SOME KINKS IN PHOTOGRAPHY
Since the slogan _you press the button and we’ll do the rest_ has
come to be so well known everybody makes photographs. But there are a
number of kinks in and side issues of photography that are amusing,
instructive or useful and which if you do not already know about will
prove of service to you.
=How to Make Blue Prints.=--This is the very simplest and one of the
most useful kinds of photography. You need but very little material to
make the pictures with and the little you need will cost less than a
dollar.
[Illustration: FIG. 55. A PHOTO PRINTING FRAME]
_The Materials Required._--Buy, or you can make, (1) a 5 × 7 _printing
frame_ as shown in Fig. 55 and get a sheet of clear glass to fit it,
and (2) a couple of dozen sheets of 5 × 7 _blue-paper_[43] which you
can buy at any photographic supply house.
[43] You can make blue print paper by dissolving _ammonium ferric
citrate_ in warm water and coating the surface of the paper with it
by floating it on top of the solution.
Now take one of the drawings you have made on tracing paper or on
tracing cloth with India ink as I described in the last chapter and
lay it with its inked surface on the glass; lay on this a sheet of
blue-paper with its _sensitized_ side on the tracing paper or cloth;
put the back of the printing frame on top of the blue-paper, press the
springs into place and set the frame in the sunlight.
Every few minutes open a _half_ of the hinged back of the printing
frame and take a look at the blue paper to see if the printing is far
enough along. When the lines of the drawing show plainly on it take the
_print_ out of the frame and _wash_ it, as it is called, by letting
water run on it or by putting it through several changes of water.
When it is well washed hang it up on a line by a corner to dry and
you will have a good, clear print with white lines on a blue ground.
In this way by using a negative that you have made with a camera,
especially if it is a marine view, you can get some very pretty and
artistic pictures.
=Another Kind of Contact Printing.=--If you like nature you can use
the above process of contact printing to fine advantage. Instead of
blue paper it is better to use what is known as _solio_ paper[44] or
_silver paper_.[45]
[44] Solio paper is coated first with gelatin and then with silver.
[45] Silver paper is coated first with albumen and then with silver.
To make a _contact_ silver print first put a finely veined leaf, the
filmy wing of a butterfly, a piece of delicate lace or any other thin,
_translucent_ object on the glass in the printing frame, lay a sheet of
solio, or silver paper over it, then put the back in the frame and fix
the springs.
Set the frame so that the sunlight will fall full on the glass side
of it. From time to time open half of the hinged back and see how the
print is coming on; make the print a couple of shades darker than you
want it when finished, but be careful not to overexpose it for silver
paper prints much quicker than blue paper.
_To Tone and Fix the Picture._--To _tone_ a silver print means to
change its color and give it more brilliancy and this is done by
putting it in a chemical solution made of _chloride of gold, or toning
bath_ as it is called.
To _fix_ a print means to treat it so that the light will no longer act
upon it and this is done with a solution of _hyposulphite of soda_ or
just _hypo_ as it is called for short.
The easiest way to tone and fix your silver prints is to buy a bottle
of _solio toning solution_[46] which is a combined toning and fixing
bath. Take the print from the frame and do not wash it but put it into
a tray in which you have mixed _2 ounces of solio toning solution_ and
_4 ounces of cold water_.
[46] It can be bought at any store where photographic materials are
sold or you can make it yourself from the formula given on this page.
When the print takes on the proper color put it into another tray
containing a solution made of _1 ounce of salt_ and _32 ounces of
water_; let it stay in this bath for 5 minutes to stop the toning. Now
put the print into another tray and wash it in 16 changes of water or
in running water for an hour. If you make a half or a dozen prints at
once you can tone and fix them at the same time.
_Recipe for a Combined Toning and Fixing Solution._--To make a combined
toning and fixing bath mix up two solutions, called stock solutions, as
follows:
_Stock Solution A._--Dissolve in 20 ounces of cold water 2 ounces
of _hypo_, 1¹⁄₂ ounces of _alum in crystals_ and ¹⁄₂ an ounce of
_granulated sugar_. Then dissolve ¹⁄₂ an ounce of _borax_ in 2 ounces
of hot water and mix it with the hypo solution; let it stand over night
and then pour off the clear liquid.
