Evening star., 1950-12-31
Camera Angles
How to Make Photographic Calendar
By Alexander J. Wedderburn
Curator Of Photography
The Smithsonian institution

Inc SmiInSOnioU INSTITUTION
II you would like to show off
your skill with the camera and
dark room, this Is the time to do
it with a Photographic calendar
for 1851. A calendar illustrated
with pictures of your own making
is bound to be a lot more satisfy
ing to you than the usual f1owery
offerings that start coming our
way at this time.
Your friends and relations will
also be happy to receive one of
your personalized calendars, par
ticularly so if you have used pic
lures Of yourself and family to
serve as Illustrations. All you need
is the ability to make a few good
prints from your collection of neg
atives.
The ideal Photographic calendar
will have IL sheets-one for each
month of the year. This. of course,
will call for an equal number of
photographs for illustrations. But
If you feel that you do not have a
dozen pictures worthy for the job
you can, as we shall explain later
on, settle for six shots or even one
will do in pinch.
Use Seasonal Pictures.
Your pictures can either be
scenic, illustrative of the seasons,
or they can show your family ac-
tivities over the period of year.
For instance you could use a snow
scene very nicely for the month
of January. Similarly, a picture
OF the seashore would be appro-
pirate for July; a wedding picture
for June; view of corn shocks
in the field for October and so on.
Or you can show the IL
months, using pictures of the
children, and tell the story with
changes Of play and activities. Or
you can go about it in any one
OF several other ways, using por-
traits, pictures of pets or what
ever angle that may most appeal
to you. But whatever you do, be
sure to use pictures that are suit
able to the particular month and
always select negatives of good
quality.
You can choose almost any size
you wish for your photo calendar
We suggest Sx10 inches for the
dimensions because the price OF
the paper in that size is not too
high and 8x10 sheets are easy
to handle. Double or medium
weight paper is the best. Single
weight paper is thin and cracks
and curls easily.
Making the Calendar.
Once you have decided on your
pictures you should obtain a pad
of calendar months from sta
tionery store. The numerals
should be black on white paper,
so that you will have no trouble
in making copy negatives. Nu-
merals printed in lighter colors
will not photograph contrasty
black. However. if you should
have trouble getting hold of a
black numeral pad when making
the copy negatives, you can un-
derexpose and overdevelop to get
the desired contrast. If you are
not familiar with copying pro-
cedure, just follow these direc-
tons: Paste one of the calendar
month sheets to a sheet of white
cardboard and fasten the card
board to, the wall. Then set your
camera on the tripod so that the
film plane is parallel to the sheet
you are copying. Place light on
either side of the copy material
and balance them to obtain a
perfectly fiat lighting-then make
the exposure. Repeat this pro-
cedure until you have copied each
one of the month sheets. Now you
are almost ready to go ahead with
the printing.
First, however. you will have to
prepare a mask because there will
be two exposures for each month.
One will be from the picture mega
tive and the other from the date
negative. The mask should be
made from a sheet Of black paper.
You should find black paper. suit
able for this purpose in the box
In which your printing paper is
packaged. A rectangular opening
should then be cut in the top of
the masking paper to whatever