Moonlight effects can be had, by pointing the camera directly toward the sun, with exposure somewhat longer than usual. If such a view is taken across the wavy surface of a lake, and care fully developed, it will give a very striking imitation of a moon light scene.
Foliage taken during a light shower, produces a fine effect. Foliage generally shows to better advantage when taken in the spring before the leaves are fully developed, than later in the s ummer.
Waves and the surf on the sea and great lakes are best taken, when on bright days, the sun is concealed behind a cloud. In taking views of still water, the camera should not be turned towards those portions which reflect the sky, or the water will look like the sky, white and harsh. Still water looks best when it has, in the near background, trees or high hills. There may be occasions, however, when it is necessary, in order to get a particular view, to have in the foreground water, which does reflect the sky, in which case the exposure can be lessened by holding the slide a moment in front of the lower half of the len s opening. So, too, to shorten a sky exposure, the slide can be held in front of the upper part of lens.
A view containing sharp shadows, dark foliage, as well as much light in other portions, oi in other words, strong contrasts, should be given ample exposure. Long exposure tends to soften contrasts, to give harmony, and if carried too far, weakness. Short exposures, while apt to give some degree of hardness, will make more brilliant views, and give strength and character.
Winter views, in a bright light, with abundance of snow and sharp contrasts of light and deep shade, should usually be given long exposure, using a small stop.
If it is a bright day, with the sun obscured, which will have the effect of diminishing the contrast between light and shade, the exposure may be shortened.
In landscape work, after one has acquired some familiarity with development, the amateur should experiment freely. It would be well to take the same view on half a dozen plates, half of them slow, and half rapid, giving varying lengths of exposure and different stops, carefully noting the results.
For example, suppose you are using a lens of eight inches focus and a Carbutt B 16 plate. Take a favorite view, and make nine exposures on a quarter plate, at noon on a bright day, with stops and times as follows: inch stop (f64), 8, 12, 16 seconds, di (f32), 6, 8, 10 t‘ 4 " " (f16), 4, 6, 8, ic Each plate before placing in the holder, should have a number marked with a pencil in one corner, to identify it afterwards. These marks will show plainly after development. Make one print from each plate and mount them all on one large card, marking under each the kind of plate, time and stop. From
these, if the development has been successful, you can select one which will give you the standard stop and time, for such a sub ject in such a light, and from this in a short time, the correct exposure for any view will be judged instinctively. The proper exposure is the one most important point to be learned in pho tography, without which the highest excellence is impossible, and this can only be learned by careful, systematic experiment. After this everything is simple.
We advise a trial of orthochromatic plates in general landscape work. These should always be used when there are varied colors in the view, especially in autumn, when the leaves have changed to purple and red, and in photographing flowers. Colored screens are necessary to give value to different colors, directions for using which accompany the plates. The handiest way to use such screens, is to have them in the diaphragms. The thin discs of glass used for covering microscopic slides, which can be colored to the tint desired, can be attached with glue to the center of the diaphragm, which should have enough of the metal cut or milled out around the opening, to allow the glass to lie flush with the surface.
Whoever wishes to produce landscape prints of a high order of exaellence, will give them an artistic finish by adding clouds. It requires some patience to do this, but the result, if carefully and appropriately done, will amply repay all the trouble and extra time.
To do this well, a number of cloud negatives should be made on plates of different sizes, in the spring or early summer months. The horizon should be low, so as to take in as much of the clouds as possible, and the exposure short. The plates should be a little under-developed to print quickly. The exposures should be made at various times of the day, to secure a variety of negatives from which to make an appropriate selection to suit the different views in printing.
To use these, the landscape is printed as usual, the sky being masked by coating that part on the back of the plate with some opaque color, unless it is so intense as to print perfectly white. Remove the negative, and cover it with a sheet of thin, white paper, on which, when held to the light, the outline of the land scape can be traced with a pencil. With this as a guide, a mask of opaque can then be cut, which will cover as near as practicable the entire landscape. The cloud negative is then to be placed in the frame, with the print upon it, and while printing, the mask must cover the landscape, and be gently moved ta and fro to avoid a harsh line. After one or two trials there will be no diffi culty in this, and the picture will appear to be printed from a single negative.