Naturalistic Photography for Students of the Art.

by P. H. Emerson

The old, and even modern, portrait painters are answerable for many of the faults to this day committed by photographers, because they take portrait painters as models. Lawrence was especially guilty in the use of conventional backgrounds and accessories. Of photographic furniture, as generally understood, there should be none. The studio should be furnished simply, and with taste, as an ordinary sitting-room. There should be no shams of any kind, and the furniture should be chosen with a regard to unobtrusiveness and grace, rather than to massive beauty. All heavy curtains, draperies, hot-house plants, and such incongruous lumber, should be avoided. It should be remembered that what is wanted is a portrait—the face, or figure, or both—and all accessories should be subdued. It is very little use to lay down rules for these things, all must depend on the individual taste of the photographer.

Objets d'Art, so called.

But, above all, avoid shams and cheap ornamental objects, such as cheap bronzes, china pots, and Birmingham bric-à-brac. The chairs should be upholstered with some good plain coloured cloth, with no pattern, and the floor carpeted with matting, or a simply coloured carpet without pattern. Let simplicity and harmony predominate. The room in fact should be a harmony in some cool colour, and the furniture should not be felt when in the room. Our advice is, buy your furniture anywhere, save at a photographic furniture dealer’s.

Head-rests.

Head-rests must be entirely tabooed. We have taken many portraits, some with very long exposures, and no head-rest was necessary. In nine cases out of ten it simply ruins the portrait from an artistic point of view.

Reflectors.

Reflectors, on light stands, should be ready for use; but it is obviously erroneous to use large and unwieldy reflectors. The reflector is really only necessary for the head and shoulders; for our object is to subdue all other parts as much as possible.

Backgrounds.

All artificial backgrounds should be banished, together with such stupid lumber as banisters, pedestals, and stiles: they are all inartistic in the extreme. It is a false idea to represent people in positions they are never found in—such as a girl in evening dress against a seascape, and all the other hideous conventionalities of the craftsman’s imagination. The background—which is a matter of vital importance—should be arranged to suit the sitter, that is, a harmony of colour should be aimed at. Light fabrics without patterns, or pieces of tapestry, will serve every purpose, and give most artistic results. The portraitist should keep a selection of pieces of fabric of light hues, and a light skeleton screen can be kept ready, to which to tack them as required, suiting the colour to the dress of the sitter. Gradated backgrounds are a mistake, the tonality is much better shown by having a background of one tint, and so arranging the light that the modelling and tonality shall be subtle and true.

Breadth and simplicity are the foundation of all good work. The background should never be placed close behind the sitter, as is customary; but its distance from the sitter should be studied with the lighting. As a rule, it is better to place the background three or four feet from the back of the sitter. What is required, is that the head shall melt softly into the background, and yet retain its modelling.