NYPL RESEARCH LIBRARIES 3 3433 06903681 6 fcf>0W>lci /MP THE AMERICAN SPORTSMAN'S LIBRARY EDITED BY CASPAR WHITNEY PHOTOGRAPHY FOR THE SPORTSMAN NATURALIST •TheA PHOTOGRAPHY FOR THE SPORTSMAN NATURALIST BY L. W. BROWNELL jtfefo fgorfe THE MACMILLAN COMPANY LONDON: MACMILLAN & CO., Ltd. 1904 All rights reserved > \- > ■ , » - Copyright, 1904, By THE MACMILLAN COMPANY. Set up and electrotyped. Published November, 1904. Norwood Press J. S. Cusbing & Co. — Berwick & Smith Co. Norwood, Mass., U.S.A. . 1 . 1 , ■ 1 1 tit C • C I i * t ». I I t TO ilg iflotijcr WHO, BY HER APPRECIATION OF AND INTEREST IN MY WORK, HAS BEEN MY GREATEST AID I AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATE THIS VOLUME CONTENTS CHAPTER I. II. III. IV. V. VI. VII. VIII. IX. X. XI. XII. XIII. XIV. XV. XVI. XVII. Index Nature Photography : Its Scope and Useful ness Photography and the Sportsman Cameras, Lenses, and Shutters The Dark Room : Developing and Printing The Telephotographic Lens and its Uses Apparatus for a Field Worker Photographing the Larger Animals Photographing the Smaller Mammals . Photographing Birds1 Nests Photographing Birds and their Young . Photographing Insects .... Photographing Fish and Other Forms of Aquatic Life Photographing Reptiles, etc. . Photographing Wild Flowers, Cut and Grow ing Photographing Trees, Fungi, etc. . Photographing in the Zoos Photography in Camp and Woods . PAGE I 19 29 49 70 81 102 123 133 160 190 208 227 244 268 281 292 3°5 vu ILLUSTRATIONS Song Sparrow Family Frontispiece Taken, from a distance of about 75 yards, with an eight-inch lens 76 Taken, from same distance as photograph on page 76, with same lens and telephoto attachment .... 79 American Elk, Horns in Velvet 104 Half-grown White-tailed Buck m White-tailed Deer. Doe 116 Prairie Dog at Entrance to Burrow 124 Cotton Mouse 125 Fox Squirrel . . . . . • • • • .127 Half-grown Woodchuck 130 Porcupine feeding on Root 133 Muskrat 134 Little Brown Bat asleep 135 Nest and Eggs of Ruffed Grouse 14° Nest and Eggs of Green Heron ...... 142 Nest and Eggs of Spotted Sandpiper 143 Nest and Eggs of Chestnut-sided Warbler in Low Bush . . 146 Nest and Eggs of Kingbird 149 Nest and Eggs of American Crow 152 Bluebird's Nest and Eggs 155 Entrance Holes to Bank Swallows' Nests . . . 157 Nest of Bank Swallow 158 Wild Turkey Hen 161 ix Illustrations Red-eyed Vireo at Nest feeding Young Field Sparrow on Nest . Chipping Sparrow feeding Young Young Flickers Screech Owl asleep by Nest Hole Bluebird at Nest Hole . Young Shrikes at Nest . Chickadee feeding Young Young Blackbirds . Young Downy Woodpeckers . Young Wood Thrush American Crow Young Green Herons Spider repairing Web Lana Moth hanging from Cocoon Mourning-cloak Butterfly Larva of Walnut Moth . Newly Emerged Cecropia Moth Cabbage Butterfly . Black Swallow-tails Moths asleep in Daytime Moth on Tree Trunk Dragon Flies . Common Crab Jellyfish . Sea Anemones Milk Snake . Garter Snake . Common Frog Snapping Turtle Tree Toad " sing: Common Toad 163 165 168 169 170 172 174 177 178 179 181 185 1S7 192 193 r94 196 1 98 200 201 203 204 206 212 222 225 228 230 238 239 241 242 Illustrations xi PAGE Shinleaf in Tangle of Herbage 246 Blue Flag 248 Jack-in-pulpit 250 Tansy 253 Spring Orchis 257 White Violets 259 Young Skunk Cabbage 261 Trailing Arbutus 262 Common Purple Violets 263 Bank of Christmas Ferns 265 Indian Pipes .... 266 White Birch in Winter . 269 Trunk of Red Cedar 270 Locust Blossoms 272 Spruce Cones 274 Blossoms of American Chestn .it 276 Mushrooms 278 Head of Lion . 283 Snowy Herons 286 Head of White-tailed Deer 288 White Pelican . 290 Trophies . 292 Hitting the Trail . • 293 A Temporary Shack . 296 Whipping a Mountain Stream . 297 In Quiet Waters • 299 Bringing in the Quarry . • 3°° A Fair Shot . • 3°i Finis , • 3°3 A INTRODUCTION Nearly a century has passed since the first experi- ments, that amounted to anything, were made in trying to reproduce the image of any object, mechanically, by means of light rays. Niepce was, probably, the first to start these experi- ments, but almost simultaneously with him Daguerre commenced work along slightly different lines and he gave the result of his researches to the world, while Niepce hesitated to publish even the smallest details concerning his, so that we have come to consider Da- guerre as the real father of photography. For many years the advancement in the photographic art was extremely slow, but for the past twenty years it has advanced with enormous strides, until now we have but one thing more to look forward to, — the taking of photographs in natural colors. To attain this object scientists have been working for some years, but no material results have as yet been accomplished. The first photographic process which was of any commercial value was invented by Daguerre, and named after him, " daguerreotype." This process was finally perfected, after tedious years of experimenting, in 1839, and held sway in both England and America for about twelve years. The two most serious objections to it were the cost of the plate, which was excessive, and the impracticability of multiplying the reproduction, owing to the opacity of the plate. xiii XIV Introduction This was practically the commencement of photog- raphy, and its invention entitles Daguerre to rank with the foremost inventors of the nineteenth century. At the same time that Daguerre was pursuing his researches in France an Englishman, named Fox Talbot, was working along somewhat similar lines in England, and in 1841 he patented what he called the calotype process. It is unnecessary to go into a description here of these two processes. Suffice it to say that the image was made in the former on copper, plated with silver, while in the latter it was made upon paper. This latter was really a negative, for on it the qualities of the image were reversed as we now have them on our dry plates. The correct picture, in black and white, was obtained by oiling the original, which caused it to become transparent, and then printing through it on to another piece of sensitized paper, exactly as we do at the present time. The collodion process of glass plates was the next great step in advancement. It was invented by an Englishman named Scott Archer, and was first given to the world in 185 1. In a few years it had so far displaced both the calotype and the daguerreotype that it reigned supreme from 1855 to 1880. Up to about 1853 a photograph was considered noth- ing short of a curiosity, but with the introduction and perfection of the collodion process photography be- came an almost popular pursuit. In the collodion process, as introduced by Archer, it was absolutely necessary that the glass plates, coated with collodion containing iodide and nitrate of silver, should be ex- Introduction xv posed while wet and developed immediately after the exposure, before the surface had time to dry. While a collodion dry plate was invented shortly after Archer's process was given to the public, still it did not supersede the wet plate, and it was not until the late seventies that the gelatine negative plate was introduced. The years from 1877 to 1880 could be called, photo- graphically, the years of the struggle between the wet and the dry plate processes ; but the dry plate won, as was bound to be the case from its greater practicability, and in a few years it completely took the place of the antiquated wet plate. Now commenced the rapid advancement in photog- raphy that has not yet ceased. New and better appli- ances were constantly being perfected. Every year saw a faster lens and shutter on the market. Men of the arts and sciences took greater and greater interest in photography, until, finally, when the apparatus had reached that stage of perfection that permitted it, nature workers took up the camera. Nowadays the equipment of a worker in any of the branches of the natural sciences is incomplete unless it includes a photographic outfit, and it should be so with the sportsman. It is in the hopes of inducing many who have here- tofore never used a camera to take it up, and of helping those who wish to photograph the wild denizens of our woods, fields, and streams, that this book is written. It is distinctly a book for the beginner, and to the expert in nature photography it will probably prove of little or no use. The suggestions and advice which I xvi I nt rod net ion have given are based mostly on my own, partly on others', experience, and should they clash with the ideas of any of my fellow-workers, I trust they will not be too harsh in their criticism, but will remember that two workers in the same field hardly ever follow along- identical lines. Even to the beginner it is written with the intention of merely starting him properly, so that he may lose as little time as possible in learning things by sad experi- ence. However, this is bound to happen, to a greater or less extent ; and, after all, Experience is the best teacher, for what we learn at her hands we are apt never to forget. As he advances along his chosen line of work he will find less and less use for this book, until, finally, he will discard it entirely, and then, un- doubtedly, will shortly be able to teach me new tricks and methods. If, however, in the meantime, it has helped him to a better knowledge of the task before him, it will have served its purpose, and I shall be content. I have endeavored to make it as complete a text-book of nature photography as possible, and as such I have devoted two chapters to the camera, lens, shutter, etc., and to the manipulation of the plates in developing and printing. This may, to many, seem an unnecessary waste of space, but to any one who is taking up the camera for the first time a thorough knowledge of all this is absolutely essential. In other chapters I have treated each branch of nature photography separately, giving in each case, as fully and explicitly as possible, the directions, as I know them, for obtaining the best results. I have, in fact, Introduction xvii made each chapter practically a separate book, even to the extent of often repeating myself, in order that any one looking for a certain piece of information need not be forced to look through the entire volume before he can find it. Now, if he wishes to take up a single branch of nature work, — the photography of birds, for instance, — he has but to read the three chapters on the camera, the dark room, and bird photography in order to get all the information which this book can vouch- safe him. Work in nature is, at its best, one of the most diffi- cult branches of all photographic art, and knowing as I do how many and various are the difficulties and how enormous they seem to a beginner, it has been my endeavor to set forth, as clearly as possible, all the devices by which these difficulties can best be surmounted. I can look back now and see how much valuable time I lost, when I first entered this field, by having to learn everything for myself, — time that could have been used to so much better advantage had I but had a better knowledge of my subject before I started. So I am endeavoring to give that knowledge, which I have gained in the number of years during which I have been, more or less constantly, working with my camera among the wild life, to him who is about to enter the same paths, and I am trusting that, to those who really need aid, this volume will be welcome and prove of some material use. The camera, particularly in the last half-dozen years, has done much toward making wild animal life real to those who have never had the opportunity of seeing it xviii Introduction in its natural state, and has aided tremendously in the nature movement now assuming so much force and importance in our schools and elsewhere. We need more serious workers, however, — more who will take it up, not as a mere pastime, but with the object in view of increasing the world's stock of knowledge, and I wish that I might induce many to do so. The illustrations throughout the volume are, of course, from life, and were made, with a few exceptions, amid the natural surroundings. Those which were made from captive animals were taken in the Bronx Zoological Park, New York City. The nests were taken, in every instance, in situ and often at great trouble. These photographs were principally selected from a collection of about three thousand negatives taken by myself, but I wish to acknowledge my indebtedness to Mr. F. M. Hale and Mr. S. D. Dixon for the use of those which are attributed to them. PHOTOGRAPHY FOR THE SPORTSMAN NATURALIST Photography for the Sportsman Naturalist CHAPTER I NATURE PHOTOGRAPHY: ITS SCOPE AND USEFULNESS It is of comparatively late years (about seven or eight) that the camera has been used for pic- turing our wild life to any extent; but so very rapid has been the advancement in this branch of the camerist's art that photographs that were once deemed impossible — pictures of animals in their native haunts, of birds flying and attending to their home duties, of fish in their natural ele- ment, of insects during the various stages of their metamorphoses — are now obtained, not always exactly easily, but with at least not too great a tax upon the ingenuity and resources of the operator. This has been made possible, to a large extent, by the immense improvement in apparatus that has been accomplished in the past few years, and especially by the extremely rapid lenses that have been placed upon the market, making an expos- ure of a thousandth of a second practicable. 2 Photography for the Sportsman Naturalist It is difficult to say just who was the pioneer in this line of photography, if indeed there was any single person who could be called by that name. Many tried it tentatively and, obtaining but indif- ferent results, grew discouraged and gave it up. Others attempted it, but did not seem to grasp the subject with a thorough understanding or else were not well enough versed in the use of their apparatus or in the habits of their subjects, for the results they turned out were anything but good. Finally, however, some eight years or so ago, a number of serious workers entered the field almost simultaneously, each one determined to do his best to show what could be accomplished with a camera among the wild life of the woods and fields. As soon as these workers had cleared a way, so to speak, had shown the others how to surmount the many difficulties that had been con- fronting them and which had proved too much for them to tackle single-handed, there were plenty ready to follow, as is always the case in almost any enterprise. Many of these soon lost their interest, however. The results seemed too few for the energy ex- pended, and so they one by one dropped out of the ranks, until to-day there are but comparatively few serious workers still left in the field. These, how- ever, are the ones who naturally would rise to the top, — those who entered into the work for the Nature Photography 3 love of it and the love of the wild things with which it brought them into close contact, and who had tenacity and determination enough to stick at it, no matter how many were the difficul- ties that confronted them. One of the first to do the best work in this country was a close friend of mine ; a man who all his life had been an ardent sportsman, but who laid down his rifle and shot-gun to take up the camera in their stead. He has never had cause to regret the exchange, for he has found just as much excitement in the hunt with a cam- era as with a gun and much more pleasure in the results. Many of his pictures stand to-day as the best in their line and will undoubtedly so stand for all time, as it would seem to be impossible to improve upon them. Nature work with a camera forms an epoch, not only in the photographic world, but in the art of illustrating as well. Heretofore, in our nature works and sportsman's books we have had to be content with drawings, always inaccurate, often ludicrous, and sometimes even grotesque in their untruthfulness to nature. This was not always the fault of the artist, for there is nothing more difficult truthfully to portray with pen or brush than the wild life. These unnatural illustrations are now a thing of the past, for photographs have superseded them. 4 Photography for the Sportsman Naturalist While the camera can be made to lie, despite the fact that it has been said that it cannot, yet it never does except when made to do so, or by accident, and the pictures obtained by means of it are pretty sure to be absolutely true to life, accu- rate in drawing and detail, and showing the subject exactly as it was when the shutter was snapped. The camera can do more in the fraction of a sec- ond than the most skilful artist can accomplish through hours of hard labor. The scope of nature photography is almost limitless, its only real limitation being the im- practicability of photographing in color. To be sure, photographs can and have been made by what is known as the three-color process, but this is at its best unsatisfactory, often giving false color values, and so I always advocate the use of mono- tones in their reproduction. The field to be covered, however, is endless, as one soon discovers when he enters it, and a single lifetime is too short a while in which to do all that one would along these lines. If each one can contribute a little of the best of his work, however, to increase the stock of the world's knowledge, for all he knows that little may be of great value and importance. As a means, also, of studying nature there is nothing so helpful as a camera, for not only does it aid us in seeing things that might otherwise be Nature Photography 5 passed by unnoticed, but it enables us to make accurate records of the things which we do see, and it causes us to be constantly on the outlook for those things. It helps to teach us the value of animal life, and the senseless and absolutely wan- ton killing of that life which is constantly going on would cease if there was only a greater knowl- edge of its value. The sweeping manner in which the farmer and sportsman condemn all birds of prey because of the offences of the few aptly exemplifies the old adage that " A little knowledge is a dangerous thing." The farmer misses a pullet, finding in its place a few scattered feathers, or he may see a hawk swoop down and carry off one of his pet broilers, spreading dire confusion among the rest. The sportsman, while beating the woods for his game, finds the remains of a quail, and at once concludes that it has been the victim of some depredating owl. Without further investigation and with absolutely no knowledge of the subject, they both sweepingly and generally condemn the whole family of Raptores, letting no opportunity pass to destroy one of its members. If the man who kills a hawk, or even a snake, would first learn something of its habits, he would in all probability find that he was about to kill one of his best friends. Did the farmer but know it, he is, in killing the 6 Photography for the Sportsman Naturalist hawk, but aiding in the extermination of one of his very good allies, who, by catching and eating numerous of the small rodents and insects which injure his crops, helps him materially in gaining his livelihood. The sportsman might well ask himself who has the better right to the quail, — he who shoots it for the pleasure it affords him, or the owl who takes it in order that he may live ? In point of fact, however, the owls, and but few of the entire family Raptores, catch game or other birds to any extent, and we are doing them a grave injustice when we unreservedly accuse them all. It is these and other useful facts that the camera helps us to learn, and so, as the interest in natural history is constantly on the increase, it is well that we who may should turn our attention and devote our energies toward photographing, in detail, almost any common object in nature, es- pecially as nowadays nearly every one, young or old, possesses some kind of a camera. The scientific value of nature photography lies largely in the fact that, as I have already stated, the results are accurate and true to life, and by no other means can the wild life be so truthfully portrayed. No mere wordy description, no draw- ing, no matter how good, can adequately answer the purpose. Where is the artist who can repro- duce the intricate construction of a bird's nest so perfectly as can the camera ? Or where is the 'Nature Photography 7 writer, clever though he may be with his pen, who can give us as clear a conception of the manifold duties of a bird's daily life as can a series of pho- tographs? In accuracy of detail as well as artistic conception the late W. Hamilton Gibson far sur- passed all other artists in his delineation of animal and insect life, and yet he left much to be desired. He was not infallible. The camera, when prop- erly used, is. Then, too, a photograph of any animal life that is now common may at some future time be of extreme value to naturalists, for we can never tell how soon any of the mammals or birds may be- come extinct. Some species of herons are rapidly becoming fewer and fewer in number, and may soon be a thing of the past ; and photographic records of the few remaining large rookeries which exist in this country, where once there were many, will pre- serve for all time to come impressions of con- ditions which will soon be no more. What would the scientists of to-day not give if only our ancestors of the past ages had been versed in camera art and had left, among their other relics, photographic plates of the monsters that at that time inhabited the world. That, of course, is stretching the limits of the possible ; but to come down to more modern times, what an invaluable addition to our knowledge of the life 8 Photography for the Sportsman Naturalist and habits of the great auk or the pied duck, both of which have within recent years become extinct, would be a series of photographs of them taken when they were fairly numerous, as they once were. The younger generation of to-day can hardly believe the stories of the immense flights of the passenger pigeon which so frequently occurred only a few years ago. These birds suddenly be- came almost extinct, and the country which once knew them literally by the thousands upon thou- sands now rarely sees one. What became of them forms one of the mysteries of nature, and it is en- tirely probable that future generations will think the stories told of their numbers nothing but pieces of pure fiction, while, if there were but some photographs to back up these facts, they could not help