NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY 
 
 STUDENTS OF THE ART 
 
 p. H. EMERSON, B.A., M.B. (CANTAB.) 
 
 FELLOW OF THE ROYAL PHOTOGRAPHIC SOCIETY 
 Third Edition, revised, enlarged and rewritten in parts 
 
 " Beauty is truth .... that is all 
 Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know." 
 
 Keats, — Ode to a Grecian Vase 
 
 LONDON: 
 Dawbarn & Ward, Limited, 
 8 Farringdon Ave., E.G. 
 i8qq. 
 
Copyright, iSgg 
 By The Scovill & Adams Company of New Yokk 
 
DEDICATED TO ALL 
 NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHERS 
 WHO HAVE, IN SPITE 
 OF THE 
 STUPID MALICE 
 OF 
 
 ENVIOUS DULLNESS 
 RAISED 
 PICTORIAL PHOTOGRAPHY 
 TO A PLACE 
 WORTHY THE CONSIDERATION 
 OF 
 
 MASTER ARTISTS. 
 
PREFACE TO AMERICAN EDITION. 
 
 The withdrawal of the second edition of this 
 book, some years ago, is too well known to dwell 
 upon. The reasons for the retraction have 
 been fully given in a paper read before the 
 Photographic Society of Great Britain and herein 
 reprinted; and in the same paper it is clearly 
 stated what portions of the original work were 
 discarded and what retained. Those portions 
 retained and expanded form this third edition 
 now published for the first time in New York — 
 they having been previously run through the 
 pages of the Photographic Times. 
 
 All through my career as a photographer I 
 am pleased to say I have had the kindly ap- 
 preciation of the chief gentlemen and men of 
 ability of the Photographic World — a support 
 which has made " Naturalistic Photography," 
 or the new photography, un fait accompli — 
 notwithstanding the hordes of vain and mischief- 
 making critics. The most recent " craze " — the 
 " Gum-Bichromate" process of printing — I have 
 noted as fully as it deserves, for there is no need 
 to " slay the slain " — and Mr. T. Bedding, the 
 able editor of the British Journal of Photography. 
 completely shattered all pretensions of that 
 bungling process, which at best produced stupid 
 imitations of other media. 
 
 P. H. Emerson. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 BOOK I. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 CHAPTER I.— Introduction '5 
 
 CHAPTER n.— Impressionism in Pictorial and 
 
 Glyptic Art 35 
 
 CHAPTER III.— Phenomena of Sight, and Art 
 
 Principles Deduced Therefrom, . . . 126 
 
 CHAPTER IV.— Naturalistic Photography and 
 Art. 
 
 BOOK n. 
 
 170 
 
 TECHNIQUE AND PRACTICE. 
 
 CHAPTER I.— The Camera and Tripod, . . 5 
 
 CHAPTER II.— Lenses iS 
 
 CHAPTER III.— Dark Room and Apparatus, . 61 
 
 CHAPTER IV.— The Studio, .... 64 
 
 CHAPTER v.— Focusing, 70 
 
 CHAPTER VI.— Exposure, .... -g 
 
 CHAPTER VII.— Development 88 
 
 CHAPTER VIII.— Retouching Negatives, . 123 
 CHAPTER IX.— Printing, . . ' . . .132 
 
 CHAPTER X,— Enlargements, .... 146 
 
 CHAPTER XI.— Transparencies, Lantern and 
 Stereoscopic Slides, ...... 
 
 CHAPTER XII.— Photo-Mechanical Processes, 151 
 
 CHAPTER XIII.— Mounting and Framing, . 171 
 
 CHAPTER XIV.— Copyright 175 
 
 CHAPTER XV.— Exhibitions, .... 180 
 
 CHAPTER XVI.— Conclusion, ... 18; 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 BCX)K III. 
 
 PICTORIAL ART. 
 
 CHAPTER I.— Educated Sight, . • . , . 5 
 
 CHAPTER II.— Composition, .... 10 
 
 CHAPTER III.— Out-Door and In-Door Work, . 19 
 
 CHAPTER IV.— Hints on Art, ... 35 
 
 CHAPTER v.— Special Decorative Photography 43 
 
 L'ENVOI. 
 
 PHOTOGRAPHY — NOT ART. 
 
 CHAPTER I.— Photography— Not Art, . . 53 
 
 APPENDICES. 
 
 CHAPTER I.— Appendix A: 
 
 Science and Art, 
 CHAPTER II.— Appendix B 
 
 Topography and Art, 
 
 67 
 80 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 Q T a meeting of the French Academy of 
 .01 Sciences, held in Paris on the 19th day of 
 August, 1839, Louis Jacques Mande Daguerre, 
 in the presence of the flower of Parisian art, 
 literature and science, gave a demonstration of 
 Ms{?) new discovery — the Daguerreotype. The 
 success of the seance was complete, and the 
 gathering of illustrious men was intoxicated 
 with enthusiasm in favor of the Daguerreotype. 
 It is, then, more than fifty years ago that the re- 
 sult of the work of the father of photography, 
 Joseph Nicephore de Niepce, who had died six 
 years previously, and of the business partner of 
 his latter days — Daguerre — was given to the 
 French public, for though Arago declared that 
 " France had adopted the discovery and was 
 proud to hand it as a present to the whole 
 world," Daguerre, sharp and mean business man 
 that he was, had already taken out a patent for 
 his process in England on the 15th of July, 1839. 
 
 It may be said, then, that for more than fifty 
 years the influence of photography has been 
 working among the people for better and for 
 worse ; in a short half century has photography 
 had to develop, and we naturally feel a little 
 curious to know what it has been doing all that 
 
6 
 
 NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 time. Has it been lying idle and stagnating, 
 or has it been developing and extending its 
 roots into all the industrial, scientific and pic- 
 torial fields of enterprise ? 
 
 Let us see what this cool young goddess, 
 born of art and science, has been doing these 
 fifty years. 
 
 In the fields of science she has been most 
 busy. She has been giving us photographs of 
 the moon, the stars, and even of the nebulce. 
 She has recorded eclipses and a transit of Venus 
 for us. She has drawn, too, the sun's corona, 
 and registered those great volcanic explosions 
 that take place there periodically. She has 
 shown us that there are stars which no tele- 
 scope can find, and she has in another form 
 registered for us the composition of the sun 
 and of many of the planets ; and now she is 
 busy mapping out the heavens. Like an all- 
 powerful goddess, she plays with the planets 
 and records on our plates, with delicate taps, 
 the constellations. She runs through the vast 
 space of the kosmos doing our biddings with a 
 precision and delicacy never equalled — in short 
 she is fast becoming the right hand of the 
 astronomer. 
 
 Not content with her vast triumphs in space 
 over the infinitely great, she dives down to the 
 infinitely small, and stores up for us portraits 
 of the disease-bearing generation of Schizomy- 
 cetes, the stiff-necked bacteria, and the wriggling 
 vibrio, the rolling microccus, and the fungoid 
 actinomycosis — with deadly tresses ; these she 
 
NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 7 
 
 pictures for us, so that we may either keep 
 them on small plates, or else she throws them 
 on large screens so that we are enabled to study 
 their structure. On these screens, too, we can 
 gaze on the structure of the Proteus-like white 
 blood corpuscle, and we are able to study the 
 very cells of our tongues, our eyes, our bones, 
 our teeth, our hairs, and to keep drawings of 
 them such as man never had before. So the 
 kindly bright goddess stints us in nothing, for 
 wherever the microscope leads there will she 
 be found at our bidding. With the greatness 
 of an all-seeing mind, it matters not to her 
 whether she draws the protococcus or the blood- 
 cells of an elephant, whether she depicts the 
 eroding cancer cell or the golden scale on the 
 butterfly's wing — anything that we ask of her 
 she does ; and we will be patient. 
 
 But the little goddess, the light-bearer, is not 
 content with these sciences, but she must needs 
 go and woo chemistry and register the belted 
 zones of the spectrum and tell us some of the 
 mysterious secrets of the composition of matter. 
 
 Meteorology, too, has claimed her, and she 
 draws for the meteorologist the frowning 
 nimbus and the bright rolling cumulus. She 
 scratches quickly on his plate the lightning's 
 flash, and even measures the risings and fall- 
 ings of the mercury in his long glass barome- 
 ters and thin-stemmed thermometers, so that 
 the meteorologist can go and rest in the sun; 
 and good-naturedly, too, she hints to him that 
 his registerings are but fumblings after her 
 
8 
 
 NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 precise and delicate work. This versatile little 
 goddess, too, is playing with and hinting to the 
 surveyors how she will not be coy if they will 
 woo her, for, says she, " Have I not already 
 shown you how to measure the altitude of 
 mountains, and how to project maps hy my 
 aid ?" 
 
 The geographer, too, is another lover well 
 favored by the dainty goddess; he always takes 
 her on his travels now-a-days, and brings us 
 back her reliable drawings of skulls, savages, 
 weapons, waterfalls, geological strata, fossils, 
 animals, birds, trees, landscapes, and men, and 
 we believe in him without hesitation when we 
 know the light-bearer was with him, and 
 soon in all his geographies, in all his botanies, 
 in all his zoologies, in all his geologies, his 
 entomologies, and all the rest of his valuable 
 " ologies," we shall find the crisp and exact 
 drawings of his dainty companion. 
 
 The engineer, too, is wooing her; he makes 
 love to her away down in dark caissons half- 
 buried in river beds; while above ground she 
 scatters his plans far and wide. He uses her 
 to show how his works are growing beneath 
 the strong arms of his horny-handed gangs, and 
 he even uses her to determine the temperature 
 of the depths of the sea, and the direction of 
 oceanic currents; yes, she does the work for 
 him and he loves her. 
 
 The earnest doctor and the curious biologist 
 are among her lovers, and the dainty one does 
 not disdain their work, for she knows it to be 
 
NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY, 
 
 9 
 
 good. For them she goes into the mysterious 
 globe of the eye; down into the hollow larynx; 
 into the internal ear; and even into the hidden 
 recesses of the bladder, and drags forth draw- 
 ings. The tumor-deformed leg, the tossing 
 epileptic, the deformed leprous body, the ulcer- 
 ous scalp, the unsightly skin disease, the dead 
 brain, the delicate dissection, the galloping 
 horse, the flying gull, and erring man does she 
 with quick and dainty strokes draw and give 
 her lovers the physician and biologist. 
 
 Then like the Valkyrie she too delights in 
 dire war. For her heroes she writes so finely 
 that her letters are carried in a quill beneath a 
 pigeon's wing into and out of beleagured cities. 
 She draws hasty notes of the country for the 
 leaders of an invading army; she preserves a 
 record of the killed, and she gives truthful 
 drawings of the fields of battle, and of the poor 
 jaded and mangled men after a battle ; while 
 in times of peace she draws for the scientific 
 officer the effects of the explosion of a shell, 
 the path of a bullet through the air, or the 
 water thrown on high, like a geyser, by a hid- 
 den torpedo. She is the warder's friend, too, 
 for she draws the skulking thief, the greedy 
 forger, and the cruel murderer; she draws, too, 
 the knife that stabbed in the dark, and the dress 
 all blood -besmirched; she detects the forged 
 bank note, and draws without quibble the posi- 
 tion of the overturned and splintered railway 
 car; and she shows the scorched and gutted ruins 
 of the burnt house for the insurance agent. 
 
lO NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 She has her fun, too, for she twits the libra- 
 rians with the ever increasing deluge of books, 
 and hints laughingly they must one day come 
 to her, for she will show them how to keep a 
 library in a tea-caddy. The haggling trades- 
 man she does not disdain; she will draw por- 
 traits of his fabrics to be circulated all over the 
 world, she will copy the bad paintings and 
 drawings done for him as advertisements by 
 the pariahs of art. She reproduces trade-marks 
 and signatures, and oh, naughty goddess ! she 
 even, on the sly, copies on old yellow paper 
 old etchings and engravings so that the con- 
 noisseur does not know the new from the old. 
 She helps in all kinds of advertising, reproduc- 
 ing the scenery by permanent ways for the 
 railway companies, sketching topographically 
 for tourists, drawing mothers and fathers and 
 children for the world, so that the loved ones 
 can go across the seas and leave themselves 
 behind in form and feature. And so that the 
 dead may not be forgotten she soothes the 
 living with their dear faces done in her pretty 
 way. Nay, she even goes so far as to allow her 
 works to be burnt on porcelain and sold in 
 brooches, on plates and other ware. 
 
 Nor do the children love you in vain, pretty 
 goddess, for you give them magic lanterns, and 
 hidden pictures of yourself; to be made visible 
 by a little secret you tell them. You give them 
 magic cigar-holders and stereoscopes, all this 
 out of your bountiful lap do you scatter; but, 
 pretty, dainty light-bearer, have you no love 
 
NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 dearer to you than all these ? Yes, it is the lover 
 of natural beauty who sees in you a subtle hand- 
 maid. To him you give your delicate drawings on 
 zinc to illustrate his books, or on copper to fill his 
 portfolios; for him you preserve copies of poems 
 of the winds whispering among the reed-beds, 
 of the waves roaring in the grey gloaming, of 
 the laughing, bright-eyed mortal sisters of 
 yours. To him you give the subtlety of draw- 
 ing of the wind-shorn and leaf-bare oak, the 
 spirit of the wild colts on the flowery marsh, 
 the ripple of the river and the glancing flight 
 of the sea fowl. Together you and he spend 
 days and nights, mid the streams and the woods, 
 culling the silvery flowers of nature. Oh ! bright 
 generous little goddess, who has stolen the light 
 from the sun for mortals, and brought it to 
 them, not in a narthex reed as did Prometheus 
 bring his living spark, but in silvery drops to be 
 moulded to your lover's wish, be he star-gazer, 
 light-breaker, wonder-seeker, sea-fighter or land- 
 fighter, earth-roamer, seller-of -goods, judger-of- 
 crimes, lover-of-toys, builder-of -bridges, curer- 
 of-ills, or lover of the woods and streams. 
 
 The influence of photography on the sister 
 arts of sculpture, painting, engraving, etching 
 and wood-cutting during these fifty years has 
 been incalculable, and, as a rule, harmful. 
 Sculpturehasbeen, perhaps, least influenced, al- 
 though without photography thousands of post- 
 humous statues, which now disgrace the streets 
 and the squares of the world, could not have 
 been modelled at all, or could only have been 
 
12 
 
 NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 more conventional and unsatisfactory than they 
 are. The effect of sculpture on photography 
 has been to induce experimentalists to attempt 
 the production of models in clay by means of an 
 instrument called a pantograph. It is reported 
 that this method succeeded, but we never saw- 
 any of the productions and have little faith in 
 the method so suggested. Some years ago we 
 suggested that plaster bas-reliefs from swollen 
 gelatine moulds might be effective, but we feel 
 sure now that such would be poor, mean-looking 
 things to any artist. 
 
 The influence of photography on painting, on 
 the other hand, has been temporarily nothing 
 short of disastrous, as can be seen by the work 
 of the so-called ' tonists.' It is a common practice 
 for some painters to take photographs of their 
 models or landscapes slavishly and throw en- 
 largements of these on to a screen, when the out- 
 lines are boldly sketched in. Again, it is a 
 practice for some painters to study the delicate 
 gradations of photography, which is, of course, 
 quite legitimate, as this graduation can be 
 equalled only by charcoal. Another influence of 
 photography on painting is that the painter often 
 tries to emulate the detail of the photograph. But 
 this was more noticeable in the early days of 
 photography, and it had a bad effect on painting, 
 for the painter did not know enough of photog- 
 raphy to know that what he was striving to imi- 
 tate was due to an abuse of the tools. He 
 thought, as many people think nowada5^s, that 
 there is an absolute and unvarying quality in 
 
NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 13 
 
 all photographs. The effect on miniature paint- 
 ing was disastrous; it has been all but killed by 
 photography. And it must be remembered that 
 photography killed it notwithstanding the fact 
 that many of the best miniature painters 
 adopted the new discovery as soon as they could. 
 Newton was a photographer. Photography, 
 however, fortunately killed the itinerant por- 
 trait painter, who used to stump the country 
 and paint hideous portraits for a few shillings 
 or a night's lodging. We think, moreover, that 
 when the true history of the so called ' value ' 
 movement in painting, which has reached its 
 highest development in France, shall come to be 
 written, it will be found that nearly every new 
 step of that mistaken and overrated movement 
 will be found to owe its ideals to photography. 
 But fortunately the so-called impressionists of 
 France killed the ' tinted-photo ' movement. 
 
 Photography, too, has, unfortunately, been 
 the cause of a vast production of weak and 
 feeble water-colors, oil-paintings, etchings, and 
 pen-and-ink drawings ; second and third rate 
 practitioners of these arts have simply traced 
 photographs and supplied the shading or color- 
 ing from their imagination, and thousands of 
 feeble productions has been the result; this is 
 a dishonest use of photography, but one by 
 no means uncommon. We often have food 
 for reflection on the gullibility of man, when 
 we see poor paintings, etchings, and pen-and- 
 ink drawings exhibited at " one-man " exhibi- 
 tions and elsewhere, which are nothing but 
 
14 NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 ruined photographs ; the very drawing proves 
 their origin, and the time in which such a col- 
 lection is executed also hints at the method. 
 All the drawing has been done by the photo- 
 graphic lens, and transferred to the panel or 
 canvas or paper. These are often the very men 
 who decry photography. Such work is only 
 admissible if confessed, and traced from photo- 
 graphs taken by the draughtsman himself ^ but 
 of course, such people as this usually keep their 
 methods secret. The etchings, woodcuts and 
 pen-and-ink drawings done in this way are 
 simply impudent. On the other hand, again, 
 the influence of painting on photography has 
 been great and good as a factor in the cultiva 
 tion of the aesthetic faculty, but the painter's 
 conventionality as often expressed has been as 
 harmful. 
 
