Chapter III: Part 3

This is a process of combining a number of images in such a way that the result obtained is an aggregate of its components. Francis Galton was one of the first to employ this system. In the appendix to his "Inquiries into Human Faculty," Galton has described the very elaborate and perfect form of apparatus which he has used in his studies; but entirely satisfactory results may be obtained with much more simple contrivances. The instrument used by Prof. Bowditch[7] is merely an old-fashioned box camera, with a hole cut in the top for the reception of the ground-glass plate upon which the image is to be reflected for purposes of adjustment. The reflection is effected by a mirror set at an angle of 45 degrees in the axis of the camera, and pivoted on its upper border so that, after the adjustment of the image, the mirror can be turned against the upper side of the box, and the image allowed to fall on the sensitive plate at the back of the camera. The original negatives are used as components, and are placed in succession in a small wooden frame which is pressed by elliptical springs against a sheet of glass fastened vertically in front of the camera. By means of this arrangement it is possible to place each negative in succession in any desired position in a plane perpendicular to the axis of the camera, and thus to adjust it so that the eyes and the mouth of its optical image shall fall upon the fiducial lines drawn upon the ground-glass plate at the top of the camera. An Argand gas burner with a condensing lens furnishes the necessary illumination.

[7] From _McClure's Magazine_, September, 1894.

"For our amateur photographers," writes Prof. Bowditch, "who are constantly seeking new worlds to conquer, the opportunity of doing useful work in developing the possibilities of composite photography ought to be very welcome. Not only will the science of ethnology profit by their labors, but by making composites of persons nearly related to each other, a new and very interesting kind of family portrait may be produced. The effect of occupation on the physiognomy may also be studied in this way. By comparing, for instance, the composite of a group of doctors with that of a group of lawyers, we may hope to ascertain whether there is such a thing as a distinct legal or medical physiognomy."

TELEPHOTO PICTURES.

During the last few years many so-called telephotographic lenses have been placed upon the market. These instruments enable one to photograph objects in the distance and obtain images very much larger than those given by the ordinary photographic lens. These lenses are, however, very costly. In an article by Mr. O. G. Mason, published in _The Photographic Times_ for June, 1895, that gentleman described a simple method of obtaining telephoto pictures by replacing the ordinary lens with an opera glass. He says: "Several devices have been brought forward with a view of decreasing the expense of telephoto lenses, but I have seen no others so satisfactory, cheap and simple, as the utilization of the ordinary opera glass for the camera objective, which was described, figured and finally constructed for me about a year ago by Mr. Alvin Lawrence, the horologist of Lowell, Mass. An opera or field glass is a convenient and useful instrument in the kit of any touring photographer; and when he can easily and quickly attach it to his camera-box as an objective its great value is at once made apparent. Mr. Lawrence's method of doing this at little cost is a good illustration of Yankee ingenuity. It is not claimed that such a device will do all or as well as a telephotographic lens costing ten times as much; but it will do far more than most people could or would expect. Of course the field is quite limited, which, in fact, is the case with the most expensive telephotographic objective, and the sharpness of the image depends much upon the quality of the opera or field glass used. The accompanying views show the relative size and character of image by a forty-five dollar rapid rectilinear view lens and a four-dollar opera glass attached to the same camera and used at the same point. The other illustrations show the camera as used and the method of opera glass attachment to the lens-board. It will be seen that the eye end of the opera glass is placed against the lens-board, one eye-piece in a slight depression around the hole through the centre, and by a quarter turn the brace between the two barrels passes behind a projecting arm on the board, the focusing barrel resting in a slot in this arm, where it is firmly held in position by friction alone.

As opera glasses are usually constructed for vision only, no attempt is made by the optician to make correction for securing coincidence of foci of the visual and chemical rays of light as in the well-made photographic objective. Hence, it is often found that the actinic focus falls within, or is shorter than, the visual. When this is the case, the proper allowance is easily made after a few trials.

LIGHTNING PHOTOGRAPHS.

The method of making photographs of lightning flashes is very simple. The camera is focused for distant objects. During a thunderstorm the camera is pointed in the direction of the flashes, a plate is inserted, the cap is removed from the lens, and as soon as a flash takes place the lens is covered up and the plate is ready for development. To avoid halation a backed or non-halation plate should be used.

PHOTOGRAPHING FIREWORKS.

