INDOOR PHOTOGRAPHY Apart from actual studio work, a good deal of photography can be done indoors in almost every house, and that without any elaborate or unusual addition to the ordinary outdoor apparatus. Flashlight work comes under a special category. A good deal can also be done nowadays with the ordinary domestic means of artificial illumina tion. But still more can be done by daylight. Flowers, fruit, and all kinds of still-life subjects can be most effectively and conveniently dealt with indoors, and portrait and figure studies provide a wide and varied field of operations. Except in special cases, the ordinary window lighting requires some modification before it is suitable. It is generally necessary not only to use blinds to shut out part of the light and con trol the direction of what is admitted, but to have a diffuser to soften it and make it even. This may be white muslin or buttercloth, which it is generally convenient to stretch on a light wooden frame. It is also necessary to have a
second screen of more opaque fabric to act as a reflector on the shadow side. Considerations of space often compel the use of lenses of some what short focus, but every effort should be made to avoid this, especially in the case of work from the figure. Lenses of large aperture are also an advantage, as they not only facilitate focusing in what is frequently a subdued light, but permit of shorter exposures. Suitable back grounds must also be considered. Sometimes the actual surroundings of the room are appro priate, but one or two plain backgrounds, both light and dark in tone, are almost essential. For still-life studies sheets of paper or cardboard of various colours are useful as backgrounds, and as the lighting is generally from the side it is easy to avoid cast shadows on them.