but believe. This is also true of the buffalo which once inhabited our Western plains in such immense herds, but of which there is now only one known wild herd in existence, and this composed only of a few individuals. Of what surpassing interest would be photographs of these immense herds that were once such common sights. Unfortunately the birth of nature photography is of too recent a date for us to have these records, which would have been invaluable ; but we all have it in our power to leave for future genera- tions photographs which may be to them just as Nature Photography 9 absorbingly interesting as these would have been to us. Then why not, rather than devoting our cameras and our time to the producing of irre- deemably bad bits of scenery and snap shots of our friends, turn our energies into the making of nature pictures and do something that will be worth while ? There is room for all who wish to enter this field, and there are plenty of direc- tions along which one may work and never tire or find that he has reached the end of his road. Unless you intend to take it up seriously, how- ever, you had much better remain where you are and continue in your course of "snapping," for there are already too many of the mere dabblers. As I have already said, there are but few really serious workers in the field, but there are many who work at it in the most amateurish of ways and who seem to have no care to improve their methods or better their results. These results are, for the most part, poor, or, at the best, indif- ferently passable, and they are not only no credit to their makers, but often prove a serious detri- ment to those few who are doing something. Their authors do not hesitate to use any means that will obtain for them some kind of results with the least possible expenditure of energy or patience. They even go so far as to use stuffed subjects and be willing to swear that they were alive, when the veriest novice could detect the falsehood. This io P holography for the Sportsman Naturalist tends to cast a doubt, in the minds of those who cannot detect the real from the false, over all the products of the nature workers, and so I say that the men who do these things are a hinderance to the advancement of nature photography. I remember once seeing a lady looking at a photograph of mine that happened to be in an exhibition. It was a picture of an old bird feed- ing her young, and the exposure had been marie at just the happy moment when she was in the very act of giving the food to one of the fledg- lings. It is (me of my favorite photographs of all those which I have taken, and it cost me some four hours of patient waiting to obtain. Naturally it rather disgusted me to hear the lady exclaim to a companion, "Oh ! I know how that was done; the birds were stuffed and wired to the branch." Perhaps I should have immediately corrected her and pointed out to her the reasons why it could not have been a stuffed bird, but would she have thanked me for doing so? I think not. So I sat down instead and moralized to myself on the futility of striving for the best results when those results received no more praise or commendation than almost worthless ones. But it is worth while to do your best work and always to attempt to make your photographs from living wild subjects. They are the only ones that have any real value, and not everybody in the Nature Photography u world is like the lady quoted above. She un- doubtedly had known of some one who made photographs in the way she mentioned and so jumped to the conclusion that all others must, necessarily, do the same. Not many months ago I saw, in one of our leading monthly magazines, an article on nest- ing birds illustrated with photographs which the author took care to explain had taken him many hours of hard work to obtain. No doubt he had spent some time in shooting, stuffing, and arranging his specimens, for, to a practised eye, it was entirely obvious that, without an excep- tion, they were stuffed birds. No doubt many who read that article were entirely credulous and thought the results wonderful ; but there were many others, like myself, who were dis- gusted with it, and who thought it no credit, not only to the author, but to the editor of the magazine who had allowed such productions to pass muster. In another magazine I also remem- ber seeing the photograph of a deer which was such a poor specimen of the taxidermist's art that no one who had ever seen a deer alive could be fooled by it, and yet the author of the monstrosity had the temerity to describe at length just how he had obtained it and what hours of patience and hard work it had cost him. I cite these instances to show the beginner 1 2 Photography for the Sportsman Naturalist what pitfalls are awaiting him, and as a warning not to fall into them. This is but one step, and a very poor one, in advance of the old-time methods of illustrating works on nature. Indeed, I am not certain that it is not a retrograde movement. There is much to be said in favor of the old style over this, for, surely, the artists never claimed more for their drawings than appeared on the face of them, while the authors of these photographs do all they can to mislead people into the belief that they are the truthful representation of living things, while they are almost always entirely false in drawing, pose, and surroundings. I can readily understand why it is that some who call themselves photographer naturalists can allow themselves to be led into these falsehoods, especially if their consciences are not in active operation. The photographing of any of our wild cousins is, at the best, difficult, and, to one who is not working conscientiously for the best possible results, anything, no matter what, that tends to lessen the obstacles, is welcome. To take ad- vantage of any means that will make the diffi- culties fewer is perfectly legitimate so long as the means employed does not tend to detract from the realism of the finished picture, but photographs of stuffed animals never were known to make realistic pictures. Nature Photography 13 Unfortunately, also, there are many who, while they decry the use of mounted specimens, work on a different method, which gives just as poor results. They, apparently, do not consider it at all necessary that the ensemble of the picture be natural so long as the image of the beast, bird, or whatever the main object may be is large and well defined. To gain these ends they employ methods, in many instances, which, by removing the subject from its natural surroundings, show it in a false position and make the picture untrue to nature. In a branch of photography the results of which must, obviously, be true to nature if they would have any real value, one cannot afford to miss any of the small details that go to make up a truthful whole in depicting incidents in the everyday life of birds or beasts. In order that we should miss none of these details, it is equally obvious that these wild things should be photographed in their native haunts, and I cannot think that removing them to a studio especially prepared, as some photographers do, and keeping them there until they are reduced from their original wild condi- tion to a state of semi-tameness before photograph- ing them is true nature photography, no matter what backgrounds and surroundings may be arranged to make them feel and look at ease. H Photography for the Sportsman Naturalist Of course, if one wants simply pictures of the animals themselves, this method is all right; but then we should not attempt to give the impres- sion that they were photographed in the open by using home-made surroundings and accessories of grass, leaves, tree-trunks, rocks, etc., but should photograph them free from all surroundings and leave the products to speak for themselves as mere anatomical studies of the animals. The use of these accessories is misleading in its results, for while these results may be perfect pictures of the animals themselves the idea con- veyed by them to the average mind of how these same animals live their everyday life is almost certain to be erroneous, for there is almost invariably a false note struck somewhere. I have in mind a certain picture of a woodcock, taken by a well-known advocate of this method of work, in which, while the photograph of the bird itself is admirable, the setting is so obviously manufactured as to give one the impression that it is nothing more or less than a reproduction of a rather poorly mounted specimen. It may be that I am hypercritical ; that, having worked for years among the inhabitants of the fields and woods in my chosen branch of study, natural history, I have come to know our wild neighbors of the ground and air too well, and that in consequence I can too easily detect any false Nature Photography 15 note struck by the photographer. That these false notes do exist, and that photographs con- taining them are constantly being turned out, I think no one who has kept in touch with recent literature upon the subject and who is well ac- quainted with his wild brethren can deny. It is a pity that this should be so, that a branch of photography that holds such limitless possi- bilities in the material aid which it can give to the advancement of the natural sciences should be injured, as it is being injured, by unconscientious workers. It is a field where each worker should unhesitatingly give what aid he can to each new worker entering it, where all should pull together as much as is possible, where no petty jealousies or rivalries should exist, and, above all, where no one should resort to tricks or chicanery to obtain results. Therefore I would that none might enter it except those who do so with the intention of doing the best possible work along their chosen lines. These I would gladly welcome to the ranks of the nature photographers, and to these do I wish to speak in this book, and most espe- cially to those sportsmen who wish either to exchange their grim for a camera or to combine the pleasures of hunting with a camera with those of hunting with a gun. It is these men who are best fitted for this work 1 6 Photography for the Sportsman Naturalist and who have the best opportunities for obtaining valuable photographs, for they have the first es- sential,— knowledge of the wild life which they would photograph. Also they have the time to devote to the work which a great many of us can- not give, and the pursuit of their quarry takes them, naturally, to such places as are most favor- able for photographing wild life and where it is most prolific. Let no one enter this field, however, without a due appreciation of the difficulties which are before him, for if he begins with the idea that it is easy sailing, the undeceiving process is likely to prove painful. There is no pursuit that I know of that contains more disappointments, and there is none that requires a larger amount of patience. Job would have made a good nature photographer, if all the accounts which we hear of his stock of patience are true, for with a suffi- cient amount of this commodity judiciously mixed with a modicum of ingenuity and common sense, every obstacle that presents itself can be over- come. It is no unusual thing for one to work a whole day, and work hard too, only to be forced to quit at nightfall with no results to show. I have done this frequently. The most disheartening part, though, is to take home a batch of exposed plates which we have every reason to believe should Nature Photography 17 turn out to be good negatives, only to find, when we get into the dark room with them, that they are all irredeemably bad. This will happen to all, as it often has to me, and it is almost enough to make one forswear the use of the camera altogether. Perseverance will always win in the end, however, and when we do get something that is really good the pleasure is so much the greater for the many disappointments which we have undergone. One great thing to remember, as all woodsmen know, is that a wild animal is much more easily frightened by noise than he is by movement ; in fact, many animals are curious enough to ap- proach a moving object to discover what it is, when a sudden, quick movement or a noise would immediately frighten them away. This can be, and often is, taken advantage of by those who photograph the larger animals especially. But the key-note of success with all wild things is gentleness and quietness of movement. Do nothing hurriedly or with quick, sudden move- ments, and above all, make just as little noise as possible. Do not be discouraged if at first you do not get more than one or two good negatives out of every ten or a dozen plates exposed. This will be a fair average for a beginner. As you become more and more proficient the average will in- 1 8 Photography for the Sportsman Naturalist crease, but at no time must you expect to obtain a good negative with every exposure. It is there- fore a good plan, when it is possible, to make more than one exposure on the same subject; it lessens the chance of failure. This is not a "press the button" kind of pho- tography, but it requires all the ingenuity and taxes all the resources which one has at his com- mand, and the results are a lasting pleasure, fully repaying us for all the expenditure of time, energy, and patience. CHAPTER II PHOTOGRAPHY AND THE SPORTSMAN As I have before said, I wish to interest the sportsman in this book more than any other one class of individuals, for I think it is to him, largely, that we must look in the future for a large per- centage of the pictures which we will get of ani- mal life, especially of the larger mammals: the deer, moose, caribou, elk, bear, wildcat, etc. By sportsmen I mean, not those men who shoot from the pure love of killing something, and whose sole ambition is to kill as much as possible in a given length of time. They are the ones who helped to exterminate our buffalo, and who are now doing all they can to lessen the di- minishing numbers of the elk and caribou still in this country; who find pleasure in standing on the deck of a Florida river boat and shooting the alligators and any other wild life they may see on the shore as the boat passes; and who would as soon shoot a grouse or a woodcock on its nest as flying. They have none of the true sportsman's blood in them and are, consequently, 19 20 Photography for the Sportsman Naturalist undeserving of the name ; and they could find but little to interest them in work with a camera unless they could find it useful in helping them to prove how many ducks or grouse they had killed in a day, or how many trout they had taken from a single brook. But I am writing to those true sportsmen who go to the wilds for the love of it and of the free, untrammelled life they can lead there ; who know their wild brethren and appreciate their right to live sufficiently to give them, at least, a fighting chance; who carry their gun or rod, and use it for the pleasure it affords them to pit their strength, endurance, and ingenuity against the cunning and ofttimes greater strength of their quarry ; and who, when they have won, and the beast, bird, or fish, as the case may be, falls to their prowess, feel elated, not at the fact that they have taken a life, but that, by their perseverance and superior skill, they have been able to gain the victory over their opponent. For these men, I say, I am in particular pre- paring this book, for they are the men who find a greater pleasure in winning a three or four hours' hard-fought battle with a tarpon than if the same fi^ht had been won with Greater ease in less time, and who think a week or two not wasted if it only brings to them one splendid pair of moose antlers. I think that these same men Photography and the Sportsman 21 could find a similar pleasure in working equally hard for like results with a camera, and I am sure if they could once be induced to try it that they would agree with me when I say that so far as excitement is concerned the sports are about equal, or, if anything, the advantage lies with the camera. Nowadays, in our hunting with a camera, the continued life of the animal we are after is an absolute necessity to the successful outcome of our quest, and he who would be in the fore ranks of the sportsman photographers must be ready to follow and photograph the moose and panther at bay and even the rattlesnake coiled for a strike. Does it not require a greater amount of courage to face an angry mountain lion with a camera than with a Winchester .30-40 ? I think it does. And he who is equal to the nerve and endurance testing stalk of a deer in order to photograph it can, in my mind, lay claim to being a truer hunter and sportsman than he who would shoot that same deer from a distance three or four times as great. So I will unhesitatingly say, that to any one who follows the chase for the mere excite- ment that it affords, the camera can offer far greater advantages for attaining his object than can the rifle. Let me quote from one of these men who was at all times an ardent lover of nature and a sports- 22 Photography for the Sportsman Naturalist man : "As a one-time sportsman who yielded to none in his enjoyment of the chase I can affirm that there is a fascination about the hunting of wild animals with a camera as far ahead of the pleasure to be derived from their pursuit with shot-gun or rifle as the sport found in shooting quail is beyond that of breaking clay pigeons, j Continuing the comparison, from a sportsmans' standpoint, hunting with the camera is the high- est development of man's inherent love of the chase. " The killing of a bird with a gun seems little short of murder after one has attempted to cap- ture its image with a lens. The demands on the skill and patience of the bird photographer are endless, and his pleasure is intensified in propor- tion to the nature of the difficulties to be overcome, and in the event of success it is perpetuated by the infinitely more satisfactory results obtained. He does not rejoice over a bag of mutilated flesh and feathers, but in the possession of a trophy — an eloquent token of his prowess as a hunter, a talisman which holds the power of revivifying the circumstances attending its acquisition. " What mental vision of falling birds can be as potent as the actual picture of living birds in their homes ? And how immeasurably one's memories are brightened by the fact that this is not a picture of what has been, but of what is ! Photography and the Sportsman 23 " The camera thus opens the door to a field of sport previously closed to those who love the birds too much to find pleasure in killing them ; to whom Bob White's ringing whistle does not give rise to murderous speculation as to the num- ber of his family, but to an echo of the season's joy which his note voices. They therefore have a new incentive to take them out of doors ; for how- ever much we love nature for nature's sake there are few of us whose pleasure in an outing is not intensified by securing some definite, lasting result." All this from a man who once would shoot with the best, but who has now forsworn the use of the gun except when occasion demands it, and who finds his pleasure and recreation in hunting with a camera solely. That there are many others who think and feel the same way is evidenced by the number of ardent sportsmen who are taking up the camera in preference to the gun. One man, whom I have previously mentioned as being one of the first to see the possibilities in nature photography, had been up to that time through all his previous life a most active advo- cate of sports afield with shot-gun, rifle, and rod. There was seldom a season passed that he did not take month's long hunting trips, but now that hunting is done entirely with a camera, for he has almost forsworn the use of any other weapon. 