Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-12-07

ct take whichever Of these twigs fits my
scheme best and fasten 1t down to this piece
Of cardboard. which is my base, with plasticipe
or tacks. Then take some of this fur which
I get from old coats, build it up to resemble
the hills or fluctuations that desire, pun it up
a bit here fiatten out bit there and have
a good foundation. If it is to make part of the
background, hills or woods place it at the far
end of the cardboard, put my sand in front Of
it. spread some grit here and there to resemble
stones, put stones where they needed, large
or small depending on the scheme, and am
about ready"
A LII the pictures have sky background.
These skies are the only real thing about
the pictures. They are photographs Of skies
which Mr.. Roberts takes whenever he sees
good sky formation with the right lighting.
He has a whole box full of skies, enlarged to
fit as background to his scenes. This past
Summer he took 80 new skies, which he will
use for his landscape work this Winter The
enlarged skies are mounted on glass to fit into
a holder. The sky is about the same size as
the base on which the scene is built two feet
by one foot.
When the picture is built up, and the sky In
place, the lighting comes into play. Mr.. Rob-
erts has this all fixed up. He has to light up
from the sides and also from above He has
number of ordinary frosted bulbs from 40 to
100 watts. No Klieg lights no spots Of high
power, no big arcs, only what can be found in
the ordinary house. He has small arc light,
but it is very small indeed.
1.-The lighting and the perspective are the two
hardest parts of this work." he explains. "You
have to light the scene so that it comedies with
your sky background. If the clouds are lit up
a certain way by the sun, then your lighting
must come from the same direction, must light
I'D the scene in the the would II the
scene were real. And that is by no means easy.
1.-The same applies to perspective. Something
that Is supposed to be distant must be distant,
and look the real thing. For instance my trees
as they go back the stage must become
smaller. So must rocks if they are in the scene.
And the lighting must be exact, so as not to
throw shadows where they are not supposed to
be-"
WHEN the lighting seems perfect, when the
~ scene is as good as the maker wants it.
then frame is put up in front of it, and it
becomes like framed picture. 1t takes careful
surveying to see that all is as it should be.
There may be lights to change. A bush close
by may look too large. The sand between the
tufts Of fur may not be realistic enough to
portray wind-swept hillsides The trees may
not have the right inclination for the direc-
ton of the wind as shown by the clouds
All these little things have to be watched.
Then when everything is in order to suit the
photographer, and no shadows play on the sky,
the camera is set up
This Is no trick machine It is an ordinary
photographers camera, such as Is to be found
in any small photographers shop. 1t has no
special lens. In fact, it is an old type of lens,
not sharp anastigmat lens, for as Mr.. Roberts
pointed out such lens would be too sharp.
Continued on Fourteenth Page