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THE STUDIO,
AND WHAT TO DO IN IT.
THE STUDIO:
AND
WH-A.T TO DO IN IT
H. P. ROBINSON,
AUTHOR OF
"Pictorial Effect in Photography'' ^Picture Making by
Photography" &c., &c.
LONDON:
PIPER & CARTER, 5, FURNIVAL STREET, HOLBORN, E.G.
1891.
LONDON :
PIPER ANB CARTER, PRINTERS, FURMVAL STREET, HOLBORN, t.C.
».I • •
PREFACE.
MY little books on the Art side of photography have been
received with so much favour, that I venture to add another
to the number. " PICTORIAL EFFECT " treated of art principles ;
" PICTUEE MAKING " of the application of those principles to
out-door photography ; the present work is chiefly concerned
with portraiture.
For in-door work a studio is essential. There have been so
many different forms of studios invented, designed, or modified
from others, that when a photographer wishes to build a studio,
and turns to the authorities for information and guidance, he
finds something very like chaos, for in the multitude of coun-
cillors there is — confusion. In the following chapters I have
briefly described the leading types of studios, and devoted a
chapter to a description of what a very long and varied
experience, and the building of half-a-dozen studios for myself,
and the designing of a large number for my friends, confirm me
in thinking the best.
Throughout the book I have not attempted to recommend
anything that is desirable but impossible, or to decry anything
that I feel is not quite correct, but yet is part of the photo-
395901
VI PREFACE.
grapher's business to employ. For instance, I quite agree with
the late Mr. Norman Macbeth, whose advice on art was always
sound, that as the portrait is derived directly from living subjects,
so should the backgrounds and surroundings be composed of real
objects ; but I know that in the practical business of a portrait
photographer, it would be next to impossible to compass this
desirable result, and therefore I have admitted the use of
painted screens. The chapters on Posing and the Managemeut
of the Sitter embody the result of twenty-five years of daily
work in the studio, and I trust will be of use to the professional
photographer; and the concluding chapters will, I hope, aid
him in other departments of his profession.
Although the great bulk of the book is new, I must acknow-
ledge that some of the chapters have already appeared in the
pages of the Photographic News, a journal which, without
neglecting the strictly scientific detail upon which mechanical
photography depends, has always urged upon photographers the
study of art as of even more vital importance to success in their
profession than science, which, after all, is only a similar means
to a picture-making end as colour-making is to painters.
CONTENTS.
PAGE.
CHAPTER I.
VARIOUS FORMS OF STUDIOS 1
CHAPTER II.
THE BEST FORM OF STUDIO 12
CHAPTER III.
BACKGROUNDS 22
CHAPTER IV.
ACCESSORIES 31
CHAPTER V.
LIGHTING THE SITTER 37
CHAPTER VI.
POSING AND THE MANAGEMENT OF THE SITTER— THE HEAD ... 44
CHAPTER VII.
POSING AND THE MANAGEMENT OF THE SITTER — THE HEAD
VIGNETTE i 50
CHAPTER VHL
POSING AND THE MANAGEMENT OF THE SITTER— THE THREE-
QUARTER LENGTH— MEN 57
CHAPTER IX.
POSING AND THE MANAGEMENT OF THE SITTER— THE THREE-
QUARTER LENGTH — LADIES 62
CHAPTER X.
POSING AND THE MANAGEMENT OF THE SITTER — FULL-LENGTH
FIGURES ... 69
Vlll CONTENTS.
CHAPTER XL
POSING AND THE MANAGEMENT OF THE SITTER —GROUPS ... 74
CHAPTER XII.
POSING AND THE MANAGEMENT OF THE SITTER — OUT-DOOR
GROUPS 80
CHAPTER XIII.
POSING AND THE MANAGEMENT OF THE SITTER— CHILDREN ... 86
CHAPTER XIV.
POSING AND THE MANAGEMENT OF THE SITTER — EXPRESSION
IN PORTRAITURE 93
CHAPTER XV.
POSING AND THE MANAGEMENT OF THE SITTER-— SUGGESTION
AND INTERFERENCE IN POSING 99
CHAPTER XVI.
SMILES AND SMILING 104
CHAPTER XVII.
LIKENESS — FAMILIAR AND OCCULT 109
CHAPTER XVIII.
RETOUCHING ... 116
CHAPTER XIX.
HINTS TO SITTERS 122
CHAPTER XX.
How TO SHOW PHOTOGRAPHS 126
CHAPTER XXI.
THE ITINERANT PAINTER 132
CHAPTER XXII.
THE EDUCATION OF A PHOTOGRAPHER . 136
THE STUDIO,
AND WHAT TO DO IN IT.
CHAPTEE I,
VARIOUS FORMS OF STUDIOS,
THE possession of a good studio goes quite half way to the pro-
duction of good work, and its design and construction have been
a matter of anxious thought and earnest enquiry from the
earliest times of the art. A clever operator will, of course, get
presentable pictures even under difficulties, and it follows that
bad workmen will do bad work, however good their tools may be ;
but I hold that those who exercise any art should never have
their attention distracted from their work by defect of their
appliances, and the studio to a portrait photographer is an
appliance of the utmost importance. I propose, therefore, to
give a rapid sketch of the most important of the many forms of
studios that have been erected or proposed. Some of them may
have individual advantages not possessed by others, while in
many cases the form of studio adopted must be determined by
the space available ; but from all of them it is possible that a
photographer about to build or alter a studio may get hints that
may be of use to him. I shall then give plans and descriptions
of a studio that I know from experience offers the greatest
advantages for e very-day work.
It is a peculiarity of photographers to invent modifications -r
x ; i£: •*! *V;j£ J A T?E STUDIO.
this has not been confined to the chemical processes only, but
has extended to the studios in which those processes are
employed. The forms of studios — or glass-rooms, as they were
originally called — have exercised the ingenuity of their devisers
from the time of the discovery of photography. At first, as the
name implies, as much glass as possible was employed, and when
a clear space could be got for the erection, the studio was all
glass. As time went on, experience taught that a portrait could
be taken as quickly and with better results when less illumina-
tion was employed, and the area of the space admitting light
has been gradually reduced until a very little light, properly
directed, is now found sufficient for most purposes. The forms
taken by studios have been very numerous, and in some cases
quite fantastic, and have ranged in cost and style from that of
Aladdin's Palace to the meanest shanty. They have taken
that of the "lean-to," the ridge roof, the tunnel with many
variations, and amongst the eccentric kinds have been a
revolving studio, another looking like a gigantic accordion ;
and at one time, a domed or circular roof was strongly advocated,
under the erroneous impression that the curves of the dome would
concentrate the light, and make it more powerful. In addition
to this, it was once thought that, as effective light was composed
of the blue rays of the spectrum, blue glass would give more
light, and photographers glazed their studios with blue glass.
The ghastly effect on the sitter may be guessed, but the
advantages were not easily to be seen.
THE LEAN-TO. — Of all these designs, the lean-to and the
ridge-roof, or some modifications of them to suit the position
in which they are to be erected, are the only ones which have
retained the favour of photographers.
The lean-to is the most simple, and, where it can be built
against a high wall to protect it from the sun, one of the most
effective. It is particularly suited to small studios, those that
are not more than 11 or 12 feet wide. It is not necessary to
VARIOUS FORMS OF STUDIOS.
have the roof entirely of glass. The following section gives the
lines of a very useful small studio, that could be put up at very
little expense. If made about 25 feet long, it would be found
all that an amateur could desire. As a matter of lighting, I
should prefer to omit the side light, and have the side solid, and
two feet lower ; the light would then come from a low roof; but
there are other things to think of. In so narrow a studio, there
would not. be room for a full- sized background, which should
I
never be less than 8 feet high ; and if the door is in the side,
6 feet 6 inches does not afford any too much height.
The RIDGE-ROOF is practically the same as the lean-to,
differing only in the construction of the roof. As the studio I
shall describe in detail further on is a modification of the ridge-
roof, I need not further describe it here.
Some of the earliest studios in London and other large towns
were made by removing part of the roof of the garret of a house,
and replacing it with glass ; and much excellent work has been
done in these glass-rooms under most trying circumstances. Of
studios built under these conditions, that of the late T. R.
Williams, of Regent Street, is a typical example. Many photo-
graphers will remember that, in many qualities, and especially
in delicacy and roundness of the perfect modelling, Williams's
work was at the time unequalled. For years his portraits were
the wonder, envy, and admiration of all photographers. "Without
recommending it for imitation, except where the exigencies of
the situation make it necessary, I think an illustration and
THE STUDIO.
description of this studio, written when "Williams was at the
height of his fame, may be of interest to my readers, especially
as it shows to what an extent blinds have to be used when good
work has to be done under such worrying circumstances a&
trouble the photographer when his studio is full in the sun.
The size of the room is about 30 feet long by 17 feet wide. As
will be seen from the woodcut, the chief light is from a skylight,
sloping in direction of the length of the room, not, as in the
ordinary lean-to :roof, in direction of the width. The height at
the ridge is about 16 feet, at the eaves 8 feet. The glass cover&
the whole of the longer side of the roof. The panes at the end
of the room are generally covered with blinds, so that the room
is lighted entirely from a skylight facing the south-west.
The sitter and the camera are placed cross-corner-wise of the
room, two backgrounds, one facing each corner towards the
light, being generally placed as fixtures. Some of these details
are omitted in the sketch, to give a clearer view of the interior.
Movable wings, covered with blue calico, are placed at each side
of the background, and at times are made to cut off direct light,
and at others to act as reflecting screens. The skylight is
furnished with three sets of blinds, each set consisting of three
VARIOUS FORMS OF STUDIOS.
blinds, one above another — one of dark blue calico, one of thick
white calico, and another of thin white calico, or jaconet muslin.
By the judicious management of these blinds almost any effect
of lighting can be obtained. The diagram illustrates a mode of
arrangement often used. Over one-third of the skylight, and
half of the next third, the dark blue blinds are drawn, to exclude
almost all light ; over the other half of the middle section a white
blind is drawn, and also over the upper half of the remaining
third. One-sixth of the skylight, and that the position most
remote from the sitter, admits the light through clear glass ; and
this, if the sun were shining, would be covered with the thin
muslin blind. It will be seen that the principal light is often
virtually a concentrated high side-light, the concentration giving
effective cast shadows, whilst the amount of softened light
admitted through thin blinds lights up the shadows, preventing
blackness and hardness. Besides the blinds already described,
there are two other dark blinds, which can, on occasion, be used.
They are tolerably near to the head of the sitter, and can be used
to prevent any vertical light reaching it. All the blinds are on
spring rollers, placed near the top of the skylight, and can be
readily drawn so as to cover any required portion of the roof.
The position and form of this studio could scarcely have been
more awkward, or presented more difficulties to the operator,
while the complication of three sets of blinds, besides screens,
was enough to confuse any photographer ; but it was in the hands
of an exceedingly able man, who produced some of the most
delicate work that the world, up to that time, had seen ; hence
other photographers, mistaking, as they often do, the materials
ior the man, thought that success lay in his collodion and baths
and developers, and especially in his glass-room. This led to
imitations which eventually grew into the many forms of tunnel
studios, which were at one time excessively advocated, but soon
abandoned.
An improvement on the form of the studio just described is
THE STUDIO.
shown in that erected by an American photographer, which
admits of side as well as top light. After the description given
of Williams's studio, the illustration will speak sufficiently for
itself.
The TUNNEL STUDIO is an illustration of the mischief clever
photographers sometimes do by producing beautiful work under
difficult circumstances. Williams, by the exercise of his great
natural aptitude, patience, and skill, produces pictures with
great technical beauties of light and shade.. Rejlander, with a
modification of the same kind of lighting, but with the addition
of a tunnel in which to place his camera, realises many poetical
ideas in photography; other photographers at once jump to the
conclusion that it is all in the form of the studio, and build
tunnels. Photographers, as I have already said, have an itching
for modifications, and a mania for modifications of the tunnel set
in. Every conceivable variation was resorted to to waste the
money and spoil the tempers of photographers. The end of it all
was, that every photographer who could afford it took down his
costly experiments, and returned to the old-fashioned oblong
room under a lean-to or ridge-roof. But it is well that anyone
intending to construct a studio should at least hear of these
VARIOUS FORMS OF STUDIOS.
experiments, especially as one of the objections to their use —
length of exposure — no longer exists.
The earliest studios of this description seem to have been in
form something like the Williams studio, but very much smaller,
and with a dark place for the camera attached, from which they
got their name. Here is a diagram and description of a small
one erected by an amateur. The total length is 28 feet ; of this,
4 feet at each side, and at the top at the background end as far
as the ridge b B, is opaque, 10 feet glass, and the remaining
portion, or tunnel, 14 feet wood. The height of the studio
portion is 11 feet at I, and 7 feet at c, and 10 feet wide. The
portion for the camera, in which there is no light, is 8 feet wide.
A B C
The side lights on each side have glass to the extent of 10 feet
by 7 feet. The roof from I to c is glass. The opaque parts of
the roof are of zinc. There is a door at each side at C, each of
which, being opposite the other, admits of ready ventilation. A
small dark room is erected in the unilluminated portion. The
aspect of the studio is such that the sitter faces north-east, the
studio having on the north and east an uninterrupted light, whilst
the south and west lights are considerably excluded. The
blinds are so arranged that light can be admitted from the right
or left of the skylight as required.
The most important of the tunnel studios, and the one which
attracted a great deal of attention at the time, was one erected by
8
THE STUDIO.
Eejlander ; it will be seen that very little light was admitted, a
fault which would not be much felt now our processes are
improved, but which was not found to be sufficient in the days
of collodion for ordinary portraiture, and the light came from one
side only, a fatal objection. Eejlander was famous for artistic
studies, and one of the most striking things in his works was the
great command he appeared to have over the lighting of the
model. Almost every variety of lighting was adopted in turn
to serve specific purposes, and always successfully. To the
education of an artist Rej lander added years of practice as a
photographer, not simply in manufacturing conventional por-
traits, but in producing art studies and complete pictures. His
"Two Ways of Life" will be remembered as long as the art
exists. In his practice he required a great variety of effects in
lighting, but with all his marvellous skill and resource he found
it difficult to get what he wanted in this form of studio, and was
glad when circumstances compelled him to abandon it.
In designing this studio, the builder's chief aim was to secure
a mode of lighting similar to that used by painters, so that the
studio obtained may be available for painters; the same con-
ditions of light and shadow existing in a photograph which are
required in painting. That the same light would be often valuable
for portraiture and general photography, there was no reason to
doubt ; the only misgiving being in the amount of light, which
was found to be insufficient for any but the steadiest of sitters.
VARIOUS FORMS OF STUDIOS.
It had also the inconvenience, common to these studios, of being
so strange and gloomy in effect as to materially interfere with
the expression of the sitter.
It was built of corrugated iron ; the total length was 30 feet.
The portion devoted to the sitter was 10 feet long and 11 feet
wide; the remaining 20 feet curving in near the door, and
becoming narrower, so that, at the extreme end, where the dark
room was, the width was 7 feet only. The light was obtained
solely from the white spaces, a, b, c, d, e, /, in the diagram, the
light falling from the north-west. The door, a, consisted of a
plate of glass 7 feet high by 3 feet wide. The window adjoin-
ing, b, consisted of another plate of glass, 7 feet by 5 feet ; this
joined another plate, c, in the roof, which was 5 feet wide and
3 deep. These three were of white plate-glass, and constituted
the chief source of light. On the opposite side there was no glass
at all, but the interior was painted white to secure reflected
lights. The minor lights, <?, e, /, were generally covered with
blinds, their object being to secure, not direct, but diffused light,
to soften the shadows.
It will be seen that the sitter was lighted from the side and
side-top, front light and direct vertical light being avoided.
The camera was in comparative darkness, enabling the operator
to focus without the aid of a cloth. The eye of the sitter also
looked into darkness, a great advantage when we consider the
dazzling effect of some of the studios of the time, but not of
so much consequence now, when less light is used in all
studios.
One of the most useful variations of the tunnel studio was that
of Colonel Stuart Wortley. In this studio a much larger amount
of light was admitted than with Eejlander's. On reference to
the subjoined ground plan, it may be seen that the total length
of the room was 36 feet ; the portion really constituting the
studio was 12 feet wide by 13 feet long. The unlighted portion,
in which the camera stood, was 23 feet long by 8 feet wide.
10
THE STUDIO,
The extreme end was divided off to form the dark room.
part marked 6 had a tier of shelves for various purposes.
The
I
On reference to the sketch of the elevation, it will he seen
that the studio portion was 12 feet high at the ridge. One side
•"*
/
^
^
^
i
//
H
EB EB 1
i_ I ,
DD
~2
o
3
-v-
of the studio was all glass, consisting of corrugated glass from
the ground to 7 feet high, and from thence to the roof clear
This was a distinctive and valuable feature. The sloping
front light (7) was clear glass. The opposite side of the studio
was opaque, a reflected light only being obtained on that side.
The roof (4) was also opaque. The only portions having glass
were one side of the square or studio portion, and the front
sloping portion of the roof (7). With the exception of the
glazed portions, the room was chiefly constructed of inch board-
ing, roofed with asphalte felt. The un-illuminated portion was
7 feet high. The window, marked 2, was of orange glass for
the dark room. Each pane of glass had a set of two blinds,,
one white, the other black, worked independent of each other.
VARIOUS FORMS OF STUDIOS. 11
There were many objections to the tunnel form of studio, the
chief of which were as follows : —
When the blinds were drawn up, the light was a full front
light, the worst that could be employed for portraiture. To get
a well- lighted head, considerable knowledge of the effect of,
and much trouble in the use of, blinds was necessary, and when
the head was well lighted in oneway — that is, when the modelling
was good — it was badly lighted in another ; there was not enough
light.
The variation in possible effects was limited. There was little
opportunity of getting any other than the ordinary form of light-
ing. So-called Rembrandt effects were not common when the
tunnel was in vogue, but they would have been very difficult to
produce.
It was only suitable for taking single portraits. It was not
adapted to groups of more than two or three persons, because if
a group of figures occupied much space, one side would be well
in the light, the other too much in shadow.
The general effect was gloomy in the extreme. The tunnel
had a dreary, dungeon-like aspect, depressing to the sitter as well
as to the operator.
As this is not a history of studio building, it is scarcely worth
while to go into the details of other forms which have been
taken by the glass-room. The question for practical photo-
graphers is, What is the best form of studio to build ? I hope
to do something towards answering this important question in
the next chapter.
CHAPTER II.
THE BEST FORM OF STUDIO.
IT may sound not a little dogmatic to assert that anything is
finally the best in this ever-changing and inventive world, where
the finality of to-day is but the precursor of to-morrow's pro-
gress ; but after many years' experience, and after a great deal of
ingenuity and money have been spent in the endeavour to invent
something new, practical photographers are still of opinion that
for portrait studios no form has yet been invented to compare
with that of which the lean-to and ridge-roof are types. It is
on this general form that the studio I am about to describe and
recommend is based.
That the best beginning to get at what we want is to discover
what we require, is a truism none can dispute. Let us, then,
try to arrive at what are the necessary points to consider in
designing a well-appointed studio.
Experience has proved that the principle of excluding direct
sunlight, and of working with diffused light, is the best. The
interior of the building, therefore, should be well protected from
the direct rays of the sun.
The arrangements for managing the light should be simple,
so that they may be under the immediate and instant control
of the operator ; all complicated systems of blinds should be
avoided.
THE BEST FORM OF STUDIO. 13
Both ends of the studio should be available for use, so that
the light may be directed on the sitter from the right or from
the left.
The size of the studio should be large enough to admit of
every necessary operation without inconvenience, but should not
be so large as to become unmanageable or difficult to manage.
It should have a cheerful and homelike appearance, free from
that look of an over-crowded work-room to which the studio-
is so often reduced.
It should be cool in summer, and comfortably warm in the
winter.
Lastly. — The developing room and dressing rooms should be
within convenient reach, the former commodious with sinks,
tables, shelves, &c. The ventilation and light should be
perfect.
THE DIMENSIONS. — The first thing to decide in designing
a studio is the size. This will often be ruled by the space
available; but we will assume that we have plenty of room.
A large studio, like a great book, is a great evil. It is well
to have plenty of space to move about in, and to contain the
necessary furniture and accessories ; but when a studio is above
a certain size, it is found to be unwieldy and difficult to manage,
and the lighting not so good as that found in smaller studios.
The length may be partly determined by the size of picture to
be taken, and it will be found that if the room is to be long
enough to allow of a cabinet portrait to be taken of a full-length
standing figure, with sufficient space for backgrounds, and a
bit over for contingencies, 28 feet will be quite sufficient. In
width, enough space should be left for a row of furniture along
one side, and on the wall side for shelves, backgrounds, head-
rest, &c. These necessary impedimenta on both sides will be
found to take up 4 feet 6 inches, and if the width is made
14 feet, there will be left 9 feet 6 inches clear space for working.
This could, of course, be increased, by removing furniture, to
14 THE STUDIO.
the full width of the room when necessary for taking large
groups. This size is sufficient for all practical purposes. The
photographer who goes in for very varied effects would find
more space for background and accessories convenient ; but it
would be better to get this by an added room, rather than to
interfere with the working part of the studio.
THE ANGLE OF THE SKYLIGHT. — A great deal of nonsense
has been written upon the effect of the angle of glass through
which the light is admitted. Some have held that if the pitch
of the roof is high, the light will be refracted above the sitter's
head ; and if the roof be flat, the light will be directed to his
feet. This has been learnedly demonstrated by the aid of
diagrams, but is, nevertheless, not true. The amount of light
will practically be found to depend on the size of the opening
through which it is admitted, and, to some extent, to the
nearness of the object to be photographed to that aperture, and
the amount of sky to be seen from the sitter's chair.
The pitch of the glass roof of the ordinary ridge-roof studio
usually takes an angle of 35° to 45°. When the roof is so flat
as this angle indicates, and if the studio is not protected by a
high building on its south side, the sun will be found to shine
in, and be very annoying during most part of the day, and
necessitate the employment of special blinds and other trouble-
some contrivances. A very little alteration of the pitch of the
glass roof would remedy all this. As is well known by every
schoolboy, the sun in our latitudes never attains a greater
meridian altitude than 62° 30', as will be seen in the diagram
at the end of this chapter (page 21), which shows the highest
and lowest altitudes of summer and winter. If, then, the slope
of the roof is made at the angle of the highest altitude (62° 30'),
or still more upright, there would be no more trouble from
the sun.
The kind of glass for glazing the skylight has been the subject
of much controversy. Ordinary sheet glass is the best. It has
THE BEST FORM OF STUDIO. 15
the merit of being cheap, and has the further advantage of not
being so liable to change to a yellow colour in the light as some
other makes of glass. The size of the panes should be as large
as the construction will admit. In the chapter on Lighting the
Sitter, I mention ground glass for part of the roof ; this should
be referred to in connection with this subject.
The other dimensions to consider will be the height of the
sides and the ridge. It has been usual to make the side-light
8 or 9 feet high to the eaves. This construction rendered it
necessary to have much timber at the junction of the side and
roof, a place where important light should be admitted without
obstruction, and great stress used to be laid on the necessity of
having low side-lights, so that the feet in a carte-de-visite may
be properly lighted ! We are wiser now. There is no use for
the admission of any light lower than 4 feet 6 inches or 5 feet.
"We thus ascertain the height of the front wall to support the
skylight ; and if we determine that the height of the room to
the ridge shall be 12 feet, we get the principal dimension, and
the section of the room takes the form shown in the sketch
(see page 21).
If the studio is placed against a building, it would be better
to make the unglazed part a lead flat, which may be made useful
for some purposes, such as printing, or it may be built on ; but
if the studio is in the open, then the roof may take the direction
of the dotted line in the section, but the wall on which it rests
must not be less than 8 feet high, or there will not be sufficient
space to move backgrounds. The unequal sides give an ugly
effect to the gable, but this, in most cases, can be broken by
other buildings.
The light should have a northern aspect. If it incline to
the north-east, so much the better. In the long days, however
upright the skylight is constructed, the sun will shine into the
studio in the early moining and in the evening. If the room
is turned towards the north-east the sun will be off it before
16 THE STUDIO.
the studio is required for use, and will be better protected from
its rays in the afternoon.
Both ends of the room should be backgrounds.
THE BLINDS should run easily, and the means of altering
them be readily accessible. Spring rollers are good, but they
sometimes get out of order. I have found it a good plan to
make the blinds draw up with a clockweight. Blinds are
more particularly referred to in the chapter on Lighting the
Sitter.
THE APPEABANCE OF THE ROOM. — A great deal of the success
of the portrait will depend on the effect of the photographer
and his studio on the sitter. " Treatment" by the photographer
is considered further on ; it will be only necessary here to say
a word or two on the appearance of the studio.
I prefer that the studio should have the effect of a moderately
furnished living room, such as sitters may be expected to occupy
in their own homes ; avoiding shabbiness on the one hand, and
ostentatious show on the other. Don't let there be a great
display of anything, not even of your own good taste. The
effect should come on the visitor as a matter of course. You
will not be able to hide the implements of your art, nor is it
desirable that you should do so. What I very much object to
is that appearance of wreckage and lumber so often seen in
studios. Your cameras, backgrounds, accessories must be there,
but keep them in order. I like to keep the centre of my studio
absolutely free, except for the camera, and perhaps a table or
chair at the background end, and the furniture arranged along
the walls ready for use when called upon. A cheerful effect
has a great influence on many people. The tunnel was
recommended for the singular reason that it would aid the
expression ; but it did just the reverse. There are people whose
temperament will not allow them to look happy, however much
they try, if they have to stare into a gloomy space. It is bad
enough to be taken to a strange place and be made to go through
THE BEST FORM OF STUDIO. 17
a strange operation, without the additional discomfort of being
taken into an uncomfortable room.