24 Photography for the Sportsman Naturalist Even so great a lover of the sport of hunting as Theodore Roosevelt said, in his introduction to A. G. Wallihan's " Camera Shots at Big Game," that : " The shot is, after all, only a small part of the free life of the wilderness. The chief attrac- tions lie in the physical hardihood for which the life calls, the sense of limitless freedom which it brings, and the remoteness and wild charm and beauty of primitive nature. All of this we get exactly as much in hunting with the camera as in hunting with the rifle ; and of the two the former is the kind of sport which calls for the high- est degree of skill, patience, resolution, and knowledge of the life history of the animal sought." But it is not necessary for the sportsman to entirely give up hunting with a gun in order to do so with a camera. I am not an advocate of a continual close season, nor do I wish to preach against the sports of the chase except to those who are mean-spirited enough not to see wherein the true sport lies and will shoot, indiscriminately, everything in sight. I am, preeminently, a naturalist, but I have enough of the sportsman's instinct in me to keenly enjoy a day with the quails behind a pair of good dogs. I find much more real and lasting pleasure, however, in the use of my camera than of my gun. Photography and the Sportsman 25 But why not combine the use of the two judi- ciously ? It is an easy thing to do, and the two sports need not conflict with each other. Many sportsmen now carry small kodaks with them on their trips to the woods. These, while answer- ing some purposes, do not give as satisfactory re- sults as would a different camera better suited to the work ; and it is my intention, in this volume, to give to the sportsman who wishes either to actually give up his gun for a camera or to com- bine the use of the two, full and explicit direc- tions, not only as to how he should use his outfit, but the best outfit for the different uses. He who does thus combine photographing w7ith his other sports afield will find the pleasures of his outing doubled. He can bring home with him not only trophies in the way of antlers and skins, but also pictures of the game he was seek- ing, taken in their native haunts. He can make photographs of his companion, for few travel alone, capturing the prize fish of the trip, for it is entirely possible to photograph jumping fish, pro- vided one has the proper outfit and is quick enough. He can have innumerable mementos that will prove a lasting pleasure, and which, dur- ing the months that he must spend in the city or town, will serve to take him back in memory, away from the haunts of men, to the woods ; and he can, while looking over them, live again 26 Photography for the Sportsman Naturalist the moment when, after patient waiting, he at last secured the picture that he sought. And what of the skill required for camera hunt- ing? Does that count for nothing? We must realize that in order to make successful pictures of the game we are stalking we must approach it much nearer than would be necessary if using a gun and one must, obviously, be a much more skilful hunter to be entirely successful in this new style of hunting. Every device and precau- tion known to the hunter is called into requisi- tion. It will often be found not only advisable, but necessary, to seek the most advantageous position, and, after it is found, to wait, sometimes even for hours, until the subject presents itself in a suitable attitude. One could have the opportunity for a dozen or more shots with a gun at the game he is stalking before he is able to make one with his camera, and so it must be unquestioned that, so far as the chance for one to display his skill as a woodsman and hunter is concerned, hunting with a camera is far ahead of hunting with a gun. And to able-bodied, active men does this not afford greater opportunities for pleasure ? Who is there that finds the greatest amount of enjoy- ment in the thing which is obtained through little or no real endeavor? But when we obtain an object by the surmounting of many real obstacles, Photography and the Sportsman 27 when we have to bring into play all the skill and ingenuity we possess in order to gain our end, that end is worth the gaining, that object worth the having, and we would not exchange it for dozens of those reached through little effort. There are thousands of people who own cam- eras and who imagine they are finding pleasure in photographing such steadfast and patiently im- movable objects as houses, statues, bits of scenery, etc. What is the enjoyment of such compara- tively prosaic employment when the whole field of nature photography is open to any one who wishes to enter it, and when such successes as one may have are not only of real value in themselves, but are undeniable tributes to one's skill both as a photographer and a hunter? Furthermore, the sportsman who hunts with a camera has the advantage over the man who does not in the fact that everything is " game " that comes his way. There is no bird or animal that is too small to be of interest photographically. He will find that even the flowers, the trees, the insects, and the thousand and one things which may be photographed in the woods are worth considering and not without their full quota of in- terest, and he will gradually learn how much more numerous are nature's offspring than he has ever before considered them. Moreover, another thing that must be taken 28 Photography for the Sportsman Naturalist into consideration is the fact that there is no closed season for the camerist. Every month in the year is prolific with the wild life, and there is no time when one cannot obtain pictures of it. So we need not choose our time to go on a hunt- ing trip according to the game laws, but can start whenever the spirit moves us or the opportunity presents itself. Should the photographing of American game pall on one or become too tame a pastime, there is an immense field for work in other countries for any one who has the time, money, and ambi- tion to enter it. It would seem to me that if one is looking for true excitement, he could have his heart's desire by taking his camera into the jun- gles of India or Africa. There would, of course, be more or less danger attending such an under- taking, but danger is one of the underlying essen- tials of excitement; and think of the results one could obtain ! This has been done to a small extent by one or two English sportsmen, but the photographs com- ing from that portion of the world are few and far between, and science needs more of them. However, there is an immense field to be cov- ered in America, for the good photographs of our native big game are still all too uncommon, and it is to the sportsmen that I look in the future to increase their numbers. CHAPTER III CAMERAS, LENSES, AND SHUTTERS In a letter written to his brother, in 1816, Niepce describes how he secured what was probably the first picture ever made with a camera. He says : " My object glass being broken, and being no longer able to use my camera, I made an artificial eye with Isidore's ring box, a little thing from sixteen to eighteen lines square. ... I placed this little apparatus in my workroom, facing the open window, looking on to the pigeon house. I made the experiment in the way you are acquainted with, and I saw on the white paper the whole of the pigeon house seen from the window." This tells, in a few words, the basic principles of a camera; for it is, in fact, nothing but a light- tight box so arranged that, only when the image is to be projected, a few rays may be admitted through one end, and they form the image of whatever object or objects we may be photograph- ing, on the ground glass at the other end. The very name " camera " means only a chamber or compartment. 29 30 Photography for the Sportsman Naturalist The principles of the projecting of images of objects by means of light rays were known, how- ever, a long time before the camera was invented. About the middle of the sixteenth century an Italian by the name of Baptista Porta invented the " camera obscura," which, as its name implies, was nothing more or less than a darkened room to which light was admitted only through a single small hole in the window shutter. We can any one of us easily repeat his experiments by tightly closing: the windows of a room with dark shades and through one shade cutting a small hole. On the wall opposite this window hang a sheet, and, when the sun is shining, we can see a faint, in- verted ima^e on the sheet of whatever the window may look out upon. It is inverted because the rays of light emanating from the bottom of the object looked upon pass upward at an angle, and, enter- ing through the hole in the shade, strike the sheet at its upper edge, and vice versa. This is true also of the modern camera. Porta somewhat improved upon the primitive contrivance just described by placing a double convex glass lens in the aperture of the shutter, outside of which a mirror was placed to receive the rays of light and reflect them through the lens. The image upon the screen was thus made much brighter and more distinct, and was, moreover, shown in its natural, upright position. Crowds flocked to Cameras, Lenses, and S butters 31 his house every day to see these light-painted pictures, which were at first thought to be noth- ing short of marvellous. In a short time, how- ever, the camera obscura was made an adjunct of many country houses, taking the shape of a small, round house with a conical roof, in the centre of which the lens was placed. Slanting mirrors were so arranged as to reflect the light from surrounding objects on to a table in the centre of the room so that a reduced facsimile of the entire view to be seen from the roof top was reproduced on the table top. Its only disadvantage was the fact that the picture could never be changed except with the natural change of the seasons. Up to within a very few years such places were still in existence, and I am not sure that some of them cannot be found to this very day, if any- where, in some of the old country seats in Europe. The photographic camera of to-day is, in fact, nothing but a miniature camera obscura, for it is simply a box with a lens at one end and a ground glass screen, upon which the image is projected, at the other. A modern camera, that is made by any one of the numerous manufacturers in this and other countries who turn out first-class goods, is a veritable work of art. It is supplied with all the appliances for simplifying the labor of the operator and for producing absolutely the best results, and is correspondingly expensive. 32 Photography for the Sportsman Naturalist Cameras, broadly speaking, are of two classes : the camera which is heid in the hands during the exposure, with which only instantaneous expos- ures or " snap shots " can be made, and which is termed a "hand camera," and the one that must be set upon a tripod in order to be used. Of the ordinary form of hand camera, the " press the button " type, I shall not speak, for they are of almost no use to the nature worker. There are two types of cameras in this class, however, that are the outcome of the almost con- tinuous experiments of the manufacturers in late years, and which have done more to revolutionize nature photography than any other appliance or appliances, and these, I think, are worthy of a few words. They are the " twin lens " and the " reflex " cameras. The twin lens was the first to be placed on the market, and it consisted of a "double-decker" box that was practically two cameras in one. There were two lenses, one above the other, of exactly the same focal length and attached to the same front board so that both could be racked out or in at the same time. The lower lens made the picture, and the upper lens acted as a view finder. At the back of this upper lens was a mirror, placed at such an angle that it reflected the image, thrown upon it by the lens, on to a ground glass which was set in the top Cameras, Lenses, and Shutters 33 of the camera. This was protected by a hood and was the exact size of the plate used in the camera, so that the operator, in looking at it, saw the image not only the exact size that it would be reproduced on the plate he was using, but also right side up ; and, moreover, he could watch it up to the very instant of exposure. The focussing was accomplished by means of a thumb-screw on one side, while a button upon the other side, when pressed, released the shutter, if it was a focal plane, or, if the ordinary shutter was used, it could be released in the usual way by means of a bulb. The advantage of this camera over all the styles of tripod cameras lay in the fact that the plate- holder might be inserted, the slide drawn, and the shutter set, all in readiness for an exposure, before the focussing was done. One can readily see that, in photographing animate objects that are only too likely to move, and especially those that are already in motion, this was a great advantage, for there was none of the useless delay between the time of focussing and releas- ing the shutter that is necessary when using the ordinary tripod box ; instead, the shutter could be released the instant that a sharp focus was obtained and one could be reasonably certain of having the image of the object he was attempt- ing to photograph on the plate. The only drawbacks to this camera were the D 34 Photography for the Sportsman Naturalist facts that the use of two lenses made it unneces- sarily expensive, while the increased size made it cumbersome and heavy. So the manufacturers set themselves to remedy these defects, and the result was the reflex camera, an instrument that no nature worker can afford to be without. Its principles are the same as were those of the twin lens, which it has practically superseded, with the exception that there is only one lens used by which both the focussing is done and the expos- ure made. This is accomplished by means of a mirror, placed between the lens and the plate, so arranged that, by pressing a button, a spring is released that throws it up and out of the way a fraction of a second previous to the release of the shutter. As it is obvious that the shutter must be back, and not in front, of this mirror, naturally the focal plane is the only one that can be used on this camera. It can easily be seen that this instrument has all of the advantages of the twin lens, together with some added virtues. With it pictures can be obtained with comparative ease that were, heretofore, thought to be entirely out of the question ; and so much do I depend upon it in my work, that I should almost feel inclined to advise a man who could only afford one camera to s;et the reflex. When buying a camera, no matter of what type, Cameras, Lenses, and Shutters 35 if we have never used one before, we had better let some one select our instrument that has some knowledge of them, and not depend upon the advice of the dealer. Afterward, we should be- come thoroughly acquainted with all its various movements and how they affect the image before we attempt to make any exposures with it, for by so doing we will find that we can work quicker and to better advantage when we do begin, and will make fewer failures in consequence. Tripod cameras are of two types : the long and the short focus, that is, those having a long exten- sion of bellows and those whose bellows are much shorter. For nature workers the former is the type that should always be used, as with it we are enabled to obtain a much larger image, in other words, work closer to our subject, than with the short focus camera. The ones that have an extension of bellows both at front and rear are the most convenient, as they allow of being fo- cussed either from the back or front as we please, besides being much more rigid than are those whose bellows extend only in the front. The swing-back is an essential feature of the modern camera. It is a device by which the back, holding the plate-holder, is allowed to swing, either vertically or horizontally, to a considerable angle. Let me explain the advantages of this contrivance. The nearer the camera is to an 36 Photography for the Sportsman Naturalist object, the greater must be the distance between the lens and the plate in order to have the image in sharp focus ; and when the distance between the lens and the object is very short, say less than two feet, a small deviation in the distance between the lens and the plate suffices to entirely throw the image out of focus. Now, when the camera is pointing downward at any upright object, such as a growing flower or a bird's nest in a low bush, as the camera must necessarily be tilted at a con- siderable angle, it is obvious that the plate cannot be parallel with the object if the back of the camera is rigid ; and therefore if the top of the object is in focus, the bottom, being much farther away from the plate, will be out of focus, and vice versa. This defect can be corrected, to a large extent, by the proper use of the swing-back. It also prevents distortion of lines, which is bound to occur when the plate and the object being photographed are not parallel. This can best be illustrated by focussing the camera upon a tall building, where it is necessary to tilt the instrument up in order to include the top of the building. When this is done, it will be seen that the lines of the building in the image converge at the top, giving it the appearance of falling over. This is caused by the plate being tilted back, and the lines can be straightened by the use of the swing-back. If we ever try to use a camera that Cameras, Lenses, and S buffers 37 is not fitted with one, after having become ac- customed to the use of it, we will discover what a really invaluable adjunct it is. Another very useful appliance is the rising and falling front, which, by changing the position of the lens, without changing the position of the camera, allows one to get more or less foreground, as he may desire, in his picture. When focussing upon an object that is near by, especially when we are trying to make it approxi- mately life-size, it is always best to do so with the back extension, leaving the front extension entirely alone. By doing so we do not change the distance between the lens and the object, and this is very important in such close work, for it is extremely difficult to obtain a perfect focus when in the very act of doing so we are con- stantly changing the point of focus. In order to take a picture it is not necessary to have a lens, that is if we are always photograph- ing stationary objects and the length of time that we have in which to make the exposure is not an important factor; but it is necessary to have one when we wish to do instantaneous work. A picture can be taken, however, by using a piece of black cardboard, or any other opaque substance, in the centre of which a pinhole has been made, and which is inserted in the place that is meant to be occupied by the lens. o 8 Photography for the Sportsman Naturalist A lens does not form the image ; the rays of light do that, and a pinhole will allow the rays of light to pass as well as will a lens. The lens, however, gathers together these rays and sifts them, discarding those that are not needed and allowing only those to pass which are necessary to the formation of the picture. If we wish to understand thoroughly the prin- ciples of a lens, and how it does its work, we must obtain some book, of which there are many published, upon this subject and read it, for here I shall only touch upon the more important points. In fact, I should advise the beginner to study some elementary work on optics as applied to photog- raphy, and also the elements of photographic chem- istry. He will find that the knowledge he will thus grain will cause him to work to much better advantage, and the time spent in studying these things will not by any means be lost. The modern double lens is made in two com- binations, that is, there are two sets of glass used in its construction, and, therefore, it is what is termed " convertible," i.e. each combination can be used separately, or the two can be used together, thus making, in reality, three lenses in one. The " focal length " of a lens is, roughly speak- ing, the distance between it and the ground glass when an object at a distance is in focus, or, in Cameras, Lenses, and Shutters 39 other words, when the lens is at what is ordinarily called " universal focus." Different lenses have different focal lengths, and, also, the different combinations of a double lens have different focal lengths (the single com- bination being, usually, twice the focal length of the double). The longer the focal length of a lens the larger will be the image of an object at a fixed distance. That is to say, if we make a photograph of an object at a certain distance with a lens of eight-inch focus, and then make another of the same object from the same distance with one of sixteen-inch focus, we will see that the image taken with the latter is double the size and covers four times the area of that taken with the former. This is due to a law of optics which there is no room here to explain; but it can be readily seen that, for nature workers, the lenses of the longer focal lengths are by far the best to use, if size of image is the only consideration. Unfortu- nately, there are other things to be considered, and one of these is the fact that, on the other hand, the longer the focus of the lens the less speed it has, for, while a lens of sixteen-inch focus admits just as much light as does one of eight- inch focus, in the former instance the light must cover four times the area of the latter, and there- fore the speed of the latter is, approximately, four times as great. 40 Photography for the Sportsman Naturalist The depth of focus of a lens is the distance that the ground glass can be moved to and fro with- out the image of the object upon which the lens is focussed becoming visibly unsharp. This per- missible racking increases correspondingly as the lens is stopped down. This term is often con- fused with depth of field, which is the distance between two objects lying in a straight line with the camera and which are at both extremes of the field of sharp focus. This also increases materially with each smaller stop used. The " stops " or " diaphragms " of a lens are used to increase sharpness of detail, depth of field, and depth of focus. These stops are simply a series of apertures of varying sizes, which are either made in a rotating plate, when they are known as " rotating stops " ; or in separate plates which are slipped into the lens mount and are called " Waterhouse diaphragms " after the in- ventor; or, and this is the most usual form, the apertures are formed by a set of thin plates which open and close like the iris of the eye, and which, consequently, are called "iris diaphragms." The most practical function of the diaphragm is that, by decreasing the aperture, various planes are brought equally into focus at the same time. This, necessarily, by lessening the illumination of the plate, increases the requisite length of exposure correspondingly with the diminishing Cameras, Lenses, and Shutters 41 of the size of the aperture. The stops of a lens are all numbered, and, speaking very roughly, the time of exposure must be doubled with each smaller stop used. That is to say, if one second is the proper exposure on a subject when the lens is wide open, then, when using the next smaller stop, two seconds must be given, and when the next smaller is used, four seconds, and so on. We can see by this that the larger the aperture of a lens the more speed it has, and by this means the speed of a lens is determined ; but, also, with the larger apertures there is a corresponding diminishing of the depth of field. A lens work- ing at F.6 (which means that its largest aperture is F.6) is twice as fast as one working at F.8, but its depth of field is diminished accordingly. However, by stopping it down to F.8 we have the same depth of field and the same speed as we would have with the one working at F.8 used wide open. The different systems of marking lenses are too intricate and would take up too much room for me to go into a detailed explanation of them here, nor do I think it at all necessary. Suffice it to say that the F. system is the one most generally used, and it represents the different aperture ratios and is intended to give the operator an idea of the relative speed of his lens when used at the 42 Photography for the Sportsman Naturalist different apertures. If he would learn more about it, and know exactly how each system is worked out, he can find it in one of the books on lenses of which I have already spoken. The angle of view of a lens is the diameter of the field that is sharply covered by that lens. There are narrow, medium, and wide angle lenses. The greater the focal length of a lens compared with the size of the plate the narrower the angle, but as any lens which will cover a large plate will cover a smaller one — the greater includes the less — and as many lenses when stopped down will cover a much larger plate than when at full opening, there is only one way in which we can call lenses wide or narrow angle. There