The photographic news

• Bandzählung: 13.1869
• Erscheinungsdatum: 1869
• Sprache: Englisch
• Signatur: F 135
• Vorlage: Hochschule für Grafik und Buchkunst Leipzig
• Digitalisat: Hochschule für Grafik und Buchkunst Leipzig
• Digitalisat: SLUB Dresden
• Rechtehinweis: Public Domain Mark 1.0
• URN: urn:nbn:de:bsz:14-db-id1780948042-186900000
• PURL: http://digital.slub-dresden.de/id1780948042-18690000
• OAI: oai:de:slub-dresden:db:id-1780948042-18690000
• Sammlungen: LDP: Historische Bestände der Hochschule für Grafik und Buchkunst Leipzig
• Sammlungen: Fotografie
• Bemerkung: Heft 545 (S. 73-84), Heft 547 (S. 97-108), Heft 589 (S. 599-610) fehlen in der Vorlage. Paginierfehler: Auf Seite 444 folgt Seite 443
• Strukturtyp: Band

• Digitalisat: SLUB Dresden
• Strukturtyp: Ausgabe

220 THE PHOTOGRAPHIC NEWS. [May 7, 1869. which his thoughts—if he has any—are to be expressed. He has done just as much towards being that which we ought to respect as a great painter, as a man who has learned how to express himself grammatically and melodiously has towards being a great poet. The degree of difficulty of acquirement of any medium of art expression does not alter the principle enunciated. “ It is not by the mode of representing and say ing, but by what is represented and said, that the respective greatness of the artist or writer is to be finally determined.” If this be the true theory, photography, if it can produce anything stamped with poetic thought, is equally entitled to the highest honours, and no detraction is to be made as to the means used to the end sought. This brings us to the limitations of photography. An artist will point out it can not render action^ motion, &c. Unfortunately, this is to a great extent quite true, and the limitations are great. But though it can do none of these things, I wish to point out that some of the greatest modern pictures are such as might have been represented by photographic means, ‘providing only the conception had been forthcoming—the inspiration, the greatness, or nobleness, or pathos, of which Mr. Ruskin says determines its claim to be a work of fine art or not. I refer to that simple and touching picture, the “ Old Shepherd’s Chief Mourner.” Mr. Ruskin himself, though often severe upon Landseer’s “ trivial mingling of pretty sentiment and caricature,” says this is “ one of the most perfect poems or pictures (I use the words as synonymous) which modern times have seen.” Most of my readers will have seen, at one time or other, the engraving, and the pathetic power and poetry of the subject are independent of the picture ; there fore the black-and-white translation will serve to illustrate my purpose and meaning. It may be asserted that there is nothing in that picture that might not, at an expense of time and money and thought, have been worked out by photographic means, had the conception been forthcoming. The coffin, the trestle, the pall, might all have been constructed. A clover taxidermist would have stuffed a dog posed in that position —the only difficult bit in the picture. Small credit to him, with such a precedent to copy. The bowed head, the lassitude of the limbs, the tear (of wax) falling from the heavy eye, might all be. imitated, and the rude interior, lighted somewhat d la Salomon, the light concentrated on the coffin-head and he dog, other accessories only indicated or thrown into poetic gloom. Hear what the art-critic says of the details, remembering how photography could also have rendered them, had the conception or inspiration been forthcoming : “ The exquisite execution of the glossy and crisp hair of the dog, the Bright, sharp touching of the bough beside it, the clear painting of the wood of the coffin and the folds of the blanket, are language—language clear and expressive in the highest degree. But the close pressure of the dog’s breast against the wood; the convulsive clinging of the paws which has dragged the blanket off the trestle; the total powerless ness of the head, laid close and motionless upon its folds ; the fixed and tearful fall of the eye in its utter hopelessness ; the rigidity of repose, which marks that there has been no mo tion nor change in the trance of agony since the last blow was struck on the coffin-lid ; the quietness and gloom of the chamber; the spectacles, marking the place where the bible was last closed, indicating how lonely has been the life, how unwatched the departure, of him who is now laid solitary in his sleep ; these are all thoughts—thoughts by which the picture is separated at once from hundreds of equal merit, as far as mere painting goes, by which it ranks as a work of high art, and stamps its author, not as the neat imitator of the texture of a skin or the fold of a drapery, but as the man of Mind.” It is something to feel that so great a picture is at all capable of representation by means within the limitations of photography. Let us hope equally noble conceptions may have birth amongst photographers, and that they then may be able to say, without fear of being gainsayed— “ I, too, am a priest of the Beautiful.” GROUND GLASS TO INCREASE LIGHT. As grinding the surface of glass is well known to destroy its power of transmitting light in an enormous degree, in some cases obstructing as much as sixty per cent, of the amount of illumination transmitted by plain glass, it is not a little singular to find ground glass suggested as a means, under some circumstances, of obtaining more light than can be secured by plain glass. We find, however, in a communication to the Philadelphia Photographer, that Mr. D. Duncan makes the suggestion with at least some degree of plausibility, the ground surface being regarded as a means of reflecting light into the studio when direct light cannot be obtained. He says :— “ It is not generally known nor believed by the majority of photographers, that exposures in the camera are remark ably short in studios which are lighted by ground-glass, yet it is a fact. Whether a studio glazed with ground-glass would work quicker than one glazed with plain glass only, I have not yet ascertained. Much, of course, would depend upon circumstances, e.g., quality of the glass employed, &c. It is a problem I do not pretend to solve. The principal fault with most studios is that too much light is admitted. But for studios imperfectly lighted'at the side by being built in a valley of tall chimney-pots, or in a garden sur rounded by trees, or between the brick walls of neighbour ing houses, the following is valuable : — “ If plain glass is used in the ‘ side lights ‛ of studios situated as above, it will admit of very little light, that which it admits being only the reflection from the sur roundings. Instead of using plain glass, let rough ground glass be substituted ; the rough side of the glass should be outside. The light from the whole of the visible sky and from the remotest parts of the opposite wall, &c., will be introduced into the studio, reflected from the innumerable faces or facets which the rough grinding has produced; the whole of the side light will appear as if the sky were beyond it, and from every point of this luminous surface lights will radiate into all parts of the room. Ye who strive to get art out of a ‘ well,’ try it. “ The Builder recommends a similar plan for lighting a dark room in which the darkness is caused by its being situated on a narrow street or lane.” MANIPULATIONS IN PHOTO-CHEMISTRY. BY JAMES MARTIN.* Presuming that the place intended for the laboratory has been suitably chosen and conveniently arranged (not for getting blinds for rendering the light non-actinic when so required), a supply of water, and some system of drainage, I proceed to describe the various manipulations, and the implements and appliances required for each as it comes under consideration. Having selected the chemical required, if it be a solid, the operator, after calculating the quantity needed, must neces sarily proceed to the manipulation of weighing. In many chemical experiments the quantities under examination are frequently so small, and their weights required to be so accurately ascertained, that a good pair of scales are as necessary to the photographer as a first-class pair of spectacles are to a person with defective sight ; therefore the additional outlay such a pair may cost will be found money well spent. It is necessary to have at least two pair, viz., the grain scales (which generally weigh up to two drachms, and which should have glass pans), and a larger pair (which will weigh up to one pound). Those used by druggists, and having a pillar raised on a stand, are the most convenient. Great care should be taken to keep them in good order, and never to allow them to be overweighted, or they will surely be spoilt. A few words upon the philo sophy of the balance will prove this, and perhaps be interesting. I * Continued from p. 163.