As a general principle, violent contrasts should be avoided in
the furnishing of the studio, everything being kept as quiet and
harmonious as possible. The wall paper should be simple and
quiet in pattern, and of a warm grey in tone. The carpet is a
difficulty. For appearance I should prefer to have it all over
the room ; but it offers resistance to the easy moving of back-
grounds and furniture. It is better, therefore, to compromise the
matter, and cover the floor with linoleum of a small, simple pattern,
and have squares of carpet at both ends where the sitters are
usually placed. It is easy now to obtain carpets of suitable pattern .
Indian and Persian rugs are very useful. There should be a fixed
background at each end ; others may be stretched on frames set
up on castors, so that they may be rapidly changed without effort.
THE TEMPEBATUBE AND VENTILATION should be carefully at-
tended to. llany people are deterred from having their por-
traits taken for fear of the ordeal by heat in a photographer's
stifling studio. It is pleasant to hear visitors say, as I often
do, when they enter your studio in one of the broiling days of
summer, "Why, this is the coolest place in the town!"
Perfect comfort in the dog days can only be had when the
studio has a high building on the south side. I once had a
studio of the old ridge-roof form in which I suffered much
from the heat, although the half towards the south was built
solid. The southern side of the roof was slated, and became
very hot. I cured this by putting up a wooden blind entirely
covering the slates, but fixed about a foot from them, so that a
current of air should flow under the covering. The blind was
carried higher than the roof, as shown in the sectional diagram.
c
18 THE STUDIO.
It was found that the lighting was quite as quick and good as
before, and this suggested placing the roof of any future studio
at so upright an angle that the sun could not look over the
ridge, even on the longest day.
THE DBESSING BOOM should be conveniently near the studio.
I have known this room to be on one floor and the studio on
another. This is very awkward, and likely to create confu-
sion. A second room would be found useful.
AN ANTE-ROOM between the reception room and the studio
would be found invaluable; it is useful to both ends. It is
often advantageous to show some special picture away from the
crowd of the general exhibition room, and it is especially useful
to ask the friends of the sitter to go into while the sitting is
taking place.
THE DEVELOPING ROOM. — No room is more neglected than
this one. Any closet is thought good enough for a dark room ;
but no part of the establishment should call for more thought
and attention. Health, comfort, eyesight, and, to a great ex-
tent, the quality of the work done, depend on this room.
There should be sufficient space to conduct all the operations
in comfort. Table space should be ample, and there should be
sufficient shelves to hold everything but dust. The sinks used
to, be made of wood, lined either with gutta-percha or pitch,
and were always causing trouble ; white porcelain sinks were
expensive, and could never be got large enough for all purposes.
For several years I have used Doulton's sinks ; they are made
of glazed stoneware, are very cheap, can be got of any size, and
are also useful for other purposes. I use one of them as a hypo
dish, and a series of them for washing prints.
Perfect ventilation should be provided for. The dark room
is not so stifling and unhealthy now as it was when collodion
was used, but deleterious vapours still arise from the ammonia
and other chemicals. This chapter is concerned more with de-
sign than construction, but the following sketch for a ventilator
THE BEST FORM OF STUDIO.
19
may as well be given here. It admits the air, but excludes
the light. The arrangement consists of a long box of any length
required, with an opening (AB) all along the lower side of the
front, and a similar one (OP) all along the upper side at the back.
On the inside_[of the hox two partitions (DD) are made ; one ex-
tending from the bottom to within about 6 inches from the top,
and the other extending from the top to within about 6 inches
from the bottom. The height of the box is about 1 foot 6
inches, and the depth from back to front is but little more.
Dark Room
The opening in front (AB) should be the same with the space
left above and below the two partitions (DD), and also the same
as the opening (OP) ; the spaces, likewise, between the parti-
tions and the back and front of the box, and between the two
partitions themselves, should be of the same size, viz., 6 inches.
A door at P is provided, to shut up to such a degree as may be
necessary. The passage of the air through this apparatus is
shown by the arrows in the cut. It will be obvious, from a
little consideration, that no light can enter the room through
20 THE STUDIO.
the air-passage. SS is intended for an iron or zinc shade, fitted
outside, if the apparatus be much exposed to the weather. It
would also help to screen the light from the outside opening
(AB). This ventilator, with a grating in the floor, ought to
keep the air of the room pure.
THE LIGHT. — There is so much difference of opinion as to
what light should he used to work by, that I feel considerable
diffidence in giving any advice on the subject. In my own
practice I have a window glazed with two panes of orange
glass, to which is added a sheet of white ground glass. Over
this runs on rollers a shutter of ruby glass. When I am chang-
ing plates, or when the plate is naked, I use the shutter ; but
after the developer has begun its work I roll back the ruby
glass, and then have almost as good a light as when collodion
was used.
THE STUDIO OF THE FUTURE will probably have no sloping
roof. It is better to abstain from giving advice not based on
experience, but if I had to build another studio it would take
the form of a square room 26 feet to 30 feet square, 14 feet
high, the north side glazed from the top to within 4 feet 6
inches of the ground. This is the simplest possible form, and
I believe there would be plenty of light, and that every kind of
indoor effect could be got in this room, besides which several
difficulties would be avoided. There would be no more fear
of the weather ; hail and snow may do their worst without
doing any damage ; and the blinds, being upright, would work
with ease.*
To conclude this part of my subject, I give a plan of the
studio I have suggested and its accompanying rooms, which
can be easily modified to suit different situations, and a section
of the studio, showing the angle of the glass at 62° 30'.
* Since the first edition of this book was published I have heard of
several studios built on this principle, and found to be most successful.
THE BEST FORM OF STUDIO.
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CHAPTER III.
BACKGROUNDS.
DOUBTLESS, the backgrounds used by photographers have very*
much improved during the last half-dozen years, but there is
still a great deal that wants further improvement. For years
writers in the English Photographic Journals preached their
little sermons on the fearful things that even photographers of
taste were constrained to use, and tried to win over our manu-
facturers to something more gentle in design, and light, and
shade ; but it was left for an American to supply the demand,
and that the demand for something better was great, is shown
by the number of Seavey's backgrounds now used — and pirated.
There is a mournful satisfaction in knowing that our background
makers can imitate others, if they cannot give us anything
original, or indeed useable, of their own.
This refers to pictorial backgrounds ; but before I go further
I should like to say a word or two on backgrounds in general.
It has been considered by many great artists that the back-
ground is not the least important and difficult part of the picture.
The proper use of a background is to give relief to the figure,
and breadth to the general effect. As we have only a flat sur-
face on which we can suggest the roundness and solidity of
nature, we must resort to artifice in the arrangement of the
BACKGROUNDS. 23
light and shade, to enable us to approach, as near as may be, to
a proper expression of nature, and to do this the background
gives us the greatest facilities.
In a portrait, the head should be the first attraction, and
everything should be subordinate to this part of the picture.
In the background especially, by the use of proper lights and
shade, and gradations, the head can be much assisted. In some
photographic portraits the head is the last thing the spectator is
made to think of. The picture often consists of a mass of small
details, including a great display of gaudy furniture, and loud
curtains and carpets, with the figure as an accessory, and the
head apparently an after-thought. Occasionally, the confusion
is worse confounded by the addition of plants, such as imitation
palms and ferns, and other dead vegetables, sprawling over the
scene. Some of these things are all very well in their way, if
properly managed, but the portrait should not be sacrificed to
them. In a recent exhibition there was a wonderful portrait of
a lady in evening dress. The picture was large, the photography
was perfect, the chiaroscuro brilliant and broad, but the lady
was so embedded in potted plants that your first impression was
that she would break some crockery if she moved.
It should be taken as a rule that if you want to give dignity
and importance to the figure, you cannot do it by smothering it
in small details. Concentration and repose cannot live in the
midst of loud and startling effects.
The majority of the best portraits, by the best masters, have
no background which strikes the eye, the figure merely being
relieved by light and shade, or a variety of broken tints. One
of the finest portraits in the world — the Gevartius of Vandyck
in the National Gallery — has such a background, and so have
hundreds more of the best portraits the world possesses. A
background of one uniform tint, unbroken by light and shade,
or effect of atmosphere, has an unsatisfactory effect, making the
figure appear inlaid, and cutting hard against the background.
24 THE STUDIO.
Such an effect is often present, and is decidedly unpleasant, in the
otherwise nohle portraits by Holbein.
For a certain class of photographic portraits, however, the
plain background, especially if it be skilfully contrived by
variations of light and shade to relieve the figure, will always
be most satisfactory. In such cases the sole object of the
background is to be as unobtrusive as possible in itself, and to
contribute, as far as possible, to give relief and force to the
portrait.
In early photographs it will be noticed that fche background
is nearly always quite plain, without any attempt at gradation.
This was probably not so much for want of knowledge in the
operator, as from a desire to show his skill. In those days of
iodized collodion, it was not an easy matter to produce a picture
undisfigured by specks, pinholes, comets, oyster-shell markings,
and other of the thousand delights common to the wet process,
and the " pride of the workshop " had to be shown in plain, flat
spaces, unsullied by any of these defects. But artistic taste in
time revolted against blank walls —
" A wall so blank, my shadow I thank
For sometimes falling there."
Then came in a desire for gradation, but the means of attaining
it were not found to be easy; no background painters existed
who would undertake to paint a graduated background, and for
want of them many contrivances were suggested for casting
shadows. One of the best of these was a simple arrangement of
curtains at the side, from which the light came, and a screen
over the top of the background, so arranged to move up and down
that the shadow could be raised or lowered. The object of
most of these contrivances was to throw a shade on the
background, melting into a mass of light, which could be so
used as to relieve the shadowed side of the head with light, and
the lighted side with dark. This arrangement gives great force
BACKGROUNDS.
and richness to the work, and if the gradation is well managed,
the head is thrown into strong relief.
Adam Salomon, the famous photographer and sculptor, always
laid much stress on the gradation of the background, and was a
prolific inventor of contrivances for attaining this object, the
most ingenious of which was the alcove background, a sketch and
description of which may be interesting, if not useful. For
amateurs who take portraits in the open air, the combination of
a method of controlling the lighting in connection with the back-
ground possesses a distinct advantage.
The structure consists of a semi-circular background, with
canopy and wings capable of ready arrangement, so as to control
the light either on the model or the .background. The diagram
will help to make the further description clear. The curved
background is about 8 feet high and 10 feet wide at the
diameter of the circle. Hinged on each side are movable wings,
about 4 feet wide, and a canopy, of a similar character and width,
26 THE STUDIO.
is hinged to the top in front. Behind this projecting front
canopy is a covering to the curved part of the background ; this
consists of two halves, hinged in the centre. Attached to the
background is an upright, terminating in a series of loops or
pulleys. Through these pass cords to work the canopies. The
wings and canopy are light frames covered with thin white
muslin, transmitting some light, but arresting or breaking up
direct rays of sunlight. The background is on castors, so as to
be easily movable, and is papered with salmon-coloured paper.
Light grey would answer equally well. The size and proportions
might be altered to suit circumstances.
To illustrate its working, we will suppose it to be placed in
the open air, but it would do equally well in a studio. The
sitter is placed in the centre of the circle, of which the curve
forms half. "We will suppose the front canopy is down, and the
wings just so much closed as to form a rectangular opening to
the alcove. A soft, diffused light now surrounds the figure. A
slight elevation of the canopy at once admits a portion of direct
light. In like manner the proportion of side light is modified
in any degree by the opening and shutting of the wings. The
back canopies also admit light, if desired, when lifted. It will
be seen, on a little examination, that almost any amount of light,
from any direction, can be allowed to reach the sitter, the means
of controlling its direction on him being the most simple and
easily managed ; and it will be found in practice that however
the sitter is lighted, he has gradation of light and shade behind
him.
It is fortunate that complicated structures of this kind are no
longer needed in the studio. Methods of painting backgrounds
are so much improved that most delicate gradations can now be
produced on flat surfaces. The illustration is taken from back-
grounds I have now in use. The one behind is a light back-
ground gradated towards the lower part. This is very useful for
vignettes, and when a light background is required. The other
BACKGKOUNDS. 27
is a gradated background to be used with the light coming from
the dark side. This produces the effect already mentioned of
the shadowed side of the head relieved by light, and the lighted
side by dark. A reverse of this should be supplied for use at the
opposite end of the room, where the sitter is lighted from the
other side. This illustration gives me an opportunity of mention-
ing a stand for backgrounds I have found very convenient. The
backgrounds are stretched on stout frames 8 feet high by 6 feet
6 inches wide. Two of them are placed back to back, and stands
running on good castors screwed to the sides, as shown in the
sketch. These backgrounds can be rolled to any part of the
studio with the greatest ease, and thus the operator is enabled
to place his sitter in any part of the room. Two or more extra
backgrounds can be attached to the same stand if they are hinged
to the background already fixed, so that they open like the leaves
of a book. Care should be taken that they open towards the
wall, so as not to obstruct the light when the inner backgrounds
are being used.
28 THE STUDIO.
There are many cases, however, in which a plain background
unrelieved by design or accessory will give a meagre and
unsatisfactory effect ; in most full-length pictures, for instance.
To meet this want, pictorial backgrounds were introduced, both
of interior and out-door scenes. It is often desirable, also,
especially where children are the subjects, and when out-door
costume is worn by the sitter, to make up the picture with a
pictorial background and foreground accessories.
Everything possible in the way of bad taste has been perpe-
trated in what were humorously called pictorial backgrounds.
It would be useless to point out minutely the kind of thing
I allude to. The palatial column and curtain, so suitable for
the middle-class citizen ; the raging sea and profile rocks, with
a carpet on the sands to save the feet of the delicate young lady
out in the storm in an evening dress ; the pasteboard terrace and
distant mole-hills, with fountains squirting out of the sitter's
head — they are still to be seen in the albums of those who keep
the portraits of twenty years ago ; they have not all faded. But
we have changed all that. Background painters now pay some
attention to possibility and pictorial effect ; but they also find
that, if they are to obtain the greatest pictorial effect, and if
justice is to be done to the portrait, that the background must
be, to some extent, conventional. By conventional, I mean that
it must not have the full force of nature, but must take a
subordinate position ; that it should not have all the detail, nor
all the force of light and shade of nature ; that, in short, while
its forms are based on those of nature, it should be such a mass
of light and shade as will support the figure without distracting
the eye from the head. At the same time, there should be no
violent disregard of nature ; there should be a general truth, if
not a particular one. If the trees have not all their leaves,
they should look as if they had been drawn from nature. The
distant mountains should look distant. The horizon — ah ! there
is the difficulty. Where should the horizon be ?
BACKGROUNDS. 29
There has been, perhaps, more discussion on the position of
the horizon in a landscape background than on any other tech-
nical detail occurring on the art side of photography. Shall we
keep to stern, uncompromising truth, or, for the sake of pictorial
effect, shall we depart from the truth of nature ? Shall we, as
a literal art like photography suggests, keep to absolute fact, or
shall we, like Eeynolds, Gainsborough, Titian, and many
another great portrait painter, depart from fact for the sake of
making a better picture ? Shall we, in short, give up pictorial
effect for the sake of that literal truth which has been described
as so praiseworthy — and so intolerable ?
The horizon, in nature, is always as high as the eye of the
observer. In photography the lens is practically the eye of the
observer. If the lens is on a level with the head of the sitter,
then the horizon would come behind the head, and if at all
defined would interfere with the effect. If the camera were
lower than the head, then the horizon would also be low.
Many of the great painters wilfully ignored this law of nature,
and painted their backgrounds all clouds, with a few inches of
ground seldom reaching above the knee. This seems to me to
be a matter that may be compromised or evaded. If the camera
is placed opposite the breast of a standing figure, then the
horizon may be below the shoulders, and leave the head clear
against the sky. But when a thing is doubtful, it is better to
let it alone altogether. It may be also well to remember that
it is never good to push principle to excess, and there may be
occasions when the artist would be justified in straining the
exact truth, especially on such a disputed point as our present
one. There should be a sufficient choice of subjects for back-
grounds without any horizon whatever. In a background there
should be no false lines. The sitter and distance should be under
the same conditions of perspective as well as light and shade.
The photographer is much more restricted, both in resource
and aim, than the painter in the management of his background.
30 THE STUDIO.
Fuseli says : " By the choice and scenery of the background we
are frequently enabled to judge how far a painter entered into
his subject, whether he understood;] its nature, to what class it
belonged, what impression it was capable of making, what pas-
sion it was calculated to arouse; the sedate, the solemn, the
severe, the awful, the terrible, the sublime, the placid, the soli-
tary, the pleasing, the gay, are stamped by it. ' Sometimes it
ought to be negative, entirely subordinate, receding or shrink-
ing into itself; sometimes more positive : it acts, invigorates,
assists the subject. A subject in itself bordering on the common,
may become sublime or pathetic by the background alone ; and
a sublime or pathetic one may become trivial and uninteresting
by it." The range of effect here indicated far transcends any-
thing possible to the photographer. Nevertheless, he may at
times give character to his pictures by the selection of character-
istic backgrounds and accessories. But it is clear that the use
of such accessories can only become the exception, and not the
rule, as by far the greater majority of portraits do not admit of
any such aid from characterisation. It is manifest, moreover,
that the photographer cannot, like the painter, prepare a back-
ground of different and characteristic design for each picture.
If, then, he is under the necessity of using the same or similar
backgrounds for all ranks and conditions of men — the peer and
peasant alike— they must of necessity be sufficiently devoid of
epecial character to suit any without incongruity.
CHAPTEE IV,
ACCESSORIES.
ACCESSOBIES have given thoughtful portraitists more trouble
than any other part of their art connected with picture-making.
Many have taken refuge in those Protean machines which are
"everything by turns, and nothing long," but have not been
able to hide from themselves that a piece of furniture that
could be turned into a score of absurd incongruities at will
was a sham, and therefore unworthy of the truthful art. As
a rule, everything that is made purposely for studio use smacks
of the studio, and proclaims itself as a make-up. Of course, in
saying this, I do not object to making-up, or anything that will
aid in producing a picture, for what is art, after all, but make-
up ? "What I do object to is, that the art should be made too
palpable. Any furniture that is made for the studio, and is
seen nowhere else, is objectionable. A chair, for instance, that
is made for a figure to lean on, and looks like it ; a sham piano,
painted a dull grey, so that it may "take" well; sham windows
and papier mache chimney pieces ; the posing chair that is half
a couch ; the elaborately carved table — all these are bad. Just
such furniture as is found in the houses of ordinary reasonable
beings is what is wanted, and as much variety of this as you
like.
It was once the fashion to fill the studio with old carved oak
32 THE STUDIO.
furniture from AVardour Street, and a photographer would take
a good deal of trouble to show off his ornate table at the risk of
detracting from the effect of the head of the portrait. He
had the excuse for using this stuff, that the ordinary furniture
of the day was about as ugly as it could be made. There is no
such excuse now. The art of design has made giant strides
during the last twenty years, and in no department is this
more conspicuous than in furniture.
The once much-abused curtain may be used, but not in the
old way. The column is now banished; and the heavy rep
material tied up in ugly folds, with a very pronounced cord
and tassel following the lines of the figure instead of contrasting
it, can no longer be allowed. There is now a great variety of
beautiful materials within easy reach of the photographer, one
of the best of which is Madras muslin. This is a thin fabric
that easily falls into graceful folds, and the designs are in the
very best taste. One of these curtains, tastefully arranged on
a screen, gives light to a background that was in danger of
being too plain and dull, while the lines can be adapted so a&
to agree with the composition of the figure. I have mentioned
a screen. A screen is of great service in a studio. A three or
four-leaf folding Japanese screen is perhaps the best. It can
be put to a variety of uses in making up backgrounds, and is
useful for other purposes.
There is great virtue in variety. If the photographer would
make up his mind never to take two pictures alike, he would
strengthen his inventive powers, make his show frames more
attractive, and life more interesting to him. The monotony of
making all men and women lean on the same chair, in the same
position, and photographing them one after another, from week's
end to week's end, must be dreadful. The continual use even
of a good thing is objectionable. "Who is not weary of the
eternal rustic stile, evidently quite new from the workshop,
and, like the Irish gate, without any hedge or fence on either
ACCESSORIES. 33
side, so that you must make believe almost as much as Dick
Swiveller's Marchioness, if you want to persuade yourself there
is no other way to the village than over the bars ? Now a stile
in itself is a very picturesque thing, so also may be a wicket
gate, but the way they are, as a rule, made and used, seems to
proclaim with a grin that there is no deception. Even if the
stile was perfect in its way, it would become very tiresome from
constant use. The same remarks apply to the ship's mast and
the swing, both good of their kind, when used occasionally and
in season, but not when they are pressed into service for all
purposes against nature and art.
In deprecating palpably made-up articles, I am far from
objecting to properly made aids to posing, such as balconies and
balustrades ; occasionally such things add much, for instance, to
the portrait of a lady in walking dress, or to a group of children
in outdoor costume ; but to be unobjectionable, they should be
kept subdued, and used sparingly. These accessories are usually
sent out from the manufactory painted one uniform drab colour.
It would be easy to paint them to look old and weather-stained.
For seaside studios a real boat — or half a one, if you must
economise space — is a valuable accessory, and is much better
than the sham, profile article which is often used, and always
speaks for itself. I have seen the bows of a real old boat used
with great effect, and it was found to be very suggestive of
poses. A bit of old rope, some netting, pebbles, crab baskets,
and other objects of the seaside, also aided in the realistic
effect.
Besides the ordinary furniture, there are a number of other
things that are necessary for the use of the portraitist. Among
others I find a small platform, standing about 16 inches from
the ground, and measuring about 4 feet square, very useful in
posing children. There is always a difficulty in getting down
to them when they are placed on the floor. Specially short
head- rests have to be used, and the camera lowered to an incon-
34 THE STUDIO.
venient extent. If the platform is made to fold in the middle,
with a leg to pull out to support the leaf, as is seen in some
tables, it takes very little room. With some well-made rocks of
different sizes, and bits of hay on this platform, very natural
portraits of children can easily be arranged. Among the
smaller articles that should be at hand, there should be a good
supply of baskets of various shapes, and vases with flowers,
natural by preference, but well-made artificial ones if the real
ones cannot be got. Two or three fans will be found useful,
and above all there should be a grand collection of toys for the
children, from the squeaking india-rubber baby up to the boyish
hoop and the more manly cricket bat, not forgetting the tennis
racquet. The most beautiful thing about the most beautiful
child is nearly always the expression, and the photographer can
only hope to make the best of the little sitter by descending
down to the level of the child. A photographer who cannot
play with toys, and enjoy the game, too, while he is about it,
ought not to try to take children. Toys specially made to
attract the attention of children should be at hand. A loud
ticking watch is always useful, so also is a musical box; and a
good deal can be done with the india-rubber toys which give, on
squeezing, that plaintive expression to their feelings so dear to
childhood.
REFLECTING SCBEENS. — As a rule, for ordinary portraiture, no
reflected light, other than the natural reflection from the grey
paper wall, will be necessary, but there are occasions when a
reflector may be useful. It sometimes happens, in taking shadow
pictures, that it is difficult to introduce a weakened light to
relieve the shaded side, and secure the discrimination of forms
and textures. All broad, strong masses of shadow should be
broken up, or rather light should be let into them; for this
purpose nothing is better than a screen 4 or 5 feet square,
papered white and mounted on a stand ; or one of the leaves of
an ordinary folding screen may be papered for the purpose.
ACCESSORIES. 35
Many elaborate contrivances have been invented or suggested
for casting reflections, but they take up more space and give
more trouble than they are worth. One of the simplest and
most effective reflectors, other than a plain screen, was suggested
by Adam Salomon. In describing his reflector, he says : —
" The reflected lights ought to be as much under the operator's
control as the direct light, and a strong reflected light, per-
fectly under control, may often possess all the value of direct
light. In the little contrivance shown in the diagram I have
the most perfect control over the reflected lights, which may be
thrown in any direction, up or down, or nearly all round the
figure. It consists of a simple, upright framework of wood,
about 6 feet high and 3 feet wide, with a couple of reflectors
3 feet square, each swinging on its axis in the framework, and
moved by the handles into any position. One side of each re-
flector is painted white, and the other side is covered with
polished tin, the latter to give the strongest reflection when re-
quired. The frame can be placed in almost any position towards
the shadowed side of the model, and the two reflectors can be
36 THE STUDIO.
made to throw light on any portion of the shadowed side. The
use and the value of the contrivance will be apparent without
many words. It may or may not be new, but I have not seen
one before, and it is, at any rate, sufficiently valuable, although
trifling, to induce me to offer it to my English friends."
Finally, every accessory, from the steps of Haddon Hall to
the rattle and the ball, should have its own place, so that it can
be used at once without any trouble or loss of time.*
* Lest it be said that I have omitted to mention the principal object in
the studio — the camera — I may as well say here that the optical and
chemical side of photography does not enter into my plan. That part of
the subject is exhaustively treated by Capt. Abney in his "Handy Books."
CHAPTER V.
LIGHTING THE SITTER.
As the succeeding chapters on Posing will have little or nothing
to do with light and shade, a few words on the mechanical
means of producing and regulating light and shade on the sitter
by the use of blinds, screens and reflectors, may not be out of
place as an introduction.
The first aim of the student in lighting a head — leaving out
of the question, for the moment, what may be called " fancy "
lighting, such as Rembrandts — should be to get roundness and
relief, to obtain gradation, and to avoid patches of black and
white ; to so light the head that beauties are made prominent
and defects hidden. Or, as Mr. Mayall once summed up the
objects of lighting : " To render age less garrulous ; make beauty
more lovely; to impart an expression of intelligence where
nature has not been over bountiful; to light up the intellect,
and to impart the quality of power in those heads on which she
has lavished her most precious gifts ; in short, to present human
nature in its best form, by aid of a camera and a properly-lighted
room." The general chiaroscuro of a picture will not be dis-
cussed here, as I have gone fully into the subject in a former
work.*
* " Pictorial Effect in Photography." Published by Piper and Carter.