 As we have said, by the aid of photography 
 feeble draughtsmen are able to produce fairly 
 passable work, where otherwise their work 
 would have been disgraceful. Wood-cutters 
 and line engravers, too, gain much help from us, 
 but they find photography, as a , reproductive 
 process, a rival that will surely kill them both. 
 One of the best and most noted wood engravers 
 since Bewick's time has given it as his opinion 
 that there is no need for engraving now that 
 the " processes " can so truly reproduce pictures, 
 for, as he says, no great original genius in wood- 
 cutting will ever be kept back by process work, 
 and it is a good thing that all others should be 
 killed. On the other hand, again, the revival 
 
NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 15 
 
 and development of pen-and-ink drawing is 
 entirely due to photographic reproductive pro- 
 cesses.* 
 
 Such, briefly, are the effects of photography 
 on her sister arts and of them on her. 
 
 Incredible indeed seems the all-pervading 
 power of this light-bearing goddess. Photog- 
 raphy is a most valuable weapon given to 
 mankind for his intellectual advancement. 
 The strides made by this science in its first 
 fifty years of development are interesting, 
 and we feel sure if .any one will take the 
 trouble to inquire briefly what photography has 
 done and is doing in every department of life 
 he must acknowledge its usefulness. 
 
 From what has been said , it is very evident 
 that the practice of photography must be very 
 different in the different branches of human 
 knowledge to which it is applied. 
 
 The application of its practice and princi- 
 ples has been most ably treated in some of 
 these branches, especially the scientific 
 branches, but hitherto there has been no book 
 which gives only just sufficient science for stu- 
 dents, and at the same time treats of the pic- 
 torial side. 
 
 The photographic student, whose aim is to 
 produce decorative work, will find in this book 
 many suggestions, such as the choosing of ap- 
 paratus, the science which must be learned, the 
 pictures and sculpture recommended for study, 
 
 * See "Pen Drawing- and Pen Draughtsmen," by J. Pennell. 1889. 
 (Macmillan & Co.) 
 
l6 NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 the " art " canons which are to be avoided, the 
 technique to be learned, including manipula- 
 tions ; the philosophic principles of art, to- 
 g-ether with a critical rdsum^ of conventional, 
 " art " canons, including" sundry other informa- 
 tion. 
 
 In addition to this the book is an argument 
 for the Naturalistic school of photography, 
 of which we published the first germ in an 
 addrpss delivered in London in March, 1886, 
 although we had been advocating our views by 
 precept and letters many years before. 
 
 The necessity of this book may not be patent 
 to those artists who do not know the photo- 
 graphic world, but if they will consider for a 
 moment the present position of a student of 
 photography, whose aim is to produce pictorial 
 work, they will see the necessity for some such 
 work. The position of the photographic world 
 at present is this : nearly all the text-books 
 teach how to cultivate the scientific side of pho- 
 tography, and they are so diffuse that we find 
 photo-micrography, spectrum analysis, and "art" 
 all mixed up together. And when we assure 
 the artistic reader that the few books and 
 articles published with a view to teaching art, 
 contain nothing but resume's of Burnet's teach- 
 ings, as set forth in his well-known archaic and 
 pedantic " Treatise on Painting ;" that some of 
 these books lay down laws for the sizes of pic- 
 tures as advocated by that " great authority 
 (sic) Norman Macbeth ;" caution the student 
 not to take pictures on gray days ; suggest the 
 
NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 17 
 
 formation of a " property " collection, and con- 
 tain various other erroneous ideas; we say when 
 artists know this, and in addition that the noisiest 
 of these tutors has again and again declared that 
 the chief feature of photography is ''defini- 
 tion," they will perhaps understand the neces- 
 sity for some such book as this one. 
 
 To give the student a clear insight into the 
 first principles of pictorial work is of course, as 
 we have said, the chief aim of the book, but 
 besides that it is an attempt to separate entirely 
 from the scientific side of photography. This 
 separation* must be made, and the time is now 
 ripe. It should be clearly and definitely under- 
 stood, that although a preliminary scientific 
 education is necessary for all photographers, 
 after that preliminary education the paths and 
 aims of the pictorial, scientific, and industrial 
 photographer lie widely apart. This matter 
 should be kept constantly in view, and spe- 
 cialists in one branch should not meddle with 
 other branches. Photography has so extended 
 its field for work that there is scope, even in a 
 sub-branch of the scientific division to occupy 
 the full energies and attention of able men. 
 At exhibitions, too, the three great divisions 
 into which photography falls should be kept 
 rigidly separated. The writer sees in all these 
 branches equal good and equal use, but he sees 
 also the necessity of keeping their aims and 
 methods separate. That this differentiation is 
 now possible and necessary is, from the evolu- 
 
 * This separation has now been made. 
 
l8 NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 tionary standpoint, the greatest sign of devel- 
 opment. The author feels convinced that if 
 any student is going to succeed in any one 
 branch he must not scatter his energies, but 
 devote himself with singlemindedness to that 
 particular branch. Directly the aims and 
 methods of the separate branches of photog- 
 raphy are fully recognized there will no longer 
 be the hapless misunderstandings of first prin- 
 ciples. We shall not hear a first-rate lantern 
 slide described as " artistic," because it is un- 
 touched, and we shall not hear of a " high-art " 
 photographer criticizing photo-micrographs of 
 bacteria, matters that none but a medical 
 microscopist can adequately criticize. Nor 
 shall we have the. hack-writer talking of our 
 " art-science." 
 
 We have drawn up a rough table of classifi- 
 cation to illustrate our meaning, but of course, 
 it must be remembered that this division is 
 arbitrary, but it would, we think, be a good 
 working classification for exhibitions. 
 
 PICTORIAL PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 A . — Fz'cio ria I Division . 
 In this division the aim of the work is to give 
 aesthetic pleasure alone, and the photographer's 
 only wish is to produce pictorial decorative works. 
 Such work can be accordingly judged only by 
 men of artistic instincts, and the aims and scope 
 of such work can be fully appreciated only by 
 trained artists. Photographers who qualify 
 themselves by training, or prove by their works 
 
NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 19 
 
 they have art instincts alone belong to this 
 class. Included in this class would be original 
 pictorial photographers, first-rate photo-etchers 
 and typo-blockmakers whose aim is to repro- 
 duce in facsimile all the artistic quality of orig- 
 inal works of art. Such photographers should 
 have some artistic training, as all the best have 
 had. 
 
 B. — Scientific Division, 
 
 In this division the aim of the work is to in- 
 vestigate the phenomena of nature, and by ex- 
 perients to make new discoveries, and corrobo- 
 rate or falsify old experiments. The workers 
 in this great and valuable department of pho- 
 tography may be divided into — 
 
 Scientific experimentalists in all branches of 
 science : 
 
 a. Chemists and spectrum-analysts. 
 
 b. Astronomers. 
 
 c. Microscopists. 
 
 d. Engineers. 
 
 e. Military and naval photographers. 
 
 f. Meteorologists. 
 
 g. Biologists. 
 
 li. Geographers. 
 i. Geologists. 
 j. Medical men. 
 k. Physicists. 
 /. Anthropologists, etc. 
 
 These sub -divisions include all that vast host 
 of trained scientific men who are photographers 
 
20 NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY, 
 
 in connection with their work. Their aim is 
 the advancement of science. 
 
 C. — Industrial Division. 
 
 This class includes that great majority of the 
 photographic world. These men have learned 
 how to use their tools, and go on from day to 
 day meeting the industrial requirements of the 
 age, producing good useful work, and olten fill- 
 ing their pockets at the same time. Their aim 
 is utilitarian, but in some branches they may at 
 the same time aim to give aesthetic pleasures 
 by their productions, but this is always subordi- 
 nated to the utility of the work. 
 
 Among these craftsmen are included photog- 
 raphers who will take any one or anything if 
 paid to do so, in a word, tradesmen. 
 
 All reproducers of pictures, patterns, etc., by 
 photo-mechanical processes, in which the aim 
 is not solely aesthetic pleasure, as in reproducing 
 topographical views. All plate makers. Trans- 
 parency, opal, lantern-slide, and stereoscopic 
 slide makers. All facsimile photographers ; 
 photographers of pictures, statuary, etc. All 
 makers of invisible photographs, magic cigar 
 photographs. All operators who work under 
 the guidance of artists or scientists for pay, 
 they not having artistic and scientific training 
 themselves, as in the preparation of lantern 
 slides for a biologist. All enlargers, operators^ 
 spotters, printers, retouchers, mounters, etc. 
 Producers of porcelain pictures. Producers of 
 facsimile type blocks and copper-plates, with no 
 
NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 21 
 
 artistic aim, et id genus omne. All photographs 
 produced for amusement by the untrained in art 
 or science. All photographers who produce pat- 
 tern photographs, " bits " of scenery, and ani- 
 mals for journeymen draughtsmen to work from. 
 
 It will thus be clear to the student that all 
 these photographers serve useful purposes and 
 each is invaluable in his way, but we repeat, the 
 aim of the three groups of photographers is 
 very different and quite distinct, as distinct as 
 in draughtmanship are the etchings of Rem- 
 brandt, the scientific drawings of Huxley, and the 
 pattern plates of a store catalogue. All are useful 
 in their place, and who shall dare to say which 
 is more useful than the other ; but all are dis- 
 tinct, and can in no way be compared with one 
 another or classed together any more than can 
 the poems of Mr. Swinburne, the text of some 
 scientific treatise and the Blue-books. All can 
 be good in their way, but the aims and methods 
 of the one must not be confounded with the 
 aims and methods of the other. We hope that 
 a college of photography may one day be in- 
 stituted, where a sufficient art and science train- 
 ing may be obtained, where regular classes 
 will be held by masters and regular terms 
 kept, and where some sort of distinguish- 
 ing diploma as Members of the Royal Photo- 
 graphic College will be given to all who pass cer- 
 tain examinations. The M. R. P. C. would then 
 have a status, and a profession would exist, 
 able to draw up wholesome laws for the govern- 
 ment and protection of its members, and the 
 
22 NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 status of photography would be everywhere 
 raised. The diploma of F. R. P. C. (Fellow of 
 the Royal Photographic College) could be given 
 to distinguish photographers at home and 
 abroad as an honorary title.* 
 
 But if such an institution is to have weight it 
 must procure a charter. Money must be ob- 
 tained to give honorariums to the lecturers, and 
 the lectureship must be held by trained and able 
 men. To begin with, all photographers in 
 practice could be admitted upon passing a very 
 simple examination in the subjects of element- 
 ary education and photography. If ever such 
 a thing is brought about, and we trust it may 
 be — we should find many men of education 
 would join the ranks, as indeed, they are 
 doing now ; and with the taste and culture 
 they brought to the work, we should see them 
 working quietly in studios like painters, and the 
 
 show case " and the vulgar mounts with 
 medals and other decorations, and the " shop- 
 windows," and the "shop-feeling" would all 
 disappear. We need not despair if we will all 
 do what is in us to kill "vulgarity," for painters 
 were once not so well off as most photographers 
 are now. What gives us hope for these days is 
 the fact that we number in our ranks, in some 
 branch or the other, many intellectual men. 
 
 Here, then, we end our introductory remarks, 
 wishing the student who comes to the study of 
 photography with capacity and goodwill, all 
 success. 
 
 * This is now in a fair way of realization, 18qs. 
 
NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 23 
 
 TERMINOLOGY, 
 
 It were better at the outset to define our terms, 
 for nothing leads more certainly to confusion 
 in studying a subject than a hazy conception of 
 the meanings of words and expressions. For 
 this reason we wish clearly to define the words 
 and art expressions in use in this book. Not, 
 be it understood, that we claim in any way for 
 any definitions that they are the rigid and final 
 definitions of the expressions used, but we de- 
 fine what we mean by certain words and terms, 
 so that the reader may understand clearly the 
 text in which such words occur, our aim being 
 to be clear and to avoid all empty phraseology. 
 
 Separating the essentials from an object, and 
 rendering these essentials, has been called ana- 
 lyzing nature ; and the essentials so rendered 
 are an analysis. That this can be done only 
 in a very humble way in photography is one of 
 its chief defects. 
 
 Art-Science is a compound term applied by 
 some writers to photography, and by others to 
 all crafts founded upon science. It is a clumsy 
 term, and its use should be discouraged. It is 
 an unmeaning expression. 
 
 Breadth is the proper subordination of detail 
 to the effect of the whole. All great work has 
 breadth : all petty work is devoid of it ; for 
 niggling minds cannot see the breadth in 
 nature, so they are naturally unable to get it 
 into their work. 
 
 Masterly works of art become classical as 
 time goes on. A classical work is a work of 
 
24 NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 the first rank. Classical is used in two ways in 
 the arts. In a deprecatory sense it is applied 
 to works whose aim is to reproduce old schools, 
 or to works copied from old masters. The best 
 works of ancient Greece are classical, and when 
 a modem artist copies their methods and 
 school, his work is rightly sneered at as 
 * classical.' 
 
 A masterly modern work may be called a clas- 
 sic, and by this may be meant great praise. It 
 means a chaste and correct piece of work, and 
 one likely to become a masterpiece " for all 
 time"; but when weak persons copy the manner 
 of this work they become "classical" in the 
 bad sense. Strong men make real classics, 
 and weak persons coming after them say every- 
 thing should be done as they did it, whereas as 
 art proceeds new classical works will be added 
 to the old, though quite different in every way. 
 
 I think the confusion and disputes among 
 painters and the public as to what is " fine 
 color " is easily explicable, and result from con- 
 fusion of aim and want of analysis. Color is an 
 internal sensation, and has no external and ob- 
 jective existence. That is clear enough, yet 
 so difficult is the subject that we have no 
 scientific analysis or nomenclature of color to- 
 day — nay, color standards are wanting. But to 
 return to the confusion. A study of sociology 
 proves that primitive races and children have a 
 strong love of pure, bright primary and second- 
 ary colors. As we go higher we find more deli- 
 cate colors are used for decorative purposes, 
 
NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 25 
 
 in schemes, harmonies, contrasts, etc. In short, 
 as the late Mr. Jones says in his " Grammar of 
 Ornament," if an artist has a love of color 
 per se he should become a " decorative " (?) artist. 
 The painters who translate natural scenes upon 
 their canvases feel that the colors of nature 
 are pale, and that their pigments are not pure, 
 so that the wiser painters try to express the 
 colors of nature as they appear to them, while 
 the muddle-headed of each generation bow 
 to convention with rules of decorative color 
 ringing in their heads, and so they attempt a 
 compromise, with the usual result, mediocrity. 
 Herein, then, lies the source of all this con- 
 fusion as to what is Jine coloring. Fine coloring 
 in art depends on its harmonies, contrasts, purity 
 and subtlety. Personally I rejoice in a bed 
 of brightly-colored flowers or a richly-deCorated 
 room, but I am pained by the incongruity and 
 falseness of unnatural colors in a landscape 
 painting. Color is after all a superadded 
 luxury. We could even get on in the world 
 quite well if everything appeared to us in 
 monochrome, and Nature is really almost mon- 
 ochromatic on grey days. It is significant, too, 
 that the thorough appreciation of monochrome 
 is a late development. 
 
 There is a misconception as to the use of 
 the word ** creator " in the arts. Some think 
 only those persons who paint mythological or 
 story-telling pictures are creators. Of course 
 such distinction is absurd ; any artist is a 
 creator when he produces an original picture or 
 
26 
 
 NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 poem ; he creates the work by which he ap- 
 peals to others. He is the author, creator, or 
 whatever you like to call him ; he is responsi- 
 ble for its existence. A photographer is there- 
 fore rather a discoverer than a creator. 
 
 A work of art is conventional when it de- 
 pends upon tradition or accepted models for 
 its qualities. It was a convention to paint trees 
 *' fiddle brown " till custom threw it over. It is 
 conventional to compose works of art according 
 to the formal and illogical rules (?) of Burnet. 
 But the best men often adopt a good conven- 
 tion — for we can establish new conventions. 
 
 Versifying, Prose-writing, Music, Sculpture, 
 Painting, Etching, Engraving, and Acting are 
 all arts, but none is in itself a fine art, yet each 
 and all can be raised to the dignity of a fine 
 art when an artist, by any of these methods of 
 expression, raises his art by his genius to a fine 
 art. For this reason every one who writes 
 verse and prose, who sculpts, paints, etches, en- 
 graves, is not necessarily an artist at all, for he 
 does not necessarily have the artistic ability. It 
 has long been customary to call all painters and 
 sculptors artists, as it has long been customary 
 in Edinburgh to call all medical students ' doc- 
 tors.' But in both cases the terms are equally 
 loosely applied. Our definition, then, of an 
 artist is a person who, whether by verse, prose, 
 sculpture, painting, etching, engraving, or 
 music, raises his art to a fine art by his work, 
 and the works of such an artist are works of 
 art. Photographers can never be artists. 
 
NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 27 
 
 In a word, high and low art are loose terms; 
 no art is high or low. Art is either good or bad 
 art, not high or low, except when skied or floored 
 at exhibitions. "High art "and "higher artis- 
 tic sense " we shall not use, because they are 
 meaningless terms, for if they are not meaning- 
 less then every picture falls under one or other 
 category, high or low ; if so let some one classify 
 all pictures into these two divisions and he will 
 find himself famous — as the laughing-stock of 
 the world. 
 