are lenses which will only cover a plate at a certain narrow angle, and stopping down does not extend their fields. They are rightly called narrow angle lenses. There are other lenses which will work at a very wide angle, covering a plate sharply from corner to corner at an angle of ninety degrees and even more. All lenses will not do this, and therefore those that will are cor- rectly called wide angle. To a nature worker a wide angle lens is seldom necessary, although sometimes extremely useful. In choosing a lens for nature work we must be governed principally by two considerations: speed and focal length. Lenses vary in price Cameras, Lenses, and Shutters 43 from those that cost less than a dollar and are put in the very cheapest of cameras, to those that cost up in the hundreds. If we can afford it, it is well to have more than one lens, even though we are doing all our work on the same size plate with the same camera. We should have one lens that will work very rapidly, for use where we are willing to sacrifice depth of field and focal length to speed. We should have another for use where depth of field and focal length are necessary ; and we should, without question, have a telephoto, of which I shall speak at length in another chapter. It is always a good plan, when buying a lens, to get one that is made to cover a plate one size larger than the one we intend to use, as by so doing we acquire greater focal length and greater illumination of the plate, which necessarily gives greater speed than will the same style of lens one size smaller. An anastigmatic lens is always preferable to the cheaper rapid rectilinear. The advantages of the former over the latter are : rapidity, extremely fine definition over a very large flat field at a large aperture, portability, and freedom from as- tigmatism. The great covering power of the anastigmat is an immense advantage alone. The front of the camera may be raised to any extent that the camera will allow, without fear of leaving 44 Photography for the Sportsman Naturalist the bottom of the plate uncovered or out of focus ; and the lens can be used to include a very wide angle on a larger plate than the one it is really intended to cover. In nature work the entire success of a pic- ture depends upon the sharpness of focus that is obtained. There must be no diffusion of detail in any part of the main object, and as much of the surroundings as possible should be in sharp focus also. It is therefore obvious that we should pay particular attention to how we focus our lens. As has been before stated, objects at different distances from the camera may be brought into equally sharp focus by stopping down if there is not too great a distance between them. One of the first things a beginner will observe, when he is trying to photograph an object that is very near to the camera, is that the whole object cannot usually be rendered sharply with the lens at the full aperture. In these cases he must focus sharply upon the point nearest the camera, and then stop down until all is brought into the field of sharp focus and make his exposure accordingly. In the care of lenses one cannot be too particu- lar. They are expensive articles, for they are made by the very highest class of skilled labor. They are easily damaged and should be treated accord- ingly. They should be kept as free from dust, Cameras, Lenses, and Shutters 45 dirt of any kind, and grease as possible ; and in handling them the fingers should never be al- lowed to come into contact with the surfaces of the glass. When cleaning them, which should be frequently done, never use anything that is at all rough, for the glass of which a lens is made is comparatively soft and, consequently, easily scratched. Chamois is not a good thing to use. An old piece of silk or very soft old linen or muslin is good, but better still is the soft paper that is manufactured expressly for this purpose, and which can be obtained from any dealer in optical goods. The paper from which Chinese napkins is made is also good. In cleaning a lens do not scrub it as you would a window pane, but rub it very gently with a circular movement around the lens. If there is a dirt spot that cannot be removed by simply rub- bing, then either breathe gently upon it, or use a drop of alcohol, which must immediately be dried off. On no account ever apply water, ammonia, or any chemicals. Lenses deteriorate with age, especially when left exposed to the light or air, and so they should be protected as much as possible. Chamois bags or round cardboard boxes are good receptacles for them, and, when they are out of the camera, they should always be capped at both ends. In fitting a flange to the front board, one should 46 Photography for the Sportsman Naturalist be very careful that it fits perfectly tight, with no possible chance for the admission of light. Also, in screwing the lens into the flange, there is a right and a wrong way, as one writer puts it. He says : " The right way is first to turn the tube backward — i.e. the wrong way of the thread — until the two click at the point where the threads meet. Then reverse the movement, and the lens will enter its flange quite easily." If a lens sticks in its tube or flange, it is my advice not to attempt to force it out by the use of a vice or any other means, but take it to the maker, who has the proper appliances and knows how to do it, and who will not injure it as you would be very likely to do. Finally, before buying a lens, first test it. The dealers will generally allow this, and if you do not understand how to do it yourself, you had best ask some one to do it for you who is well acquainted with the different lenses. Of shutters there is really little to be said, as they are not complex and should be easily under- stood by the average amateur. They can be roughly divided into two classes : the diaphragm shutter and the focal plane. The former is usu- ally fitted between the two combinations of the doublet or in front of a single lens and is made to give, automatically, exposures ranging from yjq of a second, in the best ones, to three min- Cameras, Lenses, and Shutters 47 utes, and is also capable of being left open in order to give an exposure of any length of time that is required. As I have said elsewhere, the time marks on a shutter should never be abso- lutely relied upon, as they are put there more to aid us in judging the differences rather than the absolute measurements of time. The focal plane shutter is one that, as its name implies, works on a plane. It is composed of a black curtain that crosses in front of the plate. This curtain is divided in the centre by a slit that can be made wider or narrower at the will of the operator, and as this slit is the entire width of the plate and exposes in its passage only one sec- tion of the plate at a time, we are enabled by the use of this shutter to get the greatest amount of illumination in the shortest space of time. This shutter is capable of being worked automatically and with almost absolute exactness, giving ex- posures ranging from about -^ to xoVo °f a sec" ond. Obviously, for very rapid work it is the only one that can be used. No matter what style of shutter we are using, we should learn to know it and its capabilities thoroughly, and be able to judge quickly and accurately how to set it for any given exposure, so that as little time may be lost in manipula- tion of the shutter as possible, for in nature work time is very valuable, and the quicker we 48 Photography for the Sportsman Naturalist can do things the greater the chances of our obtaining the picture we are after. Shutters, as well as lenses, should be well cared for, as dust or dirt of any kind or the least rust will cause them to work slower or sometimes to refuse to work altogether. In fact, we cannot well afford to ill-treat any of our photographic outfit, for the better it is cared for the longer it will last and the better the work it will do for us. CHAPTER IV THE DARK ROOM: DEVELOPING AND PRINTING Plate-holders may be loaded and the plates developed in almost any place, from a small, dark closet to a sleeping bag, but that is no reason why we should not, when we can, have a comfort- able place for a dark room. This need not be large. All the space that is absolutely necessary is enough for a chair and a table, but in order that we may work in entire comfort it should be at least five feet square. In making this room the one thing to be most particular about is the temperature. Coolness is a great consideration, both as regards our own personal comfort and the welfare of the plates. Therefore, if we happen to have a dry cellar be- neath our house, that is the best possible place for the dark room, as it is likely to be fairly cool in the summer and also fairly warm in winter. Any carpenter can build this room at a very small cost, or if we have the time, we can do so ourselves even cheaper. It should be made of half or three quarter inch pine boards, and E 49 50 Photography for the Sportsman Naturalist these should be dovetailed so as to leave no cracks through which any daylight may creep. If our house is wired for electricity, it is easy to run a wire to this room, and it makes by far the best light, as it is steady and gives less heat than any other. Otherwise we can get our light by cutting a square hole in one side of the room and placing a lamp upon a bracket outside of the hole. This hole should be covered with several thicknesses of ruby cloth and orange paper, for the least white ray in the light that strikes the plate will inevitably fog it. The light, by this arrangement, will be sufficiently strong for all practical purposes, and by keeping the lamp out- side it will not heat the room as it would were it inside. If we can have running water in the room we will find it a great convenience, but it is not nee- O essary. A plentiful supply of water, however, is requisite in order that we may have entire cleanli- ness in our work. The shelves inside the room should be so ar- ranged that we may have everything within easy reach without moving from our seat, for it is often necessary to work quickly when developing a plate. It is well, therefore, to have one shelf for the trays and another for the chemicals on the left- hand side; one, which should always be kept per- fectly dry and free from dirt of any kind, on the The Dark Room: Developing and Printing 51 right-hand side for changing the plates ; and the Ions: shelf or table beneath the window on which to do the developing. If a second shelf is placed below this last one, on which to put the hypo tray, it will materially lessen the chances of any of the hypo spattering into the developer. Over the window there should be a curtain of very dark red cloth which may be raised to get all the light necessary when using the ordinary plate, but which can be lowered to give less light when the ortho- chromatic plate is being developed, for this plate, being sensitive to the red rays, must be exposed to the light as little as possible. Many people who will read this book are undoubtedly already adepts at developing and printing, and so this chapter will be of little or no use to them ; but to the beginner, who has never done any work in photography, a few words of advice in the manipulation of his plates, both in development and printing, may not come amiss. In the first place, cleanliness is absolutely essen- tial to good work in photography, and on this point one cannot be too particular. The plate- holders and camera should be kept free from dust, and the plates should be dusted with a soft camel's-hair brush both before placing them in the holders and after taking them out, before development. If this is not done, " pinholes " in the negative are apt to be the result. These are 52 Photography for the Sportsman Naturalist minute transparent spots caused by dust on the plates either when the exposure was made or during the development. Another thing that we must be careful to avoid is air bubbles on the plate during development, for these will also cause transparent spots. The developer should be flowed over the plate quickly and evenly, and the tray must be constantly rocked until the development is completed. It is even a good plan to pass a wad of absorbent cotton over the face of the negative, after it has been immersed, to break any bubbles that may have formed upon it, for these sometimes will not break simply by the action of rocking the tray. After development the plate should be rinsed in clear water before being placed in the hypo. This is not absolutely necessary, but will some- times prevent staining. It should be allowed to remain in the hypo bath until it is thoroughly fixed, for a plate insufficiently fixed will invariably show stains sooner or later, and these stains can- not be removed. Therefore it is always best to leave the plate in the hypo for several minutes after it has the appearance of being completely fixed. The double-coated or non-halation plates take much longer to fix out than do the ordinary ones, and therefore extra care should be taken with them in this respect. An old hypo bath that has turned yellow should never be used, as its The Dark Room: Developing and Printing 53 action is slow and it is liable to stain the plates. In the winter a plain hypo bath of one part hypo to four or five parts water may be used, but this should be made fresh every day. In the summer the acid bath should be used. This is made by adding two hundred grains of acetone sulphite to every quart of a twenty per cent solution of hypo. There are many other formulas for acid fixing baths, but I have found this one to be the simplest and best. It not only hardens the film of the plate sufficiently to prevent it from " frill- ing" or "blistering" (which is the object of the acid bath, for plates will invariably do this in the warm weather if they are not hardened), but it clears the plate perfectly and will keep in good condition for an almost indefinite period. Another good hardener is formaline (use one part to about thirty parts of water), but its only bad feature is the fact that if we are not very careful it is likely to harden the film so much that it will be impossible to either reduce or in- tensify it afterward should we so desire. The plate should be placed in this solution immedi- ately after being taken from the hypo (of course when using this the acid bath is unnecessary) and allowed to remain in it from one-half a minute to three minutes according to the strength of the solution. This solution will keep well and may be used repeatedly until it becomes too weak. 54 Photography for the Sportsman Naturalist Should it become discolored, it will not injure the negative. A negative should always be well washed in running: water for at least an hour, for it is im- portant that all traces of hypo be eliminated from it. If we have not running water, then the time of washing- should be at least doubled and the water changed at least seven or eight times. After washing it should be placed to dry in some place where there is a free passage of air and as little dust as possible, and the more quickly it dries the better. As to the best developer to use, this is entirely a matter of opinion. There are many different ones on the market, and all are equally good if they are properly used. The pyro developer is the oldest and probably the most universally used at present. Its only defect is the fact that it will stain the fingers very badly and often the negative as well, although this stain can be removed from the fingers ; and, if it is equally distributed over the negative, it does not destroy its printing qualities. When one is well acquainted with this developer, he will find that he will be enabled to obtain any quality of negative with it that he desires. It is really an excellently good developer for all around work. It is somewhat slow in its action, but this is in its favor rather than against it, as it gives one ample time for the manipulation of his plate The Dark Room: Developing and Printing 55 and allows him to develop it more exactly in accordance with the exposure. A good formula, that produces vigorous nega- tives, is made up in two solutions, as follows: No. 1. Dissolve 2\ ounces sulphite of soda, crys- tals, and 1^ ounces carbonate of soda, crystals, in 15 ounces of water. No. 2. Dissolve 8 grains oxalic acid in 1 2 ounces of water and add \ ounce of pyro. To develop, take 1 ounce of No. 1, \ an ounce of No. 2, and add 3 ounces of water. Another good formula is: No. 1. Water 16 ounces ; sulphite of soda, crystals, 4 ounces ; car- bonate of potash, dry, \ ounce. No. 2. Dis- solve 8 grains oxalic acid in 1 2 ounces of water and add \ ounce of pyro. For use take } ounce of No. 1, 2 drams of No. 2, and add \\ to 3 ounces of water according to whether the negative be over or under exposed. If the latter, the most water should be used ; if the former, the least. With a normal exposure about 2 to 2J ounces of water should be used. Of all the new developers that have been placed on the market in late years, metol has probably found the greatest favor. It is a very rapid de- veloper, causing the image to appear, on a nor- mally exposed plate, in from three to six seconds, and the entire development should be accom- plished in from one and a half to two minutes. For soft effects it is excellent, giving plenty of 56 Photography for the Sportsman Naturalist detail without any hardness, provided the plate has been properly exposed. It should be made up in two solutions, as then it will keep longer than when made in one. A good formula is as follows: No. I. Water, 16 ounces ; metol, \ ounce ; when thoroughly dis- solved, add 2\ ounces sulphite of soda, crystals. No. 2. Water, 16 ounces ; carbonate of potassium, \\ ounces; bromide of potassium, 10 grains. For a normal exposure take i ounce of No. i, \ ounce of No. 2, and add i \ ounces of water. In dealing with over exposure the amount of No. 2 should be decreased and a slightly larger amount of No. I used with a few drops of a ten per cent solution of bromide potassium added. For under exposure use \ ounce of No. i, \ ounce of No. 2, and \\ ounces of water. The characteristics of a metol-developed nega- tive are softness and " thinness " ; in other words, it is hard to get density. The development should always be carried much farther than what looks, by transmitted light, to be correct, for the density loses considerably in fixing. With pyro it loses but little, and therefore the development, when using pyro, should be carried but little beyond what seems to be the proper density for the fin- ished negative. This question of how far to carry a negative in development is one that everybody must learn for The Dark Room: Developing and Printing 57 themselves by experience, for it is one where our own judgment alone can aid us. With different developers the negative requires to be carried to different degrees of density before being placed in the hypo bath. The only advice that can be offered upon the subject is, no matter what de- veloper you are using, always to make the image somewhat denser than would appear to be neces- sary by looking at it in the dark room. For myself, I prefer, for most work, metol used in conjunction with hydrokinone, for, as metol is a soft working developer, and hydrokinone gives hard results, the combination of the two strikes a happy medium that produces a brilliant, snappy negative that is full of half-tones and de- tail. The following is an excellent formula, sim- ple and efficient: Water, 16 ounces; metol, 45 grains ; hydrokinone, 90 grains ; sulphite of soda, crystals, 2 ounces ; carbonate of soda, 2 ounces. Dissolve in the order given and use, for normal exposures, 1 ounce of the solution to 4 of water. If the exposure is uncertain, use 10 ounces of water, and when the detail appears in the plate throw off this developer and finish with the normal mixture. This developer may be used repeatedly until its action becomes too slow, when it must be discarded, or it will be liable to stain the negative. It gives clear negatives with no trace of fog, if used properly, and is, in my 58 Photography for the Sportsman Naturalist opinion, by far the best developer for general work. There are many other developers on the market, all good, but it is unnecessary to enumerate them here. We should always have a bottle of a ten per cent solution of bromide of potassium in the dark room for use in cases of over exposure, for a few drops added to any developer acts as a retarder. In development we should always watch the negative carefully. It is well to have two strengths of developer mixed ready for use, one normal and the other much weaker. Commence development with the weak solution, and if the image appears too quickly and has a tendency toward " flatness," then the plate has been overexposed and must be treated accordingly by using the normal developer with some of the bromide solution added to it. If the image, on the other hand, comes up very slowly and has the appearance of being spotty and "hard," then it has been underexposed and the developer must be weakened still more and no bromide added. This will bring out what detail there may be in the plate, but, of course, if it has been very badly underexposed, nothing can be done with it. If we know that a plate is very badly over- exposed, before we commence development, it can often be saved by first soaking it in water to which The Dark Room : Developing and Printing 59 has been added about a dram of the bromide solu- tion and then developing it in a developer strong with bromide. The development of an overex- posed plate must be carried much farther than when the exposure is normal, otherwise the result will be flat with no contrasts. For normal or under exposures tank develop- ment is an excellent method. This consists in placing the plates in a covered tank of developer and allowing them to remain there until com- pletely developed. The hard rubber tanks are the best, but much more expensive than are those made of composition. I should recommend that metal tanks never be used. The developer should be diluted with about twenty times the amount of water used for normal development, and this should develop a correctly exposed plate in about an hour. The tank should be thoroughly washed before being used, and sufficient developer placed in it to completely cover the plates. The plates should not be placed so close together that they cannot be removed with perfect ease, and they should be handled very little