38
THE STUDIO.
I will suppose that the student is working in a studio such as
that described in Chapter II. When he has learnt what to get
and how to get it in this form of studio, he will be able to apply
his knowledge in other studios.
In his first serious studies 'in lighting, I should recommend
the student to use a life-sized plaster cast. It has been objected
that this will not yield the same results as studying effects on
the human subject, because one is simple, the other complex.
This is just the reason why I recommend the plaster bust to the
young student; he should commence his studies under simple
conditions, avoiding the complex until he has quite mastered
the more simple ones. Whilst studying the effects of light on a
white or grey bust, there is no fear of tiring the model, there-
fore no cause for hurry ; no disturbing influence of colour ; he
sees exactly the effect of light in producing high lights, reflected
lights, and shadows in his picture. Having once learned to
produce and recognise on the bust satisfactory and pictorial
effects of light and shade, he will soon learn to apply what he
has learned to the lighting of the living model.
To make my remarks as clear as possible, I give a diagram of
the glazed part of the roof of the studio, showing the blinds.
1
2
3
*
6
•
6
In most studios of this form the spaces occupied by blinds 1 and
6 are usually solidly-constructed roofs, but I prefer to let the
glass run from end to end, as it is of use to the photographer in
getting pictures lighted from the back. Besides, too much glass
can easily be modified by blinds ; too little does not admit of
such a remedy. The six blinds in a studio 28 feet long, would
each be 4 feet 8 inches wide ; if the studio be of a shorter length,
I should prefer to reduce the width of blinds 2, 3, 4, and 5,
LIGHTING THE SITTER. 39
and keep 1 and 6 of the full width of from 4 feet 8 inches to
5 feet.
Blinds 1 and 6 should be of some black material, and the
others of white, or the grey striped material called " Union."
The whole of them should run on rollers at the top, pulled up
easily by weights or springs. The blinds should always be in
good order, and ready to obey the least touch of the operator.
There should be another black blind, pulling up from the eaves
and doubling blinds 3 and 4. The use of this blind will be seen
further on.
The subject of lighting the sitter has been often treated, and
treated as it only can be, in general terms. The special lighting
of each sitter is, after all, a question which can only be solved
by the operator when he has that sitter before him. He must
see that the light and shade fall so as to produce the most
agreeable effect before he exposes his plate, and with the
capacity of seeing this, the power of modifying it is usually
accompanied. I can only tell him what to look for generally,
and the influence of the blinds in producing the desired effect.
As a general principle, a high side-light, a little in advance
of the sitter, is the most important direct light ; excess of
vertical light is, in most cases, to be avoided ; nevertheless, it
may be useful at times in giving force and brilliancy to flat,
commonplace faces, which in themselves possess very little relief .
For example, I think I should use a good deal of vertical light
in taking the portrait of a Chinaman. On the other hand, where
the sitter has heavy brows, sunken eyes, or prominent features,
the least possible vertical light should be employed, or these
features will look more marked and heavy. With such faces
the side-light, well in advance of the sitter, will give the most
soft and harmonious effect without risk of flatness. The top front
light will generally serve to illumine sufficiently the shadowed
side of the face without the use of reflecting screens other than
the natural reflection from the grey paper of the wall.
40 THE STUDIO.
Reflecting screens will, however, under certain circumstances,
be found useful. As a rule, a mild, soft light is what is required.
Strong illumination produces lights and shadows of great
intensity, giving hlack and white pictures ; and the glare of
brilliant light interferes with the expression of the sitter.
There are other influences besides the amount of space through
which light is admitted. The aspect of the day, the period of
the year, the quality of the light, the situation of the studio,
whether in town or country, at the top of the house or on the
ground ; even the quality of the plate, for a very sensitive plate
seems to require a greater contrast of light and shade than a
slow one.
All these things prevent anything like the establishment of
fixed rules for lighting. There is no patent way to "fix your
light."
The true test of good lighting is roundness. This can only
be got by securing delicacy in the half-tones ; there should be
no broad patches of black and white, but gradation everywhere.
The operator must educate himself to see these half tones, and
he must see them in the model, without the trouble and delay
of looking at the ground glass, or taking and printing a
negative. Get the right effect in nature, and the rest will
follow —
" As the sitter's lighted, so's the picture drawn."
Having stated briefly what is required, let us walk into the
studio, and try to reduce our theories to practice.
We will begin by placing the bust on a table at the east end,
about 3 feet from the background, and place ourselves in the
middle of the room where the camera would stand. The blinds
are all drawn'down, and for the purposes of the lesson, we will
suppose the south wall to be too dark to act as a reflector.
The effect ought now to be, not darkness, but a dull light of
no photographic use. The model looks moderately round, but
without high-lights or details in the shadows.
LIGHTING THE SITTER. 41
Pull up No. 2 blind all the way. You will find that the
light is too vertical, and that the shadows under the eyebrows
are dark and heavy. Pull down the blind half-way. The black
vertical shadows are softened. The high-lights on the forehead
and nose appear. There is enough light, although the space
opened is under 6 feet by 5 feet, to get a negative with a
moderate exposure, but the shadowed side of the face is too dark
and without transparency. Place a grey reflecting screen on the
shadowed side, and the shadows will look softer, and the
reflected light will show detail. The dark side, however, ia
still too dark for a delicately lighted head. There are several
ways of altering this. One would be to replace the grey screen
with a white one, but there is danger in this of throwing a light
into the eye, giving a strange, blind effect. The best way of
lighting the dark side is to pull up No. 3 to the top, and if this
is not sufficient, to raise No. 6. If this again is not sufficient —
and it is not in some phases of the light, such as when a
luminous white cloud is passing — then it would be advisable to
work diagonally, as shown in the diagram, a is the background,
b the sitter, c the camera.
Thus far, by way of lesson ; but if the operator wants to have
his room so arranged that he need seldom think of his lighting
or his blinds, except for fancy lighting, let him arrange his
skylight as follows : —
42 THE STUDIO.
Blinds No. 1 and 6 black.
No. 2 and 5 half up.
No. 3 and 4 ground glass or tissue paper; the blinds up.
The wall to be papered with a light grey diaper.
It will be found that, with this arrangement, a head placed
3 or 4 feet from either background will be full of subtle
gradations, with sparkling high-lights and sharp touches of dark.
It would be well also to note, with this lighting, the different
effects on the head as it advances more towards the centre of
the studio. Very soft effects are to be got by placing the sitter
about 6 feet from the end backgrounds. The photographer
should study the light in every part of his room.
I have said nothing of the difference of effect on a full face
and a profile. It will be found that a flatter light than that
used for a full or three-quarter will be better for a side face.
FANCY LIGHTING. — Yery picturesque effects are to be got by
the various modes of lighting the sitter which have gradually
come under the designation of what is now called Fancy
Lighting. Of these the Rembrandt effect obtains the most
favour. The Rembrandt portrait is usually a head, more or
less in profile, lighted from behind and the side, and as unlike
anything Rembrandt ever painted as possible. I have always
objected to this title for these shadow pictures, but the name
sticks, and I accept it.
To light a Rembrandt, place the sitter under the junction of
blinds 2 and 3, but rather more under 3. Pull up No. 2 half-way.
Pull down 3 and 4, and if this does not make the shadowed
side dark enough, there should be another black blind working
under and supplementing 3 and 4, rolling up at the bottom
and working upwards, but not quite to the top. Turn the head
of the sitter in profile towards the light. With this arrange-
ment it will be found that there is a bright light down the edge
of the nose, and on part of the cheek. The shadowed side is
probably too black; anyway, it may be taken as a rule that
LIGHTING THE SITTER. 43
shadow, however dark it may be wanted, is always better for
some reflected light to make out the forms, and give trans-
parency. This can be done by the use of a reflecting screen,
or blind No. 4 may be drawn up to the top, letting a little light
on the dark side, over the edge of the black blind, which, it
will be remembered, does not reach to the top. The shadow
can also be modified by gradually withdrawing the black blind,
and allowing weak light to get through the white or grey
blinds, Nos. 3 and 4.
A good effect is also to be got by turning the sitter's face
quite away from the light, looking to the wall ; in this case the
profile is entirely in shadow, and should have a light back-
ground. I have entered further into this subject in the next
chapter.
The operator should occupy his leisure time in trying
experiments in lighting, and in trying to get away from the
hum-drum effects he is compelled to produce in the ordinary
round of daily portraiture, recollecting, however, that the
illumination should be adapted to the sex, age, and phy-
siognomical peculiarities of the sitter — to bring out beauties,
and to hide defects.
CHAPTEE VI,
POSING AND THE MANAGEMENT OF THE SITTER.
THE HEAD.
IN the following chapters I hope to give some general ideas on
posing sitters for portraiture, suitable for the requirements of
the professional photographer — not, I trust, without being of
some use to the amateur. I do not intend to confine myself to
the ornamental and elaborate, but shall prefer to give such
simple advice as, in my opinion, is calculated to be of most use
in ordinary studio practice. Much of it, perhaps, will seem too
elementary for the skilled photographer, but I trust that here
and there may crop up ideas worthy of the attention of even the
most experienced operator. In doing this, I protest against the
enervating practice of giving a set of poses for the imitation of
those idle and thoughtless operators who do not try to think for
themselves and adapt their ideas to their subjects, but who place
their sitters, no matter how unsuitable it may be to them, in the
same position day after day, as if the posing chair was a sort of
Procrustean bed on which everybody must be cut to the same
size and shape and form, and brought to that state of imbecile
appearance to which photography is popularly supposed to reduce
its victims. A recent writer on composition has some forcible
remarks on this point. He says : " Our subjects and our treat-
ment of them must be emphatically our own ; but nevertheless,
MANAGEMENT OF THE SITTER. 45
every student of art owes it to himself to get what help he can
from the study of the works of the great painters who have
gone before. His object should be to notice not only how
natural appearances have been modified — or, as it is technically
called, treated — by painters of acknowledged fame, but also-
why this was done. No painter who has in him any spark
of originality will directly repeat any effect that has already
been painted ; but an earnest student can only benefit himself
by trying in a measure to look at nature from the point of view
of the masters of his art."
For the purpose of these lessons, portraiture may be divided
into different classes, such as the head, the three-quarter, the-
full-length, the seated, the standing, the group, &c. Of all thi&
variety the head is, perhaps, the most important, for nine-
tenths of the portraits taken in ordinary studios — excluding
thelower class and "the beach" — consist of heads taken under
different names, as the Vignette, the Berlin, the Medallion, the
Rembrandt. Now it might be thought that nothing could be
simpler or easier than to pose a head, and that there was very
little to say on the subject; but if we are to judge by the
majority of specimens, we see that the art of setting a head
properly on its shoulders is not given to all men, and the results
suggest the notion that their victims were first hanged— BUS. per
col. — and then, instead of being " drawn," according to the old
sentence, had been photographed. This broken-necked effect i&
more visible in Bembrandts than in the other forms mentioned,
although they are not absent from Vignettes and Medallions.
The reason why it is more apparent in Eembrandts, probably,
is, that this kind of picture is commonly taken in profile, and
the strain to turn the head sufficiently makes it lean towards
the camera. On the next page is an illustration . You have
only to add a rope to make the thing complete.
The eye, also, in these shadow portraits, nearly always seems
to be afraid of looking straight — the shy, half-frightened, and
46
THE STUDIO.
wholly-deceitful glance of the eye in most of these pictures,
suggesting that none but the very worst characters ever had
their portraits done in this style. Eoth these very grave faults
are easily avoided. The inclination of the head towards the
camera is caused chiefly, as I have said, by the strain in turning
to a side view of the face when the body is in full front view.
If the figure were turned to a three-quarter view towards the
light, the strain would be lessened, and if the head still leans
over too much, a very slight movement of the head by the
photographer would set it upright. But I must take the
opportunity that here presents itself of saying that the less
the operator handles his sitter, the better. It worries him, and
oftener tends, except in very skilled hands, to stiffen the figure
rather than add to its grace.
The defect in the eye, just mentioned, is caused entirely by
having the light too low down, so that the sitter, if he looks
straight, is dazzled, and has to look aside. There is no reason
whatever why there should be any light in a studio lower than
MANAGEMENT OF THE SITTER.
47
5 feet from the ground. A studio of the following section
answers every purpose, and, as the solid walls are not less than
4 feet 6 inches high, the eye of the sitter for a Eembrandt
portrait may be looking at a pleasant picture instead of a glaring
light.
There is, apparently, very little glass used here, but it will
be found quite enough. And if a space of clear glass, measuring
5 feet by 4 feet, just behind and to the side of the sitter, be used,
the rest of the roof may be obscured, or semi-obscured, leaving
the possibility, however, of letting in a little reflected light on
the shadowed side of the head. The shadow pictures are very
much improved if some gradation of light and shade can be
obtained in the background, and fine effects can be got by
turning the face from the light, and bringing it out dark against
a light background.
The head-rest is now seldom used, and is chiefly famous for
the unmeasured abuse it met with from the ungrateful sitters
for whose benefit it was invented, and is still, in good hands, a
48 THE STUDIO.
great aid in posing. Objectors never stop to think that it is not
the instrument that is in fault, but the clumsy users of it. I
notice in my own practice that the complaints against the rest
are not so frequent as they were once upon a time, and if a
sitter objects to the rest, I feel certain that he has been badly
treated, and had an awful experience with some other photo-
grapher, and make it a point of honour to induce him not only
to submit to, but to enjoy it.
The rest should not be treated as an instrument to keep the
sitter still, but as a posing machine. One of the most objection-
able things you can do to a sitter is to insist on his being still.
You of course want him to be quiet while the exposure is going
on, but this should result from your general treatment of him,
rather than any preconceived notion he may have brought with
him. He should be so managed that sufficient stillness is a
natural result. During the few seconds' exposure that is all
now necessary, a slight touch of the rest, properly applied, is-
enough to secure steadiness, but its great use is in making slight
variations of the pose — of which more hereafter — and the
confidence it gives the sitter that he is not going to spoil your
plate by moving. On the other hand, if you dispense with the
rest, the sitter makes a desperate struggle to keep still, and
looks like it. Now the portrait of a gentleman, with an expres-
sion of firm determination to keep steady, as if rigidity was the
one absorbing passion of his life, is not a pleasant object to-
contemplate.
The rest should be a comfort instead of a nuisance. It should
be adjusted to the head, and not the head to the rest. It should
never be applied until everything else is ready. A sitter should
never have time to feel how ridiculous he looks, and the longer
he is fixed to the rest, the more this feeling obtrudes itself.
The plate should be exposed as quickly as possible after the
rest is placed. If a slight alteration strikes you as a possible
advantage, it is better to give it up than disturb the sitter at
MANAGEMENT OF THE SITTER. 49
this moment; but if there is anything gravely wrong in the
pose or dress, it is better to begin all over again.
The rest should be understood to be, and used as, a delicate
support to the head and figure, not a rigid fixture against which
the figure is to lean. As used in most studios, it is a great
deal too heavy. There is no occasion whatever for the cum-
brous iron supports so often employed. For ordinary portraiture
I prefer a light, simple rest, without any complications — one
that can be easily carried about after the sitter without trouble.
I have no fixed place for the sitter in my studio, but place him
in any part, just as the fancy strikes me, and it is here I find a
light rest of so much use. A perfect rest has yet to be made.
It must be moderately light and portable, and very simple.
The complicated movements of the ordinary machines, often with
chairs attached, are worse than useless, and very confusing.
The head-rest is not exclusively a photographer's tool ; it is
sometimes used by sculptors. The following curious extract
from Leslie's " Autobiographical Recollections " will show that
Chantrey not only used one of these machines, but also employed
the best substitute for our art the science of his time would
afford. Had he lived in our day, he would never have com-
menced a bust until he had obtained a satisfactory photograph
of his sitter for his guidance.
" July 31st, 1836.— In the evening I went to Mr. Dimlop's. Mr. Dun-
lop had been sitting to Chantrey, who fixed the back of his head in a
wooden machine, to keep him perfectly still, and then drew with a camera-
lucida the profile and front face of the size of life. He afterwards gave a
little light and shade to the drawings, and said, ' I shall not require you to
sit still after this.' • He said, ' I always determine in my own mind the
expression to be given, and unless I can see the face distinctly, and with
that expression when I close my eyes, I can do nothing. If I can, I can
often make the face more like in the absence of the sitter than in his
presence.' "
CHAPTER TIL
POSING AND THE MANAGEMENT OF THE SITTER.
THE HEAD VIGNETTE.
IN the last chapter I left my man hanging, while I went off
into a digression on studios and head-rests, turning him, indeed
— as well as my chapter — into a " subject " quite other than
that intended. This is bad art. A subject should never be
left suspended. Years ago there was published a series of por-
traits of a famous actress as she appeared reciting Tennyson's
sensational " Charge of the Light Brigade," a poem utterly
unworthy of the great poet's genius, but which, however, still
finds listeners, if not readers. There were seven poses in all,
and the last of the series left the lady with arms extended in
the very ecstacy of declamation; to make the series complete,
and finish artistically, the photographer should have added
another picture with arms down, and left her in repose.
"We will continue the consideration of how a head ought to be
treated.
The first thing to decide when you see your sitter should be :
"Which side of his face will make the best picture?" This
consideration seldom gives an experienced operator any trouble.
To one who is in the habit of observing, the sides of every face
differ so much, and in such a definite manner, that a glance is
all that is necessary to settle the question; but the young
MANAGEMENT OF THE SITTER.
51
photographer will want to know how to select, and have some
rule for the selection.
If you will look critically at a full face (or the photograph of
a full face would be better, as it would enable you to measure),
you will find that the eyes are not level — one is higher than
the other. This is almost invariable, and is one of the peculiar
instances in which nature insists on variety even where
uniformity would seem to be proper. If you take a photograph
of the face in a three-quarter position, with the eye that is
highest away from you, the unevenness will be still more
visible; but if you take the other side of the face, and have
the highest eye nearest to the camera, the lower eye will seem
to fall away naturally, through the effect of perspective. The
same facts apply to the nose, sometimes in a very marked degree ;
and it fortunately happens, in nine cases out of ten, that the
eyes and nose agree as to which is the best side of the face.
"When they disagree, the portrait is seldom satisfactory. The
two illustrations are taken from different sides of the same face,
and show which side should have been taken. In the one to
the right the nose looks broken, and the eyes out of line ; in the
other these defects are not seen.
52 THE STUDIO.
I keep an illustrated catalogue of all the portraits I take, and
on looking through several volumes, I found confirmed a very
curious idea that was stated in a "Note" in the PHOTOGEAPHIC
NEWS. I found that about four out of five of the portraits
were taken looking to the right, showing that I had in these
instances chosen the left side as the best. Now, as both ends
of my studio are equally well lighted, and it is no more trouble
to take one side of the face than the other, it follows that, in my
judgment, in four out of five cases the left side was the best.
If this is correct, the knowledge of it would be of some practical
use to those who have to build studios in a confined place, with
only one end available^ to make it that end on which the left
side of the face can be best lighted.
If your sitter is not in a good state to be photographed, and
if it does not endanger the loss of him (this is a purely business
consideration, which is out of place here), it is much better to
postpone the sitting than to risk taking an indifferent portrait.
The other day I saw that one of my sitters was not looking his
best, and asked him if anything was the matter. " Well," he
replied, " I've got a headache that ought to be good enough ta
split a planet into fragments, but I thought I would keep my
appointment." Now, it is a good thing to encourage sitters to
be punctual, but I felt it right to send this one away for a day
or two. My friend's description of a perfect and complete
headache was as good as I had heard until another friend said
he had got an effervescing mixture of sunstroke and neuralgia.
A sitter will sometimes want to be taken " naturally." His
ideas of being natural — "just as I am, you know" — is to
sprawl over the furniture. Perhaps he will put his hands in
his pockets, sink low in the chair, and expect you to make a
good head and shoulders of him. This is an awkward customer
to manage. Possibly the best plan is to recommend him to go
to the worst photographer he can find — one of those who
advertise themselves loudly as " artists," without knowing the
MANAGEMENT OF THE SITTER. 53
meaning of the word (there are plenty of them in every town),
or to the peripatetic on the sands or common, who will let him
have his own way entirely, so that he pays his sixpence in
advance.
But, given a decent sitter who, for the present purpose, let
us say, wants a head and shoulders — what is called a vignette
head — the question is, what to do with him.
A conscientious photographer who desires to do his best, and
who charges a price that will allow him to forget the cost of
his materials, will, in this case, take at least three positions — a
full, or nearly full, face ; a three-quarter ; and, if the face will
bear it, a profile, or nearly profile, showing a little of the off
eyebrow; but if the side face would be too trying, then the
third negative may be devoted to a variation of expression in
one of the other positions.
A simple head requires to be properly composed as much as
any other kind of picture, and should not be without variety of
line and contrast. If, with a full face, the body is also turned
full towards the camera, a line drawn down the middle of the
picture would divide it into two halves, as nearly corresponding
as variety -loving nature will allow ; but if the body is turned
a little away, and the face to the camera, there will be variety of
line suggesting movement and life, especially if the expression
can be made to correspond. For a three-quarter face it is better
to turn the figure quite in profile, or even showing a little of
the back ; or the figure may be full and the head turned away ;
either way will give a lively and agreeable turn to the neck.
The same remarks will apply to a profile, except that there
must not be too much strain in the neck, so as to pitch the
head forwards, as already alluded to in the last chapter.
In a " head," the shoulders should be always nearly level,
and the figure upright. It looks awkward to see one shoulder
much higher than the other, when the rest of the figure is not
shown to account for the position. Some sitters are obstinate
54
THE STUDIO.
about this, and will not sit upright, preferring, as they say, to
feel at ease and " natural," as if it were their feelings they
wanted photographed, instead of their appearance. The only
remedy for a bad case of this kind is to make your subject stand.
This usually improves the fall of the shoulders ; it is also a
sovereign cure for another difficulty. Some sitters, if you ask
them to sit upright, will think they are complying with your
wishes if they lean back in the chair and stick their chins in
the air, for there are people who think they are not upright
until they are nearly falling backwards. This leaning back in
the chair, added to too much twist to the neck, is the cause of
nearly all the broken-necked effects. A good deal can be done
with a skilful use of the body-rest ; but the best remedy, as I
have already said, is to make the subject stand.
The eyes should always go with the head. Nothing is more
disagreeable than to see an eye looking out of the corner, or
twisted across the face. The eyes of a full or nearly full face
should look full at the camera ; a little above the lens I prefer, if
you can trust your sitter not to drop the eye as the cap is removed.
If the head is turned to the right, the eye should go as much to
the right ; if a little more it is no great matter, but it should
MANAGEMENT OF THE SITTER. 55
never come back again, or a shy or frightened look will be given.
The second illustration is the same head exactly as the first, as near
as I can draw it, with the position of the eyes only altered. The
first is constrained and self-conscious, the other easy and natural.
I am not sure that I explain quite clearly what I mean when
I say the eyes should go with the head; it would have been
better if I had exaggerated the effect I intended to condemn in
my illustration. The pose I deprecate is that seen in the
portraits by Lely and Kneller, and the painters of their time,
who seem to have supposed that the more a figure was twisted,
the more graceful it became. In these portraits the figure would
be turned to the right, the face to the left, and the eyes back
again to the right. Now, if in this pose the eyes had looked in
the same direction as the head — or, in other words, to the point
to which the head is turning — instead of looking back again, the
effect would be natural and graceful, instead of fantastic and
artificial. A variation of this twisted posing is presented when
the figure and eyes are full, and the face turned away. This
does not apply to a pose — often adopted by Vandyck and other
great artists — in which the figure is turned slightly away, the
face three-quarter or nearly full, and the eyes quite full. In
this case I hold that the eyes go with the head, because they are
both going towards the same point.
Many sitters who look bright and lively when they talk, sink
suddenly into the opposite extreme. As they speak the last
word their head drops, and a sort of reactionary expression
comes on ; this expression is as much the result of the drop of
the head as the alteration in the features, and must be looked
out for and counteracted. If a head-rest is used without any
support to the back, this result is almost inevitable. Some
photographers use a posing- chair — sometimes called a vignetting-
chair — which supports the back ; but I prefer to use a back-rest.
Indeed, I use this rest constantly, and could not do without it.
The use of the rest should be a fine art.
56 THE STUDIO.
Care should be taken to have the camera a proper height
with regard to the head. If it is raised so high that the lens
looks down on the sitter, the neck will be shortened, and the
shoulders will appear raised. If, on the other hand, the camera
is too low, the effect is perhaps still more disagreeable. The
face is foreshortened from the chin to the forehead, and the
nostrils are unduly visible.
The proportions of the head in a picture should have great
consideration. It is too often the practice to make vignette
heads much too large for the space they occupy. A carte
vignette head should never be larger than 1£ inch from the top
of the hair to the chin, and a cabinet should not exceed two
inches in the same dimensions.
CHAPTER Till.
POSING AND THE MANAGEMENT OF THE SITTER.
THE THREE-QUARTER LENGTH— MEN.
Iff the kind of picture we have now under consideration, there
is more scope for variety of pose than in those which include
the head and shoulders only. Almost every variety of pic-
turesque effect can be brought to bear, both of light and shade
and line.
The three-quarter length is generally supposed to include
the figure down to the knees, but in treating of it we may
fairly include a proportion that takes in somewhat less, and is
more nearly a half-length.
For ordinary every-day portraiture of ordinary humanity, no
great variety of pose is necessary — or, indeed, admissible. This
is especially so as regards the photographic presentation of men.
