THE MANIPULATION OF THE CAMERA IN THE FIELD.
that the reader has carefully read the preceding chapters, and acted upon the advice therein given, he will probably be eager to put his apparatus to a practical test by taking his first photograph. Let him, therefore, pack up his apparatus, and, accompanied by the writer, set out upon his first photographic expedition.
In getting his apparatus together he must be careful to include all the different articles that he will require. Even the memory of the experienced photographer sometimes fails in this respect, and nothing would be more annoying to the tyro than to find after a long and fatiguing walk, when he arrives at his destination, that he has left either his lens, or camera screw, or some other important piece of apparatus behind. To avoid mishaps of this nature, it will be a good plan to write out a list of the following articles, which will always be required, on a stout card, and glue it to the inside of the cover of the camera case. If the articles are then, one by one, packed in the order of the list it will be practically impossible to leave anything behind. We shall require to pack up and take the following articles:— The camera.
The lens.
The double dark slides, charged with plates.
The tripod head.
The tripod legs.
The focussing cloth.
The camera screw.
A note-book in which to record our exposures.
I have not, up to the present, said very much about that most important subject—the sensitive plate ; but it now becomes necessary to devote a few words to it. The manufacture of gelatine dry-plates is at the present time a most important industry, and though (presumably by the process which is known as " the survival of the fittest ") the number of actual manufacturers is considerably less than it was a few years ago, the plates which are noW issued to the public are, almost without exception, of very high quality. Therefore it matters very little what particular make of plate the tyro selects. Every photographer has a partiality for a particular make of plate, and the reader will probably find, if he were to put the question to four different photo graphers, " Whose plates are the best ?" that he will get as many different opinions. Personally, I have a partiality for Edwards' Isochromatic plates; but as their manipulation involves the exercise of more care than the beginner would be likely to bestow, he had better make his first exposures upon some ordinary plate of good quality, such, for instance, as the " Castle."
Assuming, therefore, that a box of plates has been pro cured, we take them, with the dark slides, into the dark room, and having carefully closed the door, and put the non actinic screen in position, we may proceed to charge our slides. To do so we unfasten the brass clips which hold the two portions of the slide together, and carefully dust tho interior with the broad camel-hair brush, laying the opened slide flat upon the table. We then open the box of plates, undo one of the brown paper packets in which they are packed, and, taking the topmost plate, we carefully dust its surface, and proceed to lay it, face downwards, in the dark slide. We do the same with the next plate, and after buttoning down the blackened tin division, we close the slide by folding its two sides together, and refastening the brass clips. Having filled the remaining two slides in a similar manner, we carefully re-pack the unused plates, taking special care to avoid scratching the films, or touch ing them with the fingers, which would probably cause un sightly marks in the negatives. The dark-room door may then be opened, and we are literally ready for work. The novice will possibly be in doubt at first as to which is the film side of the plate ; therefore it may be well to state that the film or coated side of the plate is always less glossy than the uncoated side.
Having packed our traps, we may set out in quest of our first picture. I do not, at this stage, intend to offer any advice on the subject of art, believing that to do so would only tend to bewilder the student, and distract his attention from the purely technical details of the subject, which, in my opinion, he should first thoroughly master. Our only aim, therefore, at present will be to make several experimental exposures on suitable subjects with a view to gaining a little practical experience in the proper use of the apparatus, and also in the development of the nega tive.