The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1900-05-25

after the average amateur photog-
rapher on his craze for what he digni-
fies with the title of experimenting.
He buys a camera to make pictures,
but before he has had it month one
would think his sole aim in life was TO
| become an expert Photographic chem
list. He exposes plates no longer to
have a record of something that inter
ested him, but that he may have a nee
essary adjunct in trying a new devel-
Oper. He makes prints to experiment
with a new brand Of paper or a new
| t0ning bath. He thinks, he talks, ne
/ dreams about his experiments and hon
estly believes that some day he is going
/ to hit uDOn a combination that VIII
automatically produce fine pictures. As
| a matter of fact, he is wandering in
perfect bog. and is doomed to stay
there until he dies phOtOgraphically or
until somebody lifts him out and seats
him or firm ground. Now, among my
readers there are certain to be thou
sands of this type, and I want to hand
out to them few old facts in order to
bring them to their Photographic
senses.
1 think there is more stupid nonsense
| talked about developers than anything
else. Thousands upon thousands claim
as a result of experiments that they
can work wonders By modifying the
developing solution, and talk wisely
! about saving this plate and that plate
by their skill and judgment. Rubbish
/ Their experiments are not worth the
price of the water used in making
| them. In experimental work the rule
is one variation at q time, all other fac
! tors being constant So, when a man
exposes a plate today on a snow scene
! and develops with one chemical, he
| introduces large number of variations
lighting, length of exposure, temper
/ allure of solutions and duration of de-
I VelODment. How can anY sane man
! draw definite conclusions from such a
mixture as this? OF recent years a few,
very few, men have devoted much
time and thought to this problem, and
! their conclusions are now in the hands
Of the public for its consideration. As q
matter Of fact, they find, given a Ger
tain exposure on a plate, that it is real
/ ly immaterial what particular Gevei-
| Oper is used, whether pyro, metal, by
drokinone, ortol or anything else, if the
negatives be all brought to the same
density. So much, then, for hoping to
imprCTe underexDOsures or OverexpOs-
Ures by the use of q certain developer.
They have also proved that once de-
velOpmeEt nas started, it is utterly i'm
possible TO modify the final result by
tinkering with the developer. So all
this talk of saving an overexpOsed
plate by the addition Of this, that or the
other thing, is pure nonsense, if devet-
opment has started -Sefore the cOndi-
ton of the exposure is discovered. They
do, however, say that modification IS
possible to a limited exEnt if the error
Of exposure is known before develop
ment has been begun. But it requires
a man TO be a scientific expert to know
exactly what to do TO get the effect he
desires IN case Of overeXposure: and,
expert or not, he cannot make any i'm
prOVement in .. case of undereXpOsure.
With the average man the only modifi-
cation possible is in the duration of de-
velopment, the principle being that pro-
longed immersion in the solution tends
to give cOntraSty negatives, While fiat
negatives are got by curtailing the time
in the bath. He was a shrew observer
who, many long years ago, remarked
that the character Of a negative was
determined the moment the shutter
was closed. I think have said enough
to demonstrate that his fooling around
with developers is n very Improbable
occupation for any thinking individual
The formula recommended by the
plate-maker is quite good enough for
me, for / know he has in his employ
| highly trained chemists, and that they
I have made hundreds of systematic ex-
periments before recommending the
particular combination that comes with
the plates. On the other hand, I would
be just as content to take any of the
ready-made solutions supplied in the
stores if 1 were certain they were COM
pounded of pure chemicals.
The technical side of photography is
becoming every day more and more an
exact science. and print after print is
brought under the domain of law. In
my early Photographic days 1 was as
sured 1 had to feel the correct eX-
posture and that if ] went a little
wrong / could compensate in develop
ment. I never yet in alt my photo
graphic life felt the correct exposure
or any other kind of exposure. but
| soon found myself calculating it from
my past experience. Exposure is as
much a matter Of natural law as are
the combining principles of chemicals
and there IS now no excuse for hap
hazard when making a picture. / need
not say one word about my own tables
which are probably we'll known to
many Of my readers.
might talk about experiments in
tOning baths and with brands of pa
per as freely as I have talked about
developing, but ] shall content myself
with suggesting one particular line. It
/ is this-haYe every bath from the first
washing water TO the last at exactly
the same temperature-say 65 de