If you will go through a modern exhibition — for example, the
Hoyal Academy — and take a general and comparative survey of
all those pictures which used to be catalogued under the title of
"portrait of a gentleman," you will find that the variety in the
pose is very limited. This is due in a great measure to the re-
straint that modern dress imposes on the artist. The masculine
coat and trousers of to-day do not admit of artistic arrangement,
and any attempt to alter them savours of affectation. Adam
Salomon's black velvet cloak was very picturesque as arranged
58 THE STUDIO.
by his artistic hands, but it looked out of place on a Man-
chester merchant or a book-maker. Some of our best portrait -
painters seem to have given up all hope of varying the position
of their sitters, and seat them all, with rare exceptions, in the
same chair in endless succession. I do not state this for the
photographer's imitation ; he had better always strive for im-
provement, and not give up all effort as the painters seem to do
when they are elected into the Academic body, but as some little
comfort for him when his efforts to become original fail.
Photography has done much to teach the painter. There can
be no doubt that our art has greatly improved portrait painting.
"When photographers began to take portraits, portraiture in
paint was at its lowest ebb ; it is now at its greatest since the
time of Gainsborough and Reynolds. Our art has been
especially useful in teaching the painter what to avoid; it
has completely abolished the column and curtain. I don't
think this once inevitable background has been seen in the
Academy Exhibitions for several years. It has taught him
how to give individuality and character. In every portrait
painter's work before the introduction of photography, one face
was very like another, and it has taught him that convention-
ality is only to be tolerated in decorative work.
But if there is very little variety open to the operator in his
portraits of men, there is one posture that I should like to see
entirely discarded, and never used any more. This pose is hal-
lowed by tradition, and sanctified by use, for it has been the one
pose of photographers since the morning twilight of the art. It
is the pose with which the amateur begins ; with which the
professional, however capable of art knowledge, commences;
and with which the incapable spends all his days. I give it
on the next page as an example of what to avoid.
"Who does not know, who has not been guilty of, this pose,
in which the victim appears to be laid out and trussed, little
round table and all? It is all very well, the young photo-
MANAGEMENT OF THE SITTER.
59
grapher will say, to tell me what to avoid — destructive criticism
is always easy ; but I want to be told what to do. I can only
reply by again resorting partly to pointing out what to avoid.
Let us take a portrait. The subject is a gentleman of any
age between twenty-five and fifty ; he wants a standing por-
trait. To begin, make him stand in as easy an attitude as
possible ; don't dictate to him how he shall stand at first, but
let him take his own position, and use his suggestion if good ;
alter it a little if necessary, but don't " mess the figure about."
If it does not easily " come," make him walk away and try
again. It is possible he may have an idea that he ought to be-
upright when he stands for a picture, and will stand equally on
both legs. Now, however strange it may seem, human beings
seldom stand on both legs at once, except in their first and
second childhood. Infants and very old men toddle equally on
both feet. Between these ages a person, when standing at ease,
rests on one leg, and in walking it is one or other leg alternately
that bears the burden. By this means nature gives variety of
line, and avoids the uniformity it abhors. In posing a man,
strive to get sufficient variety to give picture squeness. Do not
60 THE STUDIO.
let the head be in exact line with the body ; if the figure is
turned full, let the face be in three-quarter view ; if the figure
is slightly turned away, the face may be full or in profile. See
that there is variety in the figure ; do not let the hands appear
as two spots exactly opposite each other on both sides ; do not
allow uniformity in the furniture and accessories ; for instance,
if there is a chair on one side of him, it would be better not to
have another on the other side. I do not like to speak too
definitely, for fear of cramping the operator instead of helping
him ; and I can quite conceive cases where exactly the reverse
of what I have recommended would be exactly what was
wanted. If possible, avoid the leaning position — the pedestal
and back-of-chair business has been thoroughly overdone. So
much are some sitters, who often have their portraits taken,
used to it, that they naturally ask for something to lean
on.
" It makes me feel so easy and natural," a man will say ; but
is puzzled when asked if he can ever remember leaning on a
pedestal, and looking like the monument of Shakespeare, any-
where but in a photographer's studio. I remember a studio, in
the days of the carte-de-visite mania, where the pedestal and
head-rest were fixed institutions, and every figure was fitted to
them, all with their legs crossed, like Crusaders on their tombs,
only upright.
To a seated figure the same suggestion for variety will apply.
A man will sometimes think he looks easy when he feels so,
and will slouch down in a chair, put his hands in his pockets,
shrug up his shoulders, and, putting his foot up over the knee
of the other leg, will present the sole of his boot as the principal
object in the picture. But it is "not thy sole, but thy soul,"
as Gratiano says to the Jew, that is wanted in a portrait, and
the lounger must be shaken up. Some young men think it
looks easy and graceful to sit astride on a chair, and lean their
elbows on the back. To me they look awkward and ungraceful
MANAGEMENT OF THE SITTER. 61
in this position, and all I can say about it is, that it is just
allowable when it cannot be avoided.
Old men usually make admirable photographs. There is a
gravity about old age that seems to suit photography. White
hair may be a technical difficulty, but it is to be got over by
judicious lighting and manipulation, and difficulty ought to lend
a zest to all arts. Old people are usually steady without much
effort, and, as a rule, they do not care so much how they look
as younger people do, and therefore are free from the self-
conscious look that so sadly mars nearly all portraits, whether
painted or photographed. Seated positions, in arm-chairs for
preference, seem to be most suitable for age.
CHAPTER IX,
POSING AND THE MANAGEMENT OF THE SITTER.
THREE-QUARTER LENGTH— LADIES.
HITHEETO I have spoken of the sitter generically as "he,"
meaning, however, to include both sexes, just as women and
children are included in all mankind ; but as I am writing this
chapter exclusively on ladies, I must alter the sitter's designa-
tion for the time being to " she." There is also the apparent
absurdity, in writing on this subject, of calling all your models
" sitters," although they may not want seated portraits of
themselves ; but the term is so generally accepted and under-
stood to include all those who go to be represented either by
the painter or photographer, that 1 shall continue to use it.
The female costume, when it suits those who order fashion to
have it picturesque, offers greater facilities to the artist who
desires variety in his poses than ugly masculine garments will
-admit of. Besides which, other reasons conduce to the making
of more effective pictures when a lady is the subject. A greater
range of expression is allowable, and the occupations and amuse-
ments of ladies afford many motives and much help to the photo-
grapher, while the occasional beauty of the subject encourages
the operator by compelling him to make really fine pictures in
spite of himself. There is a natural grace about some women
and children that gives harmony to their slightest movements,
MANAGEMENT OF THE SITTER. 63
and a fitness to their most trivial acts, so that if they only
move across the room, the eye follows them with a similar
kind of pleasure to which the ear listens to melodious sounds.
But it is not how to make " beauty go beautifully " that the
photographer wants to know, so much as how to manage and
make the best of the ordinary sitter who comes to the studio in
the course of every-day practice.
Much will depend on the age of the subject, but we will take
it for the present that she is neither very old nor very young,
neither a young girl nor an elderly matron. Something also
must be allowed for the temperament of the sitter; difficult
poses should never be tried with nervous or awkward people.
A general rule might be given in very few words : Make
your pose very simple, but avoid the "front elevation" or
"profile section" effect, to do which you must get variety in
the lines of the figure ; but in doing so, avoid the twists and
contortions so much affected by some photographers. Try to
get the feeling of life and motion.
To accomplish this, it is sometimes necessary to make your
subject walk round the studio, and suddenly stop at the point
where you wish to photograph her, thus getting the effect of
suspended motion which is often seen in statues, and gives such
an effect of animation when properly managed. The Apollo
Belvidere is a well-known example of the kind of pose I mean.
The figure is suddenly arrested in its action to watch the flight
of the arrow, and stands for a moment in a pose that gives
great variety of graceful lines without exaggeration, and could
have been easily photographed. But to come down from the
classic to the real, let us try to sketch a figure photographed on
this principle. And I may mention here that it would be easy
to give a set of poses for imitation, but this would be bad for the
student if he did not get at the same time the principles on
which the pose is based, and learn the causes which lead up to
the pose, as in the present example.
64 THE STUDIO.
A lady walking past a table slightly stoops to pick up a book
or a flower, and, raising herself, turns her head to speak to a
friend. This action, if made by an easy and graceful figure, is
full of animation, and gives great variety. Sitters almost always
place both feet flat on the ground as they stand for a portrait ;
this often produces stiffness. In the pose just described, if
the left foot rests on the toe, as in the act of walking, the grace-
fulness of the action is much increased, and there is more " go "
in the figure.
The changes may be rung on this idea for representing figures
in suspended motion. A lady sitting at her table or desk rises
as a friend enters the room ; she picks up a book, or buttons her
glove. These are natural actions, and anything is better than
the strff, self-conscious position so often adopted. In attempting
to give life and motion to a figure, avoid going to extremes.
There are those who, overstepping the modesty of nature, put
too much "gush" into their poses. There are also those of
what might be called the invertebrate school, who contort their
MANAGEMENT OF THE SITTER. 65
figures into ridiculously strained attitudes, in their endeavour
to make them graceful.
As a rule, for the ordinary lady sitter, there is nothing better
than the simple attitude a figure takes when standing in a room
with the hands together ; or, for the sake of variety, one hand
may be on the table or behind the back, care being taken to
avoid any ostentatious display of pose. Let the art conceal the
art, and not let the figure suggest the idea that every limb and
finger and fold had been adjusted by the operator. On the
other hand, it must always be remembered that those portraits
which appear the easiest and most natural owe their effect, not
to letting nature alone, but to the skill of the photographer in
seeing at once what wants correcting, and making the alteration
on the instant, before the sitter has had time to tire. The best
poser is he who sees at once what he wants, and knows the
readiest means of getting it. Some posers are so skilful and
full of resource that they take the portrait almost without
troubling the sitter, making the sitting, as it were, merely a
little episode in the midst of a pleasant conversation. These are
the masters of the art, and I am afraid their number is small.
The majority of photographers have to painfully feel their way,
and (the most conscientious of them, who feel they must not
only earn their money, but let their customers see that they
are earning it) fidget their sitter about with so many alterations-
and adjustments, that the resulting picture often represents
a much wearied sample of humanity, with all expression of life
or feeling worried out of it.
Many photographers cannot get on without the eternal chair,
by which they place every standing figure. It is the abuse
rather than the use of the chair that is so objectionable. The
heavy carved oak chair and prie-dieu have been already laughed
out of photography, but there is nothing to be said against a
neatly-designed drawing-room chair; this piece of furniture ia
always useful when used judiciously. It is better when its
66 THE STUDIO.
lines are cut up or carried off by other furniture, such as a table
behind it; or its too formal lines may be broken by throwing
a shawl partly over the back. A black lace shawl is of infinite
use in a studio.
Seated figures are usually more easily managed than standing
ones, although Chrysos says, in Pygmalion and Galatea : —
" The nature of the seated attitude
Does not give scope for much variety."
There seems to be so much more for a seated lady to do than
when in the standing positions. Reading, working, sewing,
drawing, writing, a cup of tea, all lend their aid. A great
deal also can be done with a fan, which lends itself admirably
to a variety of changes of pose.
It frequently happens that, when all other devices fail, a
passable portrait can be got by making the sitter look down, as
in reading a book, arranging flowers, knitting or sewing, thus
evading the difficulties of staring eyes and open mouths.
The mention of the looking-down pose somehow reminds me
that a few words may be profitably said on the hands. One of
the most difficult things on the stage, I have heard an old actor
say, is what to do with the hands. This is a difficulty that
occurs with fuller force to the photographer. Of great pictorial
importance when properly employed, they oftener are the cause
of a portrait being rejected than any other part of the picture.
The one great fault that ladies find is that their hands are
too large, even when it can be demonstrated that they are in
proportion with the head ; and they will be found to be always
so if they have not been taken with a lens of too short a focus,
and if they are as sharply defined as the head. This erroneous
notion touching the exaggerated size is traditionary.
Before the introduction of photography, which corrected many
artistic mistakes, artists used to draw the hands so absurdly
small that when the truth was seen in photographs it was not
believed. Still, there is some truth in the hands being too large
MANAGEMENT OF THE SITTER.
67
in many photographs, and the fact that to prevent this the hands
must be in the same plane as the face, cramps the operator very
much in his posing. There are positions of the hand in which
it looks much larger than in others, especially where the broad
back of it is seen, or where the two hands are joined together in
a broad light, and look, at a little distance, like one hand.
When the fingers are interlaced the effect is similar, so also
when a long wrist is shown without being broken by a bracelet
or other means.
It is better, if possible, to let the hand take its own position,
and if it does not come gracefully, to try again. To alter the
fingers much is seldom very successful, and if the sitter begins
to think about her hand, it never looks either graceful or
natural. Care should be taken that the light does not fall too
flatly or strongly on the hands, so as to increase their apparent
breadth or size.
A well-formed hand is a beautiful object, and of great use
pictorially. So much was thought of it by the painters of the
last century, and affectation in posing and displaying the hands
was carried to such a pitch, that in some pictures they are the
68 THE STUDIO.
principal objects, and the heads are accessory. Of course the
great -aim in composing a portrait should be to make the head
the principal object, and the hands take the second place. Care
should be taken that the fingers curve gracefully, and that the
hand does not look like a claw. That a very little difference
in position will make a vast difference in effect is shown in
the sketches, from photographs of the same hand, on the pre-
ceding page.
CHAPTER X,
POSING AND THE MANAGEMENT OF THE SITTER.
FULL-LENGTH FIGURES.
THE full-length figure as a portrait has " gone out." When the
carte-de-visite was introduced it assumed this well-known form,
and a year or two elapsed before there was any change ; then
the head-vignette came in. Photographers stuck to these two
forms, and resisted all attempts to add to them for a considerable
time. Then the three-quarter figure was introduced, until we
came to that monstrosity, the large head that nearly fills the
whole space. This last form of card owed its origin to accident.
A firm of photographers who possessed a very large stock of
negatives of famous people — three-quarter figure, whole-plate
size — finding that the carte had quite spoilt the sale of their
8 by 6 portraits, conceived the idea of printing the heads and
issuing them as cartes. The ignorant multitude, seeing that so
many celebrated characters had had their portraits taken in this
way, rushed to have their own done in the same style ; and thus
it is that even to this day we are sometimes obliged to do these
monstrously out of proportion cards. Some of the earliest full-
length cartes-de-visite were pictorial gems. They were done by
masters of posing and picture-making. The art had not gone
into the hands of the trade then ; prices had not fallen below the
usual guinea ; and photographers could afford to give a picture
70 THE STUDIO.
instead of a map. Cartes of that time by Disderi or Silvy are
still beautiful in pose and effect. Then the art as an art fell upon
evil times. It struck a photograph maker that " ten for ten
shillings " would be a good cry to go to the public with ; and
it succeeded, commercially, for sitters followed like flocks of
sheep. They were collected, after paying their money, in a room ;
a door was opened about every five minutes, and a sitter ordered
through it into the studio, where he was fixed up against the
head-rest (always ready), exposed, and shown through another
door, and left to find his way down stairs. There was no
thought given to variety of pose or light and shade ; the only
consideration was how to get the sitters through the studio fast
enough. No proofs were submitted ; the sitter had to be con-
tent with whatever the manufacturer chose to send him. In
those days people were almost compelled against their will to
carry their cartes in their pocket for the purposes of exchange,
and many did not care for the quality of the portraits, so they
could observe the " social custom " cheaper. This was scarcely
fair to those who went to the best photographers and paid a good
price; and people objected to exchange the beautiful little
pictures by T. E. Williams, costing, perhaps, seven and sixpence
each, for shilling failures manufactured by a company.
But this is not a history, and I must return from this
digression.
The full-length figure, then, is not so much in vogue as it was
twenty-five years ago. It was never a favourite of mine for
men's portraits, for I cannot be induced to take any interest in
boots and trousers; but it was useful for ladies' portraits,
especially when dresses were worn long; they were not so-
easily managed during the short-skirted period, and I am not
sure that it was not the kind of dress that checked the full-length
portraits. The declension of crinoline also was another check, for
it was found difficult to fill up the cabinet form of picture with
the thin figures that succeeded the monstrous balloon figures of a
MANAGEMENT OF THE SITTEK. 71
quarter of a century ago. The full length is still useful, and
will, I think, become more prevalent. It still affords the best
way of showing gorgeous dresses, fancy costumes, and some
portraits, such as those of girls between the age of nine and
fifteen. There is a great difficulty in showing the age between
these periods. A girl of thirteen or fourteen will often look
much older in her portrait if some way is not taken to show that
she is a young girl, such as showing that she is wearing a short
frock ; and here it is that the full-length is appropriate.
A full-length admits of a more florid treatment than any other
style of picture. A more elaborate make-up of the furniture
and surroundings is permissible, and pictorial backgrounds may
be employed. For ladies' portraits it admits of a greater variety
of pose and effect, but it is not so easy to make a pleasing picture
of the whole length of a gentleman ; there does not appear to be
enough of him to fill the picture ; he is too long for his breadth,
and he almost always looks stuck up to be shot at. Let us
finish off the gentleman first, as he presents the greatest difficulty.
The problem is, how to produce a full-length portrait of a man
so that he shall look like a gentleman at his ease, without a
preposterous look of attempted dignity, self-consciousness, or
defiant swagger on the one hand, or feeble inanity on the other.
This is often attempted, but seldom comes off. It is impossible
to give rules and regulations in this case, and all that is left for
me to do is to tell you what to avoid. If for a standing figure,
get some idea of the posture you think would suit the case in
hand, and arrange the furniture so that it should lead, as it
were, to the pose you require. Then get the model to stand in
the place you have prepared for him, and instantly take
advantage of all accidents. He may not go into the pose you
had in your mind, but if he is not thinking intently on doing
his best — which exercise of the faculties spoils half the portraits
taken — he will perhaps assume a better. This you must seize
at once. It will probably require some slight alteration, some
72 THE STUDIO.
slight turn of the head, or variation in the position of the arm.
These are easily made, and can often be done without the model
knowing much about it. For example, if you want him to
raise his arm, with his hand on his hip, if you will assume this
position yourself, you will find in most cases he will with
unconscious imitation follow your lead. This will not occur to
a blundering operator, one who does not seem to know his own
mind ; but the skilled operator appears to have a kind of magnetic
influence on his sitter which is both curious and useful.
All I have said in the chapter on three-quarter lengths as to
variety, movement, animation, &c., applies here, and need not
be repeated ; but in a full-length there is more scope for what
may be called technical art than in any other form of portrait.
There is room for the photographer to show his knowledge of
composition, a subject into which I have entered fully in " Pic-
torial Effect " and " Picture-Making by Photography." The
student has, I hope, read these little essays, and will know how to
arrange his accessories so as to get balance, variety, and contrast.
To make good full-length portraits of ladies is a comparatively
easy matter. They are nearly always picturesque in themselves,
and, except when an insanity of ugliness seizes those who
command the fashions, as it did when the order for wearing
crinolettes was issued, their dress lends itself to the needs of the
artist. Here again I have said, in a former chapter, everything
that is necessary regarding the arrangement of the figure, for
what applies to the three-quarter will apply nearly to the full-
length ; but I may add, what I think has been omitted before,
that a lady should never be seated in a very low chair ; however
easy and natural it may look in life, it often results in the
representation of a mere bundle of clothes in a photograph ; and
if a lady is seated in a high-backed chair it is well to avoid
letting the back of the chair rise above each shoulder, which
often produces the appearance of deformity.
It is difficult to say anything definite about the posing of
MANAGEMENT OF THE SITTER. 73
ladies without taking the style of dress into consideration. We
have passed through a period of seven years distinguished as
being the most picturesque and beautiful in regard to ladies*
dress that the world has seen for centuries. .2Estheticism,
however it might be sneered at by the unthinking, or brought
into contempt by its too enthusiastic votaries, did wonders for
what is known as taste. The reaction that has come has been
fortunately only partially successful. The tyrants who rule
over fashion, for trade purposes, have perhaps for the first time
in the world's history been partly defeated. They ordered that
beauty shall be abolished for a season, and ugliness reign. The
preposterous forms in which some women now appear is absurd.
The curious thing is that they don't see it themselves, and
laugh in each other's faces; but they don't even smile at one
another. I have just photographed a short lady who, by the
curious arrangement of her dress, looked so like a bantam that
I almost expected her to crow !
But the reign of ugliness is only partly successful. There
was a great revolt against the revolution never before known
in the history of fashion. Women are now not the absolute
slaves to the dictates of fashion that they have hitherto shown
themselves to be throughout the ages. Some of them have
been educated, and have learned that taste does not consist
entirely in dressing to order to suit trade purposes. Therefore,
the most sensible, chiefly the wives and daughters of artists,
combined together and signed the pledge against crinolettes!
"We owe it to this that there are still women to be seen who do
not look ridiculous, and who can afford to stand for full-length
portraits. In the old crinoline times a lady used to justify
herself for her inflated appearance with the pretence, " I must
not be singular." That excuse no longer holds. So many
sensible women still cling to the good taste they have learnt
during the interregnum of crinoline, that there is no pretext for
wearing it except absence of taste or a determination to blindly
follow the dictates of fashion at all costs.
CHAPTER XL
POSING AND THE MANAGEMENT OF THE SITTER.
GROUPS.
THE arrangement of a portrait group of figures is one of the most
difficult things to succeed in accomplishing perfectly in photo-
graphy; more difficult, certainly, than the composition of a
picture that would take a much higher rank in art, but of which
the materials were more under the command of the artist as
regards selection and disposition. The portrait group is often
nothing better than a pile of humanity fitted together like a
dissected puzzle; a heterogeneous conglomeration of human
atoms, and sometimes dogs, not one of which has any artistic
relation to another; agreeing in nothing except that each
individual of it shall keep rigid and stare at the lens. The
painters also have felt the difficulty of making such an arrange-
ment of a group that the results should be a picture without any
sacrifice of the portraits. These things are managed better now
than they were before the introduction of photography. Every-
one is familiar with the ordinary family picture of orange-
holding or mythological women and children immortalised by
Goldsmith ; or, as Byron describes a family group —
" A lady with her daughters or her nieces,
Shine like a guinea and seven-shilling pieces."
The photographer is nearly always heavily handicapped by
MANAGEMENT OF THE SITTER. 75
having to give an equally good portrait of each individual in
the group, while one of the great principles of art is that one
component of a picture shall be more prominent and conspicuous
than another. In a pictorial group a back is often useful as a
contrast to the other figures ; but this is not permissible in such
groups as are usually demanded from the photographer. Every
face must present a favourable portrait, independent of the
others ; no figure must be sacrificed for the sake of pictorial
effect, and therefore there can be little contrast or subordina-
tion, so necessary in artistic arrangement. This difficulty is
felt by painters who can devote time and attention to each
figure, and who also have the great advantage of being able
to place their figures on different planes. This absolute ne-
cessity for placing all the figures in one plane, so that they may
all be in focus, is not so stringent as it was before the introduc-
tion of gelatine plates. We can now employ lenses that cover a
greater depth of focus than the old portrait lenses, and this
enables us to get greater separation in the figures.
The group is the one thing that the photographer dreads,
especially if there is to be a baby or young child in it, for a&
the weakest link is the strength of the chain, so everything
depends upon the quietude of a part that can only be depended
on to move. However well the photographer may have ar-
ranged the other figures, and however strong may have been hia
injunctions to them as to how they should stand, and in which
direction they should turn their faces during the exposure, they
have to be vigilantly looked after, and this is almost impossible
while you have to devote all your attention to keeping quiet a
restless child. Moreover, the baby is always expected to be
made a conspicuous point in the picture, and it is so compara-
tively small an object that it forms nothing more than a
minute speck in the group. It is my experience that few
people have any idea how small a baby is until they see it
in the centre of a group of grown-up persons.
76 THE STUDIO.
Groups are taken both in the studio and out of doors. "We
will begin with the former.
Eejlander used to say that it tasks the skill and attention of
the photographer quite enough to see that the arrangement,
lighting, and expression of one figure is perfect, and he never
ventured upon more, if he could help it, except in combination
pictures. But portrait photographers cannot always select their
subjects, and must make the best of the material brought to
them. Now, the most frequent group upon which the photo-
grapher is called to operate is that which is composed of two
persons, often children — I hope to give the latter a chapter to
themselves — but often of grown-up people, and perhaps most
frequently, in holiday towns, young people on their honeymoon,
who always seem to be animated with the very praiseworthy
desire to have their portraits taken in their new relation.
This is one of the easiest groups to take if managed well, but
one of the most difficult if it is trifled with. As a rule, the
best composition can be got if the lady is in a standing position,
and the gentleman sitting. It need not be in a chair or in any
very formal attitude, but on a table, or the end of a balus-
trade. This latter accessory, like all imitations, may be very
.good or very bad ; it should not look clean-cut and new, and
care should be taken not to make it prominent. If the picture
under consideration is to be a three-quarter length — the most
convenient form, perhaps — very little of the balustrade will
show. Suppose, then, the gentleman sitting on, and the lady
standing beside it. They need not be looking at each other ; it
is not often that a young couple can do this under the circum-
stances without laughing, but a common source of interest should
be found or imagined. It is easy to suppose they were talking
to a friend who does not appear in the picture, or that their
attention is called to some interesting object. Resort should
be had to any device to give the effect of life and movement
to the group, and animation to the heads, and to take away
MANAGEMENT OF THE SITTER.
77
that uneasy and penitential look of being sorry for it, so often
seen in pictures of the kind. Here are a couple of sketches of
variations on this theme, which may serve as hints for arrange-
ment.
"Where the balcony is used, or any other outdoor accessory, it
is well to use also an outdoor background.
Very agreeable pictures may be made with two young ladies
for the subject. In this case there are plenty of motives for the
picture. The occupations of ladies seem to lend themselves to
pictorial effect.
