PHOTOGRAPHING THE STARS.
How many of our Camera Club have tried to photograph the stars? Of course, to make accurate pictures of the stars one must have special apparatus, and the camera must be adjusted by machinery so that it will move as the earth moves; but one may make very curious and also interesting pictures of star "tracks" with an ordinary camera. The winter-time is the best time of year for making such pictures, for the stars appear much brighter then than in warm weather.
Use a moderately quick plate and expose for fifteen or twenty minutes, pointing the camera toward that part of the heavens where there are stars of the largest magnitude. When the plate is developed, there will appear on it what seems like white marks, more or less distinct, according to the brightness of the stars which came within the compass of the lens.
If the camera is pointed toward that part of the sky which answers to the equator the lines will be straight, but if the camera is pointed toward the North star the lines will be curved. An interesting study may be made of one of the planets when in the vicinity of stars of first and second magnitude. The plate, when developed, will show that the planet travels in a different direction from that of the stars. The moon may also be photographed, and a much shorter exposure made than for the stars; indeed, one can make an almost perfect photograph of the moon when it is full, or nearly so.
Of course the plates are of no special value except as curiosities; but one may be as fortunate as was one young amateur recently, who, when exposing a plate, caught the image of a large meteor which shot across the sky within the field of his lens. Several interesting pictures of comets have been made with an ordinary camera; but these celestial visitors come few and far between. Photographs may be taken on bright moonlight evenings, and are sometimes very artistic. It is necessary to expose the plate from half an hour to an hour, according to the quickness of the plate and lens used.
E. A. M., New York, wishes to know if blue prints may be made with a pocket kodak. Blue prints may be made from any negative, however small. Films make as good blue prints as glass plates.
J. Moultrie Lee, Jun., says that he cannot find the articles which are referred to in previous numbers. He says that he turns to the number of the book and pages, but finds nothing relating to camera work. This must be because he turns to the page and not the number of the Round Table. He asks for a formula for sensitizing paper. A formula for making plain salted paper will be found in No. 796 (January 29, 1895) and in No. 803 (March 19, 1895). This formula was also reprinted in the circular sent out in October last. Our correspondent also asks how to make a waxed paper negative from a print of which the negative is destroyed, and how to transfer the film from one plate to another. In answer to the latter question, a paper is already prepared giving direction for this process, and will appear in an early number of the Round Table. To wax a print, heat an iron hot enough to melt wax readily, but not hot enough to scorch. Take a piece of pure white wax, rub a little on the face of the iron, and iron the print lightly on the back. If the picture is a landscape do not wax the sky. After it is waxed enough to be transparent, rub the iron over the print to warm the wax, and take up all the excess of wax with a clean piece of blotting-paper. It can then be placed in the printing-frame, using a glass support, and printed from, the paper negative being waxed in the same way.
Lady Helen Garner wishes to know what a "kit" is, and what it is for. The "kit" used by photographers, which is probably what Lady Helen means, is a thin frame inserted in a plate-holder so that one may use a smaller plate than the one for which the holder was originally made. If one has a 5 by 8 plate-holder, a frame with an opening 4 by 5 or 3-1/4 by 4-1/4 may be placed in the holder, and by this simple arrangement the smaller sizes of plates used in the larger holder. A 5 by 7 plate is used in a 5 by 8 holder by using two thin strips of wood half an inch wide. Both the frame and the strips of wood are blackened.
Sir Knight Sprague Carleton wishes to know how to make good transparencies, as those which he has made lack detail and are not transparent enough. Directions for making transparencies were given in the Round Table No. 798 (February 12, 1895); but another paper will soon be published on this subject. If Sir Knight Sprague will tell what process he uses, time of printing, etc., we will be glad to suggest what remedy is needed. It would seem from the description that the transparencies were over-exposed.
Sir Knight K. Gregory says he is going to buy a small camera, and wishes to know how to develop and print his own pictures. He will find directions for beginners in recent numbers of the Round Table. The first paper was published May 21, 1895, and the others follow in order.
Sir Knight Fred E. Turner wishes to know if the process described in the Round Table for making prints with nitrate of uranium produces permanent prints. The prints made with the salts of uranium are, if properly treated, as permanent as the blue print, with perhaps the exception of the green, which sometimes loses the brilliant tone which it has at first. This is due to the development and fixing of the red print. This process was first practised by Niepce de St. Victor.
Plenty of sleep, fresh air, careful diet and the daily use of a good soap like the Ivory will purify the complexion as no cosmetic can.