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650 THE PHOTOGRAPHIC NEWS. [September 18, 1891. ledge on each side as already stated. It is about seven inches in width and three feet in length, and while in use it is supported on a (lantern) box, B, laid on its side on the table, TT. At one end of this base-board is an upright, C, of the same width (seven inches), pierced in the centre with a four-inch hole so as to carry the front of the lens tube, which is separated from the lantern body by a space which varies with the amount of enlargement or reduction which may be required. At the top, this vertical board is bevelled to an angle of 45°, and by means of wooden buttons a piece of looking-glass, face downwards, is fixed at that angle. This glass is large enough to cover the lens front, so that the image of the picture on the stage is intercepted and cast upon the table below, upon which a sheet of cardboard is placed to receive it. A piece of ordinary looking-glass is employed—in our case we actually use a hand toilet-glass—and although theoreti cally such a glass, not silvered on the surface, should cast a double image, in practice it is found that no secondary image is perceptible. Indeed, so free is the reflection given from this difficulty that the arrange ment might with advantage be employed for making reversed negatives. A lantern can be used in this way by daylight pro vided that the window-blind is pulled down, so that the picture thrown upon the cardboard is not eclipsed by the brighter light. There is, indeed, an advantage' in working under such conditions, for the lines of the picture may be traced over in pencil, while, at the same time, the artist can watch the growth of his own work. There is also an advantage in shutting off the lantern light every now and then, so that progress may be reported the more effectually. It is obvious that the lantern employed in this way will give a reduced image as well as one which is larger than the original. But, in this case, it will be found necessary either to reduce the size of the support upon which the base board stands, or to raise the cardboard upon which the image is cast. The apparatus as shown is, of course, but a makeshift, and a far more perfect contrivance can be readily constructed by anyone with a little ingenuity in his composition. Such an improved in strument would compromise a mechanical movement for altering the height of the lantern, as well as a rack work for moving it from and towards the front lens. There are many other points which will doubtless be suggested by those who care to give time and thought to the matter. We place the idea before our readers in a roughly hewn state, and will leave them to cut down its angles and polish it up generally according to their individual tastes. We need hardly point out that with a more power ful source of light—such as the oxyhydrogen light— the lantern can be used for tracing pictures of far larger size. In this form it should be most useful to artists for making rough sketches upon canvas or paper. We have also often suggested that scene-painters should call in its aid to help them in sketching out their designs in charcoal, instead of squaring both drawing and canvas in the usual manner. Messrs. Perken, Son, and Rayment are about; to bring out a lantern sketch ing arrangement on the lines indicated in this article. DEVELOPIANA. BY C. BRANGWIN BARNES. However nicely a picture may be posed and lighted, and however exact may be the exposure, the whole effect may be absolutely marred by injudicious or careless develop ment. Most operators have a pet formula of their own, in some cases closely assimilating to that issued with the particular brand of plates in use, and in others totally dissimilar. It should, nevertheless, be borne in mind that different subjects and different exposures require a different mode of development. A negative that requires reduction or intensification is never the equal of one that has been correctly developed, however carefully the intensification or reduction has been done, and, therefore, it should be our main aim to produce negatives that do not require either of these processes. The system which has latterly gained ground in large businesses of developing two or more plates at once is, on the face of it, a bad one. I have personally, when pressed for time, developed as many as thirty quarter-plates in a batch, but am compelled to admit that, had each plate been developed separately, they would have been better. Good results may be obtained with almost any standard developer—i. e., as regards the stock solutions—with the exception of those wherein the bromide and the ammonia are mixed ; the only requisite being to dilute and mingle these stock solutions with care, and bearing in mind the treatment the plate has received beforehand. For example, take a plate which has been exposed upon a lady in light drapery, and which is believed to be exact as to exposure ; a normal developer may bring about a successful result, but if the development be started with less bromide than usual, there will be all the more chance of obtaining a soft and harmonious picture. The materials composing the pyro developer are cheap enough, and yet many use the same solution for two or three plates, whereas others who wish to obtain the best result the plate will give sometimes use two, or even three, separate lots of solution on one. If a negative comes up thin and lacking in brilliancy, it is usually recommended to add more pyro or bromide to the developer which is being used ; but a much better result will be obtained by throwing off the old solution altogether, and pouring on some fresh in which the proportions of pyro and bromide are stronger. If, on the other hand, the cliche is developing with too great a contrast, the solution should be thrown off as before, and development continued with a fresh lot in which the pyro and bromide are much weaker, and the ammonia proportionately stronger. If the drapery develops with full strength, and the face—from being brown, or from any other cause —is thin, local density can be obtained by pouring the developer back into the measure, and then direct on to the weak part, repeating the operation until the required amount of density is obtained. It is astounding how many of the little tricks which used to be so successful with the old wet collodion plate will prove themselves equally so with the dry gelatino-bromide. An underdone wet plate used always to be exposed to the yellow light of the dark room window for some seconds; yet how few think of doing the same with the dry plate 1 Let those who have never tried the experiment do so, and