 A volume might be written on the word ideal, 
 but it would be a volume of words with little mean- 
 ing. As applied to art, the meaning of "ideal " 
 has generally been that of something existing 
 in fancy or in imagination, something visionary, 
 an imaginary type of perfection. G. H. Lewes 
 says, "Nothing exists but what is perceived;" 
 we would say, nothing exists for us but what 
 is perceived. A work of pictorial art is no ab- 
 stract thing, but a physical fact. If a man 
 draws a monster which does not exist, what is 
 it ? It is but a modified form of some existing 
 thing or combination of things, and is, after all, 
 to us not half so terrible as many realities. What 
 is more terrible than some of the snakes, than 
 the octopus, than the green slimy crabs of our 
 own waters? Certainly, to us, none of the 
 dragons and monsters drawn from the imagina- 
 tion is half so horrible. Did the great Greek 
 artist, ^schylus, describe a dragon as gnawing at 
 the liver of Prometheus ? No, he simply drew the 
 picture of a vulture as being sufficiently emble- 
 
28 
 
 NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 matic. But let us assume, for the sake of argu- 
 ment, that the dragon appears more dreadful than 
 any reality, even then the pictorial and glyptic 
 artist should not use it, for as he has no model to 
 work from, his technique will probably be bad, 
 there will be no subtleties of tone, of color, of 
 drawing, all which make impressionistic pictures 
 so wonderful and beautiful. The dragon will be 
 a caricature, that is all. Again, some people con- 
 sider it wonderful that a painter takes a myth 
 and renders it on canvas, and he is called 
 " learned " and " scholarly " for this work. But^ 
 what does he do ? Let us say he wishes to paint 
 the Judgment of Paris. He, if he be a good 
 painter, will paint the background from physical 
 matter, shaped as nearly like the Greek as pos- 
 sible, and he will paint the Paris and the ladies 
 from living models — sham Greek. The work 
 may be perfect technically, but where is the 
 Greek part of it ? What, then, does the painter 
 rely upon? Why, the Greek story, for if not, 
 why does he not call it by a modem name ? 
 But no, he relies upon the well-known story — 
 the Judgment of Paris — in fact he is taking the 
 greater part of the merit that belongs to another 
 man. The story of the Judgment of Paris is not 
 his, yet it is that partly draws the public ; and 
 these men are called original, and clever, and 
 learned. M, Maris in one of his landscapes has 
 more originality than all these others put to- 
 gether. Many people, not conversant with the 
 methods of art, think f rtists draw and paint and 
 sculpt things "out of their heads." Well, some 
 
NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 29 
 
 do, but the best artists never did. We have in our 
 possession a beautiful low relief in marble, done 
 from a well-known Italian model in London. It 
 was done by one of the sternest impressionistic 
 sculptors of to-day. A highly educated friend, 
 an old Oxford man, called on us not long ago, 
 and was greatly taken with the head ; after 
 looking at it a long while, he turned to us and 
 said, *'An ideal head, of course?" So it is the 
 cant of "idealism" runs through the world. 
 But there is a legitimate ideal work, cases in 
 which the constructive imagination is used. In 
 such a case several ideas may be combined into 
 a harmonious whole — thus the idealist from 
 various ideals may transcend nature, so the vase 
 is produced ! 
 
 But no photographer can be an idealist; ideal- 
 ism implies the personal, so we will not discuss 
 it further, for photography is impersonal. 
 
 Ideal work (^. v). 
 
 To us, impressionism means the rendering by 
 art of a personal view of nature, even to the verg- 
 ing on absurdity. An impressionistic painter can 
 always claim that he sees so much, and only so 
 much of nature ; and each individual painter 
 thus becomes a standard for himself. A genius 
 often despises old views of Nature which is 
 legitimate, but when weak imitators take up his 
 "manner" and have not his genius, the result is 
 eccentricity. 
 
 Impressionism is thus a personal art-expres- 
 sion, and, therefore, it is a contradiction of terms 
 to talk of " impressionistic photography " and as 
 
30 NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 a coroUorary every artist must be either idealist 
 or impressionist. No artist can be a naturalist 
 or realist, therefore, too, all photographers must 
 be either naturalists or realists ; no photographer 
 can be either idealist or impressionist. But this 
 we shall make clearer later on. 
 
 A face may, under certain conditions of light 
 and shade, appear pink in color; that is its local 
 color. If we look more closely' we may see the 
 lips are red, the forehead bluish, the temples 
 yellowish and so on — these are accidental 
 colors. 
 
 Naturalism is an impersonal method of ex- 
 pression, a more or less correct reflection of 
 nature, wherein (i) truth of sentiment, (2) illu- 
 sion of truth of appearance (so far as is possible) 
 and (3) decoration are of first and supreme im- 
 portance. Photographers only can be natural- 
 istic, not painters, as we shall show later on. 
 
 Since I began to write and exhibit natural- 
 istic photography many wild excesses and ab- 
 surdities have been committed in the name of 
 naturalism, one dealer even advertizing "nat- 
 uralistic papers." Throwing a background out 
 of focus, making fuzzy pictures, printing on 
 rough paper, do not make naturalistic photo- 
 graphs. A naturalistic photograph must, I re- 
 peat, be 
 
 1. True in natural sentiment. 
 
 2. True in appearance to the point of illusion. 
 
 3. Decorative, 
 
 Without any of these qualities it is not what 
 I call ''naturalistic;" thus a photograph may 
 
NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 3I 
 
 be decorative, yet realistic, but not naturalistic. 
 This will be explained more fully later on. 
 
 Original is a mightily misused word. Only 
 those artists can be called original who have 
 something new to say, no matter by what 
 methods they say it. 
 
 Some of the best writers and journalists of 
 the day have adopted the use of the word "pho- 
 tographic," as applying to written descriptions 
 of scenes which are absolutely correct in detail 
 and bald fact, though they are lacking in senti- 
 ment and poetry. What a trap these writers 
 have fallen into will be seen in this work, for 
 what they think so true is often utterly false. 
 The word "photographic" should not be ap- 
 plied to anything except photography. No 
 written descriptions can be "photographic," or 
 absolutely impersonal. The use of the word, 
 when applied to writing, leads to a confusion 
 of different phenomena, and, therefore, to de- 
 ceptive inferences. This cannot be too strongly 
 insisted upon, as some cultured writers have 
 been guilty of the wrong use of the word "pho- 
 tographic," and therefore of writing bad Eng- 
 lish. 
 
 Quality is used when speaking of a picture or 
 work which has in it artistic properties of a 
 special character, in a word, artistic properties 
 which are distinctive and characteristic of fine- 
 ness and subtlety. 
 
 By Naturalism it will be seen that we mean 
 a very different thing from Realism. The real- 
 ist is satisfied with the motes and leaves out the 
 
32 NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 sunbeam. He will, in so far as he is able, pho- 
 tograph all the veins of the leaves of a tree as 
 they really are, and not as they look as a whole. 
 For example, the realist, if photographing a tree 
 a hundred yards off, would strive to render the 
 tree as sharply as any lens could make it — prefer- 
 ring, mayhap, a tele-photographic lens. Where- 
 as the naturalistic photographer would care for 
 none of these things, he would endeavor to ren- 
 der the tree as it appeared to him- when stand- 
 ing a hundred yards off, the tree taken as a 
 whole, and as it looked, modified as it would be 
 by various phenomena and accidental circum- 
 stances. The naturalist's work we should call 
 pictorially true to nature ; the realist's false 
 to nature. The work of the realist will be true 
 for botany, but not for a picture. 
 
 In a word, in realistic photography truth of 
 sentiment, truth of appearance and decoration 
 are ignored. It is an impersonal mathematical 
 "plotting" by a lens of objects before it. A 
 painter cannot be a realist ; he must be more 
 or less personal. 
 
 The terms "relative tone" or "value" are 
 used to express the appearance of the masses as 
 light and shade in any object studied, without 
 attempting to discriminate whether it is light, 
 shade, or local color which produces the effect, 
 but simply considering the relative planes these 
 tones occupy in the scale from dark to bright. 
 
 Artists speak of the "sentiment of nature" 
 as a highly desirable quality in a picture. This 
 means that naturalism should have been the 
 
NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 33 
 
 leading idea which has governed the general 
 conception and execution of the work. Thus 
 the sentiment of nature is a healthful and, to 
 me, a highly desirable quality in a picture. 
 Thus ''true in sentiment" is a term of high 
 praise. " Sentiment " is really normal sympa- 
 thetic ''feeling." 
 
 As opposed to sentiment, is a highly unde- 
 sirable quality, and a quality to be seen in all 
 bad worl:. It is an affectation of sentiment, and 
 relies by artificiality and mawkisness upon ap- 
 pealing to the morbid and uncultured. It is 
 the bane of English art. The one is normal, 
 the other morbid. 
 
 Soul=Vis medicatrix = Plastic force=Vital 
 force=Vital principle=0. The word is, how- 
 ever, used by some of the most advanced think- 
 ers in art, and when asked to explain it they say 
 they mean by it "the fundamental." From 
 what we can gather, the word " soul " is the 
 formula by which they express the sum total of 
 qualities which make up the life of the individ- 
 ual. Thus, a man when he has got the " soul " 
 into a statue, has not only rendered the organic 
 structure of the model, but also all the model's 
 subtleties of harmony, of movement and ex- 
 pression, and thought, which are due to the 
 physical fact of his being a living organism. 
 This " life " is of course the fundamental thing, 
 and the first thing to obtain in any work of art. 
 In this way, then, we can understand the use of 
 the word "soul " as synonymous with the "life " 
 of the model. The "soul" or life is always 
 
34 
 
 NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 found in the model, and the artist seizes upon 
 it first and subdues all things to it. ''Soul," 
 then, to us, is a term for the expression of the 
 epitome of the characteristics of a living thing, 
 but the word "mind" is more philosophical. 
 The Egyptians expressed the " soul " or life of 
 a lion, Landseer did not. 
 
 By technique is meant, in photography, a 
 knowledge of optics and chemistry, and of the 
 preparation and employment of the photographic 
 materials by the means of which pictures are 
 secured. It does in no way refer to the ^ninner 
 of using these materials, that is the " practice." 
 
 Photographers invariably use the word tone 
 in a wrong sense. What photographers call 
 " tone " should properly be color or shade, thus: 
 a brown shade, a purple shade, or color. 
 
 Transcript of Nature is a term of contempt 
 used by superficial critics. We think that the 
 idea in the mind of these persons who use this 
 cant phrase is the idea of realism; that is, their 
 "mere transcript" means realism. 
 
 But instead of it being an easy thing to portray 
 " a mere transcript of nature," we shall show it 
 to be utterly impossible. No man can do this 
 either by painting or photography, as Leonardo 
 da Vinci said long ago. 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 IMPRESSIONISM IN PICTORIAL AND GLYPTIC ART. 
 
 In this chapter we shall endeavor to trace 
 briefly the influence of the study of nature on 
 all the best art up to the present day. In order 
 to do this it will be necessary to follow in 
 chronological order the history of art. What 
 we propose, then, is briefly to compile a mere 
 outline, consisting of the salient facts in the 
 history of art, in so far as they bear on our 
 subject, that is, how far the best artists have 
 been influenced by nature, and how true in im- 
 pression is their interpretation of nature. We 
 feel much diffidence in advancing any critical 
 remarks upon the arts, for we are convinced, 
 after a long and practical study of the subject, 
 that no one can criticise any branch of art 
 technically, and the criticism be autJioritative, 
 unless he be a practical master artist in the 
 branch of art which he is criticizing. We offer 
 them, standing always ready to be corrected by 
 any good technical artist on any points connected 
 with his particular art. As to who are good 
 artists is again another wide question. Certainly 
 their name is not legion. 
 
 Our object in traversing all this ground, then 
 is one of inquiry, to really see how far a study 
 
36 NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 of nature is the only wear for all good art, and 
 we have done it in an impartial spirit, arriving 
 at the conclusion that in all the glyptic and 
 pictorial arts the touchstone answers. How far 
 this is the case with the arts of fiction, poetry, 
 etc., is a more complex matter, and one we 
 cannot now deal with, but we feel that in the 
 literary arts the matter is very different, for in 
 those arts we are not confined, as we are in the 
 pictorial and glyptic arts, to physical facts and 
 their representation; for there is no such thing 
 as absract beauty of form or color. Art has 
 served as a peg on which to hang all sorts of 
 fads — fine writing, very, admirable in its place — 
 morality, not to be despised — classical know- 
 ledge and literature generally, both often of the 
 highest aesthetic value, but in no way legiti- 
 mately connected with the glyptic and pictorial 
 arts. 
 
 Our object is, by these notes, to lead our 
 readers to the works of art themselves, hoping 
 that by this means they will, to som^ extent, 
 educate themselves. Much of the lamentable 
 ignorance existing on these subjects is due to 
 the acceptance of the dicta of writers on pictures, 
 without the readers seeing the pictures them- 
 selves, and asking the opinion of good artists 
 upon them. We earnestly beg, therefore, of 
 any one who may be sufficiently interested in 
 the subject as to read this book, that he will go 
 and see the original pictures and sculptures 
 cited; all of which are within easy reach. It 
 was our original intention to introduce photo- 
 
NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 37 
 
 graphic reproductions of the best pieces of 
 sculpture, and the best pictures into this work, 
 but we have decided against so doing, fearing 
 that the reader might be tempted to look at the 
 reproductions and neglect the originals, and a 
 translation, however good, is but a small part of 
 the truth.. 
 
 Art Works by Egyptians. 
 On examining specimens of Egyptian art, 
 whether it be their paintings, architecture, 
 sculpture or book illustrations (the papyri), one 
 is struck by the wonderful simplicity, decision 
 and force with which they expressed themselves. 
 The history of Egypt has been so little read, 
 save by students of history, and the old popular 
 stories concerning the nations of the past are so 
 inaccurate and misleading, that one is at first 
 surprised to find such power in the works of 
 those whom we were taught, not so long ago, to 
 look upon as Philistines ; so that we might gaze 
 on the Pyramids of Gizeh, the statues of 
 Rameses, and the granite lions, with the won- 
 derment of incomprehension. But now, of 
 course, every one knows that Egyptians were 
 masters in certain directions, where we are but 
 in our infancy. Even in their cavi relievi and 
 wall paintings, though these latter are but 
 tinted outlines they are .not the outlines of 
 childish draughtsmen, weak and unmeaning, 
 but they show the force of a powerful skill 
 that in one bold outline can give all the 
 essentials of a man, bird, or beast, so that the 
 
38 NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 picture looks living and doing. All through 
 their work there is a bigness of conception, a 
 solid grip of nature, which makes their work 
 surpass many of the elaborately finished and 
 richly detailed pictures of our modem art 
 galleries. 
 
 Let us call the reader's attention to such 
 examples as are easily to be seen, namely, the 
 granite lions, the cavi relievi and the papyri 
 in the British Museum. The lions, which are 
 remarkable for strength of character and truth- 
 fulness of impression, may be taken as repre- 
 sentative of the greatest period of Egyptian 
 art, a period which ended about the time of 
 Rameses II.; for after that time the artists 
 began to neglect the study of nature, and 
 gradual decadence set in. 
 
 We strongly advise all our readers to go to 
 the British Museum and look well at these 
 lions. They are hewn from granite, or por- 
 phyry, the hardest of stones; they have conven- 
 tional moustaches, and are lying in conventional 
 positions; yet withal, there is a wonderful ex- 
 pression of life and reserved strength about 
 them which makes you respect them, stone 
 though they be; and they convey to you, as 
 you look on their long, lithe flanks so broadly 
 and simply treated, the truthful impression of 
 strong and merciless animals. Your thoughts 
 involuntarily turn from them to Landseer's 
 bronze lions guarding Trafalgar Square. In 
 them you remember all the tufts of hair cor- 
 rectly rendered, even to the wool in the ears, 
 
NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 39 
 
 the mane, the moustaches. Even the claws are 
 there, and yet you feel instinctively you would 
 rather meet those* tame cats of Trafalgar 
 Square, with all their claws, than the Egyptian 
 lions in the British Museum. The reason of 
 this is that the Egyptians knew how to epito- 
 mize, so as to express the fundamental charac- 
 teristics of the lion; they cared not to say how 
 many hairs went to make up the tufted tail, nor 
 yet how many claws each paw should have, but 
 what they tried to do, and succeed in doing, 
 was to convey a sense of the beast, his power 
 and animalism; to convey, in short, an im- 
 pression of his nature. 
 
 These lions were the outcome of the best 
 period of Egyptian sculpture. The Egyptian 
 artists who carved those lions had been striving 
 to interpret Nature, and hence their success; 
 but as soon as their successors began to neglect 
 nature, and took to drawing up art rules, they 
 went wrong, and produced caricatures. We read 
 that after the time of Rameses II. " every 
 figure is now mathematically designed accord- 
 ing to a prescribed canon of numerical propor- 
 tions between the parts." 
 
 All this we can trace for ourselves in the 
 plates supplied with Wilkinson's learned work, 
 entitled "The Ancient Egyptians." We see 
 in those plates that something has happened to 
 the people and objects represented, something 
 that makes them no longer tell their own story. 
 
 ♦Since this was written Mr. Frith has written that Landseer 
 modelled these lions from a tame cat. Third volume of " Reminiscences." 
 
40 NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 they no longer look alive, but are meaningless; 
 the reason of this falling off was that the artist 
 no longer used his eyes to any purpose, but did- 
 what was then supposed to be the right thing 
 to do, namely, followed the laws laid down by 
 some men of narrow intellect— laws called as 
 now the " canons of art." The very life of the 
 Egyptian artists of that period was against 
 good work, for they were incorporated into 
 guilds, and the laws of caste worked as harm- 
 fully as they now do in the Orient. There is, 
 then, distinct evidence that on the one hand 
 the Egyptian artists of the best period, when 
 untrammelled t>y conventionality, created works 
 which, though lacking the innumerable quali- 
 ties of later Greek art, yet possessed, so far as 
 they went, the first essential of all art — truth of 
 sentiment. Again, on the other hand, directly 
 anything like "rules of art " appeared, and the 
 study of nature was neglected, their art degen- 
 erated into meaningless conventionality, and 
 as this conventionality and neglect of nature 
 were never cast aside, the art of Egypt never 
 developed beyond the work done by the artists 
 who carved the stone lions. 
 
 MONARCHIES OF WESTERN ASIA. 
 
 Assyrian art differed from that of Egypt in 
 that the outline of the figures was much 
 stronger, and that they painted their bas- 
 reliefs ; but we read that the " imitation of 
 nature was the watchword " in Assyria, as it 
 was in Babylon. 
 
NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 41 
 
 In studying the Assyrian bas-reliefs, those 
 interested in the subject should go to the 
 Assyrian rooms in the basement of the British 
 Museum, and look at the reliefs of Bani-Pal — 
 the famous lion-hunting scenes. There is, of 
 course, much conventionality in the work, as 
 there was in that of the Egyptians ; but no 
 observer can fail to detect that the Assyrians 
 were observant to a degree that strikes us as 
 marvellous when we consider the subjects they 
 were treating. Note the lioness, wounded in 
 the spine, dragging her hindquarters painfully 
 along. Does this not give a powerful impres- 
 sion of the wounded animal ? and does it not 
 occur to you how wonderful was the power of 
 the man who in so little expressed and con- 
 veys to you so much. Consider when those 
 Assyrian sculptors lived. Look, too, at the 
 bas-reliefs numbered 47 and 49 ; and in 50 note 
 the marvellous truthfulness of impression of 
 the horseman, who is riding at a gallop. There 
 is life and movement in the work. Look, too, 
 at the laden mules in bas-reliefs numbers 70 
 and 72. Such works as these were done by 
 great men in art, and though crudeness of 
 methods and observation prevented them from 
 rivalling some of the later Greek work, their 
 work is good. The work does not say all that 
 there is to say about the subject ; but it does 
 say much of what is most essential, and by 
 doing that is artistically greater than work 
 done by scores of modern men. In addition to 
 their artistic value, how interesting are these 
 works as roccrds of history. 
 
42 
 
 NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 ANCIENT GREEK AND ITALIAN ART. 
 
 In discussing Greek painting we shall rely 
 entirely upon the erudite historical work of 
 Messrs. Woltmann and Woermann, giving a 
 short resume of their remarks on the subject. 
 This is absolutely necessary, as not one speci- 
 men of Greek painting has come down to us.* 
 But on the other hand, in dealing with Greek 
 and Graeco-Roman sculpture we shall base our 
 remarks on the Greek and Grseco-Roman sculp- 
 ture in the British Museum. 
 
 Beginning, then, with Greek painting, let us 
 see what the historians tell us. They begin by 
 saying, in painting " the Greeks efifected noth- 
 ing short of a revolution .... by right of 
 which they deserve the glory of having first 
 made painting a truthful mirror of realities." 
 This fact, that their pictorial art reached such 
 perfection, is not generally known, for the 
 reason that the assertion rests on written 
 testimony — but it is reliable testimony. The 
 historians insist on the fact that no single 
 work of any one of the famous painters 
 recognized in the history of Greek art has 
 survived to our time." Let us, then, briefly 
 trace the rise of Greek painting till it culmin- 
 ated in Apelles. 
 
 Polygnotos (b.c. 475-55) is the first name we 
 hear of, and of his works we are told, "they 
 were just as far from being really complete 
 pictorial representations as the wall-pictures 
 
 * Some paintings quite recently discovered in Egypt are apparently 
 the work of Greek artists, and tend to confirm this written testimony. 
 
NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 43 
 
 of the Assyrians and Egyptians themselves," 
 although in some particulars there must have 
 been a distinct advancement on the work of 
 the orientals. For example, we are told Polyg- 
 notos painted the "fishes of Acheron shadowy 
 grey, and the pebbles of the river-bed so 
 that they could be seen through the water." 
 Polygnotos painted imaginative pictures. We 
 are told he was a painter of heroes," some of 
 his school attempted portraiture, "but paint- 
 ing though in this age was still a mere sys- 
 tem of tinted outline design." Then followed 
 Agatharchos, " the leader of a real revolution, a 
 revolution "by which art was enabled to achieve 
 great and decisive progress towards a system 
 of representation corresponding with the laws of 
 optics and the full truth of nature. Agathar- 
 chos was a scene-painter, and was no doubt led 
 by striving for truth in his scenery to study 
 nature generally. As the historians remark, 
 " In scene-painting as thus practised, we find 
 the origins not only of all representations of 
 determinate backgrounds, but also, and more 
 especially, of landscape painting. It is impos- 
 sible to over-estimate the importance of the 
 invention of scene-painting as the most decisive 
 turning-point in the entire history of the art, 
 and Agatharchos is named as the master who, 
 at the inspiration of ^schylus, first devoted 
 himself to practising the invention." This 
 painter, it is said, also paid great attention to 
 perspective, and left a treatise which was after- 
 wards used in drawing up the laws of perspec- 
 
44 
 
 NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 tive. It is said his manner of treatment was 
 " comparatively broad and picturesque." Next 
 came Appollodoros, a figure-painter, who also 
 combined landscape and figure subjects, and of 
 whom Pliny says " that he was the first to give 
 the appearance of reality to his pictures, the 
 first to bring the brush into just repute, and 
 even that before him no easel-picture {tabula) 
 had existed by any master fit to charm the eye 
 of the spectator." Apollodores was the first to 
 give his pictures a natural and definite back- 
 ground in true perspective ; he was the first, it 
 is emphatically stated, " who rightfully managed 
 chiaro-oscuro and the fusion of colours . . 
 . . He will have also been the first to soften 
 
 off the outlines of his figures For 
 
 this reason we may, with Brunn, in a certain 
 sense, call Apollodoros "the first true painter." 
 We are told, however, that his " painting was, 
 in comparison with his successors, hard and 
 imperfect," and that the innovations made by 
 him in the relation of foreground and back- 
 ground cannot be compared to the improve- 
 ments effected by the brothers Van Eyck in 
 modern times. We now read of Zeuxis, Parr- 
 hasios, and Timanthes, who, we are told, " per- 
 fected a system of pictorial representation, 
 adequately rendering on the flat surface the 
 relief and variety of nature, in other particulars 
 if not in colour." The endeavour of Zeuxis 
 was "by the brilliant use of the brush to rival 
 nature herself," and from anecdotes related of 
 him and of Parrhasios, we gather that they 
 
NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 45 
 
 " laid the greatest stress on carrying out to the 
 point of actual illusion the deceptive likeness 
 to nature." Many of Zeuxis' subjects were 
 taken from everyday life— another step in the 
 right direction. We now come to the Dorian 
 school, and Eupompos as its founder ; and here 
 we find a determination to study painting 
 scientifically, and to conscientiously observe 
 nature, for we are told Eupompos expressed 
 the opinion " that the artist who wished to 
 succeed must go first of all to nature as his 
 teacher." Pamphilos, a pupil of Eupompos, 
 brought this school to maturity, and insisted 
 on the "necessity of scientific study for the 
 painter," He was followed by Melanthios, who 
 pursued the same lines of scientific investiga- 
 tion ; and was in his turn succeeded by Pausias, 
 of whom we hear, " It is quoted as a novel and 
 striking effect, that in one of his pictures the 
 face of Methe (or personified Intoxication) was 
 visible through the transparent substance of 
 the glass out of which she drank." His work 
 was considered to have great technical excell- 
 ence, his subjects were taken from everyday 
 life, and his pictures were all on a small scale. 
 Pliny says "his favourite themes were 'boys,' 
 
 that is, no doubt, scenes of child-life 
 
 He developed, it seems, a more natural method 
 of representing the modelling of objects by the 
 gradations of a single colour." We read, too, 
 that his paintings drawn fresh from life " were 
 much appreciated by the Romans." There was 
 a third school of Greek painting, that called the 
 
46 NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 Theban-Attic, and of this we read there was "a 
 great ease and versatility, and an invention 
 more intent upon the expression of human 
 emotion," but no painter of this school made 
 any very great advance. At length we come 
 to Apelles, the most famous of all Greek 
 painters. He, although already well known 
 and highly thought of, went to the Sikyonian 
 school, to study under Pamphilos, and we after- 
 wards hear of him as court painter to Alexander 
 the Great. We are told that at court his " mis- 
 sion was to celebrate the person and the deeds 
 of the king, as well as those of his captains and 
 chief men." This was at any rate legitimate 
 historical painting. Woltmann and Woermann 
 say, " In faithful imitation of nature he was 
 second to none ; he was first of all in refine- 
 ment of light and shade, and consequent ful- 
 ness of relief and completeness of modelling." 
 And again we read, "Astonishing technical 
 perfection in the illusory imitation of nature " 
 distinguished Apelles. Thus we see that the 
 great aim of the greatest of Greek painters was 
 to paint the appearances of nature, or as glib 
 critics would say, to paint " mere transcripts of 
 nature." Contemporary with Apelles was Pro- 
 togenes, whose aim was to reach the " highest 
 degree of illusion in detail." The cycle of devel- 
 opment seemed now to have reached its highest 
 point because by inferior men the imitative 
 principle was not kept subservient to artistic 
 ends, and in the hands of Theon of Samos the 
 principle of illusion became and end in itself, 
 
NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 47 
 
 and art degenerated into legerdemain. This 
 same tendency is now showing its hydra-head, 
 and in London, Brussels, and other places are 
 to be seen inferior works hidden in dark rooms, 
 or to be viewed through peep-holes. We only 
 want the trumpets of Theon or the music of the 
 opera bouffe to complete the degradation. Fol- 
 lowing Theon, and probably disgusted with his 
 phantasies, came painters of small subjects ; 
 the rhyparographi of Pliny, or the rag-and- 
 tatter painters, "who painted barbers' shops, 
 asses, eatables, and such-like." "We see, there- 
 fore, that about b.c. 300 .... Greek paint- 
 ing had already extended its achievements to 
 almost all conceivable themes, with the single 
 exception of landscape. Within the space of a 
 hundred and fifty years the art had passed 
 through every technical stage, from the tinted 
 profile system of Polygnotos to the properly 
 pictorial system of natural scenes, enclosed in 
 natural backgrounds, and thence to the system 
 of trick and artifice, which aimed at the realism 
 of actual illusion by means beyond the legiti- 
 mate scope of art." 
 
 " The creative power of Greek painting was 
 as good as exhausted by this series of efforts. 
 In the following centuries the art survived 
 indeed as a pleasant aftergrowth in some of 
 its old seats, but few artists stand out with 
 strong individuality from among their contem- 
 poraries. Only a master here and there makes 
 a name for himself. The one of these whom 
 we have here especially to notice is Timoma- 
 
48 
 
 NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 chos, of Byzantium, an exception of undeniable 
 importance, since even at this late period of 
 Greek culture he won for himself a world-wide 
 celebrity." 
 
 Timomachos neglected the study of familiar 
 subjects, and returned to the "imaginative" 
 style, producing such works as " Ajax and 
 Medea," and " Iphigenia in Taurus." Curiously 
 enough, it was during this period that the only 
 branch of painting not yet tried by the Greeks, 
 namely, landscape painting, was attempted. 
 Woltmann and Woermann suggest a reason for 
 this new departure when they say, " We can 
 gather with certainty from poetry and literature 
 that it was in the age of the Diadochi (the 
 kings who divided amongst them the kingdom 
 of Alexander) that the innate Greek instinct of 
 anthropomorphism, of personifying nature in 
 human forms, from a combination of causes 
 was gradually modified in the direction of an 
 appreciation of natural scenes for their own 
 sake, and as they really are." Landscape paint- 
 ing, we are told, "scarcely got beyond the 
 supei ficial character of decorative work." 
 
 With this period ends the true history of Greek 
 painting, though it still lingers on, and becomes 
 so far merged into that of Roman art that 
 between the two it is not possible to draw a 
 line of distinction. Roman art had a character 
 of its own, and even two painters, whose names, 
 Fabius and Ludius, and in the case of the latter 
 of whose works, have been handed down to us. 
 
 Besides the written testimony referred to, 
 
NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 49 
 
 the State of art can be gathered from the vases, 
 bronzes, mosaics, paintings on stone, and mural 
 decorations which have come down to us. 
 These were many of them the work of Greek 
 journeymen, and though there is much that is 
 excellent in these productions, their period of 
 decadence very soon set in. It is a gauge of 
 the art knowledge of to-day to watch the gullible 
 English and Americans purchasing third-rate 
 copies of the works of Greek journeymen house- 
 decorators, and taking them home and hoard- 
 ing them as words of art— works which were 
 only valuable in their own time, in connection 
 with the life and architecture then existing, 
 but which at the present day are interesting 
 merely from an historical point of view, for no 
 really artistic mind can possibly find satisfac- 
 tion in much of such work for its own sake. 
 Did these uncultured buyers but reflect and 
 study for a while the natural beauties around 
 them, they would soon see the error of their 
 ways. 
 
 In their conclusion on Grasco-Roman art, 
 Woltmann and Woermann say that they " have 
 no doubt that Greek painting had at last fully 
 acquired the power to produce adequate sem- 
 blances of living fact and nature," which could 
 not be said of any painting up to that time. 
 Here, then, we have traced a quick development 
 of Greek painting, and an almost equally quick 
 decline, and all through we find the never- 
 failing truth— that so long as nature was 
 studied, so long did the national art grow and 
 
50 NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHy. 
 
 improve till it culminated in the statues of 
 Pheidias and the paintings of Apelles. 
 
 Let us now proceed to the British Museum, 
 and look at the best specimens of Greek and 
 Graeco-Roman sculpture as exhibited there. 
 
 Taking for examination the specimens near- 
 est at hand; we refer to those to be seen in the 
 gallery leading out of the entrance-hall of the 
 British Museum. The busts which strike us 
 most forcibly are those of Nero, Trajan, Publius 
 Hevius Pertinax, Cordianus Africanus, Cara- 
 calla, Commodus, and Julius Caesar. The bust 
 of Nero (No. ii) strikes one by the simplicity 
 and breadth of its treatment, combined as these 
 qualities are with the expression of great 
 strength and energy. The sculptor has evi- 
 dently gone at his work with a thorough knowl- 
 edge of the technique, and hewn the statue 
 straight from the marble, a custom, by the way, 
 followed by but few modern sculptors. Look 
 at the broad treatment of the chin and neck of 
 this bust of Nero. Nowadays one rarely meets 
 with even living awe inspiring men, but that 
 marble carries with it such force, that, all cold 
 and stony as it is, it creates in you a feeling of 
 respect and awe. It should be studied from 
 various distances and coigns of vantage, and if 
 well studied it can surely never be forgotten. 
 It gives the . head of a domineering, cruel, 
 sensual, yet strong man. In the bust of .Trajan 
 (No. 15), we have the same powerful technique 
 employed this time in rendering the animal 
 strength of a powerful man. With his low 
 
NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 5 1 
 
 forehead, small head, and splendid neck, the 
 embodiment of strength, Trajan looks down on 
 US' somewhat scornfully. Then, too, No. 35, 
 the bust of Publius Hevius Pertinax, is no mask, 
 but a face with a brain behind it. You feel this 
 man might speak, and if he did, what he had 
 to say would be worth listening to. Perhaps 
 for grip of life this is the best of all these busts. 
 Compare it with the mask (it can be called 
 nothing else) on the shelf above it, and yon will 
 see the difference. The portrait busts of Cordi- 
 anus Africanus (No. 39) and Caracalla are also 
 marvellous for life-like expression. Look well 
 at the cropped head and beard of Cordianus 
 from a little distance, and see how true and 
 life-like the impression is; then go up close and 
 see how the hair of the beard is rendered. It 
 is done by chipping out little wedges of marble. 
 Here is a very good example of the distinction 
 between great and niggling impressionism. If 
 all the detail of that beard had been rendered, 
 every hair or curl correctly cut to represent a 
 hair or curl, and this is what the modern Italian 
 sculptor would have done, we should have had 
 bad art. This should be borne in mind in por- 
 trait photography: the fundamental is all that 
 counts. 
 
 Let us turn to No. 33— the sensual face of 
 Commodus — he re-lives in the marble. Another 
 very notable bust is that of Homer (No. 117), in 
 the corner of the gallery at right angles to that 
 we are leaving. Look how truly the impression 
 is rendered of the withered old literary man; 
 
52 NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 how the story of his long life is stamped on his 
 face, the unmistakable look of the studious, 
 contemplative man. 
 
 Pass we now to the next gallery, and stop at 
 the wonderfully fine torso, No. 172. Look well 
 at this beautiful work, so feelingly, sympa- 
 thetically, and simply treated by the sculptor. 
 You can almost see the light glance- as the 
 muscles glide beneath the skin. This is a 
 marvellous work, as is also the boy pulling out 
 a thorn from his foot. The young satyr (No. 184) 
 is also a wonderfully fine piece of sculpture, and 
 well worth close study. The student will have 
 ample opportunity for studying, side by side, in 
 this gallery, bad stone cutting and fine sculpture, 
 for many of the fine marbles have been barbar^ 
 ously restored. As an example, we cite the 
 lifeless, stony arms of No. 188, which compare 
 with the rest of the figure, look at the india- 
 rubber fingers of the right hand, and you will 
 understand what bad work is, if you did not 
 know it already. Before leaving the gallery let 
 the reader look at No. 159, the Apotheosis of 
 Homer. Now, as can be imagined, this is the 
 delight of the pedantic critic, and more futile 
 rhapsodies have been written on this work than 
 perhaps on any other piece of sculpture. Of 
 course, as any candid and competent observer 
 will see, this is, as a work of art, very poor, and 
 hardly worth talking about. In passing into 
 the gallery where are the remains of the Par- 
 thenon frieze, notice an archaic nude torso 
 which stands on the left, and see how the artist 
 
NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 53 
 
 was feeling his way to nature. All portions of 
 the Parthenon frieze should be most carefully 
 studied. The student must now look at the 
 ''Horse of Selene," one of the most marvellous 
 pieces of work ever done by man. It was a 
 long time before we could see the full beauty of 
 this work, and the reason was due to a simple 
 physical fact. We stood too near to it. To see 
 it well you should stand about twenty or thirty 
 feet off, and out of the gray background you 
 will see the marble horse tossing its living head, 
 and you will be spell-bound. Having observed 
 the truhfulness of impression, go close up, 
 and note the wonderful truth with which the 
 bony structure of the skull is suggested beneath 
 the skin. We can say no more than that it is a 
 true impression taken direct from nature, for in 
 no other way could it have been obtained. 
 
 Much has been written, too, about " idealism " 
 in Greek coins. To us they seem simply im- 
 pressions taken from busts or other works ; but 
 to make assurance doubly sure, we have taken 
 the opinion of two of the best modern sculptors, 
 and they agree with us. 
 
