Evening star., 1948-07-18
Camera Angles;
Making a Photomontage

From time to time you will find
that some picture will need some
thing to create a favorable balance
or fill in an umwanted gap, and
when you do, file the film away until
you run across the item that you
need. Then shoot it and you will
be able to combine the two shots
by montage into your own prize
winning salon print.
Planning Required.
The actual operation of making a
photohontage, while not difncult
does require an amount of plan
ming, and patience during the print
ing process. To begin you must
make test prints from the two
negatives to determine the relative
exposure necessary to insure that
the final print will develop evenly
Let us assume that the negative
having the bald sky is one that you
made at the beach. There is the
beach in the foreground with the
sea stretching out to q skyline OF
horizon with q small island or per-
haps ship for q center Of interest
AS noted, the sky is blank and needs
q cloud mass to balance the COM
position.
Place this negative in the en-
larger and project the image onto q
piece of white cardboard. Then
trace the skyline with a pencil. Next
cut the cardboard along this line
until you have separated the two
halves of the picture. This will pro-
vide you with two masks. Then
holding the upper half of the card
board about 3 inches above your
printing paper, which should now
be in the easel, expose the lower
half of the picture which includes
the beach, the water and the island
or ship.
All this while keep the sky masl
in constant motion SO that there
will be no sharply defined outline
where the juncture is to be made
You should time the exposure with
a timer as you will not be able te
take your eyes of the printing long
enough to look at your watch. Wher
the exposure Is completed, replace
your negative with the one OF the
clouds after removing the printing
paper to a place OF safety. Get this
negative in sharp focus, then re-
place the half-printed sheet Of
paper in the easel, making sure
that it Is in the same position az
before. You can insure this by
marking With q pencil in the upper
margin when the paper Is first
placed in the easel.
Keep Masks Moving.
Now the lower half of the masking
cardboard is used in the same man.
ner as the upper one was during the
first exposure. Keep it moving
slightly at about 3 inches above
the paper as you expose the clouds
onto the upper section of the
paper. The trick Is to make the
juncture of the two separate print
ings invisible in the print. If you
have devoted your attention to q
proper use of the masks, the over
tapping OF the negatives will be
unnoticeable. If you do not keep
the masks in motion and in their
proper positions, a definite line will
be seen.
This will take a little practice be-
fore you can expect to get perfect
print. But it will be much easier
than you think. The important
points are: Make sure you expose
each negative so that the composite
print will develop evenly all over:
make your masks accurately and
keep them in constant motion; be
certain that, the second time the
paper is place6 III the easel II soes
shack exactly sas It was when you
exposed the first time.
You will not make perfect mon
tage the first time, nor the second,
but soon thereafter you will f1nd
that it pays to save and collect
negatives for future use, even II
they are not good enough at first
rIa nea {n hA ,,sAd