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PHOTOGRAPHY AT HOME
A HANDBOOK TO THE USE OF THE CAMERA IN THE HOME FOR PLEASURE AND
PROFIT; WITH WORKING METHODS AND RELIABLE FORMULÆ
TENNANT AND WARD NEW YORK
Copyright 1911 by TENNANT AND WARD, NEW YORK
CONTENTS
Chapter I THE HOME AND ITS POSSIBILITIES
Chapter II THE QUESTION OF ILLUMINATION
Chapter III HOME INTERIORS BY DAYLIGHT
Chapter IV INTERIORS BY GASLIGHT AND FLASHLIGHT
Chapter V HOME PORTRAITURE BY DAYLIGHT
Chapter VI HOME PORTRAITS BY FLASHLIGHT
Chapter VII FLOWER PHOTOGRAPHY
Chapter VIII ENLARGING AT HOME—DAYLIGHT
Chapter IX ENLARGING BY ARTIFICIAL LIGHT
Chapter X COPYING PRINTS AND DAGUERREOTYPES
Chapter XI PRINTS ON FABRICS AND IMITATION ENAMELS
CHAPTER I
THE HOME AND ITS POSSIBILITIES
To the majority of amateurs, photography is a hobby to be ridden only
on fair days and in pleasant weather; or it is thought of chiefly as
a means of securing records of places and things seen during tramps
abroad. But it is more than this, and those who follow photography
merely as a summer pastime know but the half of it. In these pages we
will discuss something of the other half, and set forth, in a plain
and practical way, what the amateur should know about photography at
home and its possibilities for the enlivening of the dull days or long
winter evenings.
It has always seemed strange to me that, among the hundreds of books
published for photographers, there should be less than half-a-dozen
dealing with photography as a home craft. Amateur portraiture,
photography by artificial light, the photographing of interiors,
still-life and subject pictures, flowers and fruit, copying and
enlarging, printing on fabrics and the making of photo enamels on china
ware, with the innumerable applications of photography in decoration;
all these are essentially home arts, and well within the capabilities
of the average amateur equipment. Hence this attempt to make a little
book about some of them.
More than this, I have long desired to interest the stay-at-homes, our
womenfolk, in the gentle art of making pictures of that world wherein
they hold the chief place. Who so well fitted as they, in patience and
opportunity, to picture that supremely interesting panorama of life
of which the home is the theatre? It is a world sadly neglected by
photographers, but abounding in the most delightful picture material.
The children at their play, the rooms which echo with their merry
laughter, the toy corner where the mimic general, the rag doll, the
grizzly bear and the woolly lamb, with a thousand other curios, are so
tenderly laid away when bedtime comes. The master of the house enjoying
a quiet smoke, the grandmother nodding in her easy-chair, the music
lesson and little social gatherings—all these are simple subjects for
the camera at home, full of pleasure in their interpretation, and
afterward.
Beyond these things are the more prosaic business possibilities open to
women well informed and skillful in the practice of photography. It is
true that these possibilities have been all too glowingly enlarged upon
by certain writers for the press, but they are not to be too lightly
passed over. The first place in American portraiture today is held by
a woman who, but a few years ago, began the practice of photography
at home as an amateur. It is needless to remark that success of this
sort results only from long and thorough experience in a special line
of work, and it is equally obvious that photography at home offers
peculiar advantages in the gaining of this experience at odd times and
in leisure hours.
Let us begin with the understanding that photography at home presents
no difficulties which cannot be overcome by ordinary intelligence, a
little contrivance, and a few helps here and there. At first we may
content ourselves with such apparatus as we already possess. Later we
will see that special aids are desirable for special kinds of work,
and that certain commercial conveniences are useful, and well worth
their cost as saving time and labor. These we will discuss in their
proper place. The one thing essential is a thorough knowledge of the
conditions peculiar to photography indoors, and this will be our first
consideration.