with this class of work. Occasionally, a glass positive will be met with which has been varnished on the film side with a transparent colorless varnish. In all probability, the film will have become so tender and frail that the greatest care must be exercised in dusting it; even a camel-hair brush roughly used may peel off pieces of the brittle film. Occasionally, too, one of these old photographs turns up which has the black varnish on the film side instead of the glass side. Anyone not noticing this might easily begin scraping off the black varnish and, of course, do irreparable damage. When the black varnish is on the film side very little cleaning or restoring can be done, because the cracking of the varnish will, in most cases, have also cracked the collodion. When all the cleaning possible has been done, the picture may be copied in the usual way, using a side light, and covering all the front of the camera except the lens with a black cloth to avoid reflections. Very often a glass positive is grey and flat all over. This is due to over-exposure or fog. In a case of this kind the best way P is to remove the black varnish and then treat it exactly as if it were a negative. Owing to the tender state of the film, however, contact printing will be too risky to attempt. A transparency should be made in the camera by transmitted light, and from this a negative can be made for printing in the ordinary way. When slow plates are used, and developed to increase the contrasts, a reproduction can often be made which is a great improvement on the original. If the old picture looks fairly strong as a negative when the backing has been taken off, it can, of course, be used for making direct bromide enlargements. This saves all the trouble of making a fresh negative. There are so many of these old portraits, guarded like valuable heirlooms, that a greater business could be done in copying them if more professionals displayed examples of what they can do in this line. It should be remembered that one only of each of these old portraits is in existence; when a duplicate was wanted it meant another sitting.-Prof. Photog. Little Journeys Among Cleveland Photographers An Outsider's Point of View-Series II BY RUSSELL THOMPSON ERSONALITY" is a view-point word which comes near covering everything in the field of portrait photography. Character representation is the objective, -not merely "a good picture." Without its own individuality the print is nothing. For the product must identify, distinguish and so challenge recognition that the subject's friend at once will say, "That is he." Stated, these things are pronounced obvious matter of course. Yet the practical achievement is a high point of professional success, not common, and meditation over import of personality as a guiding word more and more opens up new vistas of ways to the end. Frank Bill has found that true. "To get a likeness" is his own way of stating the technical aim which has dominated the development of his work through not only the twenty-one years that his location in the Permanent Building has become better and better known but the whole forty years of motto application since, as a young crayon artist striving to portray personality by graphic delineation, he turned for the same result to the aid of the lens. The methods he has employed to realize the stated ideal show not only how much of rich meaning he crowds into the little phrase but also recognition that the likeness sought is of the essence which is something really psychological, not merely physical. Or, if you prefer so to say it, he aims to picture a soul, not merely the outlines of corporeal features. Therefore his methods in dealing with a patron have in view, not pose, but state of mind. In seeking "likeness" he seeks exhibition by the subject himself of mood, or personality action or nature expression which will be recognized as the normal, usual and characteristic of which an ac quaintance may say, "that's just like him." Looking at portrait photography so, it becomes something to be considered not as static, but as active. A factor that may be called social looms big in technical importance, that is, there is occasion for the brief and pertinent play of animated but easy, composed and natural sociability. Method or practice, then, as contemplated by the ideal exponent here sketched, involves alert, quick catching of the nature display which impresses the artist as happily characteristic. Something like system and rule perhaps may grow up with long practice, but at this crucial point of his work is there superlative illustration of the saying that the artist is born rather than made. There must be spontaneous intuitive, delicately adaptable sensing of situation and instinctive judgment fitting truthfully to every changing occasion, circumstance and case. When a photographer adopts standards along these lines, he seeks to avoid all suggestion of "pose." Their application to the sittings of actors has been found peculiarly gratifying. Patrons from the profession most associated with the idea of pose always have been greatly pleased with the result. Picture outlines, balance of elements and adjustment of surroundings all gain a spe cial import in technique when the operator bears in mind that his portraiture is really character portrayal. And when, in this view of his work he always considers his subject's state of mind, his treatment of environment details, ensemble and general tone always is adjusted to the effect he would produce on the mood of his patron. Here the photographer's own personality counts tellingly. It may be said that not a little part of Frank Bill's professional success rests on the fact that the mere encounter with a man of his bearing or presence at once begins the desired process of putting the subject at home and at cheerful normal ease. Some Suggestions on Photographs of Tile ARTIFICIAL LIGHT (Continued) per Commercial photographers have fected various methods of artificial lighting. In one of them an electric searchlight with reflector on the order of automobile headlights is employed. The rays of light are directed over either the entire subject or dark portions during exposure. Whole rooms can thus be photographed with excellent results, without the aid of any other source of light. In fact, some of the best pictures of interiors have been produced