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354 THE PHOTOGRAPHIC NEWS. [July 24, 1868 other words, would run thus :—The centre of the picture should not be light, with the two sides dark, or with the top and bottom only dark. When the light falls or is spread diagonally it is more picturesque than when it is arranged horizontally or vertically. The same rule would, of course, apply to shadow. There must be unity of effect in the light and shade as well as in the composition. Chiaroscuro will often “ pull a picture together ” when the composition is scattered. Where there is too great a repetition of forms, light and shade will break them up or mass them together. Chiaro scuro should produce that effect which is produced upon the retina when the eye is intently fixed upon an object, and is not permitted to wander, and which some artists maintain should be obtained by sacrificing the inferior parts of the picture to the principal, but which will not bear the light of argument. The theory is that the eye sees only one point in perfect focus at the same time, and that there is some thing unpleasant and imperfect, even to the least experienced eye, in a picture where everything is made out — the drapery, the accessories, &c., all minutely represented with the same finish as the head. This is a fallacy that has led many clever painters astray. It is true that the eye, theoretically, only sees one point at a time, but the eye alters its focus so instantaneously that practically it sees one part almost as well as another; and the same rules should apply to the picture as to nature. Notwithstanding that pictures are usually smaller than nature, if the eye is fixed on the chief feature, the other parts, however highly finished, will naturally go out of focus as much as they do in nature, which, as I have already explained, owing to the instantaneous alteration of focus in the eye, is not much. Here is an illustration. As I write I am looking through a window; a few feet beyond the window is the railing of a balcony beyond a terraced garden ; beyond that a grove of trees ; yet further a church tower ; and in the distance some hills veiled in the blue mist. All this is seen through an aperture two feet square, and as I look at it, the focus of the eye changes so rapidly that I can detect no want of definition—such definition as we get in a photograph—anywhere, The only indistinct part is the distant hill. But there is no reason why this scone, if represented in a picture, should be a mass of mere detail. Sharp, as we call it in photography, it may be all over, but if it is to have pictorial effect it must be massed : the church tower, which is the principal object, must come out into the strongest re lief, the rest must be subordinate, and thus we should obtain that unity without which a picture is a thing of naught. The picture is felt to be true and natural when the eye is at once led to dwell on the chief group or the principal object. By insensible degrees, the painter who is a master of his art keeps down the parts which interfere with the centre of attraction — « All things seem only one In the universal sun.” And so. after a fashion, it should be in the picture produced by his light. Unity of light and shade, as I have just stated, is im perative; but there is another quality which at a first glance would appear to be antagonistic to unity, but which really aids it. In a former chapter I dwelt at some length on the necessity of repetition in lines and forms; the same rule, only in a stronger degree, applies to chiaroscuro. No light in a picture should be allowed to be single or isolated, but should be repeated or echoed, not in its full quantity or force—there must be no rival near the throne—but in an inferior degree. The strength, of Rembrandt, strange as the statement may appear, was not so much in his great contrast of black and white, as in the manner he harmon ized and mellowed the violence of either by echoes and faint repetition throughout the picture. It is the repeated but fainter echoes of the chief light that harmonizes and brings together the various parts of a picture into the unity of a perfect whole. The repetition of the air, varied and less pronounced, in a piece of music, produces a sympathy and connection of thought throughout. The effect is ana logous to that of metaphor or simile in literature : a repeti tion must not be a symmetrical likeness of its original, but should appear to belong to the same family. It must avoid the symmetry of detail, but produce a sort of wholesale symmetry. What is the secret of the delight we take in reflec tions, if it is not similar to that we take in hearing the repeti tion of a sound, or in seeing the echoed sympathy of one part of a picture with another ? To many the reflection is more beautiful than the reality 7 . Shelley loved the mirror-like reflections to be seen in forest pools— "Sweet visions, which in our world above Can never well be seen, Were imaged by the water's love Or that fair forest green ; And all was interfused beneath With an Elysian glow, An atmosphere without a breath, A softer day below.” And Mr. George Macdonald, in his fairy romance and prose poem. Phantasies, says:—“ Fair as is the gliding ship on the shining sea, the wavering, trembling, unresting sail below is fairer still. Yea, the reflecting ocean itself reflected in the mirror has a wondrousness about its waters that somewhat vanishes when I turn towards itself. All mirrors are magic mirrors. The commonest room is a room in a poem when I turn to the glass.” PHOTO-ZINCOGRAPHY IN PRACTICE* BY J. WATERHOUSE, R.A. Corrections. It has usually been stated that the great disadvantage of using zinc for printing from is the difficulty of correcting errors or making additions after the subject has once been put down and etched. If the following directions be observed little difficulty will be experienced. In making corrections care must be taken to avoid touching the sur face of the plate with the fingers or to allow the breath or saliva to fall on the plate. In order to prevent this a piece of clean paper should be placed under the hand. A board raised above the surface of the plate should be used to rest the arms on, and a piece of card should be held before the mouth by' means of elastic, &c. Corrections before printing are better made before the plate is etched. Stains, finger-marks, spots, and other imper fections may easily be removed by means of a piece of snake stone, slate pencil, &c. Faint lines may be strengthened with autographic ink and a fine steel pen. Parts may be added by transfer from transfer paper with a small brass roller. If the plate has been etched and rolled in, the fol lowing plan must be adopted:—The plate is first covered with gum, and fanned dry. If there is no ink on the part to be altered, remove the gum, and brush the plate with dilute sulphuric acid (1 to 6) ; this is then well washed with water, and any insertion can be made by being transferred from transfer paper or put in with crayon or pen and ink. The part is then etched, the gum washed off, and the plate is ready for printing. The dry point may also be used for putting in detail, but in this case the print is etched before using the point. If it is required to remove part of the work before making the correction, the plate is fanned dry, a dilute solution of caustic potash is applied to the part with a pen or brush, according to the size of the alteration required. When the ink is removed, the potash is soaked up with blotting-paper, the gum, &c., is washed off, and the part allowed to dry. The dilute sulphuric acid is then applied as befote, and the corrections put in. Care must be taken not to allow the alkaline or acid solutions to spread, which may be obviated by placing a mask of card over the surrounding parts. If the dry point is used the acid is not required; the part * Continued from p. 342.
