing the other idea of breadth, continuing or commencing the discover- 
 able direction of the light, thus carrying the sweep of light through the whole picture. 
 
 To do this the background should be graded. A few years ago we prided ourselves on 
 being able to produce a perfectly even, flat, monotonous background. If it was darker on 
 one side than on the other, something was amiss; and if one of the pictures, now so common, 
 with an elegantly graded ground, had been shown us, nine out of ten photographers would 
 have pronounced it wrong, the other would have looked doubtingly at it, hesitating to confess 
 the pleasure he ^might have felt, to such extent had precedent, and pride in mechanical 
 dexterity blinded us, so far removed were we from the sympathy with nature which comes 
 only by long study and converse with her. The background, while in general tone consid- 
 erably below the face, and in one mass, should have its variety, and the idea of contrast 
 would lead it to place its dark side opposite the light side of the face. W. J. Bakbr. 
 
 I have an idea with reference to a background which I am sure will work well. Instead 
 of a g'radated tint painted on the background, I propose to have the light itself throw a 
 shadow over it, which will blend from dark to light much better than any artist with his 
 brush can possibly do it. This the reader can illustrate for himself by means of a common 
 saucer for «. background and by placing in front of it a little doll's bead. You will at 
 once see what a great number of difi"erent effects you have at your command, by turning 
 the saucer to the right or left, and by tipping it forwards and backwards; the blending 
 is wonderfully soft, and you can have the shadow stop very suddenly also, without being 
 
ACCESSOKIES AND LIGHT. 173 
 
 226. As a rule, backgrounds are made to stretch upon a frame with 
 their whole surface equidistant from the camera. Another form, recom- 
 mended by Mons. Adam Salomon, the. renowned master photo.-artist and 
 sculptor, of Paris, by the use of which gradation was secured, known as 
 the " alcove " background, came into use a few years ago, but for some 
 reason or other soon fell into disuse. Such was the fate also of Mr. Kurtz's 
 very ingenious cone-shaped background. Both had merits, but they 
 were cumbersome, and seemed to be ahead of the intelligence possessed 
 by the fraternity at the time. Again, pretty much the same effects could 
 be obtained, by gradating the plain background in various ways. 
 
 harsh. If you put the doll under a top-light, the top-light will make a shadow on the back- 
 ground just where it should, and if you have your light on one side, the weight of the 
 shadow on the saucer will also come where it should; and again, if you light up with both 
 combined, you will also find the little saucer to do its duty nicely. — Wm. Kubtz. 
 
 The eifect of gradation on a background in producing relief in a portrait often seems to 
 be overlooked by photographers. No one, on looking over a collection of photographs, 
 vignette heads, medallions, etc., can fail to notice the even and unbroken tint of the back- 
 grounds generally. 
 
 The following plan will, in great measure, supply what is wanted without extra time or 
 trouble : A square background (about four feet is a convenient size), on a frame with a cross- 
 piece at the back, in the centre of which is a hole to allow the horizontal rod of the rest to 
 pass. It will be seen that when the rest is placed against the head of the sitter the face 
 appears in the centre of the square. There will be found no difficulty in painting this 
 small background with a gradation from dark on one edge to light at the other. Lamp- 
 black and whiting, with a little size, answers capitally. This can be turned round any 
 way; light at the top, shading into dark below, or vice versa; or a diagonal gradation to 
 suit circumstances or taste. It is astonishing the diflFerent effects produced by turning this 
 background round. Sometimes the effect may be improved by shielding part of the light 
 from the background with a blind or curtain. From the fact of this background being so 
 close to the head of the sitter, a bold cast shadow can be obtained from the head or 
 shoulders, which is very effective. — E. Gillo. 
 
 226. Now as to the alcove background, a few brief hints on the construction of the com- 
 bination may be useful. The formation of the curved background itself is the chief consid- 
 eration. Mine consists, first, of two curved pieces of wood to form the framework. These 
 are placed one for the bottom and one for the top, at the proper distance apart, and a series 
 of thin, narrow planks, not more than three or four inches wide, are fastened to the curved 
 pieces of wood, the planks being fastened to each other by means of a groove and tongue. 
 When complete, the little angles or Irregularities in the curve are taken off with a plane. 
 Probably, if well-mado laths, something like those used in Venetian blinds, were employed, 
 a more perfect and regular curve might be more easily obtained. In such case, the general 
 framework would probably require to be a little more firm or rigid. I found it desirable to 
 increase the rigidity — seeing that the arrangement is often wheeled rapidly about — by means 
 of a binding of iron running round the top and bottom of the curve. The background may, 
 of course, be painted, or sanded, or treated in any manner to suit the taste. — Adam Salomon. 
 
174 WILSON'S PHOTQGEAPHICS. 
 
 227. As much artistic taste, a thorough knowledge of color, the effects 
 of light and shade from various causes and sources, and the principles 
 which govern them all, are necessary to the production of photographic 
 backgrounds, and since America is favored with such renowned back- 
 ground painters, it is hardly recommended that photographers attempt 
 
 227. The backgrounds you can do by sizing your cloth with glue-size, with a little alum 
 in it, but do not use this size to mix with your color , glue-size without alum will work the 
 best. First, coat in your groundwork, then use your color weaker with glue-size, and all 
 subsequent additions, until you have accomplished your purpose. It is fully as well to draw 
 in your designs with chalk before taking in hand the color, if it is not handy for you to 
 work without the chalk marks. The colors best to use are raw umber, ivory-black, and 
 whiting, mixed to your fancy with glue-size. — M. H. Albee. 
 
 The influence of the background upon the quality of the portrait is enormous. The 
 background serves to bring out the figure strong and bold, and ought, therefore, never 
 to suppress the same. If the background bears a drawing, the details of the latter must 
 only be faintly indicated, never strongly marked out. In order not to act too much 
 itself, the background must be without lustre. Although good and suitable backgrounds 
 are met with in the market at present, it may yet be of advantage to know a very simple 
 way to make, one's self, without much trouble, an effective background for certain special 
 purposes. As a basis, common unbleached sheeting serves usually; the same is wet and 
 stretched smoothly upon a wooden frame, coated evenly with a thin paste, or with solution 
 of dextrin, and left to dry. The color is prepared by mixing thoroughly ground dextrin 
 with lamp-black and umber, and is placed dry with a linen pad upon the sheeting. After 
 the desired effect has been obtained, the reverse part of the sheet is moistened with a sponge, 
 which has been moistened in very weakly acidulated water, and thereby the color becomes 
 fixed. If still greater durability should be desired, the flat-lying, quite-dry background is 
 coated with a solution of thirty grains dammar rosin in one pound benzine ; this varnish dries 
 up dull. In place of the mixture of dextrin and umber, the following may be used to advan- 
 tage. Mix in the proportion of five hundred grammes i vory-black and umber with two and a 
 half kilogrammes boiling water, to which two hundred and fifty grammes good glue are added, 
 which has been soaked previously twelve hours in cold water. The whole is caused to 
 evaporate until dry, when the remaining coloring matter is ground fine. This dry color is 
 laid on with a cotton rag upon the stretched dry sheet. It is easy to produce any desired 
 gradations, and care is to be taken to begin painting first on that side which is to be the 
 darker one. According to desire and necessity, white color may be admixed. Clouds are 
 very easily painted in this way. The treatment of the sheeting before and after painting is 
 the same as the one indicated above. 
 
 When pretty strong toning is desired, two or three mixtures of color must be made. 
 Mix kaolin and dextrin in equal parts and knead the mixture with sufficient- water to 
 impart to it the consistency of modelling clay. This mixture divide into three equal parts. 
 The first part knead with as much lamp-black as it will receive ; the second knead with half 
 as much lamp-black as used with the first part, and with the third part use only so much 
 lamp-black as is necessary to impart to it a light-gray color. Thfese mixtures must be left to 
 dry thoroughly, when they are ground fine. They are laid on the dry sheeting and rubbed 
 with a blacking-brush. The manner of blending the light parts into the dark parts upon 
 
ACCESSORIES AND LIGHT. 175 
 
 to paint their own backgrounds. It is better to pay for haying them pro- 
 vided by experienced artists and colorists. 
 
 228. Backgrounds may be painted either in " distemper " or in oil. Of 
 course the latter are the more costly, but they are also the more lasting, 
 and the least subject to injury. Again, they are the more difficult to paint. 
 
 the ground depends upon the individual taste of the maker, but is again influenced by the 
 alternative whether the picture is destined to be printed in full, or only as vignette. In 
 most cases one side is kept darker than the other, and usually the middle appears lighter 
 than the margin. — De. Edwakd Libsegang. 
 
 228. If the ground is to be treated in oil-colors, proceed as follows : The sheeting is 
 stretched upon a wooden frame and primed with a good paste of equal parts of starch 
 and water. After drying, the color is laid on, the same having been prepared in the follow- 
 ing manner : Mix ten parts white-lead, two parts siccative, and as much black-color as is 
 necessary to produce the desired tone, with five parts oil of turpentine. This mixture is 
 stirred well, then left quiet for some hours until the white-lead has settled upon the bottom. 
 Now, as much of the oil of turpentine as possible lis cautiously poured off. and fresh oil of 
 turpentine is added, so that the mixture gets a good consistencj' ; then two parts of scraped 
 brown soap is added yet, and the mixture filtered through cotton stuff. 
 
 A large brush is used to lay this color on ; the faster the whole surface is covered the better. 
 If the stuff should extend, stretch it again tight. Sometimes it is necessary to paint it twice. 
 
 Another way consists In coating the stretched sheeting with a thin solution of glue, and 
 after it has become dry it gets painted with a color which has been diluted with petroleum 
 and linseed-oil, so as to be easily laid on with the brush. The linseed-oil prevents the color 
 from drying too fast, and causes the same to flow easier. 
 
 The stretching of the painted background upon the frame is done as follows : The upper 
 border of the bacTcground is first fastened, beginning in the middle, with short tacks at inter- 
 vals of two Inches, and then the frame is placed upright in order to get moistened. The 
 back part of the ground must be very evenly moistened, i.e. , with cold water for glue-grounds, 
 and with warm water for oil-grounds. With glue-grounds, be careful not to wet the front 
 part, as the ground would be spoiled thereby. After having been moistened, the ground is 
 placed again upon the flour, and the other three borders fastened. Backgrounds stretched in 
 this way are absolutely free from folds. Do not omit to wet the borders thoroughly, as they 
 are apt to tear if dry. 
 
 Smooth backgrounds are obtainable in the market up to a width of three and a quarter 
 metres, and in different shades of color. For vignetted portraits, choose a lighter color than 
 for such as are to be printed in full. 
 
 I may mention yet the backgrounds with a landscape for a motive, which are often em- 
 ployed. If such backgrounds are tastefully and appropriately arranged^not too much 
 worked out in detail — they are, in most cases, of quite a good effect with portraits. It is, 
 however, indispensably necessary to have several such backgrounds for a change, as nothing 
 is more tasteless than a continual repetition of the same objects in all the pictures. Parlor 
 decorations have also a very good effect, if not going too much into detail, and not "crowding 
 out" the head and figure, which, of course, must always be the main parts in a portrait. 
 
 The wish to get the accessories and the background of the portrait as sharp as the figure is 
 very difficult of realization, and, furthermore, shows very little artistic taste. Only in repro- 
 
176 
 
 WILSON'S PHOTOGEAPHICS. 
 
 Fig. 55. 
 
 229. There are many devices which the ingenuity of the individual 
 photographer will suggest, according to his wants, for storing the hack- 
 grounds needed when not in use. A 
 plan recommendedby the well-known 
 amateur photographer, Mr. Charles 
 Wager Hull, will be well understood 
 by Fig. 55. By the use of a frame 
 or stand and proper pulleys, the 
 backgrounds not in use are simply 
 let down to the floor, out of the way. 
 230. The introduction of accesso- 
 ries into the picture to help make up 
 the proper composition is always in 
 order, provided it is governed by the 
 rules laid down in Lesson A. The 
 greatest blunders are made in this 
 direction. The difficulty is not only 
 that art and nature must be combined, 
 but that such incongruous choice is 
 made oftentimes of the articles used with a given model. Profusion 
 
 ductions from designs, engravings, etc., is it of paramount importance that the whole surface 
 should appear equally sharp. In portraits, however, it is strictly necessary, for the artistic 
 beauty of the picture, that some objects of secondary value are indistinct and out of focus in 
 order to bring out the main objects the clearer and more natural. 
 In examining a photographic picture, we must not ask, "Is it 
 everywhere sharp?" That would be a mistake. Let us see first 
 what the picture purports to represent. If the artist designs to 
 reproduce the mechanical copy of an object, then, of course, he 
 Is bound to render everything sharp and exact ; but if he aims 
 at obtaining an artistic effect, then the picture can only be 
 judged according to artistic rules, and these never exact a uni- 
 form sharpness. The well-known background painter, Seavey, 
 in New York, published a very praiseworthy essay, with illus- 
 trations, upon the use of painted backgrounds, in the Photo- 
 graphic Archives and in the Philadelphia Photographer. 
 
 In order to prevent the backgrounds taking up too much room, 
 and to be able to change and shift them easily, a "shifting- 
 11 IL wagon " may be employed, which is a strong frame of slats, 
 
 JiT^^^'^TJ contrived as in Fig. 66, and which can be easily moved upon 
 four wheels, in every direction. In the three notches three 
 background frames fit, which are mounted on both sides with stuff, and appropriately cut on 
 
 Fig. 66. 
 
 HjijiTiiLnJi 
 
ACCESSOEIES AND LIGHT. 177 
 
 should never "be resorted to. Harmony should be always attended to, 
 and, above all, general effect. 
 
 231. As the photographer is required to make likenesses of all sorts of 
 people, of as many characters and ages, he should have at hand, for ready 
 selection, an assortment of useful accessories, with the use and appropriate- 
 ness of which he should familiarize himself, so as to be able to choose 
 quickly and with taste when the time comes for their use. With infants, 
 
 the lower corners. The frame must he pretty solid, and of a height of about fifteen centi- 
 meters. The size of the background must be regulated by the circumstance whether cabinet 
 sizes, whole pictures, or groups, are to be taken. In the first case, » ground of one and a 
 half to two metres is sufficient; for whole figures, two and a half to three metres, and for 
 groups, the size of the ground will be according to the expansion desired. Dark back- 
 grounds require much longer lighting than lighter ones ; the diflerence is often very material 
 in the same studio. — Db. Edward Lieseqang. 
 
 230. I, for one, think the tendency of the day is too strong towards obtaining startling 
 effects and too numerous accessories. During the last three years we have made a great 
 number of vignettes, and in winter time have printed in scenes from negatives taken for 
 the purpose, giving charming eflFects. Our customers sustain us in our decision, and no 
 doubt it reveals all the operator's strength when he takes his sitter almost alone, having only 
 some simple accessory to help to " tell the story." — W. J. Toplky. 
 
 A great deal has been done, and very beautiful pictures made, by the mixture of the real 
 and artificial in a picture. Although, for choice, I should prefer everything in a photo- 
 graph being from nature, I admit a picture to be right when the "effect" is natural, 
 however obtained. It is not the fact of reality that is required, but the truth of imitation 
 that constitutes a veracious picture. Cultivated minds do not require to believe that they 
 are deceived, and that they look on actual nature when they behold a pictorial representa- 
 tion of it. An educated observer does not, like that Moor to whom Bruce, the African 
 traveller, gave the picture of a fish, believe that the artist had made a reality and say : " If 
 this fish at the last day should rise against you and say : ' Thou hast given me a body hut not 
 a living soul,' what should you reply?'' Art is not the science of deception, but that of 
 giving pleasure, the word pleasure being used in its purest and loftiest sense. I'or this pur- 
 pose — that is, the mixture of the real with the artificial — the accessories of the studio should 
 receive the addition of picturesque or ivy-covered logs of wood, ferns, tufts of grass, etc., 
 either growing in low pots or gathered fresh. It will be found easy to make up picturesque 
 foregrounds with these materials, behind which a painted view or sky may be placed. If 
 the background be well painted, it will be found to unite very naturally with the fore- 
 ground. Care must be taken that the linear perspective be avoided, and that the light fall 
 on the figures in the same direction as it does on the painted screen. — H. P. Kobinson. 
 
 231. Eor despatch and convenience, it is best to have accessories arranged and waiting. 
 In rustics, have the scenery adjusted, the rocks, stumps, stones, foliage, and backgrounds all 
 effectively made up, with suitable openings in which to place your subject. By thus doing, 
 there intervene no long moments of waiting. No losing heart and expression on the one 
 side, nor a hurried, jumbled-up mess on the other. Also have at hand, books, fans, flowers, 
 ornaments, yellow-tintei letters filled with suggestions with which ladies can beguile them^ 
 
 12 
 
178 WILSON'S PHOTOGRAPHICS. 
 
 a means of making them comfortable is all you can attempt. Their won- 
 drous expressions will provide the rest. 
 
 232. In posing the model, every regard should be paid, too, to the ar- 
 rangement of the draperies. If a male, the folds in the coat, the wrin- 
 kles in the trowsers, and the arrangement of the cuffs and neck-wear, 
 should all be looked after and nicely balanced. As to the other sex, 
 there is no end to the opportunities which are given you, by their apparel, 
 to distinguish yourself and show your knowledge of the principles pressed 
 down and running over in Lesson A. 
 
 selves and their hands. Have canes, hats, pencils, pens, and more books, to ease off the 
 angularity of. masculines. Provide juraping-jacks, barking dogs, tin whistles, jews-harps, 
 and a small organ to bamboozle the babies. Besides, be able yourself to turn into an 
 acrobat, gymnast, or long-tailed monkey, on the shortest notice. — J. H. Kent. 
 
 The first thing I will speak of will be my baby lounge. I wanted one, but did not see 
 anything advertised that quite suited me, so I got up one to suit my own ideas, and while it 
 works nicely, it is not patented. I went to a furniture store and got a cheap table, similar 
 to those used in lager-beer saloons, about eighteen by thirty-six inches top, and on casters, so 
 as to move easily ; got a board just the size of the table to nail the back and end on to; and 
 it must be made so that the corner will face the side-light whichever way you work. Make 
 your back- and end-board about fifteen inches high in the corner ; put a small hole about the 
 middle of the end, one twelve inches from the corner in the back-board, and another in the 
 same line, twenty-four inches from the corner. Now upholster in drab reps or some light- 
 colored covering, and you have a lounge you can tie on one, and sometimes you want to tie 
 on two babies at once. Tou are ready for them ; and another thing, they are up in a good 
 light, high enough, so you can easily work your camera on them. Then have the mother 
 sit down aside of the lounge so the baby can see her, but she is not to talk nor look at the 
 child if it is quiet, and if it is inclined to be a little shy, talk to the mother instead of the 
 child, and the failures will be few. — Porrkster Clark. 
 
 232. Let us now give our attention to the drapery. The arranging of the draperies 
 depends much upon the quality of the stuff. Thin, light stuff produces smaller folds, and 
 plaits in greater quantity than heavy, thick, or stiff material. Furthermore, it is to be 
 considered whether the garment covers large or small forms, or whether it hangs down loose 
 and free. Large forms must not be interrupted by small folds, and the drapery should 
 indicate whether the covered part is of an angular, or round, or plain, or curved shape, for 
 all folds ought to indicate their cause, whether the same is the proper heaviness of the mate- 
 rial, or is produced through draught, pressure, or other influences. All folds form triangles, 
 and the reason of this is, that a garment is always trying to expand ; if it is forced from one 
 side to contract, it expands on the other side in the same measure. Polds must, therefore, 
 never appear round or quadrangular, for the quadrangular shape is insufferable, except when 
 it forms two divided triangles. It is also bad taste to place two folds of equal size, shape, and 
 illumination side by side. Upon the garment of a living person, the movement of his 
 limbs is the only cause of the position and variety of the folds. The ancients arranged 
 large folds upon large parts of the human body, and did not suffer the same to be interrupted 
 by smaller folds. If they were forced by the nature of the garment to do it, they made the 
 
ACCESSORIES AND LIGHT. 179 
 
 233. And before the lens is uncovered, and the exposure made, be very 
 certain that the eyes of the sitter are in keeping with all the rest. They 
 may spoil all, if wrongly directed. Once more, measure the picture by 
 the principles laid down in Lesson A, and if it is right — expose ! 
 
 small transverse folds so small and little raised, that it was obvious they could not indicate 
 main parts. 
 
 In all cases where the garment dtes not strictly correspond with the naked form it covers, 
 and does not follow the direction of the muscles, the casting of the draperies will be defective. 
 Our modern fashion renders it often impossible to discern the shape, of the body under the 
 garment, and we are forced to make concessions to the sway of fashion f but in cases where 
 unbecoming folds have been caused through bad cutting, or casual pressure, or draught, and 
 the photographer could not avoid them in the arrangement, it is our task to remedy the 
 defects in the picture. Next to the lightness or heaviness, the transparency or opacity of 
 the material, its lustre or roughness is of importance ; also its design and colors are main 
 factors. Velvet ought to be well distinguished from cotton, silk from satin, etc. White 
 garments and linen taken in glaring light appear usually without any medium tone, hardly, 
 so that the shade is slightly indicated, and the retoucher has many diflBculties to fill out the 
 empty space, so that his sketchings may look natural. The photographer ought always to try 
 to prevent this evil through subdued illumination, as the harmony in the picture is disturbed 
 by large light masses.- — Hans Hartman. 
 
 233. We will suppose the sitter to be the centre of a circle with diverging lines, like the 
 hub of a wheel, with its radiating spokes. Suppose this wheel twenty feet in diameter, and 
 the spokes one foot apart at the periphery. The junction of these spokes with the rim we 
 will call points, like a compass. 
 
 Place the sitter at the hub, looking straight before him — body, face, and eyes to the cam- 
 era ten feet away, at the outer edge of the circle. This may be called a position of neutral- 
 ity, impassive, inactive. Now, the body remaining in front, the head and eyes turning to 
 the right or left, if ever so little, there begins to be expressed activity, thought, emotion ; in 
 which the eyes play an important part, and a part that may be largely brought under con- 
 trol, else there were no use describing it. 
 
 To illustrate — if the head be turned two points away from the camera, the body remain- 
 ing front, the eyes to express an easy, animated, but not deeply interested attention, should 
 be turned nearly to the third point. When the head turns from the body to the fourth 
 point, the eyes to correspond should turn nearly to the sixth, thus expressing the same kind 
 of easy, natural interest, but more active and more interested ; and this corresponding di- 
 vergence amounts nearly to a definite ratio, whether the turning be more or less, being as 
 two to one ; two of the head from the body, to one of the eyes from the face. Or, in other 
 words, in turning the eyes to an easy point right or left, the head naturally turns about two- 
 thirds the distance. 
 
 This ratio of divergence we will call normal, and we shall find it giving about the kind 
 of expression generally preferred in portraiture. Moreover, we shall see that any deviation 
 from this normal relation immediately begins to express something different, often some- 
 thing n-ot at all desired. For instance, the body remaining front, with the face and eyes 
 both turned full upon the third or sixth, or any intermediate point, there would immediately 
 begin to appear an absorbed, deeply interested gaze, expressing anxiety, surprise, or other 
 
180 WILSON'S PHOTOGEAPHICS. 
 
 234. In addition to instructions given in Lesson A, a few words may 
 not be out of place as to the means used for securing the effects of light 
 and shade described as the most desirable. Resort may be had to side- 
 screens, mirrors, and reflectors, provided they are employed for legiti- 
 mate effect only, and not for experiment or in wild reaches after aston- 
 ishing effects hard to understand. 
 
 emotion, according to the rest of the face and action j while should the face remain fronting 
 with the hody, directly toward the camera, when the eyes turned two or three points away, 
 there would immediately appear an uneasy, insincere, jealous, watching expression, not at 
 all pleasant. 
 
 Varying the illustration by placing the body fronting the third point away from the in- 
 strument, while the face turned to the first point away, and the eyes into the camera, you 
 will have an easy, direct, sincere, manly attention ; while, if you place head and body both 
 fronting point three, when the eyes are turned full upon the camera, you obtain at once shy- 
 ness, coquetry, suspicion, or other similar expression, according to the other facial action. 
 Then, if you front the body upon three, while face and eyes hoth turn full upon the camera, 
 there would begin to appear a bold, domineering, look-you-out-of-countenance sort of expres- 
 sion, or similar undesirable effect. 
 
 The same principle holds good in looking upward ; for instance, the head slightly raised, 
 with the eyes about half as much more, may express spiritual contemplation, adoration , sup- 
 plication, etc., according to the accompaniment, while the face remaining level or slightly 
 drooped, with the eyes still turned upward, looking as they must somewhat from under the 
 eyebrows, will express a cowardly shrinking, a sinister watching, or suppressed anger, ac- 
 cording to the other features. 
 
 These hints might be greatly elaborated, but the intelligent beginner will place his camera 
 before the sitter and multiply these illustrations to any extent. The main thing to thoroughly 
 understand is that in every modification and turn of position, these relations of the eyes and 
 face will express something, and if not controlled to. express what is desired, may give ex- 
 pressions quite undesirable. — E. E. Hotjqh. 
 
 234. If, then, the results of a side reflection are so disastrous, should it not be discarded 
 altogether ? We think not, and will try to show its proper use, which is to soften the shadows 
 and make them transparent with delicate reflected lights, which, while they may oppose the 
 principal light, yet have no vigorous contention with it, and are mere echoes of its intensity. 
 These little reflected lights, like the reverberations of a musical sound from the walls of a 
 room, really strengthen and enrich the original tone. Without them the shadows, even 
 if well worked out, become rigid, and give a too solid, hard appearance to the head. 
 
 The proper eff'ect is often produced without actually employing a wbite screen, but that is 
 because the walls and objects in the operating-room take its place and supply the reflections. 
 Their influence is always felt, and in bright weather is usually quite sufficient, if the face is 
 placed at a proper angle to the light ; unless we are taking a shadow picture, when a regular 
 side-screen is indispensable, probably without exception. — W. J. Baker. 
 
 I have had occasion to work under high skylights, and small ones, and an expedient that 
 I have resorted to is to use a mirror. It is a good thing to have in every studio. You can 
 throw oflf the top-light as much as you like, and use the mirror, and hang it on the screens. 
 
ACCESSORIES AND LIGHT. 181 
 
 235. Inward and outward screens, for top and side, have already been 
 described in Lesson J. There is no end to the way in which they may 
 be employed, and some of the best thoughts on the subject are given in 
 the notes. If you have once decided in your mind what is the best eifect 
 to obtain for the subject in hand, and you cannot get it by the usual 
 means of lighting, then resort can be had to the hand-screen with much 
 good effect during a whole or part of the exposure. 
 
 You can skut off the light from the top-light and use your side-light. You can put it on 
 either side you please ; shut off the top-light entirely, or get a little of it — enough to soften 
 your shadows. — Alexandeb Eesleb. 
 
 235. Douhtless ninety per cent, of all the photographic studios in the world are suffi- 
 ciently well lighted to allow of the production in them of good pictures, provided the light 
 entering them is managed and directed in the best manner practicable. And in this man- 
 agement the arrangement of the window-curtains is of great and paramount importance, a 
 feature which, in many cases, seems to have been overlooked or greatly neglected, and the 
 management of the light more generally sought through the means of shades or screens, in 
 frames, or in the hands of the operator. I am acquainted with several large establishments 
 in which the curtains are arranged on rollers at the top or bottom of the light, both side and 
 top, in such a manner as to render a large portion of the window joraciicaHy useless, besides 
 incumbering the places with a maze of rollers and cords often out of order, and requiring 
 considerable skill and a large amount of time for their adj ustment. 
 
 During the last eight years I have used, with perfect satisfaction, a simple system which 
 allows any part or all the window surface to be opened or closed, as may be desirable. This 
 is accomplished by single widths of colored muslin which run across the light upon small 
 copper wire, passing through rings upon each edge of the muslin. The strips or widths of 
 muslin should overlap each other some three or four inches, or enough to prevent any open 
 spaces between them. The wires are readily strained sufficiently tight by using screw-eyes 
 instead of nails in putting them up. I prefer copper wire, as ita soft, tough properties offer 
 less resistance to the twist which is caused by turning in the screw-eyes. It does not corrode, 
 and prevent the rings from sliding easily, as is often the case with iron wire. Neither does it 
 break in taking down, whenever the curtains need washing to remove stains or dust. In 
 my own studio I have two sets of light curtains arranged by this method, one set over the 
 other ; by this means I am able to modify the light, whatever its intensity, by using either 
 one or both sets, according to the light or cloudy state of the weather. By this system all 
 cords, pulleys, and rollers are discarded, the curtains always remain where placed. They 
 are easily adjusted to position in a moment's time by the use of an ordinary fishing-rod, or 
 three-quarter inch square strip from the edge of a long board. By their use the stronger 
 light may be admitted at any corner, or along either side or end of the window, or even in 
 the centre when desired, as for statuary or small objects. I believe that any one, after 
 adopting this method, will have no desire to return to any other system with which I am 
 acquainted. Upon trial many will doubtless be surprised at the results produced by an ap- 
 parently weak light fully utilized. While the light is easy and pleasant for the sitter, the 
 chemical effect is of such a delicate nature as to far surpass all that can be produced in the 
 flooded glare of the ordinary operating-room. — O. G. Mason. 
 
182 WILSON'S PHOTOGEAPHIOS. 
 
 236. At certain times of the year and day, direct sunlight, or reflec- 
 tions from objects altogether outside of the studio, often give great an- 
 noyance — so great, sometimes, as to render the studio useless for a few 
 hours. If the screens and curtains do not suffice, resort may be had to 
 coating the glass, though care should be had that the light is not retarded 
 too much by such applications. There is this to be remembered when 
 you apply to any of these helps in lighting the model : strive for natu- 
 ral effects — effects which, when accomplished, vsdll showintent — ^purpose — 
 feeling — and not serve as puzzles to the critic and mysteries to the pa- 
 tron. Perhaps there is more wildness shown in this matter of lighting 
 than in any other department of photography ; but, as ignorance is usu- 
 ally the cause of it, there is hope ; and when the photographer begins to 
 yield to the influence of the law, there is hope for him also. Pass your 
 crudeness into the mufile, friends, and you may see it come out changed 
 for the better. 
 
 236. A very simple way to avoid reflections of sunlight, which so often annoy us, is as 
 follows : Cover the obnoxious panes with starch-paste until they are dull or half transparent. 
 It may be put on thick or thin, and in winter, when the sun is low and all the light is wanted, 
 warm water will remove it. Starch-paste is a good thing to stand by, and it secures a very 
 complete union between card- board and paper, but, as some do not like it, the following may 
 be of use for producing a good white paste (it sticks like the shirt of Nessus) : A solution of 
 two and a half ounces of gum-arabic in warm water is thickened to a paste with wheat flour ; 
 to this add a solution of alum and sugar of lead, seventeen hundred and twenty-eight grains 
 each, in the water, is heated and stirred about to boil, and is then cooled. It may be 
 thinned, if necessary, with the gum solution. Blue-frosting used to be a great favorite 
 among photographers, but I rarely see it now upon a skylight. I frequently see the 
 slovenly remains of it ; and, as it seems to be difficult for some photographers to get it off 
 their glass, I would recommend the following as very effective : Soft-soap mixed with a 
 solution of potash or caustic soda, or pearlash and slaked lime mixed with suflicient water to 
 form a paste. It may be laid on with a brush or rag, and when left for some hours will 
 render the removal of blue-frosting very easy. — J. Gkasshoj'I'. 
 
LESSOE" L. 
 
 MANAGING THE MODEL. 
 
 237. The studio may be constructed in the most skilful, workmanlike, 
 and expensive manner, and j'et be wasted upon its owner, unless he be 
 possessed of skill sufficient to manage it. Experience, actual and hard, 
 only can supply this; but it is a fascinating study, and if prosecuted 
 with feeling, it will reciprocate and repay to your entire satisfaction and 
 delight. The posing and lighting, or managing of the model, then, must 
 not fail to have consideration here. 
 
 238. Direct, diffused, and reflected light are the three qualities or forms 
 which are to be moulded or managed by the skill of the photo-artist, to 
 produce the results he desires. The first needs the most careful hand- 
 
 237. Light is the element of life, the drawing-pencil of the photographer. It is the 
 brush with which he paints. Por him a thorough knowledge of this element is as important 
 as it is for the painter to possess an exact knowledge of his colors. — Dk. H. Vogbl. 
 
 What requisites must I have to do as good photographic work as can he done at our 
 present stage of enlightenment, is a question finding lodgment in every true photographer's 
 mind of to-day. We helieve that first of all we must have a good light, and experience 
 enough to know how to use it, and what its capabilities are. In defining a "good light," I 
 would say the one is best which will work the most uniform, and needs the least array of 
 curtain appurtenances, and is most simple to manage. — Mrs. E. N. Lookwood. 
 
 Light is an emanation, or something which proceeds from bodies by means of which they 
 are made visible. All bodies may be divided into self-luminous and non-luminous. Self- 
 luminous bodies are those which have the power of discharging light. Non-luminous bodies 
 are those which have not the power of discharging light. One non-luminous body may 
 receive light from another non-luminous body and discharge it upon a third; but the light 
 must originally come from some self-luminous body. When a lighted candle is brought 
 into a dark room, the form of the flame is seen by its own light, and the objects in the room 
 are made visible by the light which they receive from the candle and again throw back. 
 Those objects on which the light of the candle does not fall receive reflected light. 
 
 A diffused light will not give you shadows; it will not give you roundness; it will not 
 give you any relief; it will not give you form, because, if you could light everything here in 
 this room, all exactly of the same strength, it would be just like a piece of white paper, 
 there would not be anything like form to be seen here. If you light the form of the column 
 on the wall just as light on this side as on the other, there will be no shadow there. If you 
 light the centre of it as much as the edge, you will not see any form at all. — A. S. Sottthwdrth. 
 
 (183) 
 
184 WILSON'S PH0T06EAPHICS. 
 
 ling and judicious application ; the second is of tlie most service, and 
 the last conies in as a helper in time of need, for reasons that vary with 
 circumstances, but usually to supply light where it cannot otherwise be had. 
 7239. Various as are the effects procurable under any skylight, just 
 as varied are the means employable to produce them. Shade as well as 
 light is necessary to secure roundness and brilliancy of effect. There 
 should be gradation from one to the other, and also a complete harmony 
 between them. Contrast to a moderate degree is requisite, and now and 
 then masses of light may be used, and of shadow as well, to secure the 
 most charming effects. 
 
 239. It is a rule with portrait painters to represent their sitters in a light, falling from the 
 side, at an angle of about forty-five degrees. This gives the best light for the majority of 
 faces, and to secure such a light should be the aim in constructing the light for a studio. — 
 
 L. G. BiQKLOW. 
 
 J Of the importance of effectively "lighting the sitter," there will not be two opinions 
 amongst photographic artists, therefore our hints will tend to show how this desirable end 
 may be attained, rather than to discuss the principles upon which it should be based. Yet, 
 we would say, in passing, that a monochrome picture must necessarily depend more upon 
 its effect of light and shade for producing lasting pleasure than upon any other quality. 
 This is a point upon which photographers would do well to ponder. Why is it that a pho- 
 tograph or print, which at first struck you as possessing considerable merit, does not 
 continue to yield a feast to the eye ? The pose and expression are good, the manipulation is 
 in all points satisfactory, and yet you soon grow tired of it. Is it that the subject is un- 
 interesting ? By ho means. The idea is as happy in its conception as in execution. Why, 
 then, does it not continue to give satisfaction to the mind? Just because it lacks that charm 
 which harmony of light and shade produces. What is harmony of light and shade ? Of 
 sound and color — you can understand that term ; but of mere light and shade — what does it 
 mean ? The term as applied to sound means concord, agreement ; and why should this not 
 apply to a scale of shades, from the faintest to the deepest, and their blending together so as not 
 to irritate the sensitive eye ? Yet, it is not, after all, a mere harmonious scale of sounds which 
 gives pleasure to the ear, but the skilful use of these sounds, contrasting, blending, epeatring ; 
 so with the scale of shades in a picture, they must be worked into a tune, and the more skill 
 and "feeling" exercised in doing this, the more lasting will be the pleasure excited. 
 
 \ What we want, then, in the first place, is a highly cultivated as well as natural perception 
 of this kind of beauty. And, in the second place, we want the means at our disposal for 
 thoroughly carrying out our conceptions of it. It is to assist in the accomplishment of the 
 latter that the above was written. — J. M. Bttegess. 
 
 J Suppose a ball to be the object on which the light falls in a direction of forty-five degrees, 
 or the diagonal of a square, and at a right angle from the ball to the place where you stand, 
 one-half the ball will appear illuminated and the other dark. This state of the two hemi- 
 spheres constitutes the two masses of light and shade. In the centre of the mass of light 
 falls the focus of illumination on the ball, between the centre of the illumination and the 
 circle of the ball. Where the illumination reaches its extremity, lies what may be called 
 
MANAGING THE MODEL. 185 
 
 /240. " And when her royal highness, the model, presents herself to 
 me for a pose, how am I to know how best to treat her ? " queries the 
 photographer mentally. Here again comes good your intuitions — the 
 power of inspiration which you must cajole into your service, l^ever 
 allow yourself to falter, any way, at such a conundrum. If you have 
 heart for the work, the ideas will come to you, and the first lesson of this 
 book is ever at your service. You should be full of it before you face 
 any sort of a model. 
 
 241. In managing your curtains and reflectors, act not wildly. Natu- 
 ralness is what should be sought after, and it is a mistake to light a model 
 
 the transparent tint or shade : and between this and the dark side lies what is called the 
 aerial tint or middle tint. The point of darkness, the extreme shade, is directly opposite 
 the focus of illumination, between which and the aerial tint lies the tint of reflection or 
 reflected light. If the ball rests on a plane, it will cast a shadow equal In length to one 
 diameter and a quarter of the ball. That shadow will be darker than the shade on the ball, 
 and the darkest part will be where the plane and ball come in contact. — M. A. Dwiqht. 
 
 240. I think the first thing in posing, practically speaking, is to take a rapid survey of the 
 sitter, a lady, for instance, to decide whether we take a full or three-quarters length ; a sit- 
 ting or standing; head and shoulders; which side of the face is best; which side of the 
 dress, etc., is most effective, and thus try to secure the portrait having most personal charac- 
 teristics in it, because we know many persons are recognized by their " walk as well as by 
 their conversation." — W. J. Toplbt. 
 
 In studying faces our aim should be to find out what view or light best becomes it. This 
 should be a constant study in every gathering of people that we sec ; we must search for 
 effects of light and shade, and beauty and harmony of form. When a sitter enters your 
 studio, at once look him over, read him, watch for anything pleasing or beautiful, and when 
 he comes to your chair, use all your art to catch and hold it. — Alexandkb Hesler. 
 
 It appears that many photographers lose sight of the fact that the parts of the face 
 farthest from the eye should be darkest in tone, and the parts nearest should be the lightest, 
 with a gradation of tone from the light to the dark parts. I have seen many photographs 
 by those high in the profession, in which the reverse of the above is strikingly observable, 
 that is, the back part of the cheek would be lighter than the front part. By a little thought, 
 you will see that this is an error.— Frank Jewell. 
 
 I think expression in a. portrait of the first importance, and I consider that a, master 
 portraitist should be able to infuse any expression he chooses into a portrait. Expression 
 belongs to the whole body as well as to the face. I have often thought I should try to 
 produce a picture, the story or meaning of which should be plain, by using lay figures or 
 marionettes only for the models, the whole story being told by the position and action of 
 the figures. How is it that so many photographers seem to have but two or three positions at 
 most for their sitters 7 — O. G. Eejeandbr. 
 
 241. The dress should give a mass either decidedly above or below that of the background. 
 If above, care should be taken that it does not overweigh the light mass of the face, and 
 sink the most important part of the picture into insignificance. With care, almost any 
 
186 WILSON'S PHOTOGRAPHICS. 
 
 in any striking, fancy way which never occurs in nature. You are to 
 strive for likenesses, and not distortions and caricatures. Therefore, study 
 the light effects upon face and figure, and then go to your ground-glass. 
 The drapery too is of great importance, and the background must also 
 have careful attention. Indeed, tfwughtfvl care — all through. 
 
 white drapery can be used, and particularly witli the shadow picture gives beautiful effects. 
 Turning the shoulders from the light, shielding the dress from the light by an opaque screen, 
 subduing the general illumination, are very effective means for producing softness and 
 securing detail in white drapery.— "W. J. Baker. 
 
 The whole system of lighting a subject for a photographic portrait is contained in the fol- 
 lowing sentence : The light must be properly balanced, the exposure sufficient to bear out the 
 lighting, and the development regulated to the exposure. No one of these three items can 
 be in error without destroying, with mathematical certainty, the perfect result. You may 
 approximate, and produce good pictures, but not the best. Place a sitter under an uncurtained 
 light, even in the most favorable position possible, and we at once see that one side of the 
 face is in a very strong light, and the other in a very strong shadow. "We can hardly see 
 any detail in the shadow, except we squint the eyes and shut out the volume of light which 
 confuses our vision (as it will also that of the lens), then we see some of the details. Now, 
 take a large card-board and hold it to the side of your face, nearest the direction from which 
 the light comes, and hold it also in such a manner that you see only the shadow side of the 
 sitter's face, and observe how, at the instant the light side of the face is obscured by the in- 
 terposition of the card-board, the shadow seems to lighten and become transparent. We 
 perceive at once, from this experiment, that the shaded side of the face is not in the deep 
 shadow it seemed to be, but that the force of contrast caused it to appear so ; and practically, 
 for all purposes of photography, it is so, for we cannot make our lenses squint. Tou will see 
 by this that by balance I mean an even illumination or light, so managed that the contrasts 
 shall not be white and black. — L. G. Bigelow. 
 
 The grand point for those who have not paid sufficient attention to this most important of 
 photographic questions, is to accustom the eye by constant watching — out of the studio as well 
 as in it — for any unusual effect of light on the human face which may happen to be pleasing, 
 and at once to analyze, as far as possible, the cause. I shall best further my object, before 
 I speak of special studio arrangements, by describing two extremes of light, one favoring 
 perfect relief, but with contrasts too strong for general photographic purposes, and the other 
 — unfortunately, too common among photographers — producing flatness and almost total 
 absence of texture. By putting these two extremes side by side, I shall the more readily 
 make clear what I desire to say. Those who have been in the studio of the sculptor for the 
 first time will have been struck by the wonderful delicacy and relief of any work in marble 
 which may happen to be in hand. Should his curiosity lead him to watch the effect of the 
 same kind of light on the human head and bust, he will be equally delighted with the novel 
 effect of light and shade before him. He will notice a delicacy and texture quite unusual in 
 ordinary lights, combined with the most perfect relief. The whole effect will be most striking 
 and forcible ; but after some time spent in close observation, he will find that, whilst the high 
 lights and those next approaching to them'are wonderfully rendered, the deepest shadows, 
 and those allied to them, are much too heavy for photographic purposes. The observer will 
 feel less of this, however, if the subject examined should happen to be a blonde dressed in 
 
MANAGING THE MODEL. 187 
 
 242. The time of exposure must next be considered. Too much impa- 
 tience is indulged in here. Take enough exposure, whenever the subject 
 in hand will permit it. Do not under time, if you can help it. To secure 
 the proper brilliancy and charm of effect, time' must be given. Effect first, 
 and time afterwards is the rule. Yea, effects at any sacrifice^ rather than 
 sacrifice them for the sake of rendering it a little easier for your model. 
 If there is a prevailing fault among photographers, it is that of undertiming. 
 
 light drapery. A little investigation will therefore show that the marble, being a semi- 
 transparent substance, permits — indeed requires — this strong treatment in order to'produce 
 the proper amount of relief, and that, in the case of the blonde with the drapery light in 
 color, the shadows are softened by the reflections carried into them, and thus reducing their 
 intensity. Every one must, at some time or other, have been struck with the wonderful 
 eflect of relief combined with perfect transparency in the half-shadows, when a lady, dressed 
 in a very light diaphanous material, has chanced to be placed near an open window in a well- 
 lit room. The effect is totally different if a swarthy, black-bearded man, in the mournful 
 livery common to this age, should happen to be seen under precisely similar circumstances. 
 In the latter case there are no reflections to help out the effect ; hence the difference. I may 
 say here that the most perfect effects of lighting I have ever seen have been produced at a 
 lofty side-window, the lower portion of which was covered with semi-transparent material, 
 a suitable system of reflectors being used to carry light into the deepest shadows to lessen the 
 contrast. — Valentine Blanchard. , 
 
 242. It is an unquestionable fact that the most brilliant image on the ground-glass is 
 produced by lenses having the smallest reflecting surface adapted to a well-blackened camera. 
 It is, also, evident that, when all the rays but those forming the part of the image depicted 
 on the ground-glass are excluded by means of a hood or cone, the image will gain in vigor 
 and brilliancy. The question whether it will not, in certain cases, be an advantage to 
 sacrifice some of this brilliancy for the sake of rapidity of action, is one which is submitted 
 to the thoughts and consideration of photographers. — Chakles Waldack. 
 
 Pictures taken with an appreciable exposure are, according to the experience of the 
 writer, successful in far larger proportion than those done very rapidly. As examples may be 
 quoted the now well-known shadow or Kembrandt pictures, having a large part of both face 
 and figure in shadow. From the light being admitted only from a contracted opening in 
 doing these photographs, and the illumination of the shadow portion being derived only 
 from a reflector, a far longer exposure is requisite than for the usual class of pictures, yet 
 does an unprecedented success attend their production in their great approval by the public. 
 It is in the expression that the great power here lies ; the larger proportion of the face is 
 simply illumined by » very soft light, giving complete repose of appearance, and, at the 
 same time, rendering very easy the operation of sitting, which is often felt by sitters to be 
 so painful. — SImuel Ery. 
 
 Let those who are not satisfied with their results proceed to cover up their top-lights and 
 windows with very transparent material, say tracing-paper, or, better ?till, a mixture of 
 flake-white mastic varnish and turpentine, until the pure light admitted on the sitter from 
 the top and side, at an angle of forty-flve degrees each way, does not exceed eight feet square 
 for a tolerably lofty studio, and even less than this under some circumstances, and I am 
 
188 WILSON'S PHOTOGKAPHICS. 
 
 243. There are various " dodges " practised for the shortening of the 
 exposure, and, as will be seen in the lesson on the manipulations of the 
 plates, there are " quick" processes given. They are of questionable ad- 
 vantage if the best effects are desired. It is well, however, to have all 
 these things in mind, and, therefore, record is made of enough of them 
 to serve all emergencies. 
 
 assured they will be astonished to find that, whilst the exposures are not increased in any 
 material degree, the difference in the results produced will at once prove the advantages of 
 the " dodge " advised. — Valentine Blanchard. 
 
 243. The dodge of allowing the light to act slightly on the plate, to he able to do with a 
 shorter exposure, is, however, not to be despised, and made use of intelligently, will do good 
 service. A means which is communicated to me by a friend, and which I have not seen 
 published, is to cover the largest stop with white paper, and cut out an opening the size of the 
 stop generally used. The result is a softer negative, with one-third or one-half less exposure 
 than if the opaque stop had been used. This action of diffused light lighting up the image, 
 and thus reducing the exposure, often takes place when the photographer is not conscious of 
 it. Years ago, when it was customary to make negatives of vignettes against a, white 
 background, it was found the exposure was considerably reduced. Again, the image may 
 be lighted by reflection from the sides of the camera and from the surface of the lenses. 
 The lighter parts of an image, the sky, for instance, will reflect diffused light on the inside 
 of the camera, and thus light up the darker parts.- Any landscape photographer may have 
 observed that a view with much sky* will require a less exposure than one from which the 
 sky is nearly excluded. We all know that long exposure reduces contrast. Suppose we 
 have before the camera » country residence, with overhanging porticos illuminated hy a 
 strong summer sun. The contrast is painful to the ej'es ; and still, by giving a sufficiently 
 long exposure, we can reduce it so that the house appears to be bathed in the mellow light 
 of an Indian summer day. How much of this may be owing to the diflfused light reflected 
 from the more illuminated parts? — Charles Waldack. 
 
 I am now, and have been for years, using my camera lined with white — white writing 
 paper. The shadows are not so hard and black, and altogether a much more engraving-like 
 effect is produced. If the reflected light in the camera is not sufficient, it is well to expose 
 the plate two or three seconds through the lens to a sheet of blue stuff, placing the stuff in a 
 diffused focus, either before or after the picture is taken. This plan renders the shadows soft 
 and gray, doing away with the hard black shadows which have teen so damaging to the patron- 
 age of the photographic art. In addition to all these advantages, the camera lined with white 
 will produce pictures quicker by at least ten seconds in the minute. — John Bastham. 
 
 Difficulty sometimes occurs when groups are to be made of persons varying in complex- 
 ion. It may be overcome by giving the group the proper exposure for the light subject, 
 and then capping the lens, and allowing that one to leave the group ; then continue the ex- 
 posure as long as is required for those remaining. Care must he taken that this change may 
 be readily accomplished without disturbing the position of those requiring a long exposure 
 and to have no light or white drapery behind the one who is first to leave, because, if dark 
 clothing was in front of it before the change was made, the light drapery would show. A 
 black cloth may be used to conceal what was before covered by the sitter. E. Z. Webster. 
 
LESSON" M. 
 
 PRINTING ON ALBUMEN PAPER. 
 
 1/^44. After the negative is entirely finished, the important operation 
 of printing proofs from it next occupies our attention. And right here 
 the student needs to call up his best thoughts and exercise his utmost 
 care. A few years ago, it was imagined that " any supernumerary could 
 print," and not much attention was given to this department of photo- 
 graphic ar1>work. Now, however, the tables are turned. The head- 
 printer in a wellvorganized establishment ranks with, or next to, the 
 chief operator, and the work of the one requires the exercise of as much 
 taste and skill as the other. The printer should be allowed everything 
 of the best quality to work with, and have a comfortable room to work in. 
 
 '^44. A photograph printer is worth his price just ip. proportion as he uses care in his 
 work. The printer must be held responsible for his silvering, printing, and toning, with no 
 redress. He cannot lay the fault upon the negative maker, nor upon the toner. If he un- 
 derstands his business, he is invaluable. If he does not understand it, he had better turn 
 his attention to something else, for I boldly assert that the photograph printer is the most 
 important man in a gallery. — I. B. Webstek. 
 
 The size of my printing-room is 10 x 15 x 10 feet, a is the printing-shelf, upon which the 
 negative-boards are placed out to print; B is the sash of glass through which the light 
 enters on the shelf, and which sash is kept in 
 place by the hooks, c ; D Is a window, which 
 swings back and forth by means of the hinges d'. 
 This window, when closed, is fastened by the but- 
 ton, B. This window was arranged to permit the 
 printer to open it in the winter time and sweep 
 the snow from the glass,"without the trouble of 
 removing his frames, and then taking the sash 
 of ground-glass in. There is another sash of plain 
 glass made, which is placed out instead of the 
 ground one, when it is so desired by the printer. 
 p is the window-cord by which the sash is pulled 
 up or let down. G is the drawer in which the 
 albumen paper is placed when it is ready for 
 printing ; H is the drawer into which the prints 
 
 are slipped through the little aperture k, which is cut in the bench, and supplied with a 
 
 (189) 
 
 Fig. 57. 
 
190 
 
 WILSON'S PHOTOGRAPHICS. 
 
 245. It is a common fault, among employers especially, to devote too 
 
 little attention to the construction 
 of the printing apartments. They 
 should be roomy, well exposed to the 
 south, well ventilated, clean, well ac- 
 coutred, and provided with the where- 
 withal to produce results of the best 
 quality. Probably one of the best 
 models was that constructed by the 
 Centennial Photographic Company, 
 attheir studio in the International Ex- 
 hibition grounds, in 1876. A draw- 
 ing of a section of it is here given, 
 more especially to show the arrange- 
 ment of the rests for the printing- 
 boards during exposure. A por- 
 tion of a graphic description given of 
 it at the time is found below. Of 
 course, few need such large printing 
 quarters, but useful hints for the construction of smaller ones may be 
 drawn from this. The great trouble with many printing apartments is, 
 that they are neither roomy enough nor convenient. Again, they are 
 
 cover of tin or zinc; this arrangement saves opening the drawer bo often as to discolor the 
 whites of the prints therein contained ; l is the drawer in which the albumen paper is kept. 
 M is a drawer in which the plain salted paper may be placed, and in it is another drawer in 
 which the unsalied paper can be placed; pp are negatives which are to be printed, and 
 which, when they are printed, are temporarily placed at p', until they are filed away, which 
 is done in another room. The shelves, R R B, are also negative shelves, which are used for 
 special purposes, such as the "family negatives," etc. The wide shelf is made for the stor- 
 ing away of negative boards, vignette blocks, porcelain printing-frames, etc., all of which are 
 kept in order. The filling of the board is done on the bench, T ; u is the door leading to 
 the silvering- and toning-rooms ; v is the fuming-box, which will also be explained further 
 on ; w is the box in which the old or used hypo-bath is poured, and zinc thrown into it ; x 
 is a bench which is used for one thing and another, also for keeping bottles, etc., upon. — 
 C. "W. Heakn, in the Practical Printer. 
 
 245. The exposure was southern. It must have been at least a hundred feet in length, 
 probably more. There was a railing running around the whole of it, and a projecting roof 
 above. It must have been Mr. Wilson who conceived the idea of adapting the southern 
 exposure to printing purposes. Large sashes were fitted from the roof to the balustrade, 
 inclined at a slight angle, the ends were protected by partitions, and the result was a long, 
 magnificently lighted apartment. The side-screens, of tissue-paper, were so adjusted as to 
 
PRINTING ON ALBUMEN PAPEE. 
 
 191 
 
 not provided with the proper means of placing the printing-boards at a 
 proper angle in the light, and no plan is arranged for screening them or 
 for protecting weak negatives from too strong a light while printing. 
 Finally, the cold should be guarded against by some arrangement that 
 will enable the room to be closed in winter without losing light. 
 
 246. In printing from the negative, one is subjected to as many annoy- 
 ances and failure-causes as in making it, but the operations are so beau- 
 tifal, and the results so charming, that if the heart is put into the work, 
 — if you make yourself a part of it, — there is sufficient in it to excite your 
 
 be made serviceable for changes of light, and racks placed immediately under the windows, 
 as high as the hand could reach, for the support of the printing-frames. 
 
 The racks for the printing-frames at the windows are plainly shown here; they are 
 permanently fixed under the sash, and of such width as to suit the largest measure of 
 printing-frames, and made so as to hold the printing-frames both at the top and bottom, at 
 the proper angle to the sun. In the inside printing-room the sashes are hung on a swivel 
 so as to change the angle ; but those in the portico or outer printing-room are permanent. 
 All the printing, or nearly all, is done under tissue-paper ; this is a slow method, it is true, 
 but the results are far superior, and as superiority is the principal aim in this establishment, 
 but little regard is paid to anything that will interfere. By the cut it will be seen that the 
 printers stand side by side, and behind them are arranged their counters, and drawers, and 
 changing-boxes, and all the other conveniences of a model printing-room, and its dimensions 
 are so great that one may pass by the other, or the overseer pass to and fro, without any 
 interference with the work, and while everything is supplied of the best quality and in liberal 
 quantity, yet due attention is given to economy, and above all to excellence — J. L. G-ihon. 
 
 Eor those who have regularly fitted up printing-rooms this is not intended, but to those 
 who are still printing by the "cold, open win- 
 dow," it will surely be a boon. Havinga plat- 
 form outside of my window, just as a good many 
 others have, some three feet by four, I con- 
 ceived the Idea how easy it would be to get a 
 sash made to fit. I got one that just reached 
 from the outer edge of my platform to the 
 lower edge of the upper sash of my window. 
 I then had the ends enclosed, and the whole 
 fitted up ; putting in glass just as in my sky- 
 light. My window will hold from fifteen to 
 eighteen negatives, and can print in all kinds 
 of weather. Every artist knows that prints 
 are very much improved by keeping them 
 warm; then it is so comfortable, and removes 
 much of the unpleasantness of the work in winter time. — J. S. Young. 
 
 It is much to be desired that more intelligence be imparted into the printing operations, 
 for it is only reasonable to expect that if it be impossible with one negative nitrate bath of in- 
 ferior strength, with one kind of collodion more modified, and with a developer of unvarying 
 
 Fig. 59. 
 
192 WILSON'S PHOTOGEAPHICS. 
 
 ambition, to fascinate you, and to repay you for all the pains you exer- 
 cise in order to produce the best possible results. Indeed, the negative 
 may be ever so perfect and good, yet the printer may spoil all if he is heed- 
 less and indifferent. As the artist who makes the lovely sketch upon the 
 block is so often disappointed by the murderous hatcheting of the en- 
 graver, so is the negative-artist sickened by the careless handling of his 
 work by him who should be equally an artist — the printer. There should 
 be a harmonious working — a mutual understanding — ^between the two ; 
 they should operate and think together. 
 
 247. The best results are obtained on albumen paper, which is supplied 
 of various excellent brands, ready made, by the dealers. Pew under- 
 
 proportions, to produce every variety of effect in the negative, so is it equally impossible, 
 from paper always the same as to the proportion of albumen, salt, and silver, to get perfect 
 proofs from all kinds of negatives as opposite in their characteristics as photography can 
 make them. — Valentine Blanchakd. 
 
 246. I have used this bath for six or eight months without having it once hardly more 
 than perceptibly discolored, even after a hard day's work. It is made as follows : 
 
 1. — Nitrate oif Silver, 40 grains. 
 
 Distilled "Water, ... 1 ounce. 
 
 To every eighty ounces of solution add of a 
 
 Saturated Solution of Sal Soda, J ounce. 
 
 Upon adding the sal soda, the bath will turn creamy in color ; let it settle for a while, and 
 then filter the decanted solution. There will be a deposit in the bottle, which will take the 
 organic matter from the bath, and render the solution always clear. This deposit, which is 
 the carbonate of silver, should always remain in the bottle, and the solution poured into it 
 after use ; then shake up, and it is ready for use again in a very short time. By the use of 
 this bath the solution will always be clear, and the only thing required in its management 
 is to add solution from a stock to keep it up to some number of ounces — eighty, for instance 
 —and every few days add a few drops of the sal soda solution. It is an excellent bath. 
 
 2.— Nitrate of Silver, 35 grains. 
 
 Nitrate of Ammonium, .... .... 35 , " 
 
 Distilled Water, 1 ounce. 
 
 Filter this solution through filtering-cotton, after having placed a piece of alum about the 
 size of a small filbert in the funnel, and then the solution will take up some of the alum, 
 which it surely needs. 
 
 This alum, by the way, is one of the best things that can possibly be used in the bath out- 
 side of the silver, as all photographers who have used it can vouch for. Both it and nitrate 
 of ammonium, besides coagulating the albumen on the surface of the paper, also improve the 
 tone of the unfinished print, giving remarkable richness and beauty to the whole print, thus 
 rendering it an easier thing to obtain finer tones, although still considerable skill is required. 
 — Charles W. Heakn. 
 
 247. The negative having been obtained, the next step is to produce positives from it. 
 The fact long known to man, that nitrate of silver in the presence of organic matter darkens 
 
PRINTING ON ALBUMEN PAPEE. 193 
 
 take to albumenize their own paper, so no instructions as to that are 
 
 called for here. The sheets of paper are taken in the hands and floated 
 
 carefully, albumen surface down, upon a solution of nitrate of silver 
 
 made as follows : 
 
 "Water, . . 16 ounces (fluid). 
 
 Nitrate of Silver, . . . . . 2 " 
 
 Dissolve the silver in the water, and separate one-fifth from the rest. 
 To this add liquid ammonia until the brown oxide of silver is redissolved, 
 after which it should be added to the remaining four-fifths. Oxide of 
 silver will again be precipitated ; this should be redissolved again with 
 chemically pure nitric acid, being careful not to add too much. This will 
 leave the solution slightly alkaline. It is not liable to turn red, unless it 
 is allowed to get exhausted. 
 
 in sunlight, is utilized for this purpose. In darkening, it is probably reduced to a sub- 
 nitrate, but why it should be reduced, and why in the presence of organic matter, is a 
 question that will not be proposed here, because its answer would lead so far into the fields 
 of theoretical chemistry that we might find ourselves more in shadow than before we entered 
 those holy domains. The fact is certain, that the nitrate does darken when exposed to the 
 sun, and it is also true that this fact is utilized in obtaining positive prints. The paper is 
 first albumenized, because it gives a fine, smooth finish to it, and allows it at least to work; 
 as fast as the plain paper. When this is floated upon a nitrate of silver bath.albumenate of 
 silver is formed; but as there is also free nitrate of. silver present, and as it is a so much 
 simpler salt, and as the reactions are similar, we will consider it as nitrate of silver in the 
 presence of organic matter — albumen. A piece of paper is then taken, with a coating of 
 albumen, and coated with nitrate of silver and allowed to dry. If now this is used to print 
 with, it would be found that the reaction would be retarded by the nitric acid that would be 
 set free (nitric acid being liberated in this case in the same way that we have seen chlorine, 
 bromine, and iodine liberated before). Something is evidently needed to seize upon the 
 escaping nitric acid, and by uniting with it prevent it from doing any damage. This "con- 
 summation devoutly to be wished" Is obtained by the "fuming," when the sensitized papers 
 are hung up in a box and subjected to the fumes of ammonia. Those fumes, acting upon 
 the nitrate of silver on the paper, form with it ammonia-nitrate of silver. So then when 
 the paper is placed under the negative, and the light acts upon it, and in acting upon it dis- 
 engages nitric acid, this nitric acid Instead of escaping, instead of retarding the action of the 
 light, seizes upon the ammonia, forms nitrate of ammonia, and then as a retarding agent its 
 work Is at an end. The sensitized paper having been exposed for a sufScient time is, as 
 every one knows, taken from the printing-frame and washed in water ; washed so as to re- 
 move the free nitrate of silver ; after being washed in several changes of water it is transferred 
 to the toning-bath. — H. M. McIntibb. 
 
 The strength of the positive bath must be regulated by the strength of the negative. The 
 stronger the negative, the weaker the bath may be. Por a moderately strong negative, the 
 bath maybe between sixty and sixty-five grains to the ounce. Very thin and weak negatives 
 require a bath of seventy to eighty grains.^ELBERT Anderson. 
 13 
 
194 WILSON'S PHOTOGRAPHICS. 
 
 248. As the solution becomes reduced in strength, always add pure 
 crystals of silver, and not a stronger solution of ammonia, as some rec- 
 ommend, as in that case the ammonia soon becomes in excess, and is 
 liable to dissolve off the albumen. The proper plan to adopt is, as the 
 solution is reduced in strength, to add pure nitrate of silver, and, when 
 it is reduced in bulk, to make a fresh supply according to the formula, 
 and mix them together ; this will keep your solution at a certain standard 
 all the time. The paper should be floated on this solution from one to 
 three minutes, according to the density of the negatives in use. Take 
 just as much care of this solution, too, as you would of your negative-bath 
 solution. When not in use, keep it covered up from the air and dust, or 
 
 Now paper requiring a bath of one hundred grains should contain, for each unit of surface, 
 two and a half times as much of the soluble chloride as that requiring a forty-grain bath. 
 It follows, then, that each sheet silvered on a one hundred-grain bath should convert two 
 and a half times as much silver as the forty-grain bath, while the free nitrate of silver 
 withdrawn from the bath by the paper will contain the same proportionate excess. It will 
 not be much out of the way to say that an ounce of silver made into a forty-grain bath will 
 silver two and a half times as many sheets as the same quantity of silver in a one hundred- 
 grain solution. This is on the supposition that the strength of the salting varies in the same 
 proportion as the silver. The one hundred-grain bath will give more free nitrate to be 
 washed from the prints, and more unreduced chloride to b8 removed by the fixing-bath. 
 
 It is a matter of no small importance, on the score of economy, whether a strong or weak 
 solution is used, provided, as is claimed, the weaker solution is not used at the expense of 
 some quality of excellence in the resulting picture. But, as above intimated, much depends 
 upon the preparation of the paper, for the salting may be such that a forty-grain bath would 
 dissolve part of the albumen, sufficient to impair the brilliancy of the print. Suppose a 
 paper salted with a chloride whose base gives a very deliquescent nitrate which has not the 
 property of coagulating albumen. It is probable that, on floating this paper on a forty- 
 grain bath, so much silver would be converted into the chloride from the solution in 
 immediate contact with the surface of the albumen, that the impoverished solution, aided, it 
 may be, by the new nitrate, would dissolve a portion of the albumen. In such case the 
 silver bath must be strengthened, and I remember to have used paper that for the best 
 results required a bath one hundred and twenty grains strong. — W. fi. Sherman. 
 
 248. When a new bath is made, add about half an ounce of ammonia to the gallon. The 
 precipitate of oxide of silver is left on the film, and will dissolve when the bath is filtered 
 again after it has been used for ten or twelve sheets. If at any time discoloration should 
 appear again, look to the strength of your solution, and use a few drops of ammonia. The 
 ammonia added to the printing-bath produces, to a more or less degree, the efifeot of fuming, 
 according to the quantity which is used. How or why the addition of ammonia prevents dis- 
 coloration, I am unable to tell. Per contra, if the bath be very strong, the solution will repel 
 from the surface, which will look greasy, the liquid collecting in drops.— Charles Waldack. 
 
 Take nitrate of silver, fuse it, dissolve it in the necessary quantity of water, put it in the 
 sun for a few days, and filter it. When tested, now, with litmus-paper it will turn red paper 
 
PRINTING ON ALBUMEN PAPER. 1^5 
 
 else nightly pour it into a bottle where no contaminating influences can 
 reach it. It will treat you well if you are good to it, and reward you 
 with splendid results. 
 
 249. A few words as to the manner of sensitizing or floating the pa- 
 per. Eirst, turn up the corners of the sheet, albumenized side down, so 
 it may be readily handled by them. IS'ow seize the sheet by the two di- 
 agonal comers, and allow it to fall or curve, the right end being lifted the 
 
 ■falue. Now add C. P. nitTic acid, enough to turn a piece of blue litmus-paper red, say- 
 within ten or fifteen seconds. Let it stand for a day or two, and throw into it precipitated 
 chalk (ten cents' worth will go a long ways; an excess will do no harm). After a day or 
 two, during which time it must be well shaken up once in a while, filter it carefully, and you 
 will find that this silver solution will not turn blue paper red, and yet work rapid and 
 without fog. I forgot to state that it has to be saturated with iodide of silver, as usual. 
 Chalk is also good to use in discoloring silver solution for silvering paper. I always keep 
 some in my funnel, through which I let the solution run after being used. — E. Benbcke. 
 
 Let me say that you may, on the utilization of old negative baths for printing, take any 
 old negative bath, no matter if it fogs or has been overworked. If acid, neutralize either 
 with carbonate of soda or liquor ammonia, a slight excess of alkali does not matter, and set 
 in the sun for an hour or so ; if there is no sun, keep it In the light as long as you can. The 
 object of this is to precipitate all organic and other impurities, while retaining the alcohol 
 in the solution. When sufficiently sunned, add one drachm of a solution of citric acid 
 (sixteen grains to the ounce of itvater) to every eight ounces of bath solution. The object 
 of this is to precipitate the iodide of silver in the bath. Pilter, and add fresh silver until 
 the solution contains thirty-five grains to the ounce. Now, to every half gallon add half an 
 ounce of muriatic acid ; shake well, then add enough liquor ammonia to make it slightly 
 alkaline; again shake well, filter, and save the filtering-paper for subsequent use as long as 
 you can. Every time you strengthen, add a little acid- and ammonia. Ploat the paper from 
 thirty to forty/seconds ; no more. Fume as usual. — J. L. Gihon. 
 
 249. Por silvering the paper, provide a table, somewhat larger than the sheet of paper, 
 covered with velveteen. Upon this the paper is laid, and the albumen surface is briskly 
 rubbed with a bunch of cotton or, better, with a soft pad covered with silk. The pile of the 
 velvet upon which the paper is laid serves to hold it from slipping. The rubbing prevents 
 the silver solution from drying in drops or tears, which frequently occasion great annoy- 
 ance. I imagined the effect produced by the rubbing might be due to electricity, and this 
 idea suggested silk as a substitute for the cotton. I prefer the silk, but the electrical question 
 remains undetermined. The paper is then rolled up in the form of a scroll, which is held 
 in the left hand and placed upon the solution (previously poured into a pan of suitable size), 
 while the free end is drawn over the surface by the right hand, the unrolling being regu- 
 lated by the left. This manipulation being skilfully performed, the possibility of the 
 formation of bubbles on the paper is precluded. In warm weather, the paper is left in the 
 solution about one minute ; in cool weather, two or three minutes. The paper is then lifted 
 slowly from the bath, so that but little of the solution is drawn up by cohesion. Lastly, it 
 is reversed and hung up to dry by the end which was last to leave the bath. Hardly a drop 
 will leave the paper after it is suspended. — W. H. Shebman. 
 
196 "WILSON'S PHOTOGKAPHICS. 
 
 highest. Now drop the left end of the sheet upon the surface of the so- 
 lution, and by one of the corners carry or float it to the left end of the 
 vessel, following with the other hand, gradually dropping the sheet, and 
 with the fingers tapping gently upon the back of it until the whole 
 lies upon the solution. Avoid bubbles. Do not allow the edges to 
 become immersed, and if they turn up, breathe upon the sheet, and that 
 trouble will end. 
 
 The following is a neat and economical method of treating the silvered sheet when 
 taking it from the solution on which it has been sensitized. Have ready as many sheets of 
 thick blotting-paper as there are sheets of paper to sensitize. In lifting the albumenized 
 paper oflf the silver solution, draw it uniformly over the edge of the dish, so as to remove 
 as much as possible of the solution adhering to the surface. Lay the sheet on the blotting- 
 paper, and place another sheet of blotting-paper over it to still further absorb the superficial 
 solution. Lay the next sensitized albumenized sheet on this blotting-paper, and so on, al- 
 ternating blotting-paper and sensitized albumenized paper. The thick blotting-paper quickly 
 takes up the nitrate of silver solution, leaving the sensitized sheet with no free moisture. In 
 this condition it quickly dries without the silver solution gathering in pools or drops. The 
 sheets of blotting-paper can be used many times before they become saturated. They may 
 then be burnt for the silver they contain. To those who have not tried this method, two 
 objections appear obvious — that the prints from such sensitized paper would be weak by 
 having so much free solution removed from the surface, and that the sheets would be dirty. 
 In practice, however, the paper so treated is found to give qiaite as vigorous, and much more 
 uniform, results as from paper that is lifted direct from the dish and hung up to dry spon- 
 taneously. If care be taken with the blotting-sheets, no marks whatever will be produced 
 by the damp contact of the two papers. There are many advantages attached to this mode of 
 working — superior cleanliness, by the absence of the stains of drops of silver solution ; less 
 time required in drying off the sensitized sheets ; the economy of the silver, for the expense 
 of the blotting-paper is as nothing compared with the perfect method of saving the whole 
 of the silver solution adhering to the sensitized sheets. I am not aware of any drawbacks 
 to this method. I have had it in use for several years. — Jabez Huqhes. 
 
 "When floating paper, I, as a rule, bring one end of the paper in contact with the silver 
 solutioa first. Now, after carefully removing all air-bubbles, and allowing the paper to float 
 as long as I deem necessary, I first lift the end of the sheet from it that was the first to come 
 in contact with it. This gives a uniform coating, and assures me that some parts of the 
 paper will not be more brilliant than others, and that the prints next day will be uniform in 
 strength and brilliancy. If one is good, all will be good, and vice versa, provided always 
 that care was used in the printing. Do not rush the paper off of the solution, but raise 
 slowly and evenly, which allows the silver to run off the paper while raising it, so that when 
 it is completely off, there will be only a dropping from it. Now hang the sheet with one 
 corner lower than the other, under which place the silver bottle, in the neck of which is the 
 funnel with filter. "While preparing another sheet of paper, this will have dripped as much 
 as it can, and is now ready to bo moved to another place to dry, leaving room for the next 
 sheet. In this way very little silver is lost or wasted ; and not only is this the result, but the 
 paper is in better condition— from the fact of its having been through a certain routine— 
 
PRINTING ON ALBUMEN PAPER. 
 
