Amateur photography is getting to be exceedingly popular. The price of
outfits is so low that they are within reach of all, and from what we
hear it would seem that a goodly number of the readers of YOUNG PEOPLE
are engaging in it. A few words therefore on the subject from one who
has been through the first few months of enthusiasm and disappointment
which succeed the purchase of an instrument may be of service to those
who have embarked on the ocean of amateur photography.
Of course you will use the dry plates. I say of course, because for the
amateur they are cheaper, more convenient, produce better results, and
afford a wider latitude of subject than the wet plates. We will suppose,
then, that you have provided yourself with a good camera and lens,
chemicals, plates, baths, and all that go to make a complete outfit.
Your first trouble will be with your dark room. It must be _absolutely_
dark; the faintest ray of white light will destroy the most perfectly
timed picture. Any closet will do, so long as you can have perfect
darkness and room to work. The most luxurious dark room I ever saw was
ten feet square, provided with hot and cold water, and lighted by two
large windows with panes of ruby glass. The gold-colored glass looks the
same, but is worthless for photographic purposes. On the other hand, I
have worked in a closet two feet deep, by the dim light of a single ruby
lamp. But in photography as in everything else the "golden mean" is
preferable.
If kept in a perfectly dark box, the dry plates need not be developed
for months. Travellers often change plates, and even develop and fix
them, at night, in their rooms, by the aid of a ruby lantern. As the
changing of plates is an operation which consumes but little time, this
may be done with safety, but we would recommend the young photographer
to make use of his dark room for the process of developing.
Besides the pans, or baths as they are called, for the chemicals, you
must have in the dark room a supply of clear water, and a vessel in
which to throw it after it has been used. Dry plates require frequent
washing, as we shall see further on. Your dark room must be, then, of
moderate size, free from white light, provided with clean water, and
free from dust. If it is dusty, you will have minute specks on the
picture. The plates must be kept in this room, and must be transferred
to and from the plate-holders here.
Next comes the business of mixing the chemicals. There are several
different formulas for the development of dry plates, but I have found
the ferrous-oxalate developer to be the simplest and best. The most
convenient way to prepare the solutions is to take two common glass
preserve jars, put in about a quarter of a pound of neutral oxalate of
potash in one, and about the same amount of protosulphate of iron in the
other; then pour on warm water, and let the crystals dissolve.
It makes no difference how much water you put in; the object is to get a
"saturated" solution; that is, a solution in which the water has
absorbed all the chemical matter it can take up. After the chemicals
have had time to dissolve--say fifteen or twenty minutes--filter the
solutions into separate bottles, and cork them tightly, to keep out the
dust. Always filter all your solutions before using them; even filter
the water if it is not perfectly clear. Cleanliness is a prime necessity
in photography, and the amateur can not be too careful.
Now comes the "fixing" solution, which is made by dissolving four ounces
of hyposulphite of soda in twenty ounces of water. Filter into a bottle,
and cork it until used. Make at the same time a saturated solution of
common alum, and use it for washing the plates after taking them out of
the developer, and before fixing. Directions are given by many involving
the use of cyanide of potassium, tartaric acid, bromide of ammonia, and
the like; but it is better for the beginner to use as few chemicals as
possible. More pictures are spoiled than saved by inexperienced
doctoring.
After your chemicals are all prepared, put a plate in your holder, or
wooden box with slides, one or more of which accompany every outfit.
Focus your camera on some object; a row of buildings, the side of a
house, or a board fence is preferable for this experiment. Take off the
cap, and pull the slide about half of the way out. Expose about six
seconds, and pull out the slide the rest of the way. Expose this six
seconds again, and replace the slide. You now have two exposures, of six
and twelve seconds respectively, on the same plate. This is for timing
the lens. It is impossible to give any definite rules for the time of an
exposure; experience must teach this.
In a gallery where the surroundings are the same and the light varies
but little, it is comparatively easy to determine how long a plate
should be exposed in the camera. But in out-of-door work the amateur
must take into consideration the state of the weather and the
atmosphere, the presence or absence of reflecting surfaces, such as a
stretch of sand-beach, a sheet of water, or the proximity of a
light-colored building, and time the plate accordingly.
After you have taken the test-plate, return to your dark room, and pour
into the bath four ounces of neutral oxalate, and mix with it one ounce
of iron solution. Take the plate from the holder, wash it in cold water,
and drop it into the mixture. The image will begin to appear in from
three to five minutes. After it has become clearly defined, wash it
again in cold water, and put it in the alum solution for a few minutes.
Another washing, and it is ready for the fixing solution, which will
keep the picture from turning black, as it would otherwise do, if
exposed to the light.
Let it remain in the fixing solution until the white film has
disappeared. Then wash it in water, and you have your negative. Now
examine this carefully, and see whether the six-second or the
twelve-second exposure is the best. After a few experiments you will be
able to judge pretty accurately how long to expose a plate.
It would be impossible to enumerate the mistakes which a young
photographer will make. The only way is to profit by them, and not make
the same one a second time. Many boys who get a photographic outfit are
disgusted with it, after one or two trials, because they can not make as
good a picture as a professional photographer. The principal causes of
failure can, however, be enumerated as follows:
1. Imperfectly darkened operating-room, which will make the picture dim
or "foggy."
2. Dust in the dark room, unfiltered chemicals or washing water, which
will make pinholes in the negative.
3. Over or under exposure, which will either make the negative too black
or too thin to print successfully. This last, however, is excusable in
the young beginner.
Finally, boys are apt to be careless. A crack in the door of the
operating-room, a bottle left uncorked to collect the dust, dirt or dust
on the hands, a little more of this solution or a little less of that,
they think would make no difference. Photography requires accuracy and
cleanliness, and no one can hope to take a satisfactory picture unless
he will cultivate these qualities.
If any boy or girl--and girls, as a general rule, make better amateur
photographers than boys--thinks to learn amateur photography for "fun,"
I should say to him or her, emphatically, Don't. But to any one who has
a sincere love for the beautiful in nature, and who is willing to _work_
to obtain lasting mementos of the scenes which are dear to him, a
photographic outfit may become a source of never-ending pleasure.