_Stock Solution B._--Dissolve ³⁄₄ of a grain of _pure chloride of gold_
and 32 grains of _acetate of lead_ in 4 ounces of water.
Now when you want to tone a picture or half a dozen 4 × 5 prints, take
4 ounces of the stock solution A and ¹⁄₂ an ounce of the stock solution
B and pour them into a tray and tone them as I have previously
described.
=The Simplest Kind of a Camera.=--When you can buy a real camera for
two or three dollars it seems of little use to make one, so just
consider the camera I shall describe as a scientific curiosity rather
than an apparatus of utility.
[Illustration: FIG. 56. AN EASILY MADE PIN-HOLE CAMERA
A. Cross section showing the notched strips.
B. The way the shutter works.]
To make a _pin-hole camera_, so called because a pin hole takes the
place of a lens, form a box of pasteboard or of thin wood 4 inches
square and 8 inches long; cut a hole ³⁄₈ of an inch in diameter in
one end for the pin hole. Fit a strip of wood ¹⁄₂ an inch thick and 4
inches long, having notches cut into it to a depth of ¹⁄₈ inch, to the
sides of the box as shown at A in Fig. 56. These notched strips are to
hold a _sensitized dry plate_.[47] Next make a _shutter_, that is, a
little device to open and close the pin-hole; it is simply a bit of
sheet brass 2¹⁄₂ inches long, ¹⁄₄ inch wide at one end and ¹⁄₂ an inch
wide at the other end as shown at B. Drill a hole ¹⁄₈ inch in diameter
in the center of the strip of brass and pivot this to the front of the
box so that it is on a horizontal line with the center of the hole.
[47] A _dry plate_ is a sheet of glass coated on one side with
gelatin and bromide of silver which makes it sensitive to light.
Now to make the pin-hole, and certainly no pin-hole was ever more
important than this one. Glue a thick piece of nice smooth tinfoil over
the hole on the inside of the box and with a fairly good-sized pin, or
better a needle, prick a smooth hole in the center of it.
You are ready now to take a picture and to do so slip a sheet of
_ground glass_[48] into the grooves in the camera up close and then
farther back until you can see the picture plain. This done take the
camera into your _dark-room_,[49] and _load_ a dry plate into it,
put the cover on the box and fasten a black cloth over it with a
rubber-band as shown at C in Fig. 56.
[48] You will find directions for making it in Chapter IX.
[49] A _dark room_ must be used because a ray of any kind of light
except _red_ will spoil a dry plate the instant it strikes it. A
red-lamp can be bought for a quarter or you can make one and either
use a sheet of red glass or red dark-room paper.
Go out and point your camera at the object you want to photograph, be
it a landscape, a seascape or a scapegoat, press down on the lever for
a second, let go of it when it will drop back and cover the pin-hole
again and the _exposure_ is made.
=How to Develop a Dry Plate.=--Next take your camera into your
dark-room and _develop_ the plate, that is, immerse it in a chemical
solution called a _developer_ to bring the picture out on it. To do
this you must get a tray and put the exposed dry-plate in it, film side
up, and pour the _developer_ over it.
[Illustration: FIG. 56C. THE PIN-HOLE CAMERA COMPLETE WITH CLOTH AND
RUBBER BAND]
Rock the tray after you have poured the developer over the plate
to keep the solution flowing forth and back evenly over it all the
time. When you see the image very plainly take the plate out of the
developer, wash it in clean water and then lay it with the film side up
in a tray containing the _fixing bath_.
Let the _negative_--when the plate is exposed and developed it is
called a negative--remain in the fixing bath until all the white parts,
that is, the free silver which was not affected by the light, have
disappeared and then let a gentle stream of water run on it for an hour
or wash it in 16 changes of clean water. Stand it in a _negative rack_
over night to dry and then you can make prints from it.
