Wichita eagle., 1888-07-04
AN OLD PHOTOGRAPHER.
VETERAN HocARcus WRITES ABOUT
SECRETS OF THE TRADE.

SECRETS OF THE TRADE.
WHY the Amateurs Are Doing So Well
Resulto Of Careleasness-The PhotoE-
r.pher.s Patrons-Good Adyice-Pxoduc-
ton of Colon
It required work. money and time. and
great quantities Of it. to bring photog
raphy up to its present standard; It re-
ouired the combined intellect Of the best
chemists and the best manipulators: 1t
required the finest mechanism to construct
the necessary apparatus. and it required
great care. taste, skill. judgment and ex-
perience to make good picture
One man will excel in lighting and pos
ing. and perhaps Is not successful with
the chemical part. another is good with
tho chemicals. but cannot pose or light
tho sitter, another is perfect with the
mechanical part. and cannot pose to sat
isfaction or use the chemicals to produce
good work; few men combine all The
sitter sees nor knows but very little of all
this He thinks II he looks his best and
gives up his most agreeable expression
that Is all there is to be done. II he
would 60 with me into the dark room and
see the care necessary to develop the neg
alive in the dark. to bring the whites SO
they will print black. and the blacks so
as to print white. and yet leave all the
half tones, he would soon be enlightened
that the smile of the sitter" was but
very small part Of the operation
Obi but, you say, see how well anna
teurs are doing Granted But. remem-
Der all the work of the operation has been
simplifed 1t was not so simple to men
who worked with hand and brain to
simplify it. Again. the amateur does not
have to prepare his chemical plate: it can
be bought already coated The careless
amateur win often expose the same plate
twice A gentleman usually successful.
exposed his plate on an organ grinder and
bis monkey The next day. forgetting
which plate had been exposed. he focused
On beautiful country seat. When the
plate was developed house, man and
monkey were somewhat mixed. the head
Of the organ grinder coming out of the
chimney and the monkey perched on the
SO carefully struck an attitude on the
piazza More plates spoiled by careless
working than by bad chemicals. has
A photographer sees many little his
pictures Soon after bashful young
lady calls, and showing one of his pictures
wishes hers taken the same size and
style We understand the situation
Before long the now b-ide is taken in her
bridal dress Next the baby IN it's long
dress, then in its short dress In the
course Of time in his first pants. then in
his uniform as be comes home from
boarding school, soon in that most i'm
portsnt period Of his young life when he
attempts his first mustache at college
And then he brings his best girl and so
on In regular progression from generation
to generation
Many sitters spoil what would other
wise have been good picture by trying
to put on an expression Try to look
like yourself" Is the best advice ! can
give One looks too cross; the next smiles
too much A miss from the country
brought her lover for picture, Now.
said she. Josh. kinder smile and kinder
not That was about as sensible advice
as ! ever heard given. after over forty
years in making faces Photography has
been called Justice without mercy. but
by retouching the sitter can be made to
look much younger than Is real Retouch
Ing the negative is done in a dark room.
with small opening in frame that Gov
ers the window The negative is placed
over this small opening and the work
man by the use of pencil and brush, re
moves all the roughness Of the skin, and
can remove all frowns and lines Thus
the prints are Deautifed and sometimes
improved But in many instances the re-
TOUGHER does too much. by taking out all
the character Of the face People wishing
true likeness never wish this done
Others do 1t depends very much on the
age of the sitter have had people 65
and 20 years old ask Can you take my
likeness without showing any wrinklesf''
The answer always is, Yes, but where
will the likeness beg" Many. many com
plants have had of the picture looking
too old, and but very few instances of its
being pronounced too young | remember
several instances where the parties ex
acted a promise to break the plate after
one impression had been printed They
wanted one for self. but none for friends
under any circumstances.
Efforts to get pictures Of young ladies
are often made. OF course. pictures of
actresses and public people are sold to any
purchaser. but the pictures Of private
parties honoring me with their patronage
/ always considered sacred All kinds OF
persuasions are made by young men to get
the pictures Of pretty young ladies'
VIII the colors ever be photographed.
Well. In these days of wonders we are
hardly surprised at anything Electricity.
had long been known and used for vari-
Gus purposes, but 1t remained for Morse
to send it whispering around the world
and photography has made rapid strides,
and some mind more fertile than others
may produce the colors, but ell attempts
by the best chemists Of the world have
not been successful thus far.
Several claims have been made, but on
investigating have bean found false
About the year 1850 man named Hill. Of
Ca.skiu. N T.. claimed to be able to
daguerreotype the colors- OF course. It
was great secret All the daguerreo-
typists immediately suffered from color
On the brain A meeting YVES called at
the gallery Of Mr. Lawrence to iaves-
tigate. It was decided to send q com
mittee to Catskiu with money TO buy the
wonder. but he could not show anything
satisfactory.
Photography has been disgraced by the
making of pictures unfit TO be shown
among intelligent and virtuous people
1t has been used to crafty the lowest
and mcst osprsved tastes. and although
there Is law against the production Of
such pictures, yet they are produced in
this CITY in places unknown to the public.
and have been made Ii galleries bearing
fair reputation AID BY men contemplate
enough to do anything for money.
Sometimes you hear people say. Tho