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THE PHOTOGRAPHIC NEWS. Vol. VII. No. 235.—March 6, 1863. CONTENTS. PAGE Glass Houses and Lighting 109 Photographic Exhibition.—Pinal Notice’’... 110 Collodion Formulas Ill New Fixing and Developing Agents’" ByM.Meynier UI On the Decomposition of Tannin Plates. By Stephen P. Leeds 112 On Composition Photographs 112 The Application of Photography to the Magic Lantern Educa ¬ tionally Considered. By Samuel Highley, F.G.S., F.C.S. ... 113 Copper-Plate Printing by Photography 114 GLASS HOUSES AND LIGHTING. Fnoxr the frequent inquiries which reach us, asking for advice and information relative to the building of the glass house, and lighting of the figure, we are led to believe that few subjects are more interesting, or less understood, amongst photographers. Whilst' it is difficult either to deal with such a question in the abstract, or prescribe rules of uni versal application, we can occasionally give illustrations of specific cases, and suggest general principles. We do not know of any photographer who has produced more artistic pictures than Mr. Kej lander. One of the first reflections which strike us, on looking over a collection of these photographs, is the unusual command over the light ing of the model which the artist possesses: almost every Variety of lighting is adopted in turn, to serve some specific purpose, and always successfully. To the education of an artist, Mr. Rejlander has added years of practice as a photographer, not simply in manufacturing conventional portraits, but in producing art studies, in which every possible effect of lighting is in turn necessary. Mr. Rejlander has recently erected a new studio in London, a brief descrip- tion of which cannot fail to be interesting to our readers, not necessarily as a model to be imitated, but as illustrating the principles of lighting, which may be adopted or modi- hod as circumstances may render necessary. We should state at the outset that the chief aim in the present studio is to secure a mode of lighting similar to that used by painters, so that the photographic studies obtained may be strictly available for painters, the same conditions of light and shadow existing in the photograph, which are required in the painting. That the same light will often be valuable for portraiture, and general photography, we see no reason to doubt; the only misgiving we have on the subject, being ui relation to the amount of light, which we fear would scarcely be found sufficient for convenient working in dull weather. Here is a sketch of the erection. It is built of corrugated iron; and the total length is thirty feet. The portion devoted to the sitter is ten feet long and eleven feet wide. The remaining twenty feet curving in near the door, and becoming narrower, so that, at the extreme end, where the dark room is, the width is seven feet. The light is obtained solely from the white spaces a, 0, e, d, e,f in the diagram, the ’light falling from Proceedings of Societies 114 Correspondence:—Iodides and Bromides in Collodion — The French Photographic Exhibition HQ The International Exhibition.—Report of the Jury 118 Photographic Notes and Queries up Talk in the Studio 120 To Correspondents 120 Photographs Registered during the Week 120 the north-west. The door a consists of a plate of glass, seven feet high by three.feet wide. The window adjoining, 6, consists of another plate of glass, seven feet high by five feet wide; this joins another plate, c, in the roof, which is five feet wide and three feet deep. These three are of white plate glass, and constitute the chief source of light. On the opposite side there is no glass at all, but the interior is painted white to secure reflected lights. The minor lights, d, e, and f, will generally be covered with blinds, their object being to secure not direct light, but diffused light, and thus aid the reflections. It will be seen that the sitter is lighted from the side and side top: front light, and direct vertical light being entirely avoided. The absence of sash bars is in Mr. Rejlander’s opinion a great advantage to the sitter and to the picture. The effect of these bars on the eye having a painful sensation, interfering with natural expression, and spoiling the beauty of the eye in the picture. The camera is in comparative darkness, enabling the operator to focus without the aid of a dark cloth over his head. The eye of the model also looks into this darkness, by which is gained the double advantage of comfort to the sitter and expansion of the pupil of the eye, giving it more depth and expression. Nothing is more offensive in a photographic portrait than the light unmeaning-looking eye, which often results from the sitter looking towards the light, in which case the pupil contracts; and, if the irides be blue or grey, giving at once a weak, fishy, washed-out effect to eyes, which, in the original, probably look dark and bright, and beaming with expression. We may here subjoin a diagram, showing the longitudinal section of a glass room proposed some time ago by Mr. Sutton, to which Mr. Rejlander’s is very similar in principle. The total length here is supposed to be thirty-six feet, of which twelve feet, A, B, C, constitute the glass room proper. A, B, on each side, is opaque, and B, C, on each side, glass, from top to bottom. This, with the small portion, c to d, at the front of the glass room, and adjoin ing the narrow passage, is all the glass the building will contain, the remainder being a long, dark passage, as in