 197 
 
 250. To remove the sheet from the solution requires some care. Seize 
 it by the left corner nearest you, and slowly raise it until the opposite 
 left corner is free from the solution, when the last should be taken in the 
 
 Fig. 60. 
 
 right fingers, and then the whole sheet is gently lifted from the dish, al- 
 lowed to drain, drawn over a glass rod at the end of the dish, and then 
 hung up to dry. By this means the superfluous silver solution is saved 
 for future use, instead of being allowed to drip on the floor and waste, 
 and the uniform silvering- or sensitizing of the sheet is more certainly 
 effected. The movement over the rod should be slow and even, with 
 rather a dragging or pressing against it outwardly, rather than a motion 
 more vertical. Some do not use this glass rod, believing that it abrades 
 the surface of the paper. This can hardly be true, however ; neither can 
 it deprive the sheet of any needed silver. If it is used, care should be 
 taken that no marks are caused by hesitating, in the least, while the sheet 
 is being drawn out and over the rod. The time of floating varies with 
 
 which results in making it more general in results. The surface of albumenized paper 
 should never come in contact with any hard substance while damp, as it is certain to 
 interrupt the evenness of the surface, and present in the print an unevenness that attracts 
 attention. — I. B." Webster. 
 
 250. Keep the .paper in a damp, cool place, from twelve to twenty-four hours before sil- 
 vering. This applies to every brand of albumen paper. It gives greater ease in silvering. 
 The paper will take the silver better, and will also lessen the tendency to blisters to which 
 the " Brilliant" papers are especially liable. Carefully examine the first sheet you silver 
 each day, as it begins to get surface dry. If it looks as though the surface was greasy, re- 
 duce the strength of your silver solution. Dry as quickly as possible. Eume with ammo- 
 nia until the paper prints a rich purple. Ten minutes will probably be sufficient. Be sure 
 that, when the paper is once dry after silvering, it does not get damp again until it goes into 
 the washing. In damp weather see that the fuming-box is dry. If damp, light a lamp, 
 and leave it burning in the box for a quarter or half an hour before putting in the 
 paper. — H. C. Beidlb. 
 
198 
 
 WILSON'S PHOTOGKAPHICS. 
 
 r 
 
 1 
 
 the season of the year and the salting of the paper. From twenty sec- 
 onds upward is right. 
 
 251. After the sheets are thus silvered or sensitized, they are hung in 
 a closet or drying-box, by means of clothes-clips at the corners, to be 
 thoroughly dried. After- this they are fastened to 
 skeleton frames made of wood the size of the sheets, 
 with a spring at each corner, and placed in a fuming- 
 box to be fumed. 
 
 252. The operation of fuming is for the purpose 
 of increasing the sensitiveness of the paper, and also 
 the intensity of the prints. It continued accord- 
 ing to the density of the negative, varying vpith cir- 
 cumstances. It is a good plan to hang the sheet 
 with the end upward which leaves the solution last. 
 Thus a more even silvering is secured. If the sur- 
 face of the paper is horny and hard, " tear drops " 
 will occur. Some prefer the use of blotting-pads for drying the paper. 
 If they are used, see to it that they are chemically pure. 
 
 251. This is my drying-room. 
 Fig 62. 
 
 A is the gas-stove by which the room is heated ; B is the 
 paper as fastened to the clips for drying ; c is a 
 shelf on which the silver bath-bottles, as well as 
 the collodio-chloride bottles, are placed ; D, D, D 
 are plates, each hung upon two nails. — C. W. 
 Heakn, in the Practical Printer. 
 
 252. I will venture to describe my fuming-box 
 — a little piece of apparatus which I devised sev- 
 eral years ago, and is so much of a convenience, 
 it seems to me that others might also find it useful. 
 It consists of a tight box made of match stuff and 
 well put together, and a drawer. The box is fast- 
 ened up against the wall in the printing-room, in 
 an inverted position, so that the drawer is opened 
 by sliding downwards, and, of course, shut by 
 sliding up. The drawer is the principal thing in 
 the contrivance. It is wide enough to accommo- 
 date a sheet of paper, and is some six or eight 
 inches longer than the sheet — say thirty inches 
 long by twenty inches wide and five Inches deep. 
 The top end of the drawer is omitted, instead of which two pieces of twine are stretched 
 across, from which, by means of clips, the paper is suspended. The sides of the box extend 
 down two feet below, and serve as guides for the drawer when let down to put in or take out 
 
PKINTING ON ALBUMEN PAPEE. 
 
 I9y 
 
 Take any common wooden box, large 
 
 >/253. If the paper is not printed as rapidly as it is fumed, it may be cut 
 into proper sizes and kept for use in a handy drawer reserved for that 
 purpose only. It will change color if exposed to the light, and as a usual 
 thing it will not keep in good condition from day to day. The negative 
 is placed in a printing-frame of suitable size, the film inside. The albu- 
 
 the paper. A stop is fastened to tl>e wall, upon whiuh the drawer rests when so let down or 
 opened. A spring made of common strap-iron is let into the left guide-piece, in such a 
 position that when the drawer is closed it is held by the spring in its place; a slight pressure 
 with the thumb of the left hand allows the drawer to open. A bottle of ammonia is placed 
 on the lower end of the drawer, where it is always at hand for use as occasion requires; and 
 a small glass tumbler, from which the fumes are given off, completes the arrangement. By 
 this device the fumes of ammonia, which are lighter than air, are allowed to remain in the 
 fuming-box when the paper is removed ; and in all respects the machine is as convenient 
 as possible. — W. H. Shekman. 
 
 The construction of the fuming-box is very simple, 
 enough for the purpose, and make a door of suitable 
 size for it, which, when shut, will totally exclude 
 all light. Make a false bottom in this about six 
 inches from the real one, and perforate it with holes 
 of about the size an extra large gimlet would make. 
 These holes should be exceedingly numerous, and at 
 the centre of the board there should be, if anything, 
 a smaller number of them, because the saucer con- 
 taining the liquid ammonia is generally placed at 
 the centre of the real bottom of the box. 
 
 The sheets could be suspended i n this box by having 
 a nipper nailed at each end of a stick of sufficient 
 length, which is fastened at the top of the box, par- 
 allel to the bottom of the box. Several of these 
 strips could be placed at about three inches apart, 
 and thus quite a number of sheets could be fumed 
 at once. Sometimes, during damp weather, the 
 fuming of the paper is attended with unsatisfactory 
 results, on account of the great moisture of the 
 paper, which tends toward turning it yellow ; but 
 this is generally overcome by pouring a little chlo- 
 ride of lime op the bottom of the box. The time 
 of fuming the paper depends upon the state of the 
 
 nitrate bath, the quality of the negatives, the temperature of the weather, and the bright- 
 ness of the light. Paper silvered on an acid bath needs much longer fuming than when 
 silvered on an alkaline or neutral one ; paper for intense negatives requires less fuming than 
 for weak ones ; during the summer, less fuming than during the winter ; and on a dark day, 
 less of fuming than on a bright day. — C. "W. Heakn, in the Practical Printer. 
 
 253. To silver paper that will keep, make a solution of nitrate of silver, thirty to forty 
 grains strong ; add to this two grains of citric acid to each ounce: After the citric acid is 
 
200 WILSON'S PHOTOGKAPHICS. 
 
 men surface of the paper is now laid upon the film, the shutter made fast 
 by the springs, so as to bring paper and negative in close contact uni- 
 formly all over, and the exposure made to the light, so as to allow the 
 rays to fall horizontally upon it." 
 
 254. The exposure of the paper to the light is governed by the various 
 conditions of the light, the 'temperature, the nature of the negative, and 
 by the paper used. To secure a good print, the paper should be floated 
 long enough to produce a clear and even picture, without any mottled 
 appearance in the background; it should' also be a little bronzed in the 
 deep shadows, and it should be fumed long enough, that, when printed, 
 it will assume a rich purple tone. In many cases, half a minute will be 
 found sufficient to float the paper upon the silver, and in some cases, 
 where the negative is very dense, the print will be improved by omitting 
 the fuming altogether. The exposure ended, the prints must now be 
 gathered together for the after manipulations. 
 
 dissolved, add ammonia as long as a precipitate of citrate of silver is formed ; then redissolve 
 the precipitate by the addition of nitric acid. Care must be taken in adding the nitric acid 
 to add just enough to quite redissolve the precipitate, leaving a very slight excess of nitric 
 acid. Float the paper in the usual manner ; and, after drying, store away between sheets of 
 blotting-paper. — H. T. Anthony. 
 
 To preserve sensitized paper, dip sheets of blotting-paper in a saturated solution of bicar- 
 bonate of soda; hang up and dry. "When your day's work of printing is over, lay your 
 surplus sensitized paper between these sheets, in a large book ; the paper will keep as pure in 
 color as when first silvered, and will not turn if left so for a week. This simple method 
 may prove a great economizer, especially when after silvering a good lot of paper the day 
 suddenly grows dark, and the light slow and almost devoid of printing power. — J. L. Gihon. 
 
 "We silver and fume our paper the night before it is to be used, and for several reasons ; 
 in warm weather the evening air is cooler and favors the keeping of the paper, and I find it 
 much more comfortable working with plenty of fresh air than being boxed up with a gas or 
 kerosene light. Then, again, you are very certain no white light reaches the paper until It 
 comes through the negative, and I am fully convinced that daylight, small it may be in 
 quantity, is one great cause of yellow paper ; and J, too, find that paper prints much nicer 
 several hours after fuming than just after. Second, instead of putting prints into acid 
 water direct, put them into a bath of plain water first. They will redden much more evenly 
 and are easier to handle. — Julitts Hall. 
 
 In a few words, let me recall some of the points to be remembered in order to obtain 
 success in printing. Keep the paper damp before silvering, so that It may take the silver 
 uniformly and quickly, and also as a guat-d against one source of blisters. Always keep a 
 sufficient quantity of solution, and never think of starting to silver without being certain of 
 the condition of your bath both as to strength and alkalinity. If you would have your paper 
 print rich, do not allow it to become too dry before printing. If you would have your prints 
 resist the atmospheric influences as much as possible, do not be afraid to tone them well. If 
 these requirements are carefully attended to, success will follow. — H. A. "Webb. 
 
FEINTING ON ALBUMEN PAPEE. 201 
 
 255. A bath of tepid water is prepared in a dish or tank, into which 
 the prints are quickly or entirely immersed, one after the other, and al- 
 lowed to remain from three to five minutes, at the end of which the water 
 is changed, and the operation repeated.' The first two waters remove 
 considerable free nitrate of silver, anfl should be saved in a cask, the sil- 
 ver precipitated by means of salt. Two or three more changes of water 
 are now necessary before the prints are ready for the following treat- 
 ment. 
 
 256. Another bath of tepid water is now provided, to ea,ch gallon of 
 which about one ounce of acetic acid has been added, stirring thoroughly 
 so as to secure the complete acidifying of the water throughout the ves- 
 sel. E^ow completely immerse the prints one by one, and allow them to 
 remain, say, ten minutes, keeping them continually in motion. The ob- 
 ject of this operation is to render the next one — toning — easier by chang- 
 ing the color of the prints, so the effect of the toning can be more readily 
 observed, and the toning itself is thus accelerated to a considerable de- 
 gree. The acid-water being next poured off, the prints are again washed 
 
 255. "When the print comes from the printing-frame, it contains several substances which 
 must be removed. There are the violet subohloride,' Ag^Cl, the red or yellowish-red suboxide, 
 AgjO, and the free nitrate, AgNO,. The free nitrate being soluble, is removed by washing; 
 after which the subchloride and unreduced chloride must be removed from the print, as they 
 are capable of further reduction by the light. "Who has not wished that the print might be 
 taken from the frame j ust at the right moment, and so preserved ? Butthat which constitutes 
 its beauty of color at that point is the violet subchloride on a substratum of the red suboxide. 
 If it is now placed in the fixing-bath, the subchloride is dissolved, and the suboxide left. 
 But the color in this condition is not satisfactory. So a substance was sought for to supple- 
 ment this suboxide, and compensate for the loss of the subchloride. The search was suc- 
 cessful and the result admirable. — "W. H. Sherman. 
 
 Silver prints must be thoroughly washed from the free nitrate of silver before toning. If 
 this injunction is obeyed in each and every case, the prints after being finished will keep 
 pure and white, and not turn the least yellow with age. In alum eliminating the above 
 must be adhered to.. Prints in my possession of my own and others, made in 1873, are as 
 good to-day as the day they came from the alum solution, eight years ago. — John E. Clemons. 
 
 256. In acidifying the prints, a little warm water facilitates the reddening of them very 
 wonderfully. The plan I have adopted for keeping the toning-bath warm is similar to that 
 for the silver bath ; the same pan will answer for both. Unless there is a very large number 
 of prints, it will only be necessary to fill the pan with warm water; but if necessary, the 
 gas- or coal-oil stove can be used for this also. In this case, care must be taken to prevent 
 the bath from becoming too warm, as the action will not only be uneven, but also flat and 
 gray, with a tendency to measles. The fixing-bath may be made up of warm water, and' all 
 the operations are through, with far more satisfactory results; and, as regards comfort, I will 
 leave it for those who have tried this and the ice-cold solution to judge. — H. A. "Webb. 
 
202 WILSON'S PHOTOGRAPHICS. 
 
 in several changes of water, until the odor of the acid is entirely removed, 
 when they are ready for toning. 
 
 257. ISTow sufficient scope is given for the exercise of judgment and 
 taste. Do not hurry. More prints are spoiled by making the gold solu- 
 tion strong in order to tone rapidly, than in any other way. This caution 
 should be observed, and the prints turned over and over, so each one 
 may be carefully watched, and withdrawn from the solution as soon as it 
 arrives at the proper color or tone. The prints are not acted upon just 
 alike, some becoming toned much sooner than others, hence the necessity 
 of "going slow." 
 
 258. Operators differ in their tastes as to the most desirable tone to se- 
 cure. One prefers a warm or chocolate tone, while the rich, black, vel- 
 
 257. A solution of chloride of gold. "What can this do? Gold is what might be called an 
 ascetic metal ; it likes to live alone. In other words, it is easily reduced from its salts to the 
 metallic state. So when this sheet of paper, covered all over with silver salts, is brought into 
 a solution of chloride of gold, the silver, having a great attraction naturally for chlorine, 
 and the gold parting willingly with its chlprine, it is no more than can be expected to find 
 the chlorine leaving the gold and uniting with the silver, forming, of course, chloride of 
 silver ; the dark subchloride, when the silver has been reduced to the subchloride by the 
 action of the light, and the white chloride when the silver is unaltered, and then the gold, 
 having lost that which held it in solution, has nothing to do but come down as a precipitate 
 of metallic gold, and so metallic gold is deposited upon the picture. — H. M. McIntire. 
 
 Placing the whole number of prints, to be toned by a given quantity of gold, in the 
 solution at once insures more complete utilization and equalization of the toning agent 
 through the entire number of prints. The large surface exposed to the action of the toning- 
 bath at once prevents rapid reduction, and there being in the bath nothing but the prints to pre- 
 cipitate the gold, the toning takes place with deliberation and uniformity. — W. H. Shermau. 
 
 The toning should be done in a quite weak aq^ even light, and at a little distance from the 
 window. An idea of the quantity of light required may be had by bearing in mind that 
 all you wish is to see distinctly and clearly, without any guessing.. Take a couple of dozen 
 prints, and let them lay-in your bath solution, face up, but under the surface, and keep them 
 in motion while in it ; the action is as follows : At first the prints will not perceptibly change, 
 but very gradually the high-lights and half-tints of the face will lose their red tint, and 
 will commence to border on the rich purple, and then they will quite quickly arrive at that 
 stage when they are to be removed to a bath of running water. — Chaklks W. Heakn. 
 
 258. After washing away the nitrate of silver from the print (for the reason that the nitrate 
 would only cause a useless waste of gold), we place the print in the toning-bath. Now the 
 chloride of silver cannot be toned by gold 1 Why ? Because the chloride of silver will not 
 take any of the chlorine away from the chloride of gold. But the subchloride will take a 
 little; enough to change it from the subchloride, Ag^Cl, to the chloride AgCl, that is, one 
 atom of chlorine for every atom or molecule of the subchloride. This accounts for the bleach- 
 ing which usually takes place— the violet subchloride being changed to the chloride, which 
 is white. But, if the bath be acid with hydrochlorfc acid, the subchloride is quickly changed, 
 
PRINTING ON ALBUMEN PAPEE. 203 
 
 vety tone of an engraving is liked best by otbers. For tbe last, use this 
 toning batb : 
 
 "Water, 32 ounces. 
 
 Acetate of Soda, 60 grains. ■ 
 
 Table Salt 60 " 
 
 Chloride of Gold 4 " 
 
 Nitrate of Uranium, 4 " 
 
 The gold and' uranium, both having an acid reaction, must be neutral- 
 ized with bicarbonate of soda separately before being added to the bath. 
 Dissolve the salt and acetate of soda in the water; then dissolve the 
 nitrate of uranium in one ounce of water and add bicarbonate of soda, 
 until neutral. Add this to the first solution and then neutral gold solu- 
 tion sufficient to tone in about fifteen minutes. Where a warm, brown 
 tone is desired, the uranium may be omitted. This bath should be made 
 several hours before use. But a few prints should be toned at a time, 
 and they should be kept agitated while in the solution, for, if they rise to 
 the top and remain there for a minute or two, a red patch will be the re- 
 sult, and the picture spoiled. Air-bubbles between the prints will also 
 cause red spots. To prevent these, lay your prints in one at a time., 
 
 259. It is believed that the toning-bath most in use, and the one with 
 which all varieties of tones may be secured, is the one first given in sec- 
 tion 258. But this is not the only way, a choice being given by some to 
 
 and then some of the suboxide gives way, and is converted into the chloride again. Hence 
 the more hydrochloric acid the more bleaching. But the toning takes place upon suboxide 
 of silver, which is being converted into the chloride by the chlorine of the chloride of gold, 
 and the gold takes the place of the silver tljus removed. — W. H. Shekman. 
 
 Toning-bath for purple or black tone : "Water, one quart ; gold, three grains ; sal soda, 
 saturated solution, a few drops. Print deep and tone to the color you wish. Por a brown 
 tone, take one quart of water, one or more grains of gold, and one djaohm of acetate of soda ; 
 let stand one hour ; then add enough bicarbonate of soda to make the bath slightly alkaline. 
 "When the lights begin to look a delicate lilac, the shadows still red, take, out the print. — C. 
 
 A. ZiMMEBMAir. 
 
 269. The sulphocyanide bath will give, with ease, any tones, from the rich brown color 
 only just removed from the foxy tone of a fixed untoned picture to a fine purple or pure 
 black with a tinge of pink in the half-tones. In passing from tbe former of these to 
 the latter, the print assumes many very pleasing colors, any of which may be retained by 
 stopping tbe further progress of the solution at that point, as the hypo, flxing-bath seems to 
 have no perceptible reducing effect upon the image when toned with sulphocyanide. 
 
 All the photographic papers I have used have given me successful resul is with this bath, and 
 I have had no repetition of the strange and perplexing failure with which my first attempts 
 were greeted. The prints, if required for the very deepest tone the bath can give, must not 
 
204 WILSON'S PHOTOGBAPHICS. 
 
 various neutralizing ingredients, among which are eulphocyanide of am- 
 monium, tungstate of soda, and carhonate of soda mixed with the acetate. 
 It is but fair that the advocates of these modifications should be heard, 
 and they are given the opportunity in the notes hereto. 
 
 be at all over-printed ; if, however, the paler tones are sought for, a very slight amount of 
 over-printing may be given. This alone is, in dark weather, a great advantage, as so many 
 more copies can be secured from each negative in the course of a day. I have produced 
 twelve prints with one negative in about an hour in sunshine, at this late season of the year, 
 all of them printed deeply enough for successful toning. This is a point worth considera- 
 tion. The prints should be well washed before toning, that is, until all the free silver is re- 
 moved. The toning-bath which has suited my purposes best has been made as follows : 
 
 Gold, 1 grain. 
 
 Sulphocyanide of Ammonium, . 20 grains. 
 
 Water, 2 ounces. 
 
 I have noticed that more gold is used in this than in ordinary toning processes. The image 
 is first reduced, on immersion, to a foxy tone, and then it becomes strengthened by degrees 
 to a series of colors, rich, warm, and brilliant, ending in black. It seems to me that all of 
 them Are formed by the constant addition of gold to the print; it is, as it were, intensified 
 with gold. This, of course, involves a considerable expenditure of the precious metal, 
 about two grains or more per sheet being used ; but if, as I think, this gold is precipitated 
 in a manner which leaves the print free from sulphur, it seems to me that it goes to render 
 the picture more permanent, and if this should be found so in practice, the extra expendi- 
 ture of gold will not be so much objected to. 
 
 I find heat a great accelerator of the process, making the toning as rapid as any other 
 method, with perhaps only one or two exceptions. The bath can be used over and over 
 again, fresh gold being added as in the case of the acetate bath. A very strong solution of 
 hypo may be used for fixing without any risk of spoiling or reducing the tone. — Nelson 
 K. Chkekill, 
 
 All difficulties can be avoided by the use of the tungstate of soda bath. As it is used 
 almost immediately after mixing, the gold does not precipitate ; and if there be not sufficient 
 gtild in the bath, more can be added during the process of toning without danger of meali- 
 ness. I should recommend those who are successful with the acetate bath by all means to 
 continue its use, but to those who find disappointment in its working I say, " Give it up, 
 and try tungstate." The tungstate bath is very similar to the carbonate, but, whereas I 
 have found the latter produce mealy prints, I have never in a single instance found tungstate 
 a failure. The following is the formula : 
 
 Tungstate of Soda, 20 grains. 
 
 Chloride of Gold, , . . . 1 grain. 
 
 Boiling Water, 6 or 8 ounces. 
 
 Use it as soon as it has cooled, and after the first batch of prints are toned pour it into a 
 bottle and keep it as the stock solution, and it can always be used without being again 
 warmed, merely adding sufficient gold for the day's toning a few minutes before required 
 for use, and with each grain of gold a grain or two of tungstate of soda. This bath will be- 
 come purple in color, but that does not signify, and it can (by following the abovo method) 
 
FEINTING ON ALBUMEN PAPEE. 205 
 
 260. The chloride of gold sold by the dealers is of such excellent and 
 uniform quality, that it is hardly of advantage to the photographer to 
 make it himself. The operation is rather an unpleasant one, but it is 
 simple enough. It should always be done in the open air, in order to 
 avoid the fumes, which are poison to the lungs. It is prepared by dis- 
 solving gold metal in aqua regia. 
 
 Nitric Acid, C. P., 2 parts. 
 
 Hydrochloric Acid, C. P., . . . . . . 3 " 
 
 To, say, five gold dollars, to be added one by one. A gentle heat should 
 
 be used over and over again indefinitely, and will answer well either for ordinary sensitized 
 or for ready-sensitized paper. — Charles Dttrand. 
 
 I have tried nearly all the toning-baths I have seen published, but with the same result — 
 that is, refusing to tone satisfactorily a great number of prints. No addition of gold would 
 restore them to their primary working order ; but the following I have found effective and 
 always the same. I have used it for two years with perfect success. I have toned with it 
 as many as five hundred caries at once, besides nearly half that amount of 9 x 7, and other 
 sizes. It ended as it began, with the same uniform speed and quality of tone. It is also 
 very quick. You can get any variety of tone fronv warm chocolate to black and white. Take 
 
 Gold, 1 grain. 
 
 Acetate of Soda, 24 grains. 
 
 Carbonate of Soda, 4 " 
 
 "Water (warm), , .8 ounces. 
 
 Let it stand for about two days before using. When it requires strengthening, to each grain 
 of gold add twenty-four grains acetate of soda to the bath before using. If it requires a 
 fresh supply before all the prints are toned, add more gold (neutralized). It will tone as long 
 as there are prints to tone. It will tone more prints and better than any I have ever had. 
 I mixed up a bath at the commencement of the year, and I used the same for twelve months, 
 and after toning many thousands of prints it was as good as ever. The first supply of car- 
 bonate is suflSeient. — William Peequson. 
 
 260. I take two drachms of nitric acid and three drachms of hydrochloric acid; iu that I 
 can dissolve a five-dollar gold piece. That is pure enough ; the copper is an advantage 
 rather than a detriment. In this way you have one hundred and thirty-five grains of gold. 
 Eeduce that so as to have eight grains of gold to the ounce, or one grain to each drachm, 
 and you will always know when you pour it out how much you have. That will give you 
 about sixteen or seventeen fluid ounces to a five-dollar gold piece. That will keep. Tou 
 may put in salt if you choose ; I sometimes do that. This solution will go farther than any 
 you buy. A few hours before you use it, neutralize it with bicarbonate of soda, borax, or 
 any of the alkalies you have a fancy for, or according to the tone you desire. Bicarbonate 
 of soda will give you a brown tone, and borax a black. Make it up a few hours before you 
 want to use it, so that it will turn litmus-paper blue, and I do not believe you can prepare 
 gold to make better tones. When you make this solution it is acid, but you can neutralize 
 it with bicarbonate of soda down to the point where a drop of it will turn green, or you can 
 make imperfectly neutral, and add a little aqua regia. — H. J. Newton. 
 
206 WILSON'S PHOTOGKAPHICS. 
 
 be applied, and the resulting mass well washed and dried, twice. To 
 every grain of gold used, add one drachm of water. 
 
 261. From the toning solution the prints are now removed to the fix- 
 ing-bath. 
 
 Water, 32 ounces. 
 
 Hyposulphite of Soda, 5 " 
 
 Carbonate of Ammonia, 1 " 
 
 The prints should remain in the above solution for fifteen or twenty 
 minutes, according to temperature, and constantly turned over singly to 
 insure thorough fixing, after which they should be well washed, until 
 every trace of hypo is removed. 
 
 261. On removing tlie prints from the toning-hath, wash them several times in pure 
 water, then place them one by one, if possible, in a bath containing three or five grammes 
 of pure muriatic acid to a litre of water ; here let them float, moving them about for a few 
 minutes, then wash them further for two or three minutes in pure water to remove the acid. 
 On warm days the operation should last longer than on cold. The prints are then placed in 
 the fixing-bath, and in those rare cases when the finished prints have a slightly yellowish tone 
 after the removal of the acid, should be first put for a couple of seconds into a solution 
 of five grammes of ammonia to a litre of water ; then washed once, and placed in a hyposul- 
 phite of soda bath. In this way any alteration of tone is rendered impossible. — J. L. Gihon. 
 
 See that the hypo is not aczci. It should be neutral, or even slightly alkaline. The hypo 
 should be made up fresh every day, especially during summer. Drain the prints well from 
 the hypo, and place in strong solution of salt for five minutes, moving them about all the 
 time, and then put them in running water for three hours. It is better to make the hypo 
 and salt solution two or three hours before using it, as both hypo and salt make the water 
 several degrees colder. The neglect of this is one common cause of blisters.— H. 0. Bridle. 
 
 There is a diversity of opinion among photographers about the strength of the fixing, 
 bath, some using it much stronger than others do. I am inclined towards having a weak 
 bath, and fixing a longer time than I would with a strong bath, as the action will be more 
 gentle, and on the whole better results are obtained by so doing, and blistering and bleach- 
 ing are, in a great measure, cured. It is very important that the hypo bath should be made 
 up every time you require its use, as old hypo-baths are very injurious to the prints. Take a 
 two-gallon bottle, and place in it about ten pounds of hypo crystals, fill up with water, shake 
 well, and label this bottle, "Sat. Sol. Hyposulphite of Soda." It is now ready to use in 
 making the bath as per formula given below. To make sure of this hypo solution becoming 
 saturated, prepare it at least two days before you wish to use it. Just before using, shake 
 the contents in the bottle for about two minutes. When you wish to make the bath take of 
 
 ■"^a'^f. Bounces. 
 
 Sat. Sol. Hyposulphite of Soda, i ounce. 
 
 Sat. Sol. Bicarbonate of Soda, i « 
 
 Larger quantities in same proportion. Make this bath in a dish which is kept expressly for 
 this purpose, and this alone. — C. W. Hearn, in the Practical Printer. 
 
PRINTING ON ALBUMEN PAPEE. 207 
 
 262. One of the chief evils of the printer's life is the phenomenon 
 known as " hlistering " of the prints. Much speculation has ensued as 
 to its cause, and it is generally conceded to be governed largely by the 
 temperature of th^ solution and wash-waters used. If these are uniform 
 in temperature, " blisters " are not apt to occur. Another method of pre- 
 venting them is to remove the prints from the fixing-bath to a salt solu- 
 tion. 
 
 Water, 1 gallon. 
 
 Table Salt, 16 ounces. 
 
 Allow them to soak in this for say ten minutes previous to the final 
 washing. 
 
 263. The great blemish upon the character of photographic prints is 
 that they oftentimes " do all fade as a leaf" All sorts of efforts are made 
 to prevent this, but the most effectual is that of carefully washing them 
 in several changes of water. Where it can be had, running water is the 
 best, for it is self-changing; but the same end is accomplished by chang- 
 ing the prints with the hands from one water to another, using a clothes- 
 
 262. To avoid blisters, have all your washings and solutions the same temperature as near 
 as possible ; remember, your solutions act more perfectly and energetically if warm ; about 
 ninety degrees is the best for the above use. I can make blisters all the time by changing 
 the temperature of solutions, that is, from warm to cold, or cold to hot. If all your wash- 
 ings and solutions are of one temperature, yovf will never be troubled with blisters. — A. 
 Hesler. 
 
 As an absolutely reliable remedy against the formation of blisters on albumen paper, lay 
 the paper, with the prepared side, on a sheet of blotting-paper, and then wash the back of it 
 with a very damp sponge. The sheet thus handled must dry in the air, as drying with heat 
 will cause red spots, especially when pink paper is used. — Dr. J. Schnaus. 
 
 263. Several years since I published a simple and effectual method of cleaning the prints 
 of hyposulphite of soda by employing the acetate or nitrate of lead ; whether this process 
 would leave the prints in a condition that would secure greater permanency was a question 
 which time only^ could determine. I think the verdict, without a single exception, from 
 those who have given it a trial, has been in its favor. 
 
 I have kept prints treated with the lead about six years, and some of them have been ex- 
 posed for eight or ten months at a time to the direct action of sunlight, and yet show no 
 perceptible change, while prints made at the same time and treated the same in all respects, 
 except the washing, which was of the ordinary kind, have become yellow and faded. The 
 process is as follows : Make a stock solution of the salts of lead, before mentioned, by dis- 
 solving two ounces in sixteen ounces of water. If nitrate of lead is used, the water had 
 better be hot, as it dissolves very slowly in cold water. When the prints are fixed, wash 
 them off in two or three changes of water, and place them in water containing two ounces 
 of stock solution to every four quarts of water ; they need remain in this lead-water only 
 from five to ten minutes, and then they ^hould again be washed in a few changes of water 
 
208 
 
 WILSON'S PHOTOGEAPHIOS. 
 
 wringer frequently between the operations. The last application of the 
 water should remove all spots and specks from the surface of the pictures 
 previous to their being mounted upon the cards intended for them. Al- 
 lowing the prints to remain in " lead-water " a few moments is highly 
 recommended. 
 
 264. After the final and thorough washing of the prints, they must be 
 taken from the water, and unless, as some prefer, they are mounted upon 
 
 the cards wet, they are then dried. One way 
 is to hang them back to back upon a rack 
 provided with cords, as shown in Fig. 64. If 
 this method is practised, the cords should be 
 frequently • changed, lest, becoming stained, 
 they injure the prints. The best method is to 
 place the wet prints between chemically pure 
 white blotting-pads, and there allow them to 
 remain until dry. These blotting-pads, too, 
 must be occasionally renewed. The " Treas- 
 ury " blotter is the purest and best. 
 
 and the work is completed, and, Taj applying the most delicate tests, no trace of hypo will be 
 found. When the lead solution is put 'into the water to receive the prints, there will be pro- 
 duced a trace of carbonate of lead, which will give the water a milky appearance. If the 
 prints are put into it in this condition, the albumen surface will be injured by the carbonate 
 adhering to it. The carbonate should therefore be dissolved before the prints are put into 
 it, which is done by adding a little acetic acid, just suflScient to make the water clear. — 
 H. J. Newton. 
 
 The principal use of this room is to sensitize the paper after it is albumenized, or, in the 
 case of the plain paper, after it is salted, and then later in the day, when the sensitizing is 
 
 through with, to tone and fix as well as to wash 
 the prints in, all of which things can be done 
 without at all interfering with each other. A is 
 a dark curtain, which in the figure is partly 
 raised, but during the silvering and toning pro- 
 cess it is brought down to a', and the white 
 bleached cloth screen, B (which is shaded in the 
 figure 60 as to show it more distinctly), covers 
 the rest of the glass, and thus in the toning a 
 soft and difi"used light is given to that part of the 
 room (the shelf, c,) where the toning is done; D 
 is the silvering-dish, and b' is the place where 
 this silvering-dish is kept when not in use; b 
 is where the kettle of potash is kept for the purpose of cleaning old plates ; f is where the 
 nitric acid tray is kept ; g q are two sinks ; h is a shelf on which the toning-bottles may be 
 
 Fig. 65. 
 
PRINTING ON ALBUMEN PAPER 209 
 
 265. The same general rules adapted to printing portraits are also ap- 
 plicable to landscape printing, except that in the latter case clouds are 
 sometimes "printed in" or worked upon the negative. Upon the subject 
 of stereoscopic printing, however, a few notes will not be out of place, 
 both as to the preparation of the negative for printing and for printing 
 the same. Some "Centennial" experience will now come in well, but 
 another shall tell of it. 
 
 kept ; K is a rack with three overlapping pieces of wood, to which there ave a number of 
 spring clips attached, which hold the pictures while draining as they are removed from the 
 water; L is a washing-tank which has a perforated false bottom, through which the water 
 passes into the lower part, and thence into the waste-pipe l'. The stop-cock, M, is adjusted 
 after the tank becomes three-quarters filled, so that it will permit the water to flow out as 
 fast as it enters through the pipe, n; ppis an overflow pipe which conducts the water, 
 when it reaches that place, into the waste-pipe, l' ; R is the place where the hypo-dish is 
 kept ; s is the place where the two-gallon hypo-bottle is placed. This bottle is always kept 
 full of a saturated solution of hyposulphite of soda. T is the door that leads into the drying- 
 room. — 0. W. Hkarn, in the Practical Printer. 
 
 In answer to the question in the Philadelphia Photographer, What is the best, way to 
 wash prints when the water supply is small? My plan is to use Newton's acetate of lead 
 bath, and having used it over a year, I can say it is a, great saving of time and of water, 
 besides the prints have a greater gloss than with the old method of long washing; and as to 
 their keeping qualities, so far I think they have done well. The prints will last in direct 
 sunlight longer than those washed by the old method. — -W. H. Kibbe. 
 
 265. No eyes, however good their capacities for seeing, can at a glance gauge the separate 
 sides of a stereo. It was obviously necessary to place guide marks upon the negatives. 
 These had to be most carefully adjusted, otherwise the F g 66 
 
 effect of relief would be marred, and the complaint would 
 
 come from the office that prints from negative number 
 
 were not stereoscopic when looked at through an instru- 
 ment. The method of placing those register lines was for 
 awhile a serious difficulty. A number of different plans 
 were adopted from time to time. Ours was to make use of 
 an ordinary retouching-stand. Upon the ground-glass 
 inclosed by it draw a few lines as shown by the diagram 
 Place one side of the stereo, negative on the ground-glass, 
 over the indicated shape, and adjust it to suit the require- 
 ments of the subject. You will see that there is a perpendicular line. Note with the utmost 
 exactness where that mark intersects the first half of your negative. Then slide your plate 
 across the frame, and make the same perpendicular pass through exactly the same points on 
 the other side. The establishment of a base line is the first item to be attended to. Make use 
 of any sharp instrument, and with it scratch a line across the bottom of your negative, being 
 careful to make the line pass through the same points that are indicated on each side. After 
 having arranged your negative over the shape, paste a piece or rather a strip of yellow 
 paper along the edge that is marked 2. After moving the negative across the retouching- 
 14 
 
210 WILSON'S PHOTOGEAPHICS. 
 
 Both in printing and toning stereoscopic pictures see that both ends are 
 of the same depth and color. It looks exceedingly bad to see one end 
 lighter than the other, or one end a deeper tone than the other. K the 
 ends of the negative varj in strength — and this is often the case — then a 
 thickness or two of tissue-paper will be found enough to correct the evil. 
 It hardly pays to print clouds in pictures so small as the stereoscopic size, 
 and yet they add much to the charm of the prints if they can be intro- 
 duced. If they are, they should be natural and not artificial. The nicest 
 attention to details is required in stereoscopic work. 
 
 stand and placing it as I have directed, that is, with the perpendicular pencilled line of the 
 ground-glass showing through exactly the same points of the subject, paste another strip of 
 paper along edge 1. You now have the negative with a line at the bottom across its entire 
 length, and with a guide at each side. Prints made from it so prepared will plainly show 
 a black base-line and white uprights at each end of the strip. — John L. Gihon. 
 
 I send you a little dodge in the printing line, which I find useful in making prints from 
 stereoscopic negatives, and by which cutting and transposing either the prints or the nega- 
 tives are saved. In' the first place, I have a bottom line on my negative, which can be made 
 by pasting a narrow strip of paper, or drawing a clear line with a sharp knife on the base 
 of the negative, and which serves as a guide for cutting away the edge of the print. Next 
 cut your paper in strips^suiting the width qf your negative, and just twice its length. Have 
 a piece of smooth, thin, opaque paper just the exact length of the negative, draw a vertical 
 line on this in the centre; lay your paper, albumenized side out, on this mask, making the 
 ends to meet at the line; now print first on one side and then on the other, taking care to 
 have the base-lines correspond ; and when the print is made, cut the paper in the centre, and 
 It is already matched, transposed, and ready lo-have the corners trimmed either round or 
 square, and mounted. — E. P. Libbt. 
 
 My method of printing clouds is as follows : After I have placed the sensitized paper in 
 contact with the negative, I take some red and black ink, and mix to a fairly non-actinic 
 color, thickening with a little gum to the consistency of cream, and then smear with a thin 
 piece of stick (s^y the point of a penholder), lightly, in front of the plate with varying, 
 irregular lines between, say, a high hill and a castle or church; in fact, anywhere where 
 the print would look all one mass of light. After this application I very lightly brush these 
 smears with a very fine, broad camel's-hair brush (such as grainers use) various ways, but 
 more especially obliquely in both directions, and the clouds appear in the one printing 
 equal or even superior to prints which require two separate printings, besides saving con- 
 siderable time and trouble; and this alone, to amateurs, I presume, must be a matter of 
 importance. Of course the lines must not be parallel or straight, but should take the 
 irregular form of clouds, and then be shaded nicely off with the brush. Practice makes 
 perfect, and a very little practice in this case is all that is required. — J. H. Stork. 
 
LESSON K 
 
 PBINTING ON PLAIN PAPBK. 
 
 266. Before albumenized paper came into use, all paper photographs 
 were printed upon what is yet known as "plain" or " salted" paper. 
 It is still used for enlargements, copies, and for such pictures 'as are to be 
 afterwards finished by means of color, crayon, or India^ink, but is gradually 
 being supplanted by Mr. Willis' platinum process. Brief instructions as 
 to how such prints may be produced, will follow. Should you prefer not 
 to salt your own paper, it can be purchased of excellent quality of the 
 dealers, already salted, and thus some trouble is avoided. 
 
 267. The method here given is known as the ammonio-nitrate process, 
 and is the best for the purpose. The salting solution consists of 
 
 "Water, . . 4 quarts. 
 
 Chloride of Ammonium, 256 grains. 
 
 White Gelatin, . 100 " 
 
 Dissolve the gelatin in the water by the aid of heat, then stir in the 
 chloride of ammonium until dissolved; filter for use when cold. The' 
 sheets of paper should be entirely immersed in the solution, air-bubbles 
 being avoided, allowed to remain two minutes, and/ then hung up to dry 
 in a room free from dust. Do not use the same clips employed for the 
 silvered paper. 
 
 268. Silver solution for plain paper. 
 
 Pure Kain or Distilled Water, . .... 9 ounces. 
 Nitrate of Silver, 1 ounce. 
 
 Dissolve the silver in the water, and separate three ounces of the solu- 
 tion from the rest, to which add liquor ammonia until the oxide of silver 
 formed is redissolved, and the solution is again clear ; then add it to the 
 remaining six ounces of solution. Oxide of silver will again be formed, 
 which can be allowed to settle to the bottom of the bottle and remain 
 there until the solution is all used. This can be applied to the paper with 
 
 (211) 
 
212 WILSON'S PHOTOGEAPHICS. 
 
 a swab of cotton, wool, or canton-flannel. A portion of the silver solu- 
 tion should be filtered every time it is used, other .vise there will be a 
 marbled appearance on the paper, caused by the scum which collects upon 
 the surface of the solution. Care should also be taken to apply the solu- 
 tion evenly and lightly, otherwise the surface of the paper will be rough- 
 ened. 
 
 269. After silvering the plain paper it is dried by heat, and then fumed, 
 say, ten minutes, when it is ready for printing. Great care should be ex- 
 ercised in handling it, as it is easily soiled and spoiled. As a usual thing, 
 a weaker toning solution is required than for albumenized paper. A 
 good plan is to tone the prints on this paper after the others are done. 
 
 269. To those preferring to salt their own paper, the following hints may be useful: 
 Always rememher the quality of salt has much to do with the tint of the print ; the weight 
 of the salt affects the picture in the same manner. If the bath for salting is under strength, 
 the print will show it by a weak, bluish look, and an entire absence of the rich purplish 
 contrasts in the face. Again, oversalting will make the printing slow and tedious, and the 
 blacks will be feeble and of a reddish tint; measly spots are apt to show, and the whole 
 print will appear flat and unsatisfactory. It is well to immerse some kinds of paper; but 
 if the plain Saxe paper is used, it should be only floated, not immersed. Lay the paper 
 perfectly flat, and lift oflT again with the same care as in silvering. Every printer has his 
 own idea about the amount of gelatin needed in connection with the salting ; however, this 
 is a good medium rule ; for ordinary Saxe paper, about one box of gelatin to four gallons 
 of salting solution, in warm weather; in the winter this quantity can be nearly doubled. 
 If the salting is done with chloride of ammonium alone, the prints will bo rather brownish, 
 and the paper will not keep so well, nor print so rapidly, as when the ammonium is used io 
 equal proportion with the common salt. The following are the proper proportions : • 
 Chloride of Ammonium, ........ 1^ grains. 
 
 Common Salt, 1^ " 
 
 Water, 1 ounce. 
 
 Gelatin, thirty grains to the quart, in summer ; in winter, use from flftv to sixty grains tt. 
 the quart. — John L. Gihon. 
 
LESSON 0, 
 
 GENERAL REMARKS ON PRINTING. 
 
 270. The instructions given on printing, thus far, are by no means to 
 be considered exhaustive. An eifort has been made to inform you only 
 as to the best known methods for producing ordinary photographic pic- 
 tures, and to try to induce you to exercise care, cleanliness, taste, neat- 
 ness, and economy in producing them. Should you desire to go further, 
 Mr. Charles 'W. Hearn, in his admirable work, the Practical Printer, which 
 should be in the hands of every printer, will lead you into all the realms 
 of " fancy," " glace," and " porcelain " printing, and give far more elabo- 
 rate instructions throughout than it is the province of this rudimentary 
 work to undertake. 
 
 271. Printing surfaces, too, are as various as the processes. Photo- 
 graphic prints can be made upon almost any substance sufficiently plane 
 to enable one to secure contact with a negative, and non-absorbent, and 
 smooth enough to receive the proper materials for printing thereon. 
 Prints are made upon fabrics of all kinds, metals, mica, wood, porcelain, 
 stone, leather, the human skin, enamel, animal pelts, and what not, from 
 negatives, and by many other methods on various substances. 
 
 272. But printing is not confined to the use of salts of silver, as, besides 
 the aniline, the platinum, and the carbon processes well known for years, 
 there are various so-called photo-mechanical methods of printing photo- 
 graphic pictures. The most ingenious of these bears the name of its 
 inventor, Mr. Walter B. "Woodbury. Almost all the others are founded 
 upon one principle. "With them the means of producing the printing 
 surfaces are varied, but the printing proper is much the same as litho- 
 graphic printing, and is done in the same sort of a press. None of them 
 displace silver printing for every-day photographic custom-work, and 
 so they will not be treated of further here, but will be given more 
 attention in a lesson further on, with some hints as to the manner of 
 
 working them. 
 
 C213) 
 
LESSOJS" P. 
 
 PRINTING ON VABIOTJS SURFACES. 
 
 273. As stated in Lesson 0, photographic prints may he made upon 
 all sorts of surfaces. A very pretty application is to decorate the cor- 
 ners of handkerchiefs with the portrait of the owner, or giver, be it linen 
 or silk. For engravers' use, photographs on wood are in demand, as they 
 give better results than the work of the draughtsman ; at least, they make 
 the work of the engraver easier. 
 
 273. To Print on Linen. — Make a salting solution of two grains of chloride of ammonium 
 to every ounce of water. Make a sizing solution of 
 
 Water, ............ 1 ounce. 
 
 White Glue, 2 grains. / 
 
 Soak the glue in hot water until it is dissolved, and then apply the solution to the part to be 
 printed upon. When dry, apply the silver solution with a tuft of cotton, shielding the un- 
 sized portions of the linen. Fume when dry, and print in the usual way, or in the handker- 
 chief printing-frame. Tone in your usual toning solutition, fix, and wash well, using hot 
 water for the final washing. — Geokqk W. "Wallaoe. 
 
 Pkintinq on Silk. — Pour 20 ounces of boiling water on 100 grains of chloride of am- 
 monium and 60 grains of Iceland moss. "When nearly cold, filter, and immerse the silk in 
 it for fifteen minutes. To sensitize, immerse the silk in a twenty-grain solution of nitrate 
 of silver for sixteen minutes. Let the nitrate bath be rather acid. "When dry, prepare for 
 printing by attaching the silk to a piece of card-board a little smaller than itself, by turning 
 the edges over and fastening with small bits of gummed paper ; slightly over-print. "Wash 
 in two or three changes of water, and tone in a gold bath, thus : 
 
 Water, 20 ounces. 
 
 Acetate of Soda, 2 drachms. 
 
 Chloride of Gold, i grains. 
 
 Cominon Whiting a few grains. 
 
 Filter, and keep for twenty-four hours before using. Let the prints be toned slightly bluer 
 than required to be when finished. Einse them in water, and fix in a solution of hypo, 
 
 four ounces to the pint of water. Twenty minutes is ample time for fixing. "Wash well. 
 
 T. C. Phillips. 
 
 PnoToaRAPHiNG ON WooD. — I usc, first, salt albumen ; beat the white of one egg with 
 
 an equal amount of water, making about two ounces ; add ten grains of chloride of ammonium, 
 
 and filter; moisten the block with water; whiten it with Chinese white, rubbed up with 
 
 water, or the enamel from a card will do; brush it smoothly as it dries; when dry flow on the 
 
 ( 214 ) 
 
PEINTIlirG ON VARIOUS SURFACES. 
 
 215 
 
 Fig. 67. 
 
 274. A once very popular style of portraits was printed on porcelain 
 glass. They have fallen into disuse somewhat, because of their readi- 
 ness to fade, though they should not do so if properly washed. The notes 
 are referred to for the means of producing them. Photographs printed 
 
 salted albumen ; spread it over the block with a piece of glass, drain, and dry ; make a little 
 wall around the block with a roll of wax. Now pour on the silver solution, and spread with 
 a glass (silver, thesame as for paper), drain, dry, and fume 
 it ; after which it will be ready for printing. Print the 
 same as a porcelain ; tone with weak gold ; fix with hypo. 
 I use a home-made printing-frame ; I find it very handy 
 for printing porcelains and many other things. I take an 
 ordinary 8x10 printing-frame, and fasten a glass at the 
 bottom. I fasten the glass in the printing-frame with 
 two little wedges of wood at the end of the glass. They 
 hold it very firm, and are easily taken out when you wish 
 to use the frame for other kinds of printing. On the top 
 I fix a triangular-shaped piece of wood with hinges, mak- 
 ing the point come at the middle of the frame, screwing a 
 strip of brass across the joint for a spring. I fasten the block 
 underneath with wax, so it can be taken off. When you wish to print a block of wood, 
 stick the negative on the plain glass with wax at the corners. For printing on wood it is 
 often necessary to use a reversed negative, which I get by first making a ferrotype, and 
 whiten it with mercury, then make a negative from it. — Chakles Homan. 
 For wood-block printing, the sensitizing solution is prepared in the following proportions: 
 
 Ether, 1 ounce. 
 
 Alcohol, I " 
 
 Gun-Cotton, 8 grains. 
 
 When dissolved, take thirty grains of nitrate of silver and dissolve in as small a quantity 
 of water as possible, then mix with the collodion just prepared. Allow it to stand in the 
 dark for two or three days, and it is ready for use. It is better, always, to keep it in a dark 
 place. The sensitive collodion being now prepared, pour it over the block the same as when 
 coating a glass plate. After draining, dry gently before a fire, taking care not to use too 
 much heat, as it is apt to destroy the texture of the wood and make it brittle. It is now 
 ready to be printed on in the usual way. The print is produced rather quicker than an 
 ordinary paper one, and can be examined with very little more trouble. If not dark enough 
 when looked at, it can be exposed again, a,s by a little care in setting the block to the lines 
 already marked on the negative there need be no fear of doubling the impression. Print 
 very little darker than what is required, then dissolve off the film with ether and alcohol 
 mixed in equal proportions. Gentle rubbing with a sponge assists greatly in removing the 
 film, and be particular that all is removed, as if any be left it interferes considerably with 
 the engraving. After this is done, fix with hyposulphite of soda for a few minutes, allow- 
 ing only the surface of the block to touch the solution ; then wash with a gentle stream of 
 water, taking care to keep the back as dry as possible, as the wood is very apt to be destroyed 
 if allowed to get soaked with water. Set aside to dry, and it is ready for the engraver to 
 manipulate on. 
 
216 WILSON'S PHOTOGEAPHICS. 
 
 upon porcelain glass, with a ground surface and finely colored, are very 
 beautiful; though they, too, have been largely superseded by the fine 
 results now obtainable without any help from color. 
 
 A few words now in regard to the taking of the negati%e. The process, of course, is the 
 same as usual ; the only diflference is that the image must he the reverse way from ordinary 
 work, which can easily be accomplished by exposing the back of the plate to the light and 
 taking the image through the glass. When the plate is taken from the bath, drain thoroughly, 
 and wipe the back perfectly dry with a piece of blotting-paper, being careful to leave no 
 streaks, as they would be sure to show on the negative. Then put it into the dark-slide with 
 the sensitive side towards the spring. At the top and bottom of the plate, on the film side, 
 put a strip of two- or three-ply of blotting-paper, and then put a glass plate on the top of 
 that; by this means j-ou will prevent the spring of the slide from coming in contact with, 
 and damaging, the film. After focussing, you must measure the thickness of the glass on 
 which you intend taking the negative, and move back the lens as much, otherwise your 
 image will not be in focus. By this means you will find no difficulty in getting reversed 
 negatives. — Alexander Nicol. 
 274. Collodion for Porcelain Pictures. — 
 
 1. — Negative Gun-Cotton, ... .... 60 grains. 
 
 Alcohol, 2 ounces. 
 
 Ether, 3 " 
 
 Put three ounces of pure alcohol in a small bottle, add to this 120 grains of nitrate of silver, 
 very finely powdered. Set the bottle in water, and heat to boiling-point ; keep it there 
 until all the silver is dissolved in the alcohol. As soon as this is done, pour the silver solution, 
 still hot, into the collodion, stirring up all the time to secure a perfect solution. 
 
 2. — Chloride of Strontium, ... 32 grains. 
 
 Citric Acid, 24 '* 
 
 Keduce to a fine powder, and dissolve in four ounces alcohol ; add 
 
 Ether, bounces. 
 
 Gun-Cotton, 60 grains. 
 
 These two collodions will keep for any length of time, and when mixed in equal proportions 
 will produce brilliant prints. — George H. Fennemore. 
 
 To Print on Porcelain.— Coat the porcelain with albumen from fresh eggs and water, 
 equal quantities. After the plate has dried (without heat), warm it and let it cool again. 
 Coat with the collodion (mixture of Nos. 1 and 2), in a moderately dark room, and dry the 
 plate perfectly over a spirit-lamp. Lay the negative on the prepared porcelain, being sure 
 to have it in the right place ; protect the back of the porcelain with yellow paper, and put 
 plenty of patent clothes-clips all around the edge to secure a good contact. 
 
 Toning Porcelain Prints.— Wash first in plain water, next in water containing a very 
 little salt. Tone in 
 
 Water, ...... q rt„„„„^ 
 
 ' •••••'..... o ounces. 
 
 Gold Solution (1 grain per ounce strong), X drachm. 
 
 After toning and washing, fix in 
 
 Hyposulphite of Soda, 1 ounce. 
 
 ^"■'"' 10 or 12 ounces. 
 
 6. Sohreiber. 
 
LESSON Q. 
 
 FEINTING PEKPLEXITIES. 
 
 ''275. A FEW further " indications " as to the imperfections in prints, 
 may not be out of place. The same faults were found, the same tribula- 
 tions troubled the printer, in the early days of silver printing as now — 
 as then. "With care they can be generally avoided, but as we are not 
 always careful, it will be of service to know the cause of any evil when it 
 presents itself, and thus have a suggestion, too, as to the means of work- 
 ing out a cure. 
 
 276. One of the first perplexities which the printer novice meets, is the 
 discoloration of his nitrate bath. One of the greatest causes of this an- 
 noyance is leaving the solution uncovered, exposed to dust and air, when 
 not in use. Constant use also causes discoloration, and careless filtration 
 
 275. Besure that the back of the negative is clean , and that the contact is perfect before 
 the negative is exposed to the light. When you wish to examine the print, go slow and 
 sure. Do not allow the negative or paper to slip from their position, as that is sure to spoil 
 the print, and result sometimes in spoiling the negative. Over- or under-printing is equally 
 bad. The first results in an unpleasant heaviness, while the latter loses individuality. 
 Watch the bleaching effects of the toning-bath and fixing solution, and print to it. Antici- 
 pate the tone before you reach it, and print to conform to it. — I. B. Webstbk. 
 
 276. The various methods in practice for decolorizing the silver bath for printing are the 
 addition of kaolin ; carbonate of soda producing carbonate of silver, or carbonate of silver 
 direct ; chloride of sodium, or chloride of silver ; citrate of soda, and other like salts ; Mr. 
 England's late method of boiling the bath ; and, lastly, the addition of a very dilute solution 
 of permanganate of potash. Having given a good trial to most of these, I can speak of their 
 various capabilities, and which, after a long practice, I greatly prefer for decolorizing the 
 printing bath. 
 
 There is nothing that answers more perfectly than the old-fashioned stirring up with kao- 
 lin, but it is a very dirty process. It must always be done at the close of work, as it takes a 
 long time to settle; a much larger quantity of solution must be always kept than is required; 
 and although, by treating it, when done with, with nitric acid, a good quantity of silver 
 may be recovered, still I believe it entails a great loss. Of the various alkaline salts which, 
 added to the bath, produce salts of silver which unite with the coloring matter, and are 
 either precipitated together or are filtered out in combination with each other, the carbonate 
 and citrate of soda answer the best, but filtering is necessary, as they are so long settling. 
 
 (217) 
 
218 WILSON'S PHOTOGEAPHICS. 
 
 will do the same. Knowing the causes, it is easier to prevent them ; but 
 when the trouble occurs, the bath may be rectified by the addition of 
 kaolin, or some neutralizing ingredient — say permanganate of potash. 
 
 277. A mottled effect sometimes appears on the paper after coming 
 from the printing-frame. This is known as " measles," and is generally 
 caused by the paper being insufficiently silvered, but sometimes arises 
 from an inferior quality of paper, which imbibes the silver unevenly. If 
 it comes from a lack of silver, the paper will print better on the end of 
 the sheet which is lowest when hung up to dry, because the silver run- 
 ning down concentrates in drying, thereby leaving a larger quantity of 
 
 A plan I tried, to avoid the loss of precipitating the silver from the bath, and so reducing 
 its strength and the consequent loss for the time of the silver, -was to wash one batch of 
 prints in as small a quantity of rain-water for their first wash as I could, pouT oflfinto a jug 
 or large measure-glass, and precipitate the silver roughly with carbonate or citrate of soda; 
 without waiting for it entirely to settle, I poured the liquid into the residue tub, and then 
 added the precipitate to the printing-bath. By this means I avoided throwing nitrate of 
 silver out of use for some time. 
 
 Mr. England's method of heating the bath is founded on the same principle as sunning 
 the negative bath, heat in the former roughly doing what the actinic rays have more deli- 
 cately to do fur the latter, in both cases the solution being made alkaline. The silver is par- 
 tially reduced and precipitated in combination with the organic matters. This process is 
 troublesome, and takes time for its accomplishment. By far the best of all the methods I 
 have put in practice is that of the addition of a dilute solution of permanganate of potash; it 
 can be done on the instant; in fact, is best added to the measure just before pouring into the 
 floating-dish. I have never found filtering at all necessary. One great advantage it par- 
 ticularly possesses is, that you can decolorize in the middle o"f work without stopping. It is 
 well known that, after floating a dozen sheets in a bath in the heat of summer, the bath 
 begins, with some papers, to darken, and will injure the purity of the whites of vignettes, 
 and it is usual with printers to reserve the flrst sheets ofl" the bath especially for them ; but if 
 you should have a large run of vignettes, or get used up with your reserved sheets, you 
 must give up, or get out a fresh bath ; but with the permanganate you have only to add a 
 little more to the dish without removing, stir up, and you are as clean as at first starting. 
 About a drachm a day of a ten-grain solution is quite enough for a gallon of bath. There 
 is only one thing I have found necessary to take care of, which is, not to add more than is 
 just necessary to take out the color. I fancy that more than this somewhat reduces the vigor 
 of the proofs. I only hope that those who have not done so will give it a fair trial, and they 
 will soon give up every other method for it. — F. G. Eliot. 
 
 277. For the information of those who do not understand the chemistry of nitrate of silver 
 and alkaline salts, I will try to explain the action of neutralizing agents. If ammonia or 
 carbonate of soda be used to neutralize a bath, a reaction takes place, — a simple one with am- 
 monia, — in which the nitric acid combines with the ammonia to form nitrate of ammonium 
 which remains in solution in the bath as a neutral salt. With carbonate of soda a double 
 reaction, in which the base, the metal sodium oxide, is converted into nitrate of soda and 
 
PRINTING PERPLEXITIES. 219 
 
 free nitrate in that part of the sheet. If the paper itself is in f^ult, the 
 mottled appearance will be evenly distributed all over. The remedy is 
 to float your paper longer, if it is under-silvered, providing you are float- 
 ing less than two minutes ; if you are floating it that length of time or 
 more, strengthen your solution about ten grains to the ounce, and try it 
 again. When the paper itself is in fault, it is generally caused by the 
 sizing ; lay it in a damp place for some time, until the sizing gets soft- 
 ened ; it will then absorb the silver solution better. 
 
 278. Red marbled lines, and a quantity of minute red specks after ton- 
 ing, but not visible before, are sfeen on the prints. There is no remedy 
 for such paper. It is badly albumenized ; the lines are formed by the al- 
 bumen running unevenly down to the edges, and the red specks by dust set- 
 tling upon the surface when drying. Minute air-bubbles in the albumen 
 are also a frequent cause of red specks. All paper causing these should 
 be rejected at once and sent back to the dealer. 
 
 279. The paper has a marbled appearance after silvering. This is 
 caused by dust and scum floating upon the surface of the silver solution, 
 
 remains in the bath in solution as a neutral nitrate, and the carbonic acid combines with an 
 equivalent of silver oxide to form carbonate of silver, which falls to the bottom as a white 
 precipitate. The nitrates of ammonium and sodium in the bath can only be regarded as 
 idle matter, better out of the way. — F. M. Spencer. 
 
 I used to make a great mistake in testing the printing-bath by using blue litmus-paper, 
 supposing that if it did not turn red that it was alkaline ; but I was continually tormented 
 with what is termed measles, until, through the kindness of Mr. Hearn, I was advised to use 
 red litmus-paper, and when that turns slightly blue I am sure of an alkaline bath. It should 
 be tested every morning after it is filtered, before using, and if not alkaline add ammonia. 
 Never add muriatic acid just before using; if too weak, add a few crystals of silver and a 
 little camphor, and go ahead with your silvering. Keep camphor in stock prepared as fol- 
 lows :■ 
 
 Gum Camphor, . . 1 ounce. 
 
 Alcohol, ......... , 6 ounces. 
 
 C. M. Fkbnch. 
 
 278. Sometimes there is a want of aflBnity between the sensitizing solution and the albu- 
 menized paper. The cause is a simple one, easily rectified. The silver solution is too strong 
 for the paper, and thus causes red globules and zigzag or marbled lines. The difSculty oc- 
 curs only when the paper is too heavily albumenized. Papers coated with weak albumen, 
 sensitize evenly with silver solutions on any strength, simply because the pores are left open 
 to exercise capillary suction. It is a curious fact that heavily albumenized papers require 
 the weakest silver bath. — J. L. Gihon. 
 
 279. To take albumen out of silver solution for printing, dissolve one ounce of gum cam- 
 phor in six ounces of ninety-five per cent, alcohol; of this, add to any positive silver bath 
 (that has albumen in it, or becomes black or foul) a few drops at a time, and shake it well; 
 
220 WILSON'S PHOTOGRAPHICS. 
 
 and by the solution becoming contaminated with albumen. Always filter 
 before use ; and if the solution remains in the dish any length of time, 
 draw a couple of strips of paper over it to remove the scum. 
 
 280. Bed patches formed during toning. These are caused by the 
 prints being allowed to rise above the surface of the solution, by two or 
 more prints sticking together, and by air-bubbles forming between the 
 prints. The remedy is to tone but a few at a time, and keep them mov- 
 ing in the solution. 
 
 281. Defective toning. When the prints are red after fixing, they have 
 been insufficiently toned ; when a cold blue, they have been excessively 
 toned; when prints are toned to a blue, and get very red in the hypo, 
 the gold bath is too strong, the gold attacking and toning the surface be- 
 fore it has time to penetrate through the print. The remedy for this is 
 obvious. 
 
 if the bubbles do not break -when the bottle is set down, add a little more until it ceases to 
 froth or bubble, then filter at once. If the silver shoul4 turn after filtering, add a very few 
 drops of permanganate of potash, which will clear it up at once. This last should only be 
 added drop by drop in quantum suf., else the albumen surface will be injured. — John K. 
 Clkmons. 
 
 For removing albumen from silver baths, to save alcohol, place your silver bath in an 
 evaporating-dish and reduce it to about one-third or so, then pour it into a common glazed 
 pie-dish, or, if not convenient, any ordinary flat dish will do. Let it be kept for that pur- 
 pose. "When the solution is cold, add about an equal quantity of alcohol, then light with a 
 match ; it should burn about five miuutes. Place the bath where the air will not affect the 
 flame. When the flame expires, the solution will be entirely clear of red or dark matter, and 
 the albumen will be found coagulated at the bottom of the dish, and can be readily removed 
 by filtration. By this process any albumen bath — no matter how dark or how filthy — can 
 be quickly and effectually cleansed. — John K. Clemons. 
 
 281. My treatment of the gold I find to be well adapted to the printing process. My ton- 
 ing-bath, stock solution, is formed of 
 
 Chloride of Gold .... 30 grains. 
 
 Acetate of Sodium, ......... 30 " 
 
 Water, 30 ounces. 
 
 With my prints, I find no difficulty in using it immediately, but prefer not to use it until 
 a few hours after making. When required for use, I take water sufficient to contain the 
 prints made from four sheets of paper, and to this I add one ounce of the stock solution. This 
 is sufficient to tone four sheets. It will be observed that the stock-solution contains one grain 
 of gold for each ounce of water. It follows then that one grain of chloride of gold will 
 tone four sheets of paper. This may be considered too much paper for the amount of gold, 
 seeing that the usual direction prescribes a grain of gold for each sheet. Dr. Vogel, refer- 
 ring to this subject (see Handbook, p. 139), says, " We have to calculate 0.06 gramme equal 
 to one grain of gold for every sheet of paper," whereas my regular practice is to tone the 
 
PRINTING PERPLEXITIES. 221 
 
 282. The finished prints have a dark, mottled appearance when viewed 
 by transmitted light. This is caused by imperfect fixing. Either the 
 hypo solution is too weak, or the prints were not allowed to remain in it 
 long enough. They should be left in the solution until you can see 
 nothing but the fibre of the paper in the white parts of the print when 
 held up to the light. If this is not done, they are apt to fade or turn yel- 
 low in a short time. 
 
 283. Yellowness of the prints when finished. Several causes will pro- 
 duce this, such as leaving the prints in the hypo longer than necessary to 
 
 number of sheets stated ; and I have frequently, for experiment, put as many as seven sheets 
 at once Into the bath, with only one grain of gold, and have succeeded in toning the whole 
 quantity well and thoroughly. — W. H. Shbrman. 
 Care should he taken not to use too weak a gold solution. I like this : 
 
 A. — Chloride of Gold, . . 1 grain. 
 
 Water, 1 litre. 
 
 B. — Acetate of Soda, .15 grains. 
 
 Water, 500 " 
 
 Pour the solution A into the solution B ; to this four drops of a saturated solution of cupric 
 sulphate should he added, and the whole allowed to stand for a few days. The pictures 
 should be toned only until the half-tones appear somewhat bluish. The proper tone may be 
 judged by watching the progress of the toning of the face specially. The operator will per- 
 haps fear that his results are too red, but it will be found that the pictures are properly toned 
 and the whites beautifully colored after fixing. A weak fixing-bath, say one to ten, is rec- 
 ommended. — Herb Eichter. 
 
 The process I follow is : Pour out a sufficiency of your old bath, and add your gold about 
 fifteen minutes before toning, stirring well; then, just before toning, add enough saturated 
 solution of sal-soda to render the whole slippery to the touch. Do not try to make it just al- 
 kaline, and test with litmus ; for it will not work. It will only bleach, and leave the half- 
 tones dirty and bricky. So do not be afraid, but pour in till it is alkaline to the touch. The 
 amount may be from one-half ounce to one ounce of the saturated solution to the gallon of 
 bath. This will tone brown, blue, or black ; but if the latter is desired, of course an addi- 
 tion of chloride of lime helps the matter, but also sooner spoils the bath. — M. L. Daqqbtt. 
 
 282. To secure permanent prints, wash them in warm water, but do not boil them. All 
 sorts of learned reasons havo been given concerning the formation of Insoluble compounds 
 and their destructive nature and effects ; but long years of experience have taught me that 
 the best preventive against fading is warm-water washing, either in winter or summer. 
 Since I adopted this plan, many years ago, I have never seen one of my prints fade ; while 
 those of others alongside have exhibited symptoms of yellow fever, increasing in intensity 
 until they became defunct or melancholy evidences of carelessness. Some may say — "But 
 warm-water washing injures the tone." I say — "Not necessarily so." But, if it does, be 
 bold and honest enough to sacrifice tone for permanency. — J. Wbegk. 
 
 283. Nitroprusside of soda is one of the most delicate tests for alkaline sulphides known. 
 This salt requires about two and a half parts of cold water for solution. Its solution is de- 
 
222 "WTLSON'S PHOTOGRAPHICS. 
 
 clear them; acidity of the fixing-bath (this can be avoided by using car- 
 bonate of ammonia -with the hypo, or where this cannot be obtained, a 
 little bicarbonate of soda or a drop or two of ammonia, will neutralize all 
 acidity); the hypo-bath used until decomposition takes place. The latter 
 is a fruitful cause of yellow prints. Never use it more than twice, and it 
 is much better to make it fresh every time. Extreme warm and sultry 
 M^eather will sometimes turn some samples of paper yellow beyond re- 
 demption. The same effect is produced by keeping paper some days 
 between the time of sensitizing and printing. Frequent tests should 
 be made, if danger is suspected. 
 
 284. Yellow patches and stains. These are caused by careless manip- 
 ulations, such as finger-marks upon the surface of the paper; washing the 
 prints in imperfectly cleaned dishes, or in the tank that received the prints 
 from the hypo the day before; hypo on the fingers while toning. If 
 there is the least trace of silver in the tank when it receives the prints 
 from the hypo, they will all be stained, and vice versa. If there is the 
 least amount of hypo in the water while washing the silver out of the 
 prints, they will be stained. To loiow the above causes is to know the 
 
 composed by the sun's rays. The crystals are rhombic and of a splendid ruby color, and 
 give a most beautiful violet tint with soluble sulphides — such as hyposulphite of soda, etc. 
 — John R. CLEMoifs. 
 
 284. Now for the secret of pure whites, and the only way you can get them pure. Pro- 
 cure your half ounce of aniline blue, letter E, and dissolve it in sixteen ounces of water. 
 When your fixing-bath is made up, add from thirty to forty drops of the blue to every 
 forty ounces of fixing-bath. Fix your prints from twelve to fifteen minutes, and remove to 
 a strong solution of salt and water. Let them remain five minntes, and then gradually di- 
 lute with fresh water, so that the change of temperature will not be so sudden, and you will 
 never be troubled with blisters, and will always have pure whites. I have this fi-om Mr. J. 
 E. demons.— Frank Thomas. 
 
 The " aniline blue " process, as recommended by me, will be found very advantageous, 
 giving to new prints delicate, pure whites, attainable by no other means, and restoring old 
 or yellow prints to their original purity. Besides improving the general tone of every-day 
 work, it is of immense advantage in copying old or yellow photographs, which give no con- 
 trast whatever. Immersion in the aniline solution restores the whites, and enables the pho- 
 tographer to get a negative with all the detail of the original. The manner of using is as 
 follows : Dissolve one-half ounce of powdered aniline (known as " water-blue, letter E,") in 
 sixteen ounces of water. This is the stock-solution. When you mix your fixing-bath, add 
 from thirty to forty drops of the blue solution to every forty ounces of fixing solution. This 
 will produce pure whites, and will also prevent blistering. If you want a blue tint, or moon- 
 light effect, take the print from the hypo and immerse in a saturated solution of alum, and 
 the blue is permanent. If the color is too deep for you, immerse the print in a saturated 
 solution of borax, and you may lessen the tint as far as you please.— John E. Clemons. 
 
FEINTING PEEPLEXITIBS. 223 
 
 remedy, which is to have a sufficient numher of dishes, keep them per- 
 fectly clean, and particularly keep the hands clean. 
 
 285. Metallic spots. There is no remedy for these. They are caused 
 principally by metallic substances being ground up accidentally with the 
 rags in the manufacture of the paper, or other local causes. 
 
 286. Loss of albumen from the paper during silvering. Your solution 
 is too weak, or perhaps too alkaline on account of an excess of free am- 
 monia. 
 
 287. The prints refuse to tone. This is often the fault of the paper, or 
 may be caused by keeping the prints too long, in warm weather, between 
 the printing and the toning, or by traces of hyposulphite in your toning 
 bath, carried there by your fingers or otherwise. Many or all of these 
 defects may be caused, too, by cold weather and cold solutions. 
 
