PHOTOGRAPHING SHOW WINDOWS.
It is natural that all trimmers should be interested in the proper
reproduction of their displays. The photograph is an imperishable
evidence of the trimmer’s skill and genius. It counts more with
employers than any other one thing. If you wish a position the merchant
at once asks, “What kind of work can you do?” Your photograph answers
the question. He cannot dispute its evidence. Besides, photographs taken
at various times in your career afford a record of your progress. You
can see how far you have advanced, and profit by the comparison.
There are a few points that it is well to know and remember concerning
the process of photographing show windows:
If there is a broad street before your window, or an open space, it will
be almost impossible to take a picture by day; for, plant your camera
where you will, it is always darker in your window than it is outside,
and the opposite condition should prevail. But you can get it at night.
See that your electric lights, while flooding the window, are themselves
hidden from the street. If you have a good lens from twenty to thirty
seconds’ exposure will be enough. A lens not especially rapid will
require more time. The size of the diaphragm also counts. The smaller
the diaphragm, the more time is required; but the small diaphragm also
gives an additional sharpness to your picture. And then, people can walk
between the camera and the window without injuring the picture—provided
they don’t stop short. The time required is also influenced by the
rapidity and make of the plate. Therefore you have three things to
consider in timing your picture—lens, plate and diaphragm.
A good time to photograph a window is early morning, on a clear day,
just before sunrise. The light is strong and penetrating, and a good
picture will usually result. Remember that the interior of your window
must be light. If your window is darker than the street the glass acts
as a mirror, reflecting everything on the opposite side of the street.
If the sun shines on your window, and the opposite side of the street is
dark, there will be no reflections of foreign objects in your picture.
By keeping these important items of information in mind any country
photographer can get a good picture of a show window. If the
photographer doesn’t know them, it would be well to call his attention
to these facts. He may not have had experience in “shooting” show
windows.
A method often adopted with good success is as follows: Make a cloth
screen of black cambric, sufficiently large to shut off all reflections
when raised before the window. Fasten the two upper corners to poles,
and when about to take the picture have two men or boys raise the screen
just back of the camera. All reflections will be avoided, and a clear
picture result. As it is not probable many photographers will prepare
such a screen, we advise trimmers to have one made, and keep in
readiness for occasions when they want their windows photographed.
Flashlight pictures will not avoid reflections.
You must not attempt to use the screen on windy days, however, for the
wind will render it unmanageable.
A prominent decorator describes his experience in photographing windows
in the following words:
“Under ordinary circumstances it is extremely difficult to photograph a
window display, owing to reflections caused by dark objects in the
display. These, acting in a similar manner to mercury on the back of a
mirror, make the plate glass a strong reflector of objects outside the
window. Frequently a photograph contains not only the window display,
but trees, buildings, people, and even the camera itself, often to the
total exclusion of important portions of the trim. If the glass is extra
thick the reflections may be caused by a light colored display as well.
Having suffered many severe disappointments in photographing my windows,
I have been driven to resort to almost every known method in photography
to endeavor to eliminate this very objectionable feature from my
pictures. But I always met with failure until I accidentally noticed,
while looking at a window one evening, that while the windows across the
street were dark, and the arc lights opposite were extinguished, there
was absolutely no reflection on the glass. This was, of course, a very
natural circumstance, but one a person might easily overlook. As an
experiment I planted my camera before the window, and made a flash light
exposure of the display, only to find that in the center of the picture
I had a great white blotch caused by the flash—it being reflected by the
glass. Again I tried. The incandescent lights are placed in a strip
running along the inside front of the window, just above the sash, and
fitted with cone-shaped reflectors, which is the best system of window
illumination ever used, and one that is being universally adopted. The
display was a millinery window, done chiefly in white. I allowed an
exposure before the camera of twenty minutes under the light ordinarily
used in the window, and I got a beautiful picture entirely free from
reflection.”
The length of exposure depends entirely upon the nature of the goods
displayed, darker goods requiring a longer exposure. An oriental rug
display I give thirty minutes, and a white window does not really
require more than fifteen minutes. Passing street cars, all having their
lights in about the same place, will cause a streak in the plate if the
lens is not covered while they go by. This can be easily done, without
danger of moving the camera, by simply holding the cover of your plate
holder before the lens. The same thing may be done when a person stops
before the window. You must make allowances for the time the plate is
thus covered, so that your total exposure will be from fifteen to thirty
minutes, as your judgment dictates is the time required.
I have found this method of photographing at night, by the electric
light of the window itself, by far the most satisfactory of any I have
attempted, as the results are uniformly good.