 We do not attempt to give a detailed technical 
 criticism of sculpture as executed by the Greeks, 
 for, as we have said before, none but a first-rate 
 sculptor can do that; and as they have quite 
 enough work to do at present, we fear the pub- 
 lic will have to wait some time for such criticism. 
 In the meantime those interested in the subject 
 cannot do better than study the works men- 
 tioned, and then, if they want a bit of fun let 
 
54 
 
 NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 them walk into the Gibson Gallery at Bvirlington 
 House 
 
 There is one point to be borne in mind when 
 we look at the surpassing beauty of the Greek 
 statues, and that is the natural beauty of the 
 Greek race, and the number of excellent models 
 the Greek sculptors had before them to choose 
 from. Taine, in his charming but atechnical 
 volume on " La Philosophie de L'art Grec," goes 
 as thoroughly into this question as a historian 
 and philosopher can enter into the life of the 
 past. 
 
 Early Christian Art, 
 Leaving Greek art, we now come to the art of 
 the early Christians. Woltmann and Woermann 
 tell us that " Early Christian art does not differ 
 in its beginnings from the art of antiquity. . . . The 
 only perceptible differences are those differ- 
 ences of subject which betoken the fact that 
 art has now to embody a changed order of 
 religious ideas, and even from this point of view 
 the classical connection is but gradually, and 
 at first imperfectly, severed. ... At the outset 
 Christianity, as was inevitable frcm its Jewish 
 origin, had no need for art. In many quarters the 
 aversion from works of material imagery. . . 
 — the antagonism to the idolatries of antiquity 
 — remained long unabated. Yet when Chris- 
 tianity, far outstepping the narrow circle 
 of Judaism, had been taken up by classically 
 educated Greeks and Romans, the prejudice 
 against wo^rks of art could hot continue to be 
 
NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 55 
 
 general, nor could Christendom escape the crav- 
 ing for art which is common to civilized man- 
 kind. The dislike of images used as objects of 
 worship did not include mere chamber decora- 
 tions, and while independent sculpture found 
 no footing in the Christian world, or at least 
 was applied only to secular and not- to religious 
 uses, painting, on the other hand, found encour- 
 agement for decorative purposes, in the execu- 
 tion of which a characteristically Christian 
 element began to assert itself by degrees. 
 
 The pure Christian element began to assert 
 itself silently in decorative work in the cata- 
 combs, and " these cemeteries are the only places 
 in which we find remains of Christian paintings 
 of earlier date than the close of the fourth 
 century." These works, however, " constituted 
 no more than a kind of picture writing," as any 
 one who has seen them can certify. But this 
 symbolism got very mixed with pagan stories, 
 and we get Orpheus in a Phrygian cap, and 
 Hermes carrying a ram, both representing the 
 Good Shepherd. At other times the artists 
 seem to have set themselves to represent a 
 Christ constructed on their knowledge of the 
 attributes ascribed to him, and we get a beard- 
 less youth, approaching " closely to the kindred 
 types of the classical gods and heroes." " Mary 
 appears as a Roman matron, generally praying 
 with uplifted hands. Peter and Paul appear as 
 ancient philosophers." 
 
 The mosaics of Christian art were also handed 
 down from classical antiquity. Though rarely 
 
56 
 
 NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY 
 
 found in the catacombs, this art was being much 
 used above ground for architectural decoration. 
 This art, as Woltmann and Woermann rightly 
 say, was " only a laborious industry, which by 
 fitting together minute colored blocks produces 
 a copy of a design, which design the workers 
 are bound by. They may proceed mechanically, 
 but not so flimsily and carelessly as the decora- 
 tive painters." From about a.d. 450 we are told 
 that church pictures become no longer only 
 decorative, but also instructive. Here then was 
 a wrong use of pictorial art — it is not meant to 
 be symbolic and allegorical, or to teach. 
 
 A new conception of Christ it seems now 
 appeared in the mosaics — a bearded type — and 
 this time we get the features of Zeus repre- 
 sented. By means of the mosaics a new impulse 
 was given to art, and in a.d. 375 a school was 
 founded by the Emperors Valentinian, Valens, 
 and Gratian, of which we read, "The schools of 
 art now once more encourage the observance of 
 traditions; strictness of discipline and acade- 
 mical training were the objects kept in view; 
 and the student was taught to work, not inde- 
 pendently by study from nature, but according 
 to the precedent of the best classical methods." 
 
 At this time art, though lying under the 
 influence of antique traditions, held its own for 
 a longer time in Byzantium, where the decora- 
 tive style of the early Christians lived on after 
 the iconoclastic schism in the eighth century, 
 and where we read that this ornamental style 
 began to be commonly employed. After the 
 
NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 57 
 
 age of Justinian (which itself has left no crea- 
 tion of art at Rome), many poor and conven- 
 tional works were executed at Ravenna. We 
 read that for "lack of inner life and significance, 
 amends are attempted to be made by material 
 splendor, brilliancy of costume, and a gold 
 groundwork, which had now become the rule 
 here as well as in Byzantium." Thus we see 
 the artists became completely lost in confusion 
 since they had left nature, grew ascetic, and 
 they knew not what to do, but, like many weak 
 painters of the present day, tried to make their 
 work attractive by meretricious ornaments, and 
 true art there was none. This is carried out 
 to-day to its fullest development by many men 
 of medium talent, who make pictures in far 
 countries, or of popular resorts, or religious 
 subjects, and strive to appeal, and do appeal to 
 an uneducated class, through the subject of their 
 work, which in itself may be a work of the 
 poorest description. 
 
 We read that in the year 640, " the superficial 
 and unequal character of mosaic workmanship 
 increased quickly." The miniatures of the 
 early Christians, however, we are told, showed 
 considerable power, but the iconoclastic schism 
 brought all this to an end. " The gibes of the 
 Mohammedans" were the cause of Leo the 
 Third's edict against image worship in a.d. 726. 
 All the pictures in the East were destroyed by 
 armed bands, and the painters thrown into 
 prison, and so ended Byzantine art. This 
 movement did not affect Italian art. 
 
58 
 
 NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 MEDIAEVAL ART. 
 
 We have followed Messrs. Woltmann and 
 Woermann closely in their account of the deca- 
 dence of art from the greatest days of Greek 
 sculpture and painting to the end of the Christian 
 period; but as our object is avowedly only to 
 deal with the best art — that which is good for 
 all time — and to see how far that is impression- 
 istic or otherwise, we shall speak but briefly of 
 the main points connected with mediaeval art, 
 which has but little interest for us until we 
 come to Niccolo Pisano, and Giotto. During 
 the early years of what are called the Middle 
 Ages, miniaturists were evolving monstrosities 
 from their own inner consciousness, but with 
 Charlemagne, who said, " We neither destroy 
 pictures nor pray to them," the standard 
 adopted was again classical antiquity. So art 
 continuously declined until it became a slave to 
 the Church, and the worst phase of this slavery 
 was to be seen in the East, under Ivan the- 
 Terrible, for we read that artists were under 
 the strictest tutelage to the clergy, who chose 
 the subjects to be painted, prescribed the man- 
 ner of the treatment, watched over the morality 
 of the painters, and had it in their power to give 
 and refuse commissions. Bishops alone could 
 promote a pupil to be a master, and it was their 
 duty to see that the work was done according 
 to ancient models." Here was indeed a pretty 
 state of things, a painter to be watched by a 
 priest; to have his subjects selected for him! 
 One cannot imagine anything more certain to 
 
NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 59 
 
 degrade art. " Religion " has ever been on the 
 side of mental retrogression, has ever been the 
 first and most pernicious foe to intellectual 
 progress, but perhaps to nothing has she been so 
 harmful as to art, unless it has been to science. 
 
 During the period of this slavery, the Church 
 used art as a tool, as a disseminator of her tenets, 
 as a means of imparting religious knowledge. 
 Very clever of her but very disastrous for poor art. 
 
 How conventional art was during the Roman- 
 esque period can be seen in the glass paintings 
 that decorate many of the old churches, to ad- 
 mire which crowds go to Italy and waste their 
 short time in the unhealthy interiors of churches, 
 instead of spending it at Salerno or Capri. 
 These go back to their own country, oppressed 
 with dim recollections of blue and red dresses, 
 crude green landscapes, and with parrot-like 
 talks of " subdued lights," " rich tones mellowed 
 by time," and such cant. 
 
 The Romanesque style of architecture was 
 superseded in the fourteenth century by the 
 Gothic. A transformation took place in art, 
 and France now took the lead. The painters 
 of this period emancipated themselves from 
 the direction of the priesthood — a great step 
 indeed. The masters of this age were special- 
 ists; the guilds now ruled supreme in art mat- 
 ters. We read that "now popular sentiment 
 began to acknowledge that the artist's own 
 mode of conceiving a subject had a certain 
 claim, side by side with tradition and sacerdotal 
 prescription. . . . They took their impres- 
 
6o NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY, 
 
 sions direct from nature," but their insight into 
 nature was scanty. As Messrs. Woltmann and 
 Woermann very truly remark, " If for the pur- 
 pose of depicting human beings, either separ- 
 ately or in determined groups and scenes, the 
 artist wishes to develop a language for the ex- 
 pression of emotion, there is only one means 
 open to him — a closer grasp and observation of 
 nature. In the age which we are now approach- 
 ing, the painter's knowledge of nature remains 
 but scanty. He does not succeed in fathoming 
 and mastering her aspects; but his eyes are 
 open to them so far as is demanded by the ex- 
 pressional phenomena which it is his great 
 motive to represent; since it is not yet for their 
 own sakes, but only for the sake of giving ex- 
 pression to a particular range of sentiments that 
 he seeks to imitate the realities of the world." 
 
 There was a struggle at this period for the 
 study of nature, and the tyranny of the Church 
 was being thrown off; there was then hope 
 that art would at last advance, and advance it 
 did. What was wanting was a deeper insight 
 into nature, for nature is not a book to be read 
 at a glance, she requires constant study, and 
 will not reveal all her beauties without much 
 wooing. And though we read of a sketch-book 
 of this time, the thirteenth century, in which 
 appears a sketch of a lion, which "looks ex- 
 tremely heraldic," and to which the artist has 
 appended the remark, " N. B.— Drawn from 
 life," this in no way surprises us, for have we 
 not been seriously told in this nineteenth cent- 
 
NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 6l 
 
 ury by the painters of catchy, meretricious 
 water-colors, with reds, blues and greens such 
 as would delight a child, that they had painted 
 them from nature; pictures in which ho two 
 tones were correct, in which detail, called by 
 the ignorant, finish, had been painfully elabo- 
 rated, while the broad facts of nature had been 
 ignored. Such work is generally painted from 
 memory or photographs. Happily work of this 
 kind will never live, however much the gullible 
 public may buy it. 
 
 Next we read that ''artists venture upon a 
 closer grip of nature." Here, then, were the 
 signs of coming success, and the great effect of 
 these gradual changes was first manifested in 
 the work of Niccola Pisano, who "made a 
 sudden and powerful return to the example 
 of the antique." All honor to this man, who 
 was an epoch -maker, who based his con- 
 ception ''upon a sudden and powerful return 
 to the example of the antique, of the Roman 
 relief." His work, it is true, is really an imita- 
 tion of the Roman Sarcophagi, but it was 
 enough for one man to do such a herculean 
 task as to ignore his own times and rise superior 
 to them. Painting, however, took no such 
 quick turn, but Cimabue was the first of those 
 who were to bring it into the right way. The 
 principal works ascribed to him, however, are 
 not authenticated. 
 
 Another epoch-maker, Giotto, now appears. 
 He seems to have been a remarkable man in 
 himself, which, however, hardly concerns us. 
 
62 
 
 NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 The historian of his works says, " The bodies 
 still show a want of independent study of 
 nature; the proportions of the several members 
 (as we know by the handbook of Cemieno here- 
 after to be mentioned) were regulated by a 
 fixed system of measurement;" again, " The 
 drawing is still on the whole conventional, and 
 the modeling not carried far." His trees and 
 and animals are like toys. Yet we read that 
 " their naturalness is the very point which the 
 contemporaries of Giotto extol in his creations," 
 but this must be accepted according to the 
 notion entertained of what nature was, and we 
 are by this means able to see how crude the 
 notions of nature can become in educated men 
 when they neglect the study of it. But from 
 all this evidence we gather that Giotto's instincts 
 were right and that his strides toward the 
 truthful suggesting of nature were enormous. 
 His attempts, too, at expression are wonderful 
 for his age, see his " Presentation," the figures 
 have a natural air, notwithstanding their crude 
 drawing; he got some of the charm and life of 
 the children around him. We read that in 
 some of his pictures, he took his models direct 
 from nature, as also did Dante in his poetry, 
 but like Dante he attempted at times the doc- 
 trinal in his pictures, as in the " Marriage of 
 St. Francis and Poverty," he tried in fact what 
 many moderns are still trying to' do, and daily 
 fail to do, namely, to teach by means of their 
 pictures. Doctrinal subjects are unsuitable for 
 pictorial art. Who cares now for Giotto's 
 
NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 63 
 
 " Marriage of St. Francis and Poverty ? " but 
 who would not care for a landscape or figure 
 subject taken by Giotto from the life and land- 
 scape of his own times ?• — it would be priceless. 
 Owing to circumstances, we hear that he had 
 to put " much of his art at the service of the 
 Franciscans," and though not a slave to them, 
 yet we read this disgusted him. with the monk- 
 ish temper. In 1337 Giotto died, but he had 
 done much. Without Kepler there might have 
 been no Newton, so without Giotto there might 
 have been no Velasquez. 
 
 Artists at this time belonged to one of the 
 seven higher of the twenty-one guilds into 
 which Florentine craftsmen were divided, 
 namely, that of the surgeons and apothecaries 
 (medici and speziali). Here art and science 
 were enrolled in the same guild. Together 
 they have been enslaved, persecuted, and their 
 progress hampered; together they have en- 
 dured; and now to-day together they stand out 
 glorious in their achievements, free to study, 
 free to do. The one is lending a hand to the 
 other, and the other returns the help with 
 graceful affection. Superstition, priestcraft, 
 tyranny, all their old persecutors are daily 
 losing power, and will finally perish. 
 
 We thus leave the art of the Middle Ages, as 
 we left the catacombs, with a wish never to see 
 them more. One feels the deepest sympathy 
 for great men like Giotto, and his greatest 
 followers, whose lots were cast in times of 
 darkness, and we cannot but respect such as 
 
64 NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 Struggled with this darkness, and fought to 
 gain the road to nature's fountains of truth 
 and beauty. But at the same time, though we 
 may in these pictures see a graceful pose here, 
 a good expression there, or a beautiful and true 
 bit of color or quality elsewhere, yet we cannot 
 get away from the subject-matter of many of 
 the pictures, which, allegorical and doctrinal as 
 they are, do not lie within the scope of art, and 
 above all one cannot in any way get rid of the 
 false sentiment and unloveliness of the whole 
 work. Such works will always be interesting 
 to the historian and to the philosopher, but 
 beyond that, to us, they are valueless, and we 
 would far rather possess an etching by Rem- 
 brandt than a masterpiece by Giotto. 
 
 When abroad, and being actually persuaded 
 of their great littleness, we have been moved 
 with pity for the victims we have met, victims 
 of the pedant and the guid^ebook, who are led 
 by the nose, and stand gaping before middle- 
 age monstrosities, while some " serious person " 
 pours into their ears endless cant of grace, 
 spirituality, lustrous coloring, mellifluous Ime, 
 idealism, et id genus omne, until, bewildered and 
 sick at heart, they return home to retail their 
 lesson diluted, and to swell the number of those 
 who pay homage at the shrine of pedantry and 
 mysticism. Had these travellers spent their 
 short and valuable time in the fields of Italy, 
 they would have learnt more art," whatever 
 they may mean by that term of theirs, than 
 they ever did in the bourgeois Campo Santo or 
 
NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 65 
 
 dark interior of Santa Croce or Santa Maria 
 Novella. 
 
 Alas ! that the painters of the Middle Ages 
 were unable to paint well. Had they painted 
 the beautiful life and landscape around them, 
 there would have been the pictures, the history, 
 and the idyllic poetry of a bygone age ; and 
 what have we now in their place ? Diluted 
 types of repulsive asceticism, sentimental types 
 of ignorance and credulity, demoniacs often 
 hideous and horribly true and painful to gaze 
 upon, the lies and sores on our beautiful world, 
 and on our own race. And whom have we to 
 thank for this ? Religion— the so-called en- 
 courager of truth, charity, and all that is beau- 
 tiful and good. " 
 
 EASTERN ART. 
 
 Before beginning the renascence we must 
 glance through Mohammedan, Chinese, and 
 Japanese art. With Mohammedan art we have 
 little to do, as it was purely geometric. It is 
 seen at its best in the Alhambra. The Arabian 
 mind seems to have been unable to rise beyond 
 a conventional geometrical picture-writing. 
 Such minds are seen to-day in all countries 
 amongst the undeveloped. Quite recently we 
 have seen some of the best modern negro work 
 from the West Coast of Africa ; there too was 
 the love of geometrical ornamentation as strong 
 as in the Arabian art. We repeat, this artisti- 
 cally-speaking low standard of development is 
 often seen among the people of to-day, and 
 
66 
 
 NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 though highly educated in all else, in the art 
 they are uneducated, in short they are sur- 
 vivals ; and the mischief is, that they judge 
 pictures by their survival standard ; they look 
 for bright colors placed in Persian-rug juxta- 
 position, and talk of "glorious coloring." It 
 never seems to occur to them what, art really is, 
 and what the artist has tried to express, and 
 how well and beautifully he has expressed it. 
 They seem to imagine there are abstract stand- 
 ards of color and form. " Glorious colorings " 
 are oftener than not meretricious lies dressed 
 out in gaudiest, vulgarest apparel, and when com- 
 pared with tender and chaste " colorings " will be 
 found veritable strumpets. Look carefully at 
 many of the much- vaunted water colors, and then 
 carefully study the same scene in nature, or in 
 the works of a sensitive artist, and if many of 
 those water- colors please you afterwards — well, 
 in matters artistic, you have the taste of a fru- 
 givorous ape. But " water-color " serves the 
 turn of a host of men — but not artists, who, 
 with their pretty paints, make pot boilers, of 
 which the forms and ideas are often stolen — 
 stolen, perhaps, from a photograph. Do such 
 ever study nature or art ? No. They sit at 
 home, and coin vulgar counterfeits with no 
 more of art in them than the perpetrators have 
 of honesty. It is time that it was clearly and 
 distinctly understood that the man who copies 
 a photograph not taken by himself is as despic- 
 able as the man who copies a painting. Yet 
 the " cheap " work of these men sells well, and 
 
NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 67 
 
 the gulled public talk glibly over them of 
 "strength" and "tone" and "coloring," and 
 what not. 
 
