Let it remain in the fixing solution until the white film has disappeared. Then wash it in water, and you have your negative. Now examine this carefully, and see whether the six-second or the twelve-second exposure is the best. After a few experiments you will be able to judge pretty accurately how long to expose a plate.
It would be impossible to enumerate the mistakes which a young photographer will make. The only way is to profit by them, and not make the same one a second time. Many boys who get a photographic outfit are disgusted with it, after one or two trials, because they can not make as good a picture as a professional photographer. The principal causes of failure can, however, be enumerated as follows:
1. Imperfectly darkened operating-room, which will make the picture dim or "foggy."
2. Dust in the dark room, unfiltered chemicals or washing water, which will make pinholes in the negative.
3. Over or under exposure, which will either make the negative too black or too thin to print successfully. This last, however, is excusable in the young beginner.
Finally, boys are apt to be careless. A crack in the door of the operating-room, a bottle left uncorked to collect the dust, dirt or dust on the hands, a little more of this solution or a little less of that, they think would make no difference. Photography requires accuracy and cleanliness, and no one can hope to take a satisfactory picture unless he will cultivate these qualities.
If any boy or girl—and girls, as a general rule, make better amateur photographers than boys—thinks to learn amateur photography for "fun," I should say to him or her, emphatically, Don't. But to any one who has a sincere love for the beautiful in nature, and who is willing to work to obtain lasting mementos of the scenes which are dear to him, a photographic outfit may become a source of never-ending pleasure.