or none at all during the process of development. If a negative is too dense, from over exposure or over development, it can be reduced after being fixed by placing it in a weak hypo bath to which has been added enough red prussiate of potash to turn it to a lemon-yellow. The tray should be 60 Photography for the Sportsman Naturalist rocked constantly during this process, else the reduction will be uneven, and the negative ex- amined frequently until the desired density is reached, otherwise it may be carried too far and made too thin. Negatives can be thus reduced after having been dried, but should then first be soaked in water until the film is perfectly softened. This reducer should only be used when the density is equal over the entire plate. When this is not so, that is, when some portions of the negative are much denser than others, causing that portion to print out white, with a loss of detail, then it can be reduced to an equal density by placing it in a three per cent solution of persulphate of ammo- nia. The negative must be closely watched, for this reducer acts very quickly after it once starts ; and when it has been sufficiently reduced it must be placed immediately in a ten per cent solution of sulphite of soda and allowed to remain in it for five or ten minutes. This stops the action of the reducer, which would otherwise continue even after the negative had been placed in water. After reducing a negative in either solution, it should be thoroughly washed in running water. The last solution should never be used except after all traces of hypo have been eliminated from the negative, for, if there is any hypo in the film, stains will occur. Neither of the The Dark Room: Developing and Printing 61 solutions will act upon a very much hardened film. When the negative is too thin from under development or under exposure it may be inten- sified, but not until after it has been thoroughly washed. The Agfa intensifier, which comes al- ready prepared, is the most convenient and gives as good results as any. Intensification can be carried as far as desired and a negative may be reintensified several times, but it must be entirely free from hypo, or else again we will have result- ing stains. Where there is a loss of detail from under exposure, if it cannot be brought out by developing in a weak developer, then intensifica- tion will do no good but only serve to make it harder. We can bring out what is in a negative and force it up to a good printing quality, but we cannot put into it what is not already there. Of the local manipulation of plates in develop- ment, reduction, and intensification, I shall say nothing, as the nature photographer will have but little recourse to this, and when he does the knowledge of how to do it will best come to him through experience. In fact, in all the processes of photography a little of this kind of knowledge is worth much advice. Great care should be exercised in the develop- ment of the orthochromatic plates, especially the fast ones, to expose them to even the ruby light 62 Photography for the Sportsman Naturalist as little as possible. I usually develop them in a covered tray if I am not using the tank. All plates should be handled during development very little and should be taken from the tray and held up to the light only when we think that de- velopment is nearing completion. In printing we come to the final process of photography, and much may be done in the way of improving a bad picture by manipulation of the various printing processes. The knowledge of how this can best be done is, however, only gained after much practice. I should advise the beginner to try the use of but one or two papers at the start and thoroughly acquaint himself with the working of these before he ventures to try his hand at the others. The two papers that are almost indispensable to all workers are the silver printing-out paper and velox. Of the printing-out papers (so named from the fact that the image shows while print- ing) there are many varieties, but the process of working them is the same in every case. They are the best for use with strong negatives, while the velox papers give better results when the negative is at all weak or thin. Directions for the use of the latter paper are enclosed in all packages, so it is a useless waste of space to repeat them here. With any of the silver papers the print must The Dark Room : Developing and Printing 6$ be made several shades darker than we wish the finished picture, for it will fade in the toning bath. For toning we can use any of the double or single toning solutions sold by dealers, but the best of them are more or less unreliable. We had much better buy the chloride of gold and make our own bath. The one that I have used for years and found eminently satisfactory is as follows : Bicarbonate of soda, 4 grains ; gold, ^ grain; water, 16 ounces. The prints should first be washed in five or six changes of water or in running water for fifteen or twenty minutes, to remove all the free silver. They should then be transferred directly to the toning bath, and while in this they should be con- stantly moved until the required tone is reached, when they should be placed in a weak hypo and alum bath. In this they should be allowed to remain for ten or fifteen minutes and then washed in running water for at least half an hour. For reproduction purposes glossy prints are required by most publishers, and for this the silver paper is by far the best. The gloss may be obtained either by burnishing them, on a machine made expressly for that purpose, after they have been mounted, or by " squeegeeing " them to a ferrotype board. The boards must be kept per- fectly clean and free from scratches, otherwise the prints will stick to them. 64 Photography for the Sportsman Naturalist Direct enlargements from the negatives upon bromide paper are easy to make if we have the proper appliances. We must have a dark room for this purpose fitted with a specially arranged camera, and the source of light must be either daylight or electric light (gas or lamplight is not strong enough). I cannot now go into a detailed account of this process, as it would necessitate a small volume to properly describe it and the nec- essary apparatus. For those who wish to use it, however, I should advise the perusal of " Photo- Miniature," No. 1 6, published by Tennant and Ward, 289 Fourth Avenue, New York City, for it gives full and explicit directions much better than could I. For making enlarged negatives an enlarging camera is necessary, and we must first make a positive on glass or celluloid and the enlarged negative from that. There are many occasions that arise where the background of a picture is bad and we wish to eliminate it while preserving the image of the main object. There are two ways of accomplish- ing this. The simplest is to make a dead-white background by " stopping out " all but the image we wish to preserve. This is clone by painting out the entire background with a preparation which is known as "opaque." One's hand must needs be very steady to do this successfully The Dark Room: Developing and Printing 65 and preserve the perfect outline of the main object. If we wish a background other than the one that is in the original negative, we can obtain it by what is known as double printing. To do this we must have two negatives, the one we have already stopped out for the main object and an- other one for the background, and the two must be in exact proportion to each other. A print must first be made of the figure on the opaqued negative and this print carefully cut out (the out- line must be followed exactly). This cut-out is then placed against the background negative, in the exact position in which we wish the figure to appear, and a print, of the depth which we wish it to be for toning, made from that negative. This will, naturally, show a white space of the exact size and form of the figure, or whatever the main object that we are using may be. Against this the figure in the opaqued negative must be fitted carefully, so that no sign of the joining will show, and allowed to print into the depth of the background. This is really not so difficult or tedious a process as it might seem and gives some very excellent results when used judiciously; but it should only be resorted to when absolutely nec- essary, for it is one of the methods of " faking " which all nature photographers should avoid when possible. 66 Photography for the Sportsman Naturalist Retouching and " spotting out," both on nega- tive and print, are ofttimes necessary, for pin- holes will come despite all our precautions, and often details can be worked up and better pic- tures thus obtained. Especially is this so where prints are being made for reproduction, for here they must be as clear and full of detail as possible; and where the negative has not got these quali- ties in it, it is obvious, if we would use it, that we must put them there in some way. In retouching the negative it must first be covered with a preparation of balsam known as a "retouching fluid," which can be bought already prepared at any supply store. Without this the pencil will not make sufficiently heavy marks on the film to be of any material use. When the work is delicate, such as touching up the feathers of a bird or the fur of an animal, a very hard pencil (about six H) should be used, and this should be sharpened to a very fine point and never allowed to become in the least dull. For coarser work, such as filling in shadows, etc., a softer pencil can be used. All this retouching should be done with the utmost care in order that it may not show for what it is in the print. If it is clone hurriedly or carelessly, it will inevitably show and spoil the photographic qualities of the print. If there is a heavy background or very deep shadows that should be held back or light- The Dark Room : Developing and Printing 67 ened, this can be clone by a wash of paint (either blue or yellow) on the back of the negative. Spotting out simply consists of rilling in the transparent spots caused by specks of dust or bubbles in the developer. This may be done with opaque, water colors, or India ink. In working upon the print itself, if it is on a matt surface paper (such as platinum, velox, etc.), we should use either the soft, dull pencils, known to artists as the " negro pencil," or else India ink applied with a fine brush. For work on the glossy prints, water colors mixed with a little gum arabic will give good results. At times it will be found advisable to locally print some portion of the picture more than the rest. This can be accomplished by carefully shading the remainder of the negative with a piece of cardboard. It should not be held too close to the negative and should be slightly moved about during the time it is held there in order that no sharp line of demarcation may appear on the print. The keeping of a large collection of negatives is often a problem. To repack them in the boxes in which the plates originally came only necessi- tates a useless expenditure of time in looking over them when any particular negative is wanted. I enclose each negative in an envelope, on the out- side of which I mark the number and name of the 68 Photography for the Sportsman Naturalist negative. These I pack upright, in numerical order, in long, lidless boxes which are just the width of the envelopes. These I put away on shelves just deep enough and high enough to re- ceive them, and in this manner I can store a large number of negatives in a comparatively small place and yet have easy access to any one that I may need. On the front of each box I have a label which tells me what subjects and what numbers that box contains, and, by the aid of my catalogue (and it is necessary for any one to keep a catalogue if he has a large number of negatives from which he is constantly working), I can get, without loss of time, any negative from which I wish to print. This also insures greater safety to the nega- tives, for it necessitates less handling of them. In all my photographic career I have broken, unintentionally, just three negatives, and I attrib- ute this largely to my method of keeping them. Necessarily, in the confined space of one chap- ter it is impossible to give, in full detail, all the various processes of developing, printing, etc. I have, however, attempted to give the more essen- tial details which a beginner should know, and the rest he must learn for himself. One last word of precaution. If you would succeed and turn out good work, you can never afford to be careless. Never work in a hurry, but The Dark Room : Developing and Printing 69 always give yourself ample time for what you have to do. Mix your solutions with care and exact- ness, and unless your water supply is fairly pure, it should be distilled. After mixing a solution always filter before using it, for there is much dirt that remains in it that might injure the negative ; and, above all things, be cleanly in all your opera- tions. CHAPTER V THE TELEPHOTOGRAPHIC LENS AND ITS USES The telephoto lens is of such inestimable value to the nature worker, and so few people really give it credit for what it can do, that I think a chapter none too little to devote to it and its uses. To define it very untechnically, it is a lens having the properties of a telescope in a dimin- ished decree. Its main characteristics are two: it will give photographs of objects on a larger scale than will an ordinary lens with the same extension of bellows and from the same point of view; it is not of any fixed focal length and can be focussed to give a sharp image at any camera extension (measured from the negative lens to the ground glass), provided only that the extension is as great as, or greater than, the focal length of the front, or positive, lens. The front lens is generally an ordinary photo- graphic lens, and any make can be used for that purpose. The faster lenses are, however, prefer- able, as the addition of the rear, or negative, 70 The Telepbotograpbic Lens and its Uses 71 element very greatly reduces the speed. The negative lens is useless by itself and can, therefore, be used only in conjunction with the ordinary, or positive, element. The telephoto lens is focussed by altering the distance between the front, or positive, lens and the back, or negative, lens. This is done by means of a thumb-screw on the barrel of the lens. The shorter the camera extension the greater must be the separation of the positive and negative elements, and vice versa. In focussing one must use extreme care, for the plane of sharpness is limited, and therefore the focus must be exact or the resulting picture will be blurred. In order to secure as great a range of focal lengths (and consequent magnifications of the size of the image) as possible, the camera used should be capable of a considerable amount of extension, at least twenty to twenty-five inches in a five by seven and correspondingly more in the larger sizes. A telephoto lens will then give enlarge- ments over the ordinary lens of anywhere from three to twelve or fifteen diameters. Of course, the longer the extension of the bellows the greater the resulting enlargement, but there is a conse- quent diminishing of speedy therefore we are often forced to sacrifice size of the image where speed is absolutely necessary. The best telephoto lenses are capable of work- j 2 Photography for the Sportsman Naturalist ing, under ordinary conditions, at from one second to jJq of a second at full opening, according to the length of the bellows' extension ; and, under very favorable conditions, where the light is very strong, exposures can be made in from 2V to To °f a second. When such rapid exposures are made, however, the negative is liable to be underexposed and must be devel- oped, accordingly, with the greatest care, in order to bring out a satisfactory image. In fact it is always well, in work with the telephoto, to presuppose that your negative is underexposed. If it is not, no damage is done ; but if it is, as is most apt to be the case, and the ordinary strength developer is used upon it, then a chemical fog will result, and it will be impossible for you to bring out all the detail there is in the negative, or to carry it to anywhere near the desired density. Absolute rigidity of the camera and stand is necessary, for, on account of the enlargement of the image, the least vibration will cause blurring and an unsatisfactory result. The telephoto lens is, naturally, much heavier than the ordinary lens, and, therefore, where long extension of the bellows is desired, it is well to use braces to hold the front board perfectly rigid; for often the mere releasing of the shutter will jar it sufficiently to cause a blurred image. For this reason it is difficult to use this lens in any kind of a hand camera, but, The Telephotographic Lens and its Uses 73 by the exercise of great care, it can be done and some very excellent results obtained. It has even been used on flying birds; but the negatives, in such an instance, are bound to be so badly underexposed on account of the necessarily rapid exposure that must be made that, even by the ex- ercise of the greatest care in the development, they are seldom all that could be desired. The stops on a telephoto lens act in directly the opposite manner than do those on an ordinary one, for while, in an ordinary lens, the smaller the stop used the greater the covering power obtained, with a telephoto the reverse is true, and the more it is stopped down the smaller will be the covering power, until, if the smallest stop is used, only a circle in the centre of the plate will be exposed unless the lens is made to cover a much larger plate than the one it is being worked with. So it is always best to use it wide open, or at its largest aperture, and obtain sharpness of definition by accurate focussing. This not only gives better covering power, but also, naturally, greater speed. In selecting a shutter for use with this lens one which works as smoothly and with as little jar as possible is desirable, for when an exposure of one or two seconds is required, the jar made by the opening of the shutter will sometimes cause a sufficient vibration to blur the image. The usefulness of a telephoto lens lies entirely 74 Photography for the Sportsman Naturalist in the fact that distant objects can be photographed with comparatively little trouble, and fairly large images of them be obtained, when it would be impracticable to get a picture that would show anything with the ordinary lens. In nature work it is often impossible to ap- proach near enough to one's subject to use the ordinary lens satisfactorily, but with the telephoto one can, practically, cause his subject to approach him close enough to give a good-sized image. Its only drawbacks are those which I have men- tioned : lack of speed and the care which must be used both in focussing and making the exposure. In short, the photographer using a telephoto lens needs more time both before and during the ex- posure than the wild things are always willing to give; and yet it is an indispensable adjunct to a nature worker's outfit, for there are many occasions, constantly arising, when the use of. any other lens would be impossible. A deer or any other animal will often lie or stand perfectly still long enough to allow us to set up our camera and make, not only one, but sev- eral exposures if the work is done from a distance of seventy-five or a hundred yards ; but should we attempt to approach that same animal close enough to use an ordinary lens, he would leave long before we got within anything like the necessary range. A bird will often sit quietly on her nest and allow The Telcphjfographic Lens and its Uses 75 one to photograph her with a telephoto from a distance of twenty-five or thirty feet, but few of them will sit quietly when one tries to come much closer to them than this. Then, too, there are times when one cannot, even if the subject will allow it, approach close enough to use the ordinary lens. For photograph- ing birds' nests on inaccessible cliffs or at the end of branches too small to hold even the weight of the camera, the telephoto lens is invaluable ; and when one becomes thoroughly conversant with the workings of one and its various uses, he will find that he will often employ it in preference to any other of his lenses and will never cease to wonder at the ease with which he can obtain pictures that had always before seemed to him impossible. Many of the nature photographs at which the uninitiated are apt to exclaim in wonder do not seem such miracles of the photographic art when looked at through the medium of a telephoto lens ; and one has but to gain a thorough knowledge of the possibilities which are opened up by the use of one of these instruments to cause him to for- ever afterwards swear by them. When he once does gain this knowledge, he will never again be without one. As I have already said, any lens which one hap- pens to have can be used as the positive, or front, element, and the cost of the telephoto, the rear or 76 Photography for the Sportsman Naturalist ■4 % ' ■ : i f»\ I mSm V- i ;». ■ v.. l ; ^Jl^^Wjfl::..! \4l ■...'•* |#fe p>' V 'gw. I ' - ^ ' ft ;' ■fe^-i ""jTS! mfvP Bfiv* -1 ■f , iSI'l . 1 t*'»^w^W r in '*'* V l»?*JBHR.r\B %«$#>'■ 'H ,,; "*■-,' .■:i JL' ". KX >, a w^.'jy iv^V l i\£jF ■ 1 ,J«I '■;' ■ UBw v. *& $ -.t <" > vv- £»> ■• '•. *« ''•• VV; ■ ■•> *■ •>. *••..*. '. ■<•■•.• .'■'*«, ■. ' ■:■' w ' '"■■■ s : -A ' J 1 V - 111 ■at | ai HI 1 ' 1 1 1 ^eB - - -' 11 • g p« 1 ' 1 I '.'