Photographs of pyrotechnical displays can also be made at night. The method of procedure is the same as described for photographs of lightning. The camera is focused for distant objects and the lens pointed towards the place where the discharge takes place. Fig. 90.

DOUBLES.

Some very amusing pictures can be made by double exposure. For instance, Fig. 91 represents a man playing cards with himself. A method of making these is thus described by W. J. Hickmott in "The American Annual of Photography for 1894":

Fit an open square box into the back of the camera, having it fully as large as, or a little larger than, the negatives you wish to make. My attachment is made for 8 x 10 plates and under, and fits into the back of a 10 x 12 camera. In shape it is like Fig. 91, and I will designate it as A. The box is about 3 inches deep. When put into the camera it appears as in Fig. 92. Now have a plain strip of wood just one-half the size of the opening in A like B, Fig. 93. Have B fit very nicely in A, at the opening toward the lens, and so that it can be moved freely from one side to the other. It is very convenient to have a rabbet on the top and bottom of A so that B can be moved from side to side and maintained in any position.

To make a "Double," attach A to the camera as shown, put B into its place in the opening in A, say on the right-hand side as you stand back of your camera, thus covering up the right-hand side of the plate when exposure is made. Pose your subject on the left hand side, which will give you an image on the right-hand side of your ground glass and plate, draw the slide and expose, immediately returning the slide. This finishes one half of the operation. Shift B over to the left-hand side of A, which will cover up that portion of the plate just exposed, pose your subject again, but on the left-hand side, which will give you the image on the right-hand side of the ground glass and plate, draw the slide and expose out for the exact length of time as at first. On development, if the exposure on both sides has been correct, and of equal length, a perfect negative will be the result.

The camera must on no account be moved between the exposures, nor the focus changed. After making the first exposure the correct focus for the second is obtained by moving the subject backward or forward until an exact focus is secured, and not by moving the camera or ground glass. The whole apparatus should be painted a dead black.

When the attachment is in place it will be noted on the ground glass that while the strip B is just one-half the size of the opening in A, it does not cut off just one-half of the ground glass, a line drawn through the center of which shows that a space in the center of the plate about one-half an inch in width receives a double exposure, but this is not apparent in the finished negative. The figure should be posed as near the center of the plate as possible in each instance. This apparatus, as described, is only available for making two figures. By making B narrower, or one-third of the width of the opening in A, three figures may be made, using each time a separate piece to cover up that portion of the plate exposed, and by changing the form of B to that shown in Fig. 95, four positions can be secured.

Val Starnes describes[8] another and still simpler method. He says: Take a light card, mount and carefully cut from it a disc that will fit snugly inside the rim of the hood of your lens, resting against the circular interior shoulder (Fig. 96). Cut from this, in a straight, true line, a small segment (Fig. 97). The exact amount to cut off you can determine by slowly thrusting with one hand a card with a straight edge across the lens hood, looking the while at the ground glass; when the shadow has crept _almost_ to the center of the focusing screen, hold the card firmly in place and notice how much of the circle of the hood is covered by it: cut from your disc a segment corresponding to the amount _left uncovered_. Don't let the shadow creep _quite_ to the center of the ground glass, for you might go the least bit beyond, and an unexposed strip would result. Now paint your disc a dull black; loosen the hood of your lens on its threads, so that it will revolve easily and freely, and you are ready for business.

[8] "American Annual for 1895."

Get your focus and then place disc in hood of lens, straight edge perpendicular (Fig. 98). Cover lens with cap or shutter; insert plate-holder and draw slide; pose your figure _directly in front of uncovered portion of lens_; expose. Next, without touching disc, slide, or anything but the hood, gently revolve the hood on its threads one-half turn (Fig. 99), and pose your figure on opposite side; expose. The trick's accomplished.

Another arrangement devised by Mr. Frank A. Gilmore, of Auburn, R. I., is shown in Fig. 100.

A black-lined box is fitted to the front of a camera. The front of the box is closed by two doors. On opening one door a picture may be taken on one side of the plate; on closing this door and opening the other, the other half of the plate is ready for exposure.

The subject poses in one position and is photographed with one door open, care being taken to bring the figure within the proper area of the negative. The finder enables this detail to be attended to. Then the door is closed, the other is opened and the second exposure for the other half of the plate is made with the subject in the other position. It is not necessary to touch the plate-holder between the exposures. The cover is withdrawn, the one door is opened and the shutter is sprung. The doors are then changed and the shutter is sprung a second time. Time exposures are rather risky, as involving danger of shaking. A picture made by Mr. Gilmore will be found on the next page.