 Nature herself is so subtle and astonishing 
 in her facts that but few even of those who 
 do study her can come anywhere near her 
 when she is at her best, whereas, those who 
 do not study her at all, who have never painted 
 coram se, fake and fake, and by faking they lie, 
 and set the example to others to lie, and, if not 
 fought against, this sort of thing would speedily 
 take us back to the art of the Middle Ages, 
 when we should be under the tyranny of Croesus, 
 instead of Clericus. 
 
 CHINESE AND JAPANESE ART. 
 
 In China and Japan things were very differ- 
 ent. Following Mr. Anderson's invaluable work, 
 the " Pictorial Arts of Japan," we find that their 
 history of pictorial art begins about a.d. 457. 
 Mr. Anderson thinks, however, that art was 
 only actually planted in Japan with the intro- 
 duction of Buddhism in the sixth century. 
 Then it begins badly, for it was under the in- 
 fluence of religion, and in fact we read that the 
 earliest art consisted of Buddhist images and 
 mural decorations. This religious influence, 
 together with a servile imitation of the Chinese 
 masters, so enslaved art, that no development 
 of importance took place till the end of the 
 ninth century. 
 
 Looking at the plate of the "Ni O," — a 
 wooden statue — considered the greatest work of 
 
68 
 
 NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 the time, we can see the artist had really- 
 struggled to interpret nature, and no doubt 
 studies were made from the nude, for the work 
 on the anatomy could not otherwise have been 
 so well expressed ; but, good as it is, it runs in 
 the Michael Angelo spirit, is exaggerated, and 
 lacks entirely all the greatness of the Greek 
 sculpture. This work — the greatest of what Mr. 
 Anderson has called the first period — shows that 
 there had been a struggle towards the expression 
 of nature. 
 
 The second period, we learn, ends with the 
 fourteenth century, and is parallel, therefore, 
 with the European mediaeval period. On com- 
 paring plates of the Japanese work with that of 
 the same period in Europe, we are forced to give 
 the palm to the Japanese artists; they were, in 
 fact, vastly superior. In looking at the plate of 
 " The Death of Kos6 No Hirotaka " we cannot 
 but feel there was much more respect for nature 
 and art in Japan than there was in Europe at that 
 time, notwithstanding the fact that Buddhism 
 bore the same relation to art in Japan as Christi- 
 anity did in Europe. We read also that in the 
 twelfth century there was one, Nobuzane, who 
 had a brilliant reputation for ''portraits and 
 other studies from nature." The specimen shown 
 of Nobuzane's work is admirable in expression; 
 he has caught the living expression of his 
 model, but the rest is conventional. We are 
 told that the Chinese renascence began about 
 1275, and that the painters of this movement 
 worked on " Ink sketches of birds and bamboos, 
 
NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 69 
 
 portraits and landscapes," though these were 
 only a kind of picture-writing-. 
 
 Coming now to Mr. Anderson's third period, 
 from the end of the fourteenth century to the 
 last quarter of the eighteenth, we find that 
 Meicho seems to have been to Japanese art what 
 Giotto was to European art, and at about the 
 same period. We read further on that in the 
 early part of the fifteenth century the revived 
 Chinese movement referred to made its influ- 
 ence felt in Japan. An example given by Mr. 
 Anderson of Shiubun's idealized landscape paint- 
 ing, while far from satisfactory or even pleasing 
 to us, is, we venture to think, superior to the 
 work of Giotto. Therein is shown some power, 
 and there is not the childishness which is visible 
 in Giotto's work. Much more powerful, and 
 pleasing are the works of Soga Jasoku, fifteenth 
 century Chinese school. These landscapes show 
 the artist had a feeling for nature, and although 
 he attempted in the upper plate (Plate i6) what 
 we consider to be beyond the scope of art, yet 
 in the lower the master-hand shows itself. 
 There is atmosphere in the picture. Close 
 observation of nature resulted in a grasp of 
 subtlest movement and expression. Witness 
 the "Falcon and Egret" by Soga Chokuan 
 (sixteenth century), where the power shown in 
 depicting the grasp of the falcon's talon as it 
 mercilessly crushes the helpless egret, is very 
 great. Then look at the paintings of birds in 
 any of our books, and see how wooden, how 
 lifeless they are, compared with even the six- 
 
70 NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 teenth-century Japanese representation of bird 
 life, 
 
 Sesshiu, we are told, was another great painter, 
 and the founder of a school (1420-1509). This 
 great man, we are told, " did not follow in the 
 footsteps of the ancients, but developed a style 
 peculiar to himself. His power was greatest in 
 landscape, after which he excelled most in 
 figures, then in flowers and birds," and later on, 
 we are told, in animals. He preferred working 
 in monochrome, and it is said asserted " the 
 scenery of nature was his final teacher." 
 
 Then came the Kano School, all of whose 
 artists had great power of expression of move- 
 ment but not of form. The leader, we are told, 
 was an eclectic, and painted Chinese landscapes 
 in Japan. The best men of this period were 
 decidedly impressionists, and their chief aim 
 seems to have been to give a large impression 
 of the scene, and it is perfectly marvellous how 
 well they succeeded in depicting movement by 
 a very few lines. The " Rain Scene," by Kano 
 Tanyu, is a fine example of this. 
 
 We are told that Matahei tried to found a 
 school whose followers should go direct to na- 
 ture for their subjects, but the movement did 
 not receive any hearty impulse. However it 
 was taken up afterwards by a series of book 
 illustrators. Next we read of Korin whose 
 " works demonstrate remarkable boldness of 
 invention, associated with great delicacy of col- 
 oring, and often .... masterly drawing 
 
NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 7 1 
 
 and composition." The work of this seven- 
 teenth century artist is quite marvelous. 
 
 Winding up his account of the third period, 
 Mr. Anderson says, " But three-quarters of the 
 eighteenth century were allowed to pass with- 
 out a struggle on the part of the older schools 
 to elevate the standard of their art, and paint- 
 ing was beginning to languish into inanition 
 when the revolutionary doctrines of a few arti- 
 san book illustrators brought new aims and new 
 workers to inaugurate the last and most char- 
 acteristic period of Japanese art." 
 
 Mr. Anderson says, " The fourth and last era 
 began about thirty years before the close of the 
 last century, with the rise of the Shijo school of 
 painting in Kioto, and a wider development of 
 the artisan popular school in Yedo and Osaka, 
 two steps which conferred upon Japanese art 
 the strongest of those national characteristics 
 that have now completed its separation from 
 the parent art of Amia." 
 
 He goes on to say 'Hhat the study of nature 
 was admitted to be the best means of achieving 
 the highest result in art by the older painters 
 of China and Japan, but they limited its inter- 
 pretation " 
 
 We are told that Maruyama Okio was the 
 first painter who seriously endeavored to estab- 
 lish the study of nature (1733 — 1795). He 
 preached radical ideas in art at KiotOj the cen- 
 tre of Japanese conservatism and gathered a 
 school around him. In summing up this school, 
 Mr. Anderson remarks, " The chief characteris- 
 
72 NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 tics of the Shijo school are a graceful flowing 
 outline, freed from the arbitrary mannerisms 
 of touch indulged in by many of the older mas- 
 ters ; comparative, sometimes almost absolute, 
 correctness in the interpretation of the forms of 
 animal life ; and lastly, a light coloring, sug- 
 gestive of the prevailing tones of the objects 
 depicted, and full of delicate harmonies and 
 gradations." The work has a verve which ren- 
 ders it very fascinating. 
 
 One great man, Hokusai, appears as the last 
 of the race purely Japanese and uninfluenced 
 by European ideas, as all the Japanese artists 
 are now. 
 
 ■ So we find that through various phases the 
 Japanese developed to impressionistic landscape 
 painting. 
 
 Since writing this section, a collection of Jap- 
 anese and Chinese art has been opened at the 
 British Museum, which the student must by all 
 means study, for there he will see \'?orks of 
 most of the masters cited in these notes. 
 
 We feel, however, that wonderful as Japanese 
 art has been, yet there is a great gulf between 
 it and the best Greek and modern art. To us 
 Japanese art is the product of a semi-civilized 
 race, a race in which there is strong sympathy 
 with nature, but a very superficial acquaint- 
 ance with her poetry. In short, we feel the 
 Japanese need a deeper and more scientific 
 knowledge of nature, and that their work 
 falls far short of the best European work. At 
 the present day there is a craze for anything 
 
NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 73 
 
 Japanese, but like all crazes it will end in bring- 
 ing ridicule upon Japanese work ; for their work, 
 though fine for an uncivilized nation, is gro- 
 tesque in many points, and this stupid craze by 
 indiscriminate praise will only kill the quali- 
 ties to be really admired. 
 
 The earliest authentic records of Chinese 
 painting date about A.D. 251. The earliest 
 painters were painters of Buddhist pictures. 
 Mr. Anderson mentions as one of the best 
 known of the early masters, one Wu-Tao Tsz', 
 whose animals were remarkable. He thinks 
 that the art of China of to-day is feeble com- 
 pared with that which flourished iioo years 
 ago. We are informed too that the " artistic 
 appreciation of natural scenery existed in China 
 many centuries before landscapes ' played a 
 higher part in the European picture than that 
 of an accessory," and judging from the speci- 
 mens he gives in his book of the work of the 
 Sung Dynasty (960 — 1279 A.D.), the Chinese 
 artists had a great feeling for landscape. We 
 are told that the painters of the thirteenth cen- 
 tury " studied nature from the aspect of the im- 
 pressionist," and their subjects were all taken 
 from nature, landscape especially delighting 
 them. In the fifteenth century we read " deca- 
 dence began by their neglect of nature and their 
 cultivation of decorativ^ coloring and caligraphic 
 dexterity." We are told, and can readily be- 
 lieve it, that in painting of bird life they were 
 unequalled save by the Japanese, and that down 
 to 1279 the Chinese were at the head of the 
 
74 
 
 NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 world in painting, and their only rivals were 
 their pupils, the Japanese. Korean art seems 
 also to have degenerated since the sixteenth 
 century. 
 
 THE RENASCENCE. 
 
 This is a period of a return to the study of na- 
 ture, a carrying out of the feelings which seemed 
 to have been developing even in Giotto's time. No 
 longer now was the artist to be separated from 
 nature by the intervention of the Church, and 
 though natural science was not advancing as 
 fast as art was, still a growing regard for nature 
 was the order of the day. This feeling first 
 showed itself strongly in the Netherlands, with 
 the brothers Van Eyck. We are told that the 
 Van Eycks " mixed the colors with the medium 
 on the palette and worked them together on the 
 picture itself, thus obtaining more brilliant 
 effects of light as well as more delicate grada- 
 tions of tone, with an infinitely nearer approach 
 to the truth of nature." 
 
 The Van Eycks regarded nature lovingly, and 
 tried truthfully to represent her, and though 
 many of their works were of sacred subjects, 
 yet they were evidently studied from nature 
 with loving conscientiousness ; and so success- 
 ful were they that to this day the picture by 
 one of the brothers (a portrait of a merchant 
 and his wife), in the National Galler}', remains 
 almost unsurpassed. It is well worth a journey 
 to the National Gallery on purpose to see it, 
 and we trust all those who do not already know 
 
NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 75 
 
 the picture will take the trouble to go and study 
 it well. It is wonderful in technical perfection 
 in sentiment, in truthfulness of impression. 
 Note the reflection of the orange in the mirror, 
 with what skill it is painted. In fact, the whole 
 is fp-ll of life and beauty. It is a master piece 
 good for all time, and yet it is but the portrait 
 of a merchant and his wife. No religious sub- 
 ject here inspired John Van Eyck, but a mere 
 merchant family, yet in many ways the picture 
 remains, and will remain, unsurpassed. Such 
 powerful minds as the brothers Van Eyck, of 
 course, influenced all art, and they had many 
 followers, but it does not seem that these fol- 
 lowers had the insight into nature and art that 
 characterized the Van Eycks, and .the work falls 
 off after the death of the brothers, whose names 
 represent, and ably represent, all that was best 
 of the fifteenth century. 
 
 In the sixteenth century Quinten Massys was 
 the greatest and most impressionistic painter. 
 He was said to be the " originator of a peculiar 
 class of genre pictures, being, in fact, life-like 
 studies from the citizen life of Antwerp." Here 
 was an honorable departure from convention- 
 ality. His followers, however, having no mind 
 to see how he was so great, were led away from 
 the study of nature, and where are they now ? 
 Their names we all know, but who cares to see 
 their works ? Massys, the greatest painter of 
 this period in the Netherlands, was content to 
 take his subjects from the life of his own times. 
 
76 NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 as all great men have been, from the Egyptians 
 downwards. 
 
 Turning now to Germany, we shall see what 
 the best men there thought of impressionism. 
 The movement towards the study of nature 
 seems to have begun in the methods of engrav- 
 ing as practised by the goldsmiths, who were 
 trained artists. The earliest plates we find are 
 of subjects illustrating the life of the times, a 
 hopeful augury for Germany, which was fulfilled 
 by the work of the master, Albert Durer. We are 
 told he had "unlimited reverence for nature." 
 What strikes us most after an examination of 
 his plates at the British Museum, is the wonder- 
 ful strength and direction with which the man 
 tells his tale. His engravings are, of course, 
 without tone, and when he does natural land- 
 scapes, as was often the case, this lack of tone 
 is a serious fault; but for draughtsmanship he 
 is marvelous, and it is with joy we learn that 
 such a master said, "Art is hidden in nature, 
 those who care have only to tear it forth," which 
 is often true, if not always so. Every one inter- 
 ested in art, and who is not already well 
 acquainted with Durer's work, should make a 
 point of going to the print room in the British 
 Museum, and studying carefully all examples 
 of his work. They will, perhaps, at the same 
 time notice what struck us, namely, that one of 
 the best draughtsmen on PuncJis stafE has evi- 
 dently been a great admirer of Durer. 
 
 Woltmann and Woermann, speaking of 
 Durer's landscapes illustrative of his travels 
 
NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 77 
 
 south of the Alps, says that "he reveals himself 
 as one of the founders of the modern school of 
 landscape painting-." 
 
 His " Mill " is remarkable. His pen and ink 
 drawings are mostly of familiar subjects of 
 every-day life. The great danger of a man like 
 Durer is the bad effect of his influence in later 
 times, for inferior men imitate his faults and 
 not his merit, as is always the case with 
 imitators, and they forget that though Durer 
 was a genius, yet did he live to-day he would 
 probably work very differently and interpret 
 different subjects. An artist's time and en- 
 vironment must always be reckoned with. 
 
 The next great German was Hans Holbein 
 the younger. He had advantages over Durer, 
 for he was born when the feeling for independ- 
 ent study was strong, and thus started with a 
 clear mind, and arrived at achievements never 
 yet surpassed. Hans Holbein stands out as a 
 master for all time. His portraits are wonderful. 
 He, again, threw all his energy into the study 
 of nature and art, and his works are chiefly 
 representative of the life of his own times, 
 portraits of merchants and fellow-citizens. 
 There is the full-length portrait of a gentle- 
 man in the National Gallery, whose name has 
 not come down to us; yet is the interest less 
 great for that ? The dead Christ at Basle, too, 
 is wonderful for observation, as every one who 
 has dissected a dead body will affirm, but the 
 anatomy of the skeleton in Holbein's ' Dance 
 of Death" would make a first year's medical 
 
78 NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 Student laug-h. It must have been drawn from 
 memory. 
 
 Much of Holbein's best work was done in 
 London, and is at present in England, and we 
 cannot leave this part of the subject without 
 begg-ing- our readers to take every opportunity 
 of seeing the work of this wonderful master, 
 opportunities, which, alas ! will be rare enough. 
 
 Turning to Switzerland, we find no name 
 worth mentioning; and here we would ask those 
 who trace the effects of sublime mountain 
 scenery on the character of men, why there has 
 been no Swiss art worth mentioning? Of 
 course the explanation is simple — because art 
 has nothing whatever to do with sublime 
 scenery. The best art has oftenest been done 
 with the simplest material. 
 
 In Spain and Portugal at this time was being 
 felt the influence of the work of the Van Eycks. 
 In France the Clouets, some of the so-called 
 Fontainebleau school, were struggling towards 
 •nature and art, but no g-enius arose. But in 
 Italy there arose Leonardo Da Vinci. Never 
 has there been such an instance of the combina- 
 tion of scientific knowledge and artistic capacity 
 in one man. In the Louvre is his best work, 
 the portrait of Monna Lisa, to us quite disap- 
 pointing. We are told that " he constantly had 
 recourse to the direct lessons of nature, saying 
 that such teaching at second hand made the 
 artist, not the child, but the grandchild of 
 nature ! " Again we read that " Leonardo was 
 wholly in love with nature, and to know her 
 
NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 79 
 
 through science and to mirror her by art were 
 the aims and end of his Hfe." Michael Angelo 
 is the next great name we come to. Woltmann 
 and Woermann say that " the mightiest artist 
 soul that has lived and worked throughout 
 Christian ages is Michael Angelo Buonarroti." 
 Now this is a literary dogma to which we are 
 totally opposed, and so we are to all the pedan- 
 tic criticism which follows, about "strong and 
 lofty subjectivity," "purified ideal," and what 
 not. Let Michael Angelo's work be compared 
 with the work of Phidias. Woltmann and 
 Woermann tell us " he studied man alone, and 
 for his own sake," the structure being to him 
 everything. This is what we always felt to 
 be the fault of Michael Angelo, i. e. that he 
 was rather an anatomist, and often a lover of 
 monstrosities, than an artist. The action of the 
 muscles in his' figures may not go beyond the 
 verge of the possible when taken separately^ 
 and as one would test them with an electric 
 current, but we do insist that when taken as a 
 harmonious whole, the spasmodic action of 
 some muscles as expressed by him would have 
 prevented the exaggerated actions of others by 
 antagonizing their effect. Michael Angelo's 
 work has always given us the feeling that he 
 had a model, on which with an electric current, 
 he tested the action of each muscle separately, 
 and then modeled each one separately whilst 
 the circuit was joined; in fact that his works 
 are amateur scientific studies and not works of art. 
 Woltmann and Woermann say first of all 
 
8o NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 he does go beyond the bounds of nature, and 
 that therein lies his greatness, and then they 
 flatly contradict themselves, and say an anato- 
 mist has informed them that he does not go 
 beyond the bounds of nature, and they quote 
 this as a merit. Our opinion is that he exagger- 
 ates nature. It may be bad taste, but I am not 
 afraid to confess that I do detest the man and 
 his works, and recent studies of his life prove 
 him to have been a human monster. 
 
