ENLARGING BY DAYLIGHT.
amateur who contents himself with working a small sized plate will probably be anxious to learn how to make enlargements from his small negatives, and as the process is one which presents little difficulty, I propose to devote a chapter to its consideration. Enlargements may be effected either by day or artificial light, but as the latter method in volves the use of apparatus of a rather costly nature when half-plate or larger negatives are to be enlarged from, I intend to confine my attention to what is known as the " daylight method." The procedure is very simple, and consists in so placing the negative that the whole extent of its surface shall be evenly illuminated, as at A in fig. 24. An ordinary lens is suitably supported at B, by means of which an enlarged image of the negative is projected upon the screen C. The size of the enlargement will depend upon the distance at which the lens is placed from the negative to be enlarged ; the nearer the former be placed to the latter, the greater will be the amplification.
Very little in the way of additional apparatus will be required, and as probably very few of my readers will care to go to the expense of purchasing a properly constructed enlarging apparatus, I will describe briefly how the neces sary operations may be carried out in an ordinary room. An apartment at the top of the house should be chosen, and if the window faces north so much the better, as the sun's rays will not then interrupt work by casting shadows upon the negative and causing uneven lighting. The first thing to be done is to block out all light except that which passes through the negative, and the best way of effecting this is to make a frame the exact size of the window, which should then have a piece of calico tacked over it, which in turn should be pasted over with thick carpet paper. This when dry will be quite light-proof and as tight as a drum. The frame can be fitted up to the window or taken down at a moment's notice, so that this arrangement may be used in any bedroom or apartment in the upper part of the house, without causing any serious disturbance of existing arrange ments. An opening about 9 in. square should now be cut
at CCCC (fig. 25), into which a light carrier D, with a rebate to take half-plate negatives, is to be fitted. This carrier may be easily secured to the brown-paper frame by gluing it to the opening with strips of stout paper. Two small brass clips at EE will hold the negative in position. We have thus provided for condition number one, for when we have placed the frame and negative in position we shall have so arranged matters that the light is excluded from the room at the same time that the negative is evenly and brightly illuminated. A firm table is placed underneath and close up to the window. A suitable support must now be devised for the lens ; at the same time provision must be made for the exclusion of light between it and the negative. For this purpose the camera in ordinary use may bo utilised. The lens having been screwed on, and the reversing back removed, the camera is placed on a box or other suitable support, in the position shown at A in fig. 26, close up against the negative. The only thing that remains to be done is to place a drawing-board, which has previously been covered with white paper, in a vertical position on the table at B. Such an arrangement, al though extremely simple and inexpen sive, will enable the amateur worker to produce bromide en largements of the highest excellence ; indeed, some of the finest work of this class that I have ever seen has been produced under precisely similar conditions to those described. The most important point demanding attention is to see that all the separate parts of the arrangement are strictly parallel with each other; the camera must be close up to and square with the negative, and the drawing-board, upon which the enlarged image is received, must also be accurately parallel with the negative, as any disarrangement of the relative parts would cause a want of definition in the enlargement.