DOUBLE EXPOSURES.

Amateurs often obtain unexpected results from carelessness in exposing their plates. Some very amusing pictures can, however, be obtained by making two different exposures on one plate. The subject should, of course, be of a very different nature. Our illustrations, Figs. 102-3, are examples. In making these it is necessary to give a very short exposure in each case, about one-half the amount that would be ordinarily required. The negative must be carefully developed, using plenty of restrainer. Similar effects can, of course, be obtained by printing from two different negatives, but the results are, as a rule, inferior.

COMICAL PORTRAITS.

If the photographer be skilled in drawing he can make some laughable pictures that will amuse his friends by drawing a sketch of a comical body without a head, as shown in Fig. 104; a photograph of anyone is then cut out and the head pasted on.

THE TWO-HEADED MAN.

This picture shows a variation of the theme illustrated in Fig. 94, and is a type of doublet usually avoided by amateurs, who prefer to have one figure complete and shown in two positions. The monster is an amusing variation and will be new to most people. The subject sits in the same spot for both exposures, except that he bends his head and shoulders first to one side and then to the other. It is advisable to keep the background very simple, otherwise objects on the wall may show through the head, as in some of the spirit photography methods given on previous pages.

DUPLICATORS AND TRIPLICATORS.

While doubles are well known to many amateurs, the making of three exposures of one subject on a single plate is not so common. Mr. Chas. A. Barnard has furnished particulars of his method of making the pictures shown in Figs. 107 and 108. Fig. 106 shows two methods of mounting the attachment in front of the camera lens, one being designed to slip over, while the other screws into the lens barrel, the front of which is often fitted with a screw thread. Fig. 109 shows the stops which slide in this mounting; in making them, first mark on each the position of the center of the lens by measuring up from the stud which holds the stop in place. Draw your circles for stops with this as a centre, and as large as diameter of lens. Leaf A is used for the sides of the triplicator, reversing between the exposures. With an inch circle, the width of this is 0.2 inch. The edges should be filed down as thin as possible without nicking. Leaf B is for the centre exposure of the triplicator, and the slot is 0.012 inch wide and 1 inch long. Leaf C is the duplicator stop, its width being 0.3 inch. Leaves D1 and D2 are for top and bottom exposures of a vertical double, and are the same size as C. The proportions might have to be slightly varied for some other lens, in all these cases. A triplicate exposure is made as follows. First focus, using the whole lens, at any stop, and determine the limits of your picture spaces. As the leeway is small, do not get the figures too large. Pose the model in the centre, stop down till properly lighted, and note the stop and mark edges of view on ground glass. Focus on model at one side, stop down till edge blends into edge of previous view, and note stop. Do the same in third position. This may take some time, and a chair may be used instead of a model. Finally, put in the plate and make the three exposures, giving four times the exposures ordinarily required for the same stops. The order is immaterial. Stops recommended for a 3-1/4 x 5-1/2 camera are as follows: For a horizontal doublet, leaf C, U. S. 16; for a vertical doublet, leaf D1, U. S. 54, leaf D2, U. S. 40; for a horizontal triplet, leaf A, U. S. 16, leaf B, U. S. 90; for a vertical triplet (leaves not shown in drawing), leaf A for top, U. S. 32; for bottom, U. S. 20, leaf B, U. S. 90. Vertical pictures are extremely difficult to figure.

PICTURES WITH EYES WHICH OPEN AND CLOSE.

To make a photograph with this peculiarity, it is necessary to make two exposures of a head in exactly the same position, one with the eyes closed and the other with them open. Two positives are made from the two negatives and bound in contact by means of lantern slide binders, so that the outlines coincide. If they are now held in front of a flickering lamp or match flame, the combined portrait will be seen to rapidly open and close its eyes, giving a very weird effect. This effect depends upon the fact that the human eye receives impressions slowly and has a tendency to judge that a motion is uniform, when rapidly varying phases of it are seen. The flickering flame, moving sideways, shows first one and then the other of the two images, which are separated by the thickness of the glass. The same effect can be produced by sliding the pictures slightly sideways on each other, but the perfection of the illusion will depend somewhat on the regularity of the movement, and the flame method is better. If the two pictures are printed on one piece of paper, the combined image may show the same illusion.