 288. Mealiness. A great many blame the paper itself for this defect, 
 but one seldom finds any that, with careful manipulation, gives mealy 
 prints. By adopting the following methods, however, one can produce 
 them upon any paper : By printing from a very weak negative ; by float- 
 ing the paper upon a very weak solution of silver ; too much gold in the 
 
 287. I believe amateurs generally find it a difficult matter to keep tlieir sensitized paper 
 white for a considerable length of time. When I commenced photography, I was for some 
 time unable to keep my sensitized paper white. It became unfit for printing in about three 
 weeks ; but I am now able to keep it, without fuming or using any chemical preparation, for 
 a much longer time. It is now over six months since I bought the last lot, and almost all 
 of it is as white as when I first received it. I cut it first into sizes I use, viz., carfe, quarter, 
 half-plate, etc., and place them in an old cigar-box without a lid, but use, instead, two or 
 three thicknesses of yellow tissue-paper as a cover. I then put the cigar-box into a dark 
 cupboard, and when the sensitized paper becomes too dry I just wet the tissue-paper with 
 clean water. This can, of course, be modified. — P. Hakdwick. 
 
 If the room becomes chilled before morning, the first thing I do is to put a kettle or other 
 vessel of water on the fire or over a gas-stove, and while changing my clothes, filtering the 
 silver, and getting ready for work, the water will become quite hot. I pour this into the 
 silvering-dish, and allow the dish to get hot, and when this is replaced by the silver bath it 
 will raise the temperature to about what is needed, and will remain so long enough to 
 silver what paper is required for a day's work in an ordinary gallery. Where it is required 
 to silver paper for half a day or more, as in some galleries where I have worked, a very 
 good plan I have found is to have a pan large enough for the silvering-dish to sit in, and a 
 couple of pieces across the pan about one and a half or two inches from the bottom, for the 
 silvermg-dish to rest upon, and this filled with warm water, which can be kept at the proper 
 temperature, say, about sixty degrees, with a small gas- or coal-oil stove. By this means 
 you have the temperature of your silver solution under complete control all day, if necessary 
 — H. A. Webb. 
 
224 WILSON'S PHOTOGEAPHICS. 
 
 toning-bath ; acidity of the toning-bath ; using the toning-bath immedi- 
 ately after making it; and, finally, too little gold in the bath. Washing 
 the prints too long before toning also tends to make them mealy, besides 
 being injurious in other respects. 
 
 289. Although the great annoyance of blistering of the albumen has 
 been alluded to (see Lesson M), another caution as to its prevention may not 
 be lost here. Albumen-paper manufacturers have been appealed to in this 
 matter, and have succeeded more largely than heretofore in remedying 
 the trouble. It is most liable to occur with doubly albumenized paper. 
 
 290. It has always been a blot upon the fair face of albumen jjrinting, 
 that the more delicately beautiful its products, the more they were apt to 
 fade. The prime cause of this is the imperfect washing which the prints 
 are allowed to have. This should be a matter of conscience with every 
 photographer. He should use all the means in his power to secure the 
 thorough washing of his prints, and in no respect allow any carelessness 
 on the part of his assistants. And yet it is indeed difl&cult sometimes 
 to eliminate the hyposulphite of soda (the undoubted fading element) 
 from the prints, wash them as you will. The operation is largely helped 
 by Mr. demons' alum treatment, given below in his own words. It is so 
 easy of application that it should not be overlooked as one of the means 
 of preserving the fame of our art. 
 
 289. To prevent albumen blisters, first immerse the prints in a freshly prepared and 
 strong fixing solution, and then pass them into a weaker one. Then wash the prints in 
 a small quantity of water first, and gradually increase the supply as the washing progresses. 
 This treatment will thoroughly prevent the blistering of albumenized paper.— J. L. Gihon. 
 
 Pour into a bath some rectified spirits of wine and distilled water in equal parts. After 
 the washing operation which follows the toning, the prints are plunged into this bath, which 
 may last a long time. The immersion of five minutes sufiioes, and then the paper will be 
 seen to be more transparent. After this bath the prints should be washed once only, and 
 then fixed and finished in the ordinary way. — MoNS. Andkes. 
 
 290. For eliminating the prints completely of hyposulphite of soda in from eight to fifteen 
 minutes, make a saturated solution of alum and water. After the prints are fixed, immerse 
 them in sufiScient of the solution to cover them ; let them remain two or three minutes then 
 pour ofl" and throw away the solution, and rinse off the prints one or two minutes, and 
 repeat this operation twice, and finally rinse the prints well. The result will be the same 
 if the prints are allowed to remain in the solution, after the first immersion being the same 
 as described, the prints being rinsed well after each immersion. No traces of hyposulphite 
 of soda will remain in the prints after going through this process.— John E. Clbmons. 
 
 If you use alum, do not tone so much, and use less gold, as the alum makes the prints two 
 or three shades darker than the gold and hypo leaves them. — A. Heslkr. 
 
PKINTING PEEPLEXITIES. 225 
 
 291. There are various other perplexities which will come up in the 
 practice of photographic printing, among which may be mentioned the 
 abrading or cracking of the surface of the prints after they are dried — 
 sometimes called " woolliness ; " the cockling or wrinlding of the paper 
 under the pressure-frame, and finally a very bad defect, the distortion of 
 the image caused by the contracting and stretching of the paper. Good 
 practical ideas on all these are given in the notes, to which be pleased to 
 refer. 
 
 291. The cause of cracks or flaws lies in the excessive dryness of the albumenized paper 
 during the various photographic operations. With the exercise of a little attention and 
 practice, it Is possible to tell whether the unsensitized paper is inclined to crack. Extraordi- 
 nary brilliancy is generally a sign of this weakness, although it must not by any means be 
 inferred that all brilliant papers are open to this objection. The first condition is that the 
 paper should not be preserved in too dry a state, nor allowed to roll up. Very dry paper, 
 on being sensitized, possesses, besides, the disadvantage of repelling the silver solution, 
 which hangs upon the surface of the paper in drops. After sensitizing, the paper must not 
 be dried too rapidly nor too highly, and should be suspended from two corners to prevent its 
 rolling up, a precaution also requiring strict attention when the pictures are taken from the 
 water after washing. Finally, they should be mounted in a slightly moistened condition, as, 
 when kept in rolls in a dry state, the defects above referred to are easily developed on 
 rubbing the paper-folder over the albumenized surface. — Oskae Pfkiffek. 
 
 The following, if not one of the " wrinkles," is one way to avoid them. In making prints 
 from large plates, the printer is often troubled by wrinkles or cockles in the middle of the 
 sheet which no amount of padding or pressure in the frame will bring in contact with the 
 negatives. To remedy this, after silvering, and before the paper is thoroughly dry, fasten the 
 sheet by the corners to the fuming-frames, or locking these to a large board or anything that _ 
 will keep it out straight, and allow it to get as dry as usual. Then give the middle of the 
 sheet an extra dry over a lamp or gas-stove, and the paper, instead of bagging in the centre, 
 will have all its wrinkles near the outside, and, when printing, will be found to lie against 
 the negative "as close as a cat to a hot brick." — J. L. GiHOif. 
 
 Observe that the expansion and contraction are not equally proportioned to all dimensions 
 of the head, both being much greater in proportion to the breadth of the face than to its length, 
 so that either print is distorted, which in the case of an egual mobility of the parts of the 
 paper would not be ; the paper contracts and expands nearly three times as much across the 
 narrow way of the sheet as in its length. This is an important, constantly present, and, it 
 seems to me, unavoidable cause of photographic distortion Let both of these heads be mag- 
 nified to life size, in length, from the outer right-hand corner of the mouth to the inner 
 corner of the right eye, two-and-a-quarter inches, and the divergence in width would be- 
 come comparatively enormous. Let now the head be carefully traced by the hand, follow- 
 ing the solar camera image of the negative, and a third scale of dimensions is produced. 
 Print from the negative, in a solar camera, with the length of the paper placed across the 
 width of the face, then another print with paper placed with its length parallel to the 
 length of the face, and you have a fourth and fifth scale ; under all conceivable conditions 
 this cause of distortion remains. — W. J. Bakeb. 
 15 
 
LESSON" E. 
 
 ART IN PRINTING. 
 
 292. As has already been suggested, there is a wide field for the exer- 
 cise of artistic taste in photographic printing, and the Lesson A is quite 
 as deserving of the study of the printer as of the gentleman who poses 
 the model. Indeed, if the printer is ingenious and full of feeling for his 
 art, he will oftentimes be able to improve upon the negatives given him 
 to print, by exercising his ar1>knowledge, and by resort to the many little 
 subterfuges that will suggest themselves in individual cases, and which 
 can be hardly described in a book. He should know that his results must 
 be brilliant; there must be a proper contrast of light and shade, which 
 may be regulated or not, according to the 'nature of the subject and the 
 pose, and the tone, too, must be managed to suit the character of the 
 whole. Again, negatives must be humored and " doctored " and " im- 
 
 292. I first print the portrait in the usual way, leaving large masses of pure light, or, 
 at any rate, tones, which, if toned and fixed at this stage,- would represent white when 
 finished. On removing the print from the pressure-frame I fit carefully over it a plate of 
 glass of the same size, on which I make sundry opaque marks — spots or streaks, as the case 
 may be — by means of any opaque body, such as water color, oil color, or varnishes. The 
 exact spot where this opaque body has to be applied, is ascertained by interposing the plate of 
 glass between the negative and the eye, a strong source of illumination being behind both, and 
 touching out here and there those points and spots where the highest light is wanted, such as on 
 the eye, the ridge or tip of the nose, the shirt, breast, etc. "When a glass is thus prepared, it is 
 placed over the printed and still sensitive photograph, now removed from the pressure- 
 frame; and, the greatest care having been taken to secure perfect registration, the picture is 
 exposed to the light for a sufficient time to allow a decided tint to be printed all over, except, 
 of course, in those parts covered by the opaque touches on the plate of glass. The eflfect of 
 this second exposure is that the whole of the picture previously printed is lowered in tone, 
 with the exception of the touches referred to. Some parts — as, for example, a touch of light 
 on the eye — should be sharp and well-defined; others may be softer and vignetted, so to 
 speak, in the surrounding semitone. The former is obtained only by the opaque stopping 
 being efi'ected on that side of the glass placed next to the print. Softness of outline, on the 
 contrary, will be obtained by working on the side of the glass farthest" removed from the 
 paper. — Edwin Cockinq. 
 (226) 
 
ART IN FEINTING. 227 
 
 proved " and managed in various ways, some of whicli will be described, 
 and otbers will be found in Mr. Hearn's more elaborate work on this part 
 of our art, the Bractkal Printer. " Style " also is to be regarded in printing 
 as well as elsewhere. 
 
 293. To print fast or slow, that is the question. On this subject doc- 
 tors do not disagree in theory, but they do in practice. Undoubtedly, the 
 slowly printed results are the richest and the best, but in practising our 
 art, one would never obtain sufficient prints by any slow means of pro- 
 ducing them. Consequently, moderately rapid printing must be resorted 
 to, and negatives are made accordingly. It happens sometimes, however, 
 that they are too weak. Then ground-glass, a varied number of sheets of 
 tissue-paper, an opaque coating, or other means is used to retard the action 
 of a too rapidly printing negative, and often it must be treated in other 
 ways, too, to secure from it the best possible results. 
 
 293. I have seen negatives of that grade that the finest prints could be obtained from them 
 if the light was diminished by covering them with five or six sheets of green window glass. 
 This shows that the negatives have no photographic opacity of themselves, which must be 
 conferred upon them by a weak light. Indeed, they possess all the qualities of a fine solar 
 camera negative. I have tried to obtain negatives of a similar character, and believe I 
 have succeeded by using the following developer : Mix two solutions, one of 
 
 Water, 1 ounce. 
 
 Nitrate of Baryta, 25 grains. 
 
 The other of 
 
 Water, . . • 1 ounce. 
 
 Protosulphate of Iron, 45 grains. 
 
 A white precipitate (of sulphate of baryta) is formed. Filter off the clear solution, and 
 
 mix with 
 
 Aoetio Acid, 30 grains. 
 
 Expose fully, and apply the developer until all details of the shadows have appeared. If 
 the light was good, and a short-focus lens has been used, no intensification is necessary. The 
 negatives were very ably retouched by the brush with carmine ; and in some places of very 
 clear shadows the glass side of the negative was covered with carmine. No pencil touching 
 has been used with them. I may here mention that a few of our professional photographers 
 adopt the same course in printing, and go even so far as to say that no print can be good if 
 produced in less time than a whole day. They print under a glass roof, and through rough- 
 ened glass, in order to give the print as diffused a light as possible. Strangely enough, the 
 same effects are produced if we protract the time used in printing by diminishing the 
 amount of chloride in the sensitive paper. I prepared three batches of albumenized paper 
 with four, two, and half per cent, of chloride. The highly salted paper printed in half the 
 time the. half per cent, paper used, and the prints were so different that it seemed doubtful 
 whether the same tiegative had been used for the two, although this had been done. The 
 less chloride used the less sensitive the paper, and the more contrast between light and 
 
228 WILSON'S PHOTOGRAPHICS. 
 
 294. Again, the negative may be so dense as to print not only slowly, 
 but to yield harsh and hard results impossible to tone with any degree 
 of richness. This occurs when the plate has been undertimed, or too un- 
 wisely intensified. There are those who like " black and white " pictures, 
 but nothing can be more disgusting to an artist with cultivated taste than 
 a print utterly devoid of delicate half-tones — coarse and hard and harsh. 
 To prevent such, whether the order warrants it or not, for your own 
 name's sake, " doctor" the negative so it will have a chance to do its best. 
 
 shadow. Por what we call a negative of ordinary printing density, a paper salted with two 
 per cent, of chloride of ammonium is generally the best. — De. E. Lieskqang. 
 
 To get hold prints from flat negatives, cut a piece of tracing-paper about the size of -the 
 negative ; with a little dah of paste in each corner, attach it to the bcMk of the negative. 
 With a No. 2 Paber pencil lightly touch up the lights on the paper, softening the strokes by 
 rubbing with the ball of the finger. Great care must be used in doing this to avoid harsh- 
 ness or unnaturalness in the lights. Turn the negative over, and by looking through you 
 can decide whether there is enough or too much lead on the paper ; in the latter case, re- 
 move the surplus with a common pencil-rubber j cut this to a sharp point, and you can ob- 
 tain the utmost accuracy and gradations in your retouching on the paper. A negative thus 
 doctored should be printed under ground-glass ; and thus a soft, bold print can be obtained 
 from a weak, flat negative. Care, practice, and judgment are the chief necessaries to obtain 
 success in this manner of manipulation. — John L. Gihon. 
 
 294. The method I adopt to conquer all the difficulties is this : eschewing retouching with 
 brush or pencil on the film, risking the further deterioration of the negative, I make light 
 finish the task it has, from want of time or bad quality, insuflSciently done, and in such a 
 manner that no hand can hope to rival its delicacy and precision, and this is the only plan 
 that a lover of his calling can justifiably pursue. A cliche produced under the conditions 
 before made will present the high-lights of the face, the light parts of the costume, white 
 lace, white lace collars, sleeves, etc., in violent contrast with the darkly shadowed parts of 
 the face, under the eyebrows, under the chin, portions of the hair, dress, and accessories. I 
 take the negative and place in contact with the collodion film a shpet of thin, yellow-colored 
 tracing-paper the size of the plate. This I rest against the glass square of the window, so 
 as to cause the light to traverse the two. I then sketch with a pencil the outline of all those 
 parts which are too strongly intensified on the negative and require tinting. I then remove 
 the tracing-paper and cut out with the fine point of a knife the pencilled parts correspond- 
 ing to the dark parts of the cliche ; and I lay down in the printing-frame this tracing, which 
 may be called the tinting-paper, and cover it with a sheet of sensitized paper, and expose to 
 diffused light. It is here that the judgment of the printer is brought into operation, for 
 some of the apertures will require more or less exposure to rectify the defects of the nega- 
 tive, and which should be covered up with any non-actinic substance until the whole of the 
 uncovered portions of the sensitive paper have acquired the necessary tint, the yellow-colored 
 tracing-paper preserving the rest from the action of light. Some of the outlines of the 
 tinted portions may be lightly pencilled on the back, to facilitate the adjustment of the sen- 
 sitive paper to the negative in the printing-frame, the shutters of which are then closed, and 
 the whole is exposed to the light until the print has acquired the necessary force, when it 
 
ART IN PRINTING. 229 
 
 295. Thus it will be seen that much may be done to modify the nature 
 of a negative. It may be still more elaborately changed, ^nd additions 
 made to it by the use of the pencil and various other means. A patent 
 has been obtained for a process which consists in holding the plate over 
 a gas flame or lamp until it is fairly smoked, and then with the stump 
 and brush working up such additions and alterations as are wished for 
 in the way of backgrounds and accessories. An artist may produce very 
 tastefiil results in this way, but it has caused some very evil efiects to be 
 offered to the public. 
 
 will be found that the tinted parts have now all the details of the photographic image in a 
 most surprising manner, not otherwise obtained. It is as if those parts previously exposed had 
 been rendered more sensible from some contaminating action ; there are no lines nor over- 
 lapping, but the image is beautifully modelled, and the first tinting disappears in the pro- 
 duction of a complete picture, the agreeable result invariably obtained when the operation 
 has been carefully executed by any person worthy of the name of a photographic artist. — 
 Adam Salomon. 
 
 Here is a hint for producing improved effects in portraits or landscapes, and no patent for 
 it. I hope it will not be cast away because it is cheap. Place a piece of glass on the collodion 
 side of the negative, and, looking through the two, you will see what effect is wanted, and 
 where. With sepia, Indian-ink, or any water color, paint upon the plain glass the effect 
 you wish it to be upon the finished print — say clouds, or anything that is pleasing. This is 
 all supposing the negative to be taken with a white background, or masked. Then take a 
 piece of sensitive paper fine in texture by a transmitted light, and print that which you 
 have painted upon the glass ; you may darken the centre where the portrait falls in a vignette 
 •form, if you wish it, so that no mask will be required. When this print is fixed, wax it, and 
 then use it to print in the effect in the print after the portrait is printed. This prepared nega- 
 tive, I will now call it, on paper, will do for any number of varied portraits. — John Eastham. 
 
 295. The practice of touching up negatives on the back has long been resorted to with 
 more or less success by photographers, and when skilfully applied is of great value as a 
 means of enhancing the effect of their work. The method generally adopted for the purpose 
 of producing a surface adapted to receive the lead-pencil or other material employed, is to 
 cover the back, or a portion thereof, with tracing or other thin paper; but it is open to the 
 objectior. that, unless the back be covered entirely, and the progress of the printing necessarily 
 impeded, a line is produced wherever the material is brought to an edge. In the plan I am 
 now about to describe this disadvantage does not obtain, as the edge of the retouching surface 
 maybe softened off to any desired extent. The process is as follows: Place the negative to 
 be operated upon face down on a pad of blotting-paper, and distribute a small quantity of 
 emery powder and a few drops of water over the portion you wish to modify ; then with a 
 piece of glass (I use a cube of about an inch and a half) grind the back with a circular 
 motion. This, when sufficiently done, will give a grain of about the same quality-as that of 
 an ordinary focussing-screen, and one eminently adapted for working upon with black-lead 
 pencils. Clouds may be put in by an artist very effectively with a blunt piece of black-lead 
 on the back of landscape negatives, the lights being heightened with Indian-ink. Of course 
 
230 
 
 WILSON'S PHOTOGBAPHICS. 
 
 Fig. 68. 
 
 296. Photographic prints as a usual thing are divided into two styles — 
 the "plain" ^d the "vignetted." The former are such as are printed 
 from the negative without masking or obscuration of any kind, and the 
 latter are such as are tastefully blended off from the darkness of the 
 figure towards the outer margins. To accomplish this last effect a great 
 many devices are used, the simplest and best of which are known as 
 Waymouth's Vignette Papers. They are lithographic designs very care- 
 fully gradated, printed on superior tissue-paper, and placed over the 
 negative at a short distance therefrom, during exposure to the sun. Sev- 
 eral devices have been in- 
 vented and suggested for 
 adjusting, these vignette 
 papers to the negative, 
 the best of which seems 
 to be the invention of 
 Mr. J. F. Singhi. The 
 drawing annexed shows 
 his device in use. a is 
 the printing-frame sup- 
 posed to contain a nega- 
 tive ; over the face of it 
 a light, close-fitting box, 
 about one inch deep, is fastened and held in place by the gum-elastic 
 bands, b b. At each end of the box strips are fastened, forming slots in 
 
 the result will entirely depend on the amount of artistic skill brought to bear on the operation ; 
 but by the judicious use of pencil, brush, and stump, very fine effects in the way of clouds 
 may be produced. It will sometimes happen in an otherwise perfect negative that, owing to 
 the falling off of light towards the edges, the picture will print.with dark corners, or one side 
 may be wanting in density from inequality of the film of collodion. In such cases, by the 
 above process of grinding as far as necessary into the picture, and then rubbing in black-lead, 
 the natural effect will be rendered with much greater perfection and delicacy. "When the 
 work ia completed, if it be thought desirable, the whole may be varnished with negative 
 varnish applied in the ordinary manner ; it will thus be fixed, and the untouched part will 
 be restored, or very nearly so, to its original transparency. I should add that for this process 
 it is necessary that the negative should be taken on patent plate glass, and, writing from my 
 own experience, I would earnestly recommend photographers to use none other for all good 
 work. — William Bedford. • 
 
 296. When I have a negative which prints too dark for a nice vignette, I treat it in the 
 following manner : Varnish the glass side with Hance's Ground-Glass Substitute ; then, with 
 a dusting-brush, dipped in plumbago, proceed to work on sufficient to get the required inten< 
 
AET IN PRINTING. 231 
 
 which the slide, c h, freely moves from right to left, c h is also provided 
 with strips, forming a second series of slots in which the next slide, e, freely 
 moves in and out. Over e is a third series of slots, in which the slide, 
 D, moves, provided with an opening, g, of any desired size or shape, over 
 which opening the Waymouth Vignette Paper, F, is pasted, but turned 
 up at one corner in order to show the opening, g; Now, by means of 
 these slots, it will be seen that once the vignette paper and negative are 
 brought into relation to each other, and held up to the light, the arrange- 
 ment of slots and slides permits the nicest and speediest adjustments to 
 be made, when the printing may be proceeded with. As the attachment 
 fits the printing-frame by friction, it is raised and lowered to the right dis- 
 tance required between the negative and the vignette paper by means 
 of wooden strips inserted at each end, and tapered to suit. The arrange- 
 ment is very complete, and its results are all one could desire. The 
 vignette printer will remember that the farther the vignette is away 
 from the negative, the more gradual will the gradation be, as ■well as 
 softer and wider in effect. Used with taste, this device renders artistic 
 vignette-printing a matter of easy accomplishment. E'egaitives which are 
 to be printed for vignettes should be made with a light background, and 
 never intensified. 
 
 297. There is still another style which is very pretty, known as the 
 
 sity, being careful not to get any upon the figure ; then, with a soft pencil, work up to the 
 figure, making an even coating. This might be taken advantage of to work in clouded 
 grounds if the operator be skilful. I have often made clouds in stereo-negatives by use of 
 the pencil on the ground-glass substitute; I also use it much in copies to strengthen 
 high-lights. In fact, I could not keep house without this valuable substitute. . . . One more 
 hint about using Hance's Ground-Glass Substitute. Should it, in flowing, have a tendency to 
 run over the edge and get upon the varnished side, go around the negative, before flowing, 
 with a piece of beeswax. It will prevent the evil. — Ievinq Saundebs. 
 
 If they are to be judiciously used, it is necessary the Waymouth vignette should be re- 
 moved from the negative all of the way from one-half to one and a half Inches, depending 
 somewhat upon the negative and the degree of softness desired to be obtained. The frame 
 is built up with strips of backboard, and the vignette paper fitted to the negative through 
 transmitted light, and then it is tacked in its proper place. They are easily adjusted, and 
 have the advantage of being already made, thus saving the time of the printer in cutting 
 this and that size form out of card-board, which, when done, cause^ not only a waste of time, 
 but also, except, perhaps, in very rare cases, is not nearly as good. — Charlbs W. Hbarn. 
 
 297. In printing the medallion style, now so very popular, nothing can be more simple 
 than the plan adopted at my establishment. A piece of silvered paper (or a worthless print 
 before washing will do) is exposed to the sun until it is fully blackened. This is laid upon 
 a piece of glass, and a brass mat, the size and shape you desire, put over it, and, by means 
 
232 WILSON'S PHOTOGKAPHICS. 
 
 " Medallion" or oval. To secure prints by this method, Gihon's "Cut-Outs" 
 are used, which consist, first, of a mask of any form, but generally with 
 an oval opening in the centre, which is placed over the negative margin 
 or border during the printing of the figure ; then the figure is covered 
 over with a piece corresponding to the oval cut-out, and the border of 
 the print is " flashed " in the sun, more or less according to taste. There 
 should always be a contrast between the figure part and the border, the 
 latter being much the lighter of the two. 
 
 298. Like human beings, again, negatives " wear out " from much use. 
 If the film becomes torn, it is easily remedied by the application of a spot 
 
 of a sharp knife, the oval is cut neatly out, care being talcen to preserve the piece cut out. 
 This latter is stuck permanently in the centre of a suitable sized glass. The opening is now 
 laid over the negative, on the varnished side, of course. The print is made as usual. Re- 
 move it from the printing-frame, and cover the printed oval thus made with the glass conx 
 taining the cut out piece, when you may now expose and tint to any desired degree. If you 
 wish to have a fine line border, all you have to do is to shift the piece about one-thirty sec- 
 ond to one-sixteenth of an inch, in any direction, whilst laying it over the printed oval, 
 which, by thus covering an edge of the white paper alongside the oval, preserves the paper 
 still white during the tinting. — "William Kurtz. 
 
 298. No matter how much care is used, it frequently happens, in the printing of a large 
 number of copies from single negatives, that specks of dust or dirt will inadvertently settle be- 
 tween the sensitive paper and the plate. They leave white marks, which do not sufficiently 
 mar the print as to make it worthless, but which become in a measure eyesores to the critical 
 purchaser. They have to be made of the same color or rather tint of the surrounding parts. 
 A dab of Indian-ink, jabbed upon the offending spot, does not answer the purpose at all. As 
 much judgment has to be used as is exercised by the lady who trots from store to store upon a 
 shopping excursion, and expends hours in the matching of the hue of a dress pattern or a set 
 of ribbons. If you cannot touch on the spots neatly, you had better allow them to remain. 
 On numberless occasions I have seen prints from what were supposed to be good negatives, 
 that might readily have passed for maps of the heavenly constellations. They were filled 
 with white spots, crescents, and lines. I have frequently asked the privilege of inspecting the 
 plates from which they were made. In most instances the printer had endeavored to con- 
 ceal small pinholes or light scratches with that very useful paint of my manufacture (Opaque), 
 and instead of having a scarcely discernible dark speck on his paper, caused the appearance 
 of a white blot, somewhat difficult to eradicate. To remove these transparent imperfections 
 upon the negative, you must possess a sharp eye, a steady hand, a fine brush (Opaque, of 
 course), and a clear comprehension of what you are doing. Almost invariably, when I have 
 washed away the color that had been applied, I have found that at least three times the 
 necessary quantity had been used. — John L. Gihon. 
 
 For several years I have made a practice of subjecting my negatives to an operation which 
 has had the effect of preserving them in good condition ; thus I have some ten years old, 
 from which several hundreds of prints have been taken, and all of them possessed of the 
 same degree of clearness and beauty. My manner of working is as follows : The negative, 
 
AET IN PEIKTING. 233 
 
 of thatindispensable obscurer of lightin the wrongplace,Grihon's"Opaque." 
 If the varaish becomes generally demoralized, then more elaborate treat- 
 ment must be resorted to. The varnished film may be removed and the 
 negative revarnished without great risk, but it is a delicate operation and 
 should be managed with the utmost care. 
 
 finished and well washed (no trace of hyposulphite heing allowed to remain in the film), is 
 coated with the under-mentioned solution : 
 
 Water, 30 cubic centimeters. 
 
 White of egg, 30 " " 
 
 Well shaken, and, when subsided, filtered. 
 
 The negative is allowed to dry spontaneously. Attention must be paid to the proportions 
 of water and albumen employed, for if the latter is in excess, the film of collodion, when 
 dry, has a tendency to peel off, especially if the same has been much worked during develop- 
 ment. The albumen having dried, the negative is plunged into a fifteen per cent, solution of 
 silver, the silver bath used for sensitizing being employed for the purpose, if necessary. The 
 plate remains in the silver solution for a period of thirty or forty seconds, — sufficiently long, 
 indeed, to coagulate the albumen, — and is then removed and passed into a bath of concen- 
 trated hyposulphite of soda. It is then again washed, dried and varnished at a gentle heat 
 with a solution of 
 
 Benzoin, ,....'.... 5 grammes. 
 
 Alcohol, rectified, 100 « 
 
 When this coating of varnish has become worn out, it is removed by immersion in a bath 
 of alcohol of the same strength as above, the negative washed, if necessary, and again 
 varnished ; it is thus again restored to its pristine beauty. — M. Clement Sans. 
 
 If a negative has been printed in the direct sunlight, and has consequently had its 
 varnished surface injured, by placing it on the developing-stand, carefully levelled, and 
 allowing chloroform to remain upon it a few minutes, the injured surface will be dissolved, 
 and it can be revarnished when dry. Observe that a few hours should be allowed to elapse 
 before printing from the newly varnished negative, or it may probably suffer by adhesion 
 to the paper. — Lake Pkice. 
 
 For removing stains from old negatives, dip a tuft of cotton-wool into the hypo fixing- 
 solution, which has been used for the prints the day before. (Strength should be about five 
 ounces of hypo to a pint of water.) Work with gentle friction upon the damaged part, and 
 after a few minutes the negative will be able to discharge its printing functions with all its 
 former power. After the treatment, wash the plate carefully with plenty of water, and dry 
 with blotting-paper first and a soft linen cloth afterwards, finishing with a little gentle heat 
 from the fire. — John L. Gihon. 
 
LESSO]Sr s. 
 
 MOUNTING AND FINISHING. 
 
 299. After all, the operator and the printer are at the mercy of the 
 mounter and the finisher, unless that person also puts heart in the work, 
 and labors with the rest to produce beautifully finished results. Neat and 
 good cards should be used ; the trimming and cutting should be thoughts 
 fully done, so that the figure will appear in proper position upon the card 
 — neither too high, too low, too far back or too far forward or crooked; 
 the prints should be placed so that the margin at top and sides of the 
 card are equal, and smoothly and thoroughly pasted all over. Starch 
 
 299. A good photograph hadly mounted is like a jewel ill-set, and a great part of its 
 beaut}' is lost. No artist should be indifferent to the manner and style in which his work is 
 shown to the public. Nothing fanciful should be allowed In 'the mounting of a carte-de- 
 visite. The card should be plain, either white, or, what is perhaps better, a very light buff 
 or cream color; the margin should not be wider than one-sixteenth of an inch, with a 
 quarter or five-sixteenths of an inch at the bottom, upon which it is allowable for the pho- 
 tographer to print his name, very faintly, in black or brown ink; but to print the name 
 large, or in red, staring letters, not only shows bad taste, but detracts from the effect of the 
 picture. Printed lines round the edge of the card are wrong, so are round corners, but 
 when the lines and round corners are combined, as I have seen them in some American 
 cartes, they appear to have entered into a conspiracy to spoil the picture, and generally 
 succeed, however good it may be. I hold it to be as necessary to have the photographer's 
 name on the back of the card — always supposing the picture is not a copy — as it is to have a 
 picture on the front ; but the name must not be set forth in a glaring design, full of curly- 
 cues and flourishes, but in a modest and quiet fashion ; not as though you were ashamed of 
 it, but without any advertising dash. A thin card is better than a thick one ; it feels better 
 if well rolled, and does not fill up the book so much as a thick one would. To cabinet 
 pictures the same general rules will apply, except that the margins should be proportionately 
 wider. — H. P. Eobinson. 
 
 The material I am about to describe for paste, has advantages which no others possess. 
 Take 
 
 Best Bermuda Arrow-root, ........ IJ ounces 
 
 Sheet Gelatin, or best Bussifin Glue, 80 grains. 
 
 Put the arrow-root into a small pan, add one ounce of water, and mix it thoroughly up with 
 a spoon, or the ordinary mounting-brush, until It is like a thick cream, then add fourteen 
 ounces of water and the gelatin broken into small fragments. Boil for four or five minutes 
 set it aside until partially cold, then add one ounce of methylated spirit and six drops of 
 ( 234 ) ^ 
 
MOUNTING AND FINISHING. 235 
 
 paste is the cleanest and the best. It is simply good laundry starch, mixed 
 with clean water, and used cold. Pour cold water upon the starch to 
 barely moisten it. Then stir in boiling water until the proper consistency 
 is reached. Strain, if not free from lumps. The prints are best mounted 
 damp, being laid in a pile backs up, and pasted one after the other as wanted. 
 300. After mounting, the prints are to be "spotted," i.e., all light spots 
 removed by the use of a camel's-hair pencil tipped with Indian-ink or 
 color. This should be carefully and neatly done, and the work hidden as 
 much as possible. The pictures should then be rolled in a press and 
 polished with encaustic paste. 
 
 pure carbolic acid. Be very particular in adding the spirit in a gentle stream, stirring 
 rapidly all the time. You have now fifteen ounces of the best mounting material you have 
 ever used. Keep it in a corked stock bottle, and take out as much as may be required for 
 the time ; work it up nicely with the brush, and you will have a material as smooth as 
 cream, without lumps or grit, and which will not decompose. — J. G. Tunnt. 
 
 After many failures in mounting prints on toned card-board, the following means of over- 
 coming the greasiness of the surface was discovered. It is done by adding to every 
 hundred grammes of paste five grammes of ammonia ; this hurts neither the paste nor the 
 pictures. The grease of the mount is slightly dissolved, and the picture adheres closely to 
 the board. The volatile alkali evaporates very quickly. The ammonia used for this 
 purpose must be perfectly pure, and free from any trace of sulphuretted hydrogen. — 
 John L. Gihon. 
 
 300. For "touching out" plain photographic work, I advise you to have by your side a 
 palette, upon which are ground moderate portions of a good black Indian-ink, warm sepia, 
 and scarlet lake. With combinations of these you can readily imitate the photography upon 
 which you are working, whether it be cold or warm in tone. Of course, it is necessary to 
 apply these tints with a brush, and if you use plain water as a dilutant, you will leave a dead 
 surface that betrays your trail. Every one will exclaim : Why not then use gum water ? That 
 will leave a gloss. Perfectly right I but it leaves too much gloss. In addition, I don't 
 believe that the half of you know how to make gum water. Accept my formula, and adopt 
 it or not, as you see fit. 
 
 Picked Gum Arabic, . . . , 1 ounce. 
 
 lioaf Sugar, 1 drachm. 
 
 Acetic Acid, 39 minims. 
 
 Alcohol, 30 " 
 
 Water in sufficient quantity, say, from six to eight ounces. 
 
 Don't be frightened at the mention of the acid, and at the idea of putting a modicum of it 
 upon the surface of your photograph. Used in this way, it will not, I assure you, prove 
 destructive in the slightest degree. The gum water, however, I do not use for the indicated 
 purpose. There is a better vehicle — the much-abused, always useful, albumen. 
 
 The value of an encaustic paste in giving depth, richness, and transparency to the shadows 
 of a photograph, and in bringing out the delicate gradations in the whites, is now so well 
 known that it needs scarcely to be stated ; and it is tolerably clear, also, that it adds to the 
 
236 WILSON'S PHOTOGBAPHIOS. 
 
 301. Or some may prefer a higher polish, when the final operation is 
 to pass our beautiful new pictures through the now popular heated 
 burnisher, which imparts to them a high degree of polish and improves 
 their tone. If this latter is used, the prints must first be lubricated with 
 a mixture of white Castile soap and alcohol, or a similar "lubricator." 
 After either treatment, the prints are ready for the acceptance of your 
 
 permanency of the prints. My prints owe much of richness and depth to treatment with an 
 excellent preparation of this kind, the formula of which stands as follows : 
 
 Pure Virgin Wax, 600 grammes. 
 
 Gum Blemi, . 10 " 
 
 Benzole, ... 200 " 
 
 Essence of Lavender, 300 " 
 
 Oil of Spike, 15 " 
 
 Those who wish to try a small sample can substitute grains for grammes. Melt the whole 
 on a water-bath, mix thoroughly, and strain through muslin. A simpler plan will be to 
 dissolve the elemi in the solvents, as described above, and, after filtering, mix with the melted 
 wax, as the filtration, which is chiefiy intended for the gum elemi, is more easily managed 
 before the wax is present. This, when finished, forms a stiff paste. By increasing the 
 proportion of essence of lavender it can be made thinner, which in winter may be desirable. 
 The encaustic paste is put on the print in patches in three or four parts, and then rubbed, 
 with a light quick motion, with a piece of clean fiannel, until a firm, fine surface is obtained. 
 If a rich, thick coating of the encaustic be desired, a very light puessure in rubbing is 
 necessary, so that a polish may be acquired without rubbing off the paste in the operation. 
 If a print be retouched, mcjre especial care is required to use a light hand in applying the 
 encaustic paste. — Adam Salomon. 
 
 301. First, after prints are dry, spot out, and before burnishing, rub them briskly with a 
 cotton-flannel patch saturated with either white or common yellow wax, it matters not. 
 Affier the wax is applied to the patch, let it get cold or nearly so ; cold enough not to stick 
 to tie print, and warm enough to be pliable. Begin rubbing lightly until the wax and 
 patch get a nice polish. If any bits should get stuck to the print, they can be readily 
 rubbed off with a clean patch. This, properly applied, I find preferable to any other ; it fills 
 the grain of the paper, and dees not remove the spotting, and the prints will bear handling 
 without injury. Second, keep the burnisher well polished. Take a smooth piece of pine, 
 about two and a half inches wide, one inch thick, and thirty inches long ; on one side of this 
 apply flour of emery and kerosene ; spread it over smoothly. To begin with, lay the pre- 
 pared stick down face up ; over this pass the face of your burnisher (if it scratches) until the 
 face is true, and all scratches removed; now have a similar stick, over one face of which is 
 stretched a piece of buckskin, similar to what we used to buff Daguerrotype plates with; 
 apply to this jeweller's rouge, and finish the polish of the burnisher with it ; you have now a 
 polish that can't be beat. — A. Heslbr. 
 
 First, see that the picture is not too much dried, as all know the swell of the card when 
 a picture is first mounted bends the picture backwards. Let the picture dry until the con- 
 traction of the paper just commences to bend the picture forward. It will be found that the 
 picture in this stage is about three-fourths dry, and it is absolutely necessary that it should 
 not be allowed to dry any more than this until after it has gone through the burnisher. 
 
MOUNTING AND FINISHING. 237 
 
 patrons. The neat and thoughtful photographer will show enterprise, 
 and deliver his work in tasteful cases or envelopes, and allow no print to 
 pass his counter that will not do him credit in every way, and serve to 
 bring him an additional patron. He should feel as if his future reputation 
 depended upon the pictures being delivered now. 
 
 This is best done by piling the pictures in one or two piles, and placing tbem under a weight. 
 They should be carefully taken from this pile and spotted out, and immediately placed in 
 another pile under weight. The same precaution should take place in applying the lubricator 
 to the print. They should be taken to the burnisher in this condition and put through until 
 a sufficient polish is reached. The reason for this method of procedure will be evident to 
 any one who has observed with what a number of irregular lines the surface of a picture 
 will become broken when allowed to become perfectly dry in the usual manner. When these 
 checks have once appeared in a picture, there is no method of again uniting the broken sur- 
 face, as I have repeatedly demonstrated by all sorts of experiments. When burnished by 
 the above directions, the picture, when cool, will be found to be very compact and hard, and 
 neither alcohol nor water will destroy the gloss, except by long soaking. Another little hint 
 I would give on the best way to handle a picture in the burnisher. Just put the picture 
 through the burnisher lengthways, curling it up backwards around the roller ; afterwards 
 put it through sideways, thus straightening it, and thereby a much higher polish will be 
 secured. — J. H. ScoiroRD. 
 
 "If occasionally a cabinet or card picture will not take the gloss, breathe upon it freely, 
 run it through the burnisher, and behold the shine. Should it not be produced the first time 
 of trying, repeat the operation after the picture has become cool ; the desired result will 
 then be obtained. — C. J. Stiit. 
 
 About two years since I was very much troubled with very fine scratches in' burnishing, 
 different from those caused by roughness of the burnishing tool. Another proof that the 
 cause lay outside of the burnisher, was that two or three, perhaps, would burnish all right, 
 then one scratched badly, next all right, and so on through the lot. I finally found the 
 cause to be that the prints were allowed to get too dry before burnishing, and the remedy I 
 used was as follows: After mounting, the moisture should not get out of the prints before 
 burnishing. As soon as the prints begin to curl towards the picture, I pack them one upon 
 another. My first plan was to place them in the cellar until ready to spot ; while doing this 
 I only expose one print at a time, keeping them packed. After spotting, lubricate with soap 
 and alcohol (I find wax, spermaceti, etc., to give, in my experience, a veiled appearance), 
 and spread out in the cellar upon something clean. I use a cloth stretched upon a small 
 frame, where they should remain until ready to burnish. A superior burnish will result if 
 they can remain twelve hours after lubricating, as directed, spread in the cellar. I have since 
 made another improvement, substituting for the cellar a tight tin box, which I had made 
 large enough to hold my prints flat. Care must be taken not to have the prints too damp. 
 I run them through, lightly, twice across the burnishing tool, until all are through, then run 
 about four times again, commencing with the first; I run the first thin.— Ibving Saunders. 
 
 I find the following to serve admirably as a "lubricator: " A. Paraffine, eight drachms; 
 benzine, ten ounces. B. In a mortar grind gum ammoniacum thirty grains, in alcohol sufln- 
 cient to prevent the gum from sticking to the pestle. Add A and B together, shake well, 
 and apply with a flannel rag or sponge. — John E. Clemons. 
 
238 
 
 WILSON'S PHOTOGBAPHICS. 
 
 302. A still higher polish may be given to the print by coating it with 
 a mixture of gelatin. It is questionable whether such a high degree of 
 "shine" is "artistic" or not; and it is an absolute certainty that the 
 gelatin film turns color and gives the prints a faded appearance. More- 
 over, the surface is easily abraded. 
 
 303. The trimming of the photograph should always be neatly and 
 carefully done. The edges should be untorn, and the form or shape should 
 
 Fig. 69. be truc. A knife is often used with a 
 
 glass or metal form, but the little in- 
 vention of Prof. S. M. Robinson, known 
 as his " trimmer," has almost displaced 
 ^^ itS^I&''9Si^ *^® knife. These trimmers are made 
 
 »■.... ^J^ ^"^^B of two forms, the one illustrated by 
 Figure 69 being constructed so as to 
 revolve in a socket, in order to make it 
 follow accurately an oval or round- 
 cornered metal "guide," and the one in 
 Figure 70, known as the " straight cut," 
 is for trimming straight edges, a metal guide being used also with it, or 
 it may be worked outside of a glass shape. The theory of these trimmers 
 Fig. 70. IS, that instead of cutting they pinch off 
 
 the surplus paper, thereby giving a nice- 
 ly-bevelled edge to the print, and they 
 /"'Amm are far superior to the knife or scissors 
 ^.^^^/"^^^ ^^ ^^^^ ^"<i used as indicated by the 
 „,,., _-- ^^| drawings. The first named gives a 
 
 Wiff^^^.,^ small turned or rounded corner to the 
 
 print, which causes it to adhere more 
 neatly to the mounting card. The 
 ■^ " straight cut " trims the corners square. 
 
 The guides are made of sheet-iron, and are cut true by means of a lathe. 
 
 802. This way of mounting photographs may not be quite new. The print for this 
 purpose should be a little darker than usual, and fully toned, and after well washing, put 
 between blotting-paper for a short time, and when surface dry floated on the following 
 solution made warm : 
 
 Isinglass, c . 
 
 „ * , ' . 5 grams. 
 
 Gum Arabio, , . 
 
 „ ' 1 grain. 
 
 water, , 
 
 ' •...! ounce. 
 
MOUNTING AND FINISHING. 239 
 
 304. One great difficulty in mounting, which should not be overlooked, 
 is the cockling or distorting of the card-board, by the unequal drying out 
 of the moisture imparted to them by the mountant. A good preventive is 
 to slightly dampen the cards, and then print and card will dry together, 
 though still, alas ! not always equally and in concord. Never pile the 
 prints in close contact while damp, in order to keep them straight. They 
 are apt to become soured, and spots will follow to their ruin. 
 
 A gentle heat will dissolve the isinglass and gum ; then add one drachm methylated spirit, 
 and filter. Ploat the damp print upon this, and then layit carefully on a plate of quite 
 clean, clear glass, say patent plate. Now press out the superfluous mixture with a squeegee 
 (or a piece of Indian-rubber tubing will do for the purpose), beginning at the centre of the 
 print with a gentle scraping motion ; then allow it to get thoroughly dry. The print will now 
 have all the brilliancy of prints in water j and much detail will be visible that in the ordinary 
 way would not be seen. — Thomas Gullivkk. 
 
 304. Take half an ounce of gelatin and cover it with water ; leave it to soak for, say, 
 twenty-four hours, in which time it will become thoroughly swollen. Now pour off all the 
 superfluous water, except two or three drachms ; place the gelatin with this trace of water 
 in a glue-pot, and put it on the fire. When it is melted, add six ounces of alcohol ; that 
 which I use has » specific gravity of .820. A most important point, however, is the mode 
 of mixture ; the alcohol must be added a little at a time, stirring steadily with a glass rod, 
 and maintaining a moderately high temperature. By proceeding carefully in this way, perfect 
 mixture is secured; and the solution is then poured into a wide-mouth bottle, corked or 
 stoppered, and set aside for use. This, applied to the print, causes a scarcely appreciable 
 degree of expansion, and no subsequent cockling. Its adhesive qualities are perfect, and the 
 preparation keeps well. To prevent the rigid hardness which characterizes good gelatin, 
 I added from one to two drachms of glycerin to the preparation, which is, I think, an 
 improvement. 
 
 To mount in an album without cockling, let the photograph be ironed with a hot iron on 
 the back till it is nice and smooth, then place it under pressure till quite flat. A large book 
 answers the purpose admirably. To prepare for mounting, lay the flattened print face 
 downwards on a smooth board or piece of glass, and upon it place a piece of clean, stifl" 
 paper an eighth of an inch less all round than the photograph, upon th^ exposed edge of 
 which rapidly and sparely brush some liquid glue (as little as possible) to cover it, for 
 herein lies the great secret. Avoid making the paper wet. The album being conveniently 
 placed — the position the photograph is' to occupy being previously marked with a pencil — 
 carefully raise the photograph with a point of some kind to avoid soiling the finger with the 
 glued edge, making it non-adhesive in the parts where such glue would be removed, and lay 
 it down in the proper place. At once lay a piece of clean jjaper over it, and rub it down 
 firmly with a soft rag ; close the book. In half an hour the face will be dry, and the print 
 perfectly flat, and it will remain so. — John L. Gihon. 
 
LESSOlf T. 
 
 PHOTOGRAPHY OUTSIDE. 
 
 J 305. The suggestions which follow are for the practice of landscape or 
 out-door photography especially, though embracing what is helpful als6 
 in making architectural subjects, interiors, groups of persons out of doors, 
 and in fact all classes of work outside of the studio. Landscape photog- 
 raphy, proper, is the most fascinating and delightful department of the 
 art. Every live portraitist should have an outfit for such work, and use it 
 for recreation and diversion and practice, if for nothing else. The gen- 
 eral rules as to the manipulation of the plate, printing, and finishing, apply 
 here just the same as in portraiture. And, indeed, the same lenses and 
 
 305. The lenses proper to employ for landscape pictures, are both single and double ; the 
 first to be used when the subject is of that nature th^t some size is required, and that it will 
 not suffer by a lengthened exposure ; the best diameters are two and a half and five inches, 
 covering respectively eight inches by six, twelve inches by ten, and sixteen inches by twelve; 
 the aperture to be used will be better reasonably small, if the subject is well illuminated, 
 since, under that condition, the extreme planes of distance will be more perfectly rendered. 
 The triplet, especially, when refinement of treatment is desirable ; Eoss' wide-angle doublet, 
 and Dallmeyer's wide-angle rectilinear, in many situations where it is necessary to take the 
 subject at close quarters, and the double portrait combination where, at small sizes, a favor- 
 able opportunity is seen for quasi-instantaneous treatment of passing effects of chiaro-osouro. 
 Many very charming effects of aerial perspective, marking the different planes of distance, 
 in undulating or mountainous country, are obtained by working towards the sun. This must 
 be done when it is not too near the horizon, as then the light would look directly into the 
 lens. Such treatment of the subject requires precaution to avoid fogging ; it is well to shield 
 the lens, whether single or double, by a dark cloth, which can be held above. — Lake Price. 
 
 Opticians have been always ready as far as lies in their power to meet the wants of pho- 
 tographers, and great praise is due to them for the patient research and calculations to pro- 
 duce the splendid instruments now placed in the photographer's hands ; still, it is just pos- 
 sible that, practically, we may have too much of a good thing, and overstep the mark in our 
 eager desire to produce perfection. This was first seen in the early wish to obtain a perfectly- 
 sharp focus, if only in one plane, but which has now given way to a desire of a more general 
 and artistic effect by diffusion of focus In portraiture over the whole subject. The same 
 thing, in a different way, has now taken place in consequence of a great demand for lenses 
 giving rectilinear lines with wide-angles, which practically, as I hope soon to prove, are not 
 (240) 
 
PHOTOGRAPHY OUTSIDE. 241 
 
 apparatus may be used, but, as explained in Lessons B and C, the best 
 results are obtained outside by the use of such as are constructed pur- 
 posely for this class of work. In the matter of lenses, the single, double, 
 and triple combinations are all employed, and, to one doing much out- 
 door work, they are all necessary. 
 
 306. Here also the use of the diaphragm or " stop " must be well 
 thought over as explained in Lesson C, and again the lens must be chosen 
 
 so good as those giving a slight amount of curvature, as in the old-fashioned single lenses, 
 and which has been reduced to a good working minimum in the wide-angle single lens. To 
 show this, set up two cameras — one with a rectilinear wide-angled, and the other with the 
 wide-angled single lens, both having the same focus and angle. Place them before a square 
 building occupying the best part of the largest plale the lenses will cover ; level the cameras 
 and out off excess of foreground, and now examine the two pictures on the ground-glasses. 
 The one with the rectilinear lens will be found to have a wedge-shaped image — that is, the 
 top of the building will be wider than the lower part ; whereas that by the single lens will 
 be found to be exactly straight. This is what might have been expected ; for if we measure 
 the lines from the centre of the lens to the ground-glass opposite to it, and then from the 
 lens to the top of the building, of course the latter is much the longer, which will account 
 for the enlargement of the image. The single lens giving a barrel image will, under this 
 circumstance, give a perfectly straight one. The only way to at all modify the picture by 
 the rectilinear lens is to tilt the ground-glass of the camera. It is only when pushing the 
 lenses to extremes that this will occur ; but, as under any other circumstances the curvature 
 of the improved single lenses is practically nothing, photographers will in general find them 
 more truthful than any double rectilinear ones. — Francis G. Eliot. 
 
 306. Use the smallest stop possible under existing conditions. The circumstance ifmiting 
 time usually is motion in the subject. "Water in motion, swift-moving clouds, or atmospheric 
 effects, must be taken instantaneously, or their chief beauty is lost. In such cases, detail 
 must of necessity be sacrificed. Eoliage in motion, trees swaying in the breeze, should never 
 be attempted. If it is worth doing at all, it is worth doing well, and it pays to wait. Ex- 
 posures on the quiet landscape, on rock and mountain scenery, or on architectural subjects, 
 need be limited only by the necessities of your process and the time at your disposal. I have 
 the Morrison, Koss, Zentmayer, and the "E. A." style of lenses for general use, working 
 each as occasion requires. For landscape work, where straight lines are not essential, I 
 prefer the simplest and cheapest of all — the single combination. I have taken passable 
 marine views insta'ntaneously with each. Under other less favorable conditions and subjects, 
 I have secured good results with a fifteen minutes' exposure ; ordinarily the time given 
 varies from ten to sixty seconds. — S. K. Stoddard. 
 
 A photographer who owns a number of lenses and wants to determine which one to use 
 for any particular view, may do so when visiting the spot beforehand without lenses or 
 camera, and with very little trouble. We only require to know what size of plate each lens 
 will cover, and its equivalent focus. The method of determining the equivalent focus of a 
 combination is, in brief, this : Measure the distance of the focus of a distant object from any 
 definite point on the mounting of the lens, and again from the same point with the lens re- 
 versed. One-half the sum of the two measurements will be very nearly the equivalent focal 
 16 
 
242 "WILSON'S PHOTOGRAPHICS. 
 
 to suit the subject and the angle of view required. ' There are rules for 
 calculating these, and they are useful when it is really particular that a 
 certain and given amount of subject must be included in a view. Gener- 
 ally, a look into the camera will soon satisfy the operator whether or not 
 his picture, as a whole, is what he desires to secure. 
 
 307. There are other methods of satisfying yourself as to what amount 
 
 length. To find out what lens to use, take any small stick or twig and break it ofi" equal to 
 the horizontal width of the plate to he used, or the twig may be shaped to the outline of the 
 plate. This is to be placed upon a rule, one end of which is pressed against the lower eyelid. 
 Then move the twig along the rule until its ends cover the extreme portions of the view to 
 be taken, and read oif the number of inches, distance at which it must be placed from the 
 eye, and this will be the focal length of the lens required. In case of having only one lens 
 at disposal and we wish to find what sized plate must be used to include a certain view, pro- 
 vided it is in the capacity of the lens to cover, mark off from one end of a stick, by placing 
 the thumb-nail upon it, a length that will include the view, at the same time holding the 
 stick at a distance from the eye, measured along the rule, equal to the equivalent focal length 
 of the lens to be used. In practice, a folding foot-rule in four parts is a convenient pocket 
 size. To make this answer for a focal length, for instance of twenty inches, reduce everything 
 to half-size, calling the focus ten inches, and when the size plate is found for a ten-inch 
 focus, multiply by two to get the size actually required. Again , if, in case of stereo views, 
 you expect that a lens of three or of two-and-a-half inches focus will be required, to avoid a 
 chance of error that might occur from not being able to measure from the true centre of the 
 eye, double or treble the length of the twig or stem of grass that you hold up to include the 
 view, and you will then get accordingly two or three times the fooal length to be determined 
 with sufficient accuracy for practical purposes. — John M. Blaee. 
 
 The following calculations have been made to show what angle of view is included in any 
 picture when the equivalent focus of the lens by which it was taken is known. When the 
 base-line of the picture measures the same as the equivalent focus of the lens, the angle of 
 view will be fifty-three degrees. If it measures a quarter part more than the equivalent 
 focus of the lens, the angle will be sixty-four degrees. If it measures half as much again as 
 the equivalent focus of the lens, the angle will be seventy-four degrees. If three-quarter 
 part more than the equivalent focus of the lens, the angle will be eighty-two degrees. If 
 double the length of the equivalent focus of the lens, the angle will be ninety degrees. — 
 
 T. CUTHBERTSOlf. 
 
 307. If the standpoint is not a given one, and it is desirable to have more or less of the 
 view in the field, alter your distance from the object, until you find a suitable position for 
 placing your camera. Again, the position, or distance, and size of plate are given, and you 
 want to know the fooal length of the lens necessary to give the required image : Place 
 yourself at the given standpoint ; hold the respective plate-holder before your eyes ; move it 
 to and fro until the plate-holder frames just what you want ; measure the distance between 
 the plate-holder and your eye ; the distance is equal to the focal length of the lens required. 
 Thus you are enabled to pick out the position to suit your taste and purpose. Frequently, 
 view photographers are puzzled about the problems : How much of a view will my lens give 
 at a given distance on a certain size plate ? or. What distance is required for my lens to give 
 
PHOTOGEAPHY OUTSIDE. 
 
 243 
 
 of subject you may expect to secure from any given standpoint. It is 
 well to understand them all, for it will save many a climb. Inexperi- 
 enced parties have been known to expend an hour or two in trying to 
 
 80 and so much of a view on a given size plate? or further, if the distance is given, what is 
 
 the focal length of the lens necessary to accomplish what I wish ? All this, and for the 
 
 thinking photographer a great deal more, may be answered by the following simple method, 
 
 sufficiently accurate for all practical purposes. A B a Fig. 71. 
 
 is an object in a horizontal position; L, the lens; CD, 
 
 the image on the ground-glass ; E L, the distance 
 
 from the lens to the object; and p L, the focal 
 
 length of the lens. It is easy to see, or at least to 
 
 feel, that the given dimensions are in some relation 
 
 to the proportions of the triangles alb and old. 
 
 Now, suppose you turn your camera around the lens 
 
 L until the ground-glass, on which you previously 
 
 traced the image with pencil, takes the position of G H ; take off the lens, and put your eye 
 
 where the lens was placed, and the image on the ground-glass will just cover the object. 
 
 I L, then, will be equal to P L, which is the focal length Fig. 72. 
 
 of the lens. Consequently, we come to the conclusion : 
 
 The image formed by a lens on the plate is precisely 
 
 the same as the one which is seen by one eye through 
 
 the plate-holder, or the glass plate itself, at a distance 
 
 equal to the focal length of the lens from the same 
 
 standpoint. Suppose you have a twelve-inch lens, and 
 
 you want to take a view on a 10 x 12 plate : Hold 
 
 your 10x12 frame twelve inches from your eye, and 
 
 all that which you see through the frame with one 
 
 eye your lens will produce on the plate, provided the 
 
 angle of your lens is wide enough. — J. Zentmater. 
 
 Por further hints on apparatus and the lens subject, 
 refer to Lessons B and C. 
 
 The annexed drawing represents one of the camera- 
 boxes of the American Optical Company, known as 
 the '76 Pocket 5x8 Dry-plate, Camera-box. It is a 
 model of lightness, compactness, general excellence, and 
 perfect Workmanship. It is supplied with one double 
 dry-plate-holder, which is also very light. (Of course, 
 additional holders may be had in any number.) It has 
 also a movable central piece (to be inserted when used 
 as a stereoscopic camera), a swing-back, a sliding front, 
 and an attachment for using the camera vertically 
 when the horizontal plate is not suitable for the 
 subject in hand. Such an apparatus as this can be 
 carried in one hand, and should accompany every photograph lover on every journey he 
 makes. It is always ready for work, and is pretty certain in its results. 
 
244 WILSON'S PHOTOGRAPHICS. 
 
 find a point of sight for the view which was in their mind to take. 
 "While they were knocking about, the light would lose its snap, the shad- 
 ows lengthen, and the best possible opportunity for securing the view 
 escape. Open the mind to learning and the voice of experience always. 
 -1308. In out-door manipulation there are certain modifications in the 
 Ibrmulse used which are essential. Of course everything works with 
 greater rapidity than when employed in the glass studio, though this, too, 
 is regulated by the nature of the subject, the objective used, the light, the 
 diaphragm, and the time of day. Hard experience only can teach all the 
 technicalities of this department; but, after all, the learning is so pleasant 
 
 308. So far as my experience has gone, the chemistry of out-door work does not differ 
 materially from in-door work. I use precisely the same material as I do in my gallery, with 
 such changes in compounding them as the nature of the ohject to be photographed requires. 
 I generally use the simplest developer — iron and acetic acid, and only enough of the acid to 
 make it flow evenly. Alcohol I never use in a developer, unless driven by necessity, and I 
 always try to avoid the necessity by removing alcohol from my bath by evaporation, as often 
 as it begins to annoy me. A few drops of alcohol in a developer may not be injurious, but 
 I never could see any good results from it as long as the bath was in a good condition. I 
 work as nearly as possible a neutral bath. Only a slight trace of acid is suflScient to keep the 
 deep shadows from fogging. I use in my bath from forty to fifty-five grains of silver to the 
 ounce. — J. C. Pottkk. 
 
 My landscape negative bath is as follows : 
 
 Nitrate of Silver, .......... 4 ounces. 
 
 Distilled Water, 40 " 
 
 When the silver is all dissolved, add eight grains of iodide of potassium dissolved in one 
 ounce of water; shake the whole well up and filter. In trying a plate, if there be any sign 
 of fog, not from over-exposure, add one or two drops of 0. P. nitric acid. After constant 
 use a bath becomes saturated with excess of iodide, alcohol, ether, and organic matter. 
 When in this state it is almost impossible to get anything like clear work. The quickest and 
 best remedy, then, for rectifying the bath is boiling. — T. C. Kochb. 
 The two collodions which I use for field work are as follows : 
 
 No. 1.— Alcohol, 10 ounces. 
 
 Ether, 8 " 
 
 Iodide of Ammonium, 81 grains. 
 
 Bromide of Cadmium, 35 " 
 
 Cotton, 90 " 
 
 No. 2.— Alcohol, 10 ounces. 
 
 Ether, 10 " 
 
 Iodide of Ammonium, 100 grains. 
 
 Bromide of Potassium . 45 " 
 
 Cotton, 120 " 
 
 No. 1 is a light collodion, working fine detail, but not great intensity. No. 2 is a heavy 
 collodion, working less detail and quite intense. Combining the two properly gives you 
 
PHOTOGRAPHY OUTSIDE. 245 
 
 that no one need despair. The bath, collodion, and developer being all 
 right, your effects should be so. 
 
 309. The nicest development is required in landscape vs^ork, and in 
 accomplishing it the time of exposure should be kept constantly in mind; 
 and not only this, the nature of the subject should be remembered. One 
 great difficulty with landscape w^ork, particularly, is to preserve the deli- 
 cacy of the white parts without rendering the contrast with the darks 
 too strong and harsh. As a usual thing, it is wiser to expose fully enough 
 for the details in the darker parts, and let the rest be managed the best 
 way possible, but if, as in case of clouds or a waterfall, the light parts 
 are the most important — expose to suit them. 
 
 almost any result you may desire. Good judgment and careful manipulation should make 
 you master of the field. — J. C. Potter. 
 For out-door collodion, I use 
 
 Alcohol, J ounce. 
 
 Ether, J " 
 
 Iodide of Ammonium, 2^ grains. 
 
 Iodide of Cadmium, 2i " 
 
 Bromide of Cadmium, . . 2i " 
 
 (}un-cotton, 5-6 " 
 
 This collodion keeps well, and is good for view and portrait work. If it should become 
 too pale by long keeping, which it will do when the gun-cotton has been washed in diluted 
 aqua ammonia, tint it with a solution of iodine in alcohol.— John L. Gihon. 
 
 309. My developer for field work is — 
 
 Double Sulphate of Iron and Ammonia, 4 ounces. 
 
 Water, 64 to 70 ounces. 
 
 Yellow Kook-candy, 3 to 4 " 
 
 Acetic Acid, No. 8, 5 to 6 " 
 
 If the silver bath has been in use long, the addition of one ounce of alcohol to the above 
 developer will cause the solution to flow more freely. As a general rule, this developer re- 
 duces the time for dark details at least one-third ; for studio work this developer is too strong, 
 and should be reduced with water to suit the light. — T. 0. Eochb. 
 
 DeveJ)*J)er for out-door negatives. — 
 
 (xlacial Acetic Acid, 1 ounce. 
 
 Water, ... 16 ounces. 
 
 Protosulphate of Iron, to the ounce of solution, . . . . 15 to 30 grains. 
 
 The proportions have to be varied so much according to circumstances, that it is impossi- 
 ble to give them exactly. With a little practice one soon learns to regulate the strength of the 
 iron and acid to suit the work in hand. In warm weather the developer can be diluted just 
 before using ; consequently, one can carry as much in one bottle as when diluted will make 
 two. — John L. Gihon. 
 
 Carry development as far as possible. If trouble ensues, seek the remedy elsewhere. 
 
246 WILSON'S PHOTOGEAPHICS. 
 
 310. If it is desirable to develop the plates in the field, and it is the 
 most certain and safe way, then a dark-tent must be employed. If the 
 plate is kept too long before exposure, it will become stained. Again, a 
 very common trouble lies in the bath solution not remaining evenly dis- 
 tributed over the exposed plate, but collecting in streaks or drops of oily 
 appearance, and tending to unequal and defective development. This 
 tendency is due to the collodion giving a film too horny and too repellant 
 of aqueous solutions. It may arise from too much ether in the collodion, 
 
 There should be no conditions to make this last rule objectionable. Great stress has been 
 laid on the rare good judgment which should carry development to just the proper point 
 and then cheek it. In my practice, the proper time to stop is when the iron ceases to act on 
 the negative, and no sooner. — S. E. Stoddakd. 
 
 I never fix my negatives until I return to my gallery. After developing and rinsing I 
 flov\f them with glycerin and water mixed, about half and half, or enough water to make 
 the glycerin flow evenly. There is not the slightest danger of their spoiling if they are 
 not fixed for one week after. A good rinsing before fixing is all that is necessary. Eede- 
 velopment may be resorted to, or intensifying, as may be necessary. — J. C. Pottkb. 
 
 It has often happened in my practice, and no doubt in that of others, that the distant 
 hills, indications of clouds, a stream of water, or a waterfall in a landscape, or a gentleman's 
 white tie, the folds of a lady's dress, etc., are distinctly seen when the negative is first 
 developed with the iron developer, but on redevelopment are lost, and become one unsightly 
 patch of white in the print. This may be avoided in a great measure by the following plan. 
 "When the details are well out with the iron solution, clear with cyanide, well wash the plate, 
 and allow it to dry; then take a camel's-hair pencil, paint over the light to be preserved with 
 
 Gum Dammar, 30 grains. 
 
 Benzole, 1 ounce. 
 
 This will dry instantly. Then proceed to redevelop the negative with pyro and silver in the 
 usual way, previously using a dilute iodine solution. The pyro and silver will now only act 
 upon the non-protected parts of the negative. Care must be taken to keep within the limits 
 of boundary given by the lens, which is not a difBcult matter, as the solution is easy to 
 apply. — Thomas Gttlliveb. 
 
 310. I accoutre myself as follows: 
 
 Tent.—A. very light tripod covered with two thicknesses of black calico, and one inner 
 one of yellow. The calico is about twelve inches longer than the tripod, and when the legs 
 are extended, I place a few stones upon this extra cloth, all around the inside of the tent, to 
 steady it and keep out light. The cloth is also wider than required to cover the extended 
 tripod, and, when I sit down inside, either upon my plate-box or on my heels, my assistant 
 brings the cloth around me, overlaps it at one side, and keeps it there during development, 
 etc. I find this tent the handiest for most subjects that ever I tried. When not in use the 
 cloth is folded around the tripod, and the tent is then placed inside of the camera-tripod, and 
 fixed with one leather strap and buckle. These (the tent and the camera-tripod) form' one 
 parcel of about ten pounds' weight, which I have often carried in my hand two or three 
 miles at a stretch. Por country work, however, there can be nothing better or more easily 
 
PHOTOGEAPHY OUTSIDE. 247 
 
 in whicli case alcohol may be added, but more frequently the pyroxylin 
 is in fault. With different operators, the time during which the plates 
 may be kept out of the bath before use, varies extremely ; it is a com- 
 mon complaint by operators that they cannot keep their plates more than 
 a few minutes, whilst others keep them from a quarter of an hour to an 
 hour and more. As the trouble arises from a repulsion between the film 
 and the bath solution, it is evident that we must try to bring them nearer 
 to each other in properties. 
 
 set up, and, if one takes care to dampen it inside occasionally, I believe negatives more free 
 from pinholes can be done in it than in any developing-box, and it is twice as portable. 
 
 Camera. — I have latterly used a sliding bellows-body camera, which takes plates seven by 
 four and three-quarters, with two sliding fronts: one for single lenses when taking negatives 
 the full size of the plate, and one for a pair of stereoscopic lenses, the flanges of the latter 
 made to fit a half-a-dozen different sized lenses, by means of which are fitted on all the 
 lenses except the largest pair. The box closes up to two and a half inches, and draws out to 
 eight and a half, and it can be turned on end when taking upright views. It has also a 
 removable centre division, which can be taken out when full-sized plates are used. 
 
 Lenses. — The lenses consist of a triple and a single lens, each of eight inches focus ; and 
 stereoscopic, single and double, of six inches, four and a half inches, seven and a half 
 inches, and two and a half inches focus. These I carry in leather cases, slung on a leather 
 belt worn over the shoulder like a shot-belt. 
 
 Chemicals. — All my chemicals are put in sixteen-ounee bottles, and packed in baskets 
 made for the purpose : a large one for carrying a stock, and a small one for holding sufficient 
 for a day's work. The latter, when filled, contains three sixteen-ounce bottles of sensitizing 
 bath, one of developer, the glass bath and dipper in a wooded case, eight two-ounce bottles 
 of collodion, three two-ounce bottles of glacial acetic acid, one six-ounce bottle of cyanide 
 solution, one dripping-bottle, one six-ounce bottle of crystals of sulphate of iron, one two- 
 ounce bottle of crystals of cyanide, and a small glass funnel, one gutta-percha funnel, a 
 plate-holder, a small portfolio holding filtering-paper, a dusting-brush, chamois leather, and 
 two towels. All these go into a handy basket, which my assistant easily straps on his back, 
 so that when we start to the field or mountain, I have the tent and camera-stand in one hand, 
 my plate-box, containing twenty-four plates, in the other, with the lenses, in their cases over 
 my shoulder. — Gborqb "Washington Wilson. 
 
 It frequently happens during the hot summer months that we have to go out to take 
 monuments, and sick or debilitated people, but find in such places no means of developing. 
 Such has been my experience this summer, which led me to make some experiments in order 
 to keep the collodion moist. I tried several means and ways to no purpose, until I tried 
 the following : Pure glycerin, one ounce ; condensed water, half an ounce ; shake well, and 
 after the plate is coated, drain, and wash with clean soft water until the greasy lines are 
 nearly all gone ; then pour over it the glycerin on and off", till all the lines are gone. Let 
 it drain for a time, and place it in the shield. It will keep moist for three or four hours, 
 with the thermometer at 104°; the time required is from fifteen to thirty seconds, according 
 to light and stop used in the lens. I develop with iron, rather weak at first, twelve grains 
 to the ounce ; I use glacial acetic acid, two to twenty-four ounces, until it penetrates the 
 
248 WILSON'S PHOTOGEAPHICS. 
 
 311. There are still other methods of preserving the plate for a long 
 time between the time of coating and developing it. One of the best 
 consists in the addition of a few drops of water to the collodion. The 
 method employed in such cases is as follows : A. good ripe collodion 
 should be used, and new strictly avoided; to this, drop by drop, distilled 
 water is added, equivalent to about two drops to each ounce of collodion; 
 after the addition of each two or three drops, the collodion is well shaken, 
 lest the precipitation of the cotton should occur; after this, carefully 
 filter. There is much in the manner of adding the water, by small de- 
 film ; then I add silver, five grains to the ounce, pour it over the plate, when, to my delight, 
 the picture comes out boldly and clearly. In order to get up intensit}-, add more iron and 
 silver, after which treat it as usual with negatives. Any mode of developing generally 
 practised will do, with the addition of silver ; but without it, there is only a faint outline of 
 a picture. I have never seen this recommended in any of the journals, but hope it will he 
 fully tested by more skilled hands. — B. S. Coopeb. 
 
 Every photographer is familiar with the risks of stains from partial drying of the plate, 
 when a long time elapses between exciting and developing the plate. Here is a method 
 the extreme simplicity of which will entitle it at least to a trial, and one trial will prove its 
 utility. The plan is simply to flood the plate with a few drachms of distilled water previous to 
 exposure, the water is then poured from the plate to a developing-glass, and must on no ac- 
 count be thrown away, for in this appears to lie the secret of success. After exposure, the 
 plate is again flooded with the same water that was previously used, and which, after 
 thoroughly moistening the film, is again returned to the developing-glass, and mixed with 
 the required quantity of developer, and the development proceeded with as usual. Plates so 
 treated will give pictures as clear and free from markings as if only exposed in the camera 
 for a few seconds. — John L. Gihon. 
 