It is perhaps easier to make a well-composed group of three
figures than of two. With two it is sometimes difficult to get
variety of line, or a picturesque general form to the group ; but
with three figures the opportunities for variety, contrast, and a
pyramidal form to the group, are much greater. So that the
unity of the group is preserved, the greatest amount of variety
of form should be sought for. Variety in position of the heads
can easily be got. It is possible with almost any three figures
to arrange the heads so that they do not come exactly in a line
78 THE STUDIO.
with each other. For instance, it would be possible to arrange
the heads formally, thus —
0
0 0
but it is quite as easy and much more pleasant to break the
uniformity, and arrange them thus —
0
0
0
The same principle is carried out in the group of three
children —
If more than three figures are required in a group, it is better
to turn the camera on its side, and make a horizontal picture of
it. Indeed, in many cases when only three are included, the
horizontal form is very useful, as in the following example.
By placing three children at a table, the difficulties of feet
and legs are got rid of, and the heads can be got larger without
MANAGEMENT OF THE SITTER.
79
making the children look older than they are, the table and book
suggesting scale. When the heads are all nearly of the same
height, variety may be got by placing one of them at a distance
from the other two.
In a group of adults, it is well to get some centre of interest,
such as reading a letter, as in the last illustration to this
chapter ; but care must always be taken not to sacrifice likeness
to composition. One of the chief difficulties is to get the heads
close together without appearing forced and unnatural.
CHAPTER XII.
POSING AND THE MANAGEMENT OF THE SITTER,
OUTDOOR GROUPS,
WHEN a group is to consist of more than three or four individuals,
it is often convenient to take it out of doors. There are several
advantages in getting out of the studio ; you are not cramped
for room, and need not pile your sitters together, as you are
often compelled to do in the small space available in most studios.
The exposure will be much quicker, taking not more than one
or two seconds with a rapid rectilinear lens, and smaller dia-
phragms may be used than would be possible in the studio ; the
greater depth of focus thus gained allowing much wider freedom
in the artistic arrangement of the group.
An outdoor group too often represents a mass of figures placed
one over the other on a bank, with perhaps a brick wall for a
background, without any attempt at artistic arrangement, like
the sketch, which is copied from a photograph, or a row of
figures set up to be photographed, without any consideration a&
to their arrangement, except to get them in focus. This latter
disposition is sometimes caused by the impossibility of getting
any help from the formation of the ground or place where the
photograph has to be taken, for it nearly always happens that
the large groups are taken " at home," and the photographer
must do the best with the materials he can find. He should
MANAGEMENT OF THE SITTER.
81
look out for and take advantage of any spot that would aid him
in breaking up his group, and giving variety to the general
forms ; if he should find a picturesque set of steps, he may con-
sider himself fortunate ; even one or two steps are better than
nothing. In selecting his background, he should endeavour to
secure one with a broad expanse of light, such as a light wall,
if not too blank. Much detail is objectionable, as it interferes
with the figures. The worst background, but the one that is-
often est used for groups, consists of foliage, especially when
laurel or any shrubs with large shining leaves have place. The*
effect of the white spots produced by the glittering foliage,
especially when out of focus, is very disagreeable.
I give an illustration in which a flight of steps leading up to
the door of an old Gothic house has greatly aided the photo-
grapher in ananging a portrait group.
When you have to arrange a group, you should begin by
G
82
THE STUDIO.
finding out the most important persons in the company, so that
you may assign them conspicuous places. In a short time you
will be able to discover " the funny man." There is always one
in every group, who thinks it a rare joke to make some of the
others laugh and spoil the negative. More groups are damaged
by this idiot than by any other cause. Everything must give
way to his wit, and it takes a spacious magnanimity to endure
his buffoonery. You must neutralise him, or you will do no
good. If you have courage enough, go boldly up to him, and
say something to this effect : — "So you are the funny man, are
you ? If I can get on with you, I can easily manage all the rest.
If you will kindly suppress yourself for a few minutes, and let
me have my turn, I shall be much obliged." He takes this
usually in one of two ways — either he is a good fellow who sees
a brother-joker in you, and does all he can to help you ; or he
Bulks. Either way will suit your purpose. In the illustration
you will easily recognise the suppressed funny man in the one
MANAGEMENT OF THE SITTER. 83
set against the wall, where he makes a capital balance to
the principal group, and looks, in the original photograph, as if
he had not quite made up his mind whether he ought to be
ashamed of himself or not.
By this time you have got to some knowledge of the different
members of the group, and have settled in your mind, approxi-
mately, how they are to be arranged. When you have quite
made up your mind, and not till then, and when the camera is
quite ready, place your figures. Don't make experiments or
changes if you can help it; in other words, don't look like a
muff, but let the members of the group see that you know what
you are about, and mean to carry out the arrangement that you
have mentally formed.
I have seen operators make an ostentatious display of the
trouble they were taking, as if they were expected to earn
their money by the sweat of their brow, making numerous
changes until they wearied out their victims. People are quite
up to this sort of display now, and laugh at it — until it becomes
too serious.
In a well-designed group the principal rules of art will be
observed, especially variety, balance, contrast, and breadth.
Every line and form will be so arranged that a series of pyra-
mids, intersecting and mingled with each other, are created.
In the illustration, those to whom it was thought advisable to
give most prominence are in the centre, and form a pyramidal
group to themselves, but they become part of a series of pyra-
mids, all blended into one, of which the top of the arch of the
door is the apex. It may also be noticed of what extreme value
a bit of pure black or white becomes when in the right place.
In the photograph — it is not so easy to show it in the small cut
— the white hat of the standing figure to the right absolutely
redeems the group from failure. Imagine it away, and there is
no artistic solidity in the group. This one small spot of white
in the right place keeps everything together.
84
THE STUDIO.
In the second group the place was different, and there was not
so good an opportunity of forming a fine group. The ground was
flat, and there was no natural means of raising any of the figures
above the others ; the photographer had therefore to be content
to break the line by seating some of his figures, and making
others bend as though talking to them. By this means he suc-
ceeded in forming a series of varied pyramidal forms running
into and connected with each other, so that the general effect
should not be scattered. There should always be a " oneness"
in the group ; the string should run through all the beads, but
should be more felt than seen.
There is another vast difference between the two groups ; the
first has for its surroundings a corner of "a very fine Tudor Hall,
partly overgrown with old English shrubs ; the second is a sham
Gothic battlemented verandah, protecting a large French window
— an incongruous mixture — and the foreground consists of the
MANAGEMENT OF THE SITTER. 85
geraniums, calceolarias, violas, and other kindred plants of an
Italian garden.
There are some disadvantages about taking groups, and por-
traits generally, out of doors, the chief of which is the difficulty
with the expressions from the excess of light. Some people
are more affected by this than others ; these should be carefully
looked after, and so arranged that the light should be of the
least annoyance to them. A portrait group should never be
taken in sunlight if there is any possibility of avoiding it.
It sometimes happens that you have to get some other hand
to expose. If you have to depend on a quite inexperienced
person, it is as well to explain to him that the cap must be
removed from before the lens as well as off it. I have sometimes
seen the cap taken off and held in front of the lens. There
is a certain butler who exposes a group in which the writer
annually appears, who talks learnedly of seconds and fractions
of seconds, and firmly believes that he takes the photographs.
CHAPTER XIII,
POSING AND THE MANAGEMENT OF THE SITTER.
CHILDREN.
THEBE was a time when children were looked upon with dread
by the photographer, and I knew two or three studios where
they were absolutely refused. This was in the days when sitters
were as plentiful as blackberries in autumn, and professional
pleasure in overcoming difficulties was quite subsidiary to the
number of guineas taken.
The true photographer will always take delight in a difficult
sitter, just as a surgeon does in a beautiful case of compound
fracture, or a physician in some obscure disease. To go on
exposing a long succession of plates on easy subjects soon
becomes monotonous ; it is when a sitter calls for your reserve
powers that he becomes interesting. There are certainly some
bad sitters who are very depressing, with no redeeming points
about them, such as those who begin by saying they hate being
taken, following this pleasant observation up with the worn-out
joke about it being as bad as going to the dentist. It is a very
curious thing how they all bring this ancient pleasantry out
as if it was perfectly original, and a fine sample of wit. It
is not very exciting amusement to work this sort of customer
round into a happy frame of mind ; but there is to me something
almost fascinating about a fractious three-year-old who objects
to have his portrait taken.
MANAGEMENT OF THE SITTER. 87
In a case of this kind it is your duty to so work upon that
child that he shall not only willingly do all you require, but
shall be so delighted with you that he shall howl when he is
taken away after the operation, and will only be pacified by a
promise that he shall come again.
" How is this to be done ? " may well be asked. There are
two things of primary importance. The child must not be
forced, and mothers and nurses must be rigidly suppressed.
"When I have had a few minutes' interview with a child, I easily
discover if it_ has been worried, and spoilt for my purpose by
some bungling photographer who has so frightened it that it
dreads to enter a studio ; or if it has been — shall I say tampered
with ? — by the mother or nurse. These latter will think they
are doing the right thing when they solemnly impress upon the
little sitters that they must be very good and keep quite still ;
but their well-intentioned warnings produce exactly the reverse
effect to what is wanted. The child that insists upon being
good is an unmitigated nuisance ; he will do everything you
ask him to do, and looks as wooden as an awkward lay figure.
"With the great majority of children the battle is won or lost
at the first introduction. The clever photographer will decide
at a glance whether the child belongs to one of these classes —
tlie_fearless child who takes the sitting as part of the day's
occupation, and enjoys it ; the nervous child, who really would
be good, but has a constitutional fear of any new experience;
and, worst of all, the shy child. The first of these is easily
managed; the chief thing to bear in mind is, that the first of
him will be the best, and that the sooner you take him the
better. As he gets to know you — familiarity breeds contempt
— he will become less manageable. He will continue to smile
and be very good and agreeable, but you will find that after a
few exposures he will quietly slip off the chair, or run away
from where you have placed him when you turn to go to the
camera. He approves of you, and wants to have a lark with
90
THE STUDIO.
mathematics. Probably the mother is in the room; now
mothers are a very useful institution, but they are terribly in
the way when their children are to be photographed. Turn her
out with all the civility you can command. You must then ask
the nurse to do everything you direct intelligently and quickly,
but on no account to help when not asked, as she may be doing
something exactly opposite to what you required. The ground
will now be cleared for dealing with your sitter ; the time he
has had to himself will have probably altered his convictions,
and he will submit ; if not, shake hands with him, and wish
him good-bye, as you only want good children to play with. If
this and other blandishments do not fetch him, let him go.
The visit has done him no harm, and he will remember things
that he would like to see again, and on a second visit will pro-
bably sit without any trouble.
It would be tedious to consider separately every variation in
the characters of children, but if the photographer would suc-
ceed with these delightful little troubles, he must have great
patience, a genuine delight in a difficult subject, and a strong
^determination to succeed with it. AJbove all, he must establish
\ perfect confidence between himself and his sitter, to do which
\he must descend to the level of the child, and, remembering
pat little things please little minds, be able to enter into child-
jish games, tell childish tales, and, above all, to play with toys !
Before concluding this subject, I must say a word or two on
expression. The most beautiful thing about the most beautiful
child is nearly always its expression. This can only be educed
by stratagem, and should demand the greatest efforts of the
photographer. A simple pose, such as sitting on a table (which,
for a three-quarter vignette, is a very suitable position), will
suit a child better than any elaborate arrangement, so that your
attention shall not be unduly distracted from the bringing out
of the best expression.
You will, of course, have a whole battery of toys ready when
MANAGEMENT OF THE SITTER. 91
required to amuse your little sitters, for toys are the stock-in-
trade of childhood, and he who understands their use and
mystery best will soonest become at one with his subject. I
should strongly recommend you to keep them strictly for your
own use. If the child sees they belong to you, and can only be
got through you, you will become a much more interesting per- (
son to him, and consequently have more power. If you allow
the nurse to have the run of the collection, she will show them
all at once, or quickly one after the other, and their power for
use will be gone. Some toys are more adapted to keep children
quiet, or awaken their expression, than others — those to which _.
they have to listen, for instance. The ticking of a watch is the
most familiar of these, but it must be a loud-ticking one, or the
effort to hear will put too much strain into the expression. A
musical box is good, but rather too elaborate ; any toy that is
new to the child is good, but those that have something comic ^
about them, and make a noise, are best. I have found some of
the india-rubber toys that squeak when pressed very effective.
There are some children who will sit as you place them with-
out any trouble ; but when you are thinking what an easy job
you have got, and put your hand on the cap of the lens, you
find them making faces. This generally takes the form of an
awe-struck opening of the mouth. This is a case difficult to
treat. You will not be so unwise as to tell it to close its lips,
for to mention any feature to a child is to make it think of that
feature, and proceed to contort it at once. Perhaps if you have
not warned her, the injudicious nurse tells it to shut its mouth,
and the good, obedient little thing will at once close it so firmly
that there is nothing more to be done until the child has for-
gotten it. I have found that the best way to deal with a case
of this kind is simply to touch the child on the lower lip, and
the mouth will assume its natural position.
I have made this chapter on posing children already too long
without saying anything about posing them, making it something.
90 THE STUDIO.
mathematics. Probably the mother is in the room; now
mothers are a very useful institution, but they are terribly in
the way when their children are to be photographed. Turn her
out with all the civility you can command. You must then ask
the nurse to do everything you direct intelligently and quickly,
but on no account to help when not asked, as she may be doing
something exactly opposite to what you required. The ground
will now be cleared for dealing with your sitter ; the time he
has had to himself will have probably altered his convictions,
and he will submit ; if not, shake hands with him, and wish
him good-bye, as you only want good children to play with. If
this and other blandishments do not fetch him, let him go.
The visit has done him no harm, and he will remember things
that he would like to see again, and on a second visit will pro-
bably sit without any trouble.
It would be tedious to consider separately every variation in
the characters of children, but if the photographer would suc-
ceed with these delightful little troubles, he must have great
patience, a genuine delight in a difficult subject, and a strong
^determination to succeed with it. AJbove all, he must establish
\ perfect confidence between himself and his sitter, to do which
he must descend to the level of the child, and, remembering
pat little things please little minds, be able to enter into child-
Jish games, tell childish tales, and, above all, to play with toys !
Before concluding this subject, I must say a word or two on
expression. The most beautiful thing about the most beautiful
child is nearly always its expression. This can only be educed
by stratagem, and should demand the greatest efforts of the
photographer. A simple pose, such as sitting on a table (which,
for a three-quarter vignette, is a very suitable position), will
suit a child better than any elaborate arrangement, so that your
attention shall not be unduly distracted from the bringing out
of the best expression.
You will, of course, have a whole battery of toys ready when
MANAGEMENT OF THE SITTER. 91
required to amuse your little sitters, for toys are the stock-in-
trade of childhood, and he who understands their use and
mystery best will soonest become at one with his subject. I
should strongly recommend you to keep them strictly for your
own use. If the child sees they belong to you, and can only be
got through you, you will become a much more interesting per-
son to him, and consequently have more power. If you allow
the nurse to have the run of the collection, she will show them
all at once, or quickly one after the other, and their power for
use will be gone. Some toys are more adapted to keep children
quiet, or awaken their expression, than others — those to which
they have to listen, for instance. The ticking of a watch is the
most familiar of these, but it must be a loud-ticking one, or the
effort to hear will put too much strain into the expression. A
musical box is good, but rather too elaborate ; any toy that is
new to the child is good, but those that have something comic
about them, and make a noise, are best. I have found some of
the india-rubber toys that squeak when pressed very effective.
There are some children who will sit as you place them with-
out any trouble ; but when you are thinking what an easy job
you have got, and put your hand on the cap of the lens, you
find them making faces. This generally takes the form of an
awe-struck opening of the mouth. This is a case difficult to
treat. You will not be so unwise as to tell it to close its lips,
for to mention any feature to a child is to make it think of that
feature, and proceed to contort it at once. Perhaps if you have
not warned her, the injudicious nurse tells it to shut its mouth,
and the good, obedient little thing will at once close it so firmly
that there is nothing more to be done until the child has for-
gotten it. I have found that the best way to deal with a case
of this kind is simply to touch the child on the lower lip, and
the mouth will assume its natural position.
I have made this chapter on posing children already too long
without saying anything about posing them, making it something.
92 THE STUDIO.
like Artemus Ward's lecture on Africa, in which the subject
was not referred to except in the advertisements. The fact is,
» there can be very little posing of a young child ; you must do,
not what you would, but what the child will allow. There is
one thing open to you — you may so arrange your furniture and
accessories that the child shall ultimately take a good pose. I
have already spoken of placing it on a table ; this, with a rug
and blocks of wood, will afford plenty of variety, and for older
children a movable platform may be provided, with perhaps a
few rocks, for it does not do to look down too much on your
subject — and working at a low camera is not conducive to
comfort.
CHAPTER XIY.
POSING AND THE MANAGEMENT OF THE SITTER,
EXPRESSION IN PORTRAITURE.
" ETEEY man is as God made him, and oftentimes a great deal
worse," said Sancho Panza; and, if we may judge by the
productions of the majority of photographers, his opinion is-
singularly true. Let us not blind ourselves to the fact that
ordinary photographs are very ordinary indeed. The dead level
of good work has spread like a disease, and he is a very poor
photographer who cannot take a passably good portrait — one
that, seen by itself, would pass muster as real gold with the
average unobservant person, but which would turn out mere
tinsel when placed side by side with the work of a master. It
would be difficult to at once tell what was the difference. An
old friend of mine used to say that it was " That ! " accompany-
ing the word with a snap of the fingers, by which he meant to
express that last touch by which genius carries its work just
beyond the goal reached by mere talent — a mystery which it is-
impossible to explain, but which is felt in all art. Inj photo-
graphic portraiture it will be found to depend almost entirely on
the expression of the face, aided by the attitude of the figure,
which should be in keeping with the expression, and be easy
and characteristic. To obtain the best expression, the photo-
grapher should be not only an art student, but a student of
94 THE STUDIO.
Tiuman nature. He should not only be able to pose his model in
a graceful or appropriate position, to place him in an effective
light, and to get a good technical negative of him, but, if he is
to be the ideal photographer,
" That perfect monster which the world ne'er saw,"
he must be able to sum up his sitter at a first introduction, and
determine at once, amongst other things, the expression which
would best suit that face, and to work up to that expression
* during the usually brief interval which elapses between intro-
duction and exposure.
Have you ever noticed, when you are about to take a portrait,
and are endeavouring to call up an animated expression on the
countenance of your sitter, what a dogged determination he
sometimes has, not to be beguiled out of the moody expression
he has assumed ? At last, when you have tried all the subtleties
you know, you ask him, in desperation, if he has not got such a
trifle as a smile with him. He immediately answers, with a
charming expression you long to secure, " Oh, no ! when I smile
in a photograph I always grin." Here is another sample of a
good model gone wrong through the stupidity of photographers.
Many operators think that if they make their sitters smile —
they don't care about the quality of the smile — they have done
their duty in their own particular state of life, forgetting that
many people look idiotic when their simpers and smiles are
perpetuated. Others seem to think that all expression consists
of gush, and wake up the features to an unnatural degree of
intensity. The photographer should endeavour to represent his
> sitters as moderately calm ladies and gentlemen ; or, if they are
not entitled to the courtesy title, then as decent men and women.
Some faces are beautiful in repose, hideous in movement. A
broad laugh is often beautiful in nature, because of its evanes-
cence ; it becomes intolerable when fixed on paper. But there
is a look of animation, far short of a smile, which suits nearly
MANAGEMENT OF THE SITTER. 95
all faces, and which is so permanently beautiful that it deserves
to be printed in carbon or enamel.
John Gibson, the famous sculptor, considered a smile frivolous ;
but what would be undignified in sculpture may be proper to
less severe modes of artistic expression. He says, in a letter to
a friend: — "The fault of the portraits of the present age is,
that every man is expected to look pleasant in his pictures.
The old masters represent men thinking, and women tranquil ;
the Greeks the same. Therefore, the past race of portraits in
paint and in marble look more like a superior class of beings.
How often have I heard the remark, * Oh ! he looks too serious.'
But the expression that is meant to be permanent should be
serious and calm."
This is true enough of the expressions of men, but I cannot
help feeling that the cheerful expressions of ladies and children
are their best, especially when they are educed with such art as
to appear perfectly natural ; indeed, some of the most delightful •<
portraits of children represent them in a very happy frame of
mind.
The quality necessary in a man to enable him to draw out the
best expression is " a gift." It may be improved by education
and practice, but it is not to be attained by those who have it
not in their natures. The latter may do high-class work, but
never that which electrifies. A fine work should always give
that feeling of pleased surprise which sends a glow of pleasure
through the frame. This is never obtained through the inter-
vention of that photographer who has not the proper "music in
his soul."
When a man goes to have his portrait taken, his mind will,
consciously or unconsciously, dwell upon the ordeal he is to go
through ; he will think of how his coat fits, how he [feels, and
how he will look ; it should be the business of the photographer ^
to make him forget all this — and himself. The man's appearance
is positively deteriorated by constant reference to self, and the
9fi THE STUDIO.
consideration of how he looks when sitting for a portrait. Now
what that phase conveys is exactly that which should be avoided.
It is needless to tell photographers that one-half their sitters
think they know how to sit, and it is equally unnecessary to add
that this knowing moiety are his worst subjects.
The kind of conversational treatment that would best suit
every sitter must be left for each photographer to decide for
himself.
Everything so much depends on small things that it would be
difficult to say much about them without opening a wider subject
than is here intended ; but the photographer would find that it
would simplify his labour, and be a kind of aid to thought, if he
made a rough classification of his sitters, such as those who are
best left alone. These are those who are ordered to have their
portraits taken by their friends, and do not care how it is done ;
they usually obey the photographer's directions without question,
and their portraits are always natural. The nervous, who require
very delicate treatment ; those whom a bluff treatment would
suit, and those who claim the greatest show of respect ; and,
above all, those who " hate being photographed." These last-
mentioned are the sort I like if I have time to deal with them
properly. It makes one feel a professional pride to so work
these difficult sitters that they shall feel that although they
came to you with reluctance, they leave with regret. This, I
find, is often the case with children. They will sometimes
scream at being brought, and scream at being taken away. Then
there is that much respected person who thinks he can teach you
your business — the best way is to listen and learn. No man
can speak without saying something.
A great deal of expression, and that of the most agreeable
kind, may be produced by the action of the figure, as well as by
the feature. Appropriate action may give life and animation to
a subject not otherwise attainable. A man would not look very
happy if he held down his head, and tucked in his chin, smiled
MANAGEMENT OF THE SITTER. 97
he never so pleasantly; while a very little animation in the
features will have an agreeable effect if it is properly backed up
and assisted by an animated turn of the head ; but, at the same
time, straining after expression must be avoided ; the happy
mean is what the judicious photographer should strive for and
get.
Some photographers seem to do all they know to awe their
sitters into their worst expressions. A lady who was recently
sitting to me told me her experiences in getting her portrait
taken in a well-known studio in London. An appointment was
made beforehand. The door was opened by a man-servant in a
gaudy livery. The lady was ushered upstairs, and kept waiting
for half-an-hour, with nothing to amuse her but the solemn
grandeur of the place. In the studio there were three photo-
graphers to attend to her ; one to work the camera, another to
move the furniture and place the head-rest, and a third in white
kid gloves to take command of the posing. The two latter
talked over the personal appearance of the sitter as if she was an
unintelligent lay figure, which she says she felt she had become
before the exposure commenced, and she looks like it in the
print.
I cannot understand how it is possible to make the sitter feel
at his ease if the operator has a lot of assistants to help him.
Sitting for a portrait should be a matter for friendly intimacy
between sitter and photographer, not a solemn ceremony.
Those who still look at photography with withering contempt
— and some such exist to the present day, just as it is thought
that rare individuals of the plesiosaurus are yet to be found in the
deep seas — complain that photography has no power to idealise ;
but if they had any knowledge of our mysteries, they would know
that it is no longer the truthful art it was when it was famous
for having no mercy.
These critics take it as a foregone conclusion that a portrait
should be idealised. The notion that the artist should invest
98 THE STUDIO.
his sitters with a grace not their own seems never to have been
doubted. Dr. Johnson said that it was one of the highest proofs
of the genius of Eeynolds that he contrived to give nobleness to
the head of Goldsmith in his portrait, whose genial soul and
fine intellect were not habited in a very dignified or handsome
body. If Eeynolds gave to Goldsmith a nobility of countenance
which nature had denied, but which the painter conceived was
more characteristic of the inner man than the actual present-
ment, then we have in the portrait Eeynolds' conception of
what Goldsmith ought to have looked like, and not the actual
portrait of the man. If he merely depicted him at his best,
happily catching the expression which lit up the face when it
was aglow with some happy thought, then he did not give
Goldsmith the noble look, but, with the true painter's skill,
readily detected the noblest effect, and gave permanent form to
a transient expression ; he did what every photographer should
try to do, and when he succeeds he may expect to hear the
sitter's friends exclaim —
" Masterly done :
The very life seems warm upon the lips ;
The fixture of the eye has motion in it,
And we are mocked by art."
" <P'V
CHAPTER XV.
POSING AND THE MANAGEMENT OF THE SITTER.
SUGGESTION AND INTERFERENCE IN POSING.
THE photographer is often annoyed by the ridiculous suggestions
made by the friends of the sitter, and sometimes by the sitter
himself, although the latter oftener takes the character of a
hopeless victim.
It is a question how far such interference is to be tolerated,
and how it is to be met.
Many photographers object to their sitters being accompanied
by a friend, and prefer to have them to themselves. I do not
agree with this exclusion, and always welcome the presence of
one or two of the sitter's friends, if they are not fussy people,
and gladly accept their hints and suggestions if they are made
at the proper time — that is, before I begin to pose the model ;
any interference after I have begun is sure to do mischief.