PHOTOGRAPHIC BOOKPLATES.

We have all of us seen and many of us have made collections of those attractive little bits of paper so frequently stuck on the front cover of a book to designate its ownership. Invented almost contemporaneously with the first printed books, they have been designed and engraved by artists of the highest standing and used by the world's greatest men and women. Who would not be proud to own a book containing a bookplate made by Albrecht Durer or Paul Revere, or one whose bookplate proved it had belonged to George Washington or Theodore Roosevelt, irrespective of the great money value of such items?

The bookplate is an intensely personal possession. The first were heraldic, identifying the possessors by their coats of arms. Modern bookplates usually reflect some personal taste of the owner, his hobby, his house, his portrait, or the type of books he collects. Nothing could be more fitting than one made from a photograph taken by its possessor, and yet in the writer's collection of many thousand bookplates covering several centuries and many countries, there are less than a dozen photographic examples.

They are easily made. The most usual method is to choose a suitable photograph, a view of the home or library interior, a loved landscape or view, a symbolical figure with a book, a genre which may be a pun on the owner's name, or a picture relating to his chief hobby, and draw a more or less ornamental frame containing the words "Ex Libris" or "His Book," together with the name, about it. There are other wordings, but the above are the commonest. The whole is then photographed down to the proper size, usually three or four inches high, and prints made either by photography or from a halftone block.

The nude female figure is a frequent motive in bookplates, whether photographic, or etched or engraved. The example we show is the work of two artists, one of whom made the photograph while the other designed the framework.

LANDSCAPES AND GROUPS ON THE DINING-ROOM TABLE

Did you ever try building landscapes on the dining-room table? If not, learn how easy it is and try it out some evening or rainy Sunday, when you don't feel like tramping across country with muddy roads and flat lightings.

The easiest kind of pictures to make in this way is an imitation of snow scenes. Any white material may be used, as snow, i.e., fine salt, powdered sugar, flour, or whatever the kitchen closet or the chemical shelf may produce. A range of mountains may easily be made by merely heaping up the material and then modeling ravines and broken slopes with a sharp pencil. A brilliant side lighting should be used to give the effect of sunrise or sunset, and clouds may be printed in from a cloud negative or obtained by means of a roughly painted background.

Perhaps mountains are more naturally represented by the use of a few sharp-angled pieces of coal from the cellar, or fragments of broken stone from the nearest quarry or monument maker. On these, after arranging, the white powder may be sifted, lodging in a close imitation of nature. If a highly polished table is used, reflections may be obtained as in a lake, or a sheet of glass with a dark cloth under it may be used for the same purpose.

More complicated landscapes may be made by using twigs as leafless trees, fence posts, etc., and children's toy houses may be introduced, particularly if well screened by brush and half buried in snow. Only the merest hint of the possibilities can be given, for they are endless.

The introduction of figures, in the shape of dolls, china and metal animals, carts, autos, railroad trains, etc., greatly widens the scope of such landscape work, but of recent years these figures have been more frequently used for tableaux, such as the one shown opposite. Extremely comical pictures have been made with kewpies, billikens and other queer creatures and their animal friends, and with grotesque figures made of vegetables, fruit and eggs.

NIGHT PHOTOGRAPHY.

The night photographer has to be more or less immune to criticism, and willing to endure all kinds of conversational interruptions, from friendly questions to unmannerly jeers and imputations of insanity. The general public knows from personal experience with hand cameras provided with slow lenses and small stops that picture taking can be done only by sunlight and in the middle of the day, and does not understand the setting up of a camera in a poorly-lighted place at night for the taking of a picture. Nevertheless, this branch of photography is very interesting and results are possible even in villages and the open fields, wherever the least artificial illumination or glimpse of moonlight is present.

Naturally, much light means shorter exposures than are possible with very sparing illumination, but too many light sources do not tend to artistic results. One of the finest night pictures we ever saw was that of an old farmhouse, nearly buried in snow, with one or two windows showing the light of a kerosene lamp. The snow was illuminated by the light of the full moon, and only two or three minutes' exposure was given.

As a matter of fact, 15 to 30 minutes' exposure on any landscape at _f_: 8 by the light of the full moon high in the sky will give a picture hardly to be distinguished from one made in daylight except by the softness of the shadows, and such pictures sometimes have a softness and wealth of detail in ordinarily shadowed parts which cannot be obtained by exposures in daylight.

