FLASH-LIGHTS.
Nearly every amateur has experimented with flash-lights, the results of his experiments being, like his photographs, good, bad, and indifferent.
The great fault with flash-light pictures is the poor lighting of the subject, especially if one photographs a group or even a single individual. The sharp high lights and the dense shadows make a picture which might be called a Rembrandt gone mad. In making a portrait by flash-light the effect of the flash-lighting may be seen by placing a lamp at a point where the best effects of lights and shadows are obtained. The lamp should be at a height of at least four feet from the floor, or at the place where the strongest light from a window, if there were one, would shine on the subject.
Having found the best place for the correct lighting of the subject, arrange the flash-light at this point. Next proceed to obtain a correct focus. This is more difficult to do than by daylight, as the light is so much duller, or has less illuminating power; but by a very simple device one can focus as easily by lamp-light as by daylight. Take a large piece of white card-board, on which either paste or draw plain black letters at least two inches in height. A sentence is better than letters made at random. Set this card-board in the lap of the subject so that it is at the exact horizontal of the camera. If the subject is standing, a string can be attached to the card, and it can be hung about the neck. Place the card-board so that the letters are bottom side up, and they will of course appear right side up when viewed through the camera. This makes them much easier to distinguish. Focus on the letters, and do not try to strain the eye to focus on the subject.
Having the flash-light ready to fire, lower the lights a little, but not enough to make objects indistinct. If the lights are turned out or very low, the sudden change from light to darkness makes the staring look to the eyes so often seen in flash-light pictures. The room being in semi-darkness, the pupils become diluted, and do not contract to natural size till after the picture has been made. Flash-light lamps, with full directions for use, can be bought at very moderate prices ($3 to $5), or one may buy the powder or cartridges. Each cartridge contains enough for one flash. A very pretty picture may be made by placing the powder in the fire-place, and firing it—placing something between the light and the camera—giving the effect of the room being lighted by the firelight.
If the subject does not look toward the camera when the flash is made the expression of the eyes will not be noticed. In firing either a lamp or the powder it is a wise precaution to protect the hands by either putting on an old pair of gloves or wrapping a cloth round the hand used in firing the flash. Aluminum is sometimes used in place of magnesium powder. Either the leaf or powdered aluminum when burned gives an intense light, without the smoke and fumes which make the use of magnesium powder so disagreeable.
Sir Knight Floyd E. Quick sends to the Round Table a tiny photograph of the picture of General Grant which was given with our Round Table last month. It was taken with the Kombi camera, and Sir Floyd says that he placed a lamp about a foot from the picture, and set his camera on some books about a foot from the picture, opened the shutter, and made a three-minute exposure. The picture is very good indeed, quite clear and distinct, so sharp a focus, that the name "U.S. Grant" can easily be read, though the whole picture is not much larger than a twenty-five-cent piece.
To Our Querists.
Correspondents in sending as queries often ask to have the answers printed in the next issue of the Round Table following the receipt of the letter. For the benefit of those who make this request, and then fail to see the desired answer in the "next number" of the Round Table, we will explain that queries are published as soon as possible.
Sir Knight L. K. says that in developing he develops his plates till the image can be seen on the back of the plate, but after the plate is fixed, while the picture is distinct the negative is nearly transparent, and wishes to know the reason. It is because the development has not been carried far enough. The best test of development is to hold the negative to the light and look through it. If it does not appear dense enough it is not developed sufficiently, and must be returned to the developer. A negative will look nearly the same after fixing as it does when examined before fixing. The method of testing development by the image on the back of the plate is not a true test.
Sir Knight Joseph Peri asks what is used in retouching negatives. 1st, What is used to make the negative print black; and 2d, What is used to make it print white. Soft lead-pencils are used in retouching negatives. Any spot in the negative which is filled up or marked over on the negative will print white or light in the negative. To make the print of the negative black in certain places the film is removed by a reducing solution. Alcohol applied lightly with soft linen or cotton will reduce or thin the film where it is not very thick. Ferrocyanide of potassium dissolved in water is a powerful reducer, and will remove the film entirely, leaving clear glass, if such an effect is desired.
It costs a little more, but with chapped hands and clothes weakened by the free alkali in common soaps, the housekeeper soon finds that Ivory Soap is the cheapest in the end.
The Procter & Gamble Co., Cin'ti.
There is just a little appetizing bite to HIRES Rootbeer; just a smack of life and good flavor done up in temperance style. Best by any test.