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404 THE PHOTOGRAPHIC NEWS [June 29, 1883, and when it is set, to plunge in a bath of chloride and albumen. By a modification of the above-mentioned process, excel lent positives or negatives may be obtained with silver or gold salts, without using chloride and albumen. SCREENS AND REFLECTORS IN THE STUDIO. Our experience of photographic studios is, that photo graphers do not trouble much about reflectors. It is only in the glass rooms of careful, painstaking artists that one sees any attempt to employ more than a simple reflecting surface of calico or paper, or that any endeavour is made to try this or that modification of lighting. Generally speaking, the model has merely a reflecting surface placed on the shadow side, to equalize the lighting a little, and a portrait is secured without more ado. But in studios of the first rank, such as those of Angerer and Adele in Vienna, of Priimm and Schaawchter in Berlin, of Benque and Lejeune of Paris, Ganz and Geruzet of Brussels, and many of those nearer home, considerable attention is paid to the means of modifying the light that plays upon the sitter’s dress and features, and much ingenuity is displayed in the construction of screens and reflectors. These may be classed under two heads—those that modify the light by transmission, and those that reflect it. The former are rarely found in the studio of the professional photographer, while they are almost entirely unknown in the glass room of the amateur. Indeed, we may here remark, in parentheses, that the reason why amateurs shine more in the department of landscape photography than in portraiture is simply because they do not take so much trouble over their work indoors. Many fine glass rooms we wot of, which amateurs have designed and built at considerable trouble and expense, are without the simplest means of modifying light, with no blinds overhead to subdue top-light, and no reflecting screens below to break up the gloom arising from a high skirting-board. It is, in truth, more on account of the amateur than the professional photographer that we bring this matter forward once more, and refer again to the assistance which competent photographers make use of to secure well-lit portraits. One of the best modifications of the ordinary reflecting screen is that in use by Angerer of Vienna. Its object is the lighting up of the lower part of a lady’s dress, which not unfrequently is so enveloped in shadow that all detail is lost. Most of our readers are familiar with the form of the screen which we here reproduce. The stand should be movable, so that the photographer may place it where and how he pleases in relation to the sitter. The two re flecting surfaces are of course movable, so as to reflect at any angle; and the bottom screen being white, while the upper one is blue, naturally enough the light is better re flected below. The lower garments of a sitter are thus very effectively illumined. Calico having a good surface is suitable for the construction of a screen of this kind, and if the top screen were made blue on one side and white on the other, it would be possible to employ it at any moment as a white reflector pure and simple. Another effective screen—this time a transparent one for modifying light—is that of Herr Priimm, of Berlin. It should stand about six foot high, though the stand would be best of a telescopic nature, so that the screen could be adjusted for a standing or sitting model. The top ought to measure about two feet in diameter, and in Herr Priimm’s case, we remember, it was covered with violet gauze that cast a shadow about the head of the sitter without cutting off too much light. The screen does not darken the tint of tbe hair, while it throws sufficient shade over the parting or premature baldness to prevent these being exaggerated in the photograph. It is, indeed, one of the weak points of photographic portraiture that people who are getting “thinat the top,” appear thinner still in their pictures. The light reflected from a bald head or from bald spots under the hair is so bright that, unless steps are taken to subdue it, the sitter’s lack of hair is exaggerated. This screen is not of itself enough to arrest top-light in a studio glazed overhead, and blinds are still very necessary ; it is, in fact, merely a local screen to modify local defects. One of the best translucent screens we know of, is that of Mr. Slingsby of Lincoln. He employs it in lieu of blinds against the windows on the light side of his model. Light is permitted to come through the glass in plenty, and is then modified just before it gets to the sitter. Most of our readers know the shape of Mr. Slingsby’s screen,