_How to Make the Developer._--You can make a good, tried and true
developer in two solutions as follows:
_Pyro Solution, A._--Take 1 ounce of _pyrogallic acid_, called _pyro_
for short, dissolve it in 28 ounces of water and then add 20 minims of
_sulphuric_ acid.
_Soda Solution, B._--Dissolve 2 ounces of _desiccated_[50] _carbonate
of soda_ and 3 ounces of _sulphite of soda_ in 28 ounces of water.
[50] _Desiccate_ means thoroughly dry.
When you want to develop a plate mix ¹⁄₂ an ounce of the _pyro
solution_ and ¹⁄₂ an ounce of the _soda solution_ with 4 ounces of
water and to do this you need a _graduated glass_.
_How to Make a Fixing Bath._--To make a good fixing bath for dry plates
dissolve 1 ounce of hypo, 60 grains of _sulphite of soda_ in crystals
and ¹⁄₄ ounce of _borax_ in 20 ounces of water. A developer can only be
used for one or two plates but you can fix 50 plates in the same fixing
bath.
=A Good and Cheap Camera.=--To take real pictures you want a real
camera. Now there are many kinds of hand cameras but there is only one
size that I am going to try to interest you in and that is one which
will make pictures 3¹⁄₂ × 4¹⁄₂ inches.
With a camera of this size you can take nicely proportioned little
pictures to give to your friends, to keep in your album, to make
enlargements of and to make _lantern slides_ of by direct contact
printing and this will save you a lot of trouble.
[Illustration: FIG. 57. TWO CHEAP AND GOOD CAMERAS
A. A Brownie box kodak.
B. A folding kodak.]
The cheapest 3¹⁄₄ × 4¹⁄₄ camera you can buy is a No. 3 _Brownie box
kodak_,[51] see A Fig. 57, which costs about $3.00. A _folding_ No.
3 Brownie camera, shown at B, will serve your needs much better and
this one will cost you in the neighborhood of $5.50, or you can buy a
_Graflex camera_[52] for $75.00 if father is rich and mother doesn’t
care.
[51] These cameras can be bought most anywhere or you can send to the
Eastman Kodak Company, Rochester, N. Y.
[52] With this kind of a camera you can see the object you are
photographing up to the very instant you snap the shutter.
Every good camera has what is called a _rectilinear lens_, that is, a
compound lens formed of two _achromatic_ lenses, which means that each
acromatic lens is made up again of two lenses one of which is of _crown
glass_ and the other is of _flint glass_, and these two latter lenses
are cemented together with _Canada balsam_.[53]
[53] This is a clear gum that is obtained from a tree called the
_Canada balsam_.
Now whereas a common _convex_ lens will produce all the colors of
the rainbow around its edges when a ray of light passes through
it, an acromatic lens lets through only the white light and while
a single convex lens makes the straight lines of a building curved
in the picture, an acromatic lens keeps all the lines straight, or
_rectilinear_, and hence its name.
These little cameras are filled with mechanical _snap shutters_ and
they use _roll films_, that is the _sensitive silver_ and _gelatine
emulsion_ is spread on a thin celluloid film instead of on glass
plates. These roll films come on spools in lengths of ¹⁄₂ and 1 dozen
each and they can be loaded into the camera in daylight. The same kind
of developing and fixing solutions are used for films that are used for
dry-plates.
=How to Make an Enlarging Apparatus.=--To make an enlarged picture of a
small negative take out the back of your camera and get two perfectly
clear sheets of glass to fit the opening.
Make a box of ¹⁄₄ inch thick wood, 6 inches wide, 6 inches long and 7
inches high and have the top of it separate so that it can be lifted
off and put on the box. In the middle of the top near one edge cut a
hole 1¹⁄₄ inches in diameter and put an electric light socket--to which
a cord and plug is fixed--in it as far as it will go and then screw in
a _nitrogen_ 100 watt electric lamp[54] which gives about 75 candle
power, as shown at A in Fig. 58.
