THE STUDIO.
[Sidenote: Studio.]
For portraiture a studio is a necessity for obtaining the best results.
We shall very briefly discuss the question of studios, for we hold that,
provided a studio be large enough and light enough, there is not much
else to consider. We have been in several studios, and worked for a
considerable time in them, one of which we, having hired, had all to
ourselves, so that our remarks are based on the experience of studios
photographic, as well as on those of painters and sculptors.
[Sidenote: Top and side light.]
The best light is undoubtedly a top light and a side light, the side
light reaching to within a few feet of the ground. It is a common
fallacy among some portrait photographers that the side light should
reach to the ground, so that the boots may be lighted. Such an idea
evidently arises from a misconception of the thing required; the boots
are to be subdued as much as possible, it is the model’s portrait we
want, not that of his boots. The studio in this country should, if
possible, face north, or north-east, the roof sloping at an inclination
of half a right angle. There should be no tall buildings standing near
it, as exterior shadows and reflections interfere with the purity of
lighting.
[Sidenote: Building a studio.]
We do not intend to give specifications for the building of a studio,
for this has been already admirably done, and we advise any one
proposing to build to consult Dr. E. L. Wilson’s “Photographics,” page
163 et seq. [Sidenote: Dr. Wilson’s specification.] In our opinion this
description leaves nothing to be desired; this proviso only being made,
that the studio be made long enough to use a long-focus lens, that shall
give us correct drawing. We have not tried Dallmeyer’s new lenses in a
studio, but if quick enough they should be used in preference to all
others. Even if these lenses be not quick enough for studio work, no
doubt one will soon be made that will be quick enough. [Sidenote:
Glazing.] The glazing should not extend from one end of the studio to
the other; an unglazed space should be left at each end. By curtains the
length of glazing can always be shortened. [Sidenote: Walls.] A grey
distemper is perhaps the most suitable colour for the walls.
[Sidenote: Home portraiture.]
Successful portraits can be taken in ordinary sitting-rooms, but we do
not think the best results can be obtained in this way.
Regarding business arrangements and conveniences, we have nothing to do
with them.
FURNITURE.
[Sidenote: Furniture.]
The old, and even modern, portrait painters are answerable for many of
the faults to this day committed by photographers, because they take
portrait painters as models. Lawrence was especially guilty in the use
of conventional backgrounds and accessories. Of photographic furniture,
as generally understood, there should be _none_. The studio should be
furnished simply, and with taste, as an ordinary sitting-room. There
should be no shams of any kind, and the furniture should be chosen with
a regard to unobtrusiveness and grace, rather than to massive beauty.
All heavy curtains, draperies, hot-house plants, and such incongruous
lumber, should be avoided. It should be remembered that what is wanted
is a portrait—the face, or figure, or both—and all accessories should be
subdued. It is very little use to lay down rules for these things, all
must depend on the individual taste of the photographer.
[Sidenote: _Objets d'Art_, so called.]
But, above all, avoid shams and cheap ornamental objects, such as cheap
bronzes, china pots, and Birmingham _bric-à-brac_. The chairs should be
upholstered with some good plain coloured cloth, with no pattern, and
the floor carpeted with matting, or a simply coloured carpet without
pattern. Let simplicity and harmony predominate. The room in fact should
be a harmony in some cool colour, and the furniture should not be _felt_
when in the room. Our advice is, buy your furniture anywhere, save at a
photographic furniture dealer’s.
[Sidenote: Head-rests.]
Head-rests must be entirely tabooed. We have taken many portraits, some
with very long exposures, and no head-rest was necessary. In nine cases
out of ten it simply ruins the portrait from an artistic point of view.
[Sidenote: Reflectors.]
Reflectors, on light stands, should be ready for use; but it is
obviously erroneous to use large and unwieldy reflectors. The reflector
is really only necessary for the head and shoulders; for our object is
to subdue all other parts as much as possible.
[Sidenote: Backgrounds.]
All artificial backgrounds should be banished, together with such stupid
lumber as banisters, pedestals, and stiles: they are all inartistic in
the extreme. It is a false idea to represent people in positions they
are never found in—such as a girl in evening dress against a seascape,
and all the other hideous conventionalities of the craftsman’s
imagination. The background—which is a matter of vital importance—should
be arranged to suit the sitter, that is, a harmony of colour should be
aimed at. Light fabrics without patterns, or pieces of tapestry, will
serve every purpose, and give most artistic results. The portraitist
should keep a selection of pieces of fabric of light hues, and a light
skeleton screen can be kept ready, to which to tack them as required,
suiting the colour to the dress of the sitter. Gradated backgrounds are
a mistake, the tonality is much better shown by having a background of
one tint, and so arranging the light that the modelling and tonality
shall be subtle and true.
Breadth and simplicity are the foundation of all good work. The
background should never be placed close behind the sitter, as is
customary; but its distance from the sitter should be studied with the
lighting. As a rule, it is better to place the background three or four
feet from the back of the sitter. What is required, is that the head
shall melt softly into the background, and yet retain its modelling.
[Sidenote: The camera.]
The camera should work with a shutter—the Cadett pneumatic shutter for
portraiture being as good as any we know—and the pneumatic apparatus
should have a very long india-rubber tube attached, for reasons to be
explained later on.
[Sidenote: Artificial light portraits.]
Means may be arranged for taking pictures by artificial light, if
necessary, though personally we do not care for them. The tonality,
though true to the light, has a false, artificial appearance by day.
There are many methods of making artificially lighted pictures; the
best, in our opinion, are those taken by the electric light. Others are
done by gas, and by magnesium flashes; a method quite recently revived
as something new, whereas it is very old. The best of those we have seen
were done by the American “blitz-pulver;” but the results appeared to us
somewhat artificial. We think artists will always avoid these artificial
lights.
[Sidenote: Studio effects.]
You must remember that in a studio you are taking a person _in a room_,
and that is the impression you must try to get in your picture.
[Sidenote: A lighting rule.] _It is a false idea and an inartistic one
to endeavour to represent outdoor effects in a studio._ Studio lighting
and outdoor lighting are radically different, and in a studio you have
only to try and give an _indoor effect_. This has been the principle of
all great artists. None but an amateur could fail to notice the falsity
of lighting as seen in outdoor subjects taken in the studio. [Sidenote:
Studio lighting.] On the other hand, in a studio you may get any effect
of lighting you can for indoor subjects, for all such effects are to be
seen in a room by a careful observer. [Sidenote: Adam Salomon.] Adam
Salomon took many of his portraits in front of a red-glass window. This
is quite legitimate, as is also the arrangement of fabrics for the
background, and the dictating what coloured dress the sitter shall wear.
Let our student work in harmonies of colour as much as possible, and let
him never take outdoor effects in a studio. Make the room as much like a
comfortable sitting-room as possible, and hide all the tools of the
craft.