CAMERA NOTES.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXIV, Issue 1036, 7 December 1912, Page 4

CAMERA NOTES.

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In last Saturday’s issue extracts were given in this column of an article by the Rev H. O. Fenton, 8.A., detailing the benefits he derived from becoming an active member of a photographic Club. Space would not allow of any comment on this article in my last notes, but I should now like to make a few remarks endorsing this writer’s article. It is at once evident that the Rev gentleman is an enthusiastic camera worker, and to this must be attributed his thirst for knowledge in this direction, and his subsequent success in the various processes. He realises to the full the value of such clubs for the spread ot knowledge and the interchange of Ideas of things photographic. It is evident that rapid advancement can be made by beginners under the guidance of advanced amateurs who are willing to distribute their “tips” and “dodges” broadcast among club members. We have all passed, or are passing, through the “guessing” period of our photographic career, when what we did was done for no express reason, and what succees achieved could never be attributed to any special treatment of the subject during exposure, in development, or any subsequent printing process. That stumbling-block, exposure, the essential element of success, long remains an elusive problem, and the direct cause of most of our useless “negatives,” until we receive the generous help of some Iriendly master of photography, or long experience and much study, and incidentally wasted expenditure in plates and chemicals. As pointed out by the Rev Fenton, the small amount of subscription to such clubs is more than counterbalanced in saving ot material by the amateur who be describes as the “button-pusher,” and it is only necessary to take the average expenditure of an enthusiastic learner to provide convincing proof that this is so. A “buttonpusher” usually makes many exposures during one day’s outing, in the hope of getting a few fairly good negatives, and presuming that he exposes six quarter-plates a week, that will amount to 2s 6d per month for plates, developer gd, hypo. 3d, paper rs 3d, toning solution or developer for papers is. making in all 5s gd for four weeks’ experimenting, resulting in perhaps 10 per cent, of passable photos. This works out at ,£3 14s gd per year, so it must be obvious that the saving in expense of material to the enthusiastic novice will be sufficient to counterbalance the membership fee of a club, besides showing a handsome profit of many good prints and a sound knowledge of exposure and correct application of chemicals.

THE LIMIT OF SUBJECTS

The limit of subjects to which the camera may be applied can hardly be defined, and although it is always advisable to specialise in oue particular subject uutil it is completely mastered, it is always convenient to be able to tackle several subjects with some degree of certainty in case of emergency. It is peculiar that beginners almost invariably try their hand at portraiture at the outset, and failure is only to be expected since this subject is considered the hardest to deal with, and is crowned only with any degree of success where the lighting of the sitter is under proper control. This may also be said of other subjects, but the desire to produce a portrait is no doubt prompted by the array of professional work contained in the family album, which appeals to the beginner as the highest ideal in photography, although such work generally carries a contrasty, billiard-ball appearance through the application of too much of the retoucher’s pencil, and an unnatural and camera-conscious expression. There are many alluring subjects which are given little consideration by the average amateur, no doubt accounted for by -the brief notice they are thought worthy of, many of these branches of camera work being in nature photography. It is noticeable that the tide of thought among the more advanced workers has lately turned distinctly in favour of nature study in its many branches, and although a photograph may be the only outward sign of the attention thus directed, there is necessarily a closer and more intimate knowledge of nature cultivated. In this respect it is shown that the knowledge essential to photography is not limited to the use of chemicals and control of light, but a deeper insight into nature and the cultivation of its close observation.