[54] The Delco Light Co., 52 Park Place, New York, sells these lamps
and all other electrical supplies.
[Illustration: FIG. 58A. A HOME-MADE ENLARGING APPARATUS
The lamp set in the top of the illuminating box.]
Cut a hole out of the front board 3¹⁄₂ x 4¹⁄₂ inches and fasten a sheet
of _ground glass_[55] or, better, of _opal glass_[56] over the opening.
Get a sheet of bright tin 6 inches wide and 10 inches long, bend it
into a semi-circle and set it in the box so that it will reflect the
light from the lamp in front of it through the ground glass screen as
shown at B.
[55] Ground glass can be bought at a glazier’s or you can make it as
explained in Chapter IX.
[56] Opal glass.
Next make a stand for holding the _bromide paper_[57] which is to be
used for the enlargement. About the easiest way to do this is to take
a 1 inch thick board 6 inches wide and saw off a piece 12 inches long.
Fasten your drawing board to it with a couple of angle blocks as shown
at D, and you are ready to make an enlargement.
[57] Bromide paper is a paper sensitized with a compound of silver
and bromine.
=How to Make an Enlargement.=--When you have the apparatus ready set
the camera and the _illuminator_, as the box with the light in it is
called, on another table. Put the negative between two plain sheets
of glass and then fasten them to the camera with a couple of large
rubber bands; set the illuminator with the ground-glass screen close up
against the negative in the back of the camera, as shown at C.
Now set the drawing board stand about 4 feet away from the lens of the
camera to make an 8 × 10 enlargement. Open the shutter, turn on the
light and _focus_ the camera, that is, move the stand to and from the
camera until the enlarged picture is sharp. When you get it so, close
the shutter and cover up the cracks where the light leaks through with
a dark cloth.
Make the room perfectly dark except for your dark-room light and then
put a sheet of bromide paper on the drawing board with thumb tacks.
Open the shutter of the lens and expose the paper to the light passing
through the negative and then close it again. The bromide paper is
developed and fixed just like a dry plate when your enlargement is done.
[Illustration: FIG. 58B. A HOME-MADE ENLARGING APPARATUS
B. The illuminator showing the tin reflector in it.
C. The camera.
D. The stand for holding the bromide paper.]
In handling bromide paper you must be almost as careful as you are with
dry plates or films. Before making a picture it is a good scheme to
test the length of time to expose the paper. To do this take a sheet of
bromide paper and cut it into strips 1 inch wide and 10 inches long;
fasten a strip at a time diagonally across the board and expose the
first one for say 5 minutes and then develop it, when you can usually
tell about how long the exposure should be.
_A Developer for Bromide Paper._--A good stock solution developer
for bromide paper, velox paper, films and dry plates can be made by
adding these chemicals to 25 ounces of hot water in the order named
and stirring in each one until it is dissolved; _elon_ ¹⁄₈ ounce;
_desiccated sulphite of soda_ 1⁷⁄₈ ounces; _hydrochinon_ ¹⁄₂ ounce;
_desiccated carbonate of soda_ 5¹⁄₄ ounces; _potassium bromide_ 30
grains and wood alcohol 3 ounces.
[Illustration: FIG. 58C. A HOME-MADE ENLARGING APPARATUS
E. Cross section top view of the enlarging apparatus.]
This developer will keep for a long time if the bottle containing it
is kept full, otherwise the air will act on it. To develop six 8 × 10
bromide prints use 1 ounce of the stock solution and 6 ounces of water.
To fix bromide prints keep them moving in a bath made by dissolving
8 ounces of hypo in 2 quarts of water and then adding ¹⁄₄ ounce of
_metabisulphite of potassium_ and ¹⁄₄ ounce of _powdered alum_. Let
the prints remain in this bath for about 10 minutes and then wash them
thoroughly.