The best night pictures are perhaps those taken in city streets brilliantly illuminated by arc lights, especially when the pavements are wet. Care must be taken not to have brilliant lights shining directly into the lens, for even double-coated plates will not prevent halation and reversal of the image under such circumstances. Ghosts, or wheel-shaped images of the lights, in other parts of the plate, are sure to occur with all double lenses in such cases. The night picture shown opposite shows how interesting a simple subject, poorly illuminated, may turn out in the print. This shows typical star radiation about the single visible light, caused by the blades of the iris diaphragm, and also a slight ghost from this light on the face of the tower, caused by a double reflection within the lens.

Other forms of night photographs, treated elsewhere in this book, are photographs of fireworks and lightning. Very interesting and scientifically valuable pictures of the latter phenomenon have been made by swinging the camera during the exposure, thus getting a dozen or more paths of the same flash parallel to each other.

PHOTOGRAPHS ON APPLES AND EGGS.

To make a photograph in green on the red skin of an apple is a wonderful but simple feat. Tie up the selected fruit on a sunny bough in a thick yellow or black paper bag for about three weeks before harvest time. Immediately after taking off the bag, paste a black paper stencil or a very contrasty negative to the apple with white of egg. It should be small, to fit the curved surface quite closely. Clear away leaves, so the sun gets clear access to the fruit, and leave on the tree till it becomes red. If not then ripe, put it back into the opaque bag for a day or two till ready to pick. The negative may then be soaked off. Don't use a valuable negative, but make a duplicate for this experiment. A paper stencil is better, anyway.

To put a photograph on an egg, take one which is perfectly clean, sponge it over several times with 1 to 50 solution of table salt, dry, then sponge over with 1 to 12 solution of silver nitrate. Keep your fingers out of this, or they will turn fast black. Then take a black paper stencil or a small contrasty film negative, cut a hole in a piece of black flannel somewhat smaller than the negative, and tie around the egg to hold the negative. Then bring into light, print out, wash and tone and fix like any printing-out paper. And don't eat the egg, for chemicals will go through the shell.

* * * * *

BOOKS ON PHOTOGRAPHY

Optics for Photographers, by Hans Harting, Ph.D. Translated by Frank R. Fraprie, S.M., F.R.P.S. 232 pages. Cloth, $2.50.

Chemistry for Photographers, by William R. Flint. 2nd edition. 218 pages. Cloth, $2.50.

Pictorial Composition in Photography, by Arthur Hammond. 234 pages, 49 illustrations. Cloth, $3.50.

Photo-Engraving Primer, by Stephen H. Horgan. Cloth, $1.50.

Cash from Your Camera. Edited by Frank R. Fraprie, S.M., F.R.P.S. Paper, $1.00.

Pictorial Landscape Photography, by the Photo Pictorialists of Buffalo. 252 pages, 55 illustrations. Cloth, $3.50.

Photographic Amusements, by Walter E. Woodbury. 9th edition. 128 pages, 100 illustrations. Cloth, $1.50.

Practical Color Photography by E. J. Wall, F.C.S., F.R.P.S. Cloth, $3.00.

PRACTICAL PHOTOGRAPHY SERIES

Edited by Frank R. Fraprie, S.M., F.R.P.S.

Editor of _American Photography_

1. The Secret of Exposure.
2. Beginners' Troubles.
3. How to Choose and Use a Lens.
4. How to Make Prints in Color.
5. How to Make Enlargements.
6. How to Make Portraits.
7. How to Make Lantern Slides.
8. The Elements of Photography.
9. Practical Retouching.

_Each volume sold separately._ Cloth, $1.00; paper, 50 cents.

American Photography Exposure Tables, 101st thousand. Cloth, 35 cents.

Thermo Development Chart. 25 cents.

_American Photography_, a monthly magazine, representing all that its name implies. 25 cents a copy. $2.50 a year.

PUBLISHED BY

AMERICAN PHOTOGRAPHIC PUBLISHING CO.
428 Newbury St., Boston 17, Massachusetts

* * * * *

Transcriber's note:

1. Figure 83.--COMPOSITE PORTRAITS OF BOSTON PHYSICIANS AND SAXON SOLDIERS was corrected to Figure 84.

2. Figure 91.--A DOUBLE. BY H. G. READING. is out of sequence. Another Figure 91 comes later in the text.

3. Mismatched quotation marks are as they were in the original book.