Everything depends upon the temperament of the sitter. She
— it is the ladies generally who object to come alone — may like
to have a friend with her to give her confidence, but prefers not
to be looked at as the exposure is going on. It is always easy
to manage in a case of this sort. The friend may turn away
her head, or sit behind a curtain ; in my own place I have a sort
of ante-room to the studio, made attractive and comfortable,
into which I send the friends when I find they are doing mis-
100 THE STUDIO.
chief by remaining in the studio. This is sufficiently near to
satisfy the most nervous sitter, and they do not interfere with
the operation. It is the practice of some photographers not to
permit anyone to be present, but it is not wise to draw a hard-
and-fast line. It should be absolutely at the sitter's choice
whether friends should be present or not ; it is surely better to
humour the sitter and get a good portrait, than to have your
own way entirely and an inferior production. When the
friends have left the studio they should remain away until
the exposure has taken place. Nothing is more disturbing
than people going in and out. Above all, never allow peeping.
Friends will sometimes go away, and then creep quietly back
and peep through the door or through a curtain. Nothing
could be more calculated to make the sitter nervous than this
sort of thing, and it quite prevents all endeavours to try what
might be called experimental expression. Sitters are often in-
clined to think they lose dignity if they do not look dignified.
It is often possible to talk them into a genial state, or get them
to act the part — " assume a virtue if they have it not" — but
this is quite out of the question if you or the sitter feels all the
time that there is some one taking a surreptitious peep, and
listening to all that is said.
Having made it clear that I do not object to two or three of
the friends of the sitter being present, let us see how far these
visitors may be allowed to interfere.
Information is always valuable, and any information a photo-
grapher can get he should be thankful for, and use at his dis-
cretion. Of course, the size and style of the picture required
has been settled in the reception room ; but it is often of great
advantage to get some further knowledge than can be obtained
at first sight of your subject. It is well to know if former
photographers have failed, and why. Was it expression, pose,
dress, bad photography, or what? Useful hints of what to avoid
can easily be gathered, and you may learn what is best to be
MANAGEMENT OF THE SITTKH. 101
done by judicious conversation ; you should also find out the
sort of thing that would be likely to please, such as any
characteristic attitude or expression. All this will aid you in
getting a picture that the friends will declare is " so like." I
need not say that you should find out whether a sitting or
standing pose would be preferred. It often happens that after
the operator has taken the number of negatives he thinks
necessary or desirable to use in the particular case, and the job
is, in fact, finished, some kind friend will suggest that she should
so like to have " one in a hat." This you would have been very
glad to do if you had known in time, but it is difficult to refuse,
and you expose another plate. This might have been avoided if
proper enquiries had been made at the outset.
Then there are those who want to see the pose, and will
promise to go away when you are ready. These people are not
easy to deal with. It is difficult to explain to them before the
sitter that you may possibly want to surprise her into a
characteristic attitude or expression ; that would be to expose
your carefully masked plot, and moreover, if you do let them
stay, they will, perhaps, not go at the last minute, and the sitter
will feel constrained, and tire while you are getting them out.
My rule is, in or out, just as the sitter pleases, but not in and
out on any pretext.
There are some people who are quite irrepressible. They
promise not to interfere, and mean to keep their promise, but
for all that jump up just as the cap is about to be removed from
the lens to alter a bit of drapery or set a lock of hair straight,
or to make a brilliant suggestion, such as that the pose of the
hands might be improved — when you are taking the head only !
They knew very well that the hands would not be in the picture,
but such people cannot restrain themselves, and should be got
rid of if possible. When these vexing little incidents occur, it
is better to break off, make the sitter walk round the room, and
begin again.
102 THE STUDIO.
Some sitters will bring a friend to pose them. ' ' It is such, an
advantage, you know, to have the assistance of an artist," they
will perhaps insult you by saying, on the strength of their friend
having passed the second grade examination in free-hand, or
copied some smudgy flowers on terra cotta, but who, neverthe-
less, has never heard of composition. Of all the irritating
assistance the photographer has offered to him, that of the
amateur artist is the most difficult to accept smiling — or, perhaps,
I should say, without smiling. The highly trained artist is bad
enough, as I shall presently show ; but the combined ignorance
and assurance of the amateur is quite fatal.
Then there are those who kindly endeavour to teach you your
business — who explain that hands come large if placed too for-
ward; that blue photographs badly, that yellow does not
" take," and that photographs taken abroad are better than those
done in this country, because the light is clearer ; and, finally,
those who prefer to give you their instructions in learned words
suited to the occasion, just as they would talk to a foreigner in
his own tongue — and puzzle him. These wise ones want their
portrait to be "a small focus," or " a large focus," and are
surprised if you tell them that there are no different sizes of
focus, and that focus has no other dimension than length.
How much help you are to admit in dealing with young folks,
I have alluded to incidentally in the chapter on photographing
children. It is quite impossible to get on if children are
accompanied by a troop of friends, especially lively grandfathers
and grandmothers. A father may sometimes be admitted if he
be of an exceptional sort, but even in his case it is better to keep
him in reserve for use if the usual means fail. Nine out of ten
mothers are useful, but the tenth should be kept out of the
studio. A nurse who knows her business is the best help you
can have. Even she will sometimes want a standing portrait of
a ten-month old baby, but it is easier to tell the nurse she is an
idiot than the mother.
MANAGEMENT OF THE SITTER. 103
It might be thought that artists, and those who have been
trained to art, would be able to give very efficient advice in the
studio; but I have found it quite to the contrary, and this
invariably. Even experienced portrait painters are very much
at a loss how to pose a sitter for the photographer, although they
may require the photograph for their own use, and may have
had time to consider the matter. The fact is, that painters are
in the habit of going about their work in a more leisurely manner
than photographers, and cannot pose quickly. They find it to
their advantage to go quietly to work, as they can call up
expression when they want it, or leave it to a future sitting ;
while the photographer knows that if he harasses his sitter too
much, he knocks the life out of him. Yet there are some photo-
graphers who gladly accept the aid of a brother artist if he can
prove that he really is skilful in his business.
There is a story that once upon a time, when an illustrious
prince and his noble entertainer returned from deer- stalking,
they sent for a photographer to make a pictorial record of their
successful day's sport. When the stags were being arranged,
Sir Edwin Landseer, who was present, made some suggestions
for the improvement of the composition of the group. The
photographer resented this interference, declaring that he could
not get on if those who knew nothing about art altered his
arrangements. " But I am Sir Edwin Landseer," said the great
artist; " surely you know my pictures." " Oh ! if you are in
the trade it is all right," replied the photographer, and gladly
accepted Sir Edwin's assistance.
To conclude. Be strong, but hide your strength ; be gentle
in manner, but vigorous in the deed ; make up your mind what
you mean to do, and do it. If your sitter or her friends think
all the credit is due to themselves, let them think so. It pleases
them, and does not hurt you ; in fact, it is in your favour, for
they will like the picture all the better if they fancy its merits
are due to their own valuable suggestions.
CHAPTER XVI,
SMILES AND SMILING.
A EEALLT beautiful smile, natural, and without the taint of
artifice, is one of the rarest, as well as the most delightful,
inventions of nature. The tendency in the zygomatic muscles
to contract under pleasurable emotions, to speak scientifically,
is a joy reserved for mankind alone, for the hyaena does not
laugh, whatever unscientific natural historians may say to the
contrary. Not that I should like to assert too positively that
all animals have not some equivalent method for displaying their
•emotions, for surely many of them show rudimentary attempts
at expression in their faces.
Some dogs, for instance, can convey an easily-interpreted
expression of their feelings by their looks. The other morning
I asked a friendly terrier, belonging to a neighbour, to &o for
a walk. There was a most distinct look of pleasure on that
dog's face as he frisked around when he accepted the invitation,
and I fancied I could detect an upward curl of the mouth;
there was certainly a twinkle in the eye. It happened that
after I had walked a mile from home, I went into a shop,
leaving the dog to wait outside. I stayed longer than I
intended, and left by a different door to the one by which I
entered, forgetting my canine friend. Since that time I have
never been able to induce that dog to take any notice of me,
SMILES AND SMILING. 105
except to put on a dejected, disgusted visage whenever I
approach. His feelings were hurt, and he did not care to
conceal it.
That rudimentary expressions are to be traced in animals,
goes to prove that the smile, like man himself, is the result of
evolution, and that the perfected smile is the product of
civilisation. We do not know how far this can be traced back ;
all we do know is that an oyster can be crossed in love, but we
cannot definitely ascertain that he is capable of smiling at grief,
like patience on a monument.
The smile, then, being a product of civilisation, is capable of
being overdone, and of becoming unnatural, as, indeed, is the
tendency of all cultivated things ; and it is this false smile that
gives the conscientious photographer more trouble than any
other phase of expression. The unconscious smile, that perfect
expression of happiness, seems to be dying out. It is rarely
present even in children, especially when they are in the hands
of the photographer, however sympathetic he may be. "Who
amongst us does not constantly observe that painful nervous
contraction of the lips and elongation of mouth seen in many
children when they are being photographed? Parents and
nurses are a good deal to blame for this. They impress on the
young people, before they take them to the studio, that they
must be still, and, above all, must look pleasant. Now what is
the effect on its appearance of telling a child to be good ? If it
is of a kindly disposition, it will become prim ; if the demon
that seems to possess some children's souls has possession of it,
it will become sullen. Then, being dressed specially for the
occasion has its effect. It is impossible for a child used to the
enjoyment, in easy-fitting clothes, of the rollicking pleasures
of the nursery, to appear at its ease in its " Sunday best," yet
its natural guardians not only overdress the child, but will
sometimes go even further, and try on unaccustomed garments
and new ways of doing the hair. Now to dress a child in stiff
106 THE STUDIO.
clothes, different from its ordinary wear, to alter the style of
hair, and to solemnly impress upon the poor little mite that it
must be good and smile, is to kill that child as a subject for the
photographer. It is sometimes possible for a clever operator to
make a modern young person forget all the world, and become
"even as a little child" again, but the exertion is more than
some photographers are equal to. So the natural smile is dying
out, killed through the folly of mothers and nurses when they
prepare their children for being photographed. I am glad
we have been able to trace this growing defect of nature to its
origin !
Mothers and nurses know so little of children! They are
incredulous when told that infants never smile, but that it comes
to them as they grow. The art of smiling has to be learnt by
experience, and, perhaps, at that early age, infants have no
happy thoughts to smile at — have not attained the power to see
"those undiscerned phantasms that make a chrisom child to-
smile." Mr. Darwin, who seems to have gathered up all facta
in nature, describes his observations on this point in a character-
istic passage : — " It is well known to those who have the charge
of young infants, that it is difficult to feel sure when certain
movements about their mouths are really expressive; that is,
when they really smile. Hence I carefully watched my own
infants. One of them, at the age of forty-five days, and being
at the time in a happy frame of mind, smiled; that is, the
corners of the mouth were retracted, and simultaneously the eyes
became decidedly bright. I observed the same thing on the
following day; but on the third day the child was not quite
well, and there was no trace of a smile, and this renders it
probable that the previous smiles were real. Eight days subse-
quently, and during the next succeeding week, it was remarkable
how his eyes brightened whenever he smiled, and his nose
became at the same time transversely wrinkled. This was now
accompanied by a little bleating noise, which perhaps represented
SMILES AND SMILING. 107
a laugh. At the age of 113 days, these little noises, which were
always made during expiration, assumed a slightly different
character, and were more broken or interrupted, as in sobhing •
and this was certainly incipient laughter."
In a second infant the first real smile was seen at about the
same age, and in a third somewhat earlier. In this gradual
acquirement, by infants, of the habit of laughing, we have a
case analogous to other uses of the human frame. As practice
is requisite with the ordinary movements of the .body, such as
walking, so it seems to be with laughing ; it must grow, and if
in its growth it is twisted out of form, it will never be a graceful
and pleasant expression of joyous feeling.
The natural smile in children of a larger growth is interfered
with by another cause. Young ladies seem to think that the
glory of a woman does not lie, as of old time, in her long hair,
so much as in her mouth. Modern ideas of beauty insist that
the mouth must be small, therefore the owners of them must
make them as small as possible. The facial efforts made to
effect this purpose are prodigious. The lips are drawn in, and
useless attempts are made to contract the lateral extension;
while the desire to look cheerful, which naturally lengthens the
mouth, fights with the antagonistic determination to keep within
limits, and the result is an hysterical grin.
In a true smile the lips are parted more or less widely, with
the corners of the mouth drawn backwards, as well as a little
upwards, causing wrinkles to form under the eyes, and the eyes
become partially closed. As a gentle smile grows into a strong
one, or into a laugh, the upper lip is drawn up, and the muscles
under the eyes contract, the wrinkles under the lower eyelids,
and those beneath the eyes, are much strengthened and increased,
and the eyebrows are slightly lowered. Now, all these natural
effects of a smile are quite incompatible with large eyes and
small mouths.
One of the most difficult features a photographer has to
108 THE STUDIO.
contend with is that form of mouth which has permanently-
parted lips, leaving the teeth full in view. This is an effect
that seems to be becoming more prevalent in this country. An
inspection of a large collection of old photographic portraits will
show that it did not exist to such an extent even twenty years
ago. The effect is usually not disagreeable in nature. Momentary
changes of expression seem to qualify the defect, if defect it can
be called; but in a photograph, when the form is permanent,
and has not the aid of varied movement, the effect is not
agreeable, and gives the photographer much trouble, and taxes
Ms ingenuity to hide it. This is a case in which any attempt
at smiling is best avoided, as it only tends to make matters
worse.
CHAPTEE XVII.
LIKENESS— FAMILIAR AND OCCULT.
A SATISFACTOBY resemblance to the original is a primary excel-
lence in a portrait of any kind, taking precedence, indeed, of
all other qualities. The resemblance which is thus important is
that which is sufficiently familiar and striking to be recognised
by the least analytic of observers, and which does not require
ingenuity to discover, or argument to enforce. It should be the
kind of resemblance which a child would recognise, and which
must depend more on the truthful resemblance of the whole
than on the perfection of any individual part.
The production of such likenesses is not so common in photo-
graphy as it ought to be ; and although good photography is
important to the production of a good likeness, it depends less
on technical excellence in the picture than on the exercise of
good judgment on the part of the sitter. It is dependent also
upon other matters beyond the control or knowledge of the
portraitist, but in regard to which he should exercise, as far
as possible, a watchful supervision. I have referred in another
chapter, and now refer again, to the circumstance which pro-
fessional portraitists know so well, and from which they suffer
so much annoyance, such as the entire change of the ordinary
110 THE STUDIO.
costume on the part of the sitter when preparing to sit for a
portrait. How often a lady who usually wears her hair plainly
braided, curls it especially for the express purpose of sitting for
her portrait, to the entire destruction of anything like familiarity
in the resemblance ! And so with other modifications in the
general costume. The portraitist should suggest, wherever
opportunity serves, the importance of preserving the usual and
familiar appearance in the arrangement of dress, &c., in all
cases where the portrait is to be prized as a likeness of the
sitter, rather than preserved as a memento of some special effect
of costume.
But one of the most valuable aids to familiarity of effect in
a portrait is the securing of characteristic position — a thing nine
times out of ten lost in the arrangement made by the portraitist.
The sitter is placed in a chair, very often of unusual construc-
tion— perhaps low in the seat, possibly straight-backed, and
mediaeval ; he is then arranged so as to bear a given relation to
the position of the camera, and to the arrangement of the light ;
his hands are placed in approved form; his head is fixed in a
rest; he is directed to gaze at a certain spot, and he is then
invited to look pleasant, and sit perfectly still.
" Quiet as a stone,
Still as the silence."
He becomes at once conscious of the vital importance of the
moment ; if he is doubtful of his steadiness, he makes a special
effort, with a look of ferocious agony, to sit perfectly still ; if he
is more anxious about the expression than about his steadiness,
he probably puts on an insufferable smirk. In either case a
portrait with nothing of familiar likeness is the result.
The shrewd and observant portraitist will do the reverse of
all this, and direct his sitter to take his seat, and will then,
observing the position naturally assumed before " arrangement "
has commenced, with the least possible disturbance of the posi-
tion, secure the general disposal of the figure, and, wherever it
LIKENESS — FAMILIAR AND OCCULT. Ill
is possible, produce the necessary variety by moving the camera
and re-arranging the light to suit the sitter, rather than arrange
the sitter to suit the position of the camera and the light. The
more like the interior of an ordinary sitting room the studio
can be made, the more comfortable the accessories, and the less
formal and exacting the arrangement of the sitter, the more
familiar the likeness will probably be.
There is another important consideration, which will have
weight in the minds of many, and which will frequently interfere
with the familiarity of the likeness. If the question be asked,
" Is it of more importance to secure a good photograph and
agreeable picture, or to secure a familiar and satisfactory like-
ness ? " many will answer that it is more important to secure
a good picture ; that if the photography and pictorial arrange-
ment be good, the likeness ought to be satisfactory ; and to such
an extent is this feeling carried by some, that they are literally
unable to perceive or acknowledge that the likeness is bad, if
the picture be good. The defect, they allege, is a want of per-
ception in the observer; or the sitter's face is one which "does
not make a striking likeness." In any case, the photography
is good in all points, and there is nothing pictorially wrong, and
therefore the portrait ought to be good ; and, if it is not, the
portraitist cannot be to blame, they fancy. I have so often
insisted on the importance of artistic arrangement, and of making
portraits pleasing and striking pictures, that I shall not be
misunderstood, I hope, if I say that in some instances this very
desire interferes with the familiarity of the likeness.
Here is a case in point in the shape of a series of portraits of
an intimate friend, with every phase of whose fine and striking
countenance I am familiar. He has delighted the public,
counting his readers by hundreds of thousands, and made some
fame and position for himself as a novelist, essayist, poet, &c. ;
has been photographed by many artists, each of whom has,
doubtless, striven to produce an effective portrait of a man of
112 THE STUDIO.
mark. Here are cards and whole plates by various first-rate
photographers, and of these, whilst all are more or less good
pictures, and all more or less like, there are but two which are
thoroughly characteristic and satisfactory, the chief fault in
most of them being too much striving after effect. In one we
have a profile with chin thrown up, and the whole effect self-
asserting and truculent ; in another we have a standing figure,
with open book in one hand, and a finger of the other hand laid
on a page, reminding you of Mr. Chadband holding forth, as
delineated in " Bleak House " ; and so on with others. These
effects were doubtless present before the camera at the moment
when the plate was impressed, and were the result of an unskilful
striving after striking effect in the pose and arrangement. Many
operators, in their desire to avoid producing the mere maps of
the face which have been so often charged on photography as
its normal product, fall into this opposite extreme of inducing
the sitter to act a part ; and as very few persons are good actors7
it is not surprising that in such cases the portraits, however
excellent as pictures, are unfamiliar as likenesses. Let the
portraitist ever bear in mind that the less importance the sitter
attaches to the vital moment of exposure, the more natural will
be his expression ; the fewer injunctions as to looking pleasant,
sitting still, keeping his eye fixed, &c., the less likely he will
be to look affected and simpering on the one hand, or nervous-
and anxious on the other.
Besides the advantages of a quiet and natural portrait in
giving familiar likeness, it often possesses another advantage in
having certain occult traits of likeness, only discoverable under
special circumstances. This is a peculiarity of a really good
and natural photographic portrait, which to the psychologist
and physiognomist is an interesting study. How often, in a
good photographic portrait, a family likeness to a relative i&
discovered which had not been apparent to anyone in the
original ! How often, in the photograph of a child, is suddenly
LIKENESS — FAMILIAR AND OCCULT. 113
perceived its wondrous likeness to a dead grandsire, which until
that moment had never been thought of —
" As sometimes in a dead man's face,
To those who watch it more and more,
A likeness, hardly seen before,
Comes out — to some one of his race."
It is generally in the simple, unconstrained, familiar likeness
that these unfamiliar or occult phases of resemblance are most
present as well.
Rej lander once brought this matter of occult likeness to a very
crucial test. At a country house where he was visiting there
was a beautiful little girl ; on the walls of the dining room was
the portrait, old and cracked, of an ancestress, painted when the
lady was about the age of the child. Eej lander dressed and
posed the child like the ancestress, and photographed her. On
the negative he imitated the cracks and defects of the old picture ;
he then made a negative of the picture, and when both were
printed, it was difficult to say which was the ancestress and
which the descendant.
Nathaniel Hawthorne, in his charming romance, " The House
with Seven Gables," gives another striking illustration of this
presence of occult likeness in photographs, even in a case in
which the familiar or obvious likeness is wanting. The passage
describing this is quoted here for the benefit of those who mav
not remember it. A photographer is speaking : —
" ' There is a wonderful insight in Heaven's broad and simple
sunshine. While we give it credit only for depicting the merest
surface, it actually brings out the secret character with a truth
no painter would ever venture upon, even could he detect it.
There is at least no flattery in my humble line of art. Now,
here is a likeness which I have taken over and over again, and
still with no better result. Yet the original wears, to common
eyes, a very different expression. It would gratify me to have
your judgment on this character.' He exhibited a Daguerreo-
114 THE STUDIO.
type miniature in a morocco case. Phcebe merely glanced at it,
and gave it back.
" 'I know the face/ she replied, l for its stern eye has been
following me about all day. It is my Puritan ancestor, who
hangs yonder in the parlour. To be sure, you have found some
way of copying the portrait without its black velvet cap and
grey beard, and have given him a modern coat and satin cravat
instead of his cloak and band. I don't think him improved by
your alterations.7
'"You would have seen other differences had you looked a
little longer,' said Holgrave, laughing, yet apparently much
struck. ' I can assure you that this is a modern face, and one
which you will very probably meet. Now, the remarkable
point is that the original wears, to the world's eye, and, for
aught I know, to his most intimate friends, an exceedingly
pleasant countenance, indicative of benevolence, openness of
heart, seeming good humour, and other praiseworthy qualities
of that cast. The sun, as you see, tells quite another story, and
will not be coaxed out of it, after half a dozen patient attempts
•on my part. Here we have the man sly, subtle, hard, imperious ;
withal, cold as ice. Look at that eye. Would you like to be at
its mercy ? At that mouth. Could it ever smile ? And yet if
you could only see the benign smile of the original ! It is so
much the more unfortunate as he is a public character of some
eminence, and the likeness was intended to be engraved.'
" ' Well, I don't wish to see it any more,' observed Phcebe,
turning away her eyes. 'It is certainly very like the old
portrait.'"
The Daguerreotype here tells the truth. The smiling descend-
ant of the stern old Puritan is really a man hard, cruel, and
black of heart ; and these qualities, in conjunction with the
family traits of a race, persistently make themselves apparent in
the picture limned by the sun, even though imperceptible to
common observers of the original. The possession of these subtle
LIKENESS — FAMILIAR AND OCCULT. 115
peculiarities of likeness is a quality of much importance in
historical portraiture, whether the history be that of individuals,
of families, or of nations, and is one well worth noting and pre-
serving. The quality can only belong to honest untouched
photographs, free alike from affectation and constraint; the
simple rendering of a face with a natural expression, with due
attention to the best technical appliances of lighting, arrange-
ment, exposure, and development.
CHAPTER XVIII.
RETOUCHING.
I SHALL have nothing to say on the manipulative details of
retouching. Practical information on the subject has been so
often given in the journals and separate publications, that
reiteration would be wearisome, as well as out of place here ;
but a glance at the history and progress of retouching may be
both interesting and instructive. In the earliest days of photo-
graphic portraiture, retouching was not only unknown, but
impossible. The exquisitely delicate surface of the Daguerreo-
type would not tolerate for a moment the touch of mechanical
amelioration ; except, indeed, so far as the process of tinting or
colouring effected that end. The colours were applied in the
form of an impalpable powder, and the result of their applica-
tion had more the character of a stain than of applied pigments.
The finest touch of water-colours was so incongruous with the
delicate surface of the picture that a coarse, patchy effect
was the result in all cases, no matter how skilfully applied.
Curiously enough, the untouched Daguerreotype presented fewer
of the crudities of texture, was less cruel in its renderings of
wrinkles, freckles, and rugosities, than any later form of photo-
graphic portraiture.
On the advent of the collodion process, photographs on paper
gradually superseded the Daguerreotype. At its best, the paper
KETOUCHING.
117
print fell far short of the delicacy of the silver plate, and at its
worst it was often a sadly coarse, stained, smudgy affair. Now
commenced the practice of retouching on the print to remove
technical defects, and ameliorate, as far as possible, what appeared
to be inherent photographic shortcomings. Then followed those
abominations consisting of photographic prints entirely worked
up in Indian ink or sepia, the photographic image being
generally destroyed, and a hard, unnatural, badly-drawn mono-
chrome presented in its place. None of these methods were
effective against freckles. Then it struck photographers that
the proper thing to touch up was the model, and all kinds of
powders and cosmetics were brought into play, until sitters did
not think they were being properly treated if their faces and
hair were not powdered until they looked like a ghastly mockery
of the clown in a pantomine. There are sitters even now who
will not believe they are being taken in the truly foreign
manner — " where the light is so clear, you know" — if the
photographer does not dust their heads a little by way of
throwing dust in their eyes.
The idea of retouching on the negative very tardily dawned
on the photographic community, and it came slowly into general
practice, until about the year 1867, when its uses were generally
recognised, and its abuses, of course, quickly followed. The
removal of blemishes like stains and pinholes in the negative was
customary. It is probable, moreover, that for many years before
the practice of retouching had become general, some photo-
graphers manipulated their negatives considerably, carefully
preserving their practice in this way as a secret. A case may be
remembered, many years ago, at a photographic exhibition,
when the fine contributions of a very able photographer were
challenged by another portraitist as being retouched. The
response to this was an offer to permit the prints to be sponged
with water. The challenger insisted that the stippling was
manifest beyond question when the prints were examined by a
118 THE STUDIO.
magnifying glass. The production of unmounted prints with
precisely similar gradation, which was not removed by sponging,
seemed to settle the matter by deciding that there could be no
retouching, the negatives never being suspected.