 311. In my own practice I have always been able to avoid this inconvenience by redipping 
 the plate in the bath just before development, and I recommend this course as a cure for the 
 evil. The quality of the pyroxylin has much to do with this, as also the salts with which 
 the collodion is bromo-iodized ; and it is a noticeable fact that in the bromide process with 
 the bath this evil is much less in plates kept very long than in the ordinary bromo-iodide 
 process. — Col. Stuart Woktlet. 
 
 Some of our best landscape photographers have been for some time developing in the field, 
 and finishing up at home in the evening or next morning. The mode is as follows : After 
 developing the plate, wash off with water ; then flow over a solution of glycerin 
 
 " ^'^'^ 4 or 5 ounces. 
 
 Glycerin, 1 ounce. 
 
 Alcohol, 1 .. 
 
 Or you can dispense with water in washing off the iron, and flow on a solution of— 
 
 Glycerin, 1 ounce. 
 
 ^^t^'i . . . .4 ounces. 
 
 Acetic Acid, 1 o„n„g 
 
 Flow on like collodion and drain ; then flow on a second time, and put the plate in the 
 negative-box. In this way you lose no time in finishing up, but can keep on taking nega- 
 
PHOTOGRAPHY OUTSIDE. 249 
 
 grees, and carefdlly shaking after each addition. Plates coated with 
 collodion so modified will keep free from stains three hours in a moder- 
 ately dry temperature. 
 
 312. Sometimes it is necessary, too, to keep the plates a long time 
 after exposure before they can be developed and fixed; and, again, when 
 they have been thus kept, after-manipulation is required in order to bring 
 them up to a proper printing quality. All these little niceties must be 
 studied. In no branch of the art is the exercise of careful thought more 
 essential than in this, provided you are not content with indifferent results. 
 
 313. As to interior work, i.e., views of the interiors of churches, dwell- 
 ings, factories, and what not, the manipulations are largely the same as 
 
 tives. Plates with glycerin on them will keep a week or more with safety. When you 
 reach home, wash off the glycerin, and fix in weak cyanide; then force up, if required, hy 
 any of the well-known methods. — T. C. Boche. 
 312. I prefer, after fixing and washing, to flow over the plate a solution of 
 
 Acetic Acid, No. 8, ^ ounce. 
 
 Water, 5 ounces. 
 
 I then drain and flow over a solution of pyrogallio acid. No. 1, mixed with a few drops of 
 acid silver, as per formula No. 2. 
 
 1. — Pyro, 60 grains. 
 
 Water, 20 ounces. 
 
 Citric Acid, 20 grains. 
 
 2. — Silver, 20 grains. 
 
 Citric Acid, 10 " 
 
 Water, 1 ounce. 
 
 This will hring the negative up to a good printing color, which will not change. Dry and 
 varnish the negative. Keep the shield and camera free from dust in working, and take a 
 general interest in your apparatus. — T. C Boche. 
 
 Take iodine one drachm, iodide of potassium one drachm ; dissolve in twenty ounces of 
 distilled water. This forms a stock solution of the color of good old port, and for use may 
 be diluted six times. When the plate has been developed and washed as usual, flood it with 
 this dilute fluid, and keep it on about half a minute ; then wash again, and put in the drain- 
 ing-box. The plates may be intensified at any time ; but I prefer, on getting home, to let 
 them dry in daylight on a rack, and if any further intensity is required (though this is not 
 often the case), it is done either with iron and citric acid or pyrogallic and citric in daylight, 
 and fixed as usual. I can scarcely give too much prominence to the importance of this 
 matter. — Samttbl Fbt. 
 
 313. Sometimes it is necessary to take a view of an interior or of some object at a distance 
 from the dark-room ; in either case, when as much as two hours must elapse between the plate 
 leaving the bath and its development, the only extra precautions to be observed are, collodion 
 quite ripe, and if inclined to give stains, the addition of a little water, say one drop to the 
 ounce, will cure it. Bath proper strength, free from organic matter, and rather acid. 
 Allow the collodion to set well before putting the plate into the bath, and when in keep it 
 
2$0 WILSON'S PHOTOGRAPHICS. 
 
 the others, only the exposure must be very much lengthened, wheii one 
 or the other of these hints as to the preservation of the plate will be 
 found of use. The collodion may be modified to suit the lighting of the 
 subject, and, as a rule, a weaker developer is used. In these times the 
 wet plate is seldom used for interior work. See the lesson following. 
 
 moving the whole time, and directly the greasiness has disappeared, drain, and put it into 
 the slide, with a piece of wet yellow calico behind it. If it is an interior that is taken on 
 this plate, the developer will range from medium to strong, as it happens to be well or badly 
 lit; if it is an out-door view away from the tent that has necessitated the plate being kept, 
 a developer from medium to weak will be required. I iind, as a rule in this case, that a less 
 exposure and a weaker developer are required than if the tent had been on the spot, and the 
 plate been kept ten minutes instead of two hours. — John L. Gihon. 
 
 These two items (hot water and sugar) to the landscape photographer are of great impor- 
 tance. By the first distilled water is superseded in the making up of baths, and a more 
 perfect solution of silver is obtained, with a thorough elimination of organic matter. In 
 the case of the developer a greater saturation of iron, and, if to it be added a small 
 proportion of white crystallized sugar, will not only make it keep almost indefinitely, but 
 will impart to it such qualities as to make it a pleasure to work with. Besides creating a 
 saving of alcohol and acetic acid, it equalizes the action of the iron on the film, restraining 
 the development, and rendering over-exposure a matter of rare occurrence. — W. Hakdino 
 Warnek. 
 
 My collodion formula for making interior views is 
 
 Alcohol, 11 ounces. 
 
 Ether, 6 " 
 
 Iodide of Sodium, 48 grains. 
 
 Iodide of Ammonium, 48 " 
 
 Bromide of Sodium, . . 48 ■" 
 
 Chloride of Magnesium, ........ 48 " 
 
 Cotton, li grains more to the ounce than for portrait collodion. 
 Pure Spirits of Wood Naphtha, i ounce to 16 ounces of collodion. 
 By using the above collodion, a negative can be exposed for thirty minutes, without any 
 of the usual defects which are caused by a long exposure. — Old Akgbnttjm. 
 
 When we arrive at a point where we intend to work, I immediately unstrap the tent 
 and set it up, whilst my assistant collects a few stones to keep it steady ; and whilst I am 
 arranging my bath and chemicals in the tent, my assistant runs to fill his cans with 
 water at the nearest source. By the time he returns I am ready to coat a plate (which I 
 always do inside the tent), and, as the plate is getting ready, I place my camera ready to 
 receive it. If it is a subject we are attempting which can be taken instantaneously, I use 
 my six-inch focus lenses with a five-eighth inch stop, and expose by removing and replacing 
 the cap of the lens as quickly as possible ; but If it is a subject requiring a long exposure, I 
 make a guess for the first plate, and, from long habit, generally succeed in hitting it pretty 
 exactly. In spring, the actinic property of light appears to be very active, and it is only 
 then that I have succeeded in getting passable instantaneous pictures. Early in the season 
 views of buildings may be taken with a small stop in from two to ten seconds, and landscapes 
 with trees in from five to fifteen seconds ; but by the month of August and September I find 
 
PHOTOGEAPHY OUTSIDE. 251 
 
 "' 314. A knowledge of the principles, of art is quite as essential to the 
 photographer outside of the studio as to the one who makes portraits 
 only, and therefore much of the instruction given in Lesson A will be 
 found useful when prosecuting this • delightful branch of photography. 
 For the education of the eye, the balancing of the lines, contrast, choice 
 of position, composition, light and shade, and all such essentials, are quite 
 
 from thirty to sixty-six eeconds are required for most landscape views, and instantaneous 
 exposures are of no use except for clouds and water. .The plate being exposed, I get myself 
 shut up in the tent, and develop in the usual way, by dashing on the solution as quickly as 
 possible, and moving about the plate to prevent stains. If it is an instantaneous view, all 
 the details should come up slowly and distinctly ; but I keep on moving the plates for two 
 or three minutes, so as to get all that I can up before washing off the developer. This I do 
 carefully and slowly, and as the negative in this stage is very thin in deposit, I pour from 
 my dropping-bottle a small stream of nitrate of silver along the side of the plate, and let it flow 
 over the whole surface before dashing on a fresh dose of developing solution, keeping the plate 
 moving as usual. When this has acted for a ibinute or so I wash it off again very carefully, 
 and repeat the process sometimes three or four times, if necessary, until the requisite printing 
 density is attained ; then, after a slight washing, I bring it outside the tent, wash thoroughly, 
 and fix with cyanide of potassium. If the plate has a long exposure with a small stop, I find 
 one redevelopment generally enough ; but if the plate looks too thin after fixing, I sometimes 
 take It into the tent and redevelop a second time. The cyanide, however, must be well washed 
 off, otherwise there is danger of getting a reddish deposit upon the shadows. — Georob 
 Washington Wilson. 
 
 Never study economy in lenses, apparatus, etc. Never attempt any subject if the light 
 be not suitable, as, however good the picture (or rather, I should say, the negative) may ap- 
 pear, it always disappoints one afterwards. Never focus carelessly. Very much depends 
 on this. As a rule, it is a good plan to focus some central object in the view. For interiors 
 especially this is a most important matter, and sometimes diflBcult. It is a good dodge to 
 fasten up some large type — the heading of a newspaper, for instance — in a central position. 
 This gives one a good chance of getting a sharp picture. Never use any but the best patent 
 plate, which, by-the-by, do not clean with anything but alcohol, as tripoli, etc., only adds 
 another evil to the bath. Never waste time in doctoring an old bath. Make a new one, 
 and this as simply as possible, thirty-five grains of silver to each ounce of water ; add a 
 little old collodion, filter, and it is ready for immediate use. (I have always found that the 
 ordinary nitrate of silver answers every purpose.) Never, after securing one good negative, 
 leave the ground till you have tried for a duplicate, which is often better. The greatest 
 secret in the negative process, to my mind, is a properly-timed exposure; herein lies the 
 great art of photography, and makes a difference between a picture and a photograph. If 
 you are required to drag out your child, he only looks sullen when he appears. — Fkank M. 
 QpoD. 
 
 314. When you come down to real, legitimate landscape work, then you must study. 
 There is always a time of day when the light is better on any subject than another, and this 
 you should make your particular study. If of a chain of mountains, carefully regard the 
 time when the shadows so fall as to give you the best outlines and the best effects in the val- 
 
252 WILSOJ^'S PHOTOGRAPHICS. 
 
 as important in their place in the one as in the other. Out of doors you 
 meet your chief helper, light, on its own ground, and there you may 
 study its nature and learn to manage it to much better advantage than 
 when in the studio. Again, with art principles instilled within the mind, 
 there is constant opportunity out of doors to practise them, and to com- 
 pare nature with their teachings. Be assured, there is as much in com- 
 posing a landsca]^e as there is in managing a composition under the sky- 
 light; yea, even more, and often the landscape photographer must wail 
 patiently until the light falls to suit him; for he has no curtain nor screen 
 to direct at his will. 
 
 315. The photographer entering the field must fijst choose his subject, 
 and his knowledge of art principles will now come in to help him select 
 and arrange and combine in a picture the material which he has at hand, 
 so as to produce the most agreeable result, and to tell the story. To se- 
 cure a picture of a lake, it must not be taken from the narrowest end 
 where a bridge crosses it, and, filling up the foreground, hides the beauti- 
 ful water and all chances at refiections. That would be a picture of a 
 bridge and not of the lake. All through, harmony and unity and balance 
 of the lines, with light and shade, are the chief things to be looked after. 
 Once upon the ground, you begin to combine one part with the other. A 
 vast expanse of beauty is spread out before you, and invites you to make 
 
 leys ; if of a woodside or a grove, perhaps a little lake or pond, near at hand, may secure 
 you some lovely reilections ; if of the pebbly beach, some shattered spars or broken pieces 
 of a wreck may add interest to your foreground, or a coil of cast-oflf rope be made to cover 
 the ugliness of a heap of sea- weed. Again, if you are striving to snap up all the possible 
 detail in a noisy, saucy waterfall, if the fluttering branches of a tree are in danger of spoiling 
 your foreground, consider no labor too great to cut them out of the way. I have spent an 
 hour in this kind of work, cutting away bushes and limbs until I had taken the wind right 
 by the horns, and completely disabled it from doing me harm. More than that, I was with 
 a good friend the other day who climbed nearly thirty feet up a nasty, rough cedar tree, 
 holding on by his teeth, claws, and toe-nails, hatchet in hand, chopping away at the tough 
 limbs until his dear cascade was unobstructed. Not only that, he drove seventy miles in his 
 wagon to get the view, and seventy miles back. Now all such as these I call escapes- 
 escapes from making bad pictures. — Gbokok "W. Wallace. 
 
 316. Select the view you desire to picture, and study it under all the effects of light, shade, 
 and shadow, from " early dawn till dewy eve." Photographs taken each hour through the 
 day, without changing the position of the camera, will produce quite a variety of effects, 
 some of them appearing as unlike others as though they were of different views. By study- 
 ing nature closely under all her phases, you will shortly learn, when looking upon a scene 
 at any time of day (by simply consulting your pocket-compass), just the proper hour to visit 
 the place with your camera in order to obtain the best possible effect.— Jambs Mullen. 
 
PHOTOGRAPHY OUTSIDE. 253 
 
 free and lielp yourself. But you are a photographer, and you know the 
 capacity of your art is limited. You must therefore practise self-denial, 
 and take only what photography will give you, and what it will secure 
 for you well. And this thought brings to mind the size and extent of the 
 view to he taken. 
 
 316. The size of the picture is somewhat a matter of choice, and yet 
 it has much to do with the general effect. The 5x8 inches and the 8x10 
 inches are perhaps the most popular and advantageous sizes as to glass, 
 when other than stereoscopic pictures are to be made. As to the amount 
 of subject to be chosen, that, too, is a matter governed by choice and 
 circumstance. Views including a vast amount of subject are never so 
 attractive, as pictures, as those made of the richest "bits" at a less distance 
 from the camera. A short view is generally the most satisfactory, too, 
 because the objects are larger, and the lighting may be managed with 
 more ease and satisfaction. 
 
 317. The point of sight from which to make the picture must be regu- 
 
 316. The size of the glass must necessarily decide in a great measure the expense and weight 
 of the outfit, as a large plate requires a large camera-box, lens, and every other article in 
 proportion ; whereas a small plate reduces immensely both these items. I would advise 
 either a glass of 6J x 8J, or 5 x 8 inches ; each size has some advantages over the other. For 
 example, should stereoscopic work be. the principal object, then preference may be given to 
 the 5x8 size; under most conditions this plate is very useful. By using ohe lens only a 
 picture can be made over the whole plate, of pleasing proportions, when the length of the 
 glass is placed horizontally ; if placed upright in the camera, or the box turned on its end, 
 the picture will be too narrow for its length ; but as by far the greater proportion of pictures 
 are made with the length of the glass horizontal, this defect is of less importance. The ad- 
 vantages of the 6J X 8 J glass are : The single picture is somewhat larger ; the position of the 
 glass plate in the camera can be either lengthwise or perpendicular without injuring the 
 proportions of the picture. Stereoscopic work is admissible, but at a waste of glass and 
 chemicals. A frame or kit can, however, be readily fitted into the dark-holder to take a 
 5x8 plate, so that for general landscape photography I would advise either of the above- 
 mentioned sizes. — J. C. Browne. 
 
 As a general thing, there is much more Interest in a short view than there is in a long one, 
 which comprehends a large amount of territory. There may be instances where "distance 
 lends enchantment to the view," but it is seldom the case in landscape photography. Moun- 
 tain scenery may be an exception. — J. C. Potter. 
 
 317. We will suppose you intend taking a photograph of a street. Select some important 
 object for a foreground, place your camera about six feet from the opposite side to your 
 principal object, including in your picture a portion of the building on the same side of the 
 street on which you have fixed your camera. You have then made the most of your principal 
 object, the perspective gradually merging mote to one end of the plate than the other, and 
 securing a pleasing composition. Observe a similar arrangement in river scenes, old lanes, 
 
264 WILSON'S PHOTOGEAPHICS. 
 
 lated somewhat by circumstances, but sometimes circumstances may be 
 made to bend to your will, and give you a choice. Diagonal composition 
 and aerial perspective (see Lesson A) now come in to your aid, and 
 must be duly regarded and allowed to influence you in your choice, be 
 your subject in hand a street view, or amidst the rocks and rills and 
 the sunny hills. 
 
 \318. Having decided pretty nearly where to place the camera, you 
 now begin to arrange your composition, so to speak. The novice will 
 have to shift to the right, to the left, go higher or lower, until he knows 
 ftill well what he may exact from his lens, or how he stands as to the 
 matter of light and shade and perspective. But all this is good, refining, 
 and cultivating. A dozen and one things will occur to perplex him, but 
 his art principles will always oiFer a helping hand if he will only be led 
 by them, especially in arranging his composition. N'ever be satisfied 
 with "good enough." Expend your ambition, rather, on trying to secure 
 a single first-class view than on •obtaining a dozen indifierent ones. It 
 will ipay the best in the end, both in experience and in money. 
 
 etc.; indeed, the same simple arrangement applies to many classes of subjects. After a few 
 trials, the novice will be able to select for his picture a good point of view. If the subject 
 be only a trunk of an old tree, an isolated rock, spire, or tower of a church, always arrange 
 it more to one side than the other of your plate. It must be understood that there are 
 numerous subjects that no fixed rule would be applicable to ; in such the operator would 
 have to rely on his own judgment to arrange his picture; but careful study will soon make 
 difficult pictures as easy to arrange as the most simple. It is desirable to avoid small stops, 
 and not attempt sharp, hard pictures. I work with as large an opening as the subject will 
 admit, taking care to get, if possible, a soft negative with a very brief exposure; long 
 exposures, with small stops, produce flat, tame negatives, without relief. — Ebuben Mitchell. 
 318. We must generally take Nature as we find her. Recently, I made a few negatives in 
 a romantic part of the country within a hundred miles of our city. How often the lines of 
 the picture were perfect, the foreground everything desirable, but Nature was in the sulks ; 
 she would not smile — no sun shone. Then, again, everything seemed in good humor; the 
 sun shone, but a wind was blowing great guns. Another time wind and weather were 
 favorable, but the foreground was bad — a great bank of sand hiding a choice piece of middle 
 distance. Yet, determined to succeed, I changed point, and carried boulders and mossy 
 logs to make a presentable foreground, when a dense smoke from bush fires settled down and 
 spoiled everything. I waited around for eight days, but bad to leave without my picture. 
 Had I the ability to paint my subject, from one point I could get the middle-distance and 
 upper part of the picture. I would then have stepped a few feet to the left and obtained a 
 fine tree for foreground, and then returning a few feet to the right, I would have had some 
 rocks, beautifully marked, to form a strong point in the foreground, also, making my gem 
 complete. — W. J. Topley. 
 
PHOTOGRAPHY OUTSIDE. 
 
 255 
 
 319. To what has been said iu Lesson A on aerial perspective and the 
 balancing of the lines, reference must now be had again, and comparison 
 
 Fig. 73. 
 
 V 
 
 
 m 
 
 ■^ir. 
 
 made with the model 
 view here given, 
 " On the Shores of 
 the River ITeuse," by 
 Jan Van Goyen. It 
 seems to possess 
 nearly all the ele- 
 ments laid down for 
 a good landscape in 
 the rules, for the 
 artist has conformed 
 strictly to the cus- 
 toms of art. You 
 can see how his pic- 
 ture gains in value 
 by such a course, if you but exercise the imagination a little bit. Take 
 from it, then, the groups in the foreground and heap of old piles and bits 
 of grass, and see what a destruction of the beauty of the composition 
 will occur. You not only thus destroy the effect of perspective, but you 
 deprive the picture of the perfect balance which it possesses, and the 
 repetition of lines which occurs in the foreground of those in the dis- 
 tance. Again, the lines in the distance would appear to want collecting 
 together and regulating ; the distance would come forward, so to speak, 
 
 ''319. One who truly loves and studies nature, sees constantly beautiful pictures on every 
 side whilst travelling over the country. It does not always require a grand scene of rocks, 
 river, and mountain to make up a picture. Very simple things, which a person not accus- 
 tomed to observe would pass by unnoticed, will, in the hands of one who has the knowledge and 
 tact to properly picture them, be made very attractive and artistic too. Small bits of landscape 
 I would advise as preferable for the beginner as being more simple, and a variety of composition 
 and effect can be produced with greater ease and simpler means. The foreground being one 
 of the main points in the picture, and generally required to be bold and effective, can, if not 
 naturally so, be made so in a great measure by a little labor in the way of rolling up an old 
 log or stump in an effective position, or placing a bush or clump of large-leaved weeds where 
 they will be of service in making a proper balance or contrast as may be needed. And let 
 me advise you here to always have with you, on your photographic trips, a spade and a good 
 axe; the latter particularly will often be found "a friend in need," when it is desirable to 
 out a small tree or remove a branch that would otherwise obscure some important point of 
 your view. — James Mullen. 
 
256 WILSON'S PHOTOGEAPHICS. 
 
 into the foreground, and the parts would not assume their proper relation 
 to each other. The buildings on the left and right would seem to topple 
 into the water, and the sails seem to be speeding over some empty space 
 or precipice. Again, remove all the objects in the distance, and see where 
 your perspective would be ; and consider, too, what a miserable picture 
 you would then have, with nothing but a black mass in your foreground, 
 against a shimmering, unending sea of light. 
 
 \ 320. And after all these points are looked after comes the all-impor- 
 tant subject of light. Upon it depends all. It not only secures the brill- 
 iancy of the picture, but it even changes the forms and sizes, seemingly, 
 of the objects included in the view. It lengthens and shortens the shad- 
 ows, it gives the contrasts of light and shade, it gives the detail where 
 wanted, and all the snap and life there is to the whole composition is 
 regulated by the light. In every picture there are points which are more 
 
 320. Brilliancy in a photograph is a mere matter of intensity altogether irrespective of 
 any artistic consideration. It alters neither form nor composition ; but sunshine not only 
 supplies this intensity, hut especially improves the picture by varying the forms. In illus- 
 tration of this, take a foreground with nothing but a grass banlc and short herbage growing 
 upon it; the advocates of no sunlight represent it as a blank and even patch, which it pos- 
 sibly may be, but, give sunshine a chance, and the shadows of neighboring trees, etc., or 
 inequalities in a ground itself, make a broken and pleasant effect without an accessory of 
 any kind. "What applies here to the small piece of foreground holds good with the whole 
 of the landscape, and I firmly believe that no landscape was ever taken on a sunless day, no 
 matter how successfully, but would, with the same skill of manipulation, have been in- 
 finitely better done on a sunny one. In fact, it is a mystery to me how any one who has 
 intelligently studied landscape efiect at all could think otherwise. Because there is sunlight, 
 there is no necessity for chalkiness or snowy effect in the foliage, or want of detail in the 
 shadows. These efliects are mere errors of manipulation, and chiefly occur when the plate 
 has had insufficient exposure or faulty development, and are not due to the lighting of the 
 subject. — Edward DtTNMORK. 
 
 The student should note distinctly that, however astonishing and captivating good defini- 
 tion and detail may be in studies of foreground, etc., in the general landscape, fine broad 
 effects of light and shade will supersede all. Mere clean mechanism on the plate grows 
 monotonous, and will always succumb to the sentiment conveyed to the mind of the specta- 
 tor by representations, photographically less perfect, in which any of the changing effects of 
 light and shade may have been successfully rendered. The artist should likewise consider 
 that careful and discriminating selection will make itself felt in this as in every other descrip- 
 tion of subject, and must not go out with his camera as to a sort of photographic battle in 
 which one well-studied picture seems not to be the desideratum, but quantity not quality is 
 sought for. Now, the truth is, that one little bit of well-selected foreground, a bank with a 
 few docks and thistles, with the bright sun-ray glancing from the tufted grass to the ivy. 
 grown stump of the gnarled pollard, is worth a hecatomb of such things.— Lake Price. 
 
PHOTOGBAPHT OUTSIDE. 257 
 
 prominent than the others, and to which all parts are made more or less 
 subordinate. By a careful arrangement of the lights and masses of light 
 and shade, we secure the prominence due to each object. This is plainly 
 exemplified in the model picture given. 
 
 321. Sometimes figures are introduced with good effect into the pic- 
 ture, but they are not advantageous unless used to make up the story, 
 when they must be posed and placed so as to harmonize with all the 
 other parts, in other words, be one of the arts of the whole. There are 
 times when they will give life and snap to a picture, but never allow a 
 policeman to intrude for such a purpose. In street views figures are al- 
 lowable. In the landscapes, only where they can be used to help give the 
 idea of height or distance, or to harmonize in some way subordinately 
 with the rest of the subject. 
 
 322. As to the matter of exposure, there can be no rule, — the time of 
 day, the condition of the light and the atmosphere, the nature of the sub- 
 ject, the wind, and what not, regulating this matter largely. Always 
 
 321. Do not introduce figures into your picture . unless they can be made to appear a part 
 of the same, or to belong to the scene. Many a photograph that would have been faultless 
 otherwise, is totally destroyed by the indiscriminate introduction of one or more figures 
 which are entirely out of harmony with the scene, and only mar it. — Jauks Mullen. 
 
 If it is desired to produce works of a more artistic character, in which various masses of 
 buildings, at different planes of distance are introduced, less dimensions must be attempted. 
 In some such subjects, as for instance, views of Florence looking down the Arno, of Paris 
 from the Seine, etc. ; the want of figures in the picture is not so much felt as when the 
 squares and streets of populous cities are represented; here, if anything approaching the 
 appearance of the originals is to be shown, it can only be by combining in the picture the mov- 
 ing panorama, and not giving a Pompeian aspect to the most crowded and busy thorough- 
 fares. For the first, single or stopped-down double lenses may be employed indifferently ; 
 the resulting pictures will be distinguished by the less size and greater definition in those 
 taken with double lenses ; for the second double lenses can alone be used. The operator 
 must avoid large masses of shadow, and if skill is shown, pictures of ten by eight inches 
 maybe thus obtained, not but that very considerable difficulties must be contended with and 
 overcome ; but if a picture of this class of subjects is to be presented to the spectator which 
 shall impress him with the aspect of the original, as seen in nature, it is to this treatment 
 alone we must look for success. — Lake Price. 
 
 322. Time for perfect detail in the shadows; the high-lights will, or ought to, take care 
 of themselves. If they do not, if the resulting photograph gives the middle- and high-lights 
 as one chalky mass of intensity, it is an indication that your chemicals have a radical fault 
 which must be remedied. Your bath is too strong, your collodion too thick or not properly 
 iodized, or some one of the many faults exist which no amount of skill in undertiming or 
 developing can correct. Do not be satisfied with this sort of snow-fiake effect. It is certain 
 that, with the simplest of lenses properly stopped down, sufficient exposure, and full develop- 
 
 17 
 
268 WILSON'S PHOTOGEAPHICS. 
 
 secure enough, and if the wind attempts to blow, quickly close the expo- 
 sure, wait until it is over its unmannerly freak, and then expose again. 
 Often the foreground needs more time than the distance. Regulate this 
 by a hinged flap or shutter on the front of your camera, by means of 
 which the lens may be shaded at will to suit all circumstances. 
 
 323. The addition of clouds to a landscape cannot be too highly valued, 
 but, alas! photography is too often unable to secure them with the average 
 
 ment, perfect and complete gradations of tone, leading from deep shadow up to pure white 
 in the sunshine, can be caught, provided both collodion and developer are in harmonious 
 working order. — S. E. Stoddard. 
 
 323. All clouds can be photographed, from the lowering rain-cloud up to the sunny regions 
 of the cirrus, those multitudinous and apparently motionless lines of delicate vapor with 
 which the blue of the open sky is commonly streaked and speckled after some days of fine 
 weather ; but those most strongly marked in outline, and having the most favorable contrast 
 of light and shade, are the easiest to secure on the plate prepared by the ordinarily used col- 
 lodion process. The collodion should be very ripe, that is, it should have been iodized for 
 many months, or, if newly iodized collodion only is obtainable, sufficient tincture of iodine 
 should be added to it to make it a golden sherry color. The iron developer should be weak ; 
 about eight or ten grains to the ounce of water would be a suitable strength, with a corre- 
 sponding amount of acetic acid and alcohol. The plate should be new, and very clean. 
 Spots and stains are fatal to skies. 
 
 Any lens will do, but if a portrait or any quick one is employed, it should be stopped 
 down. The difficulty in taking skies is to avoid excess of light, and to expose quick 
 enough to prevent the plate fogging all over. The method of proceeding is as follows : 
 Prepare and excite the plate in the usual manner. Expose, for a bright sky, as small a frac- 
 tion of a second as you can manage with the ordinary cap of the lens. Carry the slide to 
 the dark-room, and develop. It is in the developing that the most judgment is required. 
 In a matter so delicate as the guessed exposure of a fraction of a second, in which one ex- 
 posure may be double that of another without the diiference being noticed, a great deal 
 must be regulated in the development. Remember that the darkest parts of the clouds 
 should be represented by bare glass in the negative, therefore, after the developer has been 
 thrown on, and the high-lights and succeeding gradations, almost down to the darkest, have 
 come out, pour a flood of water over the plate, and wash thoroughly. The negative must 
 now be treated with a solution of iodine in iodide of potassium and water, made thus: 
 water, ten ounces ; iodide of potassium, five grains ; tincture of iodine, sufficient to produce 
 a pale sherry color. This is poured over the plate, and washed off again. The Intensifica- 
 tion must now be commenced with pyrogallic acid, and will be found, if the clouds are 
 delicate or feebly lighted, to be an operation requiring much patience. When the pyro 
 becomes discolored, it should be washed off, and another dose of the iodine applied, after 
 which fresh pyro again, and so on alternately until the requisite intensity is attained. — H. 
 
 P. EoBINSOlf. 
 
 It is generally known by photographers that there are different methods of producing 
 cloud effects by which satisfactory results may be obtained. Negatives taken from natural 
 
PHOTOGEAPHY OUTSIDE. 259 
 
 subject. By reference to the model picture, their value will be seen. 
 They may be secured separately and printed in oftentimes, with admira- 
 ble effect. Ae a usual thing, they are too rapidly moving to be secured 
 with any detail, for while the foreground was being exposed, they would 
 be over-timed and entirely lost. Sometimes, however, this is not so. 
 They must be treated much as children have to be in portraiture, and 
 taken when they are in a quiet humor. Reflections in water are always 
 attractive in a view. The water should be perfectly still, and the light 
 brilliant. The finest reflections occur when the atmosphere is foggy, but 
 
 clouds, if tastefully selected and printed with care, add greatly to the picturesque and 
 artistic finish of landscape pictures. It may happen at times, that out of a whole batch of 
 cloud negatives there is not one suitable for a particular picture which has to be completed. 
 I have for some years past practised a method of producing cloud efltects which has with 
 me proved very successful, yielding proofs of a most delicate and refined character, giving 
 great relief, yet in which there is nothing harsh to attract the eye from the subject, being 
 very softly blended, and producing a most charming efieot in the landscape picture. Procure 
 a sheet of finely-ground glass the size of the negative, and, having previously printed a 
 rough copy of the landscape, place it under the ground-glass laid upon a table, with the 
 rough side of the glass upwards. It will then he observed that the picture is quite visible, 
 thus offering every opportunity of arranging the clouds in any shape or form so as to 
 harmonize with the subject. Now proceed to lay in the clouds with finely-ground black-lead 
 powder, with the aid of a small sable brush, rubbing in those parts requiring to be most 
 opaque with a small piece of India-rubber, afterwards tracing around the upper edges of cloud- 
 masses with a lead-pencil, and gradually softening off the lower portions with the rubber. 
 Take particular care to keep the whole nearly transparent. A little skill combined with 
 taste is necessary to accomplish this with neatness, but it will be found after a little experi- 
 ence that some most excellent resemblances of clouds can be produced. It is advisable to 
 make the sky portion of the negative quite opaque, so that the prints will remain perfectly 
 white in the protected parts, which are to be printed under the cloud-glass. The easiest and 
 quickest way to accomplish this is by blocking out upon the reverse side with black varnish, 
 tracing within half an inch of the outline of the landscape, and then soften off the edges 
 with a little gamboge (also upon the varnish side, if necessary). Should any parts of the 
 picture print too dark, such as the foliage of leaves, they may be remedied by working in 
 the details with a soft lead-pencil upon the varnished side. After printing from the negative 
 in the usual way, place the print under the cloud-glass in an ordinary printing-frame, and 
 printed under aired sunlight (previous to exposure). The frame should be covered with 
 a folded sheet of yellow paper, and placed quite stationary; then, slowly drawing the paper 
 from the top of the frame, exposing the sky portion to the light (care should be taken to go 
 but very little below the outline of the landscape), and then slowly closing it again. This 
 may be repeated several times, and usually takes from two to three minutes, so as to print 
 according to the depth required, which will depend upon judgment and taste. Good results 
 may also be obtained by printing in the shade, and reversing the cloud-glass, so placing the 
 rough side of cloud-glass next to the print. — Alonzo Fkrraki. 
 
260 WILSON'S PHOTOGBAPHICS. 
 
 that matters little if the light is of proper quality. Admirable views may 
 be made in a rain storm — ^if the sun shines. 
 
 324. In conclusion, a word as to the dark-tent. Any light enclosure 
 set at a proper height will do, large enough to accommodate the hands 
 during the necessary manipulations of the plate. A light frame of wood, 
 with non-actinic cloth to form the body, is all that is needed. The form 
 and size must suit your purpose. Have sleeves added for the insertion of 
 the arms, and a peep-hole to see what you are doing inside is also essen- 
 tial. Mr. Robinson's excellent Pictorial Effect in Photography elaborates 
 this subject to a charming degree, and should be consulted by all land- 
 scape lovers. 
 
 324. To dye cloth for tents, dark-room windows, etc., make the following solutions: 
 
 No. 1. — Acetate of Lead, 1 ounce. 
 
 Water, 1 quart. 
 
 No. 2. — Bichromate of Potash, ......... 1 ounce. 
 
 Water, 1 quart. 
 
 Dip the cloth in No. 1, drain a little (hut do not wring it), and dip in No. 2; it takes the 
 color instantly. Kinse slightly, and repeat two or three times. If the cloth is new, it should 
 he washed thoroughly, to remove the dressing, hefore dyeing. Wash or rinse out all loose 
 color and hang in the sun to dry. This will sive a deep, rich lemon color, composed of 
 chrome-yellow, and perfectly non-actinic. — J. L. Gihon. 
 
LESSON TJ. 
 
 BROMO-GELATIN EMULSION WOKK. 
 
 325. It has long been the hope of the photographer, and the ambition 
 of the photo-inventor, to secure some means of producing photographic 
 negatives without the aid of the nitrate-bath, which would not only end 
 the miseries that attend upon bath or " wet " work, but which would 
 also secure greater rapidity of exposure. Many, many processes have 
 been oft'ered with more or less success in producing fair results, but the 
 great process desired was not among them. It would be out of place 
 here to go into even a brief history of the matter. Suffice it to say, that 
 in the process now well and favorably known as the Gelatino-Bromide or 
 Bromo-Gelatin Emulsion process is found the one that up to date comes 
 nearest to what is wanted. It is now most extensively used in Europe, 
 and at the time of the publication of this work is becoming largely em- 
 ployed in America. Our photographers, however, are not yet enough- 
 advanced in its practice to give us much literature on the subject, and 
 therefore free use is made of what kind friends abroad have published, 
 with the hope that the fraternity here will follow suit when they become 
 more skilled, which indeed they have already begun to do. 
 
 326. Thus far the new process has been more extensively applied to 
 out-door work than to portraiture, and the two drawings annexed speak 
 
 326. Among the many advantages of gelatin plates over wet collodion, such as their being 
 always ready for use, their capacity of waiting for exposure in the camera without risk of 
 spoiling, their ability of securing an image in dimly-lighted places by an indefinitely-pro- 
 longed exposure, the convenience of postponing the development, the capability of correct- 
 ing over- and under-exposure by the management of the developer, to say nothing of the 
 crowning glory, their extreme rapidity ; in addition to all these advantages there is one other 
 that is by no means so obvious ; this will, I trust, in due time be recognized, namely, the 
 means these plates supply of avoiding the known defects of portrait lenses. Hitherto,,in our 
 anxious desire for rapid working, we have been obliged to tax the optician's skill to the ex- 
 tremest extent to make up for our deficiency in chemical power. Hence lenses have been 
 made of such large diameter, and of such short focus, that they can rarely be satisfactorily 
 employed except by the free use of diaphragms. The advantage of the costly instrument is 
 
 (261). 
 
262 
 
 WILSON'S PHOTOGRAPHICS. 
 
 more for the advantages of it in the former line than anything else that 
 can he said. In the one we see the landscape photographer of the " wet" 
 persuasion starting out, staff in hand, fig. vs. 
 
 his apparatus laden upon his bended 
 back, for a day's pleasure.(?) In the 
 other is the advocate of emulsion 
 pursuing the same errand, but with 
 his apparatus complete carried in 
 one hand, with plates sufficient for a 
 day's work. The other advantages 
 besides portability are, that the plates 
 for use with the emulsion processes 
 may be prepared in the studio, and 
 f after exposure they may be boxed 
 and developed at any convenient 
 season — months hence, if necessary. Again, greater, rapidity is secured 
 by their use — even instantaneity — while the results are fully equal to 
 those by the "wet" process. With these advantages remembered, then, 
 let the process be considered. 
 
 thus materially lost. But what I ohject to in portrait lenses Aiuch more than their price, is 
 the nature of the definition they give, even at their best. There is always that painful ob- 
 trusion of the optical plane where the exact focus is determined. Everything before and 
 behind this plane runs so rapidly into " fuzziness " that the exactness of the definition where 
 the image is sharp makes the absence of it the more obvious. We have for years been cry- 
 ing out for what opticians say is a practical impossibility — " depth of focus." The attempt 
 to obtain a " distributed focus " by the patent means of partially unscrewing the back lens 
 instead of giving increased "depth," only ends by producing general "muzziness." 
 
 The weakness of the portrait lens is never so much seen as in the attempt to take large heads. 
 This was particularly shown a few years since at the photographic exhibition, when prizes 
 were offered for the production of life-size heads taken direct. The portraits then shown 
 displayed clearly not only what could not be done, but also what should not be attempted ; 
 and, fortunately, we have seen none of these enormities since. Yet, so long as we needed 
 to take babies, nervous people, dogs, and other animals (and these often in an indifferent 
 light), we have been compelled to use these optically and artistically-imperfect instruments 
 because our plates were not otherwise sensitive enough. I remember some twenty years 
 since, when Dallmeyer brought out his triplet lenses, using them for portraiture. I was 
 charmed with the exquisite nature of the image; nothing was severely sharp, and nothing 
 was out of focus. The optical plane was there, but the gradual approach to it and the gentle 
 retiring from it was so insensible that the definition was perfectly delightful compared to 
 that of the usual portrait lens. But the slowness of the instruments .compelled me to aban- 
 don them for studio work. Now, however, all is changed, and the rapidity of our plates will 
 
BKOMO-GELATIN EMULSION WOEK. 263 
 
 327. As it is tlie policy of this work to give honor to whom honor is 
 due, be it known then that the skeleton of the method which follows is 
 largely made up from the best paper yet published on the subject, which 
 was recently presented to the French Photographic Society in Paris by 
 Mons. M. Bascher, whilfi the notes come largely from contributors to 
 the British Journal Almanac and the Tear-Book of Photography. Thus full 
 instructions are given in every branch of the process in all details. 
 Doubtless the novice will find it most economical at first to make pur- 
 chase of his plates, or at least the sensitive pellicle with which to make 
 the emulsion, already prepared, as plentifully offered in the market of 
 excellent quality by a number of American manufacturers, since the 
 manufacture of them is attended by so many difficulties and drawbacks. 
 "Were nothing else in the way, that mule of all ingredients, gelatin, must 
 be handled, and it requires knowledge and patience. Gl-et acquainted 
 
 permit us to use in good light, and on reasonably-quiet sitters, this superior class of lens. I 
 therefore strongly counsel professional photographers in good light to use for their cabinet, 
 promenade, panel, or similar portraits the rapid rectilinear or the symmetrical lenses ; and 
 to keep in reserve, to be used only on special occasions, the more imperfect though quicker- 
 working portrait lenses. It is not sufficient to say that by using smaller diaphragms the 
 portrait lens can have its objectionable character removed. I think not; the image is cer- 
 tainly improved, but it is apt to be too sharp in one plane, and not to possess that general 
 artistic distribution of definition the other lenses give. I also think that the large glasses 
 of the portrait lenses furnish greater risk of admitting diffused light in the camera— flatten- 
 ing and degrading the image on gelatin plates — than the smaller lenses. — Jabez Huqhbs. 
 
 327. It has been established by Captain Abney and others that gelatino-bromide of silver 
 emulsion gains in sensitiveness by keeping. It has not, hovirever, been sufficiently taken 
 into consideration what a very important factor in the result is temperature. ' 
 
 First. It may be laid down as one of the canons of gelatino-bromide of silver emulsion 
 manufacture that the sensitiveness (times being equal) is directly as the temperature at which 
 the emulsion Is kept. At 40° F. it will be less sensitive than an emulsion kept at 80° F. The 
 cause is not far to seek. At the low temperature, the sensitive particles are held tightly by 
 the medium which prevents their free motion. As the temperature rises a loosening takes 
 place, which, permitting freer motion, allows scope for chemical or molecular changes. 
 
 Second. This question of temperature has another important aspect. It has a material 
 influence on the gelatinizing property of the gelatin. A second canon is this : The gelatiniz- 
 ing quality is permanently affected inversely as the temperature at which the gelatin is kept. 
 The higher the temperature, the lower the gelatinizing quality induced permanently. Gela- 
 tin kept in a fluid state at a high temperature passes into the condition known as meta-gela- 
 tin, which has no setting property. Possibly pure meta-gelatin is favorable to sensitiveness, 
 as allowing the particles of silver bromide freer play. But meta-gelatin is soluble in cold 
 water, and probably could not be used by itself for emulsion work, as it would wash away 
 under the developer. If it could be got into collodion, it might solve the problem of rendering 
 
264 
 
 WILSON'S PHOTOGKAPHICS. 
 
 with it in harness first. Once having mastered the matter of exposure, 
 and especially of development, it will not be hard to do more. 
 
 328. Preparation of the Emulsion. — In the dark-room, lighted by 
 ruby-colored glass, melt separately, over a water-bath, using as mild a 
 
 collodion as rapid as gelatin. I have not the time to make the experiments myself -which 
 would be necessary. Meta-gelatin is probably the chief mechanical cause of the increase of 
 sensitiveness in gelatin emulsion. Being intimately mixed with the gelatin, it renders the 
 film more pervious to the developer by being washed out, and yet perhaps not carrying away 
 with it the particles of silver bromide acted upon by the light. There is an interesting field 
 for experiment in this direction. If the particles of silver bromide are washed out as well as 
 the meta-gelatin, this may explain the want of density found in some highly sensitive films. 
 Third. Yet, again, has temperature an important influence in gelatin work. A third 
 canon is this : The putrefactive and fermentative conditions of gelatin in the moist state are 
 Induced directly as the temperature at which the moist gelatin is kept and placed, or 
 manipulated, in circumstances favorable to the admission of germs from the atmosphere. 
 Dr. Maddox— who has distinguished himself as a pioneer in gelatino-bromide of silver 
 emulsion work — has been even more distinguished in microphotography. I would suggest 
 to him a fertile field in the examination and photographic delineation of gelatin emulsion 
 which has been kept, and to which the atmosphere has had access. 
 
 An emulsion free from living organisms — bacteria, vibrios, etc. — will be found a sine qua 
 rum for good work. I am inclined to think, if the microscope were used more freely in the 
 investigation of emulsions, we should find that some of the puzzling difficulties of gelatino- 
 bromide of silver might he traced to gelatin in process of putrefaction or fermentation, in 
 consequence of having been kept without the addition of an antiseptic. As last words in 
 regard to this subject of temperature, I would say, gelatin boiled is gelatin spoiled. — Dun- 
 can C. Dallas. 
 
 328. Dr. J. Nicol gives a description of a very convenient arrangement, devised by Mr. 
 J. G. Tunny, of Edinburgh, for keeping the various vessels containing emulsions at the 
 
 proper temperature. This he has called a "hot- 
 water cabinet." It will be seen from the accom- 
 panying sketch, Pig. 76, that the cabinet consists 
 of a cylinder of japanned tin plate, nine inches deep 
 and thirteen inches in diameter. In the top are six 
 circular holes of various sizes, suitable for the 
 vessels intended to be kept warm, including one 
 funnel, one or more measures, several beakers, and 
 the emulsion bottle. In each of the circular holes 
 is inserted and firmly soldered a tin cylinder, closed 
 at the bottom, and of such a length as just to hold 
 the article for which it is intended. The mouth of 
 each of the cylinders projects sufficiently above the 
 top of the cylindrical body of the cabinet to form a 
 shoulder on which to slip a cap or cover, whereby 
 light may be excluded from all or any particular 
 one at will. Immediately in front of the funnel-holder— which is, of course, not a cylinder 
 
 Fig. 76. 
 
BEOMO-GELATIN EMULSION WOKK. 265 
 
 heat as possible (that of a lamp whose light is hid is the best), the follow- 
 ing two preparations : 
 
 A.— Water, 120 parts. 
 
 Nelson's Gelatin, No. 1, 15 " 
 
 Bromide of Ammonium, ....... 7 " 
 
 Bromide of Zinc, 1 part. 
 
 B.— Water, ... 30 parts. 
 
 Nitrate of Silver, 12 " 
 
 These two solutions being made, pour, drop by drop, constantly agi- 
 tating, the second solution into the first. Allow the mixture to remain 
 
 but a cone — a portion of the side of the cabinet is cut away, and covered by a sliding shutter 
 of tin. This is intended to receive the bottle or vessel into which the emulsion is being 
 filtered, and a half cylinder passing behind the bottle and reaching up to the funnel-holder 
 keeps the whole water-tight. There is also a small tube, in which may be inserted a 
 thermometer for the proper regulation of the temperature. For all or most of the operations 
 connected with the preparation of gelatin plates I cannot imagine, and certainly have never 
 seen, anything so exceedingly convenient. By means of a small gas- or lamp-flame, the 
 temperature of the water may be maintained at any required degree, and if covered with a 
 jacket of thick felt or other suitable non-conducting substance, an almost uniform temperature 
 may be kept up for many hours without any flame at all. 
 
 In boiling the gelatin emulsion, it is of great importance that the vessel containing it should 
 be well covered with water to enable the emulsion itself to boil thoroughly, and in order to 
 effect this some arrangement is required to prevent the bottle or flask 
 from turning upside down. To get over this difficulty a heavy glass ,.....'....,' 
 
 bottle is often used, much to the discomfort of the worker, who generally \ ;' 
 
 breaks four such bottles out of every five. To those who require a simple j j 
 
 plan of steadying a flask, I recommend the accompanying sketch of an i ■ 
 
 arrangement which is easily made and answers perfectly. It consists 
 simply of a collar formed from a piece of stout sheet-lead bent to the 
 proper shape of, and made half an inch deeper than, the glass flask, and 
 also pierced with several holes to allow the water to flow easily through 
 it. When placed in the boiling water the " collar " prevents the flask 
 from turning over, which, if not filled too full, is also hindered by its 
 buoyancy from touching the bottom of the outer vessel. Setting aside 
 the question of breakage, I may observe that an ordinary chemical flask should be always 
 used in preference to a bottle, as by its use the emulsion is heated far more quickly, and can, 
 without risk, be immediately cooled under the tap when the boiling is completed. Thus a 
 great saving of time, and sometimes patience, is effected. — H. Manfield. 
 
 Thinking that something more mechanical than the rougher method, mostly recommended, 
 of adding silver to the bromized gelatin and then shaking your arms off, was required, I 
 set about making a simple piece of apparatus ; and, as it answers the purpose admirably, I 
 give a rough sketch of it, the sizes of which can be altered to suit requirements. The frame, 
 A, is made of wood, the base, B, of something heavier to keep it steady when in use. Wood 
 would do if loaded with lead underneath. The large and small band-pulleys are likewise of 
 wood ; the stirring-rod, c, is made of ivory, as well as the toothed piece on the bottom. This 
 
266 
 
 WILSON'S PHOTOGKAPHICS. 
 
 Fig. 78. 
 
 over a very mild water-bath for three days. Now pour the solution into 
 a glass dish, which is to be placed in as cold a place as possible ; in sum- 
 mer, ice is necessary. When the bromized gelatin has become very firm, 
 
 stirrer, used in conjunction with an injector, gives a beautifully fine-grained, creamy emulsion, 
 and by using an India-rubber ball on the tube, F, you can force the silver solution into the 
 
 gelatin in the form of a fine spray, or drop by 
 drop, as you think fit. A word on frilling, one 
 of the chief causes of which I believe to be 
 dirty glasses — that is to say chemically dirty — 
 by allowing too long a time to elapse between 
 the cleaning and coating of the plates. I quite 
 agree with a plan, no doubt, adopted by many — 
 that is, to rummage up all old plates and have one 
 good wash up, after which they should be packed 
 up and stored away for future use. But it is a 
 great mistake to coat plates even twenty-four 
 hours after such washing without a preliminary 
 polish up. The plan I adopt is this : while the gelatin emulsion is soaking I look out my dozen 
 or two plates, as the case may be, dust on a little fine tripoli powder on the side to be coated, 
 and polish it off with a cloth I keep for the purpose, and which is pretty well charged with 
 the powder. It will be found that this gives a tooth to the plate that gelatin emulsion will 
 stick to with great tenacity. A quarter of an hour is quite sufficient to go over two dozen 
 (jlates. This precaution taken, coupled with the use of chrome-alum in the emulsion, I will 
 warrant to prevent frilling. — S. Eogees. 
 
 In order to prevent misunderstanding, I repeat, that the method of preparing exceedingly 
 iensitive emulsions by boiling and by treatment with ammonia give, as I have shown in my 
 work. The Theory and Practice of the Q-elatin-Emulsion Process, excellent results. For the 
 practical photographer, however, and the manufacturer on a large scale, I strongly recom- 
 mend the method of long-continued digesting at a gentle heat, and I will accordingly 
 give a short resume of the directions which I have laid down at the end of the above- 
 mentioned work. Dissolve 24 grammes of potassium bromide, and from 30 to 45 grammes 
 of gelatin, in 300 cubic centimetres of water ; also 30 grammes of silver nitrate in 300 cubic 
 centimetres of water, and mix the two solutions at a temperature of about 40° C. This 
 emulsion must then be digested over a water-bath, at a temperature of 85° 0. If a less 
 sensitive, but clear working, emulsion be required, one which shall be rich in contrasts — 
 as, for example, architectural photographs, reproductions, etc. — the digesting must be ex- 
 tended over twelve hours. This emulsion will be equally sensitive, or even twice as sensitive, 
 as wet collodion plates. It is to be thoroughly recommended in cases where a moderate 
 degree of sensitiveness is sufficient. It should be at hand in every studio, and is often pre- 
 ferred by landscape photographers to a more sensitive emulsion. The same mixture, digested 
 for three days, gives an emulsion specially adapted for portrait photographs. With a suit- 
 able developer— particularly pyrogallic— it works very soft and delicate. This emulsion 
 ought to serve the principal wants of the practical photographer. To obtain still greater 
 sensitiveness and softness, the digesting at35°C. should be extended continuously for five 
 days, and, at nearly the last moment, from one to two per cent, of ammonia should be added, 
 
BEOMO-GELATIN EMULSION WOEK. 
 
 267 
 
 cut it into pieces with an ivory knife, and place these pieces in a canvas 
 bag, as recommended by Messrs. Wratten and Wainright. Strongly press 
 with the fingers, to force the gelatin through the meshes of the tissue, 
 and, allow the small fragments to fall into a dish of cold water. Stir 
 quickly with a glass rod ; then pour the whole on a sieve placed in the 
 upper portion of a cylindrical vessel, and entering into it to the depth of 
 
 and the digesting carried on for another half-hour. In this way, it is readily possible to 
 prepare two differently working emulsions from the same mixture. The first portion can 
 be poured off at the end of the first twelve hours' digesting, and put on one side ; the re- 
 mainder being still kept cooking. I recommend the owners of large laboratories, as well as 
 amateurs, to keep both these kinds of emulsion in stock. The sensitive emulsion can be used 
 in the studio; the less sensitive, in the open air. — Dr. J. M. Eder. 
 
 If the same quantities of chemicals are weighed up each time, it would be well to have 
 weights made containing the exact number of ounces and grains required of each article 
 used. 
 
 Two simple means of producing the bromide of silver in the needful state of fine subdi- 
 vision are as follows : — The first is a glass funnel, with its end drawn to an exceedingly fine 
 point. This is placed in a retort stand, and the nitrate of silver will be projected into the 
 jar containing the bromide and gelatin solution. The whole can easily be mixed with any- 
 thing found most convenient, such as a strip of glass or wood, a salad-fork, or one of those 
 wooden mixers used in the co/es for the chocolate-pot. The other plan is the spray producer. 
 This is easily made with a bottle, a good cork, two pieces of glass tubing, a piece of India- 
 rubber tubing, and a valve-ball pear-shaped. (See Fig. 79.) 
 
 In cooking the emulsion, a good, trustworthy, well-glazed stoneware jar, with a lid or 
 cover, will be found most useful, and a saucepan or boiler with a well-fitting lid and large 
 enough to hold the jar ; also a piece of wood to 
 fit loosely into the saucepan. This keeps the jar 
 from the bottom of the pan, which, when the jar 
 is in it, should only be half filled with hot water. 
 When cooked sufficiently, the emulsion is poured 
 to set in a white, flat-bottomed porcelain dish 
 placed in a zinc box with a deep cover, the whole 
 fitting in » wooden box, which has also a deep 
 cover fitting into a rebate set all around the out- 
 side of the wooden box. The zinc dish is made 
 with two supports, so that the porcelain dish is 
 from one and a half to two inches from the bot- 
 tom. This space in hot weather is filled with 
 
 crushed ice and nitrate of potash. There is also a little tube of zinc passing through the 
 two boxes. To this is attached an India-rubber tube with a brass top to run off the waste 
 water. In cool weather, nitrate of potash and water will suffice. Pieces of ice placed in the 
 cool emulsion will help the setting. A piece of flat ebonite, about five inches by two inches, 
 filed down to a sharp edge at one end and a hole pierced at the other to hang it up by, is 
 most useful to scrape up the set emulsion with. 
 
 Por breaking up the emulsion a canvas cloth may be used ; but any mechanical means 
 
268 
 
 WILSON'S PHOTOGRAPHICS. 
 
 about seven centimeters (two and three-quarter inches). The watei- will 
 fall into the vessel and the gelatin will remain on the sieve. Pour plenty 
 
 that does the same without so much handling is better. A large zinc tube, silver-coated, 
 Pjj, go with a pierced plate at one end and a 
 
 wooden plunger to fit the same (Pig. 80), 
 has done good service. It is placed in 
 a large jar partly filled with cold water 
 and the emulsion forced through. There 
 are three knobs or feet to keep the strainer part from touching the bottom of the jar, and 
 this allows the emulsion to come through. 
 
 For washing the emulsion many plans are recommended, but they all are on the same 
 principle — a means whereby the emulsion can soak awhile and then drain and again soak 
 Fig. 81. and drain. The finer the emulsion is broken up the less washing 
 
 is needed, and excess of washing certainly causes a thin image, 
 although a very sensitive plate is produced. During the summer, 
 a difficulty is found by many in obtaining water sufficiently cold. 
 An apparatus like Fig. 81 then becomes an absolute necessity. A 
 zinc cylinder and lid fitting into a groove or rebate and some or- 
 dinary "compo," one-fourth or three-eighths piping twisted into 
 coils, crushed ice, and nitrate of potash is thrown into the cylinder. 
 The water enters from the top and is considerably reduced in tem- 
 perature before it passes out at the other end. T do not know that 
 it matters which way the water enters. The washing-trough con- 
 taining the emulsion should be close to the cooler. 
 
 For filtering, a good wash-leather well cleaned from " dressing, " 
 a china funnel, a jar, and a tin or zinc cylinder (Pig. 82) to hold 
 hot water are required. It is advisable to filter twice and have two leathers and two funnels. 
 The lip is for the purpose of adding more hot water, and the tap to take off the chilled 
 water. The tin is made to fit the funnel, and has a rim at the bottom 
 to rest on the shoulders of the jar, long enough to prevent the end of 
 the funnel coming in contact with foreign matter when placed on the 
 table. 
 
 After filtration, it is well to put the emulsion aside for twenty-four 
 hours (or it can be used at once). A good plan is to have a series of 
 ten-ounce, lipped stoneware bottles, using a ten- or twelve-ounce 
 measure and a funnel to fill the bottles. By this means of measuring, 
 none of the emulsion is lost. The bottles are then covered with a 
 piece of tough, non-actinic paper, kept in position with an India-rub- 
 ber band, taken into a cool place, and when thoroughly set, about 
 half an ounce of methylated spirit is poured on (this can be used over 
 and over again if kept from the light). The emulsion will now re- 
 main good for a considerable time, but if it be intended to keep the 
 emulsion, it is better to make it into pellicle d. la Eennett. Tou and 
 the pellicle can then defy summer and winter, heat and cold.— Archer 
 Clarke. 
 My emulsion filter is very simple and easily made, and is illustrated by the annexed 
 
 I'iG. 82. 
 
BEOMO-GELATIN EMULSION WOBK. 269 
 
 of water into the sieve until the whole of the gelatin is covered. Throw 
 away the water in the vessel, renew three times this washing operation, 
 and drain carefully ; now take the gelatin with a horn-spoon and put it 
 in a precipitating glass two-thirds filled with methylic alcohol. Continue 
 this washing until the fragments of gelatin are completely hardened, 
 which it is easy to ascertain from the peculiar noise which they make 
 when stirred. Now with a horn-fork spread these small emulsion pearls 
 on a glass plate, which has previously been rubbed with a tuft soaked in 
 
 diagram, Pig. 83. B is^a tin funnel, with its spout cut off to about an inch in length; A 
 is a glass funnel, with quite a long spout, so as to reach nearly to the bottom pj^ j 
 of the bottle, or dish, filtered into ; a rubber bottle-stopper, c, that fits the neck 
 of the tin funnel, B, is perforated with a hole to fit the spout of the glass funnel, 
 A, and they are all put tightly together, as shown in the diagram. When in 
 use, the spout of the glass funnel. A, is fitted quite tightly with a wad of filtering- 
 cotton previously wet with alcohol, and rinsed with distilled water, and the 
 space between the tin funnel, B, and the glass funnel. A, is filled with water 
 at 110° P.— Jay Densmorb. 
 
 Bromide of ammonium should be as nearly as possible neutral. It is usually 
 more or less acid, even though otherwise pure, and frequently becomes strongly 
 acid by keeping. It is then quite unfit for use, and will not give good results unless almost 
 neutral. Since further extensive experiment; the writer has arrived at the conclusion 
 that on the whole it is better to use bromide of potassium. The latter is often alkaline, 
 but may, without much difficulty, be obtained neutral, and is free from tendency to alter. 
 Nelson's No. 1 photo, gelatin unfortunately varies much in different samples. It should be 
 absolutely free from the faintest smell or taste, and should dissolve clear, bright, and nearly 
 colorless. Samples good for this purpose usually contain a very slight trace of HCl. Nitrate 
 of silver is usually (if good) slightly acid, with excess of nitric acid. It may be so used, but 
 the writer has recently found that better results are obtained if the silver solution be neutral- 
 ized with carbonate of soda. A slight excess does no harm, as the resulting trace of carbonate 
 of silver is converted into bromide; indeed, an emulsion may be made by mixing washed 
 carbonate of silver with a soluble bromide. The uses of neutralizing the silver are twofold. 
 One is, that as the amount of acidity of AgNOj varies with diflferent samples, it insures the 
 same conditions in all cases ; the other is, that the presence of nitric acid in emulsion pro- 
 duces a tendency to green and pink discolorations in the finished negative. — "W. WiLSOir. 
 
 When the gelatin emulsion is flowed over a glass plate, and does not set for a long time, 
 though the temperature of the air and of the plate is not very high, place the plate on a 
 cold metal or stone slab (10° 0). If that produces no effect, the emulsion has been spoiled, 
 either by continued cooking at a great heat (60° to 100° C), or by repeated alternately 
 melting and solidifying, the latter being specially injurious when the gelatin is of inferior 
 quality. Eor this reason it is better not to keep the stock of gelatin emulsion warm, but to 
 plunge the flask at once into cold water. When gelatin is heated continuously for a long 
 time with ammonia, it loses its property of solidifying, and the same happens to an emulsion 
 digested with more than five per cent, of ammonia. The best means to put it right again 
 is to add about half its quantity of the original gelatin. By long keeping, the gelatin will 
 
270 WILSON'S PHOTOGRAPHICS. 
 
 benzole and wax ; thoroughly dry without using heat ; this requires about 
 twenty hours. At the end of this time detach the emulsion from the 
 plate with a paper-knife, or simply with the palm of the hand, place it on 
 a sheet of black paper, and then in small pasteboard boxes, in which it 
 may be kept for an indefinite time if not exposed to dampness or light. 
 
 329. Manner of Spreading the Gelatin on the Plate. — ^First cover 
 the plates which are to receive the gelatin with a thin coating of albumen : 
 
 "Water, 500 parts. 
 
 White of Egg 20 " 
 
 to which you add a solution of chrome-alum in sufficient quantity to im- 
 part a rather dark-bluish tint. Allow this first coating to thoroughly dry, 
 
 often putrefy, and then it hecomes a fluid of its own accord, and loses the power of solidify- 
 ing. This can be prevented by adding from one to two per cent, of salicylic acid or of 
 thymol dissolved in five cubic centimetres of alcohol for every one hundred cubic cen- 
 timetres of gelatin. Separation of the film from the glass during development, formation 
 of bubbles, protrusion of the layer of gelatin over the edge of the plate, production of 
 creases, distortion and tearing of the negative image — all these defects are due to the em- 
 ployment of too soft a gelatin ; by using collotype gelatin they may be avoided. The same 
 efifect is produced when the emulsion contains a considerable amount of gum-arabic. It 
 may be cured by cleaning the glass with a weak solution (1 : 200) of soluble glass, which 
 causes the gelatin to adhere more firmly ; coating the edges of the plate with a varnish of 
 caoutchouc is also a remedy. A complete cure is obtained by, previous to developing, dip- 
 ping the plates for about five minutes in a saturated solution of alum in water, followed by 
 thorough rinsing. According to Chardon, it suffices to dip the plates in alcohol, and only 
 to develop afterwards. Light-colored spots, without any sharp outline in the negative, may 
 be attributed to some fatty substance in the gelatin ; the spots may be got rid of, and the 
 silver bromide plates rendered homogeneous, by filtering the gelatin several times through 
 filter paper. — W. P. Bolton. 
 
 329. Por coating and drying plates my le velling-board is three feet by two feet and six inches, 
 one and a quarter inch thick, with two stout battens crossways of the wood underneath. This 
 requires to be pretty stout and rigid, and made of good dry timber. Across the surface there 
 are fastened strips of wood half an inch square and at three-inch intervals. These are sim- 
 ply guides in the process of levelling: a lid, made as light as possible, but light-tight, and 
 of sufficient dimensions to cover the entire board, with a flange sufficiently deep (say three 
 inches) to cover the board-plates and for the lower edge to rest upon the table. 
 
 To level the plates, make a lot of little common clay cylinders by rolling the clay into 
 lengths of a few inches and about half an inch in diameter, and cutting it up into about 
 three-quarter inch lengths ; three of these pieces of clay are used to each plate. The pieces 
 of clay are placed on the leveller's board at such a distance as to suit the size of plate, and 
 on each piece of clay I press a gun-wad ; upon these the glass rests. A circular spirit-level, 
 or two ordinary spirit-levels placed at right angles upon the plate, enables you to see which 
 way the plate requires pressing down upon the clay supports to set it perfectly level. I have 
 tried all sorts of means of levelling the plates, but flnd this the best and most simple ; a little 
 
BROMO-GELATIN EMULSION WORK. 271 
 
 tlien spread over it by the aid of a bent 'glass rod the gelatin emulsion, 
 which has lirst been dissolved over a water-bath at a very moderate heat, 
 and in ten per cent, of ordinary water slightly alcoholized. Some add to 
 the emulsion a small quantity of chrome-alum to preserve the adherence; 
 others, a few drops of ammonia to increase the sensitiveness. Thoroughly 
 
 practice will enable you to level the plates rapidly and perfectly. I never exceed half an 
 hour in levelling sixteen plates. 
 
 Coating the plates : During the time I am levelling the plates, I have one of the pots of 
 emulsion placed in some hot water in the " laving can " over my gas-burner, with just suf- 
 ficient gas to keep the water hot, but not to boil — say at a temperature of 130° or a little 
 more. By the time I have levelled my plates, the emulsion will be melted and heated up to 
 the same temperature as the surrounding water. Now commences the dark-lantern business. 
 My lantern is a wooden box, twelve inches every way, the front consisting of two panes of 
 glass, which slide in grooves, and are sufficiently long to be easily taken hold of and lifted 
 out. The one glass is ordinary sheet, coated on one side with negative varnish, containing 
 a sufficient quantity of aurine to make it a tolerably deep yellow ; the other glass is ordinary 
 ruby. The slides are arranged to leave one inch space between the two glasses ; a paraffine 
 lamp is placed inside the box, which is provided with a good-sized chimney, such as are used 
 for magic lanterns. The yellow glass is nearest the light, and the ruby outside ; this gives 
 plenty of light, is perfectly safe, and about as cheap and convenient as anything you can get. 
 Proceed to filter the emulsion through a good tuft of cotton-wool placed in a funnel. Place 
 a glass marble upon the cotton-wool in the centre ; it prevents the wool rising when the 
 emulsion is poured upon it. Before pouring the emulsion on, pass some hot water through 
 the cotton-wool, and pass the emulsion through twice, at least. 
 
 The pouring-bottle consists of a blue pyro bottle, close to the bottom of which I have 
 bored a hole, and into this hole I introduce a. glass tube, with a portion of India-rubber 
 tube upon it to make it water-tight, and tie a string round the tube and neck of the bottle 
 to hold the tube in its place. This is my pouring-bottle. You will see my object is to pour 
 from the bottom, .thus avoiding air-bubbles. The tube is simply a " feeding-bottle " tube, and 
 the whole thing does not cost a shilling, but is worth a good deal for this job. Heat the 
 bottle in warm water, filter the emulsion directly into it, and set it in a basin of hot water 
 for immediate use. 
 
 In coating, pour the emulsion out of the bottle into a glass measure (I have several sizes), 
 using a drachm to every ten square inches of surface ; thus, a ten by eight will take eight 
 drachms or one ounce. I consider it very important to measure the quantity on each plate. 
 Spread with a light bent glass rod, and when all the plates are coated put the lid over, and 
 you can admit white light until they are set, which will probably be in two or three hours. 
 Do not disturb them till thoroughly set, then transfer them to the drying-box, light the Bun- 
 sen burner, and in about twenty hours the plates will be dry. 
 
 In storing the plates when dry, place them face to face, without anything between them; 
 wipe the backs from any emulsion that may be upon them, and so place them in pairs. I 
 usually make them up in parcels of eight plates, the box, etc., being adapted for making six- 
 teen plates at one heat. I wrap up in yellow paper two thicknesses and brown paper ditto. 
 —J. A. POBRBST. 
 
272 
 
 "WILSON'S PHOTOGEAPHICS. 
 
 Fig. 84. 
 
 dry in a current of air, and where there is no dampness. You will now 
 have sensitized plates of excellent quality, ready to be used or packed 
 away. These plates, carefully packed, may be indefinitely kept, as well 
 as the emulsion, but, like the emulsion, they must be protected from damp- 
 ness and light. Remember, in all your manipulations, how very sensitive 
 
 The drying-box is illustrated in Figs. 84 and 85. A is an oblong box TJx 11 inches, and 
 30 inches high, inside measurement. B is a tin tube 4 inches in diameter, and a little 
 
 longer than the height of the box. a is another tin 
 tube, 2 inches in diameter, reaching from the diaphragm, 
 g, in the large tube, up through its top. The tubes d and 
 e, each IJ inches in diameter and 4 inches long, connect 
 the large tin tube with the box, the tube e entering the 
 box 1 inch below its top, and the tube d 1 inch above its 
 bottom. The shelves, 2, 2, are each fastened tightly in 
 the box, but are each only 10 inches wide, thus leaving a 
 space at their ends 1 inch wide between the doors of the 
 box, c. The large tin tube, B, is perforated with a row 
 of half-inch holes just above the diaphragm, g, to admit 
 air. The lamp, c, is placed in the bottom of the large tin 
 tube. The sides of the box, A, between the shelves, 2, 2, 
 are full of grooves, 1} inch deep, l\ inch wide, and \\ inch 
 ,0,/ apart, as shown in the sectional figure, 85. I use only 5x8 
 and 8 X 10 plates ; and when I begin putting plates in the 
 box, I slide the first plate into the first upper pair of 
 grooves, leaving it so that the door of the box will touch 
 it when it is closed. If the plates are 5x8,1 put two 
 plates into each pair of grooves, and if 8 x 10, only one. 
 The second plate I put in the second pair of grooves, 
 but slide it back against the back of the box. The third 
 I lean against the door, and the fourth against the back, -and so on until the box is full or 
 the batch is all in. The figures 1,1,1,1,1 show the position of the plates in the box. "When 
 the plates are all in, I close the door, c, which fits tightly, and 
 light the lamp in the bottom of the tin tube. I use a small night- 
 lamp, burning kerosene oil. The air for the lamp has to come 
 through the tube, d, and out of the box, A. The heat of the lamp 
 warms the tube, a, also warming the air in the space between the 
 two tubes, which rises and passes into the box. A, through the tube, 
 e, its place being supplied with cold air through the holes in the 
 large tube just above the diaphragm, g. A current of warm air 
 (as shown by the arrows in Fig. 84) is thus kept up over the plates, and they will dry very 
 quickly. The upper ones will dry first, and, as they dry, it is well to shove them in against 
 the back of the box, thus giving the warm air a better chance at the plates below. A batch 
 of plates, from four ounces of emulsion, put in in the evening will be nice and dry in the 
 morning. — Jay Dbnsmore. 
 
 It often happens, in very damp weather, that a gelatin negative refuses to dry for hours. 
 
 
 Fig. 85. 
 
 
 J 4- 
 
 
 4L 
 
 d-4- 
 
 
 4-p 
 
 3-*. 
 
 
 ^-5 
 
 C-4- 
 
 
 A.-h 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 3-4- 
 
 
 \ 
 
BEOMO-GELATIN EMULSION WORK. 
 
 273 
 
 gelatin is to dampness, how the least change in this respect will change 
 the nature and the action of gelatin in any form. And when it is sensi- 
 tized, the light coming upon it will spoil it instantly. Dry air and 
 freedom from light are positively essential to success. 
 
