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342 HE PHOTOGRAPHIC NEWS. [JDNE 1, 1883. the name of Cremation, do not your printers take a little pains in producing the most artistic style of portraiture ? A well vignetted picture is beautiful, but a badly vignetted one pains the eye to look at it, even though the photograph otherwise be of the highest degree of excellence. I should much prefer, especially in large work, that the background be quite obliterated by painton the negative, then we could put in a soft transparent one ourselves, which is otherwise almost an impossibility. One great point to which I should like you to draw the photographers’ attention is, that they send us photographs in which the hair is nearly black, and tell us to paint it golden ; to meet their requirements entails the use of colours which are not suitable, whereas by lightening the hair in the piint this could easily be avoided. The same remark applies to officers’ uniform coats. These would be much better painted entirely out in the negative, so as to be white in the resulting prints ; much better work could then be put upon them.” “Any more faults to find?” I asked. “ Heaps,” he replied ; “ and one of the principal ones is the insufficiency of the directions sent with pictures. Here is one sent me a week ago Complexion fair Eyes ... ... ... ... ... blue Hair ... ... ... brown Dress ... ... ... blue and that is what is considered by most as quite sufficient. How am I to know what shade of blue to paint the eyes or the dress, or if both are the same shade? And the hair—am I to paint it light brown, dark brown, or something inter mediate? In all cases the shade should be given as well as the colour, and five shades should be imagined of each colour thus : very light, light, medium, dark, very dark ; then we should know how to proceed. Where it is possible to let us have a piece of the hair or of the dress material, it is advisable to do so, and in most cases they may be had for the asking. In the event of a fancy costume, it is advisable for the photographer, if it at all lies inthe range of possibility, to obtain the loan of the costume itself for the artist’s use, or at any rate to arrange that he may see it for himself. Three ordinary white milk-cups, to contain about 1J litre, each one having its exact weight engraved on it. A spoon made of horn, 25 centimetres long. Coarse canvas 61 c. square. A flat dish 24 by 30 c. Fine muslin 70 c. square. A wash basin 35 to 40 c. diameter, and 15 to 20 c. deep. Different pipettes holding 6, 7, 12, 15, 18, &c., c. of liquid ; the mouth should be large and short, and the opening nearly as large as the pipe, which is a little longer than the plate to be prepared ; the belly is short and thick. An ordinary glazed pot, to hold two litres, to prepare the emulsion in. Two dropping bottles of the following shape, containing about 350 grains. The different standard solutions for. preparing emulsion are :— Solution W.—Filtered distilled water, with one drop of carbolic acid to every litre of water. Solution B.—Bromide of ammonia .. . 88 grammes Bromide of potassium .., . 86 n Iodide of potassium . 4 )3 Chloride of sodium . 20 Filtered distilled water .. . 850 n Solution zl.—Strong ammonia... . 2 n Water . 50 EMULSION WASHING. BY OTTO PFENNINGEE. During the last two years, I have piepared above 130 different kinds of brom-silver gelatine emulsion, and after many difficulties have at last arrived at a sure method, and shall try to give you my experience in the matter in a practical way, without theorising. I know that in your columns there are already published several different systems; but, I think, I may be able to give some thing new on the subject. I find the following articles necessary to prepare these plates ;—A boiling pot 30 centi metres high and 30 across, with a lid with double folds to close light-tight, and a curved pipe to let out the vaporous products. The under part of the pot fits in a chimney or stove, so that by standing a lamp under it, the pot may be kept warm. A thermometer graduated to 100 c. Emulsion Formula. Soft gelatine Stock solution W... Nitrate of silver (fused) ... Stock solution W... Stock solution B Acetic acid Solution A... Hard gelatine 20 grammes 300 „ 50 „ 300 „ 260 „ 14 drops 50 grammes 30 „ Jo prepare the emulsion.—Take the boiling pot and warm t he water to 50°, and put the three first solutions of the emul sion formula in it, so as to warm them; the nitrate and the brom-salt solution should be in two dropping bottles, and the gelatine solution inthe glazed pot. When the con-, tents have the given temperature, proceed to mix the solu tion with the horn spoon, well stir the gelatine solution, to which you have put 14 drops of acetic acid, and let first drop in about the tenth part of the silver nitrate solution, and your assistant can now come and drop in the bromide solution ; always keep it well stirred ; in this way, all the silver solution will, when the emulsion is nearly mixed, be changed to bromide of silver, and the excess of bromide will only then come into account. I found that this way of mixing does no harm to the gelatine solution ; on the contrary, I found that the gelatine gets hardened, and plates prepared with it never frilled, and also that the resulting emulsion is always the same, and very regular, and the negative very soft and easy to develop. After the mixing is over, regulate the temperature to 40° Celsius, and add 50 grammes of stock solution A ; after this, digest for seven to twelve hours at the given tempera ture, and stir the emulsion every half hour without fail ; a