Naturalistic Photography for Students of the Art.

by P. H. Emerson

Meteorological conditions to be adhered to in developing.

It must not be forgotten that Nature is ever varying, and that the chemicals will act differently under different conditions of temperature, mixture, electrical conditions, &c., &c., and the worker must learn to modify them accordingly; thus weaker solutions should be used in summer and on mist effects. In fact, the more one sees into photography, the more difficult does the matter become, for every picture is, from start to finish, a new problem. Artistic work is not nearly so amenable to rules as is laboratory work, where the conditions are generally more constant and better determined. Even the state of the weather at the time of exposure has great influence. The careful observer will soon see, in going over a collection of first-rate negatives, developed by the same hand and developer, that they all differ in quality, each one has physical characteristics of its own, which are the combined resultant of these protean conditions of Nature, and that such is the case is yet another proof of the individuality of a photograph per se, apart from any other reasons.

Plates to be developed on day of exposure.

Another very important point is the fact that the light does not act on the film proportionately to the length of exposure; the greatest action occurs at the earliest part of the exposure, as can be proved, in a rough way, by exposing a plate on different subjects for the same length of time. This fact alone at once and obviously creates a fatal objection to composite photography. It is a fact which must be constantly remembered in relation to tonality. It has been stated that an under-exposed plate can be improved by being kept (undeveloped) for several months, the idea being that the action having once begun will continue, but this is not our experience with gelatine plates, though we have observed something of the kind in working with carbon tissues. Instead of keeping his exposed plates, our advice to the student is develop your negatives as soon as possible after exposure, never later than the day on which they are taken, and for these reasons. First, and chiefly, because you should develop your negative whilst yet the mental impression of what you are trying for is fresh. You have, we will hope, analyzed your subject and thought it all out in black and white masses, and by developing while that analysis is still vivid to you, you stand a very much greater chance of getting a true thing. Secondly, of course, you are on the spot to take another negative if the first prove a failure. For complete success, this is the only way, and even if it entail carrying about a cumbersome dark tent, the practice will in the end bring its own reward, and it must be insisted upon as the best method of working. The astounding habit which some industrial photographers indulge in, of sending their operators all over the country, while they themselves stay at home to develop the work of those and other operators, accounts in a great measure for the numerous parodies of Nature which deck the shop-windows. This is truly mechanical work, and we are prepared to say that no one, save by mere chance, can produce perfect artistic work, who does not develop his own plates on the spot. |On over-production.| Then, again, the student of photography who wishes to produce artistic work must not hurry or over-produce. One picture produced in a month would be well worth the time and trouble spent on it. We once asked an eminent landscape painter how many plates he would be content to produce in a year if he were a photographer. His answer was, “Twenty first-rate things would be good,” and that meant working all the year round. We recommend that saying as one worthy to be remembered. The poet Gray purchased immortality by one short poem; many historians and novelists, now forgotten, have written as many volumes as there were verses in that one poem of Gray’s, yet few would prefer the oblivion of the prolific ones to the name that Gray has won.

Ferrous oxalate developer.

But we must go back to developing, and we come now to the question of, “What developer to use?” In our opinion the ferrous oxalate developer is unsuited to artistic work. At one time we used it for negatives and positives. For negatives we do not think it gives the quality which can be obtained with the alkaline developer nor does it allow of the same control, which is, of course, a very grave fault. For positives, on the other hand, where the conditions are better known, and where absolute purity of film is required, it is very useful, but as we are not concerned with positives here, we will not go further into the matter.

Chemicals.

We must impress upon the student the necessity of always using fresh and pure chemicals, and to secure such, it is wise to procure them from a good chemist.

Re-sublimated pyrogallic acid should always be used, and re-crystallized sulphite of soda, and, above all, be sure the water is pure. For all operations where chemical action results, none but pure non-aerated water should be used, preferably, boiled, distilled water, for the air and other impurities in ordinary water may be most harmful, as any one who has studied the analysis of water and air knows well.

Let the developers (the stock solutions) be mixed with boiling or distilled water, for this will aid in preserving them. The alum and hyposulphite solutions should be mixed with cold boiled distilled water, the alum bath being a saturated solution.