This Department is conducted in the interest of Amateur Photographers, and the Editor will be pleased to answer any question on the subject so far as possible. Correspondents should address Editor Camera Club Department.
PAPERS FOR BEGINNERS, NO. 3.
GETTING READY TO DEVELOP.
If there is one place more than another where one needs to be methodical it is in the dark room. It is lighted but dimly, and groping about for materials or apparatus often results in disaster to that most susceptible of all things, the sensitive plate. One should have his materials so arranged that he can put his hand on any one in the dark.
Besides knowing where the materials are, and always having them in their place, the materials and apparatus used for developing should be placed the same way each time when arranging them for developing. Place the hypo-tray far enough away, and in such a position, that there shall be no danger of getting any of the hypo into the developer. If the water for rinsing the plates is at the right hand of the developing-tray, place the hypo-tray at the left hand of the water. Then in washing the developer from the plate before placing it in the hypo it will be clear of the developer, and if one is unlucky enough to let the plate slip into the hypo, drops will not spatter into the developer.
Never, under any circumstances, set a vessel on the floor which contains any liquid beside water. The dismay which has followed an unfortunate step in the dark, when one has set the hypo-tray on the floor with a well-developed plate "fixing" in it, can only be understood and appreciated by the amateur who has been so rash as to invite such a disaster.
Get the water for washing and rinsing the plates ready first, and if one has running water this means simply attaching the hose to the faucet and getting the washing box ready. Next fill the hypo-tray and put it in its place, then the developing-trays should be placed in front of the lantern, and the developing solution mixed in the glass graduate ready for use.
Look at the lantern and be sure that there is enough candle or oil to last during the developing. To be left in darkness with a plate at its most critical point of development is, to say the least, a great annoyance.
See that the dishes are perfectly clean. This should always be attended to after each development. It not only saves time, but the possibility of fresh solutions being spoiled by the decomposing of chemicals left in the trays is thus avoided.