 To those who do not possess a 
 Fig. 
 
 and even when flooded with spirit takes a considerable time, 
 good drying cupboard, the following is offered as a 
 thoroughly efficient substitute, which any one can 
 make for himself with a little help from the black- 
 smith. The annexed wood-cut will almost explain 
 itself. The box may be of any form most convenient, 
 but the more shallow the better ; the one in actual use 
 stands on an ordinary work-bench, and the gas-burner 
 and iron cone, etc., on the floor, enclosed with a few 
 bricks piled up to keep in the heat and protect any 
 woodwork. The box measures thirty inches high J 
 thirty inches wide, and ten inches deep from back to 
 front ; the front is closed up at the lower part about 
 six inches, and a sliding door, running in grooves, 
 closes the upper part all but about half an inch at the 
 top, a balance weight over a pulley supporting it in 
 any position required. This is found a much better 
 way than having doors opening on hinges, for various 
 reasons. The current of warm air is conveyed in at 
 the bottom, through a three-inch circular opening, the 
 iron stove-pipe arrangement being screwed on under- 
 neath. Above the opening, at a little distance, is supported a thin shelf of wood about an 
 inch smaller all round than the inside of the box, which acts as a diffuser, and stops the cur- 
 rent of hot air from rushing up in one spot ; above this, at any convenient height, two bars 
 ire fixed to carry the feet of the drying-rack containing the plates. It will be found that 
 plates will dry without running, at a very considerably higher temperature than that at 
 which gelatin melts, if the heated air is kept in continual motion. — Albxandek Cowan. 
 
 I use the following substratum : Take the white of one egg to twenty ounces of water, to 
 which add an ounce of methylated spirit and about twenty drops of carbolic acid. It is 
 better to add the carbolic acid to the spirit and stir, and then add the whole to the albumen; 
 agitate well, allow to stand until next day, and filter clean. This will keep for months. I 
 find this a "perfect cure " for frilling ; the substratum adheres thoroughly to the glass, and 
 the gelatin adheres thoroughly to the substratum. No alum water is necessary while de- 
 veloping, nor any tampering with the emulsion. I have never lost a single plate from frill- 
 ing since I adopted this method, but dozens before. — J. A. Pobrbst. 
 
 Defects in plates. Spots may generally be discovered by passing the finger softly over the 
 surface. Local intensification may be given by applying a saturated solution of bichloride 
 of mercury with a brush to the parts requiring it, and local reduction may be obtained in 
 the same way, substituting potassium cyanide for mercury salt. White points or round 
 spots with a sharp outline, which, after fixing, have a glassy appearance, are caused by air- 
 bubbles adhering to the plate, and preventing the developer from penetrating.. These bub- 
 18 
 
274 WILSON'S PHOTOGRAPHICS. 
 
 330. ExposuKE. — The length of the exposure varies considerably accord- 
 ing to the sensitiveness of the emulsion ; generally, one or two seconds 
 are sufficient to take a well-lighted view. In the glass-house, where care 
 must be taken to avoid contrasts, and to throw the light uniformly upon 
 the subject, the exposure varies from three to six seconds. In thirty sec- 
 onds we may obtain a very good effect, even when the light is so weak 
 that it would be impossible to obtain a portrait with wet collodion. Make 
 use of a shutter, especially for outside work; as, with the rapidity pos- 
 sessed by gelatin, it is indispensable that the foreground should be exposed 
 a little longer than the distance. In twenty minutes it is possible to ob- 
 tain an interior lighted with gas; and the prints, by contact, may be 
 made by lamplight. 
 
 Concerning instantaneous work, for which gelatino-bromide seems to 
 have been invented, more further on. 
 
 Gelatin plates may be exposed just as well when reversed as in the ordi- 
 nary position, care being taken. when focussing to cdnsider the thickness 
 of the plate, or to use a plate-holder made on purpose to correct the 
 difference. 
 
 bles mSy be avoided by rinsing the plates with water before development, or by a gentle 
 movement of tbe pan during the same. They can also be removed by a camel's-hair brush 
 at the same time. Irregular lines and spots make their appearance when there is too little de- 
 veloping solution flowed over the plate, so that portions only are covered. In this case, also, 
 if the plate be previously moistened with water, a less quantity of developer will be re- 
 quired.— W. P. Bolton. 
 
 330 One of the great claims in favor of the gelatin-emulsion process was and is its great 
 rapidity. Every manufacturer of dry plates calls them "instantaneous," and undoubtedly 
 they are so, provided the lens, its aperture, the amount of light, the nature of the subject, 
 etc., allow of "instantaneity." Unfortunately, however, the cases which admit of instan- 
 taneous exposure (whatever the real signification of the expression may be) are very few, 
 and not often met with. It is not so very long ago, however, that a doubt on this subject 
 would have been considered heresy, and that the unfortunate proposer thereof would have 
 been condemned for his ignorance. Not a, few would have made us believe that the same 
 description of lens, which, with a given diaphragm, would give an instantaneous pic- 
 ture on a 4J by S^ plate, would perform the same feat on a 10 by 8 plate. Pour P. M. in 
 June, or in November, a sea view or a dark forest — every subject was to be taken instanta- 
 neous ; we could not work quick enough. I think experience has already shown the fallacy 
 of those statements, and nearly every number of the News contains some sort of warning on 
 this score. As I wish to endorse these warnings, I beg at the same time to give my brother- 
 amateurs the reason why. In order to obtain a perfect gelatin negative, I have observed 
 that the development must not take too much time. Pyrogallic acid — either used with am- 
 monia and a bromide, or with ferri-oyanide and ammonia — is apt to stain the i)late wherever 
 
BEOMO-GELATIN EMULSION WOEK. 275 
 
 331. Development. — And here is where genius is most needed. It is 
 important that the development should he made in a large and cool room. 
 If yours is not of this kind, take the precaution to place in cool water the 
 solutions which are to be used in developing and fixing the image, and 
 use for the washings water as cold as possible. On the question of de- 
 veloping the gelatino-bromized plates, the opinion of photographers is 
 equally divided — some will only use the iron developer, others, pyrogallic 
 acid. It is well to have ready both of these developers, as each one pos- 
 sesses its particular advantages. Iron is without doubt the most certain 
 and the easiest to use, but the operator who understands thoroughly the 
 
 the development has taken too long In consequence of too short exposure. And, moreover, 
 I have experienced that with the ferri-cyanide, under these circumstances, the plate almost 
 refuses to fix in the shadows, producing partly red or yellow fog. With the oxalate devel- 
 oper it appears that the development of under-exposed plates only proceeds to a certain 
 point, and then stops altogether. As I only work landscapes, as a rule 10 by 8, it is of course 
 necessary that the printing depth at the corners should be as good as in the centre, and this 
 object I find impossible to attain where the exposure has been too short After fixing, the 
 image, from a good negative in the middle of the plate, will merge into a fine positive at the 
 sides. Intensification with bichloride of mercury will not do much good in these cases, for 
 it seems as if this salt has a greater propensity to take hold of the well-developed parts of the 
 picture, affecting the remainder less ; and it should be well borne in mind that themercury 
 followed by ammonia strengthens, but does not develop. — H. L. T. Haakman. 
 
 331. But the time taken in development has a great effect towards or against success. Take 
 any gelatin plate, expose on any subject, each half equally, and then cut the plate. Develop 
 one-half in a given quantity of developer of the strength requisite to complete the develop- 
 ment quickly ; then develop the other half in the same quantity of water, but adding the 
 reagent little by little, taking some time to acquire the same strength of developer as was 
 used with the first half. You will find the slowly-developed plate will give a negative much 
 denser and more brilliant than the quickly-developed one. Prom this it results that for a 
 subject wanting in contrast, or a little over-exposed, it is safer to develop slowly; while a 
 highly-contrasted subject will be the better for a development short and sharp. In whatever 
 form you keep your stock solutions, have ever at hand strong solutions of ammonia, pyro- 
 gallic, and bromide. I use the same stock solutions — pyrogallic, glycerin, and alcohol; 
 ammonia, bromide, glycerin, and water — for every kind of gelatin plate. "When I get a 
 new make of emulsion, I never dream of making up my developer by the maker's formulae; 
 if I did so, the- facility of comparison would be lost. Stop development when there is no 
 longer any pure white to be seen on the face of the plate, and when the high-lights can be 
 seen at the back. This rule, however, does not hold good for every kind of subject: practice 
 in this matter is the best guide. Tou must have enough light to see clearly what is going on 
 on the plate, and, what is more, you must scrutinize carefully each change that takes place. 
 This can not be safely done with a light that does not affect the solar spectrum ; but it can be 
 done with plenty of light of the right kind. Suit your development to your subject — your 
 cartridge to your gun and your game. — Andrew Pkinqlb. 
 
276 WILSON'S PHOTOGEAPHICS. 
 
 manipulation of pyrogallic acid may decide to give it the preference, espe- 
 cially for landscapes, as his prints will have more delicacy and clearness. 
 332. These two developers are to be used in the following manner : 
 At the exact moment of developing pour into a black dish made of hard 
 rubber or pasteboard, for a half plate (13 x 18 centimetres) (five to seven 
 inches), 50 c.c. (one fluid ounce five fluid drachms) of the iron bath which 
 you use for the wet collodion, namely : 
 
 "Water, 100 parts. 
 
 Pure Sulphate of Iron, 6 " 
 
 Acetic Acid, ... 6 " 
 
 Alcohol, 5 '' 
 
 Add in the dish 55 c.c. (one fluid ounce seven fluid drachms) of the fol- 
 lowing solution, which does not change, and consequently can be pre- 
 pared beforehand : 
 
 Water,. 1000 parts. 
 
 Neutral Oxalate of Potash, 300 " 
 
 Bromide of Ammonium, 1 part. 
 
 [The neutral oxalate of potash solution may be also obtained by melting with the aid of 
 heat in a litre (one quart) of ordinary water, 200 grammes (6 ounces Troy 3 drachms) carbo- 
 nate of potash, and 157 grammes (5 ounces Troy) of oxalic acid. Absolute neutrality is not 
 necessary. The solution made and filtered, always add one gramme (15 grains) of bromide 
 of ammonium.] 
 
 I^ow plunge the plate into this mixture without waiting. K the plate 
 is long, it should pass through ordinary water. G-ently rock the dish; 
 
 332. I attribute the majority of failures in the gelatin process to over-exposure. The 
 pyro and ammonia is so rapid in its action, and if prolonged over a considerable time by 
 the addition of a little more ammonia, pyro or bromide, the film is liable to stain, which 
 lowers the brilliancy of the resulting print. Now, with the ferrous oxalate the case is dif- 
 ferent. Prolonged development has no efiect on the shadows, which remain bright if the 
 development extend over a very long period. It is always better to err on the side of over- 
 exposure, for by careful manipulation a good negative can be secured, while it is almost 
 impossible to get a satisfactory result from under-exposure. The plan I recommend is to 
 have a series of ordinary dipping-baths. No. 1 to contain one part of a saturated solution 
 of protosulphate of iron, mixed with three parts of saturated solution of oxalate of potash ; 
 No. 2, one part to six ; No. 3, one part to twelve ; and No. 4, one part to twelve, with three 
 grains of bromide of potassium to each ounce of solution. To commence: Put the exposed 
 plate in No. 3. If the development appears to be going on satisfactorily, it may be completed 
 in that solution ; should it appear too slowly put it in No. 2, and, if then not fast enough, into 
 No. 1, where it may remain until properly developed. If the exposure be correct, the time 
 ougfit not to exceed five minutes. If there be plenty of detail but a want of density, put it 
 into No. 4, and allow it to remain there until sufficiently dense. If it show up too rapidly 
 
BEOMO-GELATIN EMULSION WORK. 277 
 
 in thirty seconds the high-lights should show themselves, and in three 
 minutes the dicM should be developed. In all cases the action of the 
 developer should be allowed to continue until all the details are very ap- 
 parent, which it is easy to see by reflection, the image showing itself white 
 on a black ground; and until you have obtained the desired intensity, 
 which you will always recognize by transparency, provided the emulsion 
 is not thicker than it ought to be, do not fear to prolong the development 
 even beyond the point at which it appears to be sufficient, especially if 
 the coating of emulsion is thick. The same developer may be used to 
 develop two or three plates, but it should be renewed for a fourth ; now 
 wash with care, and place the plate in a ten per cent, hyposulphite bath, 
 in which it is allowed to remain double the time necessary for its com- 
 plete clearing or fixing. It is necessary to change the hyposulphite bath 
 as soon as it acquires a too decided yellow tint, as, if care be not taken, 
 this tint may show itself on the negative. It is for this reason that it is 
 better to have the hyposulphite bath in a porcelain dish, in which it is 
 easier to perceive any change of color. On taking the plate from the 
 
 when in No. 3 put it into No. 4, and finish in that bath, unless it appears to be coming out 
 too slowly, when wash the plate, and put it into Nos. 3, 2, or 1 to get the proper detail. 
 These solutions can be repeatedly used if decanted after use into bottles kept full to the coi-k; 
 or may be allowed to remain in the baths if covered with paraffine, benzoline, chloroform, 
 or ether. In that case the plate must be made wet before immersing in the developer. I 
 am presuming that over-exposure is the rule ; under-exposure requires a fifth bath, contain- 
 ing the old ferrous-oxalate developer, composed of an excess of oxalate of iron dissolved in 
 a hot saturated solution of oxalate of potash, or, failing a supply of oxalate of iron, dissolve 
 protosulphate of iron in a boiling saturated solution of oxalate of potash. These solutions 
 decompose more rapidly than the mixed saturated solutions, hence the necessity of covering 
 them as soon as mixed with paraffine. To sum up; The advantages are — cleanliness, de- 
 velopment in the light of an ordinary dark-room, leisure in watching the process of devel- 
 opment, no after-intensification, absence of stain, which facilitates printing, and brilliant 
 prints resembling ordinary wet-plate work. — E. York. 
 
 Try the iron development as given in our directions. It is so simple and easy to 
 manage that anybody of common sense can work it successfully, and does away with the 
 many bottles and continued measuring of the developing solutions, which take so much time 
 and attention with the alkaline development. The iron is more economical and works fully 
 as quick, and the negatives obtained thereby resemble very much the ordinary collodion 
 plate. Furthermore, there are no fumes of ammonia created in the dark-room, which are 
 so injurious to the silver bath. If a, negative developed by iron is treated with a cold 
 mixture of eight parts water and one part sulphuric acid after mixing and washing, it will 
 be much improved in clearness. Negatives developed by pyro have sometimes » yellow 
 color which makes them print slowly ; this can be readily removed by pouring on water 
 containing twelve drops of nitric acid per ounce. Our method is as follows: Oxalate: 
 
278 WILSON'S PHOTOGRAPHICS. 
 
 fixing-batli wash carefully, and instead of setting it aside to dry, as you 
 are in the habit of doing with a wet-collodion plate, place it to soak in a 
 bucket of ordinary water. When the day's work is done, remove the 
 plates from the tub, and in daylight examine them well, one after another. 
 If the exposure has been good, and the development well done, almost 
 all of them will be right, and you will have nothing further to do with 
 them. If some require strengthening, place them successively in the two 
 baths indicated by Dr. Monckhoven for this purpose, care being taken to 
 wash them carefully between each bath. The whiter the film becomes 
 in the first, the greater the strength acquired in the second. If the desired 
 result is not obtained in the first trial, you may without injury, after wash- 
 ing, repeat the operation. 
 
 Bath 1.— Water, 100 parts. 
 
 Bichloride of Mercury, 2 " 
 
 Bromide of Ammonium, 2 " 
 
 Bath 2.— Water, 100 parts. 
 
 Nitrate of Silver, . . 2 " 
 
 Pure Cyanide of Potassium, ..... 2 " 
 
 For the second bath of cj-anide of silver you maj- often use with ad- 
 Dissolve as much neutral oxalate of potassium in hot water as the water will take up (the 
 proportion is about one to four parts), and allow it to cool. Test with Hue litmus-paper; if 
 the color of the paper remains blue, add a little of a concentrated solution of oxalic acid in 
 water until the paper turns slightly red. Iron : Make a saturated solution of protosulphate 
 of iron in hot water. Let it cool, and stand until settled. Decant the clear solution, and to 
 each ounce add one drop of sulphuric acid. For the developer, mix of the two solutions 
 enough for one day's use, in the proportion of one part iron solution to four or five parts 
 oxalate. Add the iron to the oxalate, but never the reverse. The fresh developer is very 
 powerful, and apt to produce flat pictures, but after being used a few times, or by getting 
 old, will soon lose in strength, and develop slowly, with too much intensity. Therefore, the 
 best way to proceed is as follows: Have two bottles of different shapes, but of same size, one 
 for the new and one for the old developer, which bottles should be cleaned once every day. 
 After developing a plate, pour the solution from the developing-dish into the bottle for old 
 developer. Commence to develop the next plate with the old developer which you had 
 saved, moving the dish gently, and if the picture comes out too easily, it is a sign of over- 
 exposure. In this case add a little water to it; but if after a minute the picture does not 
 begin to appear, pour away a little of the solution, and add some from the fresh, which- will 
 bring out the picture clear and brilliant ; for very short exposure, throw out the old solution 
 entirely and finish with fresh. Wash, fix, and intensify, or reduce the same as described 
 before. — Cramer & Norden. 
 
 Many photographers have complained, and still do so, of the fogged and flat appearance 
 of a negative developed with ferrous oxalate, and certainly not without cause; but the 
 
BEOMO-GELATIN EMULSION WORK. 279 
 
 vantage (though with the utmost caution, for it is just here that many a 
 previously good result is totally spoiled) a solution of ammonia : 
 
 Water, . . 100 parts. 
 
 Ammonia, .... 15 " 
 
 There is still another very convenient strengthener, that of bichloride 
 of mercury. This being composed but of a single solution, it is easier 
 to follow its action than it is with the preceding one ; but it is open to tbe 
 objection of slightly fogging the plate, whilst the other makes it clearer. 
 This strengthener is composed, as you know, of the following three 
 solutions : 
 
 1.— Water 180 parts. 
 
 Bichloride of Mercury, 4 " 
 
 2.— Water, 60 " 
 
 Iodide of Potassium 6 " 
 
 3.— Water, 60 " 
 
 Hyposulphite of Soda, 8 " 
 
 If, instead of being strengthened, some of the plates should be weak- 
 ened, place them either in a weak bath of perchloride of iron, or in a 
 highly diluted solution of cyanide of potassium ; for example, one part for 
 two hundred and fifty parts of water, and stop the action of the bath at 
 the proper time. The plate finished, strengthened, or weakened, should 
 again be washed and allowed to remain five minutes in the following bath: 
 
 Water, 100 parts. 
 
 Ahim, . 10 ■' 
 
 Alcohol, ... 4 " 
 
 This last bath possesses several advantages ; in the first place, it purges 
 the print of the injurious salts that it might contain, gives it more lim- 
 
 remeijy is in their own hands. This effect I have invariahly found to be produced when the 
 oxalate of potash has proved to be alkaline instead of neutral. To remedy this there should 
 always be at hand a small bottle containing a saturated solution of oxalic acid, and when 
 the required quantitj' of potash oxalate has been dissolved in hot water, a drop of it should 
 be placed on a piece of red litmus-paper. If it turn the paper slightly blue, then a. few 
 drops of oxalic acid should be added, and the liquid stirred well. Test again with red 
 litmus-paper, and if it still turn the paper slightly blue, then add a few drops more of the 
 oxalic acid solution. If found on trial again that it is neutral by its neither affecting the 
 red nor blue litmus-paper, then the desired quantity of ferrous oxalate may be added, and the 
 solution made up complete by the addition of a few grains of bromide of ammonium. If 
 ferrous-oxalate developer be made from an alkaline sample of potass oxalate, the resulting 
 negative is always foggy and weak in appearance, no matter how good the gelatin plates 
 
280 
 
 WILSON'S PHOTOGRAPHICS. 
 
 pidity, renders it much more solid, and makes its preservation certain. 
 JSTow wash for the last time, and until the disappearance of any greasy 
 trace, and dry without the use of heat. This drying generally requires a 
 long time, but you can make it much shorter by dipping the plate in an 
 alcohol bath, and allowing it to dry spontaneously, which requires about 
 a quarter of an hour. 
 
 333. Pyrogallic Acid Developer. — Prepare the following solutions : 
 
 1.— Distilled Water, 500 parts. 
 
 Pyrogallic Acid, 
 2. — Ordinary Water, 
 
 Bromide of Ammoniam, 
 
 Ammonia, . 
 A. — Water, 
 
 Ammonia, 
 B.— Water, 
 
 3 " 
 
 500 " 
 
 6 " 
 
 10 " 
 
 10 " 
 
 10 •' 
 
 20 " 
 
 . Bromide of Ammonium, ....... 10 " 
 
 These last two solutions, A and B, being used only in very small quan- 
 
 may be; but if the same sample of potass oxalate be neutralized by the addition of oxalic 
 acid, the resulting negatives have all the printing density required, with beautiful and clear 
 shadows. Although the same sample of plates may be used, that with the alkaline potass 
 oxalate gives thin and foggy negatives. If every photographer who uses the ferrous-oxalate 
 developer would test his potass oxalate before using, he would then know the true power of 
 his developer, and have it more under control than in working by rule of thumb. — A. J. 
 Jakman. 
 
 The apparatus for preserving ferrous-oxalate developer consists of a pickle-bottle, in the 
 cork of which are inserted two tubes. One tube is bent for delivery of the solution into a 
 tray when required for use. The other is a thistle-headed fun- 
 nel through which to pour it back into the bottle. A layer of 
 paraffine protects it from the air. In using this bottle the mouth 
 is applied to the funnel, and air is blown through it to expel 
 the liquid through the delivery tube. — T. H. C. 
 
 333. Successful development depends upon— 1. Extraneous 
 circumstances, that is, accommodation, light, and mechanical 
 contrivances, on which points I have nothing here to say. 2. 
 Proportions of the reagents employed. 3. Length of time em- 
 ployed in the process. 4. Like success in everything else- 
 brains. Upon this last essential depends the success of the 
 entire operation. Now, in blindly following out the printed 
 instructions of a plate manufacturer, or the confidential direc- 
 tions of some friend at headquarters, who knows all the "big- 
 wigs," brains can play no part, so that nothing is left for our 
 brains but to comprehend the rationale and practice of Nos. 2 and 3. 
 Every one knows that "pyro gives density, ammonia detail, while bromide keeps the 
 
 Fig- 87. 
 
BROMO-GELATTN EMULSION WORK. 281 
 
 tity, are kept in bottles having a drop-tube. To develop, make a mixture 
 of equal parts of the first two solutions, No. 1 and No. 2. If the ex- 
 posure is good, this mixture is sufficient to completely develop the print. 
 
 shadows clean and checks over-hasty development; ".hut how many put their knowledge to 
 any use 7 Our friend, Mr. Phocus, has had a field-day. In his slides he has plates bearing 
 the "latent images" of a landscape or two with fine distances, a duke's country-seat, a 
 waterfall in deep shadow, and perhaps a happily-caught cloud effect. In his dark-room he 
 finds Mr. Collodion's printed instructions, thus : 
 
 Pyro, ,'2 grains. 
 
 Water, 1 ounce. 
 
 Ammonia liquid, fifty per cent, solution, . , ... 2 drops. 
 
 Bromide of Potassium, five per cent, solution, . . . , 2 " 
 
 or something of that kind, and straightway makes up enough of these solutions to develop 
 all his negatives. He is surprised to find his landscapes nearly clear glass, his mansion- 
 house almost a success (barring, perhaps, the foliage of a splendid and characteristic elm), 
 his waterfall as hard as if it were an icicle, and his cloud — nil! " Would he be surprised 
 to hear " that if for his landscape he had doubled his pyro and halved his ammonia, if for 
 his house and tree he had reduced his bromide, if for his waterfall he had halved his pyro, 
 doubled his ammonia, and modified his bromide, and if for his cloud he had halved the 
 whole lot, he would have got a negative uniform and probably fairly good ? The moral is 
 this : When you have a subject wanting in contrast — such subjects are rarely under-exposed 
 — use as much pyro as you like, only as much ammonia as will bring out all detail, and as 
 much bromide as will keep the shadows clear. When you have strong contrast, keep down 
 the pyro and with it the density, and do not counteract the ammonia with too much bromide. 
 When making cloud negatives for printing into landscapes, remember that you only want 
 the image clearly defined, any further density simply causing waste of time in the double 
 printing. Of course many will say, " Oh I I knew all that before." I say, "Then do it I " — 
 Andebw Pbingle. 
 
 I prefer to develop very slowly, as one has more control over results, and therefore adopt 
 the following method. Mj' alkaline developer is made of a solution of — 
 
 PyrogalHc, 3 grains. 
 
 Bromide of Ammonium, 30 " 
 
 Strong Ammonia, 1 drachm. 
 
 Water, 10 drachms. 
 
 These solutions being kept separate. The pyrogallic will keep a considerable time if a drop 
 of nitric acid be added, as recommended by Mr. W. Bedford. Now to develop. Before 
 placing the plate in the dish, rub round the edge a piece of white wax. This is a great pre- 
 ventive to frilling at the edges. Put in a measure, for (say) a cabinet size plate, one ounce 
 of pyrogallic, and add eight or ten drops of the bromide solution, and the same quantity of 
 the ammonia. Pour this over the plate (no previous wetting is necessary). Watch the re- 
 sult, and if the right exposure has been given, the image will come out very slowly; if 
 necessary to hasten the development, and to get the proper intensity, a few more drops 
 of ammonia and bromide may be added, or, if under-exposed, ammonia only. A useful 
 form of dropping-tube, and which I always use, is made by the following method. A piece 
 of quarter-inch-bore glass tube, four inches in length, is held over the fiame of a spirit-lamp, 
 
282 WILSON'S PHOTOORAPHIOS. 
 
 Although it is believed that the ferrous-oxalate developer will, erelong, 
 be the one most used for the bromo-gelatin plates, still the amount of 
 experience vs^ith pyro that has been published by the fraternity abroad, 
 leads to the feeling that it ought to be given a place here. Pyro will, 
 sometimes, place a power in your hands when its compeer may not be so 
 
 and one end sealed, except a small hole about the size of a pin. Over the other end a small 
 red rubber pipe must be placed, about three inches long. Place a cork in the end, and it is 
 ready for use, and may always remain in the solution ready to hand ; by pressing the rubber 
 tube it will take up sufficient liquid, which can be dropped in the exact quantity required 
 by pressing the tube between the finger and thumb. Sometimes I develop with iron, which 
 is conveniently used in the following way : A saturated solution of sulphate of iron, an 
 ditto of oxalate of potash, using four parts of the latter to one of the former ; when using the 
 iron I prefer to wet the plate before developing. — Wm. England. 
 Make two stock solutions, and label them No. 1 and No. 2 : 
 No. 1. — Pyrogallie Acid, 1 ounce. 
 
 Glycerin, , 1 " 
 
 Methylated Aloohol'j 6 ounces. 
 
 Mix the glycerin and spirit and add to the pyro. 
 
 No, 2. — Bromide of Potassium (or Ammonium), , 60 grains. 
 
 Liquor Ammonia, .880, ......... 1 ounce. 
 
 . ' Glycerin, 1 " 
 
 Water, . » . . 5 ounces. 
 
 The above stock solutions will keep any length of time. To make the developer, add one part 
 of No. 1 to fifteen parts of water, and label this bottle D (developer). In another bottle mix 
 one ounce of No. 2 with fifteen ounces of water, and label it A (accelerator). It will be found 
 convenient, to avoid mistakes in the imperfect light of the dark-room, to have these two bottles 
 of different shapes, Either of the above solutions will keep two or three days. "When required 
 for use, pour into a clean glass measure equal parts of D and A, adding the A last, just before 
 using. Place the dry, exposed plate face up in a shallow dish or tray, and pour the mixture 
 steadily over the plate, avoiding air-bubbles; should any adhere to the surface of the plate, 
 at once remove them with the finger or a camel's-hair brush kept for the purpose. Bock the 
 dish gently, taking care to keep the plate well covered with the solution. In a few seconds 
 the image will appear, and, if the exposure has been well timed, all the details will be out 
 and the development complete in about one minute, when the negative should be well washed 
 under the tap and placed at once in the fixing-bath. Do not hurry the development, but 
 allow the plate to remain in the solution, after all the details are visible, until the required' 
 density is obtained. With this developer used in the above proportions there is no danger 
 of fog, except from the action of light. If on the application of the mixed developer the 
 image flashes out and the details in the shadows appear too quickly, it will indicate that the 
 plate has been over-exposed; therefore at once throw off the mixed developer, and, without 
 stopping to wash the plate, flood it with D alone, when the development will be checked, 
 and will proceed more slowly, while the image gains in density. If too slowly, or the 
 negative appears to be getting too intense, add a very little of A. There will, however, 
 usually be sufficient of the latter left on the plate to complete the development with the simple 
 addition of a suflScient quantity of solution D. A very little experience will enable the 
 
BEOMO-GELATIN EMULSION "WOEK. 283 
 
 available. It will require the nicest and most thoughtful application and 
 handling, but it will reward you for your care. Mr. Carbutt has reduced 
 its manipulation to a very fine and easy system by his method, given in 
 the notes below, of mixing the ingredients as they are about to be used. 
 
 operator to produce a good printing negative from a plate which, if developed with the full 
 proportion of A, would have been utterly useless from over-exposure. (In very warm, 
 bright weather it will, perhaps, be found an advantage to use rather more D than A in the 
 mixed developer, giving just sufficient exposure to avoid hardness in the negative.) Under- 
 exposure can be corrected to a great extent by increasing the proportions of A in the mixed 
 developer, but the addition should be made at once before the development has proceeded 
 too far, or the effect will be to increase the density and cause too much contrast in the 
 negative. The proportions of the mixed developer can be varied at will by the operator, 
 according to the character of the results he wishes to produce. — B. J. Edwards. 
 
 Pyrogallic acid during the past year has obtained an evil report; and, as it is no longer 
 looked upon as indispensable, there seems some chance of its reputation drifting from bad to 
 worse. Now, it is conceded by nearly all experienced dry-plate workers that alkaline pyro- 
 gallic is the most elastic of our developers, and had it not lately acquired a character for 
 producing yellow-brown negatives and stained films, would still be generally preferred. 
 The cause of these troubles is mainly due to a forced and rapid development, produced by a 
 strong alkaline solution, subject to rapid oxidation, and insufficiently restrained. It is a far 
 better plan to build the image gradually, when both color and gradation will be improved 
 to a wonderful extent. In carrying out this method, » four-grained solution of the crys- 
 tallized neutral sulphite of soda will be found very useful. This is to be used for all opera- 
 tions up to the immersion of the plate in the alum bath before fixing. In hot weather it is 
 valuable also as a reducer of the temperature of water. As an absorber of oxygen it prevents 
 the oxidation of the pyro, and with the sulphate formed it is also a restrainer. The devel- 
 oper thus made is only slightly tinted after the development of a plate, and at the end of 
 many minutes. The sulphite does not seem, however, to have much power in preventing "red 
 and green fog." This effect, when it occurs, is to be found at the margins, and generally 
 in the less exposed parts. No doubt in rocking the dish these portions of the film are more 
 affected by the oxygen of the air, although it would seem that different samples of plates 
 vary much in their liability to this most annoying kind of stain, which may be contracted 
 even when this developer is only tinted by the oxidized pyrogallic. Dilute hydrochloric 
 acid does not seem to have a veryienergetic action upon the stains. Perchloride of iron acts 
 readily, but there are some objections to its use. It has also a tendency to deposit an insolu- 
 ble body, in appearance like the hydrate. A very good mixture for removing the color 
 from uniformly stained films— especially when the negative is too dense — will be found in a 
 saturated solution of alum, to every four ounces of which one drachm of hydrochloric acid 
 has been added. This removes the stain, changing the color of the image to a blacker tint, 
 and, when allowed to act for several minutes, reduces the density considerably. Indeed, it 
 might seem to be a better plan to run the risk of getting too much density during the de- 
 velopment, than, fearing this, have to resort to intensifying after fixing. This mixture is 
 not a new one, as at first I supposed it might be, for it had been employed to remove pyro 
 stain by others prior to its use occurring to me. As a reducer of the intensity of pyro-de- 
 veloped negatives, it may be new to many. — Hekbbrt B. Bbbkblby. 
 
284 
 
 WILSON'S PHOTOGRAPHICS. 
 
 All these " wrinkles and dodges " in practice come in particularly good 
 now as we are entering this new arena of practice, and if we would have 
 abundant success, we must be on the alert for every sign and signal which 
 comes from those who are more experienced than we, and who are so 
 
 I have become convinced that the method of adding the ammonia and bromide by degrees 
 to the pyro is better than adding a nearly or full dose at once, and recommend the returrj 
 yjQ 88 to the use of the droppihg-bottle where there is 
 
 any doubt of the right exposure. To insure the 
 right bottle being in its right place when wanted, 
 I have devised what I call a " developing cruet," 
 and which any one can construct for themselves. 
 I take four one-ounce wide-mouth bottles, such 
 as the iodides 'and bromides come In, fit them 
 with fine, smooth corks, long enough to enter 
 the neck half an inch, and project about the 
 same ; prepare the corks by immersing them in 
 melted paraffin for a few minutes, remove, and wipe off the excess; bore a hole through 
 them that will allow one of the straight glass dropping-tubes, with rubber nipple, to be 
 fitted to each, so as to reach within a quarter of an inch of the bottom, and your dropping- 
 bottles are complete. To insure against their being misplaced when wanted, I arrange 
 them on a base of wood 3 x 9 x J inches thick, with countersunk holes one-half inch apart to 
 receive them; cement them in their places either with melted shellac or pitch, or thick 
 varnish ; letter each bottle with any black color that will not wash off, with letters to 
 indicate their contents ; then screw down the base in a position to be within easy reach of 
 the developing trough. The cut will explain the " cruet " when finished. 
 P contains concentrated pyro solution. 
 
 Pyro, 1 ounce. 
 
 Glycerin, . . , , . 1 ** 
 
 Water, 3 ounces. 
 
 Alcohol, i " 
 
 Wood Naphtha, 1 ounce. 
 
 A B contains amfnonia and bromide. 
 
 Concentrated Ammonia, 1 ounce. 
 
 Bromide of Ammonium . 60 grains.' 
 
 Glycerin, 1 ounce. 
 
 B contains plain bromine. 
 
 Ammonium or Potassium Bromide, 120 grains. 
 
 Water, 2 ounces. 
 
 A contains plain ammonia. 
 
 Concentrated Ammonia, ........ 1 ounce. 
 
 Glycerin, ........... 1 " 
 
 The dropping-bottle need only be kept about half full for use, replenishing as occasion 
 requires. In a glass-stoppered bottle mix one ounce of P with twenty-one ounces of water 
 and label pyro developer, which will be about two grains to the ounce. To develop a plate, 
 
BEOMO-GELATIN EMULSION WOEK. 285 
 
 generous as to give us the benefit of their experience. Indeed, it is as re- 
 markable as it is commendable, to witness how very enthusiastically this 
 promising process has been worked out to successful results, with the full 
 determination on the part of the industrious ones to give all they know 
 freely to the fraternity. So may it ever be. 
 
 say one of 5x8 size, measure out three ounces of pyro developer, lay the plate in a shallow, 
 black tray, and pour over it the plain pyro; into the measure drop three drops of A B, 
 return the pyro to the measure and back over the plate ; if in fifteen or twenty seconds the 
 image appears, and that slowly, at once drop into the graduate three drops more of A B, 
 and mix the developer with it as before, and return to the plate ; if the plate has had the 
 right exposure it will continue to develop with an even pace, and when the shadows are 
 just grayed over, stop developing, rinse off with cold water, and, if temperature is high, 
 place in a saturated solution of alum for from one to two minutes, then rinse and place in a 
 fixing solution of hyposulphite of soda one part, and water six. When fixed, wash for 
 about the same time as for a collodion negative, and again place in the alum solution for 
 five minutes, to eliminate the hypo (I consider the credit is due Mr. John E. demons for 
 suggesting the use of alum in photography as an eliminator of hypo) ; again wash and dry 
 spontaneously. In case of a plate showing no indication of an image in half a minute, 
 then, instead of adding more of A B, add the same number of drops of A, and a further 
 addition if required, till five or six to each ounce of the developer has been added; if this 
 fails to bring out an image, a very rare case indeed, then the plate is under-exposed. Again, 
 over-exposure will be indicated if, on addition of one drop of A B to each ounce of developer, 
 the image starts pretty rapidly in eight to ten seconds, in which case to each ounce of developer 
 in the tray add five drops of P, and one to three drops of B, in one corner, and mix with 
 the developer. These are the check-reins, so to say, to hold in check the over-exposure and 
 permit a good negative to be obtained, that with a large dose of ammonia added at first 
 would have been very difficult to secure. The foregoing mode of development. is recom- 
 mended principally for out-door exposures. For portraiture, where the light is more under 
 control, two or three drops of A B may be added to each ounce of developer before flowing 
 over the plate; and for known short exposure, five drops of A B may be mixed with each 
 ounce of developer before flowing over the plate. — John Cakbutt. 
 
 I have just tried a modified developer for gelatin plates after a formula given to me 
 by Mr. E. Schlegel, and found it to work so well that I publish it here ; Mix one 
 ounce of the strongest liquid ammonia, one ounce of a solution of fifty grains of bromide of 
 potassium'in one ounce of water, and one ounce of eau d'e javelle (this is a compound of one 
 part each of chloride of lime and potash in five parts of water) ; add twenty grains of this 
 solution to a solution of one grain of pyrogallic acid in 400 grains of water. The mixture 
 develops a clear and intense negative, and a little over-exposure will not do so much harm 
 as with other developers. It is now well known that an exposed gelatin plate will give a 
 thinner negative if developed after some time than if developed at once. The latent image 
 will keep for a longer time if the plate be dipped (and kept) in water after exposing. In 
 some cases this may be found useful. — Dr. E. Liesbgang. 
 
 Should the negative not develop vigorously, the development is forced by increasing the 
 proportion of ammonia, or sometimes that of pyrogallic acid. Though promoting the ap- 
 pearance of the details, this often causes fogging, the negative remaining thin and weak. It 
 
286 WILSON'S PHOTOGKAPHICS 
 
 334. If the exposure has been too short, that is to say, if in thirty sec- 
 onds the high-lights do not yet appear, add drop by drop, and with the 
 greatest precaution a little of the solution A. If the exposure has been 
 too long, that is to say, if the high-lights appear suddenly and before the 
 thirty seconds, add without delay a few drops of the solution B. In order 
 that the addition of this solution B should produce the desired effect, it 
 is necessary that it should be done as soon as the excess of exposure is 
 discovered. In this case the development taking place with the greatest 
 rapidity, it is necessary, in order to save the print, to retard the develop- 
 ment from the start. If you wish to give more intensity to the negative, 
 add a few cubic centimeters (one cubic centimeter is equal to sixteen 
 minims) of the solution of pyrogallic acid JSTo. 1. ]S"ow finish as just ex- 
 plained after the iron development. Thus with pyrogallic acid it is pos- 
 sible, and this is of very great importance, to correct the excess or the 
 insufficiency of exposure. To reach the same result with iron, it is nec- 
 essary to operate in the following manner : If the exposure has lasted any 
 too long, as soon as you perceive it, add at once a few drops of bromide 
 
 may be remedied by increasing the quantity of potassium bromide in the same ratio as that 
 of ammonia, thus ultimately correcting defects due to errors of exposure or faults in the 
 emulsion. A milky veil is sometimes seen when tfie ferrous-oxalate developer is employed. 
 It is due to a precipitate of oxalate of lime formed by the oxalic acid of the developer coming 
 into contact with the lime of the hard spring water in which the plates have been washed. 
 With the pyrogallic developer this chalky precipitate does not occur, even when spring wa- 
 ter is used, for caustic ammonia only precipitates lime after a lapse of some time. It Is, 
 however, always preferable to use distilled water for the purpose of washing — or, at least, 
 rain water. As a remedy against solarization, avoid as much as possible too great contrasts 
 in the image to be produced ; place the camera so that no reflection of light can penetrate the 
 objective ; do not prolong the exposure more than necessarj- ; stop the development as soon as 
 possible, and blacken the interior of the dark slide and the back of the plate. — W. P. Bolton. 
 334. I name the ingredients of an intensifying solution which I have found exceedingly 
 useful in my hands. There is nothing new about it, save in the combination of the chemi- 
 cals, so far as I am aware ; but there is great latitude in their use, and by varying the pro- 
 portions wide diversity of effects may be produced. It is needless to give proportions. I 
 therefore leave the reader to experiment, and find them to suit himself — now more of this 
 and less of that — as circumstances may demand. Take bichloride of mercury, iodide of po- 
 tassium, and cyanide of potassium, and mix with intelligence. With these three old-fash- 
 ioned agents capital results may be got, and the solution may be used again and again till 
 exhausted. I reduce over-intensity with chloride of copper, cautiously followed by ammo- 
 nia ; but the less there is to reduce the better. It will be found that a surface deposit takes 
 place upon most negatives when intensified, but this is easily removed by a gentle rubbing 
 
 with the finger or a soft brush. This may be done also with advantage after all washings. 
 
 G. G. Mitchell. 
 
BROMO-GELATIN EMULSION WORK. 287 
 
 of ammonmm at ten per cent. If the exposure has been too short, add 
 to the developer, as soon as possible, the half or the whole of its volume 
 of ordinary water, then continue the development until all the details 
 have appeared. This large addition of water, which at first sight may 
 appear rather strange, does certainly retard the development in a slight 
 degree, but not as much as might be supposed before making the experi- 
 ment. However, it is absolutely necessary in order to prevent the hard- 
 ening of the lights and to preserve all the harmony of the negative. If 
 you wish, during the development, to increase the intensity of the nega- 
 tive, as you have done in the case of the pyrogallic acid, add to the de- 
 veloper some more of the iron bath with a little of the bromide of am- 
 monium. The same result is obtained, as has been said, by Mr. Kennett, 
 in making this addition to the hyposulphite bath ; but the trouble result- 
 ing from this in the fixing solution renders the first method preferable. 
 To end this very important question of development, please let it be said 
 that a concentrated solution of bisulphide of soda, which has remained 
 for fifteen minutes in granulated zinc, and to which has been added after 
 
 Since the adoption of the gelatin process in lieu of collodion, one of the troubles which, 
 when It occurred, has been the most difficult to cure, has been the occasional production of 
 too intense a negative. I have now to offer a remedy which I have found thoroughly effec- 
 tive, reducing in an even manner, and without destroying the half-tones, a negative which 
 had resisted even strong cyanide. The agent I employ is "Holmes' Ozone Bleach" — an 
 article sold for laundry and disinfectant purposes at eightpence per quart bottle. I use this 
 diluted with about four times its bulk of water in a dish ; greater or less strength may, of 
 course, be used as desired. If to bring down locally any particular part of the negative, a 
 little of the undiluted liquid may be poured on the plate already swilled with the weaker 
 solution ; but in this. case the tap must be handy to stop the action quickly when wanted. 
 The same solution (perhaps more diluted) may be used to discharge the last trace of hypo 
 from the plate for those who prefer to intensify with silver and pyro. — W. E. Debbnham. 
 
 The thorough elimination of hyposulphite of soda from gelatin negatives ought to be 
 done with a great deal more care than is generally the case, and many good negatives 
 are lost through inattention to this important point. The negatives, after having been 
 thoroughly rinsed under the tap, ought to be laid, face down, in a dish, or, what is better, a 
 zinc trough made with sloping sides, the bottom being narrower than the top. A small hole 
 near the bottom of one^ide will let out the water, which should be run in from a tap in a 
 constant stream for an hour or two upon the negatives. The outlet should, of course, be 
 less than the inflow in order to keep the trough full and covering the negatives. Having 
 been annoyed by the long time my gelatin negatives took to dry, I hit upon the following 
 plan by which they may be thoroughly dried in a few hours. It is simply to set the nega- 
 tives in sunshine, and with a good breeze it will be found that they dry thus both quickly 
 and well. Oare must, however, be taken to guard against rain falling on the half-dried 
 plates, which, if it occur, would completely spoil them. — John Jackson. 
 
288 WILSON'S PHOTOGEAPHICS. 
 
 filtration a small quantity of pyrogallic acid in crystals, forms an excel- 
 lent developer for gelatino-bromide plates. The use of granulated zinc 
 is not indispensable. 
 
 The beginner will doubtless find this developer very convenient, as it 
 dispenses with the use of ammonia, which is rather difficult to use; but 
 when he shall have acquired more experience, he will not hesitate, in order 
 to increase the intensity and correct the exposure, to have recourse to the 
 two drop-bottles of ammonia and bromide already recommended for the 
 alkaline development. Beer, used in the proportions of one-fourth or one- 
 half, in the developer produces results rather remarkable and analogous 
 to those of the bromide ; it gives brilliancy and intensity to the negative, 
 but retards slightly the development. The sucrate of lime, recommended 
 by Mr. Davanne, added in small quantity either to the iron or to the pyro- 
 gallic acid, gives nearly the same results as the bromide and the beer, but 
 appears to have over these two substances the advantage of not retarding 
 the development. When used, it is necessary to filter the developer after 
 it has been added to it. 
 
 335. Retouching and Varnishing. — Ordinarily, the plate, well treated 
 as I have just indicated, and especially when placed in the ten per cent, 
 alum solution, may be readily retouched without using gum. If, however, 
 the pencil should not take on certain portions, they should be lightly 
 rubbed with a small tuft very slightly moistened with the liquid used for 
 retouching varnish. The negative, well retouched, entirely finished, and 
 perfectly dry, is varnished in the usual manner after slightly heating. 
 
 336. Printing the Positive. — The gelatin negative being more opaque 
 
 335. Next to good gelatin plates is a, good varnish to protect them from the weather. 
 Dam]i is known to spoil them quickly, and a varnish that has the following qualities is a 
 good one ; First, that it shall perfectly protect the gelatin film from damp ; secondly, that it 
 will not become tacky and stick to the printing paper in the hottest sun ; and, lastly, that it 
 can be removed without danger to the film, if it be required to strengthen a negative that 
 is considered to be too weak after varnishing. The formula I give below will do all these. 
 
 Take methylated spirit thirty ounces, place it in a stone bottle and add one ounce of shel- 
 lac ; then place the bottle in hot water for fifteen minutes, and well shake. Next add gum- 
 sandarac two and a half ounces, well powdered, and gum-benzoin two ounces. Shake well at 
 difl"erent times for a few minutes, and let stand a day. Then filter, and it will be found to make 
 a varnish that will flow well and possess the qualities I have described. Gborqe Willis. 
 
 336. Print farther or darker than wet plates, and do not tone so far as prints from wet plates. 
 My printing-bath is as follows : Silver, sixty grains to one ounce of water ; to this add 
 nitrate of ammonia until the solution indicates eighty grains ; make the bath slightly acid in 
 cold weather ; float from one and a half to two minutes ; fume forty minutes. 
 
BEOMO-GELATIN EMULSION WORK. 289 
 
 than tte collodion negative, in order to judge finally the degree of inten- 
 sity necessary to give it to obtain a go,od positive print, it is indispensable 
 to make some previous trials on paper. A good gelatin negative, like one 
 made with collodion, should be brilliant, rich in details, full of relief, very 
 strong, but at the same time the lights should be transparent. The gelatin 
 process lends itself marvellously to obtaining a negative which certainly 
 could not be produced with the same qualities by the wet-collodion 
 process. Tor printing the negative, it is necessary to use the customary 
 precautions and means to retard or increase the action of light on those 
 portions of the negative that might require them. 
 
 337. Although the instructions so far given are rather lengthy, it may 
 be necessary to render them still more complete by adding the following 
 remarks, the importance of which will certainly not escape those who 
 have already practised this new process. For gelatin work, we may, in 
 fact it is even necessary, use more light than is generally done. It is 
 essential, to make good work, to see very clearly what is being done. The 
 fog which sometimes occurs, does not arise, as much as it is supposed, from 
 
 My toning-bath consists of acetate of soda, one hundred and twenty grains ; nitrate of 
 uranium, fifteen grains; water, sixteen ounces; neutralize gold one grain to an. ounce of 
 water; also neutralize the uranium. 
 
 It has been stated that dry plates would not stand the heated term of the summer season. 
 I can certify that they will stand the heat, as I have tested the same to my entire satisfac- 
 tion, having exposed them with the thermometer at 104° in the shade, and they developed 
 perfectly clear, and where a wet plate would dry and fog from the heat. — C. ¥. Moelke, 
 
 337. Fogging invariably makes its appearance when the emulsion is prepared with an ex- 
 cess of silver nitrate. Many kinds of gelatin are liable to give fog when they have an alka- 
 line reaction. Fogging is also caused by continuous digesting at too high a temperature, 
 by the addition of too much ammonia, or by too long or too great heating with the same 
 substance. It may be cured by adding bromide of potassium or a few drops of the tincture 
 of iodine. Emulsions which are inclined to fog are best cured by being washed first with 
 a dilute solution of bichromate and then with water. Due attention must be paid to the 
 mixing of the ingredients in the required proportions, and at the proper temperature. By 
 the addition often per cent, of alcohol, the bromide of silver is brought to a pale condition. 
 In employing bromide of potassium it must be chemically pure; by using it in excess of the 
 silver, a much more sensitive emulsion ensues. As to the quantity of gelatin in the more 
 fluid emulsions, the bromide of silver is granulous and green, and, unless care be taken, 
 likely to separate out, while with a larger amount of gelatin it is finer and paler. With re- 
 gard to the quality of gelatins, those of Nelson's are the purest, although not so firm as 
 others — Swinburne's, and those of French and German manufacture, for instance. Imper- 
 fect washing often gives hard, impure negatives, while thorough, and, continuous washing 
 greatly improves the emulsion. — Dr. D. Von. Monckhov.en. 
 19 
 
290 WILSON'S PHOTOGKAPHICS. 
 
 an excess of light in the dark-room. The important point is that this 
 light should be of a particular nature. It should be of a decided red, or 
 ruby color. To avoid fog, the attention of the photographer should be 
 directed especially to the choice of a good emulsion, to the careful exami- 
 nation of his chemicals, to his camera, and principally to his holders, into 
 which the least trace of light should not penetrate. It is well understood 
 that this applies also to the dark-room. A large black cover over the 
 tube of the objective, the camera, and the frame, is also indispensable, 
 especially for outside work. The operator should not forget, also, when 
 developing, to measure the quantity of bromide by the sensitiveness of 
 the emulsion and the time of the exposure. 
 
 338. IS'elson's gelatin N"o. 1 appears to be the best for making the emul- 
 sion, but in summer especially it is well to add to it a firmer gelatin 
 which sets more readily ; several French gelatins possess this quality. 
 The addition of fish-glue presents also certain advantages ; it gives more 
 permeability to the film, more sharpness, and a more agreeable color to 
 the negative. To obtain a good emulsion easy to follow by transparency 
 during development, the coating should not be too t^ick, and the weight 
 of the gelatin should be the three-fourths of that of the bromide of silver. 
 For easy manipulation, the best proportion to observe between the bro- 
 mide and the silver is that of two to three. 
 
 339. In the manufacture of the emulsion, sufficient importance is not 
 given to the kind of bromide used. All bromides do not give the same 
 
 339. A few hints : Should there he any signs of frilling at any stage of developing or fix- 
 ing, which will rarely or never be the case with these plates, flood the plate with a saturated 
 solution of alum, wash well, and proceed. Trays for developing may be made of ordinarv 
 back-board, nailed with small finish nails, and covered inside and out with a, composition 
 made by melting together equal parts of yellow beeswax and common rosin. Trays and 
 measures should be rinsed out after developing,each plate. Care must be taken to wash the 
 plate very free from the hypo, and for this purpose it is well to immerse the plate for a few 
 minutes in a saturated solution of alum, after the washing, which will decompose any hypo 
 remaining. The following is a better mode of intensifying : Flow the plate with a twenty- 
 grain solution of bichloride of mercury till the Intensity appears right ; wash well and flow 
 with ammonia, about one part to ten of water. Repeat, if necessary, with thorough wash- 
 ing. A yellow or brown discoloration of the film under the mercury indicates the presence 
 of hypo. Alum has been much used in working gelatin plates, but hitherto simply to 
 harden the film and prevent frilling. But recently it has been found that alum removed the 
 traces of hypo which appear to escape the usual washing. It is therefore well to immerse 
 the plate in a saturated solution of alum, after fixing and washing well. The British Jour- 
 nal advocates intensifying with silver and pyro after the use of the alum ; but it is best not 
 
BEOMO-GELATIN EMULSION WORK. 291 
 
 eiFects. The most rapid and the best seems to be that of ammonium ; 
 but used alone, it has sometimes a tendency to produce gray prints. Bro- 
 mide of zinc has precisely the opposite qualities. Bromide of lithium 
 gives a certain adherence to the film, and the bromide composed of potas- 
 sium, cadmium, and zinc, used by Mr. Chardon in the collodion emul- 
 sion, gives to the gelatin negative, specially when developed with pyro- 
 gallic acid, a very rich tone ; strengthened by bichloride of mercury and 
 cyanide of silver, it produces results of remarkable beauty. 
 
 340. Transparencies for lantern use, collodion transfers, and other en- 
 larging processes, are rapidly and easily made by the bromo-gelatin pro- 
 
 to be too sanguine of silver intensification even after alum, as the mercury and ammonia 
 method is simple, and gives permanent results, and there is at least a liability of the silver 
 combining with the gelatin and bringing about a gradual discoloration. — C. P. Richardson. 
 Be very careful as to any actinic light in your dark-room, and use a ruby-colored lantern 
 or lamp (the top well covered with a dark tinned cone), if necessary. Before putting away 
 the negative to dry, place the plate in a dish of water, film down, one end raised, and alloyr 
 to soak for half an hour, and, lastly, rub with a tuft of cotton to remove any sand or sediment 
 that may have remained on the film. Should you desire to dry the plate quickly, soak in 
 alcohol from ten to fifteen minutes, and set aside to dry. Heat may be employed in varnishing 
 the negative, which must be perfectly dry. Make a proof-print before varnishing, to see 
 that the negative is of proper strength. Keep your hands free from hypo while developing, 
 or fog will be the result. If your negatives have too much contrast, weaken the developer 
 by adding water. Over-exposure is preferable to under-exposure, and we invariably 
 recommend a second sitting where the latter has occurred. Keep your solutions cool, as 
 heat, while the plate is moist, will dissolve the film. The strengthening, reducing, fixing, 
 and alum solutions can be repeatedly used, but require changing when they become too much 
 discolored. — F. W. Gtterin. 
 
 340. For a dense gelatin emulsion suitable for printing transparencies, the following formula 
 has given me better results than any I have yet tried, and I give it in the hope that it may be 
 useful to others who are engaged in this class of work. Formula for three ounces of emulsion : 
 
 Bromide of Potassium, . H grains. 
 
 Iodide of Potassium, 1 grain. 
 
 Nitrate of Silver, 60 grains. 
 
 Nelson's No. 1 GeUtin 70 " 
 
 Dilute Nitric Acid, 5 drops. 
 
 Beer, 1 draolim. 
 
 Strong Ammonia, 15 drops. 
 
 The beer in the above formula is composed of four ounces of ordinary bitter beer with two 
 ounces of alcohol added to make it keep, and the dilute nitric acid by adding one drachm 
 of strong nitric acid to one ounce of distilled water. To make the emulsion, place the 
 bromide and iodide in a beaker of suitable size, and then add one drachm of beer, three 
 drachms of water, and ten grains of gelatin. Now weigh sixty grains of gelatin and 
 completely immerse it in any vessel of cold water ; let it remain for two or three minutes (not 
 longer, or it would absorb too much water), and then turn it out ou to a hair sieve to drain. 
 
292 WILSON'S PHOTOGRAPHICS. 
 
 cess. The film being so delicately soft and structureless makes them par- 
 ticularly beautiful and desirable. The preparation of the emulsion for 
 such work must be attended with unusual care as to material and temper- 
 ature. But if good results are desirable, then all the care they need to 
 produce them is reasonable. 
 
 By the time this has heen done the gelatin and bromide in the beaker will be ready to dissolve. 
 To effect this .take a tin saucepan or can of about the capacity of one quart; fill it two-thirds 
 full with water, and in this place the beaker, which must have something put for it to rest 
 upon jn order that it may not sink too deeply in the water. Now place the saucepan over a 
 Bunsen burner, or even on an ordinary fire, and raise the temperature of the water to 140° 
 F. Whilst this is being done weigh out the silver, dissolve it in half an ounce of distilled 
 water, and add five drops of diluted nitric acid. When the water in the saucepan has 
 reached the required temperature remove it from the gas, and then add the silver solution 
 to the bromized gelatin. This can be best effected by one of the well-known spray producers, 
 and as this is a little contrivance that any one may easily make for himself, the operator will 
 do well to provide himself with one. Should, however, one of these be not at hand, a 
 dropping-tube will do nearly as well. In either case the silver must be added a little at a 
 time with constant stirring, and for stirring, a flat slip of glass from half to three-quarters 
 of an inch broad will be found better than a round rod. When all the silver has been 
 added the pan must be again put over the gas and the water brought to boiling-point. This 
 will take about five minutes, and during this time the emulsion must be pretty constantly 
 stirred. As soon as the water boils, the gas may be put out and the pan removed. Now add 
 the remaining sixty grains of gelatin, stir for half a minute, and then drop in, with constant 
 stirring, fifteen drops of strong ammonia. After this the emulsion must be immediately 
 poured into a six- or eight-ounce bottle and be thoroughly shaken. Now pour cold water 
 very carefully into the pan until the thermometer registers 140°. It is a matter of the 
 greatest importance that the temperature be nicely regulated at this point, because if higher 
 than that stated fog is pretty sure to be the result, and if much lower the emlilsion will 
 probably be very slow. The bottle of emulsion must then be returned to the warm water 
 and set aside for an hour or longer to cool gradually. If the bottle be enclosed in a canister 
 with a perforated bottom, it will be found a great convenience, as light may then be admitted 
 into the operating-room without any fear of its injuring the emulsion. At the expiration 
 of an hour or an hour and a half the temperature will have sunk to 80°. If it bave not 
 done so a little cold water may be poured into the pan until the thermometer registers that 
 degree, or even a little lower. The emulsion must be left for ten minutes longer, and then 
 it will be re»dy for the next operation, viz., the removal of the soluble salts. This may be 
 most conveniently effected by precipitating it In alcohol. To succeed in this operation, three 
 points should be particularly attended to: 1. The emulsion must be tolerably concentrated- 
 that is to say, no more water than necessary should have been used in its composition. 2. 
 The temperature must be low. 3. The alcohol must not be used too sparingly. The tempera- 
 ture, then, having sunk suflSciently low, put five ounces of methylated alcohol into a glass 
 beaker, and into this pour the emulsion in a thin, continuous stream, stirring at the same 
 time with a round glass rod. Wh.en all has been poured in stir a few moments longer, 
 pressing the rod against the sides and bottom of the beaker, and the emulsion will then be 
 found to have collfeeted as a compact mass round the end of the stirring-rod, from which it 
 
BEOMO-GELATIKT EMULSION WOEK. 293 
 
 341. It will be seen that in all the preceding instructions in this lesson, 
 the utmost diligence must be exercised in securing the entire absence 
 of white-light during the preparation of the plates and their manipula- 
 tion. Light may be admitted in any quantity, but it must be of a quality 
 of color that is harmless. This may be arranged by pasting ruby-colored 
 
 may be detached in the following manner: Grasp the rod just above the emulsion with the 
 thumb and forefinger of the left hand, and with the right hand twist the rod round, at the 
 same time pulling upwards. The emulsion will thus be readily forced off the rod. Now 
 takeilt (the emulsion) between the fingers and thumbs of both hands, press out of it as much 
 alcohol as possible, rinse it with a little fresh alcohol, and the operation will now be completed. 
 In case it is desired to keep the consolidated emulsion fur any length of time, it should be 
 put at once into a bottle in order that it may keep moist, because after it has once been 
 allowed to become quite dry there seems to be considerable difficulty in redissolving it. 
 When required for use, with a clean pair of scissors cut up the cake of emulsion into thin 
 slices, letting these fall as they are cut into a beaker filled with cold water, in which they 
 must be allowed to remain an hour (or longer if convenient), after which pour off the water, 
 fill up with fresh, let stand for a short time, and then drain off this also. Now place the 
 beaker in water heated to about 130°. Let it stand in this for ten minutes, then add as much 
 water as may be required to make up the quantity to three ounces, stir well, filter, and the 
 emulsion will be ready to coat the plates. It is quite essential that plates prepared with 
 emulsion made as above directed should be developed with ferrous oxalate, as they are very 
 subject to green fog when the alkaline developer is used. As regards exposure, I find that at 
 two feet from an ordinary No. 3 gas-burner the time required is about three seconds. Though 
 I consider these plates better adapted to printing than to anything else, still they will be found 
 by no means bad for any purpose where great speed is not required, and where the oxalate 
 development is admissible. — H. Houlqrave. 
 
 341. After a series of experiments I came to the conclusion that, if two non-actinic media 
 were placed in close contact, there would be a less perfect light filtration (if I may so term 
 it) than if the planes or intercepting surfaces of (say) the glass or paper were separated by a 
 small intervening space. It seems to act almost like a "double filtration," the actinic rays 
 being neutralized far more effectually than if the same media were placed in immediate 
 contact. Another simple wrinkle which no one should miss is '-to grind one side of your 
 ruby or orange glass." This softens or mellows the light and prevents any direct flare from 
 the flame reaching the plate. When developing, I have found this a sure cure for light fog, 
 when caused by the lantern. If you want to improve the illumination, after grinding the 
 surface of the glass rub over the ground side a little grease. A little emery or pumice pow- 
 der rubbed on the glass will soon obtain a ground or mat surface. My next hint on lanterns 
 will, I think, be rather novel in character. It is nothing more nor less than, instead of 
 using glass or paper for the non-actinic medium, to adopt a " colored " liquid to pass the light 
 through. This has the following advantages : You can weaken or strengthen it to any 
 depth of tint ; also, any thickness or volume of colored medium can be used to meet the re- 
 quirements of your sensitive plates. Non-actinic glass cannot be met with except of a thin 
 kind, but by my method you can have density from one-eighth of an inch upwards. With 
 this power available, the chance of fogged plates from unsuitable "light" vanishes. This 
 principle can be easily applied to any form of lantern, as the cell containing the colored 
 
294 
 
 WILSON'S PHOTOGRAPHICS. 
 
 Fig. 
 
 paper over the glass of the dark-room, or by the use of a lamp or lantern 
 protected properly by ruby-colored glass or paper. 
 
 342. A few words as to the apparatus needed for this interesting pro- 
 cess for work outside, and then it 
 must be left to grow, and grow as it 
 hurely will, into public favor. In the 
 1 jesson B, the caraera^box is described , 
 o that here allusion need only be 
 aade to the double holders and the 
 hanging-box, either of which may 
 1 e used to suit the inclinations of the 
 perator. Of the latter first. The 
 nnexed diagram represents what is 
 known as " the old-fashioned dry- 
 plate changing-box." It is often used instead of the double holders. The 
 
 liquid is simply adapted for the lantern in the form of a slide, grooves being prcivided to re- 
 ceive the slide ; and this answers also in place of a hinged door. I find the illumination of 
 two sides of the lantern sufficient, and this I place angle-wise in front of me when at work. 
 A small hinged hood of tin will be found useful for protecting the eyes and keeping the 
 light on its work. This is, of course, fastened to the top of the slide, and when in use acts 
 like a sloping awning over the illuminated surface of glass, and ought to be fixed to all lan- 
 terns, as it effectually prevents any upward rays of light. To make the slide, get two pieces 
 of clear glass of equal size, and about one and a half inches larger than the lighting surface of 
 your proposed lantern. Get some strips of glass or wood, about three-eighths of an inch wide, 
 and of any thickness you may require your fluid chamber. I use three-eighths of an inch. 
 Now take the strips of glass and cement them round three sides of one sheet and along the 
 fourth side | also cement a strip, but leaving an opening of half or three quarters of an inch. 
 When all is set firm, with a brush lay cement over the strips so fastened, and then press the 
 remaining sheet of glass on the top of the same. This completes *a glass box, as it were a 
 hole being left at one corner edge between the sheets of glass for pour- 
 ing in the liquid. When all is again set, work a little marine glue round 
 the edges, and then bed the whole in a rebated wooden frame, still leav- 
 ing the corner hole. This forms your glass screen complete. If the 
 lantern grooves are made wide enough to receive two screens, you can 
 fill one with orange and the other with ruby solution, and can use them 
 either separately or together, or neither. When non-actinic light is not 
 required, simply drop the slide into the lamp grooves in the same manner 
 as when inserting the slide in the back of the camera.— W. Clement 
 Williams. 
 
 Pig. 90 is a sketch of a lantern for the dark-room, a, lamp ; b, ruby 
 globe ; c, white common chimney ; d, tin chimney ; a, plaster of Paris 
 joint f b, annular space for draught ; c, tin collar to support globe. There seems to be a 
 
 Fig. 90. 
 
BEOMO-GELATIN EMULSION WORK. 
 
 295 
 
 plates are put in a grooved box necessarily heavy, supplied with an auto- 
 matic slide which opens as the holder is drawn through a slot in the box. 
 Then the box is turned upside down, and the 
 plate falling into the holder is there made fast, 
 ready for exposure. Upon the holder being 
 withdrawn, the slot is closed, and the plates re- 
 maining in the changing-box are protected from 
 light. Sometimes such a method is a bother- 
 some one. Should the plate be a trifle large, it 
 will not come out from the box, or enter the 
 holder, and then has to be passed over, no mat- 
 ter how much shaking and display of temper 
 is given in the effort to make it work right. 
 The second figure represents the changing-box 
 as arranged when about to receive or discharge 
 a plate. The brass registering plate at the side 
 is numbered so that account can always be made 
 of the plate which hag been exposed. 
 
 343. The double dark-slide, patented by the American Optical Com- 
 pany, seems very superior to the changing-box, being lighter, surer, and 
 enabling one to duplicate negatives quickly in case the circumstances are 
 favorable, without having to run to the changing-box, drop one plate and 
 receive another, thus wasting the time when the light is in its most charm- 
 ing condition. The double holder is described in the Photographic Times 
 as follows : 
 
 "As in the original slide, the plates are inserted by means of a groove 
 — in this instance in the bottom. Instead, however, of both plates being 
 placed back to back with a piece of springy paper between them, and 
 then inserted in the wide central aperture fitted to receive, them, there is 
 a separate groove for each plate with an extra groove between them. 
 
 general want of a proper lamp to develop dry plates by, and the above plan is simple, safe, and 
 any tinsmith can make it. All that is required is the ruby globe ; those used by railroad 
 companies, if deep color, are j ust the thing. If we could be supplied with such a lamp, or a better 
 one, by the dealers, I think it would greatly aid dry-plate workers. — George Eastman. 
 
 Table tob the SiMPiiircATioN of Emulsion Calculations. — With a view of sim- 
 plifying the calculations involved in emulsion making, Mr. William Ackland has worked 
 out a useful table which will enable even those most ignorant of chemical philosophy 
 to calculate with ease and rapidity the proper quantities of silver or haloid salts in any 
 formula. Even those who are able to perform the calculations in the recognized style, will 
 
296 
 
 WILSON'S PHOTOGRAPHICS. 
 
 When the end is opened ready for the reception of the plates it looks for 
 all the world like a plate-box containing accommodation for only three 
 plates. The two outer grooves disclosed to view are, of course, for the 
 
 find their labors materially lightened by means of this table, which should be kept in a 
 convenient place for reference in every laboratory. 
 
 
 
 »" 
 
 
 . >-fi 
 
 «i o o 
 
 
 
 1 
 1 
 
 Weight of AgNO 
 
 required to conve 
 
 one grain of solu 
 
 Die haloid. 
 
 Weight of solubl 
 
 haloid required t 
 
 convert one graii 
 
 AgNOs 
 
 Weight of silve? 
 
 haloid produced h 
 
 one grain oisolub 
 
 haloid. 
 
 Weight of solubl 
 
 haloid required t 
 
 produce one grain 
 
 silver haloid. 
 
 Weight of silver 
 
 haloid producec 
 
 from one grain 
 
 AgNOs 
 
 Ammonium Bromide, . . . 
 
 98 
 
 1.734 
 
 .576 
 
 1.918 
 
 .521 
 
 1 
 
 Potassium •' 
 
 . . 
 
 119.1 
 
 1.427 
 
 .700 
 
 1.578 
 
 .633 
 
 
 Sodium " 
 
 
 103 
 
 1.650 
 
 .606 
 
 1.825 
 
 .548 
 
 ■ 1.106 
 
 Cadmium " 
 
 com. 
 
 344* 
 
 .988 
 
 1.012 
 
 1.093 
 
 .915 
 
 It (( 
 
 anh. 
 
 272* 
 
 1.25 
 
 .800 
 
 1.382 
 
 .723 
 
 
 Zinc " 
 
 
 225.2* 
 
 1.509 
 
 .663 
 
 1.670 
 
 .600 
 
 
 Ammonium Chloride, 
 
 
 
 53.5 
 
 3.177 
 
 .315 
 
 2.682 
 
 .373 
 
 1 .844 
 
 Sodium " 
 
 
 
 58.5 
 
 2.906 
 
 .344 
 
 2.453 
 
 .408 
 
 Ammonium Iodide, 
 
 
 
 145 
 
 1.172 
 
 .853 
 
 1.620 
 
 .617 
 
 
 Potassium " 
 
 
 
 166.1 
 
 1.023 
 
 .977 
 
 1.415 
 
 .707 
 
 1.382 
 
 Sodium " 
 
 
 
 150 
 
 1.133 
 
 .882 
 
 1.566 
 
 .638 
 
 Cadmium " 
 
 
 
 366* 
 
 .929 
 
 1.076 
 
 1.284 
 
 .778 
 
 - 
 
 * Thesesalts combine with two equivalents of silver nitrate, so that practically the re.il equivalent is one-half that given. 
 
 The principal bromides, chlorides, and iodides which are likely to be used in emulsions 
 of either gelatin or collodion have been included in this table. This table presents to 
 the reader, without any mystification which may be involved in equivalents, the actual 
 weights of haloid or silver, as the case may be, required to convert or combine with one grain 
 of the other. In order to test the utility of this table, let us suppose that it is desired to make, 
 say, ten ounces of emulsion by a new formula, which, for the sake of showing the working 
 of the table, we will write down as follows : 
 
 Bromide of Potassiuin, . . ,150 grains. 
 
 Iodide of Potassium, 10 " 
 
 Chloride of Ammonium, . 10 " 
 
 Gelatin, 200 " 
 
 Now we want to know how much silver nitrate should be employed in sensitizing this 
 mixture. For this purpose we use the first column, in which we find against each haloid the 
 exact quantity of silver nitrate required to fully decompose one grain. Taking, then, the 
 figures we find in column No. 1 against the three salts in the above formula, and multiply- 
 ing them by the number of grains of each used, we have the following sum : 
 
 Potassium Bromide, . . . . 160 x 1.427 = 214 -i Weight of 
 
 . 10X1.023= 10.23 I silvernitrate 
 
 Potassium Iodide, 
 Chloride of Ammonium, 
 
 10x3.177= 31.77 J required. 
 
 or the total quantity of nitrate of silver required for full conversion, 256.00 grains. 
 
 "W. P. BOLTOlf. 
 
BKOMO-GELATIN EMULSION WORK. 
 