=How to Make a Reflectoscope.=--A _reflectoscope_ is a kind of magic
lantern but instead of using transparent glass slides you can use any
picture or _opaque_ object such as the works of a watch, your hand,
etc, and throw an image of it on the screen.
[Illustration: FIG. 59 A CHEAPLY MADE REFLECTOSCOPE
A. The projector.
B. The illuminator.]
If you have a folding camera[58] you can convert it into a dandy
reflectoscope, so get busy with your tools. Make a box--it is really
two boxes fastened together--of the peculiar shape shown in Fig. 59,
and it can be of wood or of metal as you wish.
[58] A box camera can not be used because its focus is fixed.
First make the larger box, which we will call the _projector_, and this
should be 4¹⁄₂ inches long, 5 inches wide and 5 inches high[59]--and
leave the front, back and one side off. To the top and bottom fasten
on two wood cleats ¹⁄₂ an inch square and 5 inches long to fix the
projector to the camera with. This box is shown at A in Fig. 59.
[59] It must fit the back of your camera.
[Illustration: FIG. 59C. A CROSS SECTION TOP VIEW OF THE REFLECTOSCOPE]
This done, make another box for the _illuminator_ 3 inches wide, 3
inches long on one side, and 4³⁄₄ inches long on the other side, and 5
inches high. Bend a piece of bright tin for the reflector and set this
in the back as shown at B.
Cut a 1¹⁄₄ inch hole through the top for an electric lamp as described
in the directions for making an enlarging lantern; the top should be
tight fitting but so made that it can be taken off and put on at your
pleasure.
Now glue, screw, solder or otherwise fix the two boxes together and
the reflecting part of the apparatus is done. To complete it fasten
the back of your camera to the cleats on the top and bottom of the box
with strong rubber bands as shown at C, which is a top view of the
reflectoscope.
[Illustration: FIG. 59D. THE REFLECTOSCOPE READY FOR USE]
_To Use the Reflectoscope._--Tack a white sheet to the wall and set
the reflectoscope at a distance of about 10 feet from it with the lens
pointing toward it, of course.
Next turn on the light in the box and turn off all the lights in the
room and make it as dark as you can. Hold a picture of any kind against
the opening in the back of the projector box and then focus the camera
until the picture on the screen is as sharp as you can get it.
The way the reflectoscope works is like this: the picture is projected
upon the screen in virtue of the fact that the direct light from the
lamp, as well as that portion of it which is reflected back by the
tin, is thrown against the surface of the picture or object held in
the opening; from this the light is reflected through the lens which
enlarges it and projects it on the screen.
=How to Make a Magic Lantern.=--To make a magic lantern out of a camera
is just as easy as it is to make a reflectoscope but you will have
to buy a _condensing lens_[60] and this will cost 50 cents to $1.00,
according to size.
[60] The L. E. Knott Apparatus Co., Boston, Mass., sells a 2 inch
condensing lens for 50 cents; a 3 inch one for 75 cents, and a 4¹⁄₂
inch one for $1.10.
For this lantern you can use either a box or a bellows camera, though
the latter is better because the picture can be focused. Whichever you
use make a base of a 1 inch thick board, 5¹⁄₂ inches wide and 14 inches
long and nail or screw two strips of wood ¹⁄₂ an inch wide, ³⁄₄ inch
high and 8 inches long along the edges on one side as shown at A in
Fig. 60.
If your camera is of the box kind set it in between the strips on the
base on the front end, but if it is of the bellows type then you will
have to make a shelf for it as shown at B to hold the camera in place
as shown at C.
Next make an illuminator as described above in the text _How to Make
an Enlarging Apparatus_, but instead of covering the front with ground
glass make a board to fit it and cut a hole in it the exact size of
the condensing lens. This lens is a _plano_ or a double convex lens as
shown at D and while it should be 4¹⁄₂ inches in diameter to get all
of the picture on the screen you can use a lens as small as 2 inches
though all of the picture will not show.
