FLOWERS AND FRUIT, PHOTOGRAPHY OF In this work success depends on the lighting, the arrangement of the subject, and the method of exposure. Flowers and fruit may be photo graphed indoors or out, in their natural sur roundings or otherwise ; but the best results are obtained by arranging them indoors and in a suitable light. A convenient method of arranging the lighting is shown at A and B. On a table near a window on the shady side of the house the flowers (or fruit) are arranged, the background being a sheet of brown or other coloured paper, according to the tint required in the photograph. It is advisable to have papers of several different colours at hand, and to bear in mind their different photographic values. The light should come in at the window and be fairly strong, as then, by means of tissue paper over the lower half of the window and a white cardboard reflector on the shady slue of the subject, the rignL may be controlled to a nicety. The positions of the camera, flowers, back ground, etc., are all subject to experiment in obtaining various effects. It is not always advisable to show the vase which contains the flowers or the means of supporting the fruit. In the case of a few blooms, they may be stood in a narrow-necked bottle in order to keep them upright, and the stalks must be long if the neck of the bottle is not to be included in the picture. Other supports include a bowl of wet sand ; bent strips of sheet lead ; and a large potato, the stalks in all these cases being long. For the purpose of picturing the vase as well as the flowers or fruit lying upon the table, there should be no dividing line between table and background, for which pur pose the paper forming the background should be brought in a gentle curve underneath the vase, etc. Even if a line would enhance the pictorial value of the picture, it should not be abrupt. The table-cloth must not be of a pro nounced pattern, or of a colour contrasting too strongly with the background.
Cameras are sometimes used vertically for photographing flowers that are lying, for example, on the floor. Similar results may generally be obtained with an ordinary camera used in the usual way, by arranging the vertical back ground to take the fruit or floral sprays ; this may be done by using stout, stiff cardboard covered with coloured paper as the background and pushing pins through from the back, their points serving as rests and being covered by the objects photographed, although if they are not hidden they will be scarcely noticeable.
Cut flowers may be preserved for photographic purposes by sprinkling them with fresh water, and while wet placing in a vase containing the following solution : Water 4 oz., curd soap 2 drms., common salt 8 grs. The soap is cut into shreds and dissolved in the water, adding a small pinch of borax and the salt. If the flowers are to be kept for several days their stalks should be rinsed under the tap daily for a minute or so, the petals sprinkled, and the flowers put back into the vase.
The lens stop plays an important part in the pictorial rendering of flowers. f/s6 gives general sharpness, but a smaller one may in some cases be necessary. Exposure should not be unduly prolonged, as some flowers— poppies, for example—are apt to droop during a long exposure and show signs of movement upon the plate. Isochromatic plates are the best for most flowers, but ordinary plates may be used for some with good results, every thing depending upon the colour of the flowers. For reds, blues, yellows, and various shades of green an isochromatic plate is indispensable to give the proper values of the colours. Much may be done on ordinary plates by giving a suitable exposure—that is, one sufficiently long to enable the colours of little actinic value to register themselves on the plate. E. Seymour has used a yellow screen and isochromatic plate for only about so per cent, of his exposures, as in his opinion the use of a screen robs the picture of half-tone and gives an effect unsatisfactory to the observer of nature. Opinions differ, however, but there can be no doubt that to give the plate a full exposure for the deepest shadows and to develop until the highest light is of the correct density, is a thoroughly reliable method of working. In ordinary photography the goal of development is detail in the shadows, but if this is applied in flower photography, the high lights may become blocked up and too dense. Detail in the highest lights is the secret of success ful flower and fruit studies ; there will always be detail in the shadows if the exposure has been sufficient. The plate should on no account be over-developed, and the following pyro-soda developer is specially recommended :— A. Potassium metabi sulphite . . 15 grs. 1.5 g.
Pyro . . . 13o „ Water . . . 2o oz. I,000 ccs.
B. Sodium sulphite . 21- oz. 125 g.
Sodium carbonate 2 „ 100 „ Water . . 20 ,, ccs.
For normal exposures take 3 parts of A and r part of B. For under-exposure, add more of B and dilute with water.