There can be no doubt now — and if there were any I can set
it at rest, for I have seen many of the negatives — that the
exquisite vignettes of the late T. K. Williams, which were the
admiration and despair of the photographers of thirty years
ago, owed much of their beauty to very judicious retouching on
the negative, added to the great care and almost fastidious taste
of that admirable photographer. Retouching, used at a time
when the process was not suspected, gave these portraits a
superiority over others that it is now almost impossible to
believe.
The use of lead pencils for retouching upon the negative first
rendered this operation possible as a popular process. Stippling
upon a varnished surface with wet pigments was a difficult
process, requiring great manipular skill, and few of those
possessing that skill were familiar with the requirements of
negative retouching, in which the degree of opacity or trans-
lucency of each touch is of more importance than its appearance
by reflected light. The first suggestion for the use of lead pencil
for this purpose came from Germany in 1866. Since that time
the system has steadily progressed. Its use in any degree has
been strongly condemned by photographic purists as a departure
from the truth as it is in photography, and, curiously enough,
one of its most staunch opponents was one who was unrivalled in
the artistic manipulation of the negative in printing operations —
the late 0. G. Eejlander. In the earlier years of negative
retouching, photographers would confess its use with apology and
hesitation. It soon, however, acquired a firm foothold in the
studio of every portraitist, and the skilled retoucher was indis-
pensable. In this country the legitimacy of the process, per se,
is no longer discussed, but is, by general consent, tacitly admitted.
RETOUCHING. 119
Excess is, of course, condemned as inartistic, untrue, and unwise,
even by those who most egregiously overstep the fair line of
legitimacy. Photographers occasionally discuss the subject still.
Even those who object to its use artistically defend the practice
as necessary to meet the demands of the public, every individual
of whom, whilst professing to require the simple truth of photo-
graphy without retouching, invariably protests against receiving
a portrait in which the retoucher's art had not been more or less
employed. Others hope that the mania for retouching will run
its course ; that unreasonable excess will bring reaction.
Where excess of retouching not only levels all ages, and makes
it difficult to distinguish the portrait of the grandmother from
the pretty girl of twenty, who is so like her ; and where it
destroys the texture of the flesh, and substitutes that of chiselled
marble, its evil is beyond dispute. Where it is or may be used
for fraud, the evil is still more lamentable. Some years ago
there was a case in which a portrait from an untouched and
somewhat harsh negative, and one from a fine negative of the
same sitter, very carefully retouched, so as to remove lines,
wrinkles, or rugosities, were prepared for exhibiting in court,
the latter as showing the state of an individual before a misfortune
for which he claimed damages, and the former as showing the
distressing effect produced upon his health by the misfortune
for which damages were claimed. It is probable that the two
portraits were produced in the order of time claimed for them ;
but the misused art of the retoucher might make either of them
tell the tale either of decrepitude or vigorous health.
The common complaint against excessive retouching has much
less justification than is supposed. That which is frequently
described as excess in retouching is less the result of excess than
of ignorance. It is not that there is too much of the pencil, but
that it is applied in the wrong place. A very little unskilful
retouching will remove the texture of the flesh, and leave that of
stone; will remove the expression of a living face, and leave
120 THE STUDIO.
that of a mask ; whilst the same amount of retouching applied
with knowledge and intelligence would have retained the texture
of flesh, removing only the temporary and accidental blemishes
and the exaggerations of photography which interfered with
truth and beauty ; would have given fuller effect to a fine
expression, or subdued a suspicion of frowning or weariness by
delicate touches applied in the right place. Photographers,
innocent alike of the structure of the human face and of any
knowledge of drawing, unhesitatingly retouch negatives without
the slightest idea that any other qualification than a photographic
eye and a steady hand is necessary. They neatly fill up wrinkles
and scars and soften shadows, until they produce a face almost
as smooth and quite as expressionless as a billiard ball. And,
what is more, they are proud of the result !
Retouching, then, may now be included amongst the legitimate
processes of photography. That it is unfortunately open to
abuse, and that the abuse of it in ignorant eyes is beautiful,
cannot be helped. There is a class of people who never care to
refer to nature. "With them, to be smooth and soft is to be
beautiful. They may not care to have their own faces enamelled,
but they do not object to the highly-retouched fraud which
represents them as marble, and will complacently offer it to you
as a portrait of themselves.
Retouching is legitimate when it does not falsify nature ; it
should be used only to aid the well-known shortcoming of
photography. In nature we scarcely see a freckle on the face if
we do not look closely for it ; in the negative the freckle is
represented by a hole which prints much darker than the freckle
appears in nature ; it is legitimate to fill up this hole so that the
result may the better represent nature. A warm shadow or
reflected light may come out darker than in nature : these places
may be aided and strengthened. A high-light may fall short of
the sparkle of the original ; this may also be strengthened.
To know when to leave off should be the aim of the retoucher.
RETOUCHING.
121
He is the best artist who knows when his work is done. If as
much time and thought were taken to get perfect negatives as
is spent in correcting imperfections, the retoucher's art would
come nearly to an end.
CHAPTER XIX,
HINTS TO SITTERS.
photographers have published little pamphlets and
circulars addressed to their patrons to teach them how to dress
and what to do when they go to sit for their portraits. They
are first told how to make appointments, then follow instructions
what to do " when you visit us." Some of the advice must be
quite appalling to nervous sitters. The injunction to keep steady
if you want "a thing of beauty," and not to object to anything,
but to " place yourself entirely in our operator's hands," is so
disquieting that it is scarcely compensated for by the promise
that if you do you will be rewarded with the best results.
"What can give a sitter a more serious impression of the pro-
found nature of the operation than the following: — "Do not
object to the head-rest ; it is quite essential for keeping the sitter
steady after being posed. It is more difficult to sit steady than
you would think, and remember the slighest movement spoils
the picture." The information is right enough, but why bother
the sitter with it ? You are not to come flushed and panting, or
your face will come out black. You are to come in a pleasant
frame of mind, because " the reflex of the mental condition is
unavoidably indexed on the face." You must choose your dress
and jewellery with discrimination, and as the operator orders.
You are not to stare, but may wink — a liberty for which the
HINTS TO SITTERS. 123
sitter must feel grateful. You are not to pile your hair on the
top of the head, and you may introduce curls occasionally with
advantage. Powder is recommended to give detail which would
be otherwise wanted, but how it does so is rather puzzling.
And then comes the inevitable condemnation of some colours for
dresses, such as blue, lilac, and lavender, and recommendation
of others, such as black, claret, scarlet, pea green, yellow,
crimson, slate, and especially black silk and black lace.
All this is better left alone. To print all these directions,
even if they were the reverse of very foolish, is to give the
operation of sitting for a portrait such importance that the
victims will be inclined to think very seriously of it, and look
like it. It is my experience that the more a sitter is prepared,
the worse he sits. The more he doesn't know what you are going
to do with him the better will be his portrait. Of course it does
happen sometimes that a lady comes most unsuitably dressed —
say in stiff white material, spotted or barred with black velvet,
or in loud checks. It is much better to tell her quietly that the
dress is unsuitable, and get her to postpone the sitting, than to-
give her printed directions what to do which only help to confuse
her. Nearly the only stipulation the photographer should
make with a lady sitter is, that she should come dressed like her-
self. This is important, for ladies are sometimes inclined to-
make experiments and try an unaccustomed costume. If they
come " as guys, or in disguise " — if I may quote from one of the
jealously- guarded rules of the Solar Club — they cannot expect
to look like themselves. Photographers are suffering much from
ladies' dress at the present time. I don't mean that it is ugly —
I have said my say on that matter in a former chapter — but from
the make, or cut, or fit of the dress. The operator can some-
times get rid of a mass of bulbous ugliness by recommending a
vignette head ; but it is in this kind of picture that the present
difficulty arises. The dresses are made perfectly plain in the
body, and it is not in nature, to say nothing of the dressmaker's
J24 THE STUDIO.
art, that wrinkles should not show in a part that is constantly
moving. It seems to be a point of the first consideration that
no wrinkles shall show, and that the shoulders shall be as smooth
as marble. Everything has to be sacrificed to this one fad.
Ease and grace are disregarded; but the shoulders must be
thrown back to keep the dress tight. I should say that at the
present there are more re-sittings to get rid of these insignificant
but perfectly natural wrinkles than from any other cause.
There are some gentle hints that the photographer may very
properly suggest. People often come in from the country to
have their hair cut, to go to the dentist, and to be photographed.
I think they may be gently warned against the absurdity of
combining these operations in one visit ; but if they must take
place on the same day, the photographer may fairly ask to have
first show.
The photographer ought to be able to make presentable
pictures out of any subject brought to him, but there are some
things to which he may reasonably take objection ; others that he
once upon a time refused to have anything to do with, are often
now his great delight. At one time white dresses were strongly
objected to for ladies and children, but now the judicious photo-
grapher will welcome them with pleasure. He has so improved
his methods of lighting that an object that once came out as a
mere blank mass of white paper can now be made to take the
most delicate and subtle shades. A white dress, lighted from
behind, usually comes well, especially if it is not straight from
the wash ; a dress that has been worn some time always looks
better in a photograph than a new one.
There are other hints — and broad ones, too — that may be given
to sitters without going to the extreme length of sending them
a pamphlet on the subject. Tor instance, a hint may be given
that a little dog is a very objectionable animal in a studio ; that
when he is taking a portrait the operator has something more
important to think of than dogs, and cannot be responsible for
HINTS TO SITTERS. 125
their lives if they run between his legs. Another hint has some-
times to he given that you cannot talk over business matters
with the sitter's friends while you are thinking about the pose
and exposure ; and I have known it to be necessary to suggest
to a sitter or his friend that he must not smoke in the studio.
There have been rare occasions when I have gone even further.
The strongest hint I ever saw made to sitters was printed in
large letters on a screen, at which the sitter was made to look
when the exposure was made. It ran to this effect : — " You are
expected to pay at the time of sitting ! " There was a mingling
of business with art in this that could not be considered as
an aid to expression, and which I never could approve of.
Another useful hint to a sitter who is troublesome in that
difficult matter of re-sittings, is that the negatives and prints of
all portraits not approved are invariably destroyed before the
re-sitting. This circumvents those unreasonable people whose
only object — which they have to gain by aid of untruths — is to
have a large and varied collection to select from.
CHAPTER XX,
HOW TO SHOW PHOTOGRAPHS.
A GOOD photograph badly mounted is like a jewel ill- set, and a
great part of its beauty is lost. No artist should be indifferent
to the manner and style in which his work is shown to the
public. A glance round the Royal Academy Exhibitions will
show that more attention is being given year by year to the
suitability of the frame to the picture which it encloses. Many
artists design their own. A few hints and suggestions on the
subject may^not be out of place. We will commence with a
consideration of how to show a card portrait.
Nothing fanciful should be allowed in the mounting of a carte-
de-visite. This card should be plain, either white, or, what is
perhaps better, a very light buff or cream colour. Pinks, the
various shades of mauve, and cold greys are most unsuitable ;
the thick black and chocolate mounts, with gold bevelled edges,
effectively show up the photograph, the one thing against them
being that their thickness prevents their use in albums. There
are green cards of this kind that do not harmonize with the
picture. The margin should not be wider than one-sixteenth of
an inch, with a quarter or five-sixteenths of an inch at the
bottom, upon which it is allowable for the photographer to print
his name, very faintly, in black or brown ink ; but to print the
name large, or in staring red letters, not only shows bad taste,
HOW TO SHOW PHOTOGRAPHS. 127
but detracts from the effect of the picture. Printed lines round
the edge of the card are wrong, so are round corners ; but when
the lines and round corners are combined, they appear to have
entered into a conspiracy to spoil the picture, and generally
succeed, however good it may be. I hold it to be as necessary
to have the photographer's name on the back of the card —
always supposing the picture is not a copy — as it is to have a
picture on the front ; but the name must not be set forth in a
glaring design, full of curlycues and flourishes, but in a modest
and quiet fashion ; not as though you were ashamed of it, but
without any advertising dash. A thin card is better than a
thick one ; it feels better if well rolled, and does not fill up the
book so much as a thick one would.
To cabinet pictures and larger sizes mounted with narrow
margins the same general rules will apply, except that the
margins should be proportionately wider.
As to the framing of cartes-de-visite and cabinets, there is
such an infinite variety of devices provided for this purpose by
manufacturers, that it is difficult to offer any advice on the sub-
ject. However, you may take this as a general rule : do not
overframe. Let us degenerate into anecdote. Some years ago
I was present at the unpacking of some of the pictures sent to
one of our exhibitions. There was one case brought in with
difficulty — it was enormous, it filled the hall. I said to the
porter, before it was opened, " We must have a few tons of very
fine pictures here." Other cases were neglected; we opened
the large one. The parturient mountain brought forth a little
mouse : the case was full of most tremendous specimens of the
carver and gilder's art, but there was very little art of any other
kind. Amongst others, there was one large moulded frame,
several inches in depth, and with a gilt matt inside; it con-
tained seven cartes-de-visite of the cameo form — that was all —
reminding one of Falstaff's halfpennyworth of bread to an in-
tolerable deal of sack. I have entered more fully into this part
128 THE STUDIO.
of the subject, because there is evidence in exhibitions of a great
attempt to hide bad work in gorgeous frames. An oil painting
will carry a heavy frame, but a photograph, except it is large
and dark, will not. It should rather be classed in this respect
as a water-colour drawing, which should never be smothered in
carving and gold.
To return to cartes and cabinets and small sizes for a few
moments. Heavy plush frames in every variety of gaudy colour
have been very fashionable for some time, the unique hideous-
ness of which fairly surpasses anything ever invented in the
way of unfitness. The brightly-coloured plush is allowed to be
in contact with the photograph ; there is no gilt flat or bead to
prevent the injurious contrast, and the general impression, on a
first look at a photograph thus gorgeously framed, is that the
poor little thing is a disgrace to its surroundings. Now this is
a reversal of the intention of a frame, which should be to set off
and benefit the picture.
In the same way, the very elaborate albums with sometimes
beautifully designed and coloured leaves, forming borders for
the photographs, destroy by their beauty the very thing they
are designed to show off and honour. The object of an album
is to hold portraits or other photographs, and it should be
designed so as to assist the effect of those photographs in every
way. They should be plain and good. I do not object to a line
round the apertures, but I prefer them without. The apertures
should be square or oval, or both ; but fanciful shapes, such as
the dome and cushion, should be rejected.
Yelvet frames of a modest colour, such as marone, are good,
especially for finished pictures on opal, either in monochrome or
colour ; but the velvet must always be divided from the photo-
graph with at least half-an-inch of gold.
A landscape is best mounted in or on a light buff mount, with
a margin from three to four inches, according to size, without
gilt lines, and enclosed in a frame not more than two or three
HOW TO SHOW PHOTOGRAPHS. 129
inches in depth. A one-inch bead is sufficient for sizes under
10 by 8. A running ornament round the frame is not objection-
able, so that it is neat, and if there are no heavy corners. If
you send frames with elaborate corners to exhibitions, you are
pretty sure to get them back in more pieces than is desirable,
and they will not get good places. In the first place, it is im-
possible, in arranging an exhibition, to think much of the pre-
servation of the frames ; in the next, heavy frames are put aside
for further consideration, however good the pictures may be
they contain. But, as usual, there is a lower depth, the Oxford
frame. However anxious the " hangers" may be to do their
best, they draw the line at the Oxford frame ; they can keep
their tempers till they come to these sprawling abominations,
and then " the worst inn's worst room " is nothing to the place
these are consigned to, if a place bad enough can be found.
These "hints to exhibitors " are worth remembering.
Of late years a great deal of oak, principally in light tints, has
been used for framing photographs. The patterns are usually
unobjectionable, and some of them, when the flutings and other
parts are gilt, are quite beautiful, and fit for drawing-room use.
An inch flat of light oak with an inch of gilt beading make an
admirable exhibition frame. It is cheap, looks well, and defies
the horny-handed porters to scratch or destroy it.
Large and dark portraits are best framed close up in gilt or
dark frames two or three inches in depth, with a broad gilt flat.
Vignettes are better in a lighter style of framing ; oval mounts,
light buff or warm grey, in simple gilt frames.
A plain photograph should never be exhibited in the same
room with oil-pictures or water-colour drawings. Due attention
should be paid to the colour of the paper of the wall on which
photographs are hung. The pattern should be delicate and un-
pronounced, of a geometrical or conventional design, without any
staring contrasts of colours. The tone of colour may be of a
dull red or chocolate, or, what is perhaps better, a sage green.
x
130 THE STUDIO.
In showing a coloured photograph, the light should be so arranged
as to fall upon it from the direction in which it was allowed to
fall upon the picture while the artist was at work upon it —
almost always from the left. When the picture is viewed with
the light from the right, all the inequalities of the surface of the
paper are seen, and the work appears coarse and slovenly. The
reason of this is, that the artist, in working up his picture, fills up
with stippling all the inequalities he sees ; these inequalities,
however fine the surface of the paper may be, are caused by the
grain of the paper, also by the minutely different thicknesses of
the colour he applies, and it would be utterly impossible to finish
a picture that would appear as well with the light one way as
the other.
In their useful little volume, " Painting Popularly Explained,"
Messrs. Timbs and Grullick recommend: "For water-colour
paintings it is especially important that the frames should not
be heavy or too profusely ornamented. A massive frame will
almost destroy the effect of delicate work in water-colours.
Burnishing small points of the frame is, however, from the
greater vivacity of water-colours, less objectionable than when
the frame is intended to enclose an oil picture. The glass of the
frame should not touch the face of the painting. The ' mount,'
or margin intervening between the water- colour painting and its
frame, is almost invariably white ; though it might not unfre-
quently with great advantage be tinted, especially if the paint-
ing is merely a vignette. For all delicate work light in tone, a
paper mount is preferable; and for such, a simple gold bead
frame with a gold edge to the mount next the picture is very
suitable. But more powerfully and intensely-coloured water
paintings, especially if warm in tone, might often be rendered
far more effective and harmonious by substituting a gold mount."
Large oil pictures are chiefly exhibited without glass, but
coloured oil portraits, except the very largest, most certainly
look richer, more finely finished, and fuller in colour under glass.
HOW TO SHOW PHOTOGRAPHS. 131
Glass is also a great protection to the picture. " The frequent
assertion that glass interferes with the effect of oil pictures,"
says Buskin, "is wholly irrelevant. If a painting cannot be
seen through glass, it cannot be seen through its own varnish.
Any position which renders the glass offensive by its reflection
will in like manner make the glaze of the surface of the picture
visible instead of the colour. The inconvenience is less distinct,
there being often only a feeble glimmer on the varnish, when
there would be a vivid flash on the glass ; but the glimmer is
quite enough to prevent the true colours being seen; while
there is this advantage in the glass, that it tells the spectator
when he cannot see, whereas the glimmer of the varnish often
passes, with an inattentive observer, for a feeble part of the real
painting, and he does not try to get into a better position. "
The permanency of a silver print — and, to a less extent, all
other pictures on paper, whether photograph, engraving, or
water-colour drawing — depends on the way in which it is framed
and kept. The frame should be air-tight and well protected
from damp. Perhaps nothing, after they are mounted, is so
destructive to photographs as damp. It mildews carbon prints,
and quickly insists on silver prints fading away. The air should
be rigidly excluded. It is common to see the back of a frame
pasted up, but rare to find the glass pasted in. This should
always be done. Every possible precaution should be taken to
avoid damp walls. This is so necessary that I never think any
walls are safe that are not made damp-proof, for which purpose
I prefer a lining of Willesden paper — a material which, by-the-
bye, is useful for many photographic purposes.
This subject is open to much expansion, but with these few
hints I will leave it.
CHAPTER XXL
THE ITINERANT PAINTER.
CLOSELY connected with, the subject of portrait photography,
and of great interest to the professional photographer, is that of
the ownership of the negative and future orders.
When a well-established photographer takes a portrait, he
looks for his profit, not only to the sum he receives for the first
order for copies, but to the contingent potentialities which may
arise from the possession of the negatives, and to that end he
goes to a great deal of trouble and expense in cataloguing and
storing them. Of course the great proportion of these nega-
tives are never wanted again, and are an incumbrance ; but all
professional photographers know that there is so good a demand
for copies from old negatives, that they find it to their interest
to keep all they take, and to print prominently on the back of
their cards, " All negatives are preserved. Copies or enlarge-
ments of this portrait can always be had." Talking on this
subject the other day to a photographer, he said, pointing to a
beautifully finished enlargement, " Here is an instance. One
day, some years ago, a shabby old gentleman came into the
reception room, and said he wanted his portrait taken. He was
shown specimens, but he said they were all too dear ; he could
only afford half-a-guinea, and if I liked to do it for that sum he
should be glad to have it done. I liked the appearance of the
THE ITINERANT PAINTER. 133
old man, who looked poor but respectable, so as a kind of charity
I took a negative of him. I was so pleased with him, that I
offered to send him a dozen copies without charge, but he would
not accept this offer, saying he had to drive a bargain some-
times but he could pay his way, and paid his half-guinea. I
found afterwards I had entertained an angel — a business angel
— unawares, for I have done nearly £300 from that negative
since. The fine old gentleman died soon afterwards, and then I
found he was a famous manufacturer, and that the portrait I had
taken had a peculiar expression in the eyes of his friends, that
had never been got before in any portrait he had had taken, and
the orders for enlargements poured in, and still continue." This
is, of course, an extreme instance of the value of a kept negative ;
but " back orders," as they are sometimes called, are so constant
that many photographers who keep careful statistics of their
business can tell to a few pounds how much their old negatives
will bring in every year. Then they constitute one of the bases
on which businesses are valued — in short, they are property.
It is a constant complaint of photographers that they are
always open to, or suffering from, the attacks of those who want
to rob them of this property. There is a class of people who
misuse the great name of artist — as, indeed, for the matter of that,
some photographers do, by applying it to themselves — who go
round the country, and, by means of introduction or impudence,
obtain orders for portraits, usually enlargements painted from
^photographs. As they never take an original portrait them-
selves, they require the negative, and use every means, fair or
foul, to obtain it, and are usually successful. The method of
proceeding is something like this. The father of a family has
"been dead a short time ; the itinerant hears of this, and before
she has had time to apply to a photographer, gets an introduc-
tion to the widow. A great part of his success in his business
depends on fluent and persuasive speaking, and the lady is soon
induced to order a portrait of her late husband. And some of
134 THE STUDIO.
the "tramps" are so pressing and plausible, that they compel
orders against the will, or certainly against the calmer reason, of
their victims. "When the order is booked, they ask to see a
portrait of the husband, and take down the name of the photo-
grapher. They usually get the widow to write for the loan of
the negative, taking great care to explain that no injury shall
happen to it, and that he is sure the photographer will be de-
lighted to lend it to a brother artist, especially as it is of no
further use to himself. Perhaps the photographer reluctantly
consents, seeing no way out of it ; or he more properly and
wisely refuses to lend the negative. In this case the itinerant
brings more pressure to bear, showing to his patron how selfish
and inconsiderate the photographer is in preventing her having
a splendid portrait of her husband now there is such a fine
opportunity. The result is that the unfortunate photographer
is placed on the horns of a dilemma ; if he consent to lend the
negative, he loses the benefits for which he has speculatively
kept it for years ; and if he refuse, he runs the risk of losing an
old and good customer.
There are grades, even in this low class of art. There is the
"perfect gentleman" — that class of gentlemen who are never
seen without their gloves, who select a suitable town and take
a good house or grand apartments, and work all the country
round. Here is one of the princes of the profession who occa-
sionally gets as much as £100 for a picture. This practitioner
can afford, and sometimes does pay, the photographer for the use
of a negative, but he often induces him to join in risky practices
that are certain to bring him into disrepute with his patrons.
For nstance, amongst the photographer's specimens he will see a
fine-looking man or a beautiful woman, and, first ascertaining if
the game is worth the candle — that is, if their proposed victim
is rich and amiable, or able to pay and timid — he paints his
picture, sends it to the victim beautifully framed, explaining
as his reason for painting it that the head was so fine that he
THE ITINERANT PAINTER. 135
really could not help trying to do it justice, and he thinks he has
succeeded. JS"o mention of price is made in this first experi-
ment. He probably gets it back with a letter of thanks, and a
civil word or two about it being very well done, &c. Then
begins a series of puttings on of the screw, running sometimes at
the last to the most unscrupulous proceedings, until the victim
succumbs — and pays. It is astonishing what a quantity of orders
these men will get, until at last they make the town too hot to
hold them, and move on to another.
These itinerant painters are not all of the male persuasion ; a
good many are ladies, ranging from the old miniature painter —
the Miss Le Creevys are not yet extinct — down through
students who have failed in original art, to the merest tinters.
I hear of them from all quarters, and am often requested to give
advice as to what is the best manner of treating them. This is
very difficult to give ; different circumstances require different
treatment ; but in most cases the best policy would be to refuse
to have anything to do with the poachers. It should be easy to
explain to a client that a photographer ought not to be expected
to give up the fruits of his foresight and care, that he could
scarcely afford to warehouse negatives for the benefit of others,
and above all — and he must show this — that he can produce as
good a picture as the itinerant at the same price.
"Whether one photographer should occasionally lend a negative
to another is quite a different question. I am inclined to think
there are many occasions when they should oblige one another —
it may be for their reciprocal advantage ; but I can see nothing
to be gained by encouraging those who prowl about the country
trying to get work out of the hands of those to whom it legiti-
mately belongs.
CHAPTER XXII,
THE EDUCATION OF A PHOTOGRAPHER.
