PICTORIAL PHOTOGRAPHY.
Pictorial photography may be broadly divided into two classes ; land scapes and figure studies. Either line is a study of itself, yet so much depends upon the personality of the operator that we can only indicate a few of the qualities, some at least of which are necessary in every real pi6lure, whether photograph or painting. First of all there must be a motif, a reason for making the pielure. This motif may be one of the fol lowing :—to preserve a record of some interesting place or occasion, to piaure the beauty of some bit of landscape under certain conditions, to tell a story by means of a piCture, or to produce a which shall appeal to the observer by its beauty of line or tone. A successful piaure may corn bine more than one of these qualities, but one is always dominant and there should never be any question as to the principal motif which caused its being.
A picture which may be made as a record of some place interesting t( the photographer will be greatly enhanced if it gives evidence of good corn position and the correct rendering of beautiful tones. Such a result has been attained in " Rusthall Quarry " by Mr. Robinson, Note the beauty of composition both in the lines and the masses of light and shade. This print is what may be termed a " record of fact ", but it is nevertheless a beautiful picture, one which would appeal to the observer for its own sake.
Much has been written about the study of the rules of composition but we would impress upon the reader that composi tion is not an exact science to be learned like the multiplication table.
A few of the elementary rules of composition which are principally in the form of " don'ts " will certainly help the novice but the study of beautiful pictures will be of far greater assistance to the ambitious beginner.
Avoid dividing the pic ture space (viz. all within the boundary lines of the composition) into equal parts by straight lines. If your subject is such that the horizon line is irregular as in " Wind Swept " much is gained. This is a picture which interests one largely because of the varying gradations, both in the sky and foreground. Take note of the beautiful range of tone caused by the play of light upon the sand in the foreground. The
sky is not one large expanse of white paper, but of delicate grey tones. Such a sky gives the real effect of luminosity.
The introduction of animal life into the composition often gives us a story telling picture. This is well shown in " The Tramp of Many Feet " where the artist has not lost sight of the value of beauty in the com position and the rendering of atmosphere. Here we have an effective example of contrasting lines ; the strong vertical lines of the tree trunks in the left hand side of the picture echoed by the tree trunks in the distance upon the right are beautifully con trasted with the curving mass of sheep straggling up the hillside. And the sense of aerial perspective given by the haze over the roadway through which we just see the shepherd and the hill away beyond is superb.
Landscape pialures containing figures are of two kinds ; those in which the landscape is of greatest importance with the figures as accessories and those where the landscape furnishes the setting to a figure, a group of figures. "Le Peintre " by M. M. Lailler is an excellent example of the latter class. The very positions of the two men at the left of the painter, so busy at his canvas, denote absorbing interest. The single figure of the boy, who apparently would like to get a closer view of the canvas, did he but dare, standing out so prominently against the shimmer of the water, serves to balance the piaure. Place your finger over the figure of the boy and you will at once see how one sided the composition would be without him. This piaure and " A little Lunch ", show not only what can be accomplished with the Kodak, but are pielures which could hardly be made with anything but a hand camera. Such pielures are sometimes said to be merely acci dental, but in the truest sense this is not so. They may be accidental in their grouping and the combination of tone and atmosphere, but it was not accidental that the Kodaker grasped the opportunity nor that he was able to make negatives and prints giving such evidence of artistic feeling.