Editorial Notes

OME attention has recently been given to the subject of photographing

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shop fronts, and one journal gave an illustration of a method of working which consisted in erecting in front of the shop a large black screen or sheet, and photographing through a small aperture made to admit the lens. The method is thoroughly impractical; the sheet would have to be so large, and would require most elaborate arrangements for supporting it. One authority commenting on the suggestion stated that the focus of the lens to be employed was immaterial. Here again we see a lack of practical acquaintance with the subject; the focus of the lens has a great deal to do with the matter. For the shorter the focus the nearer the camera has to approach the subject, and the nearer it is to the subject, i.e. the shop-front, the wider the range of objectionable reflections. The first point to be observed in this work is to get as far away as the surroundings permit. Further, if the footpath be watered and as much of the roadway as is reflected, one reflection the less will be assured.

If possible, the photographing should be done when the sun is shining on the shop; there will then be less light on the objects inevitably reflected. Undoubtedly the best method of all is to illuminate it at night time by a flashlight, carefully screening the flash so that no surrounding objects receive light. Failing all these much may be done by selecting a judicious standpoint, so as to include as little objectionable reflected representation of a neighbor's goods or signs in the middle of the shop to be depicted. By using a plate several sizes too large and taking the view on one or other side of it much may be done to avoid those annoying reflections. Finally the utmost care should be taken to see the camera front is square to the shop-front.

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ACKING PLATES. Exposed and unexposed. The chief plate makers in this country and in Europe have no uniform standard method of packing their wares; but they have three leading methods: First, they are placed face to face with nothing between the individual plates of the dozen; second, face to face with thick paper grooves or slips at the edges; third, face to face with sheets of thin paper separating the two faces. Now the first named plan deserves the first place: Sheets of glass touching one another-even when their surfaces are not dead plane-and tightly wrapped in paper offer the most efficient safeguard from damage from an accidental blow or fall, and so

packed are not liable to any friction from uneven surfaces. The paper slips are an unnecessary trouble and expense, and we have heard of more than one case where one of these slips unperceived in the dull light of the darkroom has been imprisoned in the dark slide and prevented the back from closing light-tight. We have been in darkrooms where they have literally carpeted the floor. The third method is decidedly to be reprehended. There is always the risk of the papers leaving marks of their presence after long storage, and the great danger, when the papers lie quite flat, of the operator picking up a plate and placing it in slide without removing the paper, which often adheres quite firmly and unobserved. There is an adaptation of the first method adopted for their smaller plates by one of the largest manufacturers in the world which is highly objectionable. It consists in packing the plates in pairs, the two plates being formed from one piece cut with the diamond, and broken, but not separated from one another, the film forming a sort of hinge which, of course, prevents any rubbing together during transit. It is, however, a thoroughly mischievous plan in a busy studio. The man in the darkroom has to change his slide with the utmost slickness and rapidity. With the other methods he picks up the plate with one hand, holding the dark slide in the other, and changes without delay; but the "hinged" plates are a two-handed job, both hands being needed to effect the separation. The very great loss of time involved by this can only be appreciated by those who have undergone the worry. In packing plates that have been exposed, and are being carried on a journey awaiting development at home, they should, after being very carefully dusted, be placed face to face with no protection between and tightly wrapped in four or sixes. On no account must they be separated, as we have often seen done, by pieces of newspaper or other printed matter, as this will almost inevitably "set off," and give a developable image. Great care should be taken to see that no foreign substances is packed up between the plates. We once saw a very remarkable effect produced by this precaution not being taken. By some mischance a small fine stalk of hay had become imprisoned, curled up in almost a circle. When the plates arrived home a piece of glass of circular shape had cracked out of the center of one plate and, of course, ruined the negative.

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E HOPE our readers like the new way in which we are printing our cover pictures. The photo engraving is printed on an underlying tint, of a different color from that used in printing the engraving itself, so that the effect of the combination of the two tints is very much richer, and more in harmony with the original subject, than where only one tint of ink is used. We shall change the colors themselves from month to month, to suit the different pictures used for the cover illustration, and to conform with the season in which they are brought out.

Monthly Foreign Digest

TRANSLATED BY HENRY F. RAESS.