[Illustration:
_THE BASE OF THE LANTERN_
_THE FRAME TO HOLD A POCKET FOLDING CAMERA_
_HOW THE CAMERA IS FIXED TO THE FRAME_
_PLANO CONVEX
DOUBLE CONVEX
CONDENSING LENSES_
_ONE OF THE LANTERN SLIDE HOLDERS_
_FRONT BOARD ILLUMINATOR_
FIG. 60. THE PARTS OF A HOME-MADE MAGIC LANTERN]
Cut out six clips of sheet brass ³⁄₁₆ inch wide and ¹⁄₂ an inch long
and punch a hole in the end of each piece. Screw three of these clips
to each side of the board at equi-distant points around the hole so
that the end of each one projects over the edge of the hole ¹⁄₈ inch.
Now put the lens in the hole and adjust the ends of the clips so that
they will hold the lens in place as shown at E.
The next and last thing to do is to cut two strips of tin or brass 1
inch wide and 3 inches long and bend each one over the long way as
shown at F; punch three holes near the lower edge of each one and screw
one of them above and one below the condensing lens on the board 3¹⁄₄
inches apart as shown at E. These bent strips form the holder for the
lantern slides. The magic lantern complete is shown at G.
[Illustration: FIG. 60G. THE MAGIC LANTERN READY FOR USE]
_How to Work the Lantern._--Tack a bed-sheet up on the wall; turn on
the light in the illuminator and turn off all the lights in the room;
slip a lantern slide upside down in the holder and then push the rear
end of the camera--having first taken out the back--close up to the
lantern slide holder.
If you are using a box camera move the whole lantern back until the
picture is as large as you want it and it is still bright enough. If it
is a pocket folding camera you can focus it and get a picture with much
better definition.
=How to Make Lantern Slides.=--A lantern slide is a sheet of glass
with a transparent picture on it. A standard lantern slide is 3¹⁄₄ ×
4¹⁄₄ inches and one of this size can be used in any full sized magic
lantern or _stereopticon_.[61]
[61] A _stereopticon_ is really two magic lanterns, but the word is
now often used to mean a high-grade magic lantern.
To make lantern slides by _direct contact_ printing is not a hard thing
to do at all, and all the equipment you need to make them besides the
chemicals is a printing frame. Put a sheet of clean glass in it and lay
your negative on it with the film side up.
Now lay the _lantern slide plate_[62] with the film side _down_ on the
negative just as though you were going to make a print, but you must
make it in your dark room, using a white light to expose it of course,
for it is just as sensitive as a dry plate or a film. When you expose
it hold the printing frame about 12 inches away from the light.
[62] Lantern slide plates can be bought at any photographic supply
house.
A lantern slide plate is developed, fixed and washed exactly like a dry
plate but to get the best results you should use the kind of developer
called for in the directions that come with the plates.
When you have the lantern slide made, place a sheet of clear glass of
the same size--called the _cover-glass_--on the film side of it and
bind the edges with _passepartout binding_, that is a strip of paper
gummed on one side. It is then ready for use.
=How to Make Radium Photographs.=--You can make radium photographs,
or _skiagraphs_ as they are called, with any one of a number of
_radioactive_ substances and at a very small outlay.
The four most important radioactive substances, if we except _radium_
itself, are _black uranium oxide_, _pitchblende_, _thorium nitrate_ and
_uranium nitrate_. You can buy any one of these substances in a glass
stoppered bottle for $1.00 or the set of four for $3.50.[63]
[63] The L. E. Knott Apparatus Co., Boston, carries these radioactive
substances in stock.
While the _radioactivity_ of these substances is low it is sufficient
to make a shadow-picture--and this is all that an X-ray picture is--of
a coin or other small object if it is laid on top of a dry plate sealed
in a black paper envelope, which is opaque to the light.
[Illustration: FIG. 61. A PHOTOGRAPH OF A COIN MADE WITH RADIUM]
That is, the coin is laid on the envelope containing the dry plate,
and the bottle with the radioactive substance in it is laid on top of
the coin. Let them remain undisturbed in this way for a couple of days
and you will find on developing the plate a very good _radiograph_, or
shadow picture of the coin as shown in Fig. 61.
