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September 10, 1880. | THE PHOTOGRAPHIC NEWS. 433 Uqe Ahotograyhi Elehs, Septemher 10, 1880. PHOTOGRAPHY IN AND OUT OF THE STUDIO. Portrait PHOTOGRAPHERS and their Sitters—Daguerre’s Panoramic Paintings—PYROGALLIC Acid Development of Gelatine Plates—Photography and Notoriety. Portrait Photographers and their Sitters.—The action of Seymour v. Stevens recently tried at the Bloomsbury County Court, and of which a report appeared in these pages, touches upon a sore point which is con stantly the source of trouble between photographer and sitter. In this case the defendant gave certain directions to the plaintiff, which the latter faithfully carried out. The result, however, was not to the satisfaction of the defendant, and he objected to pay. How often does not this occur in the studio ; a sitter insists upon something which the photographer knows will be a failure. The latter remonstrates, but in vain, and at last, " good easy man,” he does his best to carry out the wishes of his customer. The consequence is dissatisfaction, and of course the photographer is blamed. Our impression is that to some extent the portrait photographer, like a stage manager, should be a despot. He either does or does not know his business, and in each case should take the res ponsibility. If he fails, either through ignorance or in competence, then he deserves all the blame he gets ; on the other hand, if he succeeds, then his reputation will be en hanced, because many successes are achieved when least expected by the sitter, and often when the means taken are totally opposed to the ideas (of course erroneous) of the sitter. Certainly when there is a difference of opinion as to lighting, pose, or dress, the photographer should make it clear that if he does that which in his professional judg ment is wrong, the sitter must accept the result. Daguerre’s Panoramic Paintings.—It is somewhat curious to note how history, even in photography, repeats itself. The great panoramic picture now being produced by the aid of magnified photographs by M. Yvon was but antici pated by Daguerre, whose experiments on the action of light were mainly undertaken with a view to improve panoramic painting, and in the production of dioramic effects. Among his pictures which attracted much atten tion at the time of their exhibition, were “ The Midnight Mass,” " Landslip in the Valley of Goldau," “ The Temple of Solomon,” and “The Cathedral of Sainte Marie de Montreal.” A writer in a long-forgotten periodical, “ The International Magazine,” speaking of these pictures, said: “ In these, the alternate effects of night and day, storm and sunshine, were beautifully produced. To these effects of light were added others from the decomposition of form by means of which, for example, in ‘ The Midnight Mass,’ figures appeared where the spectators had just beheld seats, altars, &c.; and again, as in the ‘Valley of Goldau,’ in which rocks tumbling from the mountains replaced the prospect of a smiling valley; ” in other words, they were the now familiar dissolving views. Daguerre hoped to be able to apply the phenomena of chemical changes by means of light to the production of effects in his dioramic paint ings, and what he failed in has now been accomplished, though in quite a different form from that he imagined. Pyrogallic Acid Development of Gelatine Plates.—There is something else to be considered besides the reducing action of pyrogallic acid, when we treat the gelatine film with it, and especially when we have recourse to lengthen devel opment ; we mean its staining action upon gelatine. A film of collodion may be immersed for a quarter of an hour in a strong pyrogallic solution without becoming stained in any way, but it is rare indeed that pyrogallic solution does not leave behind it some sort of effect upon a gelatine plate. So far, we have only experimented with two samples of acid, and one of them gave a very brown tinge indeed to the gelatine film on prolonged immersion in pyrogallic. No doubt there are means of subsequently bleaching the film at our disposal, dilute hydrochloric acid, for instance, soon dissipating the unwelcome tint; but the use of hydro chloric acid and other bleaching agents is undesirable in the practice of dry plate work. As it is, we have quite enough to do to keep our films from frilling, what with the prolonged operations already necessary, and we cer tainly do not wish to add to these. Nor does the fault lie only in the pyrogallic acid, for some gelatine films we find —whether they are thicker or not—stain more deeply than others. Fortunately, however, we are not entirely depen dent upon pyrogallic acid development, and we think if dry plate photographers were polled at the present moment, the advocates of oxalate development would be more numerous than those who still resort to pyrogallic develop ment. Photography and Notoriety.—The craving of the public for photographs of everything which, for the time, is the nine days’ wonder, appears, indeed, to be increasing. The court-martial on the Wimbledon target-marker indi cates this. It appears from a representation made by Lieutenant Edye, the “ prisoner’s friend,” as he is in military-legal parlance termed, that 1 overtures had been made to the prisoner by the sergeant-major of the division, on behalf of an official connected with the prosecution, to allow himself to be photographed. The prisioner had no objection to be photographed if the Court desired it for the purpose of the present inquiry, but he objected “ if it was merely to gratify a morbid curiosity of the public.” The explanation given by Major Ozzard of the matter, it must be confessed, has a very “ fishy ” look. According to this officer, Mr. Harvey, the Admiralty law agent, of Ports mouth, applied to the sergeant-major for the photographs of five or six sergeants of Marines required by the Admi ralty, for purposes not having reference to the inquiry. The sergeant-major produced the photograph book, from which five were selected. Mr. Harvey then asked for one of the prisoner, and, finding there was not one, requested the sergeant-major to ask the prisoner if he had one. We are afraid, from the remarks of the President to the effect that the Court regretted and were surprised at the step which had been taken, there is a little more in this matter than meets the eye. The temptation offered by the sale of Marshman’s photographs is by no means a small one, and as it was not likely a photograph would be secured if the object were directly explained, it is perfectly feasible that an attempt should be made (though we do not say that this attempt was made) to obtain it by a side wind. If this be the interpretation of the request to the prisoner then we are not surprised at his objection, and at the displeasure of the Court. The charge made against Marshman is a serious one in military, if not in civil, law, and whether innocent or guilty , it could not have been pleasant for him to know that he was being gibbeted in every stationer’s shop in the United Kingdom. Besides, Sergeant Marshman has the misfortune of being—well, not to put too fine a point upon it—a rather plain man, and had his photograph been exhibited, it could not have failed to have been remembered. How delightful it would prove to be recognised and pointed out in connec tion with such a charge whenever you enter an omnibus, a railway carriage, or a place of amusement. ROYAL CORNWALL POLYTECHNIC SOCIETY. The Forty-eighth Annual Exhibition of this Society com menced August 31st, remaining open one week as usual. The proceedings commenced with an address in the great hall by the president, the Rev. Canon Salter Rogers, who dealt with all the sections of the Exhibition. He said he was very pleased to see photographic art again so well re presented, but regretted that not one example of Mr. Willis’s platinotppe was amongst the collection of this year. He considered the specimens exhibited last year