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The photographic news
- Bandzählung
- 27.1883
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- 1883
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- Hochschule für Grafik und Buchkunst Leipzig
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- Hochschule für Grafik und Buchkunst Leipzig
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- Bandzählung
- No. 1275, February 9, 1883
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The photographic news
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- Titelblatt Titelblatt I
- Register Index III
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FEBRTARY 9, 1883.] THE PHOTOGRAPHIC NEWS. 87 have derived considerable enjoyment in my spare moments from the practice of portraiture in a small way, and having no out door accommodation, I have been forced to make the best of it in a common room. To those with little time for field work, I can recommend this as a most enjoyable pastime, employing them pleasantly, equally when they have minutes to spare, as when they have hours. I hope to show in the following short paper that the appliances absolutely required are both few and simple, and while I have nothing particularly novel to introduce, the remarks which I make may have the effect of starting those who may by-and-by be able to enlighten us more thoroughly on the subject. I am confident, from the experience I have had, that very fine results may be obtained by anyone taking a little trouble and making it a special study. Of course, anyone may fail from attempting too much, and I think it right to state at the outset that in my opinion full-length portraits should not be attempted in a common room. I have tried several times in apartments with the window reaching to within a few inches from the floor, but never succeeded in getting equal illumination all over. The light strikes in with great power upon the feet and lower parts of the picture, and less powerfully upon the upper parts; again, just when your direct light is strongest below, your reflector is in strong high lights, and deep shadows give this part of the picture a most objectionable appearance. It is possible, however, that these difficulties could be over come. By a little experimenting, certain remedies would suggest themselves to those called upon to work constantly under such circumstances. The room which I photograph in is not specially suited for the purpose. It has a window of the ordinary size, three feet by six, or thereabout. The light is not directly from the open sky, buildings rising to three stories being opposite, and within forty feet. Notwithstanding this very moderate amount of light, quarter plates are fully exposed in five to ten seconds; and half-plates in about double that time. One can work quicker than this, but I think less satisfactorily. I see no difficulty in getting a suit able apartment, although, of course, there are some rooms more suitable than others ; as, for instance, if with a northern expo sure, the sun does not then require to be taken into considera tion. The only piece of apparatus which one already prepared for landscapes absolutely requires is a background. I would certainly advise getting a proper one at once. Blankets over screens, and other makeshifts, are troublesome to set up at the time, and, even when up, are most unsatisfactory, invariably showing folds, creases, or markings of some kind or other. Upon the suitability of the background depends the entire effect of the picture, in my estimation ; it certainly is more im portant for the amateur in his room, than for the professional in his studio, for whereas the latter can illuminate his sitter inde - pendent of the background, the former depends entirely upon the background to relieve and show up the shadow side of his picture, which is never (especially in the drapery) illuminated enough to assert itself. It follows from this that the tint is the most important point to be attended to; if it be too light, the dark side of the figure is objectionably hard and black upon it; and if it be too dark, the rather violent lighting of the face is in tensified. The object is to select a tint which will balance the light and shade, without allowing either to preponderate to the detriment of the picture. A very suitable material, as far as colour goes, is carpet felt, a rough sort of paper put below carpets ; it is very cheap, but has the disadvantage of being easily torn. I got up a background of this material, thinking it might last a week or two; this was three years ago, and it is as good as ever. I had a rough frame made, and, after damping the paper very slightly, I put it on with paste. I find five feet by four a convenient size, giving room for half-length, with a little to spare. The reflector which I find best is an ordinary swinging mirror. In the instructions which you find on this subject scattered up and down through photographic literature, a dead white reflector is generally recommended in preference to a mirror. Some have suggested tinted reflectors of paper ; I have tried these, but I consider them less efficacious and more troublesome than amirror. In order to get power enough from a flatted reflector, it must be placed very near the sitter; this curtails the alterations in its position which the circumstances may demand, for to alter it ever so slightly will bring either the one part or the other of it into the field of the camera. A more serious objection, however, is, I think, the flat appearance which it gives to the side on which you require light and shade, or you can have no roundness ; but a flatted reflector, such as a white sheet, gives such a thoroughly diffused light as to destroy the delicate shadows which are re quired to produce this roundness. A mirror is a small article in comparison, and can be lifted from place to place with the greatest ease ; being also a powerful reflector, you can keep it a consider able distance from the sitter, the general position of it being with me just immediately to the left side of the camera. I have tried both pure white and tinted reflectors, but always come back to the mirror. A little experience soon teaches one what is the most suitable position for it in the great majority of cases, so that it takes no time to set it, and requires generally very little alteration. A portrait lens is by no means necessary, nor even a double combination landscape lens. The cabinet portraits shown were taken with a common cheap single lens, using a large aperture— the exact apeiture used being, in fact, one-tenth the focal length of the lens. A single lens opened to this extent is wonderfully rapid, and gives fine definition. I have no head-rest, bnt it would be a decided advantage to have one. The exposures are not, as a rule, such as to make this an absolute necessity, but in a poor light or with a bad sitter it is better, of course, to have a rest. A good deal can be done in posing to make up for the want of this appliance by giving the head a natural support of some kind, although the inventing of many such positions is a pretty severe tax on one’s ingenuity. I may, perhaps, be allowed a word or two on the operative part. To those who prepare their own plates, I can recommend the formula of Mr. W. K. Burton, given in the Photographic Journal of March the 17th, 1882. I get better results with plates so pre pared than with bought plates. They give fine rich negatives ; they are equally suitable for landscapes. As to exposure, I believe greatly in a full exposure being given. Notwithstanding all your efforts to the contrary, you will get a black and white picture, unless you take advantage of the harmonising effect of a full exposure. After all, in average light, this will only amount to fifteen or twenty seconds for a half-plate, which is by no means too long for the majority of sitters. In developing, I used to be annoyed a good deal by the high lights coming up too dense before the darker parts had time to come out, but got over that difficulty by using half the quantity of pyrogallic acid, and after development is complete, and before fixing, if the negative turns out too thin, flood the plate with a solution of pyrogallic acid in water about a grain in half an ounce. The density which you get in this way is over all the plate, and not especially so on the high lights, which conduces considerably to the harmony of the picture. I will conclude with what I have found to be two important points in lighting. First, illuminate your shadows a little more strongly than you wish them to be in the finished picture. The only light they have is reflected light, which is specially poor in chemically active rays, as you will quickly discover when you see your prints, unless you remember this. Secondly, take care that the light from the window does not strike directly and with full intensity upon any part of the face valuable in detail, such as the eyes, the angles of the mouth or nose. The intensity of the light would infallibly destroy the fine lines and delicate shadows round the parts, and consequently the likeness ; detail should be located in every picture only on the half-tones, the highest light and deepest shadows being equally free of them. It certainly is so in nature. These are the remarks which my short experience of parlour portraiture suggests to me. I do not for a moment imagine that I have succeeded in always carrying into practice the principles that I have stated, but I have noticed that I have been successful in proportion as I have observed them. Notes. The Vienna Photographic Society announce that the following awards (open to all the world) will be made for photographic research during the year 1883, all competi tors to send in their work by 1st October, viz.:—A prize of 140 ducats for the production of engraving or typo graphical blocks in half-tone from photographs; a gold
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