■•V J it -1 - *" * -•'■:. . "' . fcf^S BH'« n ■ ■1 ■ •{■'•'' > ■ V*-" . \* ■ '■■■ ■■' ■■ ! I'M The Tekphotographic Lens and its Uses 77 negative element, is but a slight additional ex- pense. In consideration of its usefulness it is the cheapest part of a nature worker's outfit and is easily within the reach of anybody's pocketbook. To the beginner it may seem absurd, and, indeed, to those who know nothing of the possibili- ties of this lens it seems nothing short of miracu- lous, that photographs can be taken of an animal the size of a deer at distances varying from one hundred to two hundred yards and good-sized images be obtained. Yet this is not only possible, but easy of accomplishment, when the camera is used at its greatest extension and, in the bright sunlight, the exposure necessary to obtain a perfect negative does not exceed one to two seconds. In fact, when one first uses this instrument he is apt to over rather than under expose his negatives. I know this was the case with me, for I found it hard to realize that negatives could be made with it with no greater exposure than I soon found was nec- essary. I remember that when developing the first negative I ever took with one I was com- pletcly mystified that it should come up positively black, with almost no detail showing. This I could not understand until I learned that instead of the five-second exposure I had given I should have used less than a quarter of a second. It is difficult to give any definite instructions in regard to the exposure, as it increases in accord- 78 Photography for the Sportsman Naturalist ance with the extension of bellows used and varies according to the speed of the positive lens. One must learn for himself, which he can do by a little experimenting, just how much longer exposure it is necessary to give when using the telephoto attachment, and in just what proportion to in- crease it as he increases the length of bellows. Roughly speaking, about four times the length of exposure is needed when the magnification does not exceed two and a half to three diameters as would be required with the ordinary lens, and this increases proportionately to the number of magni- fications. Another great advantage of the telephoto lens over one of the ordinary type is that it shows much better perspective. With its use we get none of that grotesque foreshortening which it is almost impossible to avoid when using the short focus lenses on near-by objects, and which often does much to mar the beauty and usefulness of an otherwise successful picture, if, indeed, it does not ruin it entirely. The telephoto may be used successfully in the reflex, but only in bright sunlight and by the ex- ercise of the greatest care, for it would be impos- sible to hold the camera absolutely immovable during an exposure exceeding a fifth of a second. It can be used, however, with entire success on birds and animals in cases where they would not The Telepbotographic Lens and its Uses 79 c £ o o o .e D T3 c w c 80 Photography for the Sportsman Naturalist allow us the time to set up and focus with a tripod instrument. The accompanying photographs, which I have used to illustrate this chapter, have been made expressly for this volume, with the idea of clearly showing the comparative advantage of a telephoto lens over an ordinary one. That this advantage is great I think no one can deny, and no one who has ever used a telephoto in nature work will dispute me, I feel sure, when I say that, next to the reflex type of camera, it is the one appliance that has done more than anything else toward making possible much that has been accomplished in nature pho- tography. Therefore, no nature worker's outfit is entirely complete without one. CHAPTER VI APPARATUS FOR A FIELD WORKER The absolutely necessary apparatus which one must have in order to work along the lines of nature photography is not very extensive or very expensive. It is always well, however, when one wishes to do the best wrork possible, to be supplied with the best tools possible. So it is always advisable to start out with the proper outfit, even though it does cost a little more than one antici- pated, than to spend less money and find that one's apparatus is inadequate to the demands made upon it and be forced to discard it even- tually in favor of that which should have been originally bought. This will inevitably happen if one starts out with a poor outfit, although I should advise the beginner to start with but one camera until he has become somewhat familiar with the work and found out whether or not he wishes to continue at it. By that time, too, he will have become better acquainted with the different makes of cameras and lenses and will, consequently, be G 81 82 Photography for the Sportsman Naturalist better able to choose for himself than I am to choose for him. It is said that a good workman can work with any tools, but it is not so in photography ; for no one can take a picture requiring an exposure of _i_ of a second with a lens whose limit of capacity in speed does not exceed -fa of a second, and no one can make a shutter whose highest tension allows it to work no faster than T^ of a second answer the purpose of one that is manufactured especially to make exposures ranging from ^ to YoVo °f a second. In work on the living wild things speed is pre- eminently necessary. We cannot tell our subjects to "sit still and look pleasant," but we must be ready to catch their images whenever and wher- ever we may ; and in order to do this an exposure of xoVo °f a second is no unusual thing. This may seem to be an absurdly small length of time, and, indeed, it is almost smaller than we can appreciate. It is faster than the human eye can work, and yet it is none too fast to stop the action in the wings of a flying bird and it is entirely inadequate when applied to the rapidly fluttering wings of a butterfly. Photographs are taken in less time than this, remarkable as it may seem to some, but not, however, with the orthodox camera and lens ; and it is unnecessary for me to enter into a description of anything but those appli- Apparatus for a Field Worker 83 ances which are a necessity to the nature photog- rapher. To try to tell a man just what make of camera, lens, and shutter he must use would, in my opinion, be almost if not quite as absurd as to try to influence him in his choice of a rifle or shot- gun, especially when he already knows something about them. With cameras, as with guns, there are many makes upon the market, all equally good ; but naturally each photographer has his favorite make, as each sportsman has his favorite gun, and each is apt to think that the particular make which he uses is the best. So, to the experienced man, who already has his ideas inviolately fixed and with whose ideas some of mine may conflict, I make my apologies and beg him to remember that, as I have already stated, this volume is written as an aid to the mere tyro, he who knows nothing of the work he is about to attempt, and not to the man who is already experienced in that work. It is almost always discouraging to the beginner to look over the long list of photographic appara- tus and to try to pick out the camera, lens, and other appliances which he thinks he will need, realizing, as he must inevitably do, that he really knows nothing about it. I know this was the case with me, even a number of years ago, when the name of the different makes was not so nearly 84 Photography for the Sportsman Naturalist legion as it is now. One is very apt in his per- plexity to turn to the dealer for aid, and he, rarely being a practical photographer and almost never one who has any knowledge of the nature end of it, will induce him to buy a number of abso- lutely useless things and omit many that are necessary. Moreover he will, naturally, try to sell him those things upon which he makes the largest profits, regardless of whether they are necessary to the outfit or not, unless, as is infrequently the case, that particular dealer happens to be a thoroughly conscientious man. I find, with all clue regard to the dealers in photographic goods and supplies, that most of them are entirely without conscience and would much rather sell a man who knows nothing about it a camera of the vintage of '90 than one that is up to date ; and cameras are not like wine, they do not improve with age. A great difficulty in trying to give anything like a complete list of the apparatus needed for successful work is the fact of the constant change and improvement in that apparatus. The thing that may be the best for to-day's work may be superseded by something infinitely better to- morrow, and that may again be supplanted on the following day ; for there is actually scarcely a clay passes that does not find some new appliance placed on the market, or, at least, some improve- Apparatus for a Field Worker 85 ment on the old, to simplify the various processes of photography. However, I shall give from my experience, combined with what I know of the experience of others, hints concerning the apparatus which I have found most useful, and shall hope that those hints will be taken for what they are worth ; for my opinions, while based upon a fair amount of knowl- edge, I do not for a moment consider infallible, nor do I wish any of my readers to consider them as such. In the first place, I would advise all beginners to use as little apparatus as possible and to make that apparatus as light as is compatible with strength and rigidity. When one starts out for a ten or fifteen mile tramp in the quest of subjects it is well that the burden he has to carry should be as small as possible, for every extra pound will begin to tell after the second or third mile, and before he has returned he will think that the weight has increased tenfold. I almost invariably use, on my long jaunts, a four by five camera. This size is, I think, the most practical for all-round nature work. It is light and can be carried long distances without inconvenience, takes up little room, and at least two dozen plates can easily be carried with it in plate-holders or magazine. The plates, after development, can be much 86 Photography for the Sportsman Naturalist more easily packed away and cared for than can those of a larger size, and they are of the most convenient size and shape both for making enlargements from and for reducing for lantern slides. Moreover, and this is of no little conse- quence, they are much cheaper than are the larger ones. The camera should be a long-focus one, with extension of bellows at both front and back, and should be of the best and most substantial make; for it will receive many a hard knock before you are done with it, knocks that a lightly built camera will not stand. It should have both the reversible and swing back and the rising front, all of which have been described in a previous chapter. With this style of camera I have done much of my best work, and for all general photography there is none better. As the worker advances and becomes more and more adept in his art, he will find other cameras of different sizes, while not absolutely necessary to the successful issue of his work, at least very useful, and he can add them to his outfit as occa- sion demands; but at first one camera will be sufficient for all his needs. As to plate-holders, one can be none too care- ful in his selection of them, for upon them a great deal of his future success depends. There is nothing more discouraging or maddening than Apparatus for a Field Worker 87 to find that an exposure from which one expected much has been irredeemably ruined by a defec- tive plate-holder. It is strange that, while such immense improvements have been made in cam- eras, the one part that is of almost the most importance, the plate-holder, should still be inade- quate to the demands made upon it. There are almost no plate-holders made in this country that are absolutely light-tight, for the best of them will not stand the test of a half-hour's exposure to the direct rays of the sun without fogging the plate, and many cannot be left with safety in the sunlight for more than a few seconds. They are the one part of the apparatus that we should never select on account of their lightness, for the lighter they are the more flimsily are they made ; and although the cheaper, lighter ones may an- swer when used with the greatest care and exposed to a strong light as little as possible, still, they will not stand the wear and tear that is bound to fall to their lot and will soon be in such a condi- tion that they will be entirely useless. I am partial to a plate-holder with a hard rubber slide, for, although it is apt to become brittle in cold weather and correspondingly soft in warm, it is the most opaque of any and cannot be injured by dampness. The ones made with a dull finish are the best. So, in selecting your plate-holders, get those 88 Photography for the Sportsman Naturalist that are as strongly made as possible, regardless of the weight, and above all do not buy any pat- tern that does not allow of the plate being in- serted and removed with the greatest ease. It will often be found necessary to change plates in the dark, in any closet or other place that is light- tight, and sometimes even in the open, after dark, or inside a closed tent or even a sleeping bag. This is frequently a test of one's patience under the best conditions, and if the plates insist on sticking in the plate-holders it increases the difficulties. At least one dozen plate-holders should be purchased, for one should carry not less than two dozen plates on a day's photograph- ing trip. Magazine plate-holders are useful, inasmuch as they allow one to carry more plates in less space, and the manipulation of them is easier and quicker than when plate-holders are used. I do not unreservedly recommend them, however, as I think they are still far from being perfected. They are too easily gotten out of order and the plates stick at just the critical moment; or else a small hole or break appears, usually in the leather top, of which we know nothing and which will admit enough light to ruin a dozen plates before we discover the damage that is being done. Therefore I always stick to the old-fashioned plate-holders, which, while being somewhat cum- Apparatus for a Field Worker 89 bersome, I consider more satisfactory in the long run. In this connection a changing bag is often a useful thing, although it is difficult to find one that is satisfactory and that will not wear out and become useless in a short time. When one is going on a camera hunting trip, however, where he will have no access to anything resembling a dark room, it is well enough to take one along, as by its use one can remove his plates from and reload his plate-holders even in broad daylight. Mr. Dugmore describes one which he has found useful as follows : " A simple form that answers for a changing bag is a square, box-shaped bag, well reenforced and bound at the edges. At each corner there is a loop to which cords are attached that will hold the bag in position ; two sleevelike openings (with rubber bands to hold them closely about one's arms) on one side admit the arms and should be made large enough to let the plate-holders enter." He further says that one made of pantasote is the best, as any material in which rubber is used will soon harden and crack. In this I fully agree with him, and I think that the one he describes is probably the simplest and best form of a changing bag that one could use. When in use it is swung from any conven- ient branch or branches, and while one cannot well see what he is doing, when he once knows 90 Photography for the Sportsman Naturalist his plate-holders and the manner in which the plates are packed in boxes, this is not necessary, for feeling is all that is then requisite. In regard to the tripod: one that combines lightness with thorough rigidity is desirable. These two qualities are in no way incompatible if the tripod is made of the proper kind of wood. English ash is good, but heavier than mahogany or willow, and both the latter make good, strong tripods. The head should be broad, so that when the camera is attached it will have a solid base upon which to rest. The legs should telescope or fold at least three times or, better still, four, so that it can be packed in as small a space as pos- sible, but the screw nuts at the joints should be strong enough to hold absolutely firmly. The tripod is not necessarily indispensable, but it is an extremely important adjunct to the outfit, and as it will receive much hard usage it should be so built as to withstand it. The telescope tripods made of aluminum are very pretty to look at, but their only recommendation lies in their lightness. So far as rigidity is concerned they are useless, for the merest breath of air will cause them to sway, and therefore they should never be used. The screw bolt which attaches the camera to the tripod head should be undetachable, otherwise it can easily be lost and so destroy the usefulness of the tripod. Apparatus for a Field Worker 91 A tilting table is sometimes useful in cases where the camera is to be pointed downward, but it is a heavy contrivance, increasing one's load, and is never absolutely necessary. For certain work indoors it will be found nec- essary to have a form of camera stand that will permit the placing of the subject on a piece of plate-glass maintained in a horizontal position, while the camera is secured vertically above and pointing directly downward at it. There are a number of such devices, and any of the larger photographic houses can fulfil your wants in this direction. A ball and socket clamp, which is made in different sizes and which can be carried in one's pocket, is almost indispensable when photograph- ing from trees, for it not only fastens the camera securely to any branch, but allows of its being tilted or swung in any direction, even in a vertical position, and held there securely. Now as to the lens, and in this respect one must rely largely on his own judgment and the capacity of his pocket-book. There are many lenses on the market, and those of the highest grades are all equally good. The cheaper anas- tigmatic lenses which are usually sold with an outfit will answer many purposes, but when it comes to very rapid work, they fall short of the requirements. For a beginner this style of lens 92 Photography for the Sportsman Naturalist will probably do, but as he advances he will find that it is inadequate for the various uses to which he may wish to put it. In most branches of work speed is necessary, as is also depth of field and definition. All these qualities are combined in the highest possible degree in the best lenses. The longer the focus of your lens the better, and it is always well to get a lens that will cover a plate one size larger than the plate you intend to use. By doing so you acquire greater length of focus and greater covering power, which is useful where the rising front of the camera is used. A short-focus lens distorts objects that are close to the camera, often to such an extent that the results are grotesque and ludicrous in the extreme. Unfortunately those lenses of the very highest speed have the least depth of field, and I would advise that for all-round use one working at about F.6 be used. This gives sufficient speed for all work, under ordinary conditions, combining with it a fairly considerable depth of field. The best lens is one whose two systems of combinations have different foci and can be used separately. In such an instrument we have practically three lenses in one, the front combination being of one length of focus, the rear of another, and the entire lens, or couplet, of a third. Of course the single combination is much slower than the double, and this must be taken into consideration when using it. Apparatus for a Field Worker 93 Of the telephoto lens I have already written, and it needs only to be said here that it forms an invaluable adjunct to the outfit. Among the shutters there is almost as great a choice as among the lenses, but in buying one we should be careful that, in making the exposure, it works as smoothly and makes as little noise as possible, for the click of a shutter is often suffi- cient to scare a wary bird or animal. We must also remember that, while each shutter has its time-scale, these scales are seldom absolutely correct, and that they are intended more to repre- sent degrees of difference than exact measure- ments of time. Thus, while most of the later patterns of shutters are scaled to work automati- cally at from about three seconds to the yj^j- of a second, they rarely exceed in speed TJ^ of a second, and frequently the best they can do is less than that. For extremely rapid work the choice is not so great, however, but is limited to one type : the focal plane shutter, which is capable of making an exposure in yoVo °^ a second, but which has been described elsewhere and so needs no further mention here. For rapid work, also, such as birds flying, fish leaping, animals running, etc., the only camera that can be used successfully is one of the reflecting type, which I have also fully described elsewhere, or else a twin lens, which is more cumbersome, 94 Photography for the Sportsman Naturalist more expensive, and not so good. The photog- rapher, as soon as he has mastered the intricacies of the tripod camera, will do well to add one of these indispensable, although rather expensive, boxes to his outfit. He will never have cause to regret the necessary expenditure, for with it he can obtain pictures that it would be absolute folly to attempt with an ordinary camera. So much for the actual camera ; but the acces- sories are of great importance and must not be overlooked or slighted, for upon them often depends the success of the picture. The focussing cloth is of some importance. It should be of some stout material that will wear well and let as little light through as possible. The ordinary focussing cloth sold by the dealers is not good, for, while at first its quality is excel- lent, it soon wears at the creases where it is folded and becomes useless. I use a rubber cloth, made by a few rubber goods houses, in which the rub- ber is woven into the texture of the goods and not merely coated upon the surface. This wears well and is practically opaque. The cloth should be large enough to admit of its being wrapped completely about the camera when the latter is set up and opened, leaving nothing but the lens uncovered. This is often necessary in order that the plate may be thoroughly protected when the camera is left standing in the sunlight, as Apparatus for a Field Worker 95 is frequently the case, in photographing birds especially. About one hundred feet of small rubber tubing and a large rubber bulb or small hand bicycle pump should always be carried, — this for use when it is found necessary, or at least advisable, to release the shutter from a distance. The best form of bulb that I have found is the large rubber syringe used for sprinkling plants. The nozzle can be cut off and a plug fitted to attach to the end of the tubing. This bulb, by a slight squeeze, will give a sufficient air pressure, which the ordi- nary exposure bulb, sold by photographic dealers, will not. For those who make extended trips after sub- jects it is always well to carry with them a small quantity of concentrated developer and fixer. Water for washing can, most usually, be found, as any stream or pond will answer the purpose. While it is not wise to attempt to