 Raphael * and Correggio are both as unsym- 
 pathetic to us, though we are fully aware of the 
 ^,^70,000 reputation of the one, and the literary 
 reputation of the other. Raphael does not 
 appeal to us, with his sickly sentimentality, 
 his undistinguished composition, and his 
 lack of observation of nature. Many of the 
 figures in his pictures, standing some feet 
 behind the foremost, are taller and larger than 
 those in front. We feel sure he had no inde- 
 pendence of mind. He was a religious senti- 
 mentalist and time will give him his true place. 
 But as a taxpayer we must enter a protest 
 against the ineptitude of authorities who pay 
 such heavy prices for pictures such as the 
 Raphael referred to. There was a 'small 
 picture of a head — the head of a doctor — by an 
 unknown hand, hanging near the Raphael, 
 which, as a work of art, we propose to submit, 
 was infinitely its superior, but it was done by 
 an unknown hand. (These pictures have since 
 
 * M. Charcot has recently shown that Raphael's demoniacs are all 
 false and untrue. 
 
NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 8l 
 
 been re-hung.) For that ;j^7o,ooo what a splen- 
 did collection of good work by men (as Whistler) 
 of the present day could have been purchased. 
 
 To the same period belongs Andrea del 
 Sarto, a painter of great power. He had more 
 feeling for nature and art than most of the men 
 of his time, and his breadth of treatment and 
 truthfulness of coloring are admirable. Of 
 course he painted religious pictures, but from 
 the impressionistic point of view they are won- 
 derful. The student must study the portrait in 
 the National Gallery painted by him. 
 
 The next and last great master of this period 
 is Titian, another of the few entitled to the 
 name of genius. His portraits are his best 
 works. Michael Angelo is reported to have 
 said, "This man might have been as eminent 
 in design as he is true to nature and masterly 
 in counterfeiting the life, and then nothing could 
 be desired better or more perfect." Titian's 
 works show that he had much more love for 
 nature than Michael Angelo ever showed, and 
 we think it a pity for Michael Angelo's sake 
 that he did not take a leaf from Titian's book 
 instead of criticising his power of design. His 
 landscape backgrounds show a feeling for 
 nature far above anything painted up to that 
 time. After his day art in Italy fell into evil 
 ways, though some writers on painting talk 
 of Caravaggio, and of Canaletto, whose pic- 
 tures look like well-colored chromographs, be- 
 ing sharp as photographs ; that Canaletto used 
 a camera obscura is well known, for Count 
 
82 NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 Algarotti has told us as much. He includes 
 Ribera and other Tramontane masters in the 
 list of those who used the camera obscura. 
 Ribera, however, was a good painter. The 
 passages in some of his works are masterful, as 
 in the dead Christ at the National Gallery. 
 
 FROM THE RENASCENCE TO MODERN TIMES. 
 
 We shall now glance over the works of 
 the great artists thoughout Europe from 
 the time of the Renascence period down- 
 ward, and see how and what influence nature 
 had on them, and we shall inquire whether the 
 study of nature and art and adhesion to the sub- 
 jects of every-day life was not the secret of the 
 success of all who stand out as pre-eminent 
 during this period. The simplest method will 
 be to take separately the countries where art 
 has flourished. 
 
 Beginning with Spain, we find at the outset 
 from history that there was but little hope for art. 
 Religion enchained art, and that terrible stain on 
 ignorant Spain, the inquisition, gave rise to the 
 office of "Inspector of Sacred Pictures." This 
 office was no sinecure, for it controlled all the 
 artists' movements, even prescribing how much 
 of the Virgin's naked foot should be shown. 
 Comments are needless, for how could art 
 flourish under such circumstances ? One name, 
 however, comes at last to break through all 
 rule, and in 1599, at Seville, was born Velas- 
 quez. Velasquez, though moving from his 
 youth up in tlie most refined society of his 
 
NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 83 
 
 native town, had the might of genius to see 
 that the falsely sentimental work of his pred- 
 ecessors was not the true stuff, and he, like all 
 great workers, made nature his watchword. 
 He is reputed to have said he would rather be 
 the first of vulgar painters than the second of 
 refined ones," and though he began by painting 
 still life straight from nature, he finally became 
 in his portraits one of the most refined, truthful 
 and greatest of painters the world has ever 
 seen. Though greatly influenced by the relig- 
 ious tendencies of the time, we find him often 
 painting the life around him, and we have from 
 his brush water-carriers, and even drunkards; 
 but he finally reached his greatest heights and 
 the exercise of his full powers in portraiture. 
 All who have a chance, and all who have not 
 should try and find one, and go to the National 
 Gallery and study the remarkable head of 
 Philip of Spain, Rarely has portraiture attained 
 such a level as in this example, and what was 
 the oath this painter took ? " Never to do any- 
 thing without nature before him." The next 
 name, worthy in some ways, but not to be com- 
 pared with Velasquez, is Murillo; and when 
 was he notable ? Was it in his sickly sentimen- 
 tal religious pictures? No, certainly not. It 
 was in such pictures as the Spanish peasant 
 boys, such as can be seen in the Dulwich Gal- 
 lery. This gallery is open to the public, and 
 quite easy of access, and should not be neg- 
 lected. The last Spanish name of note is that 
 of Fortuny, a Catalonian, who is often mistaken 
 
84 NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 for a Frenchman, since he lived in Paris some 
 years ago. His best pictures were homely and 
 festal scenes, including modern Spaniards and 
 interiors, which he painted as he saw. He is 
 accounted one of the fathers of pen and ink 
 draughtsmanship by Mr. Pennell. For this 
 new departure, and on account of his work, 
 Fortuny deserves all praise. Since his death, 
 in 1874, but few Spanish painters of note have 
 come to the fore, L. Jimenetz, Maso, Meifren, 
 excepted. The pen and ink drawings, however, 
 of Madrozo, Rico and Vierge are very fine and 
 truthful. The bulk of art of that country, how- 
 ever, languishes in prettiness, false sentimen- 
 tality, and works done for popularity; the 
 ephemerides of art. 
 
 GERMANY. 
 
 Germany seems to have neglected the lessons 
 taught her by Durer and Holbein, and the 
 mystics seize her and carry her away from 
 nature and art. Since the days of Holbein no 
 really great man has arisen. Kaulbach, who 
 has been well described as "all literature," is 
 praised by some, but he does not seem to have 
 had even poetic ideas. Makart was meretricious 
 and small, and Heffner's pictures are like bad 
 photographs in color, just the class of photog- 
 raphy we have always been against. Had he 
 been a photographer, he would never have 
 risen above the topographical, as he has never 
 risen above the topographical in painting. 
 Kuehl, Leibe and Olde are good but not so 
 
NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY, 85 
 
 good as many of their masters, the French. 
 The pen and ink drawings of Menzel and 
 Dietz, however, are remarkable. 
 
 AUSTRO-HUNGARY. 
 
 Much has been made of Munkacsy, but his 
 " Christ Before Pilate," and others prove him to 
 my mind to be quite second-rate. Far better 
 are Margitay, Schlomka, and, above all, O. de 
 Thosen. But I find no originality in the works 
 of Austro-Hungarian artists, merely an applica- 
 tion of French methods to native themes. But 
 what is good is impressionistic. 
 
 FLEMISH ART. 
 
 Rubens and Van Dyck we mention only to 
 show we have not overlooked them. The 
 work of both shows more regard for getting 
 on " and the " ancients " than for art ; it is 
 lacking in feeling and beauty. Van Dyck, even 
 in his portraits, is often wood itself. Teniers 
 the younger as an artist is a long way ahead of 
 either of these men, and in some ways he goes 
 very far. Van Ostade is often good also. His 
 portrait of a man lighting his pipe, a small 
 picture to be seen at the Dulwich Gallery, is a 
 masterpiece of painting, and as fine as anything 
 of the kind done up to this period. This little 
 gem is the work of a lover of nature and an 
 artist. It is quite a small canvas, about iox6, 
 with no "story," nothing but a man lighting his 
 pipe; yet it is perfect, and far surpasses all the 
 sentimentalities of Raphael, or the ^ours de force 
 
86 
 
 NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 of Rubens. The student must see this picture 
 without fail. 
 
 MODERN BELGIAN ART. 
 
 Of recent Belgian birth Bourrer knows how 
 to paint the sea, whilst E. Claus, Collart, F. 
 Courtens, J. Den Duyts, Musin, H. Vander- 
 hecht, J. Verhas and I. Verstraete are all good 
 landscape painters. Verstraete 's "Un Soir 
 d'ete," " Lever de Lune a la Bruyere " and 
 " Matinee d'Avril " being very fine and poetic. 
 Vanderhest is very true, Musin coarse, Den 
 Duyts true, Courtens broad and true, Collart 
 lustrous, and Claus true and refined. Mile. 
 D'Anethan paints figures well, Mile. Meurier 
 paints still life admirably; A. Struys paints 
 well, but above all J. Khnopff excels in drawing 
 and painting, and giving truth of expression; 
 his portraits and Verstraete 's landscapes strike 
 us as the finest modern Belgian work, whilst L. 
 Stevens and E. Wavters strike us as poor and 
 conventional, and long ago passed by. The 
 modern Belgian sculpture is bad. 
 
 ENGLISH ART. 
 
 The English painters of note begin with 
 Hogarth, though the bad work of Lely and 
 Kneller is cited as English, because executed 
 in England, yet neither of these two men were 
 English, and no lover of art would be proud of 
 them if they were. Hogarth, then, was the 
 father of English painting, and he began on 
 good healthy lines, for he chose his subjects 
 
NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY, 87 
 
 from his own time; and though he affected to 
 point a moral in his pictures, still there is the 
 grip of insight into essentials in his work which 
 mark it. The reader will probably have seen 
 his work at the National Gallery; if not, he 
 should do so at once. 
 
 We pass over Wilson, for in his work is not 
 apparent any love of nature or decoration, but 
 only a feeling for classicism. The next name 
 is that of Joshua Reynolds He was a manner- 
 ist, and, though successful in his own time, is 
 very mortal. Close on his knightly heels came 
 one of the true immortals, Thomas Gains- 
 borough, one of the most charming portrait 
 painters the world has ever seen. His land- 
 scapes, though better than any up to his time, 
 are not good, and his reputation rests chiefly on 
 his power in- portraiture, in which he excelled. 
 Charm breathes from his canvas; he has seized 
 the very essence of his sitters' being and por- 
 trayed them full of life and beauty. See his 
 portrait of Mrs. Tickell and Mrs. Sheridan in 
 the Dulwich Gallery; you will never forget the 
 charm and the beauty of the ladies, wherever 
 you go afterwards. Study well these two, and 
 then go and gaze on a portrait by Reynolds, 
 and we doubt not you will have learnt some- 
 thing of the gulf that separated the two 
 painters. Leaving " the Kauffman" and Fuseli 
 to those who can admire them, we pass on to 
 poor George Morland, a genius in his own 
 branch of art. This man studied and painted 
 from life, and his pictures bear testimony that 
 
88 
 
 NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 he did so, and notwithstanding the drawbacks 
 caused by his unfortunate temperament, his 
 name lives and grows more respected every day. 
 
 We now come to a deservedly well-known 
 name — that of Thomas Bewick, the engraver 
 on wood. Here we have a man working in a 
 humble way, humble that is as compared with 
 painting or sculpture, yet loving and studying 
 nature in detail, daring now and then to add 
 some quiet fancy of his own. As a technician 
 he is famous; but his birds are not true to 
 nature; nor are they beautiful. 
 
 Wood-cutting has degenerated. Men of little 
 training and no artistic feeling took it up, and 
 slowly but surely the. art decayed until it 
 became purely mechanical, and so it has re- 
 mained in England. Now it bids fair to be 
 superseded by photo-mechanical processes, as it 
 will undoubtedly be entirely superseded directly 
 a really delicate process of reproduction is dis- 
 covered for printing with the type. In the 
 United States, however, wood- engraving took a 
 fresh start, and brought photography to its aid, 
 and our opinion is that the effect obtained in 
 photographs printed on albumenized paper be- 
 came the effect which the wood-cutters aimed 
 for, and the result is a print of wonderful 
 detail and beauty; but for our taste it is too 
 polished and neat, the effect of overlaying is far 
 too visible, and though surpassing anything of 
 the kind done in England, it is, as a work of 
 art, altogether eclipsed by Bewick's work, the 
 reason being that every line in his blocks is 
 
|i NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 89 
 
 full of meaning. But the hydra head of com- 
 mercialism showed itself, and wood-engravers 
 with little or no feeling for or knowledge of art 
 set to work turning out blocks like machines. 
 Photography will keep these artisans from fall- 
 ing utterly away from nature, yet such work is 
 harmful and of no artistic good to us, though it 
 may please the public. Had there been no 
 constant returns to nature (as there must always 
 be, in some measure, when a photograph is 
 copied) decay would be sharp and speedy, but 
 photography bolsters up the dying art. Lately 
 several wood-blocks have been produced cut 
 from photographs, wherein all the beauty of 
 the photographs has been utterly lost by the 
 engraver, and the results are bastard slips of 
 trade ; but we shall have more to say on this 
 subject later on. One thing at any rate photog- 
 raphy can claim: that is, so long as it can be 
 practised, art can never slip back to the crude 
 work done in some eras of its decadence. 
 Photography has helped many of those feeble 
 wood-cutters immensely, and the epicier-^ritioi 
 calls these works precious." It is extraordinary 
 how men will deceive themselves.* , , . 
 
 Now we come to a branch of art which is 
 essentially English, namely, painting in water- 
 colors. It is not meant by this that- water- 
 color is a new medium, or that the English 
 water-colorists were the first to use the medium. 
 
 * Vide Mr. W. J. Linton's book on wood-engravers. That a wood- 
 engraver should choose process- work to reproduce famous plates speaks 
 volumes. 
 
96 NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 for the tempera paintings were but water-colors, 
 and Albert Durer and others used it consider- 
 ably ; but what is implied is that the English 
 were the first to adopt it largely and develop it, 
 though it was reserved for the modern Dutch- 
 men and Frenchmen to show its fuller capabili- 
 ties. The painter in water-color has not, of 
 course, the same control over his medium as he 
 has in using oils. But to see really beautiful 
 water- colors the reader must not look for them 
 in English galleries. No Englishman ever 
 came so near to nature — to the subtleties of 
 nature — in water-color as do the modern Dutch 
 and French painters. The reader w^ould do well 
 to go to Goupil's exhibitions of modern Dutch 
 and French painters, which are held from time 
 to time, and keep a look-out for water-colors, 
 and he should carefully study them at the Paris 
 Salon. Of the bulk of English water-colors of 
 to-day there is not one word of praise to be said, 
 and the student in art matters will do well to 
 avoid all exhibitions of this work until he has a 
 greater insight into nature ; and then let him go 
 to the various water-color exhibitions, and if he 
 does not receive a mental shock we shall be 
 greatly surprised. There is but little in them 
 except pounds, shillings and pence. The best 
 of them are nauseous imitations of Turner. 
 These remarks do not, of course, apply to such 
 work as is done by a few modern painters, such 
 as Mr. Whistler, but these paint in oils first and 
 water-color afterwards. The first Englishman 
 worth considering in this branch of art is Girtin, 
 
NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 91 
 
 who was sincere as far as he could be, and 
 had he not died at such an early age (under 
 thirty) the probability is that Turner would 
 have been eclipsed by him. Of Turner we shall 
 speak later on. The name of David Cox rises 
 above the men of his time ; but, after all, his is 
 not the name of an immortal. He aimed well, 
 however, for he tried to paint the life and land- 
 scape of his time. Much has been written 
 about De Wint ; but if we go to the basement 
 of the National Gallery and study De Wint, and 
 then go to Norfolk and study the landscape 
 there, we shall find Mr. De Wint is sadly to 
 seek. One thing, however, may be said in his 
 praise. He studied out of doors. His peasants 
 are not the fearful travesties of Hill, Barrett 
 and Collins. Lewis, and Cotman, and Vincent 
 have, however, done some better things than 
 De Wint. 
 
 Returning to oil painting, we must pass over 
 the long list of names, including Presidents of 
 the Royal Academy, whose names are now all 
 but, if not quite, forgotten, for their peasantry 
 of the Opera Bouffe, their landscapes after 
 Claude never did interest any but the painters 
 themselves and an uneducated public. 
 