 297 
 
 Fig. 92. 
 
 reception of the plates, which are inserted face out. In the central groove 
 is inserted a slab of blackened wood, on each side of which is a thin brass 
 spring, which, pressing against the backs of the plates, keeps 
 them firm against the face of their respective grooves, the wooden 
 partition itself effectually preventing the transmission of light 
 from one side to the other. This partition is finished off" with a 
 thick solid piece of wood nearly the width p^^ ^3 
 
 and thickness of the whole slide, the fit- 
 ting of it being such as to cause it to block 
 up in a perfectly light-tight manner the 
 aperture through which the plates were 
 admitted. In short, by the insertion of 
 this central partition, the plates are rigidly 
 Jm held in their places and rendered abso- 
 j lY lutely secure from the admission of even the faintest trace of light. 
 It contains five grooves, the two outer ones being for the sliding 
 shutters, which may be formed of zinc, ebonite, or, as in the American 
 one, a hard-pressed varnished sheet of card, or, rather, a very highly-cal- 
 endered Manila board. These outer grooves 
 are very thin, being only sufficient to permit 
 the shutter to slide easily. The three others 
 are respectively for the two plates and the 
 central partition already described. When 
 exposing, the shutter is pulled entirely out 
 and is quite detached from the slide, there 
 being a " cut-off" automatically thrown into 
 action by which the aperture through which the shutter was withdrawn 
 is instantaneously closed against the light. The above engravings will 
 render still plainer, if possible, the verbal description just given. The 
 grooves for both the sensitive plates and the central partition are shown 
 at (b c b) in the end view (a), Fig. 92, of the holder. In the central groove 
 (c) is inserted the partition (d), Fig. 93, with its side springs. This parti- 
 tion is so arranged that not a particle of light reaches the plate after it has 
 been pushed into position. In Fig. 94 is shown the holder (f) with shutters 
 (i i) partly drawn, and showing the end (g) in which the plates and divis- 
 ional partition are inserted. The above engravings represent the dark 
 slide to be much thicker than it is in reality." 
 
 Fig. 94. 
 
LESSON V. 
 * 
 vogel's collodion emulsion. 
 
 344. With all its advantages, the bromo-gelatin process is not entirely 
 all that is wanted to take the place of the "wet" or bath method of work- 
 ing, and the inventive portion of the craft is still on the search for some- 
 thing better. This, Dr. H. "W. Vogel, the well-known German scientist, 
 claims to have found, and provides an emulsion which photographers can 
 use for coating their plates, and expose it "wet" or "dry," but always 
 discarding the use of the bath. His process of manufacturing the emul- 
 sion is patented, and consists in forming a homogeneous mixture con- 
 
 344. Prbliminarv Pkbparatiojst of the Plates. — The glass plates require a coating in 
 order to make the emulsion adhere qi.iite fast, and for this purpose a solution of caoutchouc 
 or chrome gelatin is used. A. Coating with Caoutchouc. — Pour twenty-five grammes chlo- 
 roform over one gramme soft, brown caoutchouc; let the whole stand quiet two or three 
 days, stirring it occasionally, and dilute the solution with eight times its volume of light 
 benzine, and filter through cotton. The solution keeps for months. With it the cleaned 
 and dusted plates are coated the same as with collodion ; the coating dries in five minutes. 
 The drainings must not be poured back into the original bottle, but caught in a separate 
 bottle, to be diluted afterwards with one-eighth benzine and filtered, before ready again for 
 use. B. Coating with Chrome Gelatin. — Dissolve one gramme of gelatin in 300 grammes 
 of warm water, filter, and after washing add six cubic centimeters of a filtered solution of 
 chrome alum, 1 : 50. The solution keeps from four to six days. The plates are acidulated, 
 washed very thoroughly under rubbing, and then placed in a cup with distilled filtered wa- 
 ter. They are then taken out one by one, a portion of the solution of gelatin is poured on 
 and allowed to flow over the whole surface, when the excess is drained olf. (These drainings 
 are not used again.) The first affusion drives off the water, and after the same has drained 
 off another coating is poured on, and the plates are placed in a vertical position for draining 
 and drying. In not too cold temperature, they will be dry inside of an hour. In winter, 
 the gelatinizing is done in a warm place, as cold plates do not take the gelatin easily. 
 
 The Pouring on oi' the Emulsion.— Place the bottle containing the emulsion in warm 
 water of about 40° K., until the emulsion, which sometimes congeals in the cold, becomes 
 thoroughly liquid, and then pour it on like collodion. The substance flows and evaporates 
 somewhat slower than collodion, so that no fears of drying need be entertained in pouring 
 on. The plate may be balanced in the hand, so as to help to produce an equal coating. 
 
 While the excess is drained off, rock the plate, but slower than with collodion. When 
 the last drop gathered on the corner begins to congeal, place the plate in a vertical position 
 ( 298 ) ^ 
 
VOGEL'S COLLODION EMULSION. 299 
 
 taining bromide of silver, or its equivalent, with pyroxyline, which 
 consists in first producing the gelatin emulsion in the usual way and 
 drying the same, then dissolving it in an organic acid and mixing the 
 solution with pyroxylin also dissolved in an organic acid. Thus it will 
 be seen we have a collodion emulsion, so to speak, which must be diffi- 
 cult to prepare. But, since it is in the market and destined to become a 
 
 to drj'. The drainings are caught in separate bottles. The preparation takes place in the 
 dark-room, with red light. For draining-bottles, collodion bottles covered with brown pa- 
 per are recommended. The beginner may meet, perhaps, some difficulties at first, but after 
 one or two experiments he will become quite an expert. In winter, a well-warmed room is 
 indispensable. 
 
 The Exposure. — For exposure, light-proof cameras and boxes are required, also protec- 
 tion of the objective from lateral side-light. Time of exposure about one-third of the time 
 necessary for wet iodine-collodion plates. Exposed wet, the emulsion plates are a trifle less 
 sensitive than when exposed dry. 
 
 Detelopinq. — For this. stage of the manipulation, the simple alkaline pyrogallic developer 
 is best adapted, but it is necessary to modify the same according to the temperature and 
 character of the plate. For a carie-de-maite plate, 5x8 inches, take 
 
 Solution of Bromide of Potassium, 1:10, . . . . . li to 2 c. c. 
 . Solution of Pyrogallic Acid in Alcohol, 1 : 10, . . . 2 " 
 
 Water, ....... . . 100 " 
 
 Add five or six drops of ammonia, pour the mixture in a cup, and place the plate in it, with 
 subdued light. If the plate has been exposed wet, it must be previously placed in a cup of 
 water from three to five minutes, and rinsed somewhat, then it is placed in the above-men- 
 tioned developer, which may contain one or two drops more of ammonia than stated above. 
 With a dry plate, an equal flowing over of the developer is of importance, in order to avoid 
 streaks. If the plates incline to form fog, which occurs oftener in high than in low tem- 
 perature, the addition of bromide of potassium is Increased ; the same in case of over- 
 exposure. When stronger intensity is desired, take double the quantitity of pyrogallic acid, 
 as stated above, and nine or ten drops of ammonia. The picture develops gradually, and its 
 inteqsity increases more and more. An addition of one drop of ammonia more helps the 
 development. The ferrous-oxalate developer of Dr. Eder can be used when eight drops 
 of bromide of potassium (1 : 10) to one hundred cubic centimeters developer are added, but 
 it is liable to work hard. Also the prussiate of potash developer 
 
 Yellow Prussiate of Potash Solution, 1:4,. . , . . 50 c. c. 
 
 Water, 50 " 
 
 Pyrogallic Alcohol, 1:10, 5 " 
 
 Ammonia, 12 drops, 
 
 can be used, but in most cases the pure pyrogallic acid developer is preferable. 
 
 The Fixing takes place just as rapidly as the fixing of a collodion plate. The plate is 
 put in a solution of hyposulphite of soda, 1:5. In a few minutes it is fixed. Minute yellow 
 dots, which may, perhaps, remain in it, are nothing but bromide of silver left, which is 
 easily dissolved in continued fixing. After fixing, the film is washed (not longer than a 
 
300 WILSON'S PHOTOGKAPHIOS. 
 
 popular candidate for favor, full directions are given below for its use. 
 Tlie advantages claimed by the inventor are its keeping qualities, and 
 the ease with which it can be worked. The plates are coated just as 
 collodion plates are, and may be intensified, fixed, washed, and dried 
 with no more labor. Hence, any photographer may prepare his own 
 plates economically, if the directions in the notes are faithfully adhered 
 to. They are given as received from Dr. Vogel. 
 
 collodion plate). It adheres to the plate tetter than the gelatin. emulsion. Treatment with 
 alum is unnecessary. 
 
 Intbnsipting is necessary only in exceptional cases. The following mixture is used for it : 
 
 Solution of Iodide of Potassium, 1:10, 5 c. c. 
 
 Solution of Bichloride of Meroury, 1:60,.. . 5 " 
 
 Water, 10 " 
 
 This solution is poured upon the fixed and carefully washed plate until the surface of the 
 same shows a distinct greenish-gray color. Afterwards rinse carefully with water. Other 
 intensifiers, even the silver intensifler, may be used with these plates, but the iodide of 
 mercury intensifler is the best; care has to be taken not to let it act too long. The action 
 continues even during the washing. Less rapid, but surer, works Edwards' intensifler, as 
 follows : 
 
 a Chloride of Mercury, 1 : 50. 
 
 6 Iodide of Potassium, 1 : 10. 
 
 c Fixing Soda, 1 : 8. 
 
 And twenty cubic centimeters a are mixed with six and u. half cubic centimeters b, and six 
 and a half cubic centimeters c. This intensifler can be used also upon the imperfectly 
 washed fixed plate without danger. 
 
 Dryino and Yabnishinq. — The plates dry spontaneously in a few minutes ; the varnish- 
 ing is the same as with a collodion plate. A previous coating with gum and similar 
 substances is only to be used when the glass plates have not been coated with caoutchouc, but 
 are gelatinized. 
 
 The Ee-employment ow the Draininqs. — The emulsion drained from the plate can be 
 used again after having been filtered. Dilute with one-tenth of its volume of a mixture of 
 
 three-fourths alcohol with one-fourth acetic acid, and filter warm, either through shirting 
 
 which has previously been boiled several times in water, in order to get rid of the starch, 
 and dried again— or through a funnel, in tbe neck of which clean cotton is placed. The 
 latter is rammed tight with a glass rod, which is left sticking in the funnel. Then moisten 
 with the above-mentioned alcohol and acetic acid mixture, and pour on the drainings. By 
 pressure with the glass rod, the filtering can be regulated. 
 
 Cautionary Kules.— Water precipitates the emulsion, therefore care must be taken to 
 avoid letting drops of water get on the plate which is to be prepared. The vessels for meas- 
 uring and keeping the emulsion must be perfectly dry. Upon old caoutchouc coatings the 
 emulsion does not adhere as tightly as upon fresh ones. The gelatin coating, however, can 
 be used after months, if it is protected against dust. The rough margins of the plate have 
 to be cleaned thoroughly. 
 
LESS0]«5" W. 
 
 ENLARGEMENTS AND LANTERN SLIDES. 
 
 345. Solar-camera printing is used only as a means of making enlarged 
 pictures and is not adapted for small work, owing to the coarseness of 
 the results and the slowness of their production. The negative to be 
 used for this purpose should not be eo dense as one intended for contact 
 printing, and in manipulating it all harsh, hard shadows should be 
 remedied. A thin, even-flowing collodion should be used, plenty of ex- 
 posure given, and rather slow, weak development practised. The negative 
 should not be varnished. There are two forms of solar camera used — 
 one' known as the "reflecting" and the other as the " direct printing." 
 They are composed of an objective, a condenser, and a dark-chamber, in 
 
 345. Negatives well adapted to solar enlargements should be full of detail in the shadows, 
 but thin ; and should, as seen by transmitted light, be full of detail in the high-lights, and 
 not opaque, but semi-transparent. Time them the same as for contact negatives. Most 
 photographers fail in producing a good solar negative by using their developer too strong, 
 causing a coarse deposit on the high-lights. The proper strength of developer is from twenty 
 to thirty grains to the ounce, with the addition of a little alcohol. Always fix the negatives 
 for solar purposes in a weak solution of cyanide of potassium. It is preferable to hyposul- 
 phite of soda. Many do not observe proper care in sizing the figure on the plate, giving 
 much trouble to the printer. Always make a standing figure small, so as to allow plenty of 
 background; more than for a card or cabinet. For bust or vignette heads, make the heads 
 never less than one and a quarter inches in length. A smaller size can be printed, but not 
 always with such good results. As very few varnish negatives without showing lines and 
 spots, it is best to leave solar negatives unvarnished. — W. L. Shoemaker. 
 
 A receipt for retouching solar negatives, I give you as follows : Make a varnish of 
 
 Alcohol, 16 ounces. 
 
 Gum Sandarac, . . 3 " 
 
 Camphor, i ounce. 
 
 Oil of Cinnamon, a few drops. 
 
 Varnish the negative on both sides. Then grind by drawing the ball of the finger rapidly 
 over the surface of the negative, from one end to the other, on the negative side, grinding 
 the entire surface. Then grind the back crosswise in the same manner, being careful to 
 move the finger in straight lines, as grinding in circles would spoil it. Then retouch the 
 negative in the usual manner, and you have one that will print better than any contact 
 
 (801) 
 
302 WILSON'S PHOTOGRAPHICS. 
 
 which a vertical frame, or screen, stands for the reception of the sensi- 
 tized sheet upon which the image is to be printed. A holder for the 
 negative, reversed vertically, is also provided in front of the sheet. The 
 screen upon which the paper is fastened must be perpendicular to the 
 axis of the lens and facing the middle or centre of the lens. Careful, fine 
 retouching of the negative is not hurtful. 
 
 346. The next matter is to prepare the surface upon which the print is 
 to be made. Albumenized and plain paper are used the most largely, but 
 oftentimes canvas and wood are also employed. Whatever the sub- 
 stance may be, it must be sensitized and made ready by a method similar 
 to that already given in the Lessons M and Is". Canvas is to be used 
 when the picture is to be painted in oil, and wood for engraving. The 
 same guarded care as to dirt and light in the wrong place must be 
 practised, and constant vigilance as to the time of exposure and after 
 manipulations. 
 
 print of the same size. If the varnish should grind too coarse use less camphor, or more 
 camphor if too fine. — H. D. Wbbstek. 
 
 To soften hard negatives for enlargement, first remove the iodide from the negative with 
 hyposulphite of soda, wash, and then using a vessel with a large opening, place in it a small 
 quantity of a solution of cyanide of potassium at four per cent., of ordinary water, which 
 pour upon the negative at several intervals until it is brought to the desired tone. Now 
 wash, dry, and varnish it. The cyanide is poured again into the stock-bottle, to be used 
 until exhausted. Por negatives that are already weak, the strength of the solution of 
 cyanide may be reduced to from three to two per cent. By this process, whilst preserving 
 all the delicacy of the modelling, one succeeds in obtaining transparencies, by which the 
 negative gains considerably in harmony and softness. Tou may thus prepare for enlarge- 
 ment negatives of the desired transparency, and, if needs be, upon a plate bearing two 
 negatives, choose the sharper one, which you can treat especially for enlargement, whilst 
 you may leave the other for printing ordinary positives. — M. Darricau. 
 
 346. The brightest and most vigorous prints are obtained on the ordinary albumenized 
 paper ; and consequently, when the season is favorable and the sky unclouded, preference 
 will be given to this paper for solar printing, when the prints are not to be retouched or 
 colored. But, during the winter season, and the early spring and late autumn months, 
 when the sun's power has diminished In vigor, and is frequently obscured by clouds, it Is not 
 advisable to attempt printing on albumen paper, because the exposure will be too long to be 
 convenient, and may frequently have to be Interrupted, during which time the paper may 
 have changed its dimensions, and no longer lies flat. In such a case as this another mode 
 of printing has to be pursued. The paper is sensitized the usual way, but on a strong silver 
 solution for two or three minutes, that is, until it lies perfectly even on the solution, and the 
 corners have settled down. The object in this Is to get the paper sufficiently saturated with 
 moisture ; and the reason for using a strong silver solution is to coagulate the albumen 
 and not dissolve it oS from the paper, which a weak solution would do. — Prop. J. Towlbr. 
 
BNLAKGBMENTS AN^D LANTERN SLIDES. 303 
 
 347. There are two methods of making solar prints. The first is 
 known as the " ordinary" process, which consists in salting and sensitiz- 
 ing the sheet, putting it in the camera, and then washing, toning, fixing, 
 and treating it generally as ordinary prints are treated, full details con- 
 cerning which are given in Lessons M and IS". Albumen paper or plain 
 paper may be used in this way. 
 
 348. In some localities the photographer is blessed with very little sun- 
 
 347. A salting solution for cartoon paper may be made as follows: 
 
 Boiled Milk, 1 pint. 
 
 Glacial Acetic Acid, 10 drops. 
 
 4 Albumen from two large eggs. 
 Bromide of Potassium, ...... . . 80 grains. 
 
 Iodide of Potassium, 160 " 
 
 Mix thoroughly, and filter. The albumen should be well cut before adding it to the milk. 
 Float or swab the paper with the salting for two minutes. The sensitizing solution is, viz. . 
 
 Water, 1 ounce. 
 
 Nitrate of Silver, . 4-0 grains. 
 
 Swab this on evenly for two minutes. Develop with 
 
 Water,** 8 ounces. 
 
 Pjrogallic Acid, 2 heaping teaspoonfuls. 
 
 Glacial Acetic Acid, 1 ounce. 
 
 Bromide of Potassium, .4 grains. 
 
 Fix with 
 
 Water, 10 ounces. 
 
 Hyposulphite of Soda, 4 " 
 
 Gborqe "W. Wallace. 
 To prepare canvas for solar printing, get a piece of prepared canvas, such as painters gener- 
 ally use I rub the little knots of paint down with fine emery and alcohol ; then rub with 
 alcohol until the paint is almost off. The rubbing must be done in circles, commencing in 
 the centre of the canvas. Care must be taken not to rub too much, thereby showing the bare 
 canvas. After rubbing, wash the canvas well with water. Mix kaolin with alcohol, to a 
 paste ; lay a good, even coating of the mixture on the canvas, and let it dry hard, so that 
 when the stretcher is shaken the kaolin falls off in scales ; now wash well with water, and 
 salt with any of the usual salting solutions. After the picture is printed, toned, and fixed, 
 give the canvas a coat of megilp. It is now ready for the painter. Some use gelatin for the 
 last coating, but megilp takes the paint much better, and is in no danger of peeling off. — 
 Lbon Vidal. 
 
 348. Printing by development in the solar camera is practised in all cases by some solar 
 printers, but I do not think as good results are obtained in that way as by the other process. 
 There are times, however, when the negative is so very intense that one can hardly spare a 
 whole daj', especially in winter, to make a print from it. In such cases we have to do the 
 next best thing, and resort to printing by development. The operation is the same in prin- 
 ciple to that of producing collodion pictures by the means of a developer, or, more properly, 
 a reducer, and the same ingredients, pretty much, are to be used in its practice. I prefer to 
 
304 WILSON'S PHOTOGRAPHICS. 
 
 shine of the quality needed for solar printing. He must then have resort 
 to the " development " process, which consists in printing the image but 
 partially, and then developing it to the full strength by after manipula^ 
 
 salt my own paper, and use only a chloride, without the addition of either a bromide, iodide, 
 or nitrate of uranium, as some use. For a salting solution use 
 
 Chloride of Sodium, 100 grains. 
 
 Hydroohlorio Acid, . 6 drops. 
 
 Distilled Water .12 ounees. 
 
 Immerse two to three minutes and dry. Sensitize with 
 
 Nitrate of Silver 1 ounce. 
 
 Citric Acid, 8 grains. 
 
 Distilled Water, . . 8 ounces. 
 
 Float about three minutes and hang up to dry. Blot ofi" all the superfluous fluid from the 
 corners and lower edge. The paper maybe used before it is decidedly dry, if you wish, and 
 should be exposed until a faint image appears. In direct sunlight I expose from three to 
 four seconds ; on a cloudy day, or in dlflTused light, about a minute must be given. 
 
 For the development provide a large porcelain dish, larger than your sheet of paper, and 
 a sheet of clean glass, somewhat smaller than the print. Withdraw the print from the cam- 
 era, being careful to keep It from the light, and lay it upon the glass face up. Fold down 
 the paper at each side, beneath the glass, and place paper and glass together on the left side 
 of your dish. Now take of the following developer — 
 
 Water, ........... 6 ounces. 
 
 Pyrogallic Acid, . . . . . . . 12 grains. 
 
 Citric Acid, . 6 " 
 
 enough to cover the paper. Incline the dish downwards, to the right, and pour in the solu- 
 tion ; then, raising the right side, cause the fluid to flow over the whole surface of the print, 
 taking care to have it flow evenly. Lest markings and lines occur, let no stoppage take place. 
 The development begins at once and proceeds as rapidly as in the case of a negative, and too 
 much care cannot be given it. When the print appears sufliciently vigorous, stop the de- 
 velopment, pour off the solution, and wash thoroughly. Fix until the whites are perfectly 
 clear, which will sometimes take ten minutes and sometimes thirty. After fixing, the prints 
 must be very thoroughly washed. They may be toned in the ordinary toning-bath. Tone 
 in rather « weak solution, otherwise the strength of the prints will be reduced. Like in 
 everything else, practice is needed to make one perfect. — Young Chlobidk. 
 This formula Jp prepare paper is among the oldest published ; 
 
 Skimmed Milk, .4 gallon. 
 
 Acetic Acid, No. 8, 3 ounces. 
 
 Stir, and put it in a porcelain dish ; bring to a boil, stirring all the time ; strain out the curd 
 through muslin (make Dutch cheese of this) ; take the serum, when cold, filter until clear. 
 Now add 
 
 Iodide of Potassium, . . . . . . 16 grains. 
 
 Bromide of Potassium, 4 " 
 
 to each ounce of the clear serum. Float your plain paper on this until it lays smooth • see 
 that no bubbles or spots rest on the paper ; dry with moderate heat ; prepare the paper'in a 
 
ENLARGEMENTS AND LANTERN SLIDES. 
 
 305 
 
 tions. Some parties prefer the results obtained in this way. As a rule, 
 they are not so soft and delicate, and they should be made on stronger 
 paper, because of the handling they must undergo, and because they must 
 be passed through various solutions and washings. This method has a 
 great advantage when the sunshine is scarce, on account of the very short ex- 
 posure required by it. When the prints are to be worked up by the brush 
 or pencil, they answer quite as well as those made by the other method. 
 
 room free from dust or actinic light, and if kept in a cool, dry atmosphere, it will keep in 
 good working order a long time. To use, float two minutes on a solution of 
 
 Silver, 640 grains. 
 
 Water, 16 ounces. 
 
 Acetic Acid, 2 " 
 
 Draw the sheet off the silver solution over a glass rod. Having previously focussed your 
 picture, place your paper, while damp, in position, and let on the light; print according to 
 the density of the negative. A very hard negative requires printing until the detail is well 
 out, and developed with a very weak developer ; on the contrary, a very thin negative need 
 not show any detail, and must have a stronger developer, which is prepared as follows : 
 
 Pyrogallio Acid, 90 grains. 
 
 Water 32 ounces. 
 
 Acetic Acid, . . 2J " 
 
 Citric Acid (saturated solution), 10 drops. 
 
 This is for medium, or good for printing contact negatives. This class of negatives is what 
 is required for making enlargements by development. For hard negatives, use less pyro ; 
 for weak, such as regular solar negatives, use more pyro. The old rule was to swab on both 
 the iodizers and the silver ; but in that way you are pretty sure to get streaks and stains in 
 about half or more of the prints you try. In developing, lay the paper, face up, on a clean 
 board, on which a clean piece of white bibulous paper is laid. Have the developer in a 
 wide-mouth bottle. Commence at one end, and apply enough with one sweep of the hand 
 to completely cover the print ; now watch it grow. If stains or fog occur, either you have 
 overtimed, or allowed actinic light to get at the print, especially so if the picture pops out 
 quick and then blackens all over. If it comes up slowly and stains from this cause, add more 
 citric acid. As soon as developed, plunge it into clean water, and from that to the hypo, for 
 clearing, of usual strength ; then wash as usual. Thick paper needs longer and stronger 
 cleaning than thin. If the print comes up too flat in developing, add a little acid silver solu- 
 tion to the pyro. — A. Heslkb. 
 
 My method of enlarging common card nega- 
 tives is as follows: I made a box seven feet 
 long, fitting my 10 x 12 shield and ground-glass 
 the same as on my camera. By placing two 
 movable slides inside of the box, marked A and 
 B, fastened to rods d, d, slide a is fitted so as to 
 hold quarter or half size plates. By a movable 
 
 frame fastened on slide A, slide B is to hold a quarter- or half-size lens. The slide B is also 
 fastened to rod d, running under the box in a groove so as to exclude all light; is to hold 
 20 
 
 Fig. 96. 
 
306 WILSON'S PHOTOGEAPHICS. 
 
 349. Up to within a twain of years, the usual results produced by means 
 of the solar camera would not bear comparison Avith those from contact 
 negatives, and to render them at all tolerable they must be retouched or 
 worked in color in some way. This was due to the fact that every defect 
 in the tiny negative must be greatly enlarged, and of course made so much 
 more obtrusive in the print. This gave rise to several methods of pre- 
 paring the negatives so that these blemishes would be almost entirely 
 
 overcome. A great deal of money has been paid to obtain the " secret" 
 
 # 
 
 ground-glass and shield. By placing the negative in slide A, and moving the rods D, D, you 
 can get any size transparency, by which you can make fine negatives of any size, or as many 
 negatives from the transparency as you wish. This is a cheap way of making enlargements, 
 and will well serve those who cannot afford a solar camera for such small work. — Nbal P. 
 Harrington. 
 
 349. My solutions for reducing the negative are, viz. : 
 
 No. 1. — Bichloride of Mercury, 3 grains. 
 
 Rain Water, 1 ounce. 
 
 No. 2 — Iodide of Fotassium, 3 grains. 
 
 Kain "Water, 1 ounce. 
 
 To reduce, flow the negative with No. 1 and wash under the tap. Plow the negative with 
 No. 2 and wash under the tap. Fix in cyanide and wash under the tap. If not suflBciently 
 reduced, repeat above until satisfactory. — F. C. Phillips. 
 For the retouching preparation use 
 
 French Sheet Gelatin, 1 ounce. 
 
 Rain Water, 18 ounces. 
 
 Acetic Acid,- . i ounce. 
 
 Filter through a fine sponge in a warm place. "While the negative is wet, flow with the 
 retouching preparation, only in sufficient quantity to dry with a gloss, holding level over 
 lamp or stove until thoroughly dried. Grind with sifted pumice-stone or tripoli all parts 
 where retouching is needed. If too much tooth, rub with Canton flannel and retouch (stipple) 
 as finely as possible. Touch in the lights in the drapery where needed with a soft lead-pencil. 
 Touch the laces with Florence white. Breathe heavily over the retouching to fasten it. If 
 the negative is warped, find a glass to match with it perfectly. Warm the cover glass and 
 pour on a sufficient quantity of balsam of fir (hardened by heat) to flow between and around 
 the edges, leaving a bead of the balsam of flr all around the edges of the negative. Eub 
 the negative surface, excepting the retouched portion, with a small tuft of cotton and a drop 
 of sweet oil, removing all surplus oil with clean cotton. After the glasses are together and 
 the edges are completely covered with balsam, bind the edges with heavy sticking-paper, 
 rubbing down closely over the edges, to exclude the air and prevent the balsam from coming 
 out while printing. The glass must fit closely together to prevent coming apart while under 
 the heat of condenser. Never use a negative smaller than cabinet size for a full sheet print. 
 Use a half-size portrait tube for the objective. — L. W. B. 
 
 Instead of the usual varnish, flow with a solution of gelatin, one part to six of water (or 
 nearly that proportion), holding the plate level over a strong but diffused heat until the 
 
ENLARGEMENTS AND LANTERN SLIDES. 307 
 
 of these processes, and patents have been obtained for modifications of 
 them, but it is believed that what follows is good and free to all. If the 
 negative is too dense for solar printing, it may be reduced, then retouched, 
 and finally prepared for the camera. When so prepared and printed, the 
 results may be quite comparable with contact or direct negative prints. 
 
 gelatin Bets perfectly smooth and glossy, -which will soon be acquired by practice. Grind in 
 the usual way with pumice to make a tooth for retouching, which is done in the usual style, 
 being careful to have as fine as possible. After the retouching is done breathe on the film, 
 which blends It into the gelatin, so that it may be rubbed over with oil, glycerin, or any 
 other substance, giving a transparent film free from grain or line. A little salicylic or No. 8 
 acetic acid, or, better, ten drops of a saturated solution of alum, will preserve the gelatin 
 from decomposition, and keep it from dissolving again. — C. Tomlinson. 
 To one quart of rain water add 
 
 Alum, . 1^ ounces. 
 
 Bichloride of Mercury, li " 
 
 Loaf Sugar, 14 " 
 
 Acetic Acid, i " 
 
 To reduce the intensity of the negative, flow over (after clearing and washing) with this 
 solution. Then wash and flow with strong cyanide of potassium, wash and repeat as often 
 as necessary, to reduce to proper intensity. Then flow with gelatin, and dry, and retouch 
 finely. Now take another glass, perfectly clear, and flow over with pure balsam of fir; 
 heat both negative and other glass, and then place them together ; use two pairs of wooden 
 pincers to fasten them. See that no air remains between the glasses, and finish by pasting 
 gum paper around the edges. By following this process no one need have any trouble to get 
 fine solar negatives of any intensity, as you can reduce your negative as far as you wish, 
 and stop. — N. P. Harkington. 
 
 I will try and give you something that is practical in the way of a solar-printing process 
 that has no patent, and is equal to the best. It takes less preparation, and the same nega- 
 tive is just as good for contact-printing afterwards as ever. In this process any contact 
 negative may be used. Made in the ordinary way and nicely retouched, it is all ready for use 
 with the following directions : Take the negative and with a piece of chamois skin carefully 
 clean off all finger-marks, being careful not to disturb the retouching ; now take another 
 glass of the same size, free from scratches and blisters, clean it thoroughly ; next get a piece 
 of India-rubber tubing about one-eighth of an inch in thickness, lay the rubber tube on the 
 negative all around the edges, except a small space at one end, leaving an opening between 
 the two ends of about one-half inch ; now lay the other glass onto the rubber and bind the 
 two together, this will leave a space about one-eighth inch between ; now at the end where 
 you have left the open space, pour in pure glycerin until it is filled up ; now place your nega- 
 tive in the proper position in the solar,' and It is ready for printing, and will make a soft and 
 delicate print in much less time than it would take otherwise ; the glycerin coming in con- 
 tact with the retouching, obliterates all marks of the penciUand makes it more transparent, 
 and the result is a fine, soft photograph, full of detail and roundness, often surpassing the 
 contact-print. After the negative has done its work, separate the glasses and- wipe off the 
 glycerin, and your negatives are all ready to make contact-cards again. In placing the 
 
308 
 
 "WILSON'S PHOTOGRAPHICS. 
 
 350. So far it would seem that the only method of making enlarge- 
 ments is by means of solar or sunlight, but such is not the case. The 
 ordinary magic lantern may be made to serve in place of the sun and 
 provide artificial light of sufficient intensity to ansvs^er every purpose. 
 And again, light through the camera may be dispensed with and a tracing 
 apparatus be made to do when necessity or convenience compels it. The 
 Philadelphia Photographer must now be called upon to give up some of its 
 information to tell us how. 
 
 negative in the solar, put it in the usual way, Ihe retouched surface facing the paper, and 
 print through the glycerin, unless you wish to make a reversed picture. The glass does not 
 seem to tecome near as hot in printing as hy the old process, thereby lessening the danger 
 of breakages. — E. P. Libbt. 
 
 When printing from a coarse, hard negative, one that is badly varnished perhaps, and a 
 good clean and soft print is desirable, or a print from any solar negative is wanted that 
 will need no spotting, proceed as follows : Print about half done, then lay over the un- 
 finished print a piece of ground-glass same size of the print, and always with the ground 
 side towards the condenser, and continue printing. This will have a softening effect, with- 
 out affecting the sharpness ; ordinary blemishes disappear as if by magic, and a good print is 
 made jiossible by this means from negatives that would ordinarily yield bad results. Try it. 
 
 — G. A. ZiMMBRMAN. 
 
 350. Drawings of the needful apparatus for solar printing by artificial light are as follows : 
 A box, G, surmounted by a chimney, H, or, in other words, the box of a magic lantern, in- 
 cludes the blow-pipe and other apparatus nec- 
 essary for producing the light. A triple sys- 
 tem of condensers, say five inches in diameter, 
 is placed laterally upon the box at A. To this 
 the parts of a solar camera described are to be 
 attached in the manner shown in the cut, so 
 that the negative is at o, and the amplifying 
 objective is at d. The blow-pipe should have 
 its luminous point exactly in the focus of the 
 condensing lenses. For this purpose the ob- 
 jective, D, is used as a guide, the luminous 
 cone passing freely through it. By advancing 
 the blow-pipe towards the interior lens, or by 
 drawing it back, the brilliancy of the field 
 may be considerably varied, and it is therefore 
 necessary to pay particular attention to this 
 point. As the luminous point of the blow- 
 pipe is variable in the direction of the height, 
 it is by means of the rack and pinion attached 
 that the luminous point may always be brought 
 on the axis of the apparatus. This apparatus is arranged for the oxyhydrogen light, but an 
 oil sciopticon may be adapted to. the same kind of work, acting more slowly, of course. 
 
ENLABGEMENTS AND LANTERN SLIDES. 
 
 309 
 
 351. A great many photographers cannot afford a solar camera, and an 
 apparatus that would enable them to have some of its advantages will 
 doubtless be of service to them. All photographers, after the careful 
 study of Gihon's Photographic Colorists' Guide, can make good use of their 
 spare time in crayoning, and inking or coloring enlargements from their 
 
 The next figure reprpsents the general arrangement of the apparatus in use, including the 
 gas-bags for the gases used, and all the connections necessary. Such an enlarging apparatus 
 as this may also be used with artificial light Fig. 97. 
 
 for making, with wet collodion, large nega- 
 tives on glass from a small positive on glass, 
 which requires an exposure of but a few sec- 
 onds. — Dr. D. ton Monckhoven. 
 
 351. My invention is for tracing or sketch- 
 ing for crayon or other portraits. It can be 
 used by any one, and for enlarging any object 
 that can be attached to the top, which is to con- 
 tain the picture, face down. It can be made 
 for any size, from 8 x 10 to life-size. The lens, 
 the movable front for focussing, clamps for 
 holding the movable top, which is adjusted from inside, and governs the size of the object, 
 and the reflector, to throw strong sunlight on the object, will all be seen in the diagram; 
 also, the table or stand upon which the paper, or material upon which to draw the image as 
 it is reflected down, is placed. This is a very useful instrument for any gallery, as any card 
 can be enlarged to a perfect 8 x 10, or larger, to show the customer how he would appear in 
 a large portrait, which might induce him to have one made. The one I have is intended for 
 a ten-inch head, or from that down to 8 x 10. It is two 
 feet square at the base, four feet high, flftoen inches wide 
 at the centre, with a twelve-inch arm to the reflector. 
 The reflector has three movements, or six, counting the 
 baclsward movements. The movable box has only two 
 movements, up and down, for governing the size of the 
 reflection. The box is nine inches square, one inside of 
 the other, fastened with a thumb-screw inside of the 
 front curtain. The movable top is raised and lowered 
 from the inside, and fastened by a clamp with a thumb- 
 screw in front. The thumb-screw is ten inches long, to 
 reach clear across the front. The strip across the cen- 
 tre, holding the reflector, is eighteen inches long. The 
 box or frame work is covered with soft flannel, and lined 
 with thick yellow paper, so no light gets in save the re- 
 flected light. It will be observed that the image is very 
 strong, and has the appearance of a finished picture. 
 The rays falling in at the top make it a very pleasant 
 light to work in, just right for comfort, something like twilight. It takes one to trace by 
 measure, as all portraits do on canvas or cardboard, from two to four hours. An artist 
 
 Fig. 98. 
 
310 
 
 WILSON'S PHOTOGRAPHICS. 
 
 Fig 
 
 negatives. The first step is to procure the enlarged sketches of the pic- 
 ture you propose to make. This can be done by means of the apparatus 
 which is described below by the inventor, if you have not a solar camera. 
 
 352. The popularity which the magic lantern is gaining makes it an 
 advantage to know how to produce transparencies for it, for enlargement 
 upon the screen. True, the best and most interesting subjects come 
 from abroad, but since the modern lecturer scarcely "dare appear upon 
 the stage without a lantern to assist him, he must often call upon the" 
 local photographer to make special slides for him. The photographer, 
 then, should have a few plain directions how to proceed. J£ the "wet" 
 process is used, an arrangement similar to that shown in the drawing is 
 
 employed, two cameras of, say, 8x10 
 size being placed front to front upon 
 an inclined platform in a room with a 
 southern exposure. The negative is 
 fastened in the upper end, and the 
 holder containing the sensitized plate 
 is -placed at the back of the other 
 camera. Careful focussing, clean 
 plates, ripe collodion, exact exposure, 
 and thoughtful development are all 
 needed. 
 
 353. The usual size for a lantern slide is 3^x4^ inches. Of course, 
 
 rarely crayons two heads alike from the same picture, and do his best. I can with this make 
 eight sketches with ten-inch head in less than an hour, and have them alike every time, for 
 I will not change the focus, and pin the paper each time at the same place. Changing the 
 position of the reflector does not change the reflection, as it leaves the picture every time 
 alike. This is not usually the case with a solar printer. I am a great friend to the solar 
 camera, but I can, by using a condenser, do the same work by this. — S. L. Platt. 
 
 353. A good bromo-iodized collodion tolerably ripe, with a bath in good working condition 
 for negatives, will give good results. "We give a full exposure, and develop rapidly with an 
 iron solution containing a large proportion of acetic acid— about flfteen grains of the iron 
 salt and thirty minims of acetic acid to the ounce of water. This gives a transparencv in 
 which the deposit is, by transmitted light, of a warm, purple-brown tone. If a blacker tone 
 be required, it is easily obtained by using the gelatino-iron developer, though a black color is 
 not the best. "Where a very black tone, both by reflected and transmitted light, is required, 
 toning by means of bichloride of mercury, followed by a dilute solution of ammonia, or of 
 hyposulphite of soda, gives excellent effects. For the magic lantern, transparencies are best 
 toned by a saturated solution of bichloride of mercury, followed by a weak solution of 
 hydrosulphate of ammonia, care being taken to well wet the plate before applying the 
 mercury solution, and wash well between each operation. The color will be determined by the 
 
ENLABGEMBNTS AND LANTEEN SLIDES. oil 
 
 the image should come within this, for a margin must he allowed for a 
 mat. Focus in the centre of the plate, and use the smallest diaphragni. 
 The positives may or may not be toned ; if they are, gold may be used, 
 or, better, sulphuret of potassium. After the manipulations are over and 
 the transparency varnished, a mat and a cover-glass are placed over it, 
 
 strength of the hydrosulphate of ammonia solution. Experience alone will determine the best 
 proportion, but about six drops to the ounce of water will be found an average proportion. 
 To test their suitability for the lantern lay them on white paper; the lights should show 
 only white paper, hut the shadows should be perfectly black. The following method of toning 
 transparencies, whether produced on wet collodion or dry plates, gives a rich, warm, brown- 
 black, very nearly resembling the well-known color of the albumen transparencies of Messrs. 
 Eerrier and Soulier. It is necessary to observe that a thin, slightly over-exposed transparency 
 is best suited for the treatment. After fixing and washing take a little of the pyrogallic 
 developer, a few drops of the silver solution, and a few drops of glacial acetic acid; pour it 
 on and oft" the plate until the picture is nearly as vigorous as you require it to be when 
 finished. Wash well, and apply a saturated solution of bichloride of mercury until the 
 image is quite white. Wash again thoroughly. Next take a thirty-grain solution of 
 ammonio-nitrate of silver, and pour it on the plate — it immediately changes to a greenish 
 yellow tint, and gradually darkens ; add a drop or two of ammonia, it will hasten the change 
 of color, and very soon the picture will stand out bright and clear, of a brown sepia color. 
 If the transparency be varnished, a fine textiureless varnish should be used, and great care 
 used to avoid dust. In many cases a greater degree of richness and transparency in the 
 shadows is obtained by varnishing ; hut where the photograph is perfect, it is better un- 
 varnished, the picture being protected by a thin glass instead. If ground-glass be used at 
 the back, it should be very fine; bijt the benzole varnish known as "crystal varnish," with 
 two or three grains of white wax to each ounce, forms an excellent substitute for ground- 
 glass, drying semi-opaque with a fine texture. A thin solution of starch applied, but not too 
 hot, also forms an excellent substitute for ground-glass. For the magic lantern, a semi- 
 opaque backing is not, of course, required. — J. Traill Taylor. 
 
 I have fallen back on a modification of the old wet process, borrowing from diflerent 
 workers the formulae employed. The bath, which should he sunned and filtered before 
 adding the acids, is composed of 
 
 Silver Nitrate, i ounce. 
 
 "Water, 10 ounces. 
 
 Nitric Acid, .... 3 drops. 
 
 Acetic Acid, 12 " 
 
 The plates are coated with a ripe collodion, being first rubbed with French chalk, and 
 immersed for at least five minutes. I dsvelop in a glass-bottomed dish with the following : 
 
 Pyrogallic Acid, . . ._ 30 grains. 
 
 Citrio Acid, 1 drachm. 
 
 Acetic Acid, 2 drachms. 
 
 Alcohol, 2 " 
 
 Nitric Acid, 7 drops. 
 
 Water, 10 ounces, 
 
 and fix with hyposulphite of soda. The developer acts slowly, so that density and detail are 
 
312 WILSON'S PHOTOGRAPHJCS. 
 
 and the whole sealed together by means of a border or binding of black 
 needle-paper. 
 
 354. There are several other methods besides the "wet" of producing 
 these beautiful pictures. The "wet" is easiest because most like the 
 ordinary work of the photographer, but, by means of it, a film is given 
 
 well under control ; and, as lantern slides often require strong contrasts, this is an advantage. 
 Another advantage of this developer is, that it yields a pleasing tone at once without requiring 
 the after application of chloride of gold, etc., which is necessary when the pictures are devel- 
 oped with iron. The transparencies are best taken in the camera, and, with ordin'ary care and 
 judgment, this process will reward the operator with very good specimens. — Rev. B. Hollaitd. 
 
 I always make the sulphuret solution a deep orange color and filter before using, as the 
 same strength does not answer for every sample of collodion. I test by pouring on a plate, 
 not wishing it so strong that it will in a second <-r so turn black, but it should take several 
 seconds, sometimes longer, before the stain is deep enough. It is deep enough when bluish, 
 then pour off the solution (do not use the same again), carry the plate into the strong light; 
 looking through, watch its action. When it has passed the gray-blue it gradually deepens; 
 when just purple douse it under the tap. If the action is carried any further, it becomes a 
 deep sepia, which will flatten the picture ; when a dark-blue, or what will appear on the 
 screen solid black, is wanted, stop the toning at the gray-blue, and wash. When the posi- 
 tives are overtimed, it is impossible to getany other than a sepia tone. When under-exposed, 
 they are hard. New collodion not too thick makes the best positives, as they have not that 
 solidity that ripe collodion gives. Very old collodion has some of the same properties 
 of new, but the action of time is very slow, yet good results can be obtained. The action of 
 sulphuret of potassium as a toning agent is peculiar, as it makes translucent what otherwise 
 would remain smoky or a mass of black shadow. Por reproducing negatives, the toning is 
 omitted. Place the negative in position, varnish side out ; give time until full detail is ob- 
 tained with a quick development; fix with cyanide of potassium. While wet place the 
 positive in the place of the negative, face outward, and expose less than one half of the pre- 
 vious exposure by ordinary development. By this means a negative can be reproduced 
 nearly equal to the original. — W. L. Shoemaker. 
 
 854. Transparencies upon collodion cannot match those on albumen in any way. The 
 film is so fine that even in the deepest shadows there is a transparency, and, as it were, de- 
 tail, which would have been blocked out or lost in a collodion film, not to speak of the rich 
 tone which can be given to an albumen positive with very little pains. Although not so 
 rapid as collodion, they will give transparencies superior to the other. I will now treat the 
 subject fully: 1. The dark-room; 2. Preparation of albumen ; 3. Cleaning and polishing 
 the plate; 4. Coating the plates with albumen and drying ; 5. Sensitizing; 6. Exposure and 
 developing ; 7. Toning. 
 
 The first subject requires the most care. The dark-room must be very small, the ceiling 
 and the walls painted in oil, the floor laid with marble or slate slabs, a large sheet of plate- 
 glass fixed to serve as a table, a kind of a cupboard with levelled glass shelves, and as few 
 chemicals as possible. This is what the dark-room must contain in order to prepare albu- 
 menized plates with any degree of certainty. Dust is the greatest enemy of this admirable 
 process, and it is the first to be vanquished, that is why I advise a small room. The walls, 
 ceiling, and floor are so arranged that they can be washed now and then to take off the 
 
ENLABGBMENTS AND LANTEEN SLIDES. 
 
 313 
 
 wluch is not nearly so delicate and structureless as that obtained by the 
 albumen or emulsion process. Hints as to both of these are given in 
 the notes — as much as will enable any tasteful manipulator to secure 
 
 Fig. 100. 
 
 
 
 a 
 
 a 
 
 dust. The drying cupboard is made of varnished zinc, as in Eig. 100. a, plate-glass 
 shelves the same width as the cupboard, but an 
 inch and a half shorter ; the first shelf touches 
 the zinc on the right-hand side; the second 
 shelf touches the zinc cupboard on the left- 
 hand side, and so on, alternately, to the top 
 of the cupboard. On the right-hand side of 
 the bottom of the cupboard is a hole, B, over 
 which is soldered a piece of fine wire-gauze, 
 covered with a piece of fine linen. This hole 
 is an inlet for air, and the fine linen acts as a 
 filter to stop dust and dirt from entering with 
 the air. It would be well even to dip the 
 linen into a little glycerin, and change it now 
 and then. On the left-hand side of the top is 
 another hole which forms outlet c ; this is 
 .covered by a piece of sheet-iron piping, in the 
 interior of which is placed a Bunsen burner, d. 
 The prepared plates having been laid upon the 
 glass slielves, the doors, x n are closed. The 
 Bunsen burner lighted, a draught is established in the chimney, and fresh air is drawn 
 through hole, B, which, following the arrows, Eig. 101, passes over the surface of all the plates 
 and dries them very quickly ; if the air be very damp, it can be made to pass through chloride 
 of calcium. In fact, it can now be seen that to succeed with this process great cleanliness is 
 required, and above all, great care not to open doors too 
 rapidly, or go in and out of the darkrroom too frequently, 
 so as to raise the dust. I dwell very long upon this subject, 
 being certain that this is one of the greatest stumbling- 
 blocks in the process. 
 
 In preparing the albumen, take seventeen newly-laid 
 eggs (eggs a week old are the best), break them, and care- 
 fully separate the yolks from the whites ; talce out the germs 
 (treadles). Weigh out five grammes of iodide of potassium, 
 one-quarter gramme iodine, mix therewith five hunded c. c. 
 of albumen, then pour into a large basin and whisk into a 
 froth ; this is allowed to remain twenty-four hours in a cool 
 place to settle down ; the product is then filtered through a 
 piece of clean linen, and is then ready for use. 
 
 Cleaning of the glass : It can be easily understood that 
 the first condition to obtain a pure and perfect image is to 
 
 cleanse the surface of the glass from all impurities. This is done by plunging, first of all, 
 the glass in a strong solution of potash ; it is then well washed and left for a few minutes 
 
 Fig. 101. 
 
314 WILSON'S PHOTOGBAPHICS. 
 
 lovely results. A great many persons fail with lantern slides who make 
 excellent negatives. The greatest judgment is required in the matter of 
 exposure and development. It is impossible to save an over-timed trans- 
 parency, and an intense one is of no use in the lantern. As to the emul- 
 sion method, refer also to Lesson U. 
 
 In a tray containing water slightly acidulated with nitric acid ; it is then well rinsed and 
 wiped dry with linen towels. Take fine whiting and with water make a thick paste, and 
 wipe or spread it all over the glass and allow it to dry, then rub it all off with a piece of 
 fine linen. A few grains of talc (I mean as much as would lie upon a pin's head) are now 
 put upon the glass, and rubbed over it in everj' direction with a piece of wash-leather. A 
 badger-brush is now drawn over the surface, and the glass is ready for coating 
 
 Coating the plate is considered by all as the most diflBcult operation. This must be done 
 in a room set apart for the express purpose and free from dust. The best manner of operating 
 is to take up by a tube the exact quantity of albumen required for each plate ; breathe upon 
 the glass, and let the albumen run out of the tube ; take a clean glass rod and equalize it all 
 over the surface, and then put it into the cupboard, upon the levelled glass shelves, to dry in 
 the manner as previously described. The plates thus prepared can be kept for years. 
 
 Sensitizing is done in the same manner as with the collodion process. The bath is prepared 
 as follows : 
 
 Distilled Water, 100 ounces. 
 
 Nitrate of Silver, 10 " 
 
 Glacial Acetic Acid, . ....... 10 " 
 
 After the plate has remained about a minute, it is taken out of the bath and plunged into 
 a tray containing distilled water ; it is then thoroughly washed in ordinary water and left 
 to dry. After a time the silver-bath becomes tinted through the organic matter dissolved 
 out of the plates. This color can be taken away by the addition to the bath of some chloride 
 of silver or silicate of alumina (kaolin). This coloration does not exercise any bad effect, 
 according to the opinion of several manipulators. 
 
 Exposure and developing : If the plates are intended for stereoscopic transparencies, lan- 
 tern slides, etc., the negative is put into a printing-frame, and the prepared glass upon it. 
 It is then exposed to a diffused light for a few seconds, and then taken into the dark-room to 
 be developed ; naturally, the camera can be employed for the same purpose. The develop- 
 ment of these plates is long and tedious. A solution of gallic acid is made warm and the 
 plate plunged into it : 
 
 Distilled Water, . ' 500 o. o. 
 
 Gallic Acid, 8 grammes. 
 
 Acetate of Lime, 4 " 
 
 The plate is left in this solution until the liquid becomes cold, a few drops of a solution of sil- 
 ver nitrate are added, and the image makes its appearance. More Hitrate will intensify rapidly. 
 
 Toning glass transparencies is necessary to give them the pleasant appearance they bear. 
 To have a beautiful purple color, they are toned in a chloride of gold bath. To procure a 
 very agreeable sepia color, they are plunged into a weak solution of bichloride of mercury, 
 and then, after washing, into a chloride of gold bath. Pix in hypo, either before or after 
 toning. — Proi'. E. Stkbbinq. 
 
ENLARGEMENTS AND LANTEEN SLIDES. 315 
 
 There is no doubt but what the emulsion method will, in time, become 
 the favorite one for making slides. It can be used "dry" when the 
 positives are to be of the size of the negative, or "wet" when a change 
 in size must be made, requiring the use of the camera. The best foreign 
 slides are made by a kindred process, and they are superior to all. 
 
 It is now between seven and eight years since I exhibited before the South London Pho- 
 tographic Society some plates — both negatives and transparencies — I had at that time 
 prepared, and which, I believe, were the first publicly shown produced by the gelatin pro- 
 cess. I still have some of these specimens by me. They are quite as fresh and as brilliant 
 as when first made, and the clear parts are as clear as the glass itself. This, I think, proves 
 there is little amiss with the process. I will now endeavor to point out the causes of failure. 
 One of these arises in the preparation of the plates, and to those who are interested in this 
 branch of work my advice is, Do not aim at making very rapid plates. Great rapidity in 
 transparency work leads up to failure ; the slower the plate the more certain and more brilliant 
 will be the result. When I say the fraction of a second is quite exposure enough with ei-en 
 a slow plate, I fancy I hear some one say, "Well, the plates cannot be very slow." Well, 
 perhaps not, if compared with the old collodion dry plate ; but we are not now dealing with 
 collodion but with gelatin, therefore the conditions are all altered. I believe it is from not 
 fully appreciating the necessity for rapid exposures that so many fail in transparency work. 
 The exposure has been too long — the result, thin image and fog ; and when this occurs by no, 
 possibility can a presentable transparency be obtained. The most expeditious and certain 
 way to make transparencies is to make them by contact. If necessary to enlarge or reduce 
 the image, then, of course, it must be done in the camera. In most negatives there are 
 some portions that may be made use of for lantern sides. In this case- all you have to do is 
 to cut a mask in black paper the size you require for your lantern slide, put the negative 
 into a printing-frame, place the mask in position, then the sensitive plate, close the frame, 
 cover the front with a piece of cardboard, take it into the light, uncover and cover again as 
 quickly as possible, giving only the fraction of a second for the exposure. I am now sup- 
 posing we are working by daylight. If by gas or a paraffine lamp, hold the frame about 
 six or eight inches from the flame, and give from one to two seconds, according to the density 
 of the negative used. When exposed, the development may be the same as in my instruc- 
 tions for negatives, with either the alkaline pyro or ferrous oxalate. After development 
 well wash, and then flood the plate with acid pyro and silver (see also instructions for mix- 
 ing). The pyro and silver is only used to give a bite to the gold in toning. Again well 
 wash after the pyro and silver ; then flood the plate with a fifteen-grain solution of chloride 
 of gold in water — gold twelve drops, water one ounce. Keep this moving over the plate 
 until the required tone is obtained, again wash and pour over the plate a very weak solution 
 of cyanide of potassium ; wash and dry. If the cyanide be not used, the plates will after a 
 time present a beautiful pinkish tint in the transparent parts, which in some subjects has a 
 very pretty eflfeot. After the first fixing in hypo all the rest of the operations may — in fact, 
 should — be carried on in the light, as in that case you can see exactly what you are about. 
 It is always better when preparing lantern slides to cut them to the size before coating. 
 This prevents all risks of their being spoiled by cutting after the transparency is finished. — 
 K. Kennet. 
 
LESSON X. 
 
 PHOTOTYPES, PLATINOTYPES, AND COLLODION TRANSFERS. 
 
 355. There are a grea,t many methods of printing photographic pictures 
 by mechanical means. A negative is made in about the usual way, and 
 if the prints are to appear right and left as in nature, it must be reversed, 
 either in the camera or transferred after it is made. A print is made 
 from the negative upon a gelatin film sensitized with a bichromate. 
 This film-print is affixed to lithographic stone, metal, glass, or some other 
 hard, even surface, and then the impressions, or prints, are pulled from 
 it much the same as the common lithograph is printed. The process is 
 not practical for the every-day work of the photographer whose patronage 
 
 355. Apparatus for Kevkksinq thb Kbgativb. — The increasing employment of kie 
 of reversed negatives (for the carhon, artotype, asphaltum, and other processes) induced us 
 to construct an apparatus with which not the object Itself, but its reflected image, is photo- 
 graphed directly as reversed. The apparatus consists of a 
 rectangular prismatic box of mahogany, on the plane of the 
 hypothenuse of which a mirror or prism is placed in such a way 
 as to allow of easy and exact regulation of its position from 
 the outside through the three screws appearing in the illustra- 
 
 ^ »n n tion. One of the planes of the casette is closed with a rough 
 
 ' 1 board, to protect the mirror or prism. In order to fasten the 
 apparatus to the camera, it is unscrewed from this closing 
 board, and screwed with the same plane on to the objective 
 side of the camera. The other plane is closed with a mov- 
 able board, which serves to hold the objective. The position 
 of the mirror or prism is correct as soon as the image, 
 reflected through the objective, appears in a perfectly circular 
 "^ form upon the dull disk, and this position is easily regulated 
 
 by the screws. The apparatus is furnished with either a rectangular, complete reflecting 
 crown-glass prism of superior finish or with a mirror. The latter consists of a perfectly 
 plain ground-glass plate, the front side of which is well silvered, and which is of such reflect- 
 ing power that only a very slight loss of light occurs, which does not occasion any disturb- 
 ance even in portrait photographing. Mirror and prism reflect perfectly correct, and are of 
 equal merit in this respect, but the loss of light is even yet slighter with the prism than with 
 the mirror. — Eomain Talbot. 
 The following method of obtaining reversed negatives was described by Captain O. 
 (316) 
 
PHOTOTYPES, PLATINOTTPES, ETC. 317 
 
 demands only small lots of prints from any one nega,tive ; but for trade 
 purposes it is well adapted, and is largely practised, especially in Europe. 
 There are many modifications sailing under various claims for originality, 
 ajid patented, but it is believed that the public is entitled to what is 
 given below, the basis of it having been published by one of the earliest 
 workers in this direction — Prof. Husnik, in 1875. The only elaborate 
 work upon the subject is published only in the French language by Mons. 
 
 Volkmer, as in use at the Imperial Military Geographical Institute, Vienna. The negative 
 is wetted and coated with a warm, filtered solution of gelatin, one to thirty, poured in and 
 drained olf just like collodion, and then dried in a horizontal position. It is next coated with 
 plain collodion, and when this is set it is soaked for half an hour in a dish of water, and 
 then laid down flat on a tahle. A sheet of thick, well-sized paper having been cut to the 
 size of the picture and well wetted is laid down on the collodion, a piece of blotting-paper 
 is placed above it and lightly rolled down with a roller. The blotting-paper is then remored, 
 and the edges of the collodion film having been cut to within half an inch of the paper all 
 round are turned over the paper, and then the sheet of paper with the film attached to it is 
 lifted off the plate. A sheet of paper is then wetted and laid down flat on a glass plate, and 
 covered with a solution of gum-arabic, one to three. The collodion film is then laid on the 
 gummed surface, with the paper above it; a sheet of blotting-paper is put over it and rolled 
 down. After the removal of the blotting-paper the turned-over edges of the collodion film 
 are laid back on the gummed paper, and the first sheet of paper is removed. Finally, a 
 glass plate is levelled and covered with as much water as it will carry. The collodion film 
 attached to the gummed paper is laid face downwards upon this, and the water drained off. 
 The plate is then laid on the table again, covered with blotting-paper, and rolled. The 
 blotting-paper is then removed, and the gummed paper stripped off. The plate is washed to 
 remove all traces of the gum, and dried. The method is rather complicated, but seems an 
 efficient way of performing a rather troublesome operation. — Major T. Watbrhotjse. 
 
 To produce reversed negatives direct in the camera use a piece of ground-glass, or a piece 
 of plain glass covered with mat varnish in the dark-slide as a focussing-screen — the dull 
 surface farthest from the lens. The same end may be attained by pushing the dark slides a 
 little in just before exposure, or by turning the lens a trifle back after focussing in the usual 
 way. Now use a gelatin plate with the glass surface nearest the lens, simply protecting the 
 film from injury by the spring of the dark-slide. The development will, of course, be 
 according to the directions sent out by the makers of the plate used. This method will be 
 found to produce a result equal to, if not better than, any of the systems now in use. — 
 Arthur P. Fenton. 
 
 Having by the following method reversed some hundreds of negatives up to twenty-four 
 by eighteen without a single failure, it can be confidently recommended as an expedient 
 where a reversed negative is absolutely necessary. It applies only to collodion negatives 
 which have not been varnished. After the negative has been washed and dried, coat with a 
 thin film of India-rubber and allow to dry. Coat over the India-rubber with plain 
 collodion and dry on a levelling-stand. Cut quite through the film at the edges with a sharp 
 knife. Place in a tray of cold water, and in a few minutes the corners and edges will be 
 seen to lift. Now, by taking hold of two corners, the slightest touch will remove the 
 
318 WILSON'S PHOTOGEAPHICS. 
 
 Leon Vidal, the distinguished photo-experimentalist and author, of Paris, 
 from whose excellent work, Traite Pratique de Phototype, much of the in- 
 formation given in the notes is gathered. A workable process is thus 
 provided for all who deem it to their advantage to test its value. This is 
 the only photo-mechanical process it is believed that it will be necessary 
 to treat of herein. Proceed as below. 
 
 356. Basis. — As a basis, employ a polished glass plate, three lines in 
 thickness, or may be thicker. These plates are polished mat on one side 
 by rubbing them with finely levigated emery powder; the powder is 
 moistened with a little water, and applied to the glass surface, the emery 
 being uniformly moistened by rubbing with the finger. This is very 
 necessary, for should any dry emery come in contact with the glass, deep 
 scratches are at once produced. Another glass plate is placed upon the 
 one covered with moist emery, and the former is rubbed by a circular 
 movement, and with very little pressure. In a few moments you perceive 
 that the noise from the breaking up of the large particles ceases, and then 
 more pressure, and freer and quicker manipulation may ensue. For about 
 ten minutes the task should be' continued, the grains of emery becoming 
 smaller as the work proceeds, and the mat surface of a finer character. 
 If, after the plate has been washed, it turns out that the glass surface has 
 not been evenly rubbed, or that, by reason of the inequality of the plate, 
 certain portions have not been touched, the grinding must be proceeded 
 with, a fresh supply of emery being obtained. The action must be con- 
 double film from the glass. The tray should be large, deep, and quite full of water ; then 
 in the operation of stripping the film will be turned over. Eeraove the glass from the water, 
 leaving the film floating topsy-turvy ; wash the strips off the edges, dip into clean, warm 
 water, and flood with a thin, warm solution of gelatin. Rest one end of the glass on the 
 edge of the tray, and the other on some support to keep it level. Now lift the film by the 
 two nearest corners, and gently draw it out of the water on to the glass. It will easily slip 
 over the gelatin without bubbles. Tilt the glass, keeping hold of the corners to prevent the 
 film slipping off, and gradually raise it to let the surplus gelatin drain off. Any stray . 
 gelatin which has run over the surface can be removed by now washing, or after it has 
 dried. The India-rubber solution can be made by dissolving thin sheet India-rubber (black) 
 —such as tobacco pouches are sometimes made of— in benzine or benzoline. If the latter see 
 that it be free from paraffine, which would prevent the India-rubber from drying. The use 
 of the coating of India-rubber is to prevent the coating of plain collodion from dissolving 
 that containing the negative. A very thin coating therefore suffices. For large negatives, 
 a second coating of India-rubber and collodion is advisable. Negatives so reversed have one 
 single fault— the film is easily scratched. Great care is therefore necessary with these for 
 our work. — Gborgk Smith. 
 
PHOTOTYPES, PLATINOTYPES, ETC. 319 
 
 tinued in order to reduce the size of the grains as much as possible. In 
 this way two mat plates are produced at one and the same time. If it is 
 a question of employing plates a second time, these, in order to be freed 
 from gelatin, are put into a lead or zinc vessel containing an alkali solu- 
 tion formed of slaked lime or soda. This alkaline liquid may be pre- 
 served in good condition for more than two months, and may, by the ad- 
 dition of a farther quantity of lime, be invigorated when necessary. In 
 a bath of this kind the hard gelatin film becomes softened in a period of 
 twelve hours, and the glass may then be cleaned with sawdust, or some 
 such material, and washed. The plates are then ground with emery 
 powder in the manner just described, in order to free the pores of 
 the glass from any gelatin remaining in them. Finally, the plates are 
 rubbed with a rag, and rinsed in several waters, and then dried. 
 
 357. First Preparation op the Plates. — Take twenty-five parts of 
 white of egg, forty-five parts of distilled water, and eight parts of solu- 
 tion of soda water-glass, such as can be obtained in commerce. The 
 white of egg must be perfectly free from the yolk. The three constitu- 
 ents are mixed together, beaten to a froth, and then allowed to stand. 
 'Next day, or at any rate after an interval of six or. eight hours, the clear 
 portion is decanted off and filtered through a clean cloth. This will ren- 
 der subsequent filtration through a paper much easier. An open glass 
 vessel, or glass beaker, is taken, and a glass funnel is put into it, so that 
 the tube of the latter reaches nearly to the bottom ; the filter is then 
 
 357. In the preparation of the sensitive films, a first liquid should be made as follows : 
 
 Albumen (fresh eggs), 180 grammes (5 ozs. 6 drs.) 
 
 Water, 150 « (i " 7 " ) 
 
 Bichromate of Potash, 4 " ( 1 dr. ) 
 
 AmTnonia, 100 " (3 ozs. 2 drs.) 
 
 The alkaline bichromate, reduced to powder in a porcelain or glass mortar and added to the 
 mixture of water and ammonia, rapidly dissolves in it ; the albumen is then poured in, this 
 last having previously been whipped to a froth, allowed to rest, and filtered with care. This 
 liquid passes quickly through filtering paper. The mixture may be used until exhausted, but 
 should not be kept for too long a time. The albumen would lose its solidity, even after hav- 
 ing been strongly coagulated by the bichromate of potash, under the action of the light. — 
 Leon Vidal. 
 The following is a good substratum : 
 
 Pure Albumen, 5 ounces. 
 
 Biohromate of Ammonium, 25 grains. 
 
 Add the bichromate and beat all to a froth, and let it stand over night, and then neutralize 
 the acid bichromate with a few drops of ammonia, and filter several times. Apply with a 
 
320 WILSON'S PHOTOGRAPHICS. 
 
 fitted with soft and thick filter-paper, and the mixture poured in. The 
 pores of the paper are very speedily stopped, and the process of filtering 
 is suspended ; for this reason the solution is poured from the funnel back 
 again into the glass vessel, the filter-paper is replaced by new, and the 
 solution again passed through it. This operation will have to be repeated 
 several times before all the liquid in the vessel has gone through the filter. 
 When the liquid has been once filtered, it can be easily submitted to a 
 second operation without the filter-paper being changed. For this reason 
 the filtered liquid is poured into another glass and filtered a second time. 
 As the first filtrate always contains a few hairs or fibres, the liquid that 
 passes through first of all should always be poured back to go through 
 the filter again, and in this way a perfectly clean liquid, free from bubbles, 
 is obtained. To prepare the plates a sheet of glass of large size is laid 
 down horizontally, and on it is placed one of the mat plates, which has, 
 first of all, been dusted with a brush. Upon its surface, and near the 
 
 brush, and dry by slow heat or spontaneously, and expose the glass side to the light on a 
 black cloth till a piece of silvered paper turns black ; then put in the dark, for use when 
 wanted. Or this substitute may be used : 
 
 Albumen, 2 ounces. 
 
 Silicate of Soda, 1 ounce. 
 
 Gelatin, 60 grains. 
 
 Bichromate of Potash, 40 " 
 
 Water, 20 ounces. 
 
 To the prepared albumen, two ounces, add five ounces of water. Now add five ounces of 
 water to the silicate of soda, and mix them, pouring the soda into the albumen, stirring 
 slowly all the time. Now add the gelatin and bichromat^ of potash to the remaining ten 
 ounces of water, and dissolve by heat in a water-bath, being careful not to raise the heat 
 above 120°. Then add the albumen and soda, mixing thoroughly. Filter, and flow the 
 plates, and set away to dry spontaneously, free from dust. When about to use, immerse 
 the plate in a dish of water about five minutes, then rinse and dry. Now place in the 
 oven and heat to 100°; then take the plate on the spread left hand and coat with No. 2. 
 — Aktotypbr. 
 
 The method of filtering the albumen by the Artotype Company is to tie a piece of clean 
 chamois skin over the top of a funnel; after moistening with pure water, the albumen is 
 carefully poured upon it ; after filtration, the bichromate of potash is added, which may first 
 be dissolved in a small amount of water. The less water in the substratum, the less liable 
 to blister when it comes to be printed ; only enough ammonia is used to preserve the albumen, 
 and need not be used when the solution is used immediately. A piece of polished French 
 plate-glass is carefully cleaned, as carefully as for making a negative ; a perfectly clean flat 
 brush, about three inches wide, is dipped in the solution, the surplus albumen removed by 
 drawing once or twice over the edge of the dish. Now balancing the glass on the thumb 
 and forefingers of the left hand, draw the brush containing the albumen diagonally across 
 
PHOTOTYPES, PLATINOTYPES, ETC. S21 
 
 edge, is poured some of the solution above described, and this is spread 
 over the plate by gently inclining it. Those parts which are not wetted 
 in this way are afterwards covered with the liquid by spreading it with a 
 strip of paper ; but, in any case, the liquid must not be allowed to flow 
 quickly, but gently in a line downwards. Another vessel is brought to 
 one corner of the plate, and there the glass is quickly turned on end, so 
 that the superfluous matter runs off. The quick withdrawal of the liquid 
 carries away any air-bubbles which may have been formed when the fluid 
 was spread with the paper ; but if any should yet remain, a little more 
 of the filtered solution is applied, and then again rapidly drained into the 
 second vessel. The plate is permitted to drain, and is set up against the 
 wall to dry. The fluid which has been poured off the plate must be fil- 
 tered again before use. In this way a large number of plates may be 
 prepared, and, in this- condition, may be kept for six months. They must 
 never be used immediately, but should remain a day or two before being 
 employed. The longer they are allowed to remain, the better they are. 
 
 the plate, commencing at the upper right-hand corner, then diagonally across the plate in 
 the opposite direction, after which the operation is fepeated, going both ways square across 
 the plate. The plate is next placed In the drying-oven, which is kept at an even tempera- 
 ture of about one hundred and thirty-five degrees; from twenty to thirty minutes are re- 
 quired to dry the plate. After the substratum is dry, the plate is placed with its albumen 
 side down upon a board covered over with black cloth, and exposed to a diffused light until 
 a piece of silvered paper placed by its side is pretty well blackened, when the plate is 
 removed to the coatiflg-room and solution No. 2 is applied. To apply solution No. 2, first 
 have the plate warmed to the temperature of the drying-box, then holding the plate with 
 the left hand, the same way as No. 1, pour upon and entirely across the upper end of the 
 plate just enough of the bichromate solution to cover the plate, then slightly tilting it with 
 the flat side of the little finger cause the gelatin to flow evenly the whole length, then 
 drawing the little finger around the edges of the plate, cause the solution to flow to the 
 edges all around. If there is a surplus gathered at the lower corner, turn it off the plate, 
 and place the plate in the drying-oven to dry, which will take at least half an hour. Solu- 
 tion No. 3 consists of bichromate of ammonia, gelatin (same as in No. 2), chrome-alum, 
 glycerin, and water. It contains about as much bichromate as in the preceding solution. 
 The chrome-alum is to harden or toughen the film, and the glycerin to keep it from becom- 
 ing too brittle ; only a trace of glycerin is used. This solution is made and used the same as 
 No. 2, only in coating the plate the solution is poured upon the opposite end, so as to equal- 
 ize the thickness of the coating. When again dry, the plate is placed in the printing-frame 
 and printed in the usual way, and the progress of the printing examined from the back ; ex- 
 perience will soon tell when they are sufficiently printed. They are then placed in running 
 water of from seventy to one hundred degrees temperature, and left until all traces of the 
 bichromate is washed out ; when, after being again dried, they are wet up and put in the 
 press and printed from.—" An Old Subscbibek " in the PKiladdphia Photographer: 
 21 
 
322 
 
 WILSON'S PHOTOGRAPHICS. 
 
 358. Second Preparation. — To coat the plates with gelatin, they must 
 first of all be thoroughly rinsed with cold water, best under a tap, but 
 without the prepared side being touched. They are then dried, and 
 ready to be treated with gelatin. This is done in the following manner : 
 a box having a sheet-iron bottom, and a cover of dark linen or cloth, is 
 provided ; inside, three inches above the iron bottom, is a frame, spanned 
 with linen, exactly the size of the interior, and this is covered with filter- 
 paper loosely laid upon it. This frame should equalize perfectly the un- 
 equal temperature of the iron below, for under the box is fitted a gas or 
 spirit flame. Three inches under the lid are iron rods from one side of 
 
 358. Now make a second sensitive liquid, that which forms the printing film, as follows : 
 
 Gelatin, . . . ' 90 grammes ( 2 ozs. 7 drs.) 
 
 Water, . .720 " (22 " 4 « ) 
 
 Fish-Glue (true), 30 " ( 8 " ) 
 
 Water, 360 " (11 ozs. 4 " ) 
 
 Bichromate of Potash, pure, or of Ammonia, .30 " ( 8 " ) 
 
 Water, . . . . ' . . . . .360 " (11 ozs. 4 " ) 
 
 The gelatin is put to swell twenty-four hours before operating, as is also the fish-glue. Then 
 these two substances are dissolved separately in their water, over a water-bath. The gelatin 
 
 will dissolve at a temperature of 
 from 40 to 60° C. (104 to 140° ¥,). 
 As to the fish-glue, it will be neces- 
 sary, in order to dissolve it, to in- 
 crease the heat to the boiling 
 point, and even then a complete 
 solution will not be attained. 
 These two solutions are filtered 
 in a clean recipient through a 
 rather coarse cloth, and then the 
 solution of bichromate is poured 
 into the same filter. 
 