develop all the negatives you make before returning to your proper dark room and apparatus, it is well to develop a few now and then in order that you may be sure that there is nothing wrong with the working of your camera or with the exposures you are giving. I am acquainted with a man who once went on a long photographic trip, dur- ing which he made some three or four hundred exposures. He was foolish enough not to test 96 Photography for the Sportsman Naturalist any of them, however, for which he paid dearly, for when he came to do his developing upon his return home, he found that every plate had been light-struck by a small hole in the bellows of his camera which had escaped his notice. This is apt to happen to any one, and it is not always safe to trust to luck, especially when the results are important. In order to do any developing afield a portable developing tent is needed. Unfortunately there are none at present on the market that are really good, but I am living in the hopes that some day one of the numerous photographic supply houses will correct this deficiency. There are, however, two patterns, from which one may choose, that serve to answer the purpose. In one of these the arms only are put inside. There are two pieces of yellow glass on opposite sides, one of which to look through in order to follow development, the other to illuminate the plate. This has the disadvantage of not allow- ing one to see the plate with distinctness, but at least allows him to keep cool while he is working. The other style admits one's head, shoulders, and arms, and is then fastened about the waist. It has but one glass window and in cold weather is well enough ; but in hot weather it is equal to a Turkish bath, as well as nearly Apparatus for a Field Worker 97 suffocating one, and is dangerous, also, to the welfare of the plates. There are many sundries which one can use to advantage and which are not usually included in a regulation photographic outfit. Among these may be mentioned a pair of good climbers for ascending trees. These should be made with longer spurs than are on those ordinarily used by the telegraphic linemen, so that they may easily penetrate through the bark of the tree and into the solid wood beneath. I should not recommend any one to make his first attempt at their use on a very high tree. A plentiful supply of stout cord is also useful in many cases. It should be strong enough to admit of hauling up and lowering the camera from tree-tops. Many photographers screen their cameras with leaf-cov- ered boughs, etc. I use merely a large piece of green cloth. It often will be found necessary to thus screen the camera, for the two things about it that seem to frighten the subjects most are the lens and the legs of the tripod. The former it is impossible to entirely cover up, but the latter can be made invisible, and for this purpose, as I have said, I use a piece of green cloth, which blends sufficiently well with the surrounding foliage to allay, in most cases, the fears of my subject. A mirror is frequently of extreme assistance. It should be of heavy plate-glass, so as not to H 98 Photography for the Sportsman Naturalist break easily, and at least eight or ten inches square. Its usefulness consists of reflecting light upon dark subjects, such as birds' nests in holes, etc., which could not be successfully photographed without the aid of such reflected li^ht. A smaller mirror, which can be held in front of the camera and which will enable the operator to set his shut- ter at any desired speed from the back of the camera by reading the reflection in the mirror, will also be found useful, for many occasions arise, especially in work from tree-tops, where it is impossible to get to the front of the camera. Last in my list, but by no means the least in importance, is the choice of plates to be used. This question of which is the best plate to use is one upon which different photographers differ greatly, for while one will swear by a certain brand of plate, another will say that that particular brand is worthless, or nearly so, when compared with some other. The fact of the matter is that there are many good plates on the market, and I have arrived at the conclusion that the plate with which any worker can obtain the best results is the best plate for him to use and to stick to, for the con- stant changing of makes of plates is foolish. As I have not said anything elsewhere on the subject of plates, it may be well to put in a few words here. There are three styles of plates on the market Apparatus for a Field Worker 99 that are useful to the nature photographer. These are : the ordinary fast plate, of which Seed's 27 or Cramer's Crown are probably the best examples ; the Iso- or Orthochromatic plate ; and the Non-halation plate. The first is a plate of fast emulsion, with no particular quality, useful in all ordinary cases, and up to within the past few years the best plate on the market. The isochro- matic or orthochromatic plate is one that is coated with an emulsion made especially sensitive to the reds, greens, and yellows, and therefore gives more accurate color values. The non-halation plate is one which prevents, by a double coating of the emulsion, blurring around strongly lighted places such as the window of a room looked at from the inside. There is also a plate, which has lately been placed upon the market, which combines these two qualities and which is called the non- halation orthochromatic plate. This is, to my mind, the finest plate that has ever been manu- factured, and is most excellent for every style of work. For oreneral use I should recommend the ortho- chromatic plate as giving the best results under all circumstances. It is made in three grades: fast, medium, and slow. The slow gives the best color values, but cannot be used for instantaneous work. Ordinary plates will do well enough for snap-shot work and are easier to manipulate in the 306527 ioo Photography for the Sportsman Naturalist dark room, as they are capable of standing much more light without fogging ; but in flower work, especially, orthochromatic plates are a necessity. A ray filter or color screen is a helpful adjunct in use with these plates, as it accentuates the color values. The best consists of simply a piece of glass stained yellow. Any one can make one for himself by thoroughly fixing an unexposed plate in fresh hypo and then, after a short washing, soak it in a ten per cent solution of bichromate of pot- ash until the required density of color is reached. After it has dried, cover the film side with a piece of clean glass, bind the edges, and you will have a perfect color screen. It should be fastened either to the front or back of the lens, and should be so fixed that no rays of light can pass through the lens that do not also pass through the screen ; otherwise it would not answer its purpose of entirely " filtering " the light. It must be remem- bered, however, that, when using one of these screens, the exposure which would be given with- out it must be increased from four to ten times, according to the density of the screen. On long trips, where weight and space are a consideration, the cut film is really an excellent substitute for the glass plate and has the added virtue of being absolutely unbreakable. It is made of heavier celluloid than are the roll films, and is carried in a film-holder made for the purpose and Apparatus for a Field Worker 101 inserted in the ordinary plate-holder in the same manner as a plate. In my work I use the orthochromatic plates, to the almost exclusion of all others, both with and without the color screen, as I find that they in- variably give me the best results. The beginner, however, must experiment for himself until he finds the plate which he considers best adapted to his uses. CHAPTER VII PHOTOGRAPHING THE LARGER ANIMALS There are few people, of those who use a camera or of those who do not, who realize the immense possibilities there are for pleasure and excitement in the photographing of the wild animals, the " big game." It is a field in which but little has as yet been accomplished, but in which much can be done, and it is undoubtedly the sportsmen who can do this better than any one else. This is because they know the ani- mals, their habits and haunts, better than do most of us, and because they know also the best and surest means of approaching them. This is not a field, however, that any one can enter, for it means work that necessitates the taking of long trips into the denser wooded parts of the country, and not every one can afford the time to do this. Here we cannot go out for a day's work, as we can when photographing the birds or even the smaller mammals, but we must prepare for it weeks in advance ; for it means the collecting of I02 Photographing the Larger Animals 103 apparatus and camping outfit and, unless we are well acquainted with the part of the country we would visit, the looking up of travelling routes and the hiring of guides. In fact it is nothing more or less than a hunting trip on which the camera takes the place of the rifle, or, at least, is used in conjunction with it. Moreover, it should not be taken except by those men who are physically capable of with- standing much in the way of exposure, fatigue, and hard, nerve-racking exertion. Photographs of the larger wild things, the deer, moose, cougar, etc., are only obtained by strenuous and often dangerous work, and the ability to follow, at no matter what cost, wherever your subject may lead, until you have had your opportunity to catch his image on your sensitive plate. It requires a strength and endurance with which not many of us are blessed, and those who are not possessed of these necessary qualities or have not the nerve to face at close quarters an angry elk at bay, or a cougar treed and ready to spring, had better not attempt it, but confine their labors to some branch of photography that requires, perhaps, just as much real brain-work and ingenuity, but less of actual physical power. Recent literature has given us really astonish- ing and wonderful proof of the courage, hardi- hood, and skill of those naturalist sportsmen who io4 Photography for the Sportsman Naturalist > CO C )* o X £6 UJ c o CD 6 < Photographing the Larger Animals 105 will follow in the track of any animal, sometimes even for days or weeks, regardless of danger, toil, or exposure, until the desired picture is obtained. Of these Mr. A. G. Wallihan of Colorado is, per- haps, the most indefatigable, and he has to his credit some truly marvellous results of his hunting. With an eight by ten camera on his back and a pack of hounds he considers it nothing to follow in the tracks of a cougar for miles over the rough- est country and through deep snow, hanging on with a grim tenacity, until his quarry is treed, then approaching with his camera, while his dogs hold the creature at bay, sometimes even climbing the same tree in which the cougar has sought refuge, regardless of the danger of so close an approach to the enraged beast, until he is near enough to obtain such a picture as he wishes. His results, however, must be a sufficient recompense to him for all his hard work and ex- posure to imminent danger, for his photographs are, undoubtedly, the most remarkable products of the camera in the line of nature work that have ever been made and will so stand for some time. The most remarkable one of them all that I have seen is, to my mind, one in which he photographed the cougar as he sprang at him from a tree-top and which actually shows the animal in mid-air. 106 Photography for the Sportsman Naturalist If this kind of work is not exciting enough for the most exacting, calling, as it does, for a display of the greatest coolness and nerve under trying circumstances, then I am at a loss to know just what could satisfy him. Mr. W. E. Carlin, who was at one time a most enthusiastic sportsman, but who has of late years used a camera almost exclusively, in preference to a gun, on his hunting trips, has done much excellent work, principally in the Bitter Root Mountains in Montana and Idaho. I am inclined to believe that with the black and the white tailed deer, particularly, no one has done any better work than has he, for many of his photographs of these animals are as near perfection as possible. He has used entirely a telephoto lens on these subjects, photographing from a blind at a distance of from seventy-five to one hundred yards from the deer. His photographs of lynxes are also most excellent. These he obtained by trapping the animals and tying to one of their hind legs a clog heavy enough to keep them from running, but not so heavy as to entirely impede their motion. Then, by following them about until they assumed natural and characteristic attitudes, he was enabled to obtain just what he wanted. This may seem simple and easy enough to the uninitiated, but to face an enraged lynx, even Photographing the Larger Animals 107 though he is clogged, at a distance of three or four feet, and calmly focus your camera and make an exposure, for he was not using a reflex, takes an amount of courage and an exhibition of nerve of which not every one is possessed. That the results are not always all that can be wished is evidenced by the fact that Mr. Carlin once made a snow-shoe trip of three days' duration in the quest of photographs of these animals, sleeping out on the snow at night, and carrying, besides his provisions and a blanket, his heavy six and a half bv eight and a half camera outfit. While he made many exposures, when he came to develop them he discovered that, through one cause or another, only two or three of the lot were good. This certainly is disheartening, but tends to make those good pictures which we do obtain the more valuable and worth having. Success in work on the larger animals is clue not only to the capability of endurance, but also to absolute vigilance and the strictest attention to every detail. Once stalk a deer with a camera instead of with a rifle and vou will soon learn the difference be- tween the two methods of hunting; and you will, in all probability, agree with me when I say that for the display of all the skill and ingenuity, cool- ness and patience, that one may possess there is no comparison between the use of a gun and a 108 Photography for the Sportsman Naturalist camera, as the advantage lies too heavily with the latter. Learn all there is to know about still hunting and then double every precaution known to the hunter's art and you may succeed in your hunting with a camera, but fail in a single particular or let your caution abate for one second of time and the chances are that you will get no picture, but, in- stead, will be forced to stand and watch your quarry go crashing off through the woods. Above all, the excitement of the chase must not cause you to forget your object, or to cease to be cognizant of everything that you are doing. You may not think this is liable to happen, but it is. I have known of a man, and he was no novice at the game either, who let an excellent opportunity to get a picture of an elk escape him simply because, as he himself said, in the excite- ment of seeing the animal so close to him he entirely forgot that he had a camera in his hands. Mr. A. R. Dugmore tells of an experience of a similar nature that he had while photographing moose in northern Maine. He says : " Once when I was on a hunting trip trying to secure some moose pictures, I came across a fine large bull. The situation was perfect from a pictorial point of view. He was in a large pond where the lily pads were abundant; in the background was a bank of trees, mostly birch ; beyond stood Photographing the Larger Animals 109 Mount Katahdin in the misty distance ; the moose was feeding in shallow water, the light was bright, and as the wind was in the right direction, everything pointed to a successful pic- ture. We were in a canoe ; slowly and noiselessly we came through the smooth water; scarcely a ripple did the canoe make. Nearer and nearer, and still the bull had not seen us. When within about seventy feet (I was using a telephoto lens) I stood up slowly and quietly, while the animal was feeding. No sooner was I in position than he looked up. A finer picture could not be im- agined. His enormous antlers, still in velvet, seemed almost out of proportion to his size. And he stood absolutely still while I, trembling with excitement, focussed the camera and pressed the button. Instantly the huge beast made a dash for shore and in a second was lost to view, and I sat down congratulating myself upon having se- cured such a fine picture. Imagine my disgust when, on going to change the plate-holder, I dis- covered that in my excitement I had neglected to draw the slide. My chance was gone, and never again did such an opportunity present itself." I quote this little tale simply to show how easily chances may escape us and excellent pictures be lost if we do not always keep our presence of mind. Double exposures, that is two exposures made on the same plate, is one of the commonest no Photography for the Sportsman Naturalist faults of the beginner. Every little detail must be thought of, and a good way to avoid these un- pleasant experiences is to have a regular routine of procedure, both before and after exposure, and never vary from it. If you do this regularly, it will soon become so much of a habit that you will do it unconsciously, and the chances of failure through having overlooked an important detail of procedure will be reduced to a minimum. In this work the ordinary tripod camera is of but little use, unless you are photographing from ambush, as, under the usual circumstances, by the time you have opened and set up your tripod, attached your camera, focussed, set the shutter, and inserted the plate-holder, the animal you had wished to photograph would be a mile or two away and " still running." The only manner in which a tripod camera can be used successfully is by focussing: from a well-screened ambush or "blind" upon some objective point (such as a salt lick) to which you may be reasonably certain the animal will come, and then waiting until he gets there. This can often be clone successfully from a distance of twenty or thirty yards, or even far- ther, and, by the use of the telephoto lens, large images obtained. Sometimes, but not often, a deer, moose, or elk will be discovered standing knee-deep in some pond or grazing in some grassy opening, which, if Photographing the Larger Animals in we approach with great caution to within fifty or seventy-five yards, will continue to be unconscious of our presence until we have had time to set up our camera and make several exposures. These are the chances that we must always be on the lookout for and of which we must always be Half-grown White-tailed Buck. ready to take advantage when they present themselves. I remember once, when hunting in the Adiron- dacks, that two deer waded into a pond not more than fifty yards from the spot where one of the party sat watching for them. They stood per- fectly motionless while he emptied the magazine I 12 Photography for the Sportsman Naturalist of his rifle at them without hitting either one (it was afterwards discovered that the rear sight of the rifle had been inadvertently raised and every shot must have gone at least two feet over them). They did not seem to be in the least frightened by the noise of the shots and even remained where they were when he called to the next one of the party, who was some three or four hundred yards distant. They slowly waded from the pond, however, before he could reload his magazine, disappearing into the woods, and, for all I know, they are wandering around up there yet. Had he had a camera with him he would have had ample opportunity to make several exposures and would have obtained some invaluable photo- graphs, for the conditions were just right for good work, and it is very seldom that one has the chance to get the photographs of two deer on the same plate. This only shows that it is impossible to give any explicit directions as to the manner in which wild animals should be approached, for it all depends upon the individuality of the animal. Especially is this true of the deer tribe, for while some individuals will take fright before you have even sighted them, others will allow of a close approach, even though you may be in plain sight and with the wind blowing directly from you to them, and seem to be entirely indifferent to your Photographing the Larger Animals 1 1 presence and dead to all sense of fear. It is best, however, never to risk a close approach until you have secured at least one negative, no matter at what distance, when the deer is first sighted; otherwise the opportunity of securing one of that particular animal may escape you altogether, and any picture of a deer or other wild animal, no matter how small the image may be, is of value, for it can always be enlarged. Ordinarily the reflex camera is the one to use and the one which will give the most and the best results. This should be fitted not only with an ordinary fast, long-focus lens, but with a telephoto lens as well. This latter should be one that is made especially for hand camera work, for, while it has a magnification of only three and a half diameters, still it works fast enough to allow of an exposure of at least ■£$ of a second in the strong sunlight, and even on a cloudy clay exposures of from 4- to j^ of a second can be made with it and produce good results. Never use a short-focus lens in work upon animals, for it not only renders your subjects too small to be of much use, but, when close enough to make a fair-sized image, it is very difficult to prevent the distortion due to the exaggerated foreshortening that is a characteristic of this style of lens. Therefore, I should say, never use a lens of a shorter focal length than nine inches, and, of ii4 Photography for the Sportsman Naturalist course, as much longer than this as you desire. The longer the better. In selecting your camera and apparatus for this work, strength should be the first consideration, for, in the trips over exceedingly rough country, which you will be obliged to take, it will receive some hard knocks. Especial care should be taken in the selection of plate-holders, and all those that are at all flimsy in their construction should be discarded. But all this I have spoken of in the chapter on apparatus, and it is only necessary to add here that in this particular branch the outfit will be liable to be subjected to the