in this way and show astonishing definition of detail. Store windows and arcades can be photographed at night in this manner. But it is also used and recommended in combination with daylight for lightening up dark portions and deep shadows. The time of exposure must then be lengthened by "stopping down" the diaphragm opening. Such apparatus must, naturally, be manipulated by a man who is familiar with its effect. Good results can be expected only where the light is moved over the subject with uniformity and in various directionsup and down, sideways and diagonallyotherwise the finished picture will show streaks and spots. When the subject is small-as a fireplace, for instance-dark sections or corners may also be lightened up by hanging or holding sheets of paper or cloth facing such portions. Any good photographer knows all these tricks, and they are mentioned here solely to show that a number of means and ways are available to overcome obstacles, and that lack of adequate or suitable light is no reason for giving up as hopeless the photographing of an otherwise desirable tile subject. REFLECTIONS AND HIGHLIGHTS Anything as shining and glistening as glazed tile should convey to the mind this desirable mirror-like smoothness, polish and brilliancy in its photographic reproductions. It cannot appear so, however, without reflections. Concrete and stone walls have no highlights and reflections, and the mind thereby recognizes their texture and identi fies them. In photographs of tile work we must have highlights and reflections or lose the key to their identification. These practical considerations are expressed for the benefit of those who anxiously strive to eliminate every trace of solar tinsel and find no rest till the last speck of warmth and joy and play of light is eradicatedwith the result that tile finally looks as dead and barren as a cellar floor. True, reflections can destroy or mar pleasing effects and can be overdone like any good thing, but as a rule such conditions can be remedied by correcting the disturbing light effect, or faulty lighting. By faulty lighting we have reference to instances where the rays of light do not strike the tile at a proper angle; this defect can be remedied by one or a combination of "tricks of the trade." (See "Light"). Without question, some way can always be found that retains a vital amount of light for exposure and the highlights on the tile, but at the same time eliminates extensive and disturbing reflections. HALATION Halation is a common fault of pictures that include windows, burning lights, etc., and can seriously mar a picture. An excess of light streaming into a room through windows or radiated by powerful electric lights on the tile-especially white tile— often results in a glare and myriad of tiny reflections in different directions, and either much of the detail is obilterated or adjacent areas are reproduced much lighter than the rest. This defect can be avoided by the use of special plates, so-called nonhalation plates. The photographer should use them for all his work. Films are free from this shortcoming. Copyright 1917, by The Associated Tile Manufacturers (To be continued) 'TIS HERE-MAYBE! Why on earth Ry. Phillips should be so inordinately proud of being a grand-dad is hard to tell. Usually Ry. likes to be considered and he really is-"one of the boys" so this recent assumption of the privileges of age (I nearly wrote "old" age, but suddenly remembered that I am a grand-dad, too) can only be attributed to the fact that he was getting jealous of some of us other chaps who can already look down to the third generation and still have nice folks say "why really you don't look within years of your age." The Kansas Photographers' Club met March 11 and 12, at P. A. Miller's Studio in Arkansas City, Kans. L. S. Kucker of Springfield, Mo., L. C. Hodge of Topeka, W. R. Murphy of Newton, Fred Reed of Wichita, B. G. Grondal of Lindsborg, F. A. Loomis of Emporia, R. E. Gibson of Iola, Hugh Scott of Independence, H. S. Stevenson of Leavenworth and P. A. Miller of Arkansas City were in attendance. A group picture is shown on this page. The next meeting will be at Lindsborg in Grondal's Studio, Grondal being chosen for the next presiding officer. Bauer and Coffey have moved from a basement studio to the top floor of an office building. Quite a jump. As Mr. Coffey puts it himself: "It is impossible to make over an OLD HOTEL to compare favorably with the modern appearance, equipment and conveniences of a NEWLY BUILT ONE. "An old restaurant will never appeal as will a cafe or cafeteria with new, shiny and inviting apparatus, fixtures and equipment. "No more is an old dingy antique STUDIO any temptation to the dollars in a person's pocket. "These were ideas that passed through the minds of Messrs. Bauer & Coffey of Kansas City, and have taken form in one of the finest new studios to be found in all the Southwest. For three years they have tried out the subway plan of studio, and, while they had a delightful place and their photographic results were wonderful considering the fact that they were made exclusively by artificial light, yet there was something lacking and this something was the effect of good old Sol. On the top floor of the Lillis Bldg., Eleventh and Walnut Streets, right up to the beautiful unsullied sky, out of the smoke, dust and dirt, and where the daylight is of a perfect, clear and intense quality, these people have built their new studio-a photograph studio that for beautiful decoration, convenience, spaciousness and modern up-to-the-minute equipment and furnishing is not surpassed by any in this country." The Camera Craftsmen of Iowa met in Ottumwa, Iowa, with Guy Reed of that city on March 18 and 19. D. E. Agler of Van Wert, Ohio, the Billy Sunday of photography, was the invited speaker, his subject being "Dollars and Sense." What Your Bond Purchase Will THE following figures give one a defi nite idea of what his or her loan to the Government by the purchase of Liberty Bonds will accomplish when used by the War Department: One $50 bond will buy trench knives for a rifle company, or 23 hand grenades, or 14 rifle grenades, or 37 cases of surgical instruments for enlisted men's belts, or 10 cases of surgical instruments for officers' belts. A $100 bond will clothe a soldier, or feed a soldier for eight months, or purchase 5 |