Trick Photography
=Spirit Photographs.=--When photography was young Sir John Herschel,
the great astronomer, got up what he called _magic photographs_ and
these have been worked under the name of _spirit photographs_ by half
of the _mediums_ in the business.
The idea is to show the victim of superstition his future wife or her
future husband. To this end the medium shows a piece of perfectly blank
paper about an inch square. She--sometimes it’s a he--then dips the bit
of paper into a saucer of what seems to be ordinary, common every day
water and with much dignity and mysticism presses it to the forehead of
the aforesaid ninny who would fain know what the partner of his, or her
joys and sorrows will look like. (What’s the use when they will know so
well afterward?)
Be that as it may, when the medium removes the bit of paper from the
simpleton’s forehead a photograph has really and truly appeared on it
and--there you are! (Fifty cents, please.)
Now the trick is done like this and you can have some fun repeating
it. Print some photos postage-stamp size of boys and girls on ordinary
silver paper and fix them in hypo dissolved in water but don’t tone
them; wash them well and then soak them in a _saturated solution_[64]
of _bichloride of mercury_ which will bleach out the picture and leave
the paper perfectly white again; this done dry the paper and put it
away until you want to use it.
[64] A saturated solution of bichloride of mercury is one in which
all of the mercury has been dissolved in the water that it will
dissolve at its present temperature and pressure.
When you do, make a strong solution of hypo, soak the picture in it for
a minute or two, press it to your subject’s forehead and the picture
will appear.
=One Way to Catch Big Fish.=--Of course you know that when an object
very near the camera is photographed it will look proportionately
larger than when it is photographed a little way off from it. It is
simply a case of exaggerated perspective.
Hence the camera is an apparatus very well adapted for _camouflage_ as
the French call _faking_. You can easily try it out by having a friend
lean back in a chair and put his feet on the table. (If the table is
of highly polished mahogany request him kindly to take off his spurs
first.)
Stand your camera in front of him so that his feet will be nearest the
lens and then take his picture. The result is that he will be about all
boots and very little head.
Another and deeper dyed trick is to photograph a fellow--choose one who
is noted for his whaling yarns--with a fish dangling at the end of a
pole and line as shown at A in Fig. 62. This will make the fish loom up
as big as the cod in a _Scott’s Emulsion_ ad., and the boy will be the
size of the lone fisherman as shown at B. It will be some time before
the scales will drop from the eyes of the person who is sizing up the
picture.
You want to use a _small stop_ in your lens when you make a picture of
this kind so that the definition will be as sharp in the foreground as
it is in the background.
[Illustration: FIG. 62. ONE WAY TO CATCH A COD
A. How it is done.
B. How it looks when done.]
=Taking Caricature Photographs.=--The word _caricature_ (pronounced
care´-i-ca-ture) means a portrait in which some part of it is distorted
so that it produces a comical effect.
Now there are a lot of ways to make photographic caricatures but one
of the best is to use what is called a _special foreground_. This
foreground is a sheet of cardboard or a piece of muslin stretched on a
frame about 1¹⁄₂ feet wide and 2¹⁄₂ feet long.
Draw on the cardboard or muslin any kind of a funny little body such as
an anemic fellow in a bathing suit, or a lank athlete rowing in a tub,
or a gilded youth riding a donkey; and finally cut out a place around
his collar for the neck of the sitter. Seat your subject and have him
hold the foreground as shown at C in Fig. 62 so that his head comes
just above the collar of the picture and then take a photograph of him.
[Illustration: FIG. 62C. HOW CARICATURES ARE MADE]
If now the background--that is the ground back of the sitter--and the
foreground--namely the one painted on the cardboard--are of the same
shade you can trim the print so that it will look exactly as if your
friend was in the Orient on his way to Mecca. (If you will keep this
picture for 20 years the fellow who sat for it will gladly pay you a
hundred dollars for it.)