severest tests and therefore greater care should be exercised in its selection for this work than for any other, or otherwise many exposures will be lost. When out looking for subjects in the woods and, especially, when following up watercourses in a boat or canoe, always have your reflex in your hands with the plate-holder inserted, the shutter set, and everything in readiness for instant use, for you can never tell when you may get a chance for an exposure. Once, in Florida, when going up the Miami River in a canoe, on rounding a sharp bend I sud- denly came upon a deer drinking at the edge of the water. He was not over twenty-five yards from me, and as he heard the swish of my paddle Photographing the Larger Animals 115 he raised his head and stood absolutely motion- less for as much as two or three minutes while I let the canoe drift. His surprise and curiosity were evidently greater than his fear, and he made a beautiful picture as he stood against the back- ground of green foliage, his whole body reflected in the clear water, in which he stood knee-deep; but, as the canoe continued to drift closer to him, he suddenly turned and bounded off into the woods and out of sight, leaving in my mind an impression of as pretty a little scene in wild life as it had ever been my good fortune to look upon. At another time, as I was passing through a piece of " hammock " at Cape Sable (the southern- most point of Florida), a lynx, which seemed to me the biggest one I had ever seen, jumped from the low herbage at my very feet and, springing upon a fallen tree not over ten feet distant, stood there growling, his back partly toward me and his head turned over his shoulder. It made a splendid study of natural wild life, and one which I stopped to admire. I would have given much to have been able to obtain a negative of him as he stood there in all the magnificence of his assumed anger, but, unfortunately for me, I did not have a camera with me on either one of these occasions, and so two unique opportunities were lost. n6 Photography for the Sportsman Naturalist One never knows when such opportunities will present themselves, and, if you would obtain pic- tures that you might look in vain to have re- peated, you must always be in readiness for whatever may happen. Some remarkably effective pictures can be White-tailed Deer. Doe. made of deer at night by means of the " firelight- ing" methods, with which all sportsmen are familiar. This consists in rowing quietly around the edges of some pond frequented by deer and flashing a light, reflected from a mirror or other highly polished surface into the dark places. When this light is flashed into the eyes of a deer, Photographing the Larger Animals 117 it dazzles him to such an extent that he can see nothing else, and, in consequence, he will stand absolutely still, staring at it. It is generally considered a somewhat unsports- manlike way of hunting these creatures, as it gives them but little chance for their lives ; and, in most places, it is prohibited by the game laws. It is, however, an excellent method of taking their photographs. Of course a " flash-light " must be used, and it needs two people to work success- fully, one to manipulate the search- and flash-light and the other to do the photographing. The camera must be one of the " fixed focus " variety or else set for the focus of a certain distance and the exposure made when, in the judgment of the operator, he is at that distance from his subject, for it is impossible to see to focus in the dark even when a strong light is reflected upon the object. Another way of photographing by means of the flash-light is to set up the camera focussed on a deer's runway and insert the plate-holder, with the slide drawn, after dark, leaving the shutter open. Set up the flash gun by the side of the camera so that the deer may discharge it himself by means of a string stretched across the runway at the point upon which you have focussed. The flash powder in the gun should be protected from the damp by covering it with a piece of oiled 1 1 8 Photography for the Sportsman Naturalist paper. This will not prevent it from exploding when the trigger is pulled, but will protect it from the dew, which would otherwise dampen it to such an extent that it would not ignite. The slide of the plate-holder must always be replaced before daylight, otherwise the plate would be overexposed, besides giving a conglomerate pic- ture of foliage showing through the deer's image. If one is ingenious enough, an arrangement of strino-s can be made that will release the shutter at the same time that it fires the flash gun, thus obviating the necessity of leaving the plate ex- posed. This method of flash-light photography is some- what uncertain, but often gives good results. Mr. Shiras of Pittsburg has done some really remark- able work by both of these methods, and where it has once been done it certainly can be repeated. A considerable amount of flash powder must be used, especially in the former method, for the dis- tance and space to be illuminated are considerable, and it is remarkable how much more light is ab- sorbed in the open than in a confined space, such as a room. The proper amount will be ascer- tained after one or two experiments. These methods of forcing the animal to photo- graph itself are often productive of astonishing results. Once a friend of mine had fixed his ap- paratus at nightfall, and upon examining it in the Photographing the Larger Animals 119 morning and finding that the flash had been ex- ploded he naturally concluded that he had a nega- tive of a deer. Much to his surprise, however, when he came to develop it, it turned out to be an excellent picture of a porcupine. To avoid having the smaller animals spring the "gun," when you do not wish their photographs, the string should be placed at such a height that they may pass beneath it. Photographs of swimming caribou are easily obtainable, — especially in Newfoundland, where these animals are still plentiful and are liable to remain so for some time to come, owing to the restrictions of a sensible game law that will not allow indiscriminate and continuous shooting, even in the open season. These animals, as well as almost any other for that matter, are practically incapable of defending themselves while in the water, although they are strong swimmers. They can, therefore, be followed up at one's will in a canoe, and any number of " shots ': be made at them with the reflex camera. If you know of the whereabouts of a " yard " of any of the deer family in the winter time, you can have an opportunity such as is not often vouch- safed to one for obtaining a long series of pictures of them, and such an opportunity should never be missed by any one who can take advantage of it. In the summer time a salt lick is a place pro- 1 20 Photography for the Sportsman Naturalist ductive of good results and should be watched al- most constantly. As any old hunter knows, such a place can be made by salting an old stump, in a deer-frequented place, with rock salt, repeatedly. They will soon get to know of it and will come there regularly to find it. In the early spring deer come into the open to feed more frequently than at any other season, as at this time the sprouts have not yet begun to appear in the woods, while things are fairly green in the open places, and consequently they can find more to their liking in these places than in the deeper woods. They then offer many good opportunities for pictures to any one who is ready for them. This is the time when a tripod camera, used from an ambush, can best be employed. But sportsmen undoubtedly know these and many other habits of the Deer family much better than I can teach them, and so it is simply wasting time and space for me to enumerate the different places where one should hunt. Mr. Wallihan, as I have before mentioned, hunts his cougar with a pack of hounds, running them until they are treed. This has the disad- vantage of nearly always forcing your cat into a tree, for it is very seldom that they will take a stand on the ground. It is the only way of get- ting close to them, however, unless you do as Mr. Carlin did with his lynxes and first trap them. Photographing the Larger Animals 121 While with the latter method better pictures can probably be obtained with less danger to the operator, the former has more of the element of excitement in it and adds the pleasures of a stern chase to those of photographing, and this, to any one of true sportsman proclivities, counts as not the least of the reasons for hunting. Photographs of the Rocky Mountain sheep are very scarce, but such as have been taken are ex- ceedingly interesting. Owing to the extreme shyness of the animals and the almost inaccessible places which they frequent, they are difficult to approach to within even the distance of a rifle- shot, but by the use of the high-power telephoto lens good pictures of them may be obtained by patience and perseverance. Bears, in their absolute wild state, are prob- ably the most difficult of any of the wild animals to photograph ; but in the Yellowstone Park they can be closely approached without danger, for, ow- ing to the fact that all the animals in this place are most carefully protected and shooting not al- lowed, they have no fear of man, and, fortunately, while guns of any sort are prohibited in the park, cameras are not, and one may hunt with them to his heart's desire. In work on the large animals, necessitating, as it does, long trips afield, I should not advise the use of the orthochromatic plates, for, although 12 2 Photography for the Sportsman Naturalist they undoubtedly give much better results than do any other kind, they have not the keeping qualities of the ordinary plate, and, especially when they cannot be kept free from the least dampness, as it would be almost impossible to do on a camp- ing trip, they deteriorate very rapidly. Moreover, they are not quite so rapid as are the fastest ordi- nary plates, and speed is one of the first essentials for animal work. In " packing " into camp and at all times while there, the camera and outfit should be the one thing to be most carefully protected against accident ; for even the best and strongest are easily dam- aged, and this damage may be such as cannot be remedied and the results of a whole trip thereby forfeited. I have known of several instances where this has happened through sheer careless- ness, and one cannot afford to treat his outfit with anything but the greatest consideration. The one great thing to remember in photograph- ing all wild animals is to get them in as natural and unconstrained an attitude as is possible. This can best be done when they are caught unawares, for they are apt to be more oiTess frightened when they realize that something is being done with them and this fright will inevitably show in the picture, either in an unnatural pose or in some other unmistakable manner. CHAPTER VIII PHOTOGRAPHING THE SMALLER MAMMALS Here is a field in which, while the possibilities for excitement are not so great as they are in work with the larger animals, the chances for pictures are greater. It is a field, however, in which a knowledge of the habits of the sub- jects is, in most cases, much more necessary than in any other. Should one attempt to hunt for the smaller crea- tures without a fairly accurate knowledge of their daily lives, he might tramp the woods or fields for weeks and find nothing but the squirrels and chip- munks while, unawares, he has passed time and again within a few feet of some tiny fur-bearer watching him with inquisitive black eyes in fear and trembling. One never realizes the immense army of small mammals, especially of the Rodent family (the mice, rats, squirrels, etc.), that inhabits our woods and fields, until he starts to look for them. They are innumerable, but, as they are abroad princi- pally at night, one who is not well versed in their 123 124 Photography for the Sportsman Naturalist ways may never have the good fortune to see one. The red and gray squirrels and the chipmunks we all know, for they are the inquisitive busy- bodies of the woods, and nothing delights them more than to scold at an intruder upon what Prairie Dog at Entrance to Burrow. they are pleased to consider their especial reserve. But these form the smallest part of this army. The mice, of which there are many species be- 'sides the common one whose acquaintance we have made through its habit of using our dwell- ing-places as its home, are numerous everywhere. There is probably hardly a meadow that does not Photographing the S matter Mammals 125 harbor at least several hundred of these little fellows, and yet, except for an occasional squeak and rustle in the grass, we may never know of their presence. Let us look beneath the tangled grass and we will find their narrow but well-defined " run- ways " stretching in every direction, intersecting and crossing each other, until we dis- cover that the field is a veri- table network of these mini- ature road- ways, and that there is a pop- ulation and a busy life be- neath our feet of which we have heretofore known nothing. Follow one of these " run-ways." It may lead nowhere and it may lead to the maker's home : a small, round bunch of dead grass, well woven together, half sunken in the ground and thoroughly concealed by the tangle of grass and herbage above. If we approach carefully, we may be fortunate enough to catch the owner at home, coiled up in the soft, warm interior, taking his midday sleep, but we must be quick or he will Cotton Mouse. 126 Photography for the Sportsman Naturalist slip out and away before we can even catch a glimpse of him. Should we be lucky enough to capture him, however, we can take both him and his nest home with us and photograph them at our leisure. As it is an exceedingly difficult thing to restrict the range of any of the smaller mammals so as to get satisfactory photographs of them, it is sometimes best to photograph them in captivity. This can be done successfully by the use of a glass cage. The front, sides, and top should be of glass and the bottom and back of wood, covered inside with tin so that the occupant cannot gnaw his way through. Inside of this cage we may arrange what accessories we wish and place our captive. At first he will be very wild, and we shall be able to do nothing with him ; but after a while, as he becomes somewhat better acquainted with his surroundings, he will quiet down and will assume the attitudes we wish. In order to escape reflection on the glass the cage should be so placed that the sun's rays strike it full, and even then it is best not to use a black background. If there is the least possibility of our being able to do so, it is always desirable to at least attempt the photographing of even these small mammals wild and in their native haunts, as both Photographing the Smaller Mammals 127 the animals and their surroundings are bound to look much more natural under these conditions. It can be accomplished, and successfully, if one is willing to use his time and exercise his patience, with either the reflex or the tripod camera. The latter can usually be used to better advantage, however, and the methods followed are much the same as when photographing birds at their nests. Nearly all of the smaller mammals are in the habit of us- ing one particu- lar stump or rock as a place of observation from which to survey the land before ventur- ing forth. By carefully watching for several days, this vantage point may generally be discovered. If not then, we may get them into the habit of coming to such a spot by baiting it for several clays with something to their liking. This will work most successfully if we select a spot in close prox- imity to their nest. After they have become accustomed to coming to look for the bait, then we can set up our camera, focus it upon the Fox Squirrel. 128 Photography for the Sportsman Naturalist spot we have baited, screen it well so that it will be invisible to the sharp, inquisitive eyes of our sitter, and, with ourselves hidden at the end of seventy-five or one hundred feet of the rubber tubing, wait for our subject to put in his appear- ance. Whether we obtain a picture or not depends entirely upon our ability to wait patiently and quietly for an indefinite period. The one absolutely necessary precaution is quietness. The smaller mammals are easily frightened by any unexpected movement or noise, and slight carelessness on the part of the operator will often cause them to leave and not return for a number of hours, if, indeed, they will do so again that same day. Mr. Carlin, using this method, did some remark- able work on the small mammals of the Bitter Root Mountains. Among these he secured several fine pictures of the Rocky Mountain pika, or, as it is locally called, the little chief hare. These are the only photographs, of which I know, that have ever been secured of this interesting little animal. Of him Mr. Carlin says: "He lives in certain parts of the Rocky Mountain system among the great masses of broken slide rock, and in many ways is one of the most interesting little animals on our continent. In the lower altitudes, say about four thousand feet, he is out and about a good deal of the winter, but in the high altitudes, Photographing the Smaller Mammals 129 from six thousand to nine thousand feet, his home is buried under from ten to fifty feet of snow and he does not make his appearance until June or July. When he first comes out, he is rather lazy and likes to sit and sun himself. Later on he is seldom quiet for any length of time excepting in the early morning. He has many household duties and begins early in August to gather in his sup- ply of winter hay, for the snow and frosts come early up where he lives. If you are watching by a pile of rocks, you will see him pop suddenly out of some crevasse, look hurriedly around to see that the coast is clear of any prowling weasel or hawk, and, after uttering his peculiar little cry, he will scamper over the broken masses of rock with incredible swiftness to his favorite ' hayfield,' where he gathers a larofe mouthful and hurries back to arrange a little haycock where his grass will dry protected from the winds. He works incessantly and, should a storm threaten, he will work all night, if necessary, to gather in his hay- cocks to one of the common storehouses under the rocks. In photographing him the camera was focussed on his favorite sunning place, partially hidden by leaves and weeds, while I sat fifty feet away and waited his appearance. I worked on and off for over a month before I got his picture." This evidences an amount of patience and per- severance that was deserving of the reward that K 30 Photography for the Sportsman Naturalist he obtained, the only photographs of the pika in existence ; and there is probably no one who now knows the habits of this little mammal better than does Mr. Carlin. He also obtained, while on this same trip, a photograph of a weasel as he was about to leave his home among the rocks, and that weasel shows all too plainly in his picture that he was not caught asleep. Many of the animals that live in holes in the ground, such as woodchucks, gophers, etc., can be successfully photographed by focussing upon the entrance to their burrows and waiting for them to come out. This sometimes necessitates a long wait, but makes most interesting pictures as showing both the animal and the place in which he lives. The 'possum is, probably, the easiest of all the small mammals to photograph, as his slowness of movement makes it possible to catch him and he can be handled without danger of his attempting Half-grown Woodchuck. Photographing the S matter Mammals 131 to bite. His first act, when he is approached, is not to try to escape, but to feign death or "play 'possum." During this stage of the proceedings he is most tantalizing, for no amount of poking will cause him to show any sign of life. He may be picked up, and to do so by his tail is the only natural way, and placed in the crotch or on the branch of a tree or in any other elevated position ; but he will not attempt to hold himself there, rolling immediately off and falling to the ground with a resounding thud, apparently lifeless. No falls of this kind, no matter from what height, appear to injure him in the least, for he is the toughest of all our animals and will receive any amount of hard knocks or blows with seeming indifference. Pay no attention to him, however, and he will soon slowly open his eyes, and, if he thinks he is not observed, will begin cautiously to move away and try, by stealth, to get out of sight before he is detected. When he learns that his " playing 'possum " is not benefiting him he will wake up, and then one can have no better subject. By the aid of the reflex or even with the ordinary outfit one can then easily photograph him in any position he may desire. The porcupine makes another easy subject, although he cannot be handled with impunity if one would not have his hand made into the ap- pearance of a pincushion by his sharp, barbed 132 Photography for the Sportsman Naturalist quills. Moreover, if we try to influence his movements to any extent, by urging him either with our foot or a stick, the endeavor is invariably attended by a loss of many of his quills, and with- out these he presents a sorry appearance and is not worthy of being photographed. These quills form his only means of defence, for, although he will chatter vindictively with his teeth, he will seldom bite. The bridge of his nose is his one vulnerable spot, and when that is struck a sharp blow it will generally kill him. Knowing this, as he must, he will, when approached, invariably turn his head downward, and, with his nose well buried in the fur of his chest and every quill standing erect, he will lash about with his tail, and wherever this formidable weapon strikes it leaves a number of tiny javelins which are as sharp as needles and so barbed that they are not easily extracted. In this manner he has been known to kill even such large animals as wildcats by driving his tail quills into their eyes and thus penetrating to their brain. From this fact most wild animals know enough to leave him alone and will always give him the road except when driven to extremi- ties by hunger. He is stubborn, and when in the position of defence no amount of prodding will elicit anything but a continued lashing of the tail. The only thing to do is to wait patiently Photographing the Smaller Mammals 133 o o DC c o to c -5