The daily morning journal and courier., 1903-05-09
PHOrOGRAPHING WILD AMI
 MAILS.

As the hunter selects his guns and ammunition with respect to the partic- ular kind of game he intends to shoot' so should the nature photographer choose his outfit It is true that one well-chosen instrument can be made 10 do a great variety of work. There are many kinds of cameras which are suitable for one branch of nature pho- tography, but it is easy to get camera which may be quite suitable for one branch of nature photography, yet per- fectly useless for some other branch. For use in animal photography. one usually needs long-focus instrument of some kind, as it is only in rare cases that it is possible to get very near to the subject to be photographed; but here, again, some kinds of long-focus cameras are much better than others for this work. Wild animals are, as rule, very shy, and will not wait for you to get ready; therefore it is neces- sary to have an instrument which may be operated with as little preparation as a. gun. There are at least two such cameras on the mariSet-the Reflex and the Graf1ex. These cameras are made in such way that the operator may set the shutter and draw the slide of the plate-holder before leaving home If he chooses, and be ready to make the eX- posture at an instants notice. A mir TOT inside the instrument throws the image upwards upon the ground glass, which is fixed in the top of the camera. Here the operator can watch the move ments of the animal to be photo graphed, meanwhile keeping 1t in focus by means of a screw held between the thumb and first finger of the left hand. When the subject is seen to be in exact ly the required position a button is pressed with the right hand and expo sure is made.
 Of even greater importance than the camera is the lens. which must be ex- tremely fast to accomplish the best re- suits. There are many fast lenses on the market, the Goerz being the most reliable with which I am &C., auainted It is advisable to have lens a size larger than is absolute ly necessary to cover the plate, as in very rapid work one cannot diaphragm down in order to get the picture sharp to the edge.
 The quality of the plates used is also of great importance; it Is the height of folly to save ten cents on a box of plates when a rather more expensive grade would insure much better results. The operator will be sure to have many failures at the best, and there is no sense in his handtcapping himself by using poor material.
 All other things being equal, the man having the best knowledge of the anil nal he wishes to photograph, will get the best pictures. He will know where and when to go in order to accomplish his purposes, and he will be able to avoid many of those mistakes which would surely lead to failure. Many years ago my brother and I lay out all night on the bank of a stream, trying to get a photograph of one of the musk rats which we had seen in numbers every other night we had been down here. If we had known little more, we should have realized that no musk rat in his senses would ever come near us while we were armed with a piece of burning punk, such as we intended or forcing an animal to pose for his portrait; but 1t is better, where possi- ble, to photograph him wher he is quite to set our f1ash-light off with.
 There are endless ways of inducing unconscious of your presence. He will then be perfectly natural, and without restraint, and will take characteristic poses which he would never assume if he was observed. Woodchucks, chip hunks. skunks and certain other wild creatures may be photographed at or near their burrows. and there is no place where they are more likely to be found. Of course, the operator must all