The editor of this column has a way of making scrap-books which she is going to give for the benefit of the members of her Camera Club. Take large sheets of Manila wrapping-paper and fold in book form to a booklet about 8 by 10 in size. Use enough sheets of paper to make from sixteen to thirty-two leaves. Sew it with stout thread, and put a loop of cord or narrow ribbon at the top by which to hang it up. On the outside print in large letters "Photo Formulas," then whenever you come across anything which will be of help in photographic work, paste it in this book. In pasting the scraps, attach them at the corners and one or two spots near the centre or side. The book does not then become stiff, and if at any time the scrap is wanted, it can be removed without injury to the leaf.
If one choose to do so, the different formulas could be pasted in different books, toning solution, developers, etc., each having a separate book, the name being marked on the outside in large letters.
This method of making scrap-books is very convenient if one is studying some special subject. Mark the subject on the cover of the book, and when an item is found relating to it, paste it in the book. When the cover becomes soiled or torn it can be removed and a fresh one put in its place. The cost of half a dozen scrap-books will not exceed ten cents, and being made to hang up, they are easy of access and are seldom mislaid.
A member of the club, Charles M. Todd, has sent a very clever suggestion for the benefit of the members of the club. He has a book which he calls a Camera Club Index. In it he puts the title of everything printed in the Camera Club column; then when he wishes to look up a subject, he refers to his index, which tells him in which number of the Round Table it may be found. This is a very helpful suggestion, and one which we are sure will be of profit to our members.
Foster Hartwell writes to the Camera Club that a good way to remove the polish from a burnished print is to rub it with dry pumice-stone, powdered and sifted. It gives a soft, pleasing finish to the picture.
J. B. C. asks if a rectilinear lens can be fitted to a pocket kodak and thus do away with the barrel-shaped lines in the picture. J. B. C. would have the same trouble with a rectilinear lens as with the single lens, unless the camera is provided with a swing back. Hold the camera perfectly level, and the lines of the building photographed will not converge or diverge. It would not pay to have a tiny camera like the pocket kodak fitted with a rectilinear lens.
Charles Boyden, Jun., asks if solio-paper and toning solution may be bought at a photographer's. It is best to get your photographic materials from a dealer in photographic supplies, not at a photographer's, though a photographer would probably supply an amateur with paper and toning solution as an accommodation.
Arthur S. Dudley asks what is the best developer for portraits, and which for landscapes; if a combined or separate toning bath should be used; how many times it is necessary to wash a toned print; and a cheap way to get a gloss on a photograph. Use any good formula for developer. Eikonogen and hydrochinon developer is a very satisfactory developer. The separate bath is preferred by most photographers. Wash prints for an hour in running water, or change the water eight or ten times at intervals of five minutes. See No. 889, answer E. Magsameu for directions for burnishing.
Ernest Salisbury asks why pictures made on solio-paper and toned with Eureka toning solution are of a light brown. The print sent in letter looks as if it had not been left long enough in the toning bath. The color of the print is the tone which it assumes when first placed in the bath. Try toning the print longer; prints do not tone as quickly in cold weather as they do in warm. If this does not work, then the toning bath is at fault. The reason why the sky is the same color as the rest of the picture is that, it being a snow scene, the snow impressed its image on the plate as quickly as the sky. The best time to make snow pictures is in the early morning or late in the afternoon.
Murray Marble encloses a print of the Capitol at Washington, and asks what causes the blur at the top of the picture. Judging from the print, the blur is caused in the developing. The solution did not cover the film when it was placed in it, and the place where the blur appears is not sufficiently developed.
Evarts A. Graham asks what can be done with old plates; and wishes a good formula for silver prints and sensitizing paper for silver prints. See Nos. 857 and 886 for some uses for spoiled plates. See Nos. 796 and 803 for directions for making plain silver prints.
John F. Regan wishes the copy of the constitution of some good camera club. Will Arthur F. Atkinson, of Sacramento, Cal., please send a copy of the Niepce Chapter's constitution to this member? His address is 418 North Centre St., Terre Haute, Ind.