 The apparatus contrived by Mr. 
 Brewer to filter the gelatin whilst 
 hot is very useful, and consists of 
 two distinct parts : 1. A glass 
 funnel, the tube of which passes 
 through a cork. 2. A copper re- 
 ceiver, forming a jacket for the 
 funnel, and holding the water, 
 which is heated. by a gas-burner 
 or an alcohol-lamp, as is seen in 
 the cut (Fig. 103). In case of 
 accidental breakage, the glass funnel is very easily replaced.— Lkon Vidal. 
 
 Fig. 108. 
 
PHOTOTYPES, PLATINOTYPES, ETC. 
 
 323 
 
 Fig. 104. 
 
 the box to the other, placed horizontally, each rod being furnished with 
 two or three holes, into which screws are fitted, upon the heads of which 
 the glass plates rest. By turning these screws so that the heads are raised 
 or depressed, the plates are easily brought into a horizontal position. A 
 thermometer suitably fitted into the side of the box indicates the temper- 
 ature. Two, three, or more glass plates are laid horizontally upon the 
 
 The drawing below gives an idea of the drying-bnx in which are prepared the photo- 
 typic plates. This is divided into two distinct parts : First the lower chamber, having a 
 number of gas-pipes, pierced / 
 
 with holes, running through 
 it at equal distances and 
 forming a grating. Two or 
 three of these pipes are suffi- 
 cient to give the proper heat, 
 even when it is necessary to 
 raise it over 150° C. (302° 
 F.) A stop-cock is attached 
 to each pipe so that it can 
 be used independently of the 
 others. This chamber is 
 closed by a door extending 
 the full length to facilitate 
 the lighting, cleaning, and 
 repairing of the tubes. One 
 or more openings made at 
 the two ends of the heating 
 chamber allow the air to 
 enter that is necessary for 
 the combustion of the gas. 
 
 These openings are regulated according t.j the number of burners used, so as to obtain the 
 desired effect without useless loss of heat. If gas is not available, a current of steam or 
 hot-air may be used. In the latter case, for the gas tubes, a pipe is substituted leading to a 
 stove which furnishes the heat. This pipe extends along the bottom and passes out by means 
 of an «lbow. In the last two cases it is not necessary to place openings in the box. A 
 metallic division of strong sheet-iron is placed between the upper and the lower chambers; 
 this is the dryer proper. This division or apartment, which is hermetically closed, is neces- 
 sary to prevent the dust, which would be carried by the current of hot-air, from falling on the 
 gelatinized plates, to the great injury of their surfaces. Towards the middle of the height 
 of the upper box are placed two longitudinal strips, made of wood, and nailed against the 
 two opposite sides of the box. On these strips rest transversal iron bars having three or 
 four screws, as is seen in the cut, at suitable distances, to divide the strips into three or four 
 equal parts. These screws serve to wedge the plates which are placed on their upper angles, 
 and which are adjusted by means of a spirit-level. As many bars are used as are necessary 
 to cover the entire surface of the dryer. 
 
 Now, everything being on the movable platform, commence with the first plate. It is 
 
324 
 
 WILSON'S PHOTOGKAPHICS. 
 
 Fig. 105. 
 
 screws, the box is closed, and the temperature raised to 30° Reaumur. 
 In the meantime, a quarter of an ounce (7.5 grammes) of the finest French 
 gelatin is taken ; five ounces (150 grammes) of distilled water are poured 
 upon it, and the gelatin allowed to swell for an hour. After this the gel- 
 atin is dissolved upon a water-bath, and when it has reached a high tem- 
 perature (say 70° R.), fourteen grains (0.875 grammes) of bichromate of 
 
 covered with the gelatinous liquid, put back in ita place, and the lid instantly closed. The 
 platform is pushed forward a length, the second lid is opened, the.plate jeceiyes its prepara^ 
 tion, put hack in its place, and the second lid closed, and so on with the rest. ', When the 
 dryer is regularly heated to 35° C. (95° P.), it requires at least two hours for the complete 
 desiccation of the plates. It is well to make sure if the operation is ended by opening the 
 lid corresponding to the last preparation. If the plate in this part of the box is dry, all 
 the others are certainly so, and the boat should be suppressed. The plates should be allowed 
 to cool slowly, and may be exposed as soon as cold. In the summer the operation in the 
 dryer maybe done in the morning, and the j.lates exposed in the afternoon. The plates are 
 allowed to disgorge during the same day, a:id on the following morning they may be printed 
 from. The dryer should be kept in a room the glass of which is covered with yellow paper, 
 or, what is still better, with a pellicle covered with chrysoidine confined between two sheets 
 
 of glass. The interior of the dryer 
 should be carefully cleaned, from time 
 to time, with a damp sponge to remove 
 the dust, and to render this operation 
 easier it is well to line the sides of the 
 upper chamber with zinc. 
 
 There is another kind of dryer made 
 by Mr. S. Eogers, described in the al- 
 manac of the British Journal of Pho- 
 tography for 1870. As Fig. 105 shows, 
 a burner, c, furnishes a, current of hot 
 air, which follows the direction indi- 
 cated by the arrows. The air in the 
 jacket, A D B', which surrounds the tube, 
 c A' is heated by the combustion of the 
 burner, c ; it enters from above into the 
 dryer a a by an opening made in the 
 side Band a'; thence it passes in, de- 
 scending over all the horizontal separa- 
 tions which are arranged In such a 
 manner as to receive in all their length 
 a current of hot air. Having reached 
 the bottom it makes its exit by an open- 
 ing leading directly into c, and by in- 
 creasing the current materially aids the 
 The exterior air enters the bottom of the jacket by a small opening at a. The 
 
 fl 
 
 combustion. 
 
PHOTOTYPES, PLATINOTTPES, ETC. 325 
 
 ammonium and ten grains (0.625 grammes) of chloride of calcium are 
 added ; finally, after everything has dissolved, an ounce (30 grammes) of 
 ordinary spirits of wine is added, and the mixture filtered. The filtered 
 solution is poured upon the warmed glass plate, and spread over the sur- 
 face by means of a strip of paper. Ifot too much, nor too little liquid 
 must be applied, but only so much that when the plate is inclined only 
 a little of it betrays a tendency to run off". "When the operation has been 
 carried out several times, the proper amount to be applied is easily guessed. 
 Too thick a film does not last in printing, as the scraper abrades the sur- 
 
 closet of the dryer is furnished at the bottom with adjusting i-crews, so as to permit the lev- 
 elling of the interior separation at one operation. — Leon Vidal. 
 
 2. — Gelatin, 1 ounce. 
 
 Bichromate of Potash, . . . , . . . . . .70 grains. 
 
 Water, 20 ounces. 
 
 In winter from 10 to 20 drops of glycerin may be used. Soak the gelatin in 10 ounces of 
 water for an hour, then add the remaining 10 ounces of water and the bichromate of potash. 
 Heat to 100°, stirring until dissolved ; then filter several times, and it is ready for coating the 
 plates. When warmed to 100°, the plates will dry in ten to twenty minutes. Then cool off 
 slowly, and they are ready for 
 
 3. — Gelatin, 1 ounce. 
 
 KuBsian Isinglass, .......... f '' 
 
 Water, ... 24 ounces. 
 
 Alcohol, * " . 
 
 Bichromate of Ammonium, 90 to 120 grains. 
 
 Calcined Magnesium, . . 10 to 20 '' 
 
 Chrome-alum Solution, . . . 1 to 2 drachms. 
 
 Dissolve the isinglass in 6 ounces of water by boiling from one to two hours, and the gelatin 
 in 8 ounces of water, in water-bath at 100°, and add the alcohol and remaining chemicals to 
 the remaining 10 ounces of water, except the chrome-alum solution, which should be added 
 last, and on the day of use only. Do not raise the heat in any case above 120°. With solution 
 No. 3, coat the plate precisely as with No. 2, except that the solution should flow off the 
 opposite corner. Let the plates stand for a few hours after they are removed from the oven, 
 and then expose under the negative to diffused light the proper time. The chrome-alum 
 solution is made as follows ; 
 
 Chrome-alum, 40 grains. 
 
 Bicarbonate of Potas^, 20 '' 
 
 Water, ............ 5 ounces. 
 
 '' Abtotypbr." 
 
 Professor Husnik's method of making a substratum on the glass plate for the gelatin film 
 is an excellent one, and the best so far published ; but it has been improved (and this is the 
 method adopted by the Artotype Company) by drying the film, at once in the oven used for 
 drying the gelatin film, at a temperature of about 150° !P.; this enables the plate to be 
 used at once for the gelatin, the heat causing the mixture of silicate of soda and albumen 
 to coagulate in less than half an hour and adhere very firmly to the glass. The best oven 
 
326 
 
 ^ViCILSON'S PHOTOGEAPHICS. 
 
 Fig. 106. 
 
 face ; and too thin a film, on the other hand, permits the fine grains of 
 the glass to appear as little black spots, the force employed in the press 
 being the greater. "When coated, the plates are put into the box and al- 
 lowed to dry at a temperature of 35° E. Plates prepared to this stage 
 will keep good in summer for the space of a week, and in winter-time 
 for a month, becoming better after keeping a little while. 
 
 for the purpose (and the one used by them) is made by simply making a simple wooden box, 
 about thirty inches square and five feet high, the bottom formed by a closed, flat, hot-water 
 pan, made of metal, about four inches deep, and having two pipes leading outside, one for 
 the escape of steam and one to pour water into. A gas- or kerosene-stove is put underneath, 
 and, if it has been carefully levelled, two thicknesses of blotting-paper are put on top of the 
 pan, on which the plates are to be laid. Several more rows of glass can be put in by means 
 of strips laid across at intervals, with levelling-serews attached. One side of the box is a 
 door. The drawing will give something of an idea. The albumen and silicate solution 
 
 should be iarefully spread over the cleaned surface of the 
 plate (in a room absolutely free from dust), the excess al- 
 lowed to run off, and then laid in the oven at a temperature 
 of 140° to 150°, and allowed to remain about twenty minutes 
 or one-half hour. It is better to keep the e plates a day 
 before using, but when dried this way, they may be used at 
 once. They must then bo rinsed under a tap and dried 
 again, when they are ready to receive the gelatin. The 
 oven must be brought up to at least 180°, the plates carefully 
 levelled, and then the gelatin mixture is to be applied, by 
 pouring on in the centre until it just spreads to the edges 
 of the glass, but no more; experience is necessary in this. 
 The method now practised in Europe is to pour off the ex- 
 cess, and pour on again, and then pour off all hut a little of 
 the excess, and allow to dry. This avoids any air-bubbles, 
 and also too thick films. The thicker the film, the coarser 
 the grain, and more intense the blacks. The thin films 
 give the best detail, but too thin ones yield flat prints. The Artotype Company (and so does 
 Albert) replace about one-third of the gelatin with Eussia isinglass, which is better than 
 pure gelatin ; the latter must be of the kind known as the " Magdeburg" a German make, 
 which does not swell much in water. The plates will require about twenty minutes to a 
 half hour in the oven, and during this time the door should not bo opened. As soon as dry, 
 they are ready for exposiire ; this must bo learned by experience, and varies with the nega- 
 tive. After exposure, it is washed thoroughly under a tap till all the unreduced chrome- 
 salt is washed out, and again dried, when it is ready for the press. I wish here to remark 
 that the Eussia isinglass requires to be boiled two or three hours, and then the insoluble 
 residue must be separated from the solution before adding to the gelatin. It is also unnec- 
 essary to grind the glass, as recommended by Professor Husnik. It will also be found better 
 to dry the gelatiu film at about 200° P. than any lower ; the high temperature gives 
 a finer grained film. In order to produce a larger number of impressions from a plate, 
 several modes of hardening (notably with chrome-alum) have been patented, but it is not 
 
 i^ 
 
PHOTOTYPES, PLA-TIKOTYPES, ETC. 
 
 327 
 
 Fig. 107. 
 
 359. The Exposure. — This may be estimated at three-quarters of an 
 hour in the shade, in the case of a good negative, or a quarter of an hour 
 in the sun. Diffused light gives the best half-tones. After exposure, the 
 chrome-salts, which have not been acted upon by light, are washed out 
 with water, and the plate well wiped and put to dry. After three hours, 
 the plate may be employed for printing purposes. 
 
 360. Printing. — The plate is fixed by means of plaster of Paris to a 
 lithographic stone, and printed by the aid of a lithographic press. The 
 
 essential. You can dispense with it, and get along without infringing on any patent. 
 On a flat marble slab in the press plaster is poured, and a plate glass of suitable size 
 pressed on and allowed to set; on this plate glass the exposed plate is put on by capillary 
 attraction with water; it is then ready to be inlced and printed. As a sensitizer for the 
 gelatin, I prefer the bichromate of ammonia, and I would strongly recommend one grain 
 of salycilic acid to the ounce of solution, as a preventive of trouble when the weather is 
 favorable to decomposition. 
 
 To strip negatives for lichtdruck purposes, etc., the glass must be carefully cleaned and 
 polished with soapstone powder, or, still better, with a five-grain solution of pure wax in 
 pure benzole. Polish with a Canton-flannel rag. After the negative is thoroughly washed, 
 put it in a dish of clean water and soak a sheet of fine gelatin such as the dealers sell 
 for printing borders for car- 
 bon prints, until it lays 
 flat, but no longer ; press on 
 the negative under water, 
 squeeze out the water and 
 air-bubbles with a rubber 
 squeegee, and lay it fiat, 
 face up, to dry iu a place 
 freefromdast; when dry, it 
 comes ofi" the glass, taking 
 the collodion film with i t. — 
 D. Bachrach, Jr. 
 
 359. After exposure, the 
 sensitized plate is removed 
 from the frame and placed 
 at once to disgorge in a 
 grooved tank filled with 
 water, which is renewed, 
 if possible, by a continuous 
 
 current. The annexed figure will explain the kind generally used in France and Germany. — 
 Leon Vidal. 
 
 360. The Pbinting. — The most delicate work in the application of the process for impres- 
 sions made with fatty ink consists in printing from the plate when it is in a perfect condition 
 to receive the ink in the exact proportions necessary to give the identical value of the 
 negative. A good lithographer will soon become familiar with this operation, and he will 
 
328 WILSON'S PHOTOGKAPHICS. 
 
 plate is moistened and treated with two different inks or colors, one tMck 
 one to blacken the plate, and one having a brownish tone, which gives 
 the half-tones. After every printing, the plate is again wetted and wiped 
 with a rag, when the inking is proceeded with once more. If the plate 
 gives but little half-tone in the shadows, a blind proof is taken off, which 
 takes off the last remnant of the color, and then the plate is wiped once 
 more and printed. A plate of this kind should furnish six hundred prints 
 or more. The permanency of the plates depends upon due attention 
 being given to their preparation, upon having gelatin that swells but little, 
 and employing little force in printing. Some operators replace a portion 
 of the gelatin with isinglass. This substance is to be obtained, as a rule, 
 only of inferior quality, and is very dear; the bleached material is per- 
 fectly valueless, and the only quality to be recommended is the Russian. 
 
 meet with success if he possesses taste and knows what a good print is. In order to guide 
 the printer, it is well to place before him a good print, made with chloride of silver on 
 albumen, from the negative which has impressioned the gelatin film. He will there find all 
 ,the value of the negative, and it will be easy for him to know if he is to use more or less ink, 
 in order that his print should resemble, as much as possible, the one made with the silver 
 salt. This is a question of care and taste rather than of skill. If the time of exposure to 
 the light has been suitable, the printing will necessarily bo good. It is important to note 
 that ,it is very difficult to obtain, in the blacks, the transparencies that exist in the albumen 
 print. The fatty ink when dry is mat, and it is only by passing a varnish on the surface 
 that it is possible to preserve the transparency of the strong shades. The character of the 
 cliche used naturally plays a very important part in view of the result to be obtained, and 
 that is the reason that it is difficult for the printer to know what he can obtain from his 
 plate, if he does not have before him a print made from the cliche. As soon as the operator 
 has obtained a print which he thinks to be as good as possible, he should place it alongside 
 of him, as a type, to serve as a comparison with all the other prints as they are successively 
 made. By this means he will discover if too much ink is used, or if there is too much 
 hardness, and it will be easy for him to correct these faults, either by hardening the ink on 
 his table, or by adding to it a small quantity of varnish to render it harder and more suitable 
 for producing the half-tones. If, notwithstanding this last care, very decided whites should 
 show themselves, he must conclude that the gelatin is too moist, that it has absorbed too 
 much water, and he should stop the printing in order to allow a portion of this excess of 
 moisture to evaporate, unless the defect be the consequence of under-exposure to liebt, 
 which is irremediable. If, on the contrary, the print be too black; if the half-tones are'too 
 heavy, even with very hard ink, it is because the plate lacks moisture, or that there has been 
 over-exposure to light. In this case the saturation of moisture should be increased by 
 adding to the water a very small quantity of ammonia, or else a few grammes of ox-gall. 
 
 It is well understood that this liquid should be passed over the plate after it has been 
 cleaned with spirits of turpentine. When it is desired to give more brilliancy to the print, 
 we may leave covered the blacks protected by the printing ink, and only wash the whites' 
 The image thus will offer more contrast, but this effect is not maintained. According to the 
 
PHOTOTTPES, PLATINOTYPBS, ETC. 329 
 
 The choice of colors is important. If a brown tone is desired, then 
 Munich varnish must be added to the black ink. This has the defect of 
 coloring the plate, so that in the end it is not white, but brown. This 
 varnish has the effect, also, of tanning the gelatin, and the prints soon ap- 
 pear flat. A good brown mixture is afforded by the finest printer's black 
 of the thickest kind, mixed with red oxide of iron and a little Casar 
 varnish. To preserve the margins perfectly white, the negative is covered 
 up to the image or design. On printing, fine tissue-paper is cut into 
 bands of two or three inches breadth, and these are put on the edges of 
 the plate, which are to remain clean before the printing-paper is applied. 
 Or a frame may be employed, the aperture of which represents the size 
 of the plate, and over this is stretched tissue-paper saturated with paraffin, 
 
 nature of the gelatin, and especially according to the more or less adherence of the film to 
 the rigid support, the number of prints obtained from a plate may be set down at only fifty 
 or sixty, or it may reach from five hundred to one thousand, and even more. The care 
 given to the printing contributes in a great measure to the duration of the plate. The 
 rollers should be kept scrupulously clean and protected from dust or any hard grain which 
 would infallibly mark the gelatin film. The cloths used in wiping, the sponge, the water 
 itself, should be clean, so as to avoid stains and scratches. "When the printer perceives that 
 the print has a tendency to fog, it suffices, as we have just said, to make the gelatin film 
 absorb a greater quantity of moisture; but, before wetting, any fatty ink that may have 
 remained on its surface should be removed by washing with spirits of turpentine. The 
 cloths used for wiping with the turpentine should be different, and kept in a receptacle 
 separately from those used for wiping with water or the glycerin liquid. As much as 
 possible fatty essences should be avoided, so as not to encounter too much trouble in wetting 
 with water, which, otherwise, repelled by the fatty body, wets with difficulty the surface of 
 the film,. rendering it necessary to repeat the operation several times to render it complete. 
 When the absorption of the water is unequal, we perceive marbled markings on the prints 
 which injure the image, and which can only be removed by longer and more regular wetting. 
 When this accident occurs, there often results a serious loss of time, and it is even necessary 
 sometimes to abandon, momentarily, the stained plate to restore it to good condition, whilst 
 another one is being printed from. The different kinds of paper used, the more or less 
 pressure, and fulling, or underlaying, as the printers call it, are conditions of success or 
 failure. It is, therefore, necessary to take all these details into consideration. 
 
 It is evident that a plate inked in the same manner will produce different results, according 
 as the paper is granulated or smooth, laid or not laid. In causing the pressure to vary, the 
 result will also vary; it should be regulated so as to remove all the ink from the plate. 
 Pulling, or underlaying, assists in obtaining this last result in those cases in which there are 
 hollows to be filled by the paper. This fulling is obtained by placing between the cylinder 
 and the paper to be printed on, some sheets of paper or a sheet of vulcanized rubber. If 
 the surface of the plate does not offer any depression, it is not necessary that this fulling 
 should be very decided. However, we advise to never use a substance that is too hard, such 
 as fuller's- or bristol-board, in order to avoid accidents that frequently occur on the surface 
 
330 WILSON'S PHOTOGKAPHICS. 
 
 and an opening the size of the picture is cut out, and this frame of paper, 
 made just the size you want the print to he, is laid upon the plate every 
 time an impression is struck off. By this means a regular edge is pre- 
 served and all smearing of the ink upon the margin is avoided, two 
 desirable things which should never be neglected. 
 
 361. After the prints come from the press they often need considerable 
 " spotting out," which is done in a manner similar to that practised with 
 albumen prints. They are then ready for delivery to your patron, pro- 
 vided he is content with a mat surface only. If the desire be to make 
 them resemble albumen prints, so far as having a shining surface is con- 
 cerned, then they must be varnished, which operation certainly adds to 
 their cost, and lessens their liability to be injured by moisture more than 
 
 of the plate when hard substances are carried either by the ink or the air in motion. If 
 there is fulling, a portion of the effect will be produced in the thickness of the cushion, 
 whilst in the contrary case it is the gelatin film which receives all the Injury by a depression 
 of the film, and then by a rapid removal of the surface, if the coating does not perfectly 
 adhere to the plate. — Lbon Vidal. 
 
 361. VARNISHIKa AND MOUNTING PHOTOTYPE PRINTS PRINTED "WITHOUT MARGINS. — 
 
 Phototype prints that are to be mounted on card- or bristol-board, may be allowed to retain 
 their mat appearance, or they may sometimes be varnished to give them more transparency and 
 brilliancy, and more often to assimilate them in appearance with the ordinary photographic 
 prints. In the first case, it suflBces to trim the edges of the prints and stick them with paste on 
 their final support, which has been previously dampened, so that they will dry evenly and 
 without cockling. "When sufficiently dry, the sheets are passed through rollers so as to incor- 
 porate the print with the beard, and to obtain a polished surface. By this means the phototype 
 print acquires more solidity, and the ink is less liable to rub off by friction. It is a kind of 
 fixing. The polishing should not be done until the fatty varnish becomes sufficiently hard 
 and dry to resist the pressure of the rollers. The prints to be varnished may be of two 
 kinds, according as they are printed on laid or unlaid paper. If the paper is laid or albu- 
 menized (to be afterwards coagulated), it may be varnished at once, without having to fear 
 that the varnish will penetrate the paper. But if the paper is not covered with a protecting 
 coating, it is indispensable to gelatinize it before using the varnish. The gelatinizing is done 
 with a brush, using a tepid solution of ten per cent, of white gelatin in one hundred grammes 
 (three ounces two drachms) of ordinary water. The gelatin is evenly spread with a, large 
 flat brush, avoiding air-bubbles as much as possible. With a little practice this operation 
 is easily learned. The gelatinized prints are stuck with thumb-pins, two together and back 
 to back, on strips of wood edged with cork, and when dry are varnished. The best varnish 
 to be used is that which, whilst remaining white, is capable of giving a hard coating, and 
 one difficult to scratch. We prefer white gum-lao dissolved in methylic alcohol at fifteen 
 per cent. When the gum-lac is placed in alcohol, it will be remarked that the solution is 
 rendered turbid by fatty substances held in suspension. If, as indicated by Mr Peltz, pow- 
 dered lime be added, we obtain a solution three-fourths of which are limpid, and what 
 remains filters rapidly even through a felted cloth. We can also use one part essence of 
 
PHOTOTYPES, PLATINOTYPES, ETC. 
 
 331 
 
 jt improves their appearance. As has been explained, the prints may 
 be supplied with a margin of white paper, or they may be trimmed and 
 mounted the same as photographs. If the latter operation is to be per- 
 formed, then care must be taken that no moisture strikes the surface of 
 the prints, lest they be soiled and spoiled, 
 
 petroleum or benzine for three parts of varnish. Two strata are formed : the first contains the 
 fatty matter which is thus eliminated. It is well to separate the fatty body, otherwise filtra- 
 tion is very slow and the Fig. los. 
 varnish lacks brilliancy. 
 This varnish is carefully 
 put on with a tuft, so as to 
 avoid air-bubbles, and as 
 soon as the print is coated it 
 is placed inaspecial drying- 
 box, represented by I"ig. 
 108. This consists simply 
 of a rectangular, sheet-iron 
 box, about 1 meter (39 J 
 inches) in length, and .25 
 
 meter (10 inches) in height. A gas-tube, pierced at distances of from 6 to 8 centimeters 
 (2j\ to 3J inches), extends the whole length of the upper portion of this box, whose front is 
 open at two-thirds of its height ; a wire-cloth separates the upper third portion from the 
 other two, forming the interior partition of the chamber through which the grating extends. 
 The front partition of this chamber is provided with hinges, in order to light the burners. 
 The plates are placed in the lower open portion, resting on the bottom. The varnish dries 
 rapidly and the wire-cloth prevents the volatilized alcohol from taking fire. With an ap- 
 paratus of this kind it is possible to varnish very rapidly a great number of prints. Nothing 
 more remains to be done than to trim them and stick as usual. Care must be taken, how- 
 ever, to avoid destroying, in a measure, the appearance of the varnish by the swelling of the 
 paper, to not wet it too much with the paste, and especially to not allow it to remain too long 
 a time with the back covered with paste before mounting. After drying, polish as has been 
 explained above. To avoid gelatinizing, we might, after the prints are sufficiently dry, 
 pass them separately over the surface of a liquid thus composed: 
 
 "Water, ........ 500 grammea (16 Troy ozs.) 
 
 Borax, 130 " ( 4 " 1 dr.) 
 
 White Gum-Lac, 100 " ( .S " 2 drs.) 
 
 Carbonate of Soda, 6 " ( 1 i " ) 
 
 Dissolve the borax and carbonate of soda in boiling water, and add the white gum-lac by 
 small bits; filter with care. The prints passed in this bath, when cold, are stuck in pairs, 
 back to back, on strips having points for the purpose, and when dry they may be varnished 
 with the aid of heat. In this manner there is nothing on the surface of the image but gum- 
 lac, without the interposition of an organic matter, such as gelatin, liable to become soft by 
 dampness, to mould and injure the paper, and consequently the image that it carries. In 
 winter it is best to wet with the gum-lac in a rather warm room, and the bath itself should be 
 
332 WILSON'S PHOTOGKAPHICS. 
 
 362. The fugitiveness of silver salt prints, such as have been considered 
 in Lessons M to S and W, has compelled a great deal of research and 
 experiment to find a process by which unfading prints could be made. 
 The carbon process has had a long trial, but has not succeeded in getting 
 much of a foothold. The Woodburytype process is a most ingenious one, 
 
 kept at an average temperature of from 15° to 20° C. (59° to 68° F.). It is also possible to 
 stop the pores of the paper, which is to be varnished, by a slight parchmentizing. To do this, 
 prepare a mixture, cold, composed of 
 
 Water, 1 part. 
 
 Sulphuric AciJ, 2 parts. 
 
 The sheets are immersed for a very few moments in this mixture, and then rapidly plunged 
 into a great quantity of cold water. To completely neutralize the effect of the acid, wash- 
 ing may be finished in a dish containing water to which a small quantity of ammonia has 
 been added. To avoid cockling, the parchmeuted paper should bo dried under pressure, or 
 by stretching the sheets upon frames. This mode of preparing the paper may suit in certain 
 cases owing to the diaphanous appearance whic^ it gives to the paper — very pleasing in 
 some kinds < f prints. Care must be taken to avoid pushing too far the action of the acid. 
 It is sufficient to obtain the effect on the surface of the paper. The varnish will always re. 
 main on the parchmented surface, but it should be put on whilst the image is stretched, so 
 that the heat necessary for the varnishing should not cookie the prints and render them 
 unfit for mounting.— Leon Vidal. 
 
 362. The instructions fur working the platinotype process are given now in detail. A 
 general description of the process is not necessary. It is in brief as follows : The sensitized 
 paper, containing only salts of iron and platinum, is exposed under a negative or in the s61ar 
 camera in the usual manner; it is then floated for two or three seconds on a hot solution 
 of oxalate of potash ; after this it is washed in a weak solution of acid, and finally in water. 
 
 Sensitizing. — This operation is a very important one, and upon it the success of the 
 printing mostly depends. Failures are in most cases referable to errors in sensitizing. Sen- 
 sitizing should be conducted in a room lighted by a yellow or very feeble white light, or by 
 gas. For contact printing the sensitizer is made by dissolving sixty grains of the platinum 
 salt in one ounce of the iron solution. To facilitate the solution, stir with a glass rod until all 
 is dissolved. Use as soon as made, otherwise decomposition is likely to occur, especially in 
 warm weather. As a rule, the solution will keep good for half an hour. Sensitizing solutions 
 which have decomposed give flat prints with impure whites. For contact work on the smooth 
 18x22 inch paper, a little less than two drachms of the sensitizer is sufficient to coat a sheet. 
 The paper should be placed face upwards on the special glass topped table and secured there 
 by the side springs. A little less than two drachms of the sensitizer should be put on the 
 middle of the sheet; it should then be spread over the surface in as even a manner as possible 
 by the special squeegee. For contact work on the sized rough paper, the same quantity of 
 the sensitizer may be employed, but the coating is better distributed by means of a small pad 
 of flannel made soft-by a tuft of cotton placed inside. As soon as sensitized, the paper should 
 be hung up by two corners until the moisture has disappeared from its surface ; this should 
 take ten minutes ; it should then be made perfectly dry by warming before a fire or stove. 
 (It is of the utmost importance that the paper be made thoroughly dry.) Sufficient time 
 
PHOTOTYPES, PLATINOTYPES, ETC. 333 
 
 but has also failed to meet the requirements of the every-day printer. 
 The salts of platinum have been tried and found of much service, and so 
 directions are given below for the practice of his method with platinum, 
 by Mr. W. Willis, Jr., the inventor and patentee. 
 
 should elapse between the sensitizing and drying. If the paper be dried too soon, some of the 
 image will float offin the developing bath. On the other hand, if it be not dried, say within 
 twelve minutes after sensitizing, there will frequently be a tendency to flatness, and the image 
 will probably be too much sunk in. When the air is very dry, it is necessary to create a 
 moist atmosphere in the sensitizing room by watering the floor or walls, in order to prevent 
 the paper from becoming too rapidly surface dry. A damp cupboard or damping-box may 
 be used for this purpose. For solar work and for prints to be flnished in crayon, ink, water- 
 color, or pastel, the sensitizer is made by dissolving forty grains of platinum salt in one 
 ounce of the iron solution. Use at once. Three drachms of the sensitizer are sufficient to coat 
 a 25x30 inch sheet. The paper should be placed on a plate of glass and held in position by 
 clips. The sensitizer should be applied to the sheet, by a tuft of clean cotton wool, in as even 
 a manner as possible. When the sheet has been sensitized, it should be allowed to become 
 surface dry and then be perfectly ^Avied^ before a fire or stove or in a hot drying cupboard. 
 For solar work five to eight minutes are sufficient for drying. To prevent streaks and stains, 
 the flannel should be removed from the squeegee as soon as sensitizing is completed, and 
 washed in the clearing solution and then in water; flannel pads must' be treated in like 
 manner ; tufts of cotton employed for solar work should be discarded and fresh ones taken 
 every fifteen minutes; sensitizing tables must be kept perfectly clean. 
 
 ExposuBB. — The correct exposure is ascertained by inspection of the paper in a very weak 
 light in the usual manner. As a general rule, the exposure is complete when the detail in the 
 high-lights become^ faintly visible. A? soon as exposed, the print should be placed in a tin 
 can containing a little dry chloride of calcium, to preserve it from moisture until developed. 
 
 Detklopmknt. — Development should be conducted in a feeble white light or gas-light. 
 It may be proceeded with immediately after the print is exposed, or more, conveniently at 
 the end of Ibe day's printing. The developer is made by dissolving one hundred and thirty 
 grains of oxalate of potash in each ounce of water. A large quantity of this solution may 
 be made up. It will keep indefinitely. The solution should be made faintly acid by oxalic 
 acid. Contact prints are developed by floating the printed surface for a few seconds on this 
 developing solution, which ia conveniently contained in aflat-bottom dish of enamelled iron 
 or porcelain, supported on an Iron tripod. A Bunsen burner, with rose-top to spread the 
 flame, forms the best means for supplying the heat ; or a spirit lamp may be used. A tem- 
 perature varying between 170° and 180° P. is the standard temperature for the developer. 
 For prints on rough paper. It Is better to stir up the developer between each development to 
 destroy any scum which may form. To develop large solar prints, a V-shaped earthenware 
 or enamelled iron trough should be used. The developer should be heated in tMs trough by 
 a row of small gas jets placed underneath, or by any other convenient device. The print is 
 developed by being slowly and steadily drawn through the liquid at the bottom of the trough; 
 it is held under the surface of the liquid by a heavy glass rod ;. this glass rod revolves as the 
 print is drawn under it. 
 
 , Cleabino and Washing. — The developed prints must be washed in two baths of a weak 
 solution of citric acid to clear them. This solution, is made by dissolving one-ounce of citric 
 
334 
 
 WILSON'S PHOTOGKAPHICS. 
 
 363. In some parts of Europe, and to a more limited degree in America, 
 pictures known as " collodion transfers " (given also the trade name of 
 " megatype ") have been introduced with some success. A negative is 
 made in the usual way, and from it an enlarged collodion positive is made, 
 the film of which is transferred to a sheet of gelatinized paper, usually, and 
 finished in India-ink or oil-color. Without being thus finished, unless 
 delicately toned, they are gray and linpleasing in color, and have no 
 quality to recommend them. 
 
 acid in thirty ounces of water. As soon as developed, the prints should he immersed face 
 downwards in the first hath of acid, and after they have remained in it for about ten 
 minutes they should he removed to the second h^th, in which thoy should remain another 
 ten minutes. The first bath may be used for two hatches of prints. The second acid-bath 
 must always be fresh. This bath may be used again as the first hath for a succeeding batch 
 of prints. On no account should the prints be placed in plain water on leaving the developer. 
 After the prints have passed through the two changes of acid, they should be rapidly rinsed, 
 and then well washed in two or three changes of water during about half an hour. They 
 are then finished. The object of this washing in acid and water is to remove the iron salt 
 with which the paper is sensitized. 
 
 Pbecatjtions against Damp. — To' secure the most brilliant results, the sensitized paper 
 before, during, and after its exposure to light, should be kept as dry as possible. It is of the 
 first importance that the printing-frames :and pads he quite dry. Between the sensitized 
 paper and the pads a thin sheet of vulcanized India-rubber maybe placed with great ad- 
 vantage. The effect of damp is seen in a want of vigor, a general muddiness of tone, and, 
 where the sensitized paper has been exposed to its influence for some days, in the impaired 
 purity of the whites. Paper in a damp state takes much longer to print than dry paper. 
 
 363. The principle is just the same as that of the reflecting solar camera without the 
 
 reflector or condenser. A long-focus objective is, perhaps, the best for full figures. The 
 
 Fig. 109. camera-hox should be about fifteen inches 
 
 .square and eighteen inches long. Pig. 109 
 
 will make it plainer. F is a board fifteen 
 
 inches long, to which the box is fastened; 
 
 .,^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ ^^_ ^ is the easel, which slides on the board to 
 
 ajS^IS^^m^^^^^^^^^^^UKl^^tli °^ from the lens, according to the size you 
 
 "'■ ■"■■'^'^^^^^^^^^^^ ni^^B want to enlarge ; B is a rod of wood, or iron 
 
 is better, which is fastened to the carrier 
 inside the box, into which you slide your 
 negative. You focus (after your easel is far 
 enough away to give the size you want) by 
 moving the negative-rack by means of the 
 rod B to or from the lens inside, until your 
 image is sharp on a glass covered with white 
 paper, placed on a ledge on the easel j remove this glass, and place your sensitized plate in 
 the same place, and time about one minute, or according to the density of youT negative ; of 
 course, there must be no white light in the room. — J. H. Folsom. 
 
PHOTOTYPES, PLATINOTYPES, ETC. 335 
 
 364. Artificial light may be used by those who have a magic lantern 
 at their service and not enough time while the sun shines to do the work. 
 The ordinary bath may be used, though it is just as well to reserve a bath 
 for this use only. Not that it is necessary in order to improve the trans- 
 
 364. My transfers are made upon waxed glass developed with iron, not toned, and fixed 
 with cyanide of potassium, transferred upon albumenized or gelatinized paper, according to 
 the results required ; the results are very clean, the tone a warm purple black, richer and 
 brighter than I have ever got by a process which requires toning. The glass upon which 
 the enlargement is made should be very perfect, without bubbles or scratches, waxed in the 
 same manner as for carbon printing by double transfer, coated with an old ripe collodion, 
 and sensitized in an old acid bath. The developer should be weak in iron, and strong in 
 acid, both acetic and citric being used. "With an excess of acetic acid a very warm tone 
 can be obtained, but there is a loss of brilliancy ; with excess of citric acid more brilliancy 
 is obtained, but the tone is cold blue-black; in fact, a nice adjustment of the two is required 
 to give just the proper amount of warmth without sacrificing brilliancy. It is mostly 
 recommended to fix with hyposulphite, but I prefer to use cyanide, as it is so much easier to 
 wash away, and any hyposulphite remaining in the print after transferring will, of course, 
 cause fading. Do not develop fully, as you will find the development go on while washing. 
 If albumen paper is to be used for transferring, it should be cut to the size of the plate, 
 placed in a, bath of methylated spirit for five minutes, laid upon the still wet collodion 
 picture, and squeezed down. When dry, it will peel. If gelatinized paper is used, it must 
 be soaked in warm water, and applied in the same manner. — Georgk Ckottghtou. 
 
 lODIZERS FOR TrAKSFER OoLLODION.— 
 
 1. — Iodide of Ammonium, ......... Ingrains. 
 
 Iodide of Cadmium, . . ^ " 
 
 Bromide of Ammonium, ^ grain. 
 
 Bromide of Cadmium, i " 
 
 Chloride of Ammonium, 1 '* 
 
 2, — Iodide of Ammonium, . . 2^ grains. 
 
 Bromide of Ammonium, ]J " 
 
 Iodide of Potassium, i grain. 
 
 Bromide of Potassium, i " 
 
 Chloride of Ammonium, i " 
 
 3. — Iodide of Ammonium, If grains. 
 
 Bromide of Ammonium, I '' 
 
 Iodide of Cadmium, I " 
 
 Bromide of Cadmium, . . \ " 
 
 Chloride of Ammonium, i " 
 
 One ounce of the collodion should contain any of the above formulae. If the addition of, 
 say, to thirty ounces of iodized collodion of No. I formula one drop of aqua regia be added, 
 it will be found to answer admirably for opals. Methylated ether answers all requirements 
 for this class of work, but it is much better to use alcohol than methylated alcohol, as many 
 of the defects met with in the manipulation are mainly due to the injurious effects produced 
 by methylated alcohol in the nitrate bath. 
 Collodion. — Six grains of cotton to each ounce of ether and alcohol in the following two 
 
336 WILSON'S PHOTOGRAPHIOS. 
 
 fers, but is better for the other work. Any good, rather old collodion 
 will ansM'er that will give fine details and not too violent contrasts. The 
 plates must be carefully cleansed and prepared. 
 
 proportions : Two parts of alcohol and one part of ether in hot weather, and equal parts in 
 cold weather. 
 
 The nitrate bath should not exceed twenty-five grains to the ounce of water, but will work 
 well down to fifteen grains, and should be rather acid with nitric acid. In working, the 
 most troublesome defects are white spots, black spots, and white streaks. The first are 
 caused by the bath being saturated with iodide, etc., and can be remedied by adding to the 
 bath one-third of its fluid bulk of plain water, filtering, and strengthening again to bring it 
 to its proper strength. The second are caused, sometimes, by the bath being too strong for 
 the collodion, and may be reduced. If that does not answer, add a little plain collodion to 
 the collodion in use, and should this fail, try one drop of nitric acid to every twenty ounces 
 of iodized collodion, adding at the same time a drop or two more of nitric acid to the silver 
 bath; One or other of the above will invariably answer. White streaks are, like the first, 
 due to the same cause, and will often appear in a new bath. In this case, add a little more 
 iodide.to the bath, filter, and add slightly more nitric acid. 
 
 Dkvblopek. — 
 
 Pyrogallio Acid, 3 grains. 
 
 Citric Acid, 6 "' 
 
 "Water, ' . 1 ounce. 
 
 Methylated spirits to rec[uireinent. 
 The above is for hot weather. 
 
 Pyrogallio Acid, . . 3 grains. 
 
 Citric Acid, . . . 2 " 
 
 Water, ............ 1 ounce. 
 
 Methylated spirits as required. 
 
 This is for cold weather. Use Schering's pyro. The best results have been obtained by 
 taking one ounce of pyro, dissolving it in boiling water, and adding the necessary citric acid 
 to it, using this as a stock solution in the same proportions as above. 
 
 Development, although so simple, is probably the cause of many failures or objectionable 
 results which are too often attributed to other causes. In very few processes can so great 
 a latitude of over-exposure be kept under during development as in this. Take an ordinary 
 square block of wood, nail a piece of thick leather at each corner, and the block can be 
 levelled by the use of a few wooden wedges placed as wanted. If the plate exposed be placed 
 upon this and is perfectly level, take care, in flowing on the developing fluid, not to wash 
 off the free silver ; or, in other words, to spill the developer from off the plate. The solution 
 is left on the plate, and if it has been properly exposed, the image, after one or two minutes, 
 will gradually appear if the negative was thin and weak. As soon as all the Image has been 
 perceived faintly, then proceed as follows : Pour off all the developer, and rock the plate to 
 and fro. This will give a brilliant, strong, and clean image ; whereas, if the whole liquid 
 had been retained, the resulting effect would resemble the negative— that is, weak and flat; 
 but should the negative be one in every respect suitable for enlarging,it is only necessary to 
 watch the plate on the block and cut off a little sooner than the requisite force h&s arrived, 
 as witlh the- greatest rapidity of washing the developing action goes on slightly after the 
 
PHOTOTYPES, PLATINOTYPES, ETC. 337 
 
 365. After the enlarged positive is made, it is, as has been already- 
 stated, transferred to paper, or it may be some other substance, such as 
 glass, wood, porcelain, metal, or fabrics. This operation is a very easy 
 one, and resembles that described for making the glace prints in Lesson 
 S. Of course there is room here, too, for care and thought, and failures 
 will occur until some experience is had. 
 
 water is on. Great pains should be taken to be sure that no-tface of the pyro is left on the 
 surface before fixing, otherwise, the hyposulphite solution is rapidly discolored, and, of course, 
 the plates fixed in a discolored solution cannot remain so clear and bright as in a perfectly 
 fresh fixing bath. 
 
 Fixing Solution. — Use rather strong hyposulphite of soda. After fixing, it is again 
 very necessary to wash well, and it is advisable, even after a very prolonged washing, to take 
 the following precaution: In a weak solution of permanganate of potash immerse the plate, 
 allow it to remain a few minutes, and then wash well afterwards. — X. Y. Z. 
 
 Any bath and collodion that works clear in the shadows will do ; the collodion should be 
 old, and the bath quite acid ; the bath must be as weak as it will work with the collodion — 
 we get the best results at about twenty-five grains. The developer must be pyro ; a good one 
 Is as follows : 
 
 Water, 1 ounce. 
 
 Pyrogallio Acid, . 5 grains. 
 
 Citric Acid, 3 " 
 
 Acetic Acid, . i drachm. 
 
 Alcohol if necessary to make flow smooth. The positive should be timed so as to develop 
 quite slowly ; do not develop too far, or the whites will not be clear. It is not necessary to 
 wash after developing; place in hypo and let it fix ; but I wash a little, so as to keep in the 
 habit, as, in using the iron developer, they must he washed; after fixing, they must be well 
 washed, but be careful, or the film will loosen, the plate not being albumenized. To prepare 
 the plate, polish with alcohol and water, then rub with a solution of wax, five grains ; benzole, 
 one ounce ; this is necessary to enable you to strip the film off after it is dry. — J. H. Folsom. 
 
 365. After your transparency is fixed and well washed, your gelatinized paper (which, in 
 the meantime, has been soaking in cold water a few minutes) is laid carefully on the 
 collodion film, the water and air are squeezed out with a squeegee, not pressing too hard, the 
 surplus edge of paper is cut off, and the whole left to dry, when, by cutting along the edge, 
 a thin knife may be inserted under the corner, and the film stripped from the glass. To 
 gelatinize the paper, dissolve by heat two ounces of gelatin to a quart of water ; keep hot, 
 and float the paper about three minutes and hang up to dry, when it is ready for use. Heavy 
 Saxe plain paper will do, but there is a cheaper paper which is as good, or better, for this 
 purpose, which you can get at any paper warehouse; the paper must be gelatined in cold 
 weather or in the evening, or it will run ; a large quantity can be prepared, as it will keep. — 
 J. H. Folsom. 
 
 Gelatin TBANsrEK Paper. — Plain Saxe or Ki ves floated on a solution of ordinary gelatin ; 
 
 Gelatin, 10 ounces. 
 
 Water, 1 gallon. 
 
 Chrome-Alum, .......... ^ ounce. 
 
 Float a minute and a half, and hang up in a room of any temperature not lowen than 65°. 
 22 
 
338 WILSON'S PHOTOGRAPHIOS. 
 
 366. The coloring upon the collodion transfer must be rapidly done, 
 since the price at which they are sold in the market is extremely low. 
 They are usually done in oil, and certainly he or she or it who colors them 
 must be an illy-paid expert. The finest results are obtained by the use of 
 crayon or India-ink, and when that is used the matter is not so difficult. 
 
 This will keep two months, or even for any length of time, by slightly increasing the amount 
 (if chrome-alum. To make it become attached to the plate it requires simply to be floated, 
 face downwards, in water a short time previous to use, and squeegeed on as usual. The 
 glasses for use can be cleaned in any way preferred, and then dusted on with talc, and the 
 talc polished with a nice, clean, and thoroughly-dry leather. If the leather be damp, do not 
 expect the paper to peel off the plate. Should, after all has been completed, the picture 
 refuse to peel off the glass, add a few drops of glacial acetic acid to some water, and steep the 
 back of the paper with this; it will readily peel afterwards. In hot weather it is often a 
 good precautii n to add one or two drops of glacial acetic acid to every pint of collodion ; this 
 is the best remedy against sticking. — X. Y. Z. 
 
 I prefer the " lime" or oxyhydrogen light for the lime, as it is of a fixed quantity; it soon 
 pays for itself in preventing loss from under- or over-exposure. You have only to find the 
 right time once and then go on forever, making only a little difference according to the 
 density of the negative; whereas, if you use the solar light, the exposure may vary from a 
 few seconds to any number of minutes. I use the mixfed jet and keep the gases in galvanized 
 iron tanks, in which the gas never goes bad. It is a pleasure to be able to make an enlarge- 
 ment at a few minutes' notice with certainty — night or day, of course, not making anv 
 difference. About one minute and a half's exposure in the lantern will be found sufficient 
 using the following developer : 
 
 Pyrogallio Acid, 40 grains. 
 
 Citric Acid, 20 " 
 
 Acetic Acid, 30 minims. 
 
 ^'iaohol, quant, suff. 
 
 ^ater. 10 ounces. 
 
 One and a half ounces will cover a twelve by ten plate. As soon as the plate is well covered 
 pour off the excess, and begin to wash as soon as the image appears as you would like to see 
 it when finished. Fix in a dish of hypo, wash well, and proceed to make another if you 
 require it. — A. Philbukn. 
 
 366. After the film is transferred to the paper, mounted upon stout card and rolled well, 
 shake fine pumice-powder, sifted through two thicknesses of fine muslin, all over it, and with 
 a light circular motion rub evenly all over till an even mat surface is obtained ; wipe off all 
 pumice-powder with a clean, soft linen rag. Now take one of Eowney 's ever-pointed pencils, 
 H, HB, and BB. With the BB strengthen all the dark touches— pupils of the eyes, line of 
 eyelash, eyebrows, hair and drapery, etc. ; with the H and HB mend all the patches in the face, 
 and graduate all the shadows, working between the breaks in the photograph. If the operator 
 cannot draw, it is best left at this; if he can, any amount of finish can be obtained— the 
 whole face can be highly stippled with the pencil, the drapery hatcheii, and some bold 
 hatching over the shoulders and upon the background will greatly add to the effect ; but it is 
 astonishing how much effect can be obtained upon a good, soft transfer with just the few bold 
 firm touches with the BB, and the mending with the H and HB pencil.— Gborgb Crouqhton 
 
LESSON Y. 
 
 WASTES AND THEIR WORTH. 
 
 367. So mucli of the precious metals is used in photography that it is 
 important to guard against waste as much as possible. This waste occurs 
 in two ways : First, by attempting to sensitize both collodion plates and 
 paper without a knowledge of the strength of the solution used, thus 
 wasting raw material ; and, secondly, by allowing used solutions to run 
 down the sink, and by throwing away scraps of silvered paper which 
 could be burned, the ashes saved, and the silver obtained from them in 
 
 367. The method known as " volumetric analysis," applied to testing silver solutions in 
 the usual way, requires the use of a burette graduated into cubic centimetres — a piece of 
 apparatus easily broken, and which is hardly adapted to the wants of the ordinary dark- 
 room, but, as the principle upon which it depends is extremely simple, the following modi- 
 fication of the process is offered, which it is thought will come within the practical working of 
 almost every photographic laboratory. Before describing the method, it will be well to briefly 
 explain to those not familiar with volumetric analysis the principle involved. When a solution 
 of salt (sodium chloride) is added to a nitrate of silver solution, chloride of silver is formed, 
 which, being insoluble, is precipitated at the same time the sodium nitrate (the other prod- 
 uct of the decomposition) goes into solution. Sixty grains of sodium chloride are required 
 to precipitate one hundred and seventy grains of nitrate of silver. If, therefore, one ounce 
 of water held in solution one hundred and seventy grains of nitrate of silver, it would re- 
 quire just sixty grains of salt to precipitate all the silver as chloride ; or, should the one 
 ounce of water contain one-half the quantity of nitrate of silver (eighty-five grains dis- 
 solved), then thirty, grains of salt would be required to effect the complete precipitation. 
 From this it will be seen that the quantity of salt required to precipitate a silver solution 
 depends upon the quantity of silver dissolved ; and, therefore, to learn how much silver is 
 held in solution, it is only necessary to find out how much salt is required to completely pre- 
 cipitate it. For this purpose a standard solution of salt is made, a given quantity of which 
 will represent so many grains of nitrate of silver. The simple process suggested, based 
 upon this well-known principle, is as follows : 
 
 First procure a one-ounce graduate, marked off in drachms ; also one sixteen-ounce nar- 
 row-mouth, corked bottle, and one eight-ounce narrow-mouth, glass-stoppered bottle; this is 
 all the apparatus required. Next take an ounce or more of common salt, and dry it in a 
 clean dish over a gentle heat for an hour or more, until the little moisture it contains is 
 driven off. When the salt is thus well dried and cool, weigh out exactly ninety grains on a 
 piece of paper, and pour it into the sixteen-ounce bottle, taking care not to spill any ; then 
 add exactly fifteen ounces of water, common water will answer, but distilled or clean rain- 
 
 ( 339) 
 
340 WILSON'S PHOTOGEAPHICS. 
 
 the crucible. It is therefore important that the photographer should 
 know how to test the strength of his solutions, and how to save himself 
 from loss by wastage. There are several ways of coming at the first, but 
 the volumetric method is the best, and a simple means is given by a dis- 
 
 water is much better. Cork the bottle and shake it well until all the salt is dissolved. Label 
 the bottle, "Standard salt solution for testing silver baths. Formula: Ninety grains of 
 salt ; fifteen ounces of water. Each drachm of solution represents two grains of nitrate of 
 silver." Now, in order to make the test, proceed as follows: Measure out exactly half an 
 ounce of the silver solution (the strength of which you wish to ascertain) and pour it into 
 the eight-ounce bottle ; rinse out the graduate twice, with about half an ounce of water each 
 time, and pour these washings into the bottle with the half ounce of silver solution. Nowadd 
 a few drops of pure nitric acid to the bottle, in order to render it decidedly acid to litmus- 
 paper. Next pour into the graduate exactly one ounce of the standard salt solution, and add 
 it gradually, a drachm at a tiaie, to the bottle containing the silver solution. Put the stopper 
 in, and shake violently for a few moments ; the salt 'solution will precipitate the silver as 
 chloride, and the shaking will cause the liquid to settle clear ; add another drachm of salt 
 solution, and shake as before ; go on doing this until the silver solution begins to look 
 milky after the addition of a drachm of standard solution, and does not settle out clear. This 
 is the critical point, as nearly all the silver has been precipitated, and a very small quantity 
 of the salt solution will now effect the complete precipitation. Add the solution now, a few 
 drops at a time, shaking well after each addition ; and when the test-liquid in the bottle no 
 longer shows a cloudiness after the last addition , the operation is completed. To ascertain 
 now the strength of the silver bath, it is only necessary to bear in mind how many drachms 
 of the standard solution have beeji used in the operation. Suppose, for instance, it took ex- 
 actly seven drachms of the salt solution to effect the complete precipitation, as each drachm 
 represents two grains of nitrate of silver, seven drachms equal fourteen grains to the half 
 ounce, or twenty-eight grains to the ounce. If the test is always made with half an ounce 
 of bath, the number of drachms of standard solution multiplied by four will give the num- 
 ber of grains of nitrate of silver to the fluid ounce. Should it be found, in another case, 
 eight drachms (one ounce) were not sufficient to throw down all the silver as chloride, then 
 another ounce of standard solution is measured out and added, in fractions of a drachm at a 
 time, until the desired result is attained. If in this case nine and a half drachms precipitate 
 all the silver, then nine and a half multiplied by four equals thirty-eight, or thirty-eight 
 grains of nitrate of silver to the ounce of bath. In order to obtain accurate results, two 
 tests should be made— the first will give an idea about how much' standard solution will be 
 required for the operation ; then the second test must be made with care at the end of the 
 trial, adding the salt solution in portions of a few drops only at a time. As it is quite possi- 
 ble to read down to a quarter of a drachm on the graduate, the strength of the bath may be 
 ascertained, at least within one or two grains to the ounce. There are a few points which 
 if observed, will add to the accuracy of the results : 1. In the first test, add the salt solution^ 
 half a drachm at a time, until the number of drachms required Is known. In the second 
 test, the standard solution may be added in greater quantity, until within a few drachms of 
 the critical point ; after that is reached add it only by drops, shaking well after each addi- 
 tion. 2. In order to drop the salt solution neatly, so that none of it runs down under the 
 lip of the graduate (which would occasion loss and vitiate the results of the experiment) 
 
WASTES AND THEIR WOKTH. 
 
 341 
 
 tinguished chemist in the note appended. As to the saving of wastes, 
 only a few practical hints will be given, since your dealer or chemist will 
 supply you in pamphlet form, free, with much more elaborate instructions 
 than comes within the reach of this work to give. 
 
 rub a little soft wax or tallow just under the lip, up to the pouring edge ; by this means the 
 liquid may be dropped without any danger of spilling. 3. In order to read the graduate 
 correctly place it upon a level table, and have the sight upon a line with the markings. 
 Owing to the adhesion of the liquid to the glass, it rises on the sides a little above the 
 true level, and the readings should be made between the two liquid surfaces. — Gboesb 
 Bbinton Phillips. 
 
 To convert chloride of silver into a metallic state, procure a porous earthenware tube, such 
 as is used in galvanic batteries ; make a zinc cylinder to enter it, leaving a small space 
 around it; to the zinc cylinder must be soldered a piece of silver wire; the Fig. 110. 
 
 chloride to be converted is introduced into a large jar, the porous vase is 
 made to stand upon the surface of the chloride, and the silver wire is bent in 
 such a manner that it lies at the bottom of the jar in the middle of the chloride. 
 The jar is then filled with acidulated water, which passing through the pores 
 of the tube attacks the zinc and creates an electric current; the. silver in a 
 pure metallic state deposits itself round the silver wire. The jar must be kept 
 in a warm place, and not touched until every atom of chloride is converted. 
 A, jar; B, chloride of silver; c, porous vase; D, zinc cylinder; K, silver wire. 
 When terminated, it is not even necessary to melt the product in a crucible ; 
 it can be dissolved in nitric acid and crystallized. — E. Stebbinq. 
 
 Almost every photographer has some special way of his own for saving silver from the 
 developing solution, but I doubt if a more primitive or effectual plan has ever been hit upon 
 than one adopted by a photographer, of no mean reputation, that I met during my travels 
 this summer. The whole apparatus was nothing more than an old felt hat without holes, 
 arranged upon a frame of four sticks over the developing tray, similar to a funnel. Plates 
 were developed into the hat, which, from the porous condition of the felt, allowed all the 
 solution to filter slowly through, but not before all of the silver had been precipitated by the 
 continued action of the iron. After a season's work, the hat was burned and the silver re- 
 covered. Simple as well as effective appliances are what photographers desire, and this cer- 
 tainly deserves a trial, even at the sacrifice of an old felt hat. — J. C. Browne. 
 
 The greater part of photographers' residues are in the form of chloride of silver, which 
 should be put dry into a large bottle, and a certain quantity of ordinary ammonia be poured 
 upon them, and well shaken up every now and then. The ammonia will dissolve all the 
 chloride. When the ammonia is saturated, decant it, and even filter it, and set it apart. 
 Pour fresh ammonia upon the residues until all the chloride is dissolved out. It can easily 
 be seen if the ammonia contains chloride by the following test : Take a test-tube, pour a few 
 drops into it, then a little distilled water ; pour into it a few. drops of hydrochloric acid, 
 and a heavy precipitate will he the result if it contains chloride of silver. When all the 
 chloride has been dissolved out, put the ammonia into a large-mouth jar containing plates 
 of sheet-copper. In a very short time the chloride will be reduced to a metallic state. It is 
 then put into a crucible and melted. It can now be converted into nitrate of silver, which 
 will be very pure and give excellent results. — E. Stebbinq. 
 
T 
 
 
 iT* - / 
 
 t^ 
 
 lesso:n' z. 
 
 METRICAL MEASURING. 
 
 368. Had the publication of this work been delayed, say two years 
 longer, perhaps it would then be possible to ignore the old systems of 
 weights and measures entirely, and substitute those after the metrical system 
 in their place. To do it now, would have caused an outcry against it, and 
 a great deal of inconvenience beside. Hence the old system has been 
 largely adhered to. But to be at least alongside with the tendency of the 
 age, the following tables have been carefully prepared to enable Ameri- 
 can photographers to convert foreign photographic formulae into such 
 weights and measures as they are familiar with. 
 
 Table for Convoseting Cubic Centimetres into Fluid Ounces, Fluid Drachms, 
 
 AND Minims. 
 
 Cubic 
 
 
 Fluid 
 
 Fluid 
 
 
 
 Cubic 
 
 Fluid 
 
 Fluid 
 
 
 Centimetres, Ounces. Drachms. Minims. 
 
 Centimetres. 
 
 Ounces. 
 
 Drachms. 
 
 Minims 
 
 1= . . . 
 
 16 
 
 35= . 
 
 
 1 
 
 . 28 
 
 2 = 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 . 32 
 
 40= . 
 
 
 2 
 
 . 49 
 
 3 = 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 . 49 
 
 45= . 
 
 
 4 
 
 . 10 
 
 4 = 
 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 5 
 
 50= . 
 
 
 5 
 
 . 31 
 
 5 = 
 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 21 
 
 55= . 
 
 
 6 
 
 . 52 
 
 6 = 
 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 37 
 
 60= . 
 
 2 . 
 
 
 
 . 14 
 
 7 = 
 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 54 
 
 65= . 
 
 2 . 
 
 1 
 
 . 36 
 
 8 = 
 
 
 
 
 2 
 
 
 10 
 
 70= . 
 
 2 . 
 
 2 
 
 . 56 
 
 9 = 
 
 
 
 
 2 
 
 
 26 
 
 75= ■. 
 
 2 . 
 
 4 
 
 . 13 
 
 10 = 
 
 
 
 
 2 
 
 
 42 
 
 80= . 
 
 2 . 
 
 5 
 
 38 
 
 15 = 
 
 
 
 
 4 
 
 
 8 
 
 85= . 
 
 2 . 
 
 7 
 
 
 20 = 
 
 
 
 
 5 
 
 
 25 
 
 90= . 
 
 3 . 
 
 
 
 . 20 
 
 25 = 
 
 
 
 . . 
 
 6 
 
 
 46 
 
 95= . 
 
 8 . 
 
 1 
 
 . 42 
 
 30 = 
 
 
 1 . 
 
 
 
 
 7 
 
 100= . 
 
 3 . 
 
 3 
 
 3 
 
 
 
 
 lOO 
 
 c.c. = 
 
 Ih 
 
 tre = 84 i 
 
 1. oz. nearly, or 
 
 2J pints. 
 
 
 
 EULES rOR OONVER'^'ING THE CENTIGRADE ScALE INTO THE FAHRENHEIT ScALE.— If 
 
 above the freezing point of water (32°), degrees X 9 ^- 5 + 32. 
 If below the freezing point and above zero, 32— (degrees X 9 ^ 5). 
 If below zero, — (degrees X 9 -^- 5). 
 ( 342 ) 
 
METKICAL MEASUKING. 
 
 343 
 
 Eklatiok of Metrical Weights to Trot "Weight. 
 
 Metrical 
 
 Weights. 
 
 Milligrammes. 
 
 1 = 
 
 2 = 
 
 3 = 
 
 4 = 
 
 5 = 
 
 Centigrammes. 
 
 1 = 
 
 2 = 
 
 3 = 
 
 4 = 
 
 5 = 
 
 6 = 
 
 7 = 
 
 8 = 
 
 9 = 
 10 = 
 20 = 
 30 = 
 40 = 
 50 = 
 60 = 
 70 = 
 80 = 
 90 = 
 
 100 = 
 
 Equivalents 
 in Grains. 
 
 .0154 . 
 .0308 . 
 .0463 . 
 .0617 . 
 .0771 . 
 .0926 . 
 .1080 . 
 .1234 . 
 .1389 . 
 
 .1543 . 
 
 .3086 . 
 
 .4630 . 
 
 .6173 . 
 
 .7717 . 
 
 .9260 . 
 
 1.0803 . 
 
 1.2347 . 
 
 1.3890 . 
 
 1.543 ' . 
 
 3.086 ■ 
 
 4.630 . 
 
 6.173 . 
 
 7.717 . 
 
 9.260 . 
 
 10.803 . 
 
 12.347 . 
 
 13.890 . 
 
 15.433 . 
 
 Equivalents 
 in Grains. 
 
 
 TT 
 1 
 
 
 1 
 
 li 
 
 H 
 
 3 
 
 4i 
 6 
 
 n 
 
 9 
 11 
 
 12i 
 14 
 
 15J 
 
 Metrical 
 
 Weights. 
 
 Grammes, 
 
 1 = 
 
 2 = 
 
 3 = 
 
 4 = 
 
 Equivalents 
 in Grains. Drm. Grs. Oz. Drm. Grs. 
 
 15J = . . 
 31 = .. 
 46 = .. 
 62 = 1 
 
 = 77J = 1 17J 
 
 6 
 
 7 
 
 8 
 
 9 
 
 10 
 
 11 
 
 12 
 
 13 
 
 14 
 
 15 
 
 16 
 
 17 
 
 18 
 
 19 
 
 20 
 
 30 
 
 40 
 
 50 
 
 60 
 
 70 
 
 80 
 
 90 
 
 100 
 
 1000 
 
 92J = 1 
 
 108 = 1 
 
 123J = 2 
 
 139 = 2 
 
 154J = 2 
 
 32J 
 48 
 
 H 
 19 
 34J 
 
 = 169J = 2 49J 
 
 = 185 = 3 
 
 = 200 = 3 
 
 = 216 = 3 
 
 = 231 = 3 
 
 = :246J = , 4 
 
 = 262 = 4 
 
 = 277 = 4 
 
 293 
 
 308J 
 
 462J 
 
 6 
 20 
 36 
 51 
 
 H 
 22 
 37 
 53 
 
 ^ 
 
 617 = 10 17 =1 2 17 
 
 mi = 12 51^ = 1 4 51i 
 
 926 = 15 26 =1 7 26 
 
 1080 = 18 34 =2 2 .. 
 
 1234J = 20 34J = 2 4 34J 
 
 1389 =23 9 =2 7 9 
 
 1543J = 25 43J = 3 1 43 J 
 
 1 kilogramme = 32 oz. Troy. 
 
 Tablb fob Contkrting Millimbtkks into Inches and Fractions of an Inch. 
 
 1 Mill: 
 2 
 
 n 
 
 lOJ 
 
 13 
 
 15 
 
 metres : 
 
 = ^j inch. 
 
 . I 11 
 ■ JJ 
 
 = i 
 = i 
 
 = A 
 
 16 Millimetres = f inch. 
 
 17 
 
 19 
 
 21 
 
 22 
 
 25J " . = 1 
 
 51 " =2 
 
 76 " =3 
 
 lOlJ " =4 
 
 To reduce Millimetres to Centimetres, div 
 
 127 Millimetres = 
 152 " 
 
 178 " 
 
 203 " 
 
 228 J " 
 
 254 
 279J 
 305 
 
 5 inches. 
 
 6 " 
 
 7 " 
 
 8 " 
 
 = 10 
 = 11 
 = 12 
 
 de by 10. 
 
 1 Metre = 
 
 1.37 inches. 1 Kilometre = 0.62137, or | of a mile. 
 
LESSON &. 
 
 CONCLUDING CONFAB. 
 
 369. Now, good fellows, everything must end, and this work must go 
 the way of all things — ^it must end. All through I have endeavored to 
 drop myself as much as possible and make the earnest ones of my co- 
 laborers help me in these lessons in every possible way, giving them a 
 hand in educating those humble enough to be willing to learn something. 
 I feel entitled to address you familiarly, because many of you who will 
 read what I have prepared, have borne with me for nearly eighteen years, 
 and have learned to endure and be good to me. Again, I feel a little free, 
 because my labor of months is nearly ended, a great weight is already slip- 
 ping from my shoulders. I have left the library and the note-book and 
 the shears and the parlor paste and the printer and the desk and have 
 come down tp the margin of the murmuring, never-resting sea, to give a 
 
 369. But I return to my point, of cheapneas. Tou do not think that it would be conven- 
 ient, or even creditable, for women to wash the doorsteps or dish the dinners in lace gowns? 
 Nay, even for the most ladylike occupations — reading, or writing, or playing with her chil- 
 dren — do you think a lace gown, or even a lace collar, so great an advantage or dignity to 
 a woman ? If you think of it, you will find the whole value of lace, as a possession, depends 
 on the fact of its having a beauty which has been the reward of industry and attention. 
 That the thing itself is a prize — a thing which everybody cannot have. That it proves by 
 the look of it, the ability of its maker ; that it proves by the rarity of it, the dignity of its 
 wearer — either that she has been so industrious as to save money, which can buy, say a 
 piece of jewelry of gold tissue, or of fine lace— or else, that she is a noble person, to whom 
 her neighbors concede, as an honor, the privilege of wearing finer dress than they. If they 
 all choose to have lace, too— if it ceases to be a prize— it becomes, does it not, only a cobweb ? 
 The real good of a piece of lace, then, you will find is, that it should show, first, that the de- 
 signer of it had a pretty fancy ; next, that the maker of it had fine fingers ; lastly, that the 
 wearer of it has worthiness, or dignity enough to obtain what is difScult to obtain, and com- 
 mon sense enough not to wear it on all occasions. — John Euskin. 
 
 It is an uncomfortable fact, that a wide-spread opposition against methods of education 
 of photographers is felt in the ranks of those serving them with their supplies, and that this 
 same feeling is met with to a considerable extent in the profession itself. Any one with 
 enthusiasm enough to show a desire to raise higher the standard of our art-science is 
 frowned upon, and thought to be more an enemy than a friend. Why it is so, is one of 
 ( 344 ) 
 
COKCLUDING CONFAB. 345 
 
 tired brain a day of rest, which I promised it when I began. I have 
 brought with me only a few sheets of paper, a stylographic pen, and 
 the notes 3-6-9-, and when I make place for them my labor is ended. 
 
 Will my work serve you a good purpose ? "Will it help bear photog- 
 raphy up, and up, and up ? As I sit here on the beach, I see the wild 
 waves come up in bold platoons, hissing and roaring and dashing at my 
 feet, and burrowing and tearing to ruins the sandy piles which, but a 
 moment ago, I had made into picturesque compositions, taking much 
 away with them as they depart again, but leaving some little for me to 
 start a fresh ideal upon. And as I sit upon a spar of the old wreck 
 which lies stranded away out there among the breakers (how bravely it 
 stands their continuous shock), I dream over the endlessness of the work 
 there is to do, and a messenger seems to come and hail me like a com- 
 panion on a journey with words of good cheer. I am bidden to remem- 
 ber that my work will bear no iller fate than the sandy pictures bore. 
 The waves of opinion, I am assured, will come up against it, and batter 
 it to pieces and carry much of it out to sea, but it is true, some of it will 
 remain to give pleasure and profit to less sentimental picture composers 
 than I appear to be now. Always? I&sk. Andthe answer comes, "Yes!" ■ 
 So then, good fellows again, with this hope, a few words more and then 
 
 those incomprehensible figures that meet us from time to time in our life experiences, and 
 we guess in vain as to the use of their being. If it were not for a certain element of 
 enthusiasm found in all of life's concerns, the wheel of progress would he blocked. As an 
 outgrowth of the enthusiastic element permeating the profession of photography, a few 
 earnest souls have laid the foundation of a great educational institute, and unaided bear the 
 expense of opening up for those who are seeking knowledge in photography, both the prac- 
 tice and theory, a place where it can be obtained at small cost. It certainly holds out little 
 inducement for pecuniary gain, and must be viewed in the light of higher motives ; still, uo 
 reason exists why the promoters of this noble enterprise should not meet a fitting reward for 
 their labor. The Chicago College of Photography has the proud distinction of being the 
 first institution of the kind planted in America, and the second in the world. It promises 
 rich returns to those who are deciding upon adopting photography for their life-work. It 
 offers through competent instructors a practical knowledge of the art-science, and places 
 the student, in a most thorough manner, in possession of the best methods at a small item of 
 cost. It also serves to weed out incompetent help, for those wanting assistants will find in 
 the graduates of this college a service that is of the best, the expense of educating having 
 been paid by the employed, releasing them of the expense and annoyance of experimental 
 and incompetent help. It will also take the photographer who may seek the advantage of 
 learning the latest methods, or who desires to perfect some special branch, and for a small 
 sum furnish the required knowledge. The arts, sciences, and various industries, which more 
 and more are calling upon photography for assistance, will find in the college a ready means 
 of giving them the knowledge they desire. — Gayton A. Douglass. 
 
346 WILSON'S PHOTOGKAPHICS. 
 
 I am done. I have humbly tried, and earnestly, to instruct you how to 
 become good photographers. After you have become such, and enter the 
 art for a livelihood, there are a few things that must be exercised continu- 
 ously by you. Do everything to educate yourself— to keep alongside, at 
 least — and to promote the education of the fraternity. Help our college 
 to grow ; encourage reading and the study of the writings pertaining to 
 the art ; maintain your dignity and standing with your patrons ; ask good 
 prices, and despise all that is cheap and bad. A real good photograph 
 should show that the photographer who made it was educated in all the 
 intricacies and technicalities of his art. It should tell, moreover, that 
 his helpers worked in harmony with him, and show in their work, too, 
 the mind of the controlling head. It should be proof positive that the 
 model has had full justice done to her charms, and that she possessed 
 good sense enough to get and pay for the very best of pictures. I now 
 yield the last words to three earnest friends of our art, and please to 
 heed them. May photography ever be honored by us all. 
 