I HATE often been asked the question, " What is the best course
of study for a young man who has determined to devote his life
to photography as a profession? "
This is a wide subject; let us endeavour to reduce it to some
practical form.
The earliest photographers took to the art as a business after
having been trained to follow some other path in life. Those
who had received a commercial training were best suited for the
business part of photography — a not unimportant part, it must
be owned — but those who passed an apprenticeship to chemistry
had a great advantage over others as far as the working of pro-
cesses was concerned, and those who had the benefit of an artistic
education were in the best position for using the young art-science
as a method of making pictures, which, after all, is the great
end and aim of photography.
But in those days art training was not thought so much of as
it is in our own. Where one student learnt to draw then, a
hundred learn to draw now. There was no regular art teaching
at that time ; now the Government is alive to the necessity of
every boy and girl knowing something of drawing, and there
are nearly a million of students attending the schools of art
spread all over the kingdom, without taking into account the other
THE EDUCATION OF A PHOTOGRAPHER. 137
millions who learn the rudiments of art in Board schools and
from private teachers.
That art was at so low an ebb when photography was given
to the world is one of the causes why it was so long in being
recognised as an art — there were no artists.
The young photographer does now, after a fashion, serve an
apprenticeship to his future business, but it is a poor affair,
instituted more for the purpose of supplying the master with
labour at low wages than for the education of the apprentice.
He is bound for a term of years to serve his master in return for
instruction in the art and mystery of photography. Practically,
he gets a superficial knowledge of printing, and that is all. It
would be safe to say he never gets into the studio, and seldom
into the developing room. He learns nothing of the higher
branches of the art of which printing is a small, if important,
fraction. There are some photographers, it is true, who take a
higher kind of apprentice, in this case called a pupil. The
pupil, because he pays a premium instead of receiving small
wages, gets taught a little more than the apprentice; he is
taught how to take a negative, and if the photographer is very
conscientious, he will show him how to light a head in the
orthodox way ; but he seldom gets a chance of practising his art
on a sitter. And, indeed, I do not see how any photographer
who has any respect for his art could turn his work over to a
pupil. The result is that the student finds that if he is to get
the education which will enable him to achieve the highest
aims, he must help himself.
"We will now consider those special studies which will be of
most use to him in his profession.
The technicalities belonging to the science and the practice of
photography have always had teachers, and are now easily
mastered ; indeed, a very profound knowledge of chemistry and
optics is not required by the practical photographer; he only
wants sufficient knowledge of this kind to enable him to under-
138 THE STUDIO.
stand the materials with which he works— nay, I will go further,
although I know there are many who will not agree with me :
I believe that a profound knowledge of the science of photography
either in some way cramps the artistic faculty, or, what is more
probable, shows an order of mind to some extent inimical to a
feeling for art ; both faculties are very rarely found to exist in
the same person.
Sufficient facilities, then, exist to enable the student to obtain
all the knowledge of the technics of photography that may be
desirable ; it is the picture-making power of his art, its capacity
for producing pictorial results, results that can be exhibited —
and, I may add, sold — which is oftenest neglected, but should
be the photographer's chief study if he is to put the art to its
natural use.
There are still those, as there were in the early days, who are
so much fascinated with the scientific aspects of the art that they
wonder "what photographers want with pictures." These
enthusiasts are worthy of all respect ; they are the experimenters,
the inventors and modifiers of processes ; to these we are in-
debted for the art itself ; but I am speaking to those who do not
want to invent, but who are content to use the processes they
find ready to their hands, just as a painter or sculptor would
take paint or clay to show of what excellent results the processes
are capable.
First and foremost of the special studies necessary to the photo-
grapher, because it is the one thing on which all art is based, is
drawing. I do not mean that the student need become a painter,
or even a skilled draughtsman ; but he must acquire sufficient
facility in the use of the pencil to enable him, when he conceives
a picture, to make a sketch of it, so as to have his arrangement
of lines and distribution of light and shade before him. If he
sees an effect of chiaroscuro, or of grouping, a beautiful pose, or
a picturesque suggestion which he may wish to reproduce with
the camera, he should have the power of preserving memoranda
THE EDUCATION OF A PHOTOGRAPHER. 139
of these effects. But drawing now is considered almost of as
much importance as reading, writing, and arithmetic, and is
taught in all schools that are not hopelessly behind the age, so
I need not dwell on the subject.
The student should not omit to acquire some knowledge of
colour as applied to photographs, a branch of art which, in its
technical details, differs considerably from painting. " Harmo-
nious Colouring as Applied to Photographs," a new edition of
which, almost entirely re- written, has just been published by
Mr. Newman, 24, Soho Square, is the best treatise on the
subject, if not the only one now in print.
The study of art in its most comprehensive sense is, doubtless,
the work of a lifetime ; but there are one or two initial truths-
which should be clearly understood, and thoroughly impressed
on the mind of the student. First, that very little of art can be
taught. Second, that the chief portions of art which can be
taught consist in tolerably definite and simple rules and
principles easily understood and remembered, and not difficult
to apply. These rules are to art what grammar is to literature.
They will no more enable the painter to paint a Transfiguration
than grammar taught Shakespeare how to write Hamlet ; but
neither the great picture nor the great poem could have been
produced without, on the one hand, a knowledge of composition,
and, on the other, an acquaintance with the construction of the
English language. And third, that after the mastering of
certain rules, art study chiefly consists in constant observation
and appreciation of the beauties of nature and art, and in
attempts to realise in practice these beauties, aided by the rules-
and principles before acquired.
First. — Thompson, in his " Outlines of the Necessary Laws of
Thought," says, " The whole of every science may be made the
subject of teaching. Not so with art; much of it is not
teachable." This arises from the fact that so much of art,
especially in its higher aspects, belongs to feeling rather than to-
140 THE STUDIO.
knowledge. It can be educed, developed, cultivated, but not
communicated. To some minds, art education would be
impossible except in a very small degree ; but I will not dwell
on this fact, as none are likely to commence the study of art
without some inclination towards it, from which may be further
assumed the capacity in a greater or less degree ; and, admitting
fully the existence of different degrees of natural ability, I
protest strongly against the cant which relies on genius rather
than on effort. Nothing except genius is denied to well-directed
labour. But, admitting all this, I wish again to enforce the
idea that much of art which can be learned by the student does
not consist in lessons which can be taught by the teacher. The
knowledge of the laws which govern production can be taught,
but the faculty of producing cannot be imparted. That student
has advanced little indeed in art culture who has not gone very
frequently, both in his conception and his appreciation, if not in
production, of art excellence, far beyond anything which could
be definitely taught in any series of rules or lessons on the
subject. My object in enforcing this position is to induce the
student to depend more on his own sedulous self-culture than on
the number of his lessons, or the skill of his teacher.
Second. — That portion of art which can be taught consists
ohiefly of rules and principles readily accessible, tolerably simple,
and not difficult to understand and apply. The rules for the
painter relate to drawing, colour, composition, and chiaroscuro.
Of drawing I have already spoken, and colour is of comparatively
little importance to the photographer, inasmuch as at present
this great element in art is not one of the powers over which he
has control. It is chiefly to a study of composition and chiaro-
scuro that the student must direct his attention. Here he will
find much that is definite clearly reduced to rule, and which
can be acquired from the teacher or the book. It is unfortunate
that no complete and comprehensive book has been written on
these subjects; but there are various elementary works from
THE EDUCATION OF A PHOTOGRAPHER. 141
which, the necessary instructions can be gained. Howard's
"Sketcher's Manual" and " Imitative Art" are easily under-
stood. Burnet's works on "Composition" and "Light and
Shade " are excellent. If I might mention my own works, I
may say that in "Pictorial Effect in Photography" I have
collected all that I thought would he of use to the photographer
on both subjects, and have repeated the rules of composition
and chiaroscuro more briefly in " Picture Making by Photo-
graphy." Let the student master the principles and acquire-
the rules at the very threshold of his art career, for here he is
on firm ground, as all that relates to the arrangement of lines
and tones can be tolerably clearly stated. It is the fashion now
with some artists and writers on art to deride rules, and, soaring
into a region of aesthetic ecstacy, become lost in a cloud of
words. Let not the student fear art rules where they relate to-
subjects which can be clearly expressed and practically illus-
trated. That cant which believes in genius rather than work
generally repudiates rule and law, and affects to despise those
rules without which the greatest geniuses would feel crippled
instead of the reverse. Rules which have been observed from
the earliest times— rules which guided the hand of Michael
Angelo in the realisation of his grandest imaginings, and of
Raphael in every line he drew. It has been asked, " What do
the great artists care about rules ? Their genius carries them
above such trammels." But such is not the fact ; a great artist
adds a knowledge of fundamental principles to his other powers,,
and the more power he has, the greater use he makes of rules —
and the less he shows he has done so.
Third. — After mastering those things which can be reduced
to definite rules or clearly stated principles, art study chiefly
consists in observation and practice, in which the knowledge
gained is perpetually applied. This is the kind of study which,
with the artist, has no termination, and in which he acquires
that more exalted knowledge which cannot be so well put into-
142 THE STUDIO.
words as expressed in work, which often transcends, whilst it
never opposes, law. This study the photographer should be
pursuing whenever he visits a gallery of pictures, and marks in
what the beauty of each consists, and how it is produced. The
portrait photographer, after he has studied the rules to which I
have referred, would find it greatly to his advantage to make an
-exhaustive study and analysis of the contents of the National
Portrait Gallery. He would find here examples of the por-
traiture of this country for several centuries ; he should then
visit the National Gallery, and compare the works of the old
masters of the Continental Schools : note the grace of Cor-
regio, the dignity of Titian and Yandyck, and the magic of
Hembrandt. He should then argue out with himself, with the
assistance of his previous studies, the causes of these great
qualities. Then let him try to reproduce these beauties in his
own work. Let him test every picture he takes by the know-
ledge he possesses, rigorously criticising his own work, first
ascertaining whether it conforms to the lower technical condi-
tions which can be reduced to rule, and then bringing it to the
higher tribunal of aesthetic excellence, and ascertain what of
expression, intention, and poetry it possesses.
Ask a cultivated artist how he acquired his art-knowledge,
and he will feel for a moment puzzled, and will next be tempted
to say that it is chiefly a matter of intuition ; that he possessed
natural taste. He has, of course, studied the rules of art ; but
he feels such a disposition between his perception and feeling of
art and its beauties, and the meagreness of the rules he was
taught, that he is tempted to fall back, especially if he has an
illogical mind, on this idea of taste. The young student must
distrust this vague thiog called taste, and acquire the more cer-
tain culture which comes from study and patience. If the
artist who has been thus questioned has a logical mind, his
retrospective glance over the course of his study brings him
finally to a period when he knows nothing of art, and when he
THE EDUCATION OF A PHOTOGRAPHER. 143
only felt vaguely after it. He next acquired the knowledge
which could be taught, and then proceeded to apply that ; and
it is by observation and patience, based on the half-forgotten
rules, which have now almost become instincts, that he has
acquired that art culture which makes his judgment certain both
in appreciation and production.
CARTER, POINTERS, 5, FXJRNIVAL STREET, HOLBUHN, LO.MK.N, E.C.
P. MEAGHER,
PHOTOGRAPHIC APPARATUS MANUFACTURER
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Glass, with the result that they are now introducing several new series of
Landscape and Portrait Lenses, which will be found of greater excellence
and more aplanatic than the Lenses of the same class hitherto supplied,
which have been so popular with Professional and Amateur Photo-
graphers in the past.
ROSS' IMPROVED CAMERAS AND APPARATUS.
FOR STUDIO AND FIELD. ALL SIZES IX STOCK.
DRY-PLATE OUTFITS COMPLETE.
IMPROVED HAND-CAMERAS.
SEND FOR FULL DESCRIPTIVE AND PRICED CATALOGUE
TEN PER CENT. Discount when Remittance accompanies Order.
ROSS & CO., Opticians, 112, New Bond Street, London, W.
M AN U FACTO RY-3, CLAPHAM COMMON, S.W.
THE "FERNANDE" BURNISHER,
O a-S3
w
Q^ Hrt i
§3 -ill
*2»5-
o a JLJBI^w- 1^.^ _•»«•. a s 1 1 1 *
la 3 3 •S a
flllll
" 9 and 10, BAKER STREET, W., March iSth, 1890.
" DEAR SIR,— The i4-inch Burnisher you sent me is perfect. I am more than pleased with
it ; so simple and free from scratches, a child may use it. I am very glad to possess it. You
may refer anyone to me, I have such confidence in it.
"Yours truly, THOS. FALL."
"HYDE, I.W., $th June, 1890.
" DEAR SIR,— The two i4-inch ' Fernande ' Burnishers you supplied to my studios at Regent
Street, London, and Southsea answer so well that I must have a third one for Ryde. Please
send one. "Yours, &c., A. DEBENHAM."
"210, TUFNELL PARK RD., N., March nth, 1891.
"DEAR SIR,— I consider the 'FERNANDE' a great boon. Every photographer should have
one. Those that are without one are decidedly behind the times, and don't know what a treat
they miss. " Yours, &c., G. W. SECRETAN."
FORMSTECHER'8 DOUBLE ALBUMENI8ED PAPER.
WHATMAN ROUGH SURFACE PAPER.
FOR PLATINUM OR GOLD TONING.
MR. DUNMORE, in British Journal, March ajth, says : — " This paper is an admirable example
of what a rough sensitised surface should be. Almost any colour, from a cool grey to a rich
sepia, is readily obtained."
Dr. HeseUefs Pizzighelli and " Thula " Papers.
OR. SCHLEUSSNER'S DRY PLATES. LINDNER'S BERLIN MOUNTS,
BACKGROUNDS.
Photogravure, Copperplate, & Collotype Printing.
BEST HAND-WORK ONLY.
BURNT-IN PHOTOS ON CHINA A SPECIALITY.
Sole Agent for Great Britain and Colonies : —
3, Gruildhall Chambers, London, E.G.
ILTJND & CO.'S
PUBLICATIONS.
Paper Boards, 86 pages, I/- ; Cloth, 1/6.
Photography as a Business. By H. P.
ROBINSON. To the novice commencing business this practical
manual is indispensable. It should also be in the hands of a11
who desire to improve their business and mature their resources.
Twelve chapters; with Frontispiece.
PRINCIPAL CONTENTS :— Amateurs and the Profession — Qualifications. Natural and Acquired
—The Education of a Professional Photographer— The Premises— The Studio— Purchasing a
Business — Payments— Proofs — Resittings — Pi ices — Boob -keeping — festering Negatives — Adver-
tising—Out-door Work— Home Portraiture— Old Negatives — Management of the Sitter—
Retouching — Exhibiting — Selling the Business — Copyright — &c., &c.
Strongly Bound, 10/6.
The Studio Register. A ruled and printed
book for the studio, with columns for entering work in hand,
particulars, price, when delivered, &c. No business-like photo-
grapher should be without one. Specimen page post free.
4to, 200 Leaves, Half Bound, 6/-.
Colouring Instruction Bopk. Valuable
wherever colouring, whether of small portraits or enlargements,
is undertaken. Space is provided for Number, Date, Price, Name
and Address, Colour of Eyes, Hair, Complexion, Jewellery, Dress,
and Remarks. The page contains eight instruction forms, and
each alternate page is perforated, so that the forms can be torn
out one at a time. On the unperforated page a copy is taken by
means of carbon duplicating paper, so that the instructions can be
referred to at any time.
6£ in. by 5 in. (oblong), 52 pages, 8d.
Payment Entry Book for Photographers' Agents
and Canvassers. Ruled for use by collectors on the club weekly
payment system.
Monthly, Id. April, August, and December, Double Numbers, 2d. Post free,
2/- per annum. Colonies and India, 3/6 per annum.
The Practical Photographer. The Inter-
national Magazine. "Widely read wherever Photography is
practised and English understood. Treating of matters of interest
to Manufacturer, Dealer, Photographer, and Amateur. Never
less than 24 pages of reading matter. Profusely illustrated.
THE COUNTRY PRESS, BRADFORD, & LUD8ATE CIRCUS, LONDON, E.G.
PHOTOGRAPHIC WORKS
BY
siixnsoixr.
Price Is., per post Is. Id.
"Letters on Landscape Photography."
PIPER & CARTER, 5, FURNIVAL STREET, HOLBORN, B.C.
Price 2s. 6d., per post 2s. Sd.
" Pictorial Effect in Photography."
PIPER & CARTER, 5, FURNIVAL STREET, HOLBORN, E.G.
Price 2s. 6d., per post 2s. Sd.
"The Studio; and What to Do in It."
PIPER & CARTER, 5, FURNIVAL STREET, HOLBORN, B.C.
Price 2s. Qd., per post 2s. Sd.
4i Picture Making by Photography."
HAZELL, WATSON, & VI NET, LTD., 1, CREED LANE, LUDGATE HILL.
Paper Boards, 86 pages, Is. ; Cloth, Is. 6d.
" Photography as a Business."
To the novice commencing business this practical manual is indis-
pensable. It should also be in the hands of all who desire to
improve their business and mature their resources. Twelve chapters ;
with Frontispiece.
THE COUNTY PRESS, BRADFORD, & LUDGATE CIRCUS, LONDON, E.G.
PHOTOGRAPHIC PUBLICATIONS,
PHOTOGRAPHIC NEWS. A Weekly Kecord of the Progress of
Photography. Published every Friday, price 2d. ; post free within the United
Kingdom, 2£d. Annual Subscription, payable in advance, by post (to all parts
of the United Kingdom), 10s. 10d.; or per quarter, 2s. 9d. ADTERTISKMENT
SCALE:— Five lines and under (average 7 words to line), 3s. ; each additional
line, 4d. Revised Scale of Small PREPAID Advertisements
(of four lines) of the following classes:— Situations Wanted or Offered, Photo-
graphic Businesses to be Let or Sold, ONE SHILLING ; each additional line
6d. extra.
YEAR-BOOK OF PHOTOGRAPHY AND PHOTOGRAPHIC NEWS
ALMANAC. Price Is., per post Is. 3d. A few copies remain on hand for
the years 1871, 1875, 1877-1881, and 1886-1891.
ABOUT PHOTOGRAPHY & PHOTOGRAPHERS. By H. BADEN
PRITCHARD, F.C.S. Price 2s., per post 2s. 2d.
A TRIP TO THE GREAT SAHARA WITH A CAMERA. By A
COCKNEY. Price 6d., post free, 6£d.
BURTON'S MODERN PHOTOGRAPHY. Comprising Practical
Instructions in Working Gelatine Dry Plates. By Prof. W. K. BURTON, C.B.
Price Is., per post Is. 2d.
BURTON'S POCKET BOOK FOR PHOTOGRAPHERS: Including the
usual space for Notes, &c., with Tables for Facilitating Exposures. Price,
paper covers, 9d., per post 10d. ; cloth Is., per post Is. Id.
OPTICS FOR PHOTOGRAPHERS. By Professor W. K. BURTON.
Reprinted, with corrections and additions, from a series of articles in the
Photographic News. Profusely illustrated, and giving full instructions,
based on experience, in the use of photographic lenses, together with the
theoretical considerations involved. Price Is., per post Is. 2d.
BEGINNER'S GUIDE TO PHOTOGRAPHY ; Showing how to Buy a
Camera and how to Use it. By A FELLOW OF THE CHEMICAL SOCIETY. Price
6d., per post 7£d.
LANDSCAPE PHOTOGRAPHER'S POCKET NOTE-BOOK. Arranged
for entry of date, light, process, lens, and stop used, number of seconds, time
of day, name of place, and remarks. Price 6d., per post 7d.
PHOTOGRAPHIC PRINTER'S ASSISTANT. By WILLIAM HEIGHWAY.
Price Is., per post Is. Id.
PHOTOGRAPHIC PUBLICATIONS-^^.
PEACTICAL PORTRAIT PHOTOGRAPHY. A Hand-book for the
Dark Boom, the Skylight, and the Printing Boom. By the same Author.
Price Is., per post Is. l^d.
ESTHETICS OF PHOTOGRAPHY. By the same Author. Being
Hints on Posing and Lighting the Sitter. Price Is., per post Is. IJd.
HANDBOOK OP PHOTOGRAPHIC TERMS. An Alphabetical
arrangement of the Processes, Formulae, Applications, &c., of Photography
for Beady Beference. Compiled by WILLIAM HEIGHWAY. Price 2s. 6d., per
post 2s. 8d.
ELEMENTARY LESSONS IN SILVER PRINTING. By W. M.
ASHMAN. Bevisedand reprinted from the PHOTOGRAPHIC NEWS, with additions
to date. Price Is. 6d., per post Is. 8d.
ELEMENTARY TREATISE ON PHOTOGRAPHIC CHEMISTRY. By
ARNOLD SPILLER. Reprinted from the Photographic News. Price 6d., per
post 6£d.
THE MAGIC LANTERN ; ITS CONSTRUCTION AND USE. By A
FELLO w OF THE CHEMICAL SOCIETY. Price 6d.
THE EVOLUTION OF PHOTOGRAPHY, with a Chronological Record
of Discoveries, Inventions, &c. , Contributions to Photographic Literature,
and Personal Beminiscences extending over Forty Years. By J. Verge.
Illustrated. Price 5s., per post 5s. 4d.
PHOTOGBAPHIC HANDY-BOOKS— No. I.
INSTRUCTION in PHOTOGRAPHY. Capt. ABNET, C.B., R.E., F.R.S-
Eighth Edition, corrected to date, considerably enlarged, and profusely illus-
trated. Price 3s. 6d., per post 3s. lOd. " The standard manual of the English
photographic practitioner."
PHOTOGRAPHIC HANDY-BOOKS— No. II.
PHOTOGRAPHY with EMULSIONS. Capt. ABNET, C.B., R.E., P.R.S.
The Work will be found useful alike to beginners and experts . All th e processe s
are described in such a practical way as tobe easily comprehensible. Price 3s.,
per post 3s. 3d.
PHOTOGBAPHIC HANDY-BOOKS— No. III.
PICTORIAL EFFECT IN PHOTOGRAPHY. Being Hints on Composi.
tion and Chiaroscuro for Photographers. By H. P. BOBINSOJI. With
numerous illustrations. Price 2s. 6d.,per post 2s. 8d.
PHOTOGBAPHIC HANDY-BOOKS— No. IV.
THE ART AND PRACTICE OF SILVER PRINTING. By H. P.
BOBINSON and CAPT. ABNEY, C.B., B.E., F.B.S. Price 2s. 6d., per post 2s. 8d.
PHOTOGRAPHIC PUBLICATIONS-continued.
PHOTOGRAPHIC) HANDY-BOOKS— No. VI.
THE STUDIO; AND WHAT TO DO IN IT. By H. P. KOBINSON.
Price 2s. 6d., per post 2s. 8d.
PHOTOGRAPHIC HANDY-BOOKS— No. VIII.
PHOTO-MICROGRAPHY ; Or, How to Photograph Microscopic Objects.
By I. H. JENNINGS. Also, A CHAPTER ON PREPARING B10TBBIA. By
Dr. R. L. MADDOX. Price 3s., per post 3s. 2d. ,
PHOTOGRAPHIC HANDY-BOOKS— No. IX.
LETTERS ON LANDSCAPE PHOTOGRAPHY. By H. P. ROBINSON.
Price Is., per post Is. Id.
A CASKET OF PHOTOGRAPHIC GEMS. A Collection of 500 Dodges,
Receipts, Entertaining Experiments, &c., in connection with the Art of Photo-
graphy and its branches. Collected, Classified, and Arranged for ready reference
by W. INGLKS ROGERS. Price Is., per post Is. 2d.
RECENT ADVANCES IN PHOTOGRAPHY. Being the Cantor Lec-
tures for 1882. By Capt. ABNKY, C. B., R.E., F.R.S. Reprinted, with additional
matter, from the Journal of the Society of Arts. Price 6d., per post 6Jd.
PHOTOGRAPHIC PRIMERS. BY CAPT. ABNEY, C.B., R.E., F.R.S.
No. 1.— NEGATIVE MAKING. Price Is., per post Is. l£d.
ART OF PHOTOGRAPHIC PAINTING. By A. H. BOOL. Price Is.,
per post Is. Id.
ENAMELLING AND RETOUCHING. A Practical Photographic
Treatise. By P. PIQUBPE. Price 2s. 6d., per post, 2s. 8d.
THE SPECTROSCOPE AND ITS RELATION TO PHOTOGRAPHY.
By C. RAY WOODS. Price 6d., per post 7d.
SANITARY HINTS TO PHOTOGRAPHERS. By DR. HENRI NAPIAS,
Medical Adviser to the French Photographic Benevolent Society. Translated
from the Momteur de la Photographic. Price 2d., per post 2£d.
PIPER & CARTER,
Irhrters, |)nblwj[trs, $ ^bteiismg
5, FURNIVAL STREET, HOLBORN, E.G.
J. R. GOTZ,
19, Buckingham St., Strand, London, W.G.
SOLE WHOLESALE CONSIGNEE OF THE
OBERNETTER EMULSION PAPERS,
Obernetter Portrait Paper.
Obernetter Brilliant „
Obernetter Chlorotype.
STJE.FA.OE.
HIGHLY ARTISTIC PRINTS are obtained with
this Paper, which is now used in some of the leading
Studios both in
ENGLAND and on the CONTINENT.
The Prints may be considered PERMANENT, more
so than with ANY other Process — proper treatment
provided.
FOR PRICES, INSTRUCTIONS, ETC., WRITE TO ABOVE ADDRESS.
SUTER'S APLANATIC LENSES,
The NEW POBTBAIT APLANATIC, Aperture F/5-5 (the first Series made
of the New Jena Silicate Glass) has superseded the Portrait Lens.
FOR CATALOGUES, WRITE TO—
J. R. GOTZ, 19, Buckingham St., Strand, London.
14 DAY USE
RETURN TO DESK FROM WHICH BORROWED
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