The Houma courier. (Houma, La.) 1878-1939, 1897-08-14
PAoToeRAPHERs ANp dust.
How 1t ARects Their Plates, and VIVA
They DO to Escape 1t.

- ~ AAEAE EAANGBy ana Wh04 /
They DO to Escape 1t.
Among the many evils which are at
tributed to the a~ll-pervading, never-to-
be-escaped city dust, there is n which
constitutes a grievance peculiar to
photographers alone. 1t is the injury
which the flying particles, sitting into
the room through every possible aper-
ture, cause to the delicate films and
sensitive plates. All films are made
Of preparations of gelatine, and large
proportion of the glass plates now used
are also coated with this substance,
which, because of its soft, sticky ma
ture, is particularly likely to attract
every atom Of dust in the surround
Ing air. The particles, however small,
leave their Impress in the form of
Opaque spots upon the sensitive surface
and seriously mar its perfection. To
remove the damage a great amount of
r~etouching is necessary, which is not
only laborious and tiresome, but which
cannot always be satisfactorily accom-
plished if the dust is very thick. What
Is known as the carbon process in
photography is probably more easily
injured by dust than any other, be-
cause an extremely delicate film Of
gelatine is used. Chiefly on account of
this drawback the carbon process is
seldom employed in this country, al
though photographs are made which
resemble the real carbon pictures so
closely in color that they are called
"carbontypes." In England, where the
carbon process is more common, it has
become customary for London photog-
raphers to send their developing work
Dut Of town to be done, in order to es-
cape the dust and smoke of the city,
but this practice has not gained much
ground here.
The photographers in this city, as a
rule, perform all their operations In
the same building in which their stu
dos are situated, and, for the sake of
thus keeping the developing process at
home, they are obliged to be at a great
deal of trouble in protecting it. Some
of the methods employed for this pur-
pose were mentioned to a reporter the
other day by a well-known broadway
artist.
"In the first place. he said, 1--WE
not only keep our dark room itself
but the whole top floor in which it is
situated spotlessly clean. The floors
are all oiled until there is not a crack
In their surface to harbor dust, and
they are thoroughly washed every
morning before we begin our days
work. All the tables, trays and every
thing we use are kept equally clean.
The windows, instead of being in the
side walls, where the wind would strike
them and bear the dust in with it, are
LIN the roof, and very little dust can
come in that way. All cracks in the
doors or around the window frames are
stopped up. and we keep the dark room
tightly closed as much of the time as
possible. With these precautions we
manage to get along pretty well, but
a certain quantity of dust seems bound
to creep in and it causes us a good many
hours of extra work in retouching."
Practically the same struggle against
dust is the experience Of every photog,
rapher in the city. One remedy, which
has been tried occasionally with sue
cess, consists in filing the room ii
which the plates are kept with steam
for a few moments each morning. This
usually sufices to lay the dust for The
entire day-N. Y. Tribune.