 The relations of the photographer to the puhlic, and vice versa, I consider, and always 
 hare considered, to be purely mutual, from an artistic standpoint as well as from the business 
 standpoint; and as we all have to live on and by what we do, the latter standpoint is the one 
 a little stronger appealing to our consideration. In regard to the former, the artistic stand- 
 point, I take it as granted that every one of us works as conscientiously and carefully as his 
 abilities will admit him to do ; but regarding the latter, why do we hear so many complain 
 about — I will not exactly say bad business — but of low prices ? Do not low prices in 
 almost every locality predominate ? and is it a stimulant for earnest workers in our vocation 
 to go and offer to the public continually the fruits of their brains and talents at sham prices? 
 Where do you think this will lead to? This leads unavoidably to self-degradation. And 
 this brings me to the very point in which I would say the relations of the photographer to 
 the public are misunderstood. Tou have lost your self-respect, and the public mean to do 
 with you as they please, and not as you should do ; for in your house and business your rules 
 must stand, and you must abide by them, or you must bear the consequences — fall, and lose 
 the so very necessary respect of the community. The words, " Guard your dignity I " have 
 so often been printed in our photographic journals, — words full of good, very good advice. 
 This is another point where the relation of the photographer to the public is seriously implied; 
 but how many have heeded this advice ? If you wish to be respected, make the public 
 respect you for everything that you say, do, or they see about you. Be firm in what you 
 transact with your patrons. If you say " Tes," be it yes, and if " No," be it no ; in short, 
 have strict rules for the transaction of your business, and adhere to them without faltering. 
 Now if such rules were to be introduced more energetically in the photographic business, 
 there would be far less complaint on the part of the photographers of losing the esteem 
 of their patrons ; for you will probably all admit that a man that stands boldly up for his 
 principles stands a better chance to gain respect and confidence with his patrons than one 
 who totters and trembles for fear of losing a dollar, and for that reason gives way to making 
 all kinds of concesFinns — H. Eochkr. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 Accessories and Light, 169. 
 Acidifying the Prints, 201. 
 Aerial Perspective, 34, 255. 
 Albumen for Phototypes, Filtering the, 320. 
 
 Loss of, from the Paper, 223. 
 
 Paper, Defects and Dryness of, 225. 
 
 Paper, Printing on, 189. 
 
 Process for Lantern-Slides, 312. 
 
 Removing from the Bath, 220. 
 ' Substratum for Glass, 93. 
 Alkaline Sulphides, Test for, 221. 
 Alum, Treatment of the Prints with, 224. 
 American Optical Company's Double Plate 
 Holder, 295. 
 
 Dry-Plate Changing-Box, 294. 
 Angle of View possible w|th a Lens, 241. 
 Angles, 27. 
 Angular Composition, 42. 
 
 Examples of, 46. 
 
 Perspective, 27. 
 Aniline Blue forPure Whites in Prints, 222. 
 Apparatus, Dry-Plate ior Landscapes, 243. 
 
 The Needful, 77. 
 Area or Aperture, 88. 
 Arrangement of Drapery, Raphael's, 43. 
 Art among Photographers, 20. 
 
 and Art Rules, 18. 
 
 Hints from the Artistic, 21. 
 
 in Printing, 226. 
 
 Principles applied to Photography,22. 
 
 Principles in Out-Door Work, 251. 
 
 What is, 75. 
 Artificial Light for Solar Printing, 308. 
 Artist, the Photographer an, 19. 
 " Artotypes," 316. 
 Atmospheric Effect, 34. 
 Attachment for Printing Vignettes, Sing- 
 hi's, 230. 
 
 Backgrounds, 170. 
 
 Frames for, 176. 
 
 How to Make and Paint, 175. 
 Basis for Phototypes, 318. 
 Bath, Boiling down the, 122. 
 
 Decolorizing the Printing, 217. 
 
 Fusing the, 122. 
 
 Bath, Rectifying the, 120. 
 
 Removing Albumen from the, 220. 
 
 Testing the Strength of the, 126. 
 
 The Fixing, 206. 
 
 The Nitrate, 100. 
 
 Troubles, 119. 
 Black and White Negatives, 136. 
 Blistering of Prints, 207. 
 Blue, Aniline,for Pure Whites in Prints, 222. 
 Blueness of the Film, 135. 
 Bold Prints from Flat Negatives, 228. 
 Breadth of Effect, 65. 
 Brilliancy in a Photograph, 256. 
 Brilliant Effects, 69. 
 Bromo-Gelatin Emulsion Work, 261. 
 
 Advantages of, 261. 
 
 Alkaline Developer for, 281. 
 
 Apparatus, 266-8, 294. 
 
 Apparatus for Developing, 280. 
 
 Boiling Apparatus, 265. 
 
 Calculations, Table for, 295. 
 
 Carbutt's Cruet for, 284. 
 
 Chemicals for, 291. 
 
 Coating the Plates, 271. 
 
 Development of, 275. 
 
 Double Dark-Slide for the, 295. 
 
 Drying the Plates, 272. 
 
 Eastman's Lamp for, 294. 
 
 Exposure of, 274. 
 
 Ferrous-Oxalate Developer for, 276. 
 
 Fogging of, 289. 
 
 Frilling of, 290. 
 
 Hints on, 290. 
 
 Hot- Water Cabinet for, 264. 
 
 Intensifying, 286. 
 
 Liesegang's Developer, 285. 
 
 Over-Exposure of, 276. 
 
 Plates, Changing-Box for, 294, 295. 
 
 Plates, Drying-Cupboard for, 273. 
 
 Practice of, 266. 
 
 Preparation of, 264. 
 
 Printing, 288. 
 
 Pyrogallic Acid Developer for, 280. 
 
 Rapidity of, 274. 
 
 Reducing, 287. 
 
 Retouching and Varnishing, 288. 
 (347) 
 
348 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Bromo-Gelatin Emulsion Work, Spreading 
 the Gelatin, 270. 
 
 Strengthening, 278. 
 
 Transparencies by the, 292. 
 
 Washing, 287. 
 
 Work, Light for, 293. 
 Burnishing the Prints, 236. 
 
 Trouble when, 237. 
 
 Camera, Care of the, 79. 
 
 How to tell a good, 79. i 
 
 Stand, The, 80. 
 
 The View, 78. 
 
 The Portrait, 78. 
 
 The Stereoscopic, 79. 
 Carbutt's Cruet for Pyro. Developer, 284. 
 Card-Board, Cockling of the, 239. 
 Cautionary Eules for Vogel's Emulsion, 300. 
 Changing-Box, American Optical Co. 's, 294. 
 Cheapness, 344. 
 
 Chemicals and Solutions, The, 95. 
 Chemistry of Out-Door Formulas, 244. 
 Chiaro-Oscuro, or Light and Shade, 57. 
 Chloride of Gold, Saving, 341. 
 
 of Silver, into a Metallic State, to 
 Convert, 341. 
 Circles, 28, 33. 
 
 Cleaning and Washing Platinotypes, 333. 
 Clouds and Sky, The, 44. 
 
 in Out-Door Views, 258. 
 
 Printing in, 209. 
 Cockling of the Card- Board, 239. 
 
 of the Paper, 225. 
 
 to Mount without, 239. 
 College, The Photographic, 345. 
 Collodion Bromized, 97. 
 
 Changes, 126. 
 
 Double Iodized, 98. 
 
 Emulsion, Vogel's, 298. 
 
 for Hot Weather, 95. 
 
 for Interiors, 250. 
 
 Intense, 98. 
 
 Out-Door, Water in, 248. 
 
 The, 95. 
 
 Troubles, 127. 
 Collodion Transfers, 334, 338. 
 
 Coloring, 338. 
 
 Collodion for, 335. 
 
 Developer for, 336. 
 
 Fixing, 337. 
 
 Gelatin Paper for, 337. 
 
 lodizers for, 335. 
 
 Printing, 338. 
 Collodionizing the Plate, 112. 
 Color, Good, Printing for Negatives, 249. 
 Composition, Angular, 42. 
 
 Circular, 53. 
 
 Examples of, 46. 
 
 Pyramidal, 45. 
 
 Concluding Confab, 344. 
 Contraction and Expansion of Paper, 225. 
 Contrasts, Violent, 68. 
 Correctness and Comparison, 23. 
 Cotton, Gun-, 99. 
 Cracking of the Paper, 225. 
 Cupboard, Drying, for Emulsion, 273. 
 Curtains for the Studio, 159. 
 
 and Eeflectors, Managing, 185. 
 
 Dark-Eoom, The, 89. 
 
 Eequisites for the, 91. 
 
 Ventilation, 92. 
 Dark-Tent, The, 260. 
 Defective Toning of Prints, 220. 
 Defects and Dryness of Albumen Paper, 225; 
 
 in Emulsion Plates, 273. 
 
 in Negatives, 116, 146. 
 Dense Negatives, Printing, 227. 
 Developer, The Iron, 103. 
 
 Miseries, 131. 
 
 The Iron and Ammonia, 141. 
 DevelopingVogel's Collodion Emulsion ,299. 
 Development, The, 113. 
 
 Best Rule for the, 130. 
 
 of Platinotypes, 333. 
 
 Process for Solar Work, 303. 
 Diaphragm, The, 86. 
 
 Use of the, 241. 
 Diminution, 26. 
 Distances of Objects, 35. 
 " Doctoring " Negatives for Printing, 228. 
 Drainings from Vogel's Collodion Emul- 
 sion, 300. 
 Drapery, Eaphael's arrangement of, 43. 
 Drawing, 28. 
 Drving-Box for Phototype Plates, 328. 
 
 Cupboard for Emulsion Plates, 273. 
 
 Cupboard for Phototype Plates, 323. 
 
 Oven for Phototype Plates, 826. 
 
 Eoom, The, 198. 
 
 the Paper, 198. 
 
 the Prints, 208. 
 
 Vogel's Collodion Emulsion, 800. 
 
 Education of Photographers, 345. 
 Effect, Breadth of, 65. 
 Effects, Brilliant, 69. 
 
 of Light, 180. 
 Emulsion, Defects in, 273. 
 
 Plates, Drying-Cupboard for, 273. 
 
 Plates, Substratum for, 273. 
 
 Work, Bromo-Gelatin, 261. 
 Encaustic Paste for Prints, 235. 
 Enlargements and Lantern Slides, 301. 
 
 Piatt's Tracing Apparatus for, 309. 
 Enlarging Carte de Visite Negatives, 305. 
 Expansion and Contraction of Paper, 225. 
 Exposure for Phototype Plates, 327. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 349 
 
 Exposure for Platinotypes, 333. 
 
 of Bromo-Gelatin Plates, 274. 
 
 of Vogel's Collodion Emulsion, 299. 
 
 Shortening, 188. 
 
 Time of, 187, 257. 
 Eye, Education of the, 23. 
 
 of the Sitter, 179. 
 
 Paces, The Study of, 30. 
 
 Fading of Prints, 207 
 
 Farewell Words by the Author, 346. 
 
 Ferrous-Oxalate Developer, The, 276. 
 
 Apparatus for, 280. 
 Field Work, 243. 
 
 Figures in, 257 
 
 Foreground Study in, 256. 
 Figures in Outside Views, 257. 
 Film, Blueness of the, 135. 
 
 Weakness of the, 138. 
 Filtering Albumen for Phototypes, 320. 
 
 Gelatin for Phototypes, 322. 
 Finishing and Mounting, 234. 
 Fixing, 114. ■ 
 
 Bath, The, 206. 
 
 Solution, The, 106. 
 
 Vogel's Collodion Emulsion, 299. 
 Flat Ifegatives, Printing, 228. 
 Flatness and Want of Contrast, 136. 
 
 Fogging, lie: 
 
 Form, 24. 
 
 Formation of Network on the Film, 137. 
 
 Fumes, Poisonous, 145. 
 
 Fuming the Paper, 199. 
 
 Fusing the Bath, 122. 
 
 Gelatin, Spreading the Emulsion, 270. 
 General Remarks on Printing, 213. 
 Gihon's Opaque for Negatives, 232 
 Glace Prints, 238. 
 Glass, Preparation of the, 93. 
 
 Studio, The, 154. 
 Gold Toning-Bath, Treatment of the, 220. 
 
 Toning Solutions, 203. 
 Ground-Glass Substitute for Negatives, 
 
 Hance's, 230. 
 Gun-cotton, The, 69. 
 
 Hance's Ground-Glass Substitute for Nega- 
 tives, 230. 
 Hands, The, 73. 
 
 Stains on the, 145 
 Harmony, 65. 
 Horizontal Lines, 40. 
 ■ Husnik's Process for Phototypes, 325. 
 
 Intensifier, The, 106. 
 
 Ammonia and Mercury, 140. 
 Bichloride of Mercury, 142. 
 Perrid Cyanide, 141. 
 Iron and Acid, 108. 
 
 Intensifier, Perchloride of Iron, 140. 
 
 Permanganate of Potash, 140. 
 
 Pyrogallic Acid, 107. 
 
 Schlippe's Salts, 107. 
 
 Silver and Acid, 108. 
 Intensifying,*114, 139. 
 
 Vogel's Collodion Emulsion Plates, 
 300. 
 Interior Work, 249. 
 
 Kaolin, Eectifying Printing- Bath with, 217. 
 
 Landscape Apparatus, 243. 
 
 Lenses for, 240. 
 
 Photography, 240. 
 
 Viiews, Formula fur, 244. 
 Lantern Slides and Enlargements, 301. 
 
 Albumen, 311. 
 
 Emulsion, 312. 
 
 Hints for Making, 311. 
 
 Kennet's formula for, 315. 
 Leaking of the Glass Studio, 162. 
 Lens or Objective, The, 81. 
 Lenses, Angle of View Possible with, 241. 
 
 Choice of, 85. 
 
 Forms of, 83 
 
 for Landscape Photography, 240. 
 
 Operating with, 84. 
 Light and Accessories, 169. 
 
 and Shade, or Chiaro-Oscuro, 57 
 
 for Bromo-Gelatin Work, 293. 
 
 Keflected, 182. 
 
 Results Produced by, 64. 
 
 The Divisions of, 63. 
 
 The Various Kinds of, 183. 
 Lighting, Rembrandt's Style of, 67. 
 " Lightning " Processes, 102. 
 Linen, Printing on, 214. 
 Lines, 23, 40. 
 
 Horizontal, 40. 
 
 Upright, 40. 
 
 Wavy or Tortuous, 41. 
 Lubricating the Prints, 236. 
 Lubricator for the Prints, 236. 
 
 Magic Lantern Slides, How to Make, 310. 
 Managing the Model, 183. 
 Manipulations, The, 112. 
 Manipulatory Miseries, 116. 
 Marbled Appearance of the Paper, 219. 
 
 Bed Lines on Prints, 219. 
 Mealiness in Prints, 223. 
 Measles or Mottles on Prints, 218. 
 Measurement, 24. 
 Measuring' Metrical, 342. 
 Medallion Printing, 231. 
 "Megatypes," 334. 
 Metallic Spots in Prints, 223. 
 Metrical Measuring, 342. 
 
350 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Model, Study the, 38. 
 
 Mottled Appearance of the Prints, 221. 
 
 Mounting and Finishing, 234. 
 
 on Toned Card-Board, 23.5. 
 
 Paste, 234. 
 
 without Cockling, 289. 
 
 Nature, Study, 18, 24. 
 
 Negative, A Generally Wretched, 133. 
 
 Ketouching the, 115, 147. 
 Negatives, Black and White, 136. 
 
 Defects in, 116. 
 
 " Doctoring " for Printing, 228. 
 
 for Solar Printing, 301. 
 
 Preserving of, 232. 
 
 Printing Dense, 228. 
 
 Printing, Weak, 227. 
 
 Eemoving Stains from, 233. 
 Network, Formation on the Film of, 137. 
 
 Object Teaching, 26. 
 Objective or Lens, The, 81. 
 Objects, Distances of, 35. 
 Oily Lines in Negatives, 132. 
 Opaque for Negatives, Gihon's, 232. 
 
 Lines in Negatives, 129. 
 Outside Photography, 240. 
 
 Chemistry of, 244. , 
 
 Work, Art Principles in, 251. 
 
 Work, Clouds in, 258. 
 
 Work, Development of, 245. 
 
 Work. Exposure, 257. 
 
 Worki Formula for, 248. 
 
 Work, Keeping Plates for, 246. 
 
 Work, Lighting, 356. 
 
 Work, Study, 251. 
 
 Work, Tent for, 246. 
 Over-ExposureofBromo-GelatinPlate3,276. 
 
 Paper, Cockling of the, 225. 
 
 Drying the, 198, 
 
 Expansion and Contraction of, 225. 
 
 Exposure of the, 200. 
 
 Fuming the, 199. 
 
 Keeping White the, 223. 
 
 Marbled Appearance of the, 219. 
 
 Sensitizing the, 195. 
 
 WooUiness of the, 225. 
 Paste for Mounting, 234. 
 Patches and Stains on Prints, Tellow, 222. 
 Permanganate of Potash as a Kectifler, 120. 
 Perplexities, Printing, 217. 
 Perspective, 24. 
 
 Aerial, 34. 
 
 Angular, 27. 
 
 Violent, 26. 
 Photographer and Artist, The, 19. 
 
 at Work, The, 21. 
 
 Photographv, Landscape, 240. 
 
 Keeping Plates for Outside, 246. 
 Outside, 240. 
 Outside-Tent for, 246. 
 Phototypes, Basis for, 318. 
 
 Drying-Box for the Plates for, 323. 
 Drying-Cupboard for Plates for, 324. 
 Drying-Oven for Plates for, 326. 
 Exposure of the Negatives for, 327. 
 Filtering the Albumen for, 320. 
 Filtering the Gelatin for, 322. 
 First Preparation of the Plates for,319. 
 Husnik's Substratum for the Plates 
 
 for, 325. 
 Inking the Films for Printing, 329. 
 Platinotypes, and Collodion Trans- 
 fers, 316. 
 Printing, 327. 
 
 Second Preparation of Plates for, 321. 
 Spotting Out, 330. 
 Substratum for, 319. 
 Varnish for, 331. 
 Varnishing and Mounting, 330. 
 Varnishing, Apparatus for, 331. 
 WashingApparatus for Plates for,327. 
 Pinholes, 133. 
 
 Plain Paper, Printing on, 211. 
 Plates, Coating the Bromo-Gelatin Emul- 
 sion, 271. 
 Drying the Bromo-Gelatin Emul- 
 sion, 272. 
 Platinotypefe, Sensitizing the Paper for, 332. 
 Cleaning and Washing, 333. 
 Development of, 333. 
 Exposure of the Paper, 833. 
 Precautions against Damp, 834. 
 Poisons, 144. 
 
 Porcelain, Printing on, 215. 
 Posing, Suggestions about, 55. 
 
 the Model, 178. 
 Pouring of Vogel's Collodion Emulsion , 299. 
 Practice of the Bromo-Gelatin Emulsion 
 
 Process, 266. 
 Precautions in Platinotype Work, 334. 
 Preparation of Bromo-Gelatin Emulsion, 
 
 264. 
 Preparation of Vogel's Collodion Emul- 
 sion, 298. 
 Preserving Negatives, 232. 
 Printing, Art in, 226. 
 
 Bromo-Gelatin Plates, 288. 
 by the Solar Camera, 301. 
 Dense Negatives, 228. 
 Development Process of, 802. 
 Fast or Slow, 227 
 Flat Negatives, 228. 
 General Remarks on, 213. 
 Medallions, 281. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 351 
 
 Printing on Albumen Paper, 189. 
 
 on Linen, 214. 
 
 on Plain Paper, 211. 
 
 on Porcelain, 215. 
 
 on Silk, 214. 
 
 on Various Surfaces, 214. 
 
 on Wood, 214. 
 
 Perplexities, 217. 
 
 Phototypes, 327. 
 
 Stereoscopic Views, 209. 
 
 Temperature in, 223. 
 
 Vignettes, 230. 
 
 Weak Negatives, 227. 
 Printing-Bath, The, 192. 
 
 Decolorizing the, 217. 
 
 Strengthening the, 194. 
 Printing-Koom, The, 189. 
 Prints, Acidifying the, 201. 
 
 Blistering of the, 207, 224. 
 
 Burnishing the, 236. 
 
 Defectively Toned, 220. 
 
 Drying the, 208. 
 
 Encaustic Paste for, 235. 
 
 Fading of the, 207. 
 
 Pixin-, 206. 
 
 Glace, 238. 
 
 Imperfect Washing of the, 224. 
 
 Lubricating, 236. 
 
 Mealiness in, 223. 
 
 Measled or Mottled, 218. 
 
 Metallic Spots in, 223. 
 
 Mottled Appearance of the, 221. 
 
 Kefuse to Tone, 223. 
 
 " Spotting " the, 235. 
 
 Toning the, 202. 
 
 Touching Out, 235. 
 
 Treatment with Alum of the, 224. 
 
 Trimming, 238. 
 
 Warm-Water Washing of, 221. 
 
 Washing in " Lead- Water," 200. 
 
 Washing the, 201. 
 
 Wash-Room for the, 208. 
 
 With Bed Marbled Lines, 219. 
 
 With Red Patches, 220. 
 
 Yellowness of the, 221. 
 Production of Pictures, Rules Governing, 20. 
 Productions of Photography, The, 20. 
 Public, Relation of the Photographer to 
 
 the, 345. 
 Pure Whites in Prints, 222. 
 Purpose, Have a, 71. 
 Pyramidal Composition, 45. 
 Pyrogallic Acid Developer for Emulsion 
 Plates, 280. 
 
 Quick-Acting Processes, 106. 
 
 Rapidity of Bromo-Gelatin Plates, 274. 
 Red Patches on Prints, 220. 
 
 Reducing Process for Solar Negatives, 306. 
 
 Reflected Light, 182, 
 
 Reinforcing the Negatives, 108. 
 
 Relation of Photographer to the Public, 345. 
 
 Relief, 65. 
 
 Rembrandt's Style of Lighting, 67. 
 
 Removing Stains from Negatives, 283. 
 
 Retouching Bromo-Gelatin Plates, 288. 
 
 Process, Solar Negative, 306. 
 
 the Negatives, 115, 147. 
 Reversing the Negative, Apparatus for, 316. 
 
 Method of, 316. 
 Robinson's Print Trimmer, 238. 
 
 Screens and Curtains, 181. 
 
 Second Preparation of Phototype Plates,321. 
 
 Selection of Views, 254. 
 
 Sensitizer, The, 100. 
 
 Sensitizing Paper for Platinotypes, 332. 
 
 the Paper, 195. 
 
 the Plate, 112. 
 Shortening the Exposure, 188. 
 Silk, Printing on, 214. 
 Silver Bath, The, 100. 
 
 Chloride, to Convert, into a Metallic 
 State, 341. 
 
 Iodide, To make, 100. 
 
 Saving, Method of, 341. 
 
 Solutions, Volumetric Test of, 339. 
 Singhi's Attachment for Printing Vig- 
 nettes, 230. 
 Sky and Clouds, The, 44. 
 Softness in Lighting, 70. 
 Solar Camera Printing, 301. 
 
 By Artificial Light, 307. 
 
 Camera Printing, Development Pro- 
 cess for, 303. 
 
 Camera Printing, Negatives for, 301. 
 
 Camera Printing Negatives, retouch- 
 ing, 301. 
 
 Camera Printing, Paper for, 302. 
 
 Negatives, Preparing, 306. 
 
 Negative Reducing Process, 306. 
 
 Printing Dodge, 307. 
 
 Printing Process, Libby's, 307. 
 
 Retouching Process, 306. 
 Spotting Out Phototype Prints, 330. 
 "Spotting" the Prints, 235. 
 Stains from Negatives, Removing, 233. 
 
 on the Hands, 145. 
 Stereoscopic Views, Printing, 209. 
 
 Negatives, Preparing, 209. 
 "Stop," Use of the, 241. 
 StreaKs and Stains in Negatives, 128. 
 Strengthening Gelatin Emulsion Plates, 278. 
 
 the Printing-Bath, 194. 
 Studio, The Glass, 154. 
 
 Construction of the, 155. 
 
 Curtains, 159. 
 
352 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Studio, How to Build a, 163. 
 
 Interior, 160. 
 
 Leaking of the Glass, 162. 
 
 with Curved Light, 157. 
 
 Working Plans for Construction, 164. 
 Study, 72. 
 
 for Outside Work, 251. 
 
 Nature, 18, 24. 
 Subject, Choice of, 252. 
 
 Treatment of, 17. 
 Substitute, Hance's Ground-Glass for Neg- 
 atives, 230. 
 Substratum for Emulsion Plates, 273. 
 
 for Phototype Plates, 319. 
 Success, Work for, 62. 
 
 Table for Converting Centigrade into 
 Fahrenheit, 342. 
 
 for Converting Cubic Centimetres 
 into Ounces, etc., 842 
 
 for Converting Metrical to Troy, 343. 
 
 Millimetres into Inches, etc., 348. 
 Tanks, The, 90. 
 Temperature in Printing, 223. 
 Tent, The Dark, 260. 
 
 Cloth for the Dark, 260. 
 Testing of Sil ver Solutions, Volumetric, 339. 
 Think, 35. 
 
 Tone, Prints Eefuse to, 223. 
 Toned Card- Board, Mounting on, 235. 
 Toning the Prints, 202. 
 
 Bath, Treatment of the Gold, 220. 
 
 Defective, 220. 
 
 Solutions, 203. 
 Tortuous Lines, 41. 
 Touching out Prints, 235. 
 Tracing Apparatus for Enlargements, 
 
 Piatt's, 809. 
 Training for Photographers, 20. 
 Transfers, Collodion, lodizers for, 335. 
 
 Collodion for, 335. 
 
 Coloring, 338. 
 
 Developer for, 336. 
 
 Fixing, 337. 
 
 Gelatin Paper for, 337. 
 
 Printing, 338. 
 Transparencies, Bromo-Gelatin, 292. 
 
 for the Magic Lantern, To make, 310. 
 Transparent Marks in Negatives, 132. 
 Treatment of the Subject, 19. 
 Trimmer for the Prints, Eobinson's, 238. 
 
 Upright Lines, 40. 
 
 Use of the Diaphragm, 241. 
 
 Varnish for Phototypes, 331. 
 Varnishes and Varnishing, 110. 
 Varnishing, 114, 142. 
 
 and Mounting Phototypes, 330. 
 
 Apparatus for Phototypes, 331. 
 Ventilation of the Dark-Room, 92. 
 Views of Interiors, 249. 
 
 Aerial Perspective in Taking, 255. 
 
 Collodion for, 250. 
 
 Exposure for, 257. 
 
 Figures In, 257. 
 
 Light for, 256. 
 
 Selection of, 254. 
 Vignette Printing, 2.30. 
 
 Paper, Waymouth's, 230. 
 
 Printing Attachment, Singhi's, 230. 
 Violent Perspective, 26. 
 Vogel's Collodion Emulsion, Fixing, 299. 
 
 Cautionary Kules, 300. 
 
 Collodion Emulsion Work, Prepara. 
 tion of the Plates, 298. 
 
 Developing, 299. 
 
 Drainings, 300. 
 
 Drying, 300. 
 
 Exposure of, 299. 
 
 Intensif3-ing, 300. 
 
 Pouring on of, 298. 
 
 Varnishing the Plate, 800. 
 Volumetric Method of Testing Silver Solu- 
 tions, 839. ' 
 
 Warm Water for Washing Prints, 221. 
 Washing Apparatus for Phototypes, 327. 
 
 and Cleaning Platinotypes, 883. 
 
 Bromo-Gelatin Plates, 287. 
 
 of the Prints, Imperfect, 224. 
 
 the Prints, 201. 
 Wash-Eoom for the Prints. 208. 
 Wastes and their Worth, 339. 
 Water in Collodion for Keeping Plates, 248. 
 Wavy Lines, 41. 
 
 Waymouth's Vignette Papers, Use of, 280. 
 Weak Negatives, Printing, 227. 
 Weakness of the Film, 138. 
 Weights, Eelation of Metrical to Troy, 848. 
 White, Keeping the Paper, 223. 
 Wilson's, George Washington, Pormulse for 
 
 Outside Work, 246, 250. 
 Wood, Printing on, 214. 
 Woolliness of the Paper Surface, 225. 
 
 Yellow Patches and Stains on Prints, 222. 
 Yellowness of the Prints, 221. 
 
JOHN G. HOOD. 
 
 BSTABItlSHED 1865. 
 
 WM. D. H. WILSON. 
 
 Wffli#m«IE®#i & te« 
 
 825 ARCH STREET, 
 
 'Unielpliiii 
 
 
 SOLE AGENTS IN THE UNITED STATES FOR THE 
 
 Centennial, 1876. 
 
 Centennial, 1876. 
 
 Ross' Portrait and View Lenses. 
 
 TiT-ni TTATT-C1 f Portrait lieliseg, from 1-4 to 8 X 10 . I Imstantaneoma Doublets, all sixes. 
 
 WJ!i MAVJli Cabinet licnses, JTos. a and 3. Medlixm Angle Doublets, all sizes. 
 
 'NO'W \ Card licnses, Nos. 1, a, and 3. targe Angle Doublets, all sizes. 
 
 ^''^»» Triplets, Xos. 1, a, 3, 4, 5, 6, and r. Stereographlc licnses, all sizes. 
 
 IN STOOK L Symmetrlcals. Rapid Sy^mmetrlcals. | New Universal Ijens. 
 
 STEINHEIL'S SONS'^NEwlPLANATIC LENSES. 
 
 WE MANUFACTURE, IMPORT, AND DEAL IN ALL KINDS OF 
 
 PHOTO. GOODS, FRAMES, STEREOSCOPES and VIEWS 
 -i^^AMATEUR PHOTO. OUTFITS^-^#- 
 
 IN GREAT VARIETY, ALWAYS ON HAND. 
 
 INSTANTANEOUS 
 
 DROP SHUTTERS. 
 
 Small Size, $6 ; Large Size, $7. 
 
 DRY-PLATES OF ALL BRANDS. '^''■'■^r^ti^f.^^^'Lir^'"'^ 
 
 23 { 353 ) 
 
wn. mn's utest iiiteiitioii 
 
 PHOTOGRAPHIC ART. 
 
 PATENTED, NOVEMBER 7th, 1882. 
 
 By which '' all kinds of artistic effects are easily 
 obtained in a new way." 
 
 By which ''one-third of the regular exposure 
 is gained." 
 
 By which ''one-half of negative retouching^ is 
 unnecessary." 
 
 By which " more true and life-like portraits are 
 obtained." 
 
 For Circulars and Terms, apply to 
 
 G. HOEFLE, Sole Agent, 
 
 No. 6 East Twenty- Third Street, 
 
 (MADISON SQUARE.) J<f ^ 'yy YORK 
 
 ( 354 ) -^ ^ ■ 
 
Sghinbiee'S posing GIAIRS, 
 
 Photographic Studio Accessories and Requisites, Decorative, 
 Art, and Medium Furniture, etc. 
 
 S— O-i ESTABL.ISHED AT NE1V YORK IN 1849 lIzJ— ^ 
 
 Address, 0. A. SCHIND LER, West Hoboken, N. J., Box 63. 
 
 Our factory (the Industrial Art Works) is in sight of all the New York and Jersey City low 
 treight-rate shipping points. We send Photo-prints (to be returned) and Price List to responsible 
 parties. Annexed are a few references and opinions from gentlemen who use our make : 
 
 B06ARDIJS. New York, April 27th, 1882. 
 
 I have in my light one of Mr. C. A. Schindler's Posing Chairs (No. 53 A, Centennial). I find it 
 very useful, fits every time, and can be used for all ages — the youngest child up to second childhood. 
 Cheerfully recommend it to the fraternity. Respectfully, Abraham Bogardus. 
 
 Mr. C. a. SchINDLER. KURTZ. New York, July 11th, 1882. 
 
 Dear Sir : I take this opportunity to state that I have found that the most artistic arrangements 
 can be made with your valuable " Photographic Studio Furniture " which I have had for years in 
 use in my galleries; especially your Bureau-cabinets, etc., and latest Posing Chairs, considering 
 them grand accessories for a sky-light. Remaining respectfully, yours, W. KuRTZ. 
 
 Mr. C. a. ScHINDLER. Anderson. New York, July 27th, 1882. 
 
 Dear Sir : I take pleasure in recommending your New Combination Chairs, No. 60 A A, of 
 four different heights and five different front views, for the use of Photographers, having tried and 
 practically tested its merits, both as a useful, rich, and picturesque article of sky-light furniture. 
 
 Very truly, yours, D. H. Anderson. 
 
 Mr. C. a. SchINDLER. SARONY. 37 Union Square, New York, August 2d, I882. 
 
 Dear Sir : We have used your Chairs, Accessories, etc., and find them a valuable addition to 
 our sky-light. Yours, truly, Sarony. 
 
 Mr. C. A. SCHINDLER. NAGBIj. Hoboken, N, J., August 3d, 1882. 
 
 Dear Sir : For many years I have had in use your Posing Chairs, Cabinets, Woollen Back- 
 grounds, Retouching Easels, and many other articles of your make, and find them remarkably well 
 adapted to their different purposes, well made, and extremely praiseworthy. With your Cabinets I 
 adorn my reception room when not in use in the gallery; they are practical things, and very 
 recommendable. Truly yours, Louis Nagel. 
 
 Mr. a. C. ScHINDLER. French. Keene, N. H., May 26th, 1882. 
 
 Dear Sir : We are much pleased with the No. 53 Centennial Posing Chair I purchased of you 
 for two-thirds and full length. For sitting or standing figures of ladies in full dress it is excellent. 
 It is also well adapted for the pose of small children ; it is easily moved about, and very strong for 
 its weight, graceful shape, and well upholstered. Yours, respectfully, J. A. French. 
 
 Mr. C. a. ScHINDLER. CROWEI.1,. Mt. Vernon, O , May, 1882. 
 
 Dear Sir : The Posing Chair No. 19, with Baby Attachment, was duly received, and gives 
 perfect satisfaction. Yours, truly, J. S. Crowell. 
 
 Mr. C. a. ScHINDLER. HARRISON. Galesburg, III , May 20th, 1882. 
 
 Dear Sir : I received the No. 53 Centennial Posing Chair all right, and am well pleased 
 with it. I think it is the best operating Chair in the market, and no studio is complete without it. 
 
 Yours, respectfully, J. Harrison. 
 
 Mr. C. a. ScHINDLER. RUSSBtli. Blossburg, Pa., September 14th, 1882. 
 
 Dear Sir : The No. 53 A A Photographic Chair pleases me very much. At first sight it seemed 
 as if only a limited number of positions could be made with it, because it has no " changes," 
 "movements," etc., but each pose made suggests many more. Sitters fall into easy and graceful 
 positions with little or no assisting. It seems to take the starch out of them effectually.. 
 
 Yours, respectfully, E. L. Russell. 
 
 NEW— the No. 53 A A Centennial, and the No. 60 A A Combination Chair. Vfe make 
 Ld sell more Photographic Groot~ 
 felts. Look for our trade-mark. 
 
 and sell more Photographic Qoods non" than ever. Bevrare of substitutes and counter- 
 )r our trade- 
 
 (355; 
 
A. M. COLLINS, 
 SON & CO. 
 
 MANUFACTURERS OF 
 
 "^in^ipi 
 
 
 AND 
 
 OFFICE AND WAREHOUSE, 
 
 513 Arch Street, 
 
 PHILADELPHIA^ PENNA, 
 
 (856) 
 
THIS LATEST SUBSTITUTE FOR GUN COTTON HAS PROVED A GRAND SUCCESS. 
 
 It is manufactured by the ScHERiNG Chemical Co., of Berlin, by patented process which frees 
 the Pyroxyline of all starchy and organic impurities, making a beautiful structureless film, and 
 making a Collodion of at least double the rapidity of that made with any gun cotton, and giving 
 an extremely fine deposit. It comes in the form of solid cakes, and can be sent to any part of 
 the world, being perfectly non-explosive. 
 
 We publish below a few of the latest unsolicited testimonials received, which are a type oi 
 scores in our possession : 
 
 Nashville, Tenn, December 20th, 1881. 
 Messrs. Bachrach & Bro. : Your Celloidine was at once transformed into Collodion, and if 
 the article is uniform in quality I will say that I am done with gun cotton. I have always had a 
 pride in my good Collodion, both in quality and quickness. AH my operators have so acknowl- 
 edged, and if I say that this beats all Collodions I ever worked, it is saying much. It is more 
 sensitive, but its beauty in its fine deposit and detail in shadows is the principal advantage ; and I 
 say every photographer who wants to excel should use it. Please send me two more packages. 
 
 Respectfully yours, T. M. Schleier. 
 
 Bachrach & Bro. Chicago, December 3d, 1881. 
 
 Gents : Inclosed please find two dollars for two packages of your Celloidine. If this is as good 
 as the last, I shall be very thankful for your enterprise in introducing this to the art, as in all my 
 experience I have found no cotton equal to it. Yours truly, A. Hesler. 
 
 BooNR, Iowa, December 20th, 1881. 
 Gents : Please find inclosed two dollars for two packages of your Celloidine. I consider it and 
 the Collodion Formula with it the next thing to " Dry Plates." Since I have begun to use it I have 
 gun cotton for sale. It works equally well for ferrotypes, and is far ahead of Lambert's Lightning 
 Humbug. Truly yours, J. Paul Martin. 
 
 We could fill a book with such testimonials constantly coming to us. 
 
 Sent Free liy Mail for $1.00 per Pactap, for Mating ^yi Ponnils of 
 
 Full Directions Accompany each Package. The Trade Supplied. 
 
 BAGHKAGH'S 
 
 SPECIAL 
 
 8 KILO DRESDEN DOUBLE 
 ALBUMENIZED PAPER. 
 
 i^S& The Finest, Most Brilliant 
 and Best Paper for Pict- 
 ures 8x10 and smaller 
 ever introduced. Try it ! 
 
 Sample Doz. $1; Mailing 15c. 
 
 TRADE MARK. 
 
 SEND ALL ORDERS TO 
 
 Bachrach & Bro. , cor. Eutaw and Lexington Sts. , Baltimore, Md. 
 
 IMPOXtTEIta AND SOZM AGMNTS FOB THE VNITMO STATES. 
 
 ( 357 ) 
 
^iB^ 
 
 EXTRA 
 
 DRES 
 
 4 
 
 ^^JV 
 
 BRILLIANT 
 
 ^fiUMEN PA?^^ 
 
 FREE from BLISTERS and IMPERFECTIONS. 
 
 TESTIMONIALS. 
 
 Milwaukee, October 11th, 1881. 
 S. Gennert, Esq., 
 
 New York. 
 Dear Sir : The paper works lovely, and is a 
 G-odsend to the photographers. 
 
 Very truly, Harry Sdtter. 
 
 Mr. G. Gennert. 
 
 Dear Sir : One ream Extra Brilliant Eagle 
 pink received and tried ; my printers say it is the 
 best they have had for years ; it keeps perfectly 
 white, which is one of the greatest features for us 
 in St. Louis. It prints and tones fine. I am 
 satisfied with the beautiful prints I've received for 
 the past week, which is something, you know, I 
 am hard to be pleased with. Keep it up, and 
 send another ream immediately. 
 
 Yours truly, J. A. Scholten. 
 
 Milwaukee, October 3d, 1881. 
 G. Gennert, 
 
 105 William St., New York. 
 Dear Sir : I wish to express ray appreciation 
 of the Eagle Brand Albumen Paper. I am 
 highly pleased with it, it being the best I ever 
 used, and for purity of tone and clearness in the 
 high-lights and shadows it cannot be excelled. 
 Harry Sutter. 
 G. Gennert, Esq. 
 
 Dear Sir: I have received the lOKo and 
 8Ko Eagle light pink albumen paper which you 
 sent me a few weeks ago, and now I have care- 
 fully tried it, I can but say it is by far the best 
 paper we have worked for a long time. Hoping 
 the quality will remain the same for all time to 
 come, I shall not want to use another brand. ' 
 Yours truly, H. Rooher. 
 
 Imported by G. GENNERT, 
 
 No. lOB WILLIAM STREET, NEW YORK, 
 
 FOR SALE Br ALL DEALERS. 
 
 Eastern Agent for CRAMER & NORDEN DRY-PLATFc? 
 
 ( 358 ) '^' 
 
<a THE S) 
 
 1-BEEBE DRY^LATE 
 
 Standard, 
 Carefully Made, 
 
 Personally Tested, 
 
 Skilfully Packed. 
 
 4FOR SALE BY ALL DEALERS.-^ 
 
 For Portrait and Landscape Negratives of all classes. 
 
 ►^TPE CPL0^IDE PL^JFE-§^^ 
 
 For Transparencies for the Lantern, Window 
 Ornaments, etc. 
 
 ^ SURE YOU TRY THE PLATES "D g 
 
 ■^^ See Advertisements in the Magazines. ^^ '*^ 
 
 MANUFACTURED BY THE 
 
 Chicago Dry-Plate and Manufacturing Co., 
 No. 2449 Cottage Grove Avenue. Chicago, 111. 
 
 ° ( 859 ) 
 
DRY PLATES. 
 ALBUMEN PAPERS. 
 
 APPARATUS. CARD STOCK. 
 
 
 O 
 O 
 
 WOLF & CHE YNE V, 
 
 No. 821 Filbert Street, 
 
 PHILADELPHIA. 
 
 o 
 
 CO 
 CO 
 
 o 
 
 CO 
 
 CHEMICALS. WARES. 
 
 NECxATIVE GLASS. 
 FRAMES. 
 
 (360) 
 
AMATEUR 
 
 OUTFITS 
 
 The Most Complete and Varied 
 Assortment in Market ! 
 
 SOLE AGENTS FOE 
 
 THE ONLY ONES FOUND TO BE UNIFOEMLY GOOD. 
 
 SUCCESS AND NOVEL CAMERAS. 
 
 Ko. 59 1 Uroadway, 
 
 DEALERS IN 
 
 EVERYTHING 
 PERTAINING 
 
 TO 
 
 PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 NEW 
 
 Op-p. Metropolitan JBotet.. 
 
 PUBLISHERS OF 
 
 ANTHONY'S 
 
 PHOTOeMPHIC BULLETIN 
 
 $2.00 
 
 Per Annum, Illustrated. 
 
 YORK. 
 
 EASTMAN'S 
 
 TROPICAL 
 
 DRY PLATES. 
 
 These Plates will never 
 Frill no matter how hot the 
 weather may be. 
 
 E. & H. T. ANTHONY & CO. 
 
 SoLit Agents. 
 
 24 
 
 ANTHONY'S 
 
 STANDARD 
 
 CHEMICALS 
 
 PREPARED EXPRESSLY ' 
 
 For PtotflppMc Pnrposes. 
 
 EASTMAN'S 
 
 SPECIAL 
 
 DRY PLATES. 
 
 These Plates are the most 
 Sensitive of- any made for 
 Portraiture. 
 
 E. & H. T. ANTHONY & CO. 
 
 Sole Agents. 
 
 (361) 
 
Let me paint the backgrounds for a nation, and I care not who "^^^^ *^ P^°'°- 
 gi-aphs(!) ■ — — 
 
 " My success Is, In a great measure, due to you."— .... 
 
 "TUe new Background sent yesterday Is 'immense."'-Gi. F. E. PBARSAI.1.. 
 " I am niore than pleased, sometime I'll tell you all about It, very tousy now."-SIIVGHI. 
 Sarony's Celebrities, also Mora's, Anderson's, Gilbert & Bacon's, Rocher's, tandy s, 
 Kurtz's, etc., are made wltll Seavey's Bacfegrounds. 
 
 New York, April 23d, 1881. 
 
 In view of the fact that the undersigned 
 has aided in the production of many of the 
 most artistic photographic pictures produced 
 in this country during the last ten years, 
 pictures which have received gold and sil- 
 ver medals at Philadelphia, London, Paris. 
 Amsterdam, and other cities of the world, 
 he feels warranted in soliciting the patron- 
 age of photographers unacquainted with 
 his works. 
 
 Being now supplied with a skylight, in 
 connection with his studio for painting, 
 hereafter in making sample photographs he 
 will pose a figure or model, in order that 
 his customers may appreciate at a glance 
 the effect which his backgrounds and ac- 
 cessories will produce when in actual use. 
 Photographers unfamiliar with the use of 
 Seavey's Backgrounds and Accessories 
 will readily recognize the value of this 
 system. 
 
 
 
 
 sVuIl cfl A.turU u.-Uj 
 
 1 f'^L<rirt£ O^Xiifi.^JO'^ 
 
 r niil Afci OW. 'RoTTWO. W-'Vi, <*. Ur*. JW^. 
 
 
 
 
 OaalL x.t<iXay>4 
 
 iStUc lE(stc a^uxit ho.lfc/, J)<nAA/wa^ 
 
 AH. 
 
 -;:?-Y* MoivUlie Bulletin. . -j-- 
 
 Under the foregoing heading, in the 
 " Specialty" columns of the several photo- 
 graphic journals of America, will appear 
 from month to month brief announcements 
 of my new productions. 
 
 Lafayette W. Seayey, 
 No. 8 Lafayette Place, New York, U. S. A, 
 
 MY PHOTO. SAMPI^ES AND AL.t BACKGROUNDS AND ACCESSORIES BEAR MY 
 NAME— NONE OTHERS GENUINE. 
 PHOTO. SAMPI.es ( TO BE RETURNED ) SENT TO RESPONSIBLE PARTIES ONI.Y. 
 MY DESIGNS NOW NUMBER 408. NOVELTIES CONSTANTLY APPEARING. 
 
 Ye aforesaid Lafayette W. Seavey, devotes his entire time to the designing and 
 painting of Backgrounds and Accessories. All sales and office business conducted by 
 Messrs. M. M. Govan and Charles Trembly. 
 
 For the use of AMATEURS I reoommead my PLAIN AND REMBRANDT BACKGROUNDS. 
 
 P. S. — Bear in mind, that a judicious investment in Backgrounds and Accessories is sure to bring 
 back an immediate return, as they, if novel and artistic, enhance the value and interest of your 
 productions, and attract the attention of the public. 
 
 ( W2 ) 
 
lOOZL , BEGAN BUSINESS lOOZL 
 
 Photographic itSmf^"^^)^^^^ Photographic 
 A Boot on Eyery Specialty in tlie Art. Sentl for Descriptiye Catalogno free, 
 
 WILSON'S PHOTOGRAPHIOS $4 00 
 
 THE PRACTICAL PRINTER, 2 50 
 
 BIGELOW'S ARTISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY, .... 4 00 
 
 HEARN'S STUDIES IN ARTISTIC PRINTING, .... 3 50 
 
 GIHON'S PHOTOGRAPHIC COLORISTS' GUIDE, ... 1 50 
 
 VOGEL'S POCKET REFERENCE-BOOK, . . • 1 50 
 
 BURNET'S HINTS ON COMPOSITION, ... 3 50 
 
 PHOTOGRAPHIC MOSAICS (yearly), 50 
 
 THE PERROTYPER'S GUIDE, " . 75 
 
 ROBINSON'S PICTORIAL EFFECT IN PHOTOGRAPHY, 
 
 Paper, $1.00; cloth, . . 1 50 
 THE PHILADELPHIA PHOTOGRAPHER, 
 
 Per six months, $2.50; per year, 5 00 
 
 A monthly magazine, illustrated by photographs of superior merit. Stands 
 ahead of all its kindred. Seventeen years of success is a sufficient guarantee 
 of its value and use to the practical, working, growing, photographer. 
 
 WILSON'S LANTERN JOURNEYS. Per vol. 2 00 
 
 Or, Readings for the Lantern Exhibitor. Gives incidents and facts 
 in entertaining style of about 2000 places and things. In two volumes, 
 
 THE MAGIC LANTERN. Per year, .... 1 00 
 
 A Monthly Lantern Magazine. 
 
 MAWUFACTTIKER AND DEALEB IH 
 
 MAGIC LANTERNS AND SLIDES 
 
 The Most Extensive Stock in America. Send for Illustrated Catalogue, IS Cents, 
 
 SrmCIAL ANNOUNCEXEJifT.—A NMW BOOK BY Dr. U. W. TOGEL, "VBLOTOQBAFBIC 
 rBOGBJESS BINCE 1879." BEADY EABLT JJV 1883. 
 
 ED^A^ARD L. WILSON, Editor and Publisher, 
 
 912 & 914 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, Pa. 
 
 ( 363 ) 
 
-HjcTp PW PD PePaii^^ C^PJDID^'FE.** 
 
 THE BLAIR f, 
 
 :nation gamma. 
 
 «MS" 
 
 -gr^?-" 
 
 )/> 
 
 r-^-tF 
 
 The most perfect, handsome, and useful Camera ever placed on the 
 American market. It is fitted with rack and pinion, improved set-screw, rising and falling 
 front (both ways) single swing, stereo, division, extra front for stereo. lense|, and in every detail 
 is of the highest order of ■workmanship. Made of the best of mahogany and cherry, 
 highly polished, and handsomely trimmed with nickel-plated mountings. 
 
 It is acknowledged by manufacturer, dealer, and user to be Al, in every 
 respect. THE COMBINATION consists in our PATENT EXTENSION, which admits 
 making an 8xio picture on a 5 x 8 Camera, etc. This is one of the simplest devices, which 
 accomplishes a great end, ever employed in Photography, and makes the B. C. C. an instrument 
 unequalled in America. 
 
 The Plate Holder Is another model of simplicity and perfection. No grooves 
 to fit the plate into, no partition to slide in, no possible chance for the plate to get out after 
 once placed in position, fitted for rests to any size under that of the Plate Holder : thus with 
 a 5 X 8 Combination Camera and Extension, all sizes from S'/^AX "P to 8x10 can betaken. 
 Both Camera and Extension are each enclosed in a fine imt Morocco case 
 ( 364 ) • 
 
-* 
 
 >?•— — *-*nrT 
 
 Cameca Proper, 5x8,. . . 
 
 . $28 00 
 
 Extension for same, 8 x 10, 
 
 8 00 
 
 Complete in one order, . . 
 
 35 00 
 
 Camera Proper, 4x5, . . 
 
 . . 20 00 
 
 Extension for same, 5x8, 
 
 8 00 
 
 Complete together, 
 
 25 00 
 
 E LIST.-f^f- 
 
 Extra Plate Holders, 8x10, . 
 Extra Plate Holders, 5x8,. 
 Extra Plate Holders, 4x5, 
 Rests, 3i X 4j, 4 X 5, 4} x 6 J, 4^ x 5 J, 
 each, , . .... 
 
 $3 00 
 2 50 
 2 00 
 
 30 
 
 THE TRIUMPH CAMEBA of same style and finish as the Combination, but smaller 
 in outside dimension and not adapted for the extension. Price, $27.00. 
 
 THE KNOCKDOWN CAMERA. The Camera for the morning walk, weighs i}4 lbs., 
 and carries eight plates, suppUed with Extension Tripod and Achromatic Lenses. Price, $10.00. 
 
 THE CELEBRATED TOUROGrBAPH. Price, complete with Lens and Tripod, 
 from $33.00 to $15.00. Tripods, all styles, Dry-Plate Cameras, and Outfits, etc. THE 
 TRIUMPH PLATES. A trial order will convince you that we mean to be up to the times 
 in work, prices, and liberality of dealing. 
 
 THE BLAIR TOUEOGRAPH AND DRY-PLATE 00., 
 
 iVbs. 471 & 4:75 Tremont Street, Boston, Mass, 
 
 ( 365) 
 
NEW YORK'S FAVORITE. 
 
 Gelatine Dry Plates. 
 
 The Manhattan Brand of Dry Plates has found general favor amongst the 
 best of our Dry Plate Photographers, who attest to their good qualities. Having 
 enlarged our works, the increased facilities enables us to offer to the artist and 
 amateur a superior Dry Plate at reduced prices, making them, quality considered, 
 the cheapest plates in the market, at the same time easy to develop and free from 
 frilling, if treated according to directions which accompany each package. 
 Send for our pamphlet, free to all. 
 
 «--ti~ 
 
 PRICE LIST. sv^ 
 
 Size. 
 
 4 x5, . 
 
 4Xx5K, 
 4^x6;^, 
 
 5 xY, . 
 5x8, 
 
 Doz. 
 
 so 65 
 
 95 
 
 1 00 
 
 1 25 
 
 1 65 
 
 1 85 
 
 2 40 
 
 Size. Doz. 
 
 8x10 S3 60 
 
 10x12, 5 20 
 
 11x14, Double Thick G-lass, 6 80 
 14 X 17, » » » lO 00 
 
 17x20, I) » » 17 50 
 
 18x22, » » » 20 00 
 
 20 X 24, )) » » 24 00 
 
 11 X 14 and larger, packed in boxes containing half-dozen. 
 
 ALSO. PLATES FOR STRIPPING FILM. 
 
 ALL PLATES 6UAEANTEED. FOR SALE BY ALL DEALERS. 
 
 MANUFACTURED BY 
 
 ULRICH & COLCLOUGH, 
 
 ( 366 ) 
 
 Depot, No. 156 Bowery, New York City. 
 
DOUGLASS, 
 
 Gayton a. Douglass. Henry G. Thompsok. 
 
 8. 23t STATE srij^ 
 
 * CHICAGO, ' 
 
 Merchants in all Requisites pertaining to the 
 Art-Science of Photography. 
 
 THOMPSON 
 
 CATALOGUES FREE. 
 
 Photographers' Monthly Bureau of Information. 
 Hints on Burnishing Photographs. 
 
 FREE. 
 
 & CO. 
 
 r PHOTOGRAPHERS' 
 
 Booksellers, Stationers, and Newsdealers. 
 
 (367) 
 
EDWARD L. WILSON'S THF ORIENT 
 
 Personally Taken Views of llll-- V^r^ll^l^l- 
 
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 And for the STEREOSCOPE, GKAPHOSCOPE, AND OPTICAL LANTERN, supply 
 
 ^^OVER ONE THOUSAND SUBJECTS—*^ 
 
 Of exqiisite beauty and great interest. Catalogues free. 
 
 Stereoscopic Size, $3.00 per doz.; 8x10 Size, $9.00 per doz ; Lantern Slides, $6.00 per doz. 
 
 THE PHILADELPHIA PHOTOGRAPHER, edited by Edward L. Wilson. Is the best 
 Photographic Monthly printed. Each number is accompanied by a beautiful .photograph. Price, 
 per year, ^5.00; half year, ^2.50. Specimen copies free. 
 
 " The Philadelphia Photographer is truly a welcome friend and companion ; ever giving good advice and 
 counsel." — Frank G. Abell, Portland^ Oregon. "I have read your works for twelve years, and was glad to 
 shake you by the hand at the Indianapolis Convention." — W. J. Hillman, Richland Center, Wisconsin. "I 
 would not be without the Philadelphia Photographer for twice what you charge for it." — Wm. McComb, Muskegon, 
 Michigan. " I find it hard lo get along without your magazine, I have found one number to be worth the price of 
 one year's subscription." — G. W. Chesley, Oivaionna, Minnesota. '* I was brought up (Photographically) on the 
 Philadelphia Photographer, and now I have changed from employe to employer. 1 think I shall continue to bring 
 myself up as I cannot afford to do without your valuable journal." — F. E Poister, Kent, Ohio. "Send twenty- 
 four copies instead of eighteen ; and ?oon we hope to order more as the work is surely establishing .itself in the Austra- 
 lian Colonies." — Boyd & Co., Sydney, Aicstralia. 
 
 For Advertisement of photographic books, see another page. 
 
 OPTICAL LANTERNS AND LANTERN SLIDES. The Irgest stock in the world. Head- 
 quarters. Two thousand rare subjects of my own make published nowhere else in the world. 
 Send for a catalogue of nearly two hundred pages, free. 
 
 EDWARD L. WILSON, Nos. 912 & 914 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, Pa. 
 
 ( 868 ) 
 
jlliprrkciti's fflWe-^wg^^ «ieiu "^eiiise^. 
 
 PATENTED MAY 2lBt, 1882. 
 
 These Lenses are absolutely rectilinear ; they embrace an angle of fully 100 degrees, 
 and are the most rapid wide-angle Lenses made. We recommend them for use with the 
 foregoing outfits. 
 
 PRICE OF MORRISON'S "WIDB-ANGLE LENSES. 
 
 Price. 
 No. 1, ^ diameter of Lens, 4 x4 inch Plates, 3 inch Bquiv. Focus, each, . . J525 00 
 
 No. 2, 1 11 » 4x5 » 3^ n 1) 1) . 2.5 00 
 
 No. 3, 1 » » 4^ X 7>^ » • 4X » » » ■ 25 00 
 
 No. 4, 1 I) )) 5 x8 1) 5X » » 1) . 25 00 
 
 MORRISON'S RAPID STEREOSCOPIC LENSES, 
 
 FOR INSTANTANEOUS VIEWS OJR LAWN GROUPS, 
 
 Are entirely different in many particulars from any other Lenses in the market. They 
 are 6 inches focus a,nd \\ inch in diameter, and of course can be obtained in matched 
 pairs if desired. By using a set of diaphragms provided, they are adapted for making 
 5x8 views. 
 
 A novel and ingenious instantaneous dtop is also provided, passing through the brass 
 work, on the same principle as a central stop, by which absolutely instantaneous views, 4x5 
 inches, may be made, sjiarp all over to the very edges, without being diaphragmed down. 
 
 PRICE, each, $40 00. 
 
 "PEERLESS" QUICK ACTING STEREOSCOPIC LENSES 
 
 FO^ PORTMAITUBE OB VIEWS. 
 
 We can also furnish the following, either single or in pairs : 
 
 The Lenses are especially designed for Stereoscopic Photography, and are so constructed 
 that they will work well for interiors or exteriors. 
 
 They are particularly adapted for instantaneous work. 
 
 Diameter of Lenses, 1^'inch; focal length, 3J inches. 
 
 By removing the back lens and substituting the front combination, a focal length of 
 5| inches is obtained. 
 
 They are supplied with six Waterhouse Diaphragms in Morocco Case. 
 
 Price, per pair, 5525 00. 
 
 Imitation Dallmeyer Lenses for Landscapes. Price, ^ pair, . . 17 00. 
 ALL STYLES OF LENSES TO OBDEB. 
 
 BOOKS FOR THE AMATEUR. 
 
 HOW TO MAKE PICTURES. By Hbnky Clay Pkice. Cloth bound, 75 ots. ; paper cover, 50 
 cts. Contains the very A, B, C, of Photography, in complete and attractive lessons ; also, 
 
 THE PHOTOGRAPHIC AMATEUR. By J. Tkaill Taylor. Price, cloth bound, 75 cts. ; 
 illuminated covers, 50 cts. A Book of Reference for the Young Photographer, either 
 professional or amateur. 
 
 ( 371 ) 
 
Since the introduction of Gelatine Dry Plates they have been vastly improved, and ihe special 
 apparatus or appliances made to use with them have also undergone chnnges for the better. 
 
 The Dry- Plate Lantern but a short time ago devised and introduced by us, which has met with 
 a large sale, is now to be set aside, and we shall make and sell the improved one illustrated here, 
 
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 which has greater illuminating power, a hinged top, and is in several respects vastly improved 
 over the old pattern. 
 
 The glass is easily lifted out, a decided advantage when cleaning it, and if desired a white 
 globe may be substituted in place of the ruby one. Lamp oil will be used instead of kerosene, 
 and thus a disagreeable odor and much smoke be done away with. 
 
 The improved Lantern is safer than many othere because of its height and vent, which remove 
 the liability to overheating The wire guard is made strong enough to protect the ruby globe and 
 it does not stop off the light to any appreciable extent. ' 
 
 By patented devices the top vent and the lower draft holes are so constructed that no wRite 
 rays can escape through them, and thus the Lantern is perfected for use in the dark-room. 
 SOME POINTS ABOUT THE IMPROVED LANTERN. 
 
 It is readily extinguished. 
 
 It is not liable to crack the glasses. 
 
 It requires less than ordinary care 
 
 to keep clean. 
 It is simple and easily understood. 
 It is not liable to get out of order. 
 
 It warns no skill, care, nor atten- 
 tion in use. 
 
 It gives at all times a symmetri- 
 cal flame of maximum size. 
 
 It requires only to be kept in 
 oil. 
 
 It maintains a full and brilliant 
 
 flame as long as the oil lasts. 
 It is easy to wick. 
 It is conveniently lighted. 
 It is provided with guards to pre- 
 vent breakage of the glass. 
 FOR SALE BY ALL PHOTOGSAPHIC STOCK-DEALERS, AND THE 
 
 w. iRv^^^DAMs, gpgyjLL lANUFACTURINd CO., 419 & 421 Brooie St., NewYort 
 
THE "KEYSTONE" 
 
 MADE IN 
 
 THREE DEGREES OF SENSITIVENESS. 
 
 By JOHN CARBUTT, 628 & 630 Chestnut St., 
 
 -^— PHILADELPHIA.--^ 
 
 FOR LANDSCAPE, COPYING, AND TRANSPAR- 
 ENCIES, FOR MAGIC LANTERN OR WINDOW 
 DECORATION. (Red Label.) 
 
 FOR STUDIO WORK, LANDSCAPES with Figures, 
 MACHINERY, AND GENERAL PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 A most usefal and reliable Plate. (White Label.) 
 
 FOR INSTANTANEOUS WORK, CHILDREN'S 
 PORTRAITS, DARK DAYS IN THE STUDIO, 
 INTERIORS, Etc,, when a highly sensitive plate is 
 a necessity. (Blue Label.) All Plates Guaranteed Perfect. 
 
 Sizs. 
 3X X ^X inches, 
 
 4 • X 5 » 
 
 4X X ^/4 » 
 
 4X X 6)4 I) 
 
 5x7 >i 
 
 5x8 » 
 
 6)4 X 8J4 » 
 7 x9 
 
 
 Revised Ft 
 
 ice-IAst— Price per Dozen. 
 
 
 
 A. &B. 
 
 J.C.B. 
 
 Size. 
 
 
 A. &B. 
 
 J.C.B. 
 
 ... $0 65 
 
 $0 72 • 
 
 8x10 
 
 inches, . . 
 
 . $3 60 
 
 ?4 00 
 
 
 
 
 95 
 
 1 04 
 
 10x12 
 
 » 
 
 5 20 
 
 5 80 
 
 
 
 
 1 00 
 
 1 12 
 
 11x14 
 
 » 
 
 6 80 
 
 7 60 
 
 
 
 
 1 25 
 
 1 40 
 
 14x17 
 
 » 
 
 10 00 
 
 11 00 
 
 
 
 
 1 68 
 
 1 85 
 
 14 X 18 
 
 )) 
 
 11 00 
 
 12 00 
 
 
 
 
 1 80 
 
 2 00 
 
 17x20 
 
 ]) ... 
 
 16 00 
 
 18 00 
 
 
 
 
 2 40 
 
 2 70 
 
 18x22 
 
 J) 
 
 18 00 
 
 20 00 
 
 
 
 
 3 00 
 
 3 40 
 
 20x24 
 
 )) 
 
 22 50 
 
 25 00 
 
 11 X 14 and larger sizes are made on double-thick glass, and put up in half dozen packages 
 
 FOR SALE BY ALL DEALERS. 
 
 SCOVILL MANUFACTURING CO., New York, 
 
 Trade Asents for Oarbutt's Keystone Bromo- Gelatine Dry Plates, 
 
 ( 373 ) 
 
CRAMER & NORDEN'S 
 
 ST. LOUIS 
 
 Extra-Rapid Dry Plates. 
 
 WARRANTED PERFECT, 
 
 With Latest Formulas and Complete Directions for Use. 
 
 FOR SALE BY 
 
 G. GBNNERT, 105 William Street, 
 New York, Greneral Eastern Agent. 
 
 SCOVILL MFG. CO., 419 Broome 
 Street, New York. 
 FALLEN BROS., Detroit, Mich. 
 "H. C. FRANTZ, Toledo, Ohio. 
 
 E. J. WECKS, Jackson, Mich. 
 *JOHN I. SHAW, Pittsburg, Pa. 
 
 DAVID TUCKER & CO., Buffalo, 
 N. Y. 
 
 H. D. MARKS. Rochester, N. Y. 
 
 I. N. McDonald, Albany, N. Y. 
 
 THOS. H. McCOLLIN, Philadelphia, 
 Pa 
 
 WOLF & CHEYNEY, Philadelphia, 
 Pa. 
 
 WILSON, HOOD & CO., Philadel- 
 phia, Pa. 
 
 RICHARD WALZL, Baltimore, Md. 
 
 BACHRACH BROS. , Baltimore, Md. 
 
 JAMES LETT, Harrisburg, Pa. 
 
 BEN J. FRENCH & CO., Boston, 
 Mass. [Mass. 
 
 C. H. CODMAN & CO., Boston, 
 
 BLESSING BROTHERS., Galves- 
 
 ton. \L6X£LS 
 
 S. T. BLESSING, New Orleans, La. 
 THEO. SCHUMANN, Atlanta, Ga. 
 W. G. ROBINSON, Atlanta, Ga. 
 J. H. KIRK, Wheeling, W. Va. 
 J. D. DEXTER, Portland, Me. 
 'GEO. R. ANGELL, Detroit, Mich. 
 
 ( 374 ) 
 
 iGUSTAV BODE, Milwaukee, Wis. 
 
 WM. S. CONNER, Pittsburg, Pa. 
 'DOUGLASS, THOMPSON & CO., 
 ^ Chicago. 
 
 •HIRAM J. THOMPSON, Chicago. 
 "N. C. THAYER & CO., Chicago. 
 *C. F. RICE, Chicago. 
 "J. V. E8C0TT & SONS, Louisville, 
 . Ky. 
 
 •W. D. GATCHEL & CO., Louisville, 
 Ky. 
 
 W. J. HAZENSTAB, St. Louis. 
 ♦H. A. HYATT, St. Louis. 
 • J. C. SOMERVILLE, St. Louis. 
 
 J. F. INDERMILL, St. Joseph, Mo. 
 'JORDAN & SHEEN, Cincinnati, 0. 
 •P. SMITH & CO., Cincinnati, 0. 
 
 P. SMETH & CO., Columbus, 0. 
 
 H. LIEBER & CO., Indianapolis, Ind. 
 ^ A. BLACK & CO., Indianapolis, Ind. 
 ' MULLETT BROS. , Kansas City, Mo. 
 
 JAS. H. SMITH, (^uincy. 111. 
 
 SARGENT & CO., Cleveland, 0. 
 
 JOHN E. TEAL, Cleveland, 0. 
 
 ZIMMERMAN & BROS., St. Paul, 
 Minn. 
 
 McINTYRE & CO., London, Ont. 
 
 PECK BROS., Grand Rapids, Mich. 
 
 SAM' L PARTRIDGE, San Francisco, 
 Cal. 
 
 GEO. W. SITTLER, Springfield, Mo. 
 
 G. MOSES, New Orleans, Xa. 
 
CHAMPLIN'S YiaNETTINa ATTACHMENT. 
 
 TO BE USED WITH CUT-OUTS OR WAYMOUTH'S VIGNETTE PAPERS. 
 
 Patented August i, 1882. 
 
 The latest and best ever offered to the profession or amateur. The finest results can be obtained in 
 an easy and simple manner, and at the same time a saving of two-thirds the labor necessary to produce 
 the same after the old fashion. 
 
 Two tracks, B, are attached to printing-frame, and in these tracks a slide, C, moves. Over this slide 
 a sliding box-frame, D, is held in place by guide-strips in such a manner that the box-frame may be moved 
 
 transversely over the sUde. The inner surfaces of the frame, D, 
 are grooved to receive the edges of the frame which carries the 
 Vignetting card or design.' By these devices the card-holding 
 frame can be adjusted a greater or less distance from the negative, 
 and the sliding-frame, D, may be shifted to any desired position. 
 The above attachments are made in two styles,- single and 
 double. The double, as shown in the accompanying cut, are 
 used to vignette half of the plate, the other half being com- 
 pletely masked, thus making it convenient for two negatives 
 on plates, either of which may be vignetted. The single are 
 the same, except that the box-frame, D, covers the entire 
 negative, these are used for one on plate. They are made of 
 black walnut, and are light and durable, all slides reverse, and 
 are held in position by springs, and can be easily withdrawn 
 from frame by drawing slide, C, leaving nothing in the way of 
 plain printing. 
 
 price: liiST. 
 
 Double, 4^ x 6^ to 8 x 10, Inclusi-FC, 
 Single, ^ to 8 X 10, Inclusive, 
 
 $1 00 
 
 75 
 
 Address, W. L. CHAMPLIN, Wtaitestown, N. T. 
 
 Wiiso] 
 
 It is suggested to amateurs, employes, wives, etc., who may have friends, 
 relatives, or employes interested in the beautiful art of Photography, that 
 
 THE VERY BEST PRESENT 
 
 You can put in their hands is a copy of this Exhaustive Work, 
 
 " I bought a copy of your Photographies last fall. I would not take many times its cost for it. I like the general 
 plan of the book far better than any work I have ever seen on Photography. Hope it will be to you, what I know 
 it will prove to every buyer, namely, a financial success." — J. C. Patrick. 
 
 " Every one should have Photographies. I would not take ^lo for my copy." — Dk. M. Barnes, Brunswick, Mo. 
 
 " What a splendid book it is I sat up two hours after my usual bed-time reading it, the first night after it came. 
 It tells clearly what I want to know and in just such a way that 1 know just where to find the very thing. I thank 
 you for your help in enlightening this great ,pmpire." — J. B. Mateek, Missionary at Fungchoiu, China 
 
 ** Photographies far exceeds our expectations, and is certainly a most valuable book to any progressive photo- 
 grapher. The more we read of it the belter are we able to appreciate the ability and zeal of the man who has spent so 
 much time and made such good use of his pen to advance our beautiful art," — J. R. I^muv^k, Auckland, New Zealand. 
 
 It will be mailed post-paid, to ary address in the world, on receipt of $4.00. 
 Many who have followed this advice have given much pleasure and profit. 
 
 ii^PLEASE THINK OVER YT.-m. 
 
 EDWARD L. WILSON, Author and PnWislier, 912 & 914 Wnnt Street, PMladelnMa, Pa. 
 
 ^375 ) 
 
Ml PlAfWlt 
 
 A New Style of Picture for the Holidays. 
 
 PATENTED, OCTOBER lOth, 1882. 
 
 The undersigned, after much careful experiment, has just now 
 perfected machinery and other means for producing his new 
 INVENTION, and is prepared to supply apparatus and instructions 
 to photographers. 
 
 The Plaque is a cabinet size picture, mounted on specially 
 designed cards ; vignetted, and depressed concave in a deep 
 circular cameo-form to represent a Plaque. 
 
 It is very beautiful and attractive, and will make a most 
 acceptable holiday picture. Having found that it would save my 
 fellow photographers a great deal of stumbling, waste of time and 
 money, if given in hand full instructions and machinery to produce 
 The Plaque, I have prepared myself to supply 
 
 Licenses for the full term of my Patent; Presses, Dies, and Acces- 
 sories ; Full Instructions to make Plaques, and Card Mounts 
 of Plaque Designs, at reasonable prices. 
 
 I have scattered a few sample pictures among photographic 
 friends, and already have several applications for exclusive licenses 
 to work under my patent. I do not wish to sell exclusive licenses 
 at present, believing all photographers should share the advan- 
 tages of my patent. I shall have no travelling agents, as there is 
 no necessity when my full instructions are followed. Saving that 
 expense, I can sell hcenses and machinery cheaper. I will send 
 four sample Plaques for $i.oo. Outfits, with license, $25.00. 
 
 For further particulars, address the chief of Plaquers, 
 
 P. B. CLENCH, Lockport, N. Y. 
 
 The Philadelphia Photographer and Photo. Times, for December, 1882, contain 
 
 sixteen reduced Plaques. 
 
 ( 376 )