The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1889-02-04
DECLINE OF PHOTOGRAPHY.
Napoleon Sarony Dep ores the Intro
duction of tho Dry Plate Process.

Napoleon Sarony Dep ores the Intro
duction of the Dry Plate Process.
Copyright 1882
| New YORK, Feb. Photography TO-
day does not give as good results as it gave
eighteen year, ago, said Otto Sarony when
questioned as to the progress of his art.
"Do we owe nothing then to instantan-
eous photography"
Don't msunderstAnd me. am not cry
ing down the results Of inventions that
have enabled us to do all sorts of things by
photography that the early photographers
| did not even dream Of 1t is uudeniable,
| however, that as q medium of reproducing
artistic portraits, photography to-day Is
| not what it once was, and this s due in
| part to some of the very inventions that are
| regarded as the most important in the art.
| The dry plate for example, enables us to
| take a negative In from half second to
two seconds. The old wet plate often re-
| quired fifteen seconds or logger, but it gave
III re roundnesS TO the pi ture and made a
| better portrait. II we should ask Gust m
erS TO sit fifteen seconds now, we should
soon lose our trade. Modern haste has
| sacrificed something that We obtained with
ease twenty years ago.
instantaneous photography would en-
able you still further to hasten the pro-
cess $, Woulu IL give less satisfactory re-
suits than you now obtainf
"The time occupied in taking negative
by instantaneous photography is almost
inappreciable, say one-te tn of second,
but hat process is not used in Photographic
studios To get a satisfactory portrait I'M
| der a skylight we cut off some of the light
and thus tone down effects The instanta-
neous process needs strong light, such as
| you g. b ain the open air.
NHpTe Coutipuad Mr. GarOpv
| from his pocket n small negative ''is an in
| teresting little thing tnat illustrates what
am Sayi <. This is a little interior that |
| took at me Oh dark, rainy afternoon,
| by exploding powdered magnesium.
| could have taken 1t quite as well at mid
| night. You see that the furniture is very
| distinct, evoa that miniature of a
! cherub and the photographs on the mautel
| are perfectly produced. The by is a little
| dim tecause he ran a ay when the explo-
| sion came. Yes, 1t is an actual fact that he
was scared off by the very light that was to
| take his picture. He was notquick enough.
| however, as you see, and there h. is. The
| process probably occupied one-te lth Of a
second. II is done by blowing powdered
magnesium across an alcoholic flame. The
! flash is brief but intense. 1t could not b.
satisfactorily used however, in producing
| portraits, for the rea on that the D otog-
raphist would have opportunity to
| ose his subject aud study in the camera
| effects Of light and shade.
instantaneous photography has greatly
| aidet the amateur, and the result has teen
TO drive professio al photographi,ts out Of
the open air b siness. II does not pay a
photographer to devote himself 10 outdoor
work. There are too many amateurs In
| competition. | hink it is not generally
known, by the way, that many artists in
this country and in Europe, are amateur
nh faf MI hat sl,.xy -..t,.
IN aid Of their own. | believe that the mar
velous minutenes5 OF Mels'olnier's work is
due to the fact that he paints a great deal
from photog anhs. He has been an ANA
tour Photographic since the days of the
Ambrotype, and have no reason to believe
that he has changed his method.
81 am told that Jerome also uses pho
Biography in his work, n I'd it is easy to be-
lieve, when one recalls the character Of his
pictures. II seems 10 me a perfectly legiti-
mate art The artist just makes his sketch
from nature and then relieves his model
from laborious posing by working from
photographs in the matter OF detail. One
thing that has been done by portrait paint
ers is not quite 20 defensibe. Last yea a
foreign portrait painter with great repu-
ia ION C me over here and painted many
portraits Of wealthy persons at great . ice,
In one Instance he painted the port ait Of a
rich woman aud il il All absolute fact that
he photographed her on canvass and painted
over the photograph. II was regarded as
"speaking likeness and the artist was paid
$1,000 or 81, 900. Now il Is not many years
since that sort Of thing WAS done by photog-
graphists in this untry, but the ar,ists
made such an outcry that 1t was stopped.
ut is an a using thing to see the at
tempts at posing made by portrait ainters
who bring their sitJers to US for photo
graphs. The artist believes that he can get
sFsenf l.rs.
himself and is surprised 10 find that the
negative shows an utterly different result
from VIII / no had expected. Trained
pbotographists understand the art Of posing
and persons obtain tho most satisfactory
portraits by giving themselves into the
hands Of the photograpEist We have
found Mr.. Cleveland "A patient and trActa-
bic sitter. Hs does not attempt 10 instruct
the operator and the result Is a good photo
graph. The same ] true of Mr.. Gould, Mr.
Depew and Cornelius Vanderbilt. We
have occasionally Gaken Indian chiefs, but
Lhve never been able 10 pose them. They
were suspicious Of the cam 'ra aud always
insisted upon looking stra ght at the istl u
me Z. Nothing would induce then % tu II
the gazs aside. The result was that they
were always takon with full face. We
found the Sianess emba sy unma ageable.
They were Curiously aristocra ic IN their
notions and bearing They never unbent
for an Instant, and the result in each case
was an extremely stiff photograph. Full
bloodel negroes do not Photograph we'll
because the shining quality Of taeir skin
gives a glaring white where the light strikes,
aud this contrasts in n rather startling man
ner wi h tho extreme blackness OF the shad-
owsn
"Would not photographing In colors aid
you in makag race distinctionsp
"ihers - 10 such thing as ph0tographing
In corlorS, and / see 10 pr spect OF its Der
fectiol. What Is now called OtogrHpuing
is merely an eff ct Of lltuoIraphH No, t .
future improvements in Photography are |
likely 20 result from the study n posing.
aud the management OF Light aud shade.
j ISL now general excellence aid novelty in
style are the photographers aims"
EDWARD n. VALLANDiGHAM
Settl ers for q ort Payne.