Photographs are essential for all objects of artistic interest, and for expressing rounded forms for which elaborate shading would otherwise be needed. Views of the excavations and buildings are also wanted. And it is desirable to publish photographs as well as drawings of very important carvings, in order to guarantee the accuracy of the drawing, which is the more useful edition for most purposes.
Though the ordinary knowledge of photography must be taken for granted here, there are many details and preferences which are special to this kind of work. The bane of practical photography is the rich amateur, who insists on useless luxury of apparatus, and has set a fashion in fittings which is absurdly complex. It is undesirable to have a specially compact camera, as steadiness and convenience in use are sacrificed for lightness and slightness, which are no object in a fixed camp. An old-fashioned bulky camera is better for stationary work. I have long used a tin-plate camera with plain draw-body in two pieces; the benefit when enlarged photographs are needed is found by taking it apart, and inserting a card tube, made up when wanted to any length required for the enlargement. Some very simple, adaptable camera is best, with a large plate-magazine attached to it, so that some dozens can be carried at once. For ordinary views and small-scale objects a simple hand camera is best. A pattern should be adopted which may be the least liable to get out of order in a very dusty and gritty climate; of the simplest mechanism, with a plain thrown-down pattern, to carry a dozen flat films. As to the size of camera, the ¼ plate is by far the most useful, being right for lantern slides and large enough for most objects. Enlargements can be made to double size (or whole plate) quite as good as collotype or net will reproduce them. The time and work of using a whole-plate size are scarcely ever repaid by the results for practical archaeology.
The fashion of wide-angle lenses is useless for everything excepting architecture at close quarters. And for most objects it is very detrimental to have so short a focus, as it distorts and spoils the perspective. It is best to use too long a focus in order to get truer views of objects, at least 6 inches focus for a ¼ plate. There does not seem to be any appreciable gain in the newer patterns of lenses over the older “rapid rectilinear” or “symmetrical”; and the positive disadvantages of some recent lenses are seen in the smaller aperture and lack of light for focussing, and the distortion at extreme edges. The iris diaphragm is a disadvantage, as it brings in another variable, while the time of exposure can be varied to any extent needed. It is best to stick to one small stop, say f/100, and learn exposures entirely on that basis; then in case of poor light a larger stop, as f/25 or f/8, can be used proportionately to shorten the time. Small stops can be made out of a strip of tin plate or blackened card; and the hand camera can be stopped down with a pinhole stop stuck in front of the lens so as to work at almost any nearness and scale with exposures of ½ or 1 minute in full sunshine.
Fig. 38. Throwing sand; drop-shutter view.
Fig. 39. Girls at rest; diagonal mirror view.
The instantaneous shutter is a useless article for all fixed objects. It is far better to work with a small stop which gives plenty of depth of focus, and expose for 2 to 20 seconds, which is long enough for f/100 on slow plates in Egypt. For direct enlargement of objects a stop of f/200 is excellent, and only needs 30 seconds exposure. If a shutter is wanted a simple drop can easily be extemporised ([Fig. 38]) fitting on to the front of the lens, and such will give fine results. A diagonal mirror front can be made out of any decent scrap of looking-glass, without showing any double image ([Fig. 39]).
Rapid films are another fashion better avoided, as for fixed objects there is no great hurry. The slowest films made have never caused any practical inconvenience in my work, and they are far safer to keep and to develop. The skew-back is never needed except for architecture; and in the few cases where it is necessary, the effect can always be as well obtained by taking the plate square, and then copying it skewed in a skew-back camera. The sliding and rising front is about the only complication that is useful in serious work; and if a long focus lens is used a large amount of slide can be obtained; but a camera with a free-swinging lens turning to any angle would be the best form.
