[Had this Query reached us last week, we should then, as now, have
replied in the affirmative. We should then have referred, for evidence
in support of our statement, to Mr. Fenton's Well Walk, Cheltenham,
published in the _Photographic Album_, and to Mr. Buckle's View of
Peterborough. But we may now adduce a work almost more remarkable for
this quality, namely, a view of Salisbury, by Mr. Russell Sedgefield, a
young wood engraver, which is about to appear in the forthcoming part of
the _Photographic Album_.
To this beautiful specimen of the art we may certainly refer as a proof
that it is quite possible to obtain upon paper the greatest nicety of
detail; in short, every minuteness that can be desired, or ought to be
attempted.]
_Stereoscopic Angles._--I think there can be little doubt that MR. T. L.
MERRITT (Vol. viii., p. 110.) has solved the problem as to stereoscopic
angles: there can be no reason why one angle should be used for _near_
objects, and another for _distant_. A _true_ representation of nature is
required: and, as we cannot view any object with one of our eyes eighteen
or twenty feet separate from the other, so it appears to me a true
picture cannot be obtained by taking two views so far apart. The result
must be to _dwarf_ the objects; and, in confirmation of this, I may state
that I was not convinced that the stereoscopic views were taken from
nature till I understood the cause of their reduction. All views that I
have been able to purchase, of out-door nature, appear to me to be taken
from models, and not from the objects themselves.
A view of a tower conveys the idea, not of a tower of stone and lime, but
of a very careful model in cardboard; and this is exactly what might be
expected from taking the views at so wide an angle. A church is seen, as
it would be seen by a giant whose eyes were twenty feet apart, or as we
would see a small model of it near at hand.
I hope that some of your photographic correspondents will settle this
question, by taking views of the same object both by the wide and close
angle, and, by comparing them, ascertain which conveys to the mind the
truest representation of nature.