PORTRAITURE.
writing for amateurs upon the subject of portraiture I arn strongly inclined to repeat the oft-quoted advice given by Punch, to those about to marry, and say " Don't," only that I feel it will havo but little influence upon the majority of my readers. The first thing the possessor of a, lens and camera sets his mad ambition upon is the taking of portraits, notwithstanding that to be a successful portraitist dema,nds perha,ps more skill and artistic ability than any other department of photography. Not only is this so, but the practical and technical difficulties in the way of tho ordinary amatour are very great ; for instance, in order to secure good results it is almost indispensable that the photo graphs should be taken in a properly constructed studio, a condition beyond the reach of most amateurs. Of course, good work, nay, work of the highest class, may be produced without the aid of a studio ; but to do so dema,nds the posses sion of no inconsiderable skill and knowledge upon the part of the operator.
We are all acquainted with the atrocious monstrosities, yclept " portraits," of the amateur photog,rapher, and it is with a view of preventing our friends from producing, through ignorance of the principles, similar unsatisfactory results, that this chapter has been written, though, for the reason above stated, it will be but seldom that results com parable with professional work can be produced.
The first and most important point to be considered is the lighting of the sitter, and we shall probably have to choose between taking the photograph out of doors, or in an ordinary room.
Generally speaking, if a little trouble be taken, better results, from an artistic point of view, will be obtained in doors than out. The defects of each system, however, will be of an entirely different character. In working out of doors the difficulty is to avoid flatness, and want of relief, owing to the evenness of the lighting. On the other hand, portraits taken indoors very frequently show an undue amount of contrast, the lights being hard and the shadows dense. I will first deal with outdoor work, though the
advice which I shall offer upon posing, and the arrangement of the sitter, will apply equally to either mode of working. A portrait should never be taken in direct sunlight ; either a dull day should be chosen, or the sitter should be placed in the shade. In order to avoid heavy shadows under the eyes, nose, and under-lip, which tend to destroy likeness, and apparently age the sitter, a piece of thin muslin should be suspended over the chair in which he or she is placed, in order to diffuse the light. It would be well, too, if the light appear to fall evenly on both sides of the sitter, either to place the chair about three feet from a high wall or put an opaque screen at about the same distance on one side, so that one side of the face may be thrown partly in shadow, and the necessary relief secured. If circum stances are favourable, a natural background, such as a-n ivy-clad wall, may be employed, though in most cases an artificial one will be more suitable. A plain grey or neutral-tinted graduated background, mounted like a map on a roller, may be purchased for a few shillings, and if the reader intends to devote his attention seriously to portrait work he should make the outlay. Backgrounds with terraces, pillars, festoons of flowers, and other eccentricities of the artist, should be carefully avoided, and a perfectly plain one selected. A rapid rectilinear lens should be used, and its focus should be at least one and a half times the length of the base line of the plate, for if one of shorter focus be employed, distortion may result. In order to avoid the chance of movement the exposure should be as brief as possible, therefore a smaller stop than f/S or fill need not be used. For the same reason a moderately quick plate should be chosen, and its development may be effected with the normal developer given in the chapter dealing with the development of the plate.