 Then we come to Turner, that competitor in 
 painting. This work has had an artificial affla- 
 tus through the writings of a "splendidly false " 
 critic, and, curiously enough, the critic, like the 
 artist, has had insight enough to see that the 
 landscape artist should be an interpreter of the 
 life and landscape of his own time; but, curiously 
 
92 NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 enough, the critic, like the artist, does not know 
 pictorial nature. The critic has taken Turner 
 as nature unalloyed, and hence the whole cf 
 that gigantic work of his is built on sand. The 
 critic never had much, if any, weight with 
 the best artists. Even Turner himself was 
 amused with the reasonings of his eulogistic 
 logic ! and gave it out as much as a man 
 can give out about his eulogist, that all the 
 tall talk about his pictures was rubbish. To 
 say of his earlier pictures that he painted in 
 rivalry or imitation, if you like, of Wilson, 
 Poussin, and Claude, is to say they are bad, as 
 they undoubtedly are. This spirit of rivalry 
 never seems to have deserted Turner, for in his 
 will he left directions bequeathing one of his 
 pictures to the Academy, on condition it should 
 be hung side by side with a Claude. The spirit 
 of this is, of course, patent. He thinks he has 
 beaten Claude, and that is enough. No great 
 genius would have descended to that. Art was 
 to him an unending competition, and the result 
 was that though he reveled in the life and 
 landscape of his own times, yet the small spirit 
 of competition was his ruin. His later pictures 
 are, of course, the eccentricities of senility, and 
 the garish colorings seen by a diseased eye, as 
 has been lately shown, and are as unlike nature 
 as one could expect such work to be. But let 
 us take his " Frosty Morning " at the National 
 Gallery. Look well at it, and what do you 
 find ? Falsity everywhere, and most of the 
 subtlety and poetry of a frosty morning com- 
 
NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 93 
 
 pletely missed. The truest picture by Turner 
 that we know is a little aquarelle at South 
 Kensington — ''A View on the Thames." Here, 
 then, when we get Turner true to the truth 
 which he felt in himself, and not competing 
 (that we know of), what do we find ? We find 
 him immensely behind Corot in the poetic 
 expression of nature, as is well possible for so 
 reputedly great a man. The Liber Studiorum 
 should also be carefully studied, noting the 
 falsities; trees drawn by rule, figures not drawn 
 at all, the total disregard of the phenomena of 
 nature and of decoration, sometimes even the 
 evidence of several sans in one picture. There 
 is no truth of tone; no atmosphere; the values 
 are all wrong; all the charm and subtlety of 
 nature completely missed. Go to Corot or 
 Maris after this, and what a difference ! Here 
 are no meretricious adornments, but more 
 nature and less mannerism. Turner is not the 
 man to study, and if you cannot " understand 
 him " well and good. Many artists cannot and 
 do not wish to, and many Frenclp. painters of 
 great ability ieer at his very name. 
 
 All should study Constable's works at the 
 National Gallery and South Kensington; and his 
 life by Leslie is well worth reading, as showing 
 how much of a nature -lover he was in theory. 
 The best example of his work that we know is 
 a little river scene, with some willows, which 
 we saw at South Kensington Museum. You 
 feel, however, that there is no atmosphere in 
 most of his pictures; this is partly due to their 
 
94 NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 being out of tone. He had not the knowledge 
 of nature and feeling for decoration that char- 
 acterized Corot, and was not always faithful to 
 his creed; hence his failings. It is true that we 
 have read in his life such passages as these : 
 ''In such an age as this, painting should be 
 understood, not looked on with blind wonder, 
 nor considered only as poetic inspiration, but as a 
 pursuit — legitimate, scientific, and mechanicals. . 
 "The old rubbish of art, the musty common- 
 place, wretched pictures which gentlemen col- 
 lect, hang up, and display to their friends, may 
 be compared to Shakespeare's ' Beggarly Ac- 
 count of Empty Boxes.' Nature is anything 
 but this, either in poetry, painting, or in the 
 fields." . . . " Observe that thy best director, thy 
 perfect guide is nature Copy from her. In her 
 paths is thy triumphal arch. She above all other 
 teachers." . . . "Isitnotfolly, said Mr. Northcote 
 to me in the Exhibition, as we were standing 
 
 before 's picture, for a man to paint, what 
 
 he can never see ? Is it not sufficiently difficult 
 to paint what he does see ? This delightful 
 lesson leads me to ask, what is painting but an 
 imitative art — an art that is to realize, not to 
 feign. Then some dream that every man who will 
 not submit to long toil in the imitation of nature, 
 flies up, becomes a phantom, and produces 
 dreams of nonsense and abortions. He thinks 
 to save himself under a fine imagination, which 
 is generally, and always in young men, the 
 scapegoat of folly and idleness." . . . "There 
 has never been a lay painter, nor can there be. 
 
NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 95 
 
 The art requires a long apprenticeship, being 
 mechanical, as well as intellectual." ..." My 
 pictures will never be popular," he said, " for 
 they have no handling. But I see no handling 
 in nature." . . , Blake once, on looking through 
 Canstable's sketch-books, said of a drawing of 
 fir-trees, "Why, this is not drawing, but inspir- 
 ation ! " and Constable replied, " I never knew 
 it before ; I meant it for drawing." ..." If 
 the mannerists had never existed, painting would 
 have been easily understood." ..." I hope to 
 show that ours is a regularly taught profession; 
 that it is scientific, as well as poetic ; that im- 
 agination alone never did, and never can, pro- 
 duce works that are to stand a comparison with 
 realities." . . . "The deterioration of art has 
 everywhere proceeded from similar causes, the 
 imitation of preceding styles, with little refer- 
 ence to nature." . . . " It appears to me that 
 pictures have been overvalued, held up by a 
 blind admiration as ideal things, and almost as 
 standards by which nature is to be judged, 
 rather than the reverse." . . , "The young 
 painter, who, regardless of present popularity, 
 would leave a name behind him, must become 
 the patient pupil of nature, nevertheless." Con- 
 stable was not always true to himself, he cer- 
 tainly has little feeling for decoration. Merely 
 imitating unselected nature never makes an 
 artist. 
 
 Crome, who was, in our opinion, a better 
 painter than Constable, was like him, an im- 
 pressionist, and true to his faith. There is an 
 
96 NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 amtising scene in his life, which we will quote. 
 "A brother of the art met Crome in a remote 
 spot of healthy verdure, with a troop of young- 
 persons. Not knowing the particular object of 
 the assembly, he ventured to address the Nor- 
 wich painter thus : ' Why, I thought I had left 
 you in the city engaged in your school.' ' I am 
 in my school,* replied Crome, 'and teaching my 
 scholars from the only true examples. Do you 
 think,' pointing to a lovely distance, ' either 
 you or I can do better than that ? ' " 
 
 * Crome has expressed his view of art in the 
 following remarks, which we read in his life : 
 " The man who would place an animal where 
 the animal would not place itself, would do the 
 same with a tree, a bank, a human figure — with 
 any object, in fact, which might occur in nature; 
 and therefore such a man may be a good color- 
 ist or a good draughtsman, but he is no artist." 
 At the National Gallery is to be seen a very 
 good specimen of his work, and one well worth 
 studying. Vincent, another East Anglian, did 
 some fine work, quite equal to that of Van der 
 Velde. 
 
 We now pass over the names of Callcott, 
 Nasmyth, Miillef, and Maclise, persons who 
 have been called "great colorists," whatever 
 that may mean. A great colorist should be 
 a subtle and delicate colorist, and Miiller is 
 almost chromographic in originality. 
 
 Creswell, Linnell, and Cooke, are names that 
 
 * I have since writing this seen a Crome that has all the feeling and 
 quality of a fine Corot. This was a picture of a row of poplars. 
 
NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 97 
 
 Stand out at this period, and the best of them is 
 Cooke; his painting of " Lobster Pots," at South 
 Kensington, being fresh and pretty; but none 
 are poets; they have but little insight into 
 nature, though Linnell at times shows the true 
 feeling. Of considerable power were Wilkie, 
 Stansfield, Mulready, Leslie, Landseer and Ma- 
 son, but most of them have been over-praised. 
 They are all false in sentiment, and all lack 
 insight into the poetry of nature. In technique 
 Wilkie and Landseer are sometimes strong, 
 and they will always appeal to a certain class of 
 people. Mason's work is a fine example of the 
 folly of introducing the so-called " imaginative " 
 into landscape. Take his "Harvest Moon:" 
 when and where did ever men exist with such 
 limbs ? The whole picture smacks of the model 
 and of the "stage idealism;" there is no nature 
 there, but a laughable parody of it. The next 
 name in English art is that of * Frederick Wal- 
 ker, who had a considerable grip of and insight 
 into nature. But in his work the traditions of 
 the idyllic peasants of the golden age linger, 
 and we find his ploughman merrily running 
 along with a plough as though it were a toy 
 cart; and what a ploughman! he never saw a 
 field in his life. His coloring and decorative 
 sense are sadly to seek, yet notwithstanding 
 this his name will always be a landmark in 
 English art. The reader will be able to study 
 one of his works in the National Gallery, and a 
 
 * His book illustrations have been so ruined by wood-cutters that 
 as Mr. J. Fennel says, they are valueless. 
 
98 
 
 NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 poor thing too ! The date of Walker's death 
 brings us down to the actual present. Regard- 
 ing living English painters we will remain dis- 
 creetly silent. It must be remembered that 
 English art is young, beginning as it practically 
 does in the eighteenth century, for the miniature- 
 painters cannot count for much, and we must 
 therefore not expect too much. Great men, 
 especially great artists, are rare as Koh-i-noors. 
 England can boast of a few, such as Gains- 
 borough, Raeburn and Crome. 
 
 American Art. 
 Of American art there is but little to say. No 
 name stands out worthy of record till J. M. 
 Whistler appears, and he, though an American 
 by birth, can hardly be called an American 
 painter, for the life and landscape of his own 
 country he neglects, as also does Sargent, a 
 strong painter, French by education. Whistler's 
 name rises far above any artist living in Engl and ; 
 his portrait of his mother and those of Carlyle 
 and Sarasate are works good for all time. But 
 his most original note has been struck in his 
 delicate and subtile landscapes, chefs-d'oeuvre 
 worthy to be ranked with the best. Mr. Whist- 
 ler's influence, too, has been great and good. 
 As a pioneer he led the revolt against ignorant 
 criticism by his attack on *Ruskin. His life in 
 England has been a long battle for art, and 
 though many do not approve of all his methods, 
 and still less of his brilliant but illogical " Ten 
 
 * " The gentle art of making enemies." 
 
NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 99 
 
 O'clock," his work and influence have been for 
 good. 
 
 Another great step in advance, introduced by- 
 Mr. Whistler, has been the reform in hanging 
 pictures; though he has not been allowed to 
 carry out his plans thoroughly, yet he has man- 
 aged his exhibitions much more artistically 
 than any others in the country. In landscape 
 his night scene at Valparaiso is marvelous, and 
 we doubt whether paint ever more successfully 
 expressed so difficult a subject. But even as 
 Homer nods, so does, at times, Mr. Whistler, 
 and sometimes impressions " in oil, water- 
 color, and etching appear with his name, an 
 honor of which they are unworthy. Yet so 
 long as art lives will Mr. Whistler live in his 
 Carlyle, his portrait of his mother. The Balcony, 
 Lady Campbell, and some smaller works. Mr. 
 Sargent's Carnations and Lilies must be fresh 
 in our readers' minds. We will only say of it 
 that we never saw the actual physical facts of 
 nature so truthfully and subtly rendered. It is 
 indeed a picture whose title to admiration will 
 be lasting, and if the reader has not already 
 seen it, or, having seen it, has listened to atra- 
 bilious critics, and passed it over as being 
 "ugly," let him go to South Kensington and 
 view it again, for the nation is its fortunate 
 possessor. Let him look well at it, and consider 
 what it is. It represents a garden at the time 
 of day when the sunlight is fading but has not 
 quite gone — crepuscule, in fact, and with the 
 dying light of day is represented the artificial 
 
JOO NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 light of Chinese lanterns. This is indeed a 
 masterpiece, as is the masterly portrait of Ellen 
 Terry as Lady Macbeth. Besides these two 
 masters J. Stewart, George Hitchcock, W. T. 
 Daumont, J. Melchus, A. Harrison, and L. R. 
 Wiles are all good painters, whilst * Abbey, 
 Parsons, and J. Pennell are good pen-and-ink 
 draughtsmen ; and Kingsley, Cole, French, 
 Johnson, Davis and others are very good wood 
 engravers. The two last arts owe their revival 
 entire! y to photography, and photography is used 
 by many of these ''detractors," but the idea of 
 original wood-cutting is a dream of the night. 
 Photography is used and the cutting neces- 
 sarily done in-doors, even if in a traveling cara- 
 van, and where does "out-of-door" lighting 
 come in? These "original" wood-cutters if 
 they really love nature as they profess had far 
 better turn photographers, and so express genu- 
 inely the subtleties of nature which their art 
 can never do even when they make use of our 
 practice. 
 
 Here, then, we must leave England and 
 America, only remarking that things look bad 
 for the education of the American public when 
 the best Americans stay away from there, and 
 when rich sausage-makers buy Herbert's works 
 with which to educate themselves, and when 
 catalogue compilers take over boat-loads of 
 English water-cblors, with which still further 
 to lead them wrong. America wants no such 
 education as can be given by Herbert's senili- 
 
 * Has since become a good painter as well. 
 
NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY, lOI 
 
 ties or English water-colors. She wants a band 
 of able young men, who, having learned their 
 technique in the best schools in the world, 
 namely, those of Paris, shall return to America 
 and paint the scenes and sentiments of their 
 own country, and therein only lies the hope for 
 American art. 
 
 Dutch Art. 
 The first mighty names of the modern period 
 are Franc Hals and Rembrandt Van Ryn. 
 Holland, by her bravery, had thrown off the 
 Spanish yoke, and with it the crushing yoke of 
 Catholicism, and stood free to follow her own 
 bent. As a result of this freedom a body of 
 artists arose who did more for modern art than 
 any body of painters in the world. Franc Hals's 
 work is well known, his portraits are among 
 the best Dutch paintings ever executed. He 
 was a bon-viveur, and his work is full of the senti- 
 ment of his life and times. His famous " Ban- 
 quet," however, we do not think well painted. 
 Rembrandt, though a giant and fit for the com- 
 pany of the immortals Van Eyck, Velasquez, 
 etc., was not perfect, for sometimes the power 
 of tradition lurks in his work, and he forces his 
 portraits by warm colors in the background, 
 an artifice which was not at all necessary, and 
 which Mr. "Whistler has done without. There 
 are a number of his works in the National Gal- 
 lery, and a good one in the Dulwich Gallery, 
 where is also a great Velasquez, so that the 
 reader should not fail to go there. Rembrandt's 
 best work was inspired by the simple life 
 
I02 NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY 
 
 around him; portraits and interiors satisfied 
 him. It is a significant fact that the greatest 
 painters have been content to paint the life of 
 their own times and not to draw upon their 
 imagination. The learned painter, it cannot 
 be too often repeated, is he who is learned in 
 all the resources of his art. 
 
 But to return to Rembrandt. Perhaps his 
 mastery, his grip of nature, show forth as much 
 in his etchings as in his paintings. He, like all 
 great etchers, and there are few enough, used 
 etching only within its legitimate limits, that 
 is, as a method of expression by line, in a sim- 
 ple, direct and brief manner. An etching by a 
 master may be looked upon in the same light 
 as an epigram,* sonnet or ode by a poet. Many 
 of Rembrandt's etchings can be seen in the 
 British Museum, and should be thoroughly 
 well studied; after which study, pick up some 
 of the unmeaning work of Seymour Haden, or 
 any other modern etcher, except perhaps Mr. 
 Whistler and Rajon,f and you will, without 
 doubt, distinguish the difference. Most mod- 
 ern works are good examples of how not to 
 etch. Line after line is put in without any 
 meaning at all; there is no evidence of study 
 in the work and the subjects are trivial and 
 commonplace. One of the greatest evils com- 
 mercialism has done to art is to ruin modem 
 etching, by having pictures of the old mas- 
 ters copied slavishly by the etcher, and elabo- 
 
 * Epigram here being used in the old Greek sense. 
 + Now dead. 
 
i 
 
 NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 103 
 
 rated and worked up, so that one wearies of 
 them. Such work can scarcely be said to rise 
 to the dignity of fine art at all, and Rembrandt, 
 we think, would rise in horror from his grave, 
 if he could see his paintings reproduced by 
 etchers. A ny reproduction of a picture is un- 
 satisfactory and does not become fine art at all, 
 but is only useful to furnish reflections of the 
 mind whose work it is intended to represent, 
 and for our part we think a good impersonal 
 photo-etching does this better, because more 
 faithfully, than any other process. It is diffi- 
 cult to imagine the mind that can set itself to 
 work for months, even years, at an engraving 
 or etching from another man's work when the 
 world is so full of pathos and poetry, and sub- 
 jects abound on all sides.' 
 
 Rembrandt etched, and Mr. Whistler etches 
 from Nature direct, not impertinently — there 
 is no other word for it — tampering with other 
 men's work.* But the public will buy these re- 
 productions, and an artificial value is thus 
 given to them, and the dealers will of course 
 encourage whatever pays. One etching by 
 Rembrandt himself is worth all these repro- 
 ductions of pictures by engraving, etching, 
 mezzo-tint, or photo-etching, because it is an 
 original work of art. Not long ago a letter 
 appeared in one of the literary "weeklies," 
 complaining of the stamping of photogravures 
 by the Print-sellers' Association. The obvious 
 answer to this print-sellers' letter is, of course, 
 that with the works of living painters, the style 
 
 * Thanks to Mr. Hamerton's foolish wtiiings. 
 
I04 NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 of reproduction rests with the painter, and if 
 the artist is satisfied with photo-etching, what 
 has any one else to say— painters are the best 
 judges of these things. Very few painters we 
 know would entrust the reproduction of their 
 pictures to etchers or engravers, or would coun- 
 tenance the publication of another man's view 
 of their work. We have seen photographs of 
 Whistler's paintings, but never engravings of 
 them. With bad paintings, on the other hand, 
 the engraving of them has often made the 
 painter's name as well as the engraver's. We 
 could cite an example of a living* painter who 
 owes his reputation chiefly to the engravings 
 of his works, and poor things they are even 
 when embellished by the process. At the time 
 this discussion was raging amongst the philis- 
 tines, it was gravely asserted that " engravings 
 always rose in price," and this was given as a 
 reason for buying them. Have the engravings 
 of Mr. Landseer's pictures risen in price! Ask 
 the poor subscribers to the first copies. Will 
 the engravings of Dore's v/orks rise in price? 
 Quien sabe ? If the reader is under any such 
 erroneous idea, let him attend a few sales of 
 engravings in London, and he will see proofs 
 of etchings and engravings knocked down for 
 a few shillings. 
 
 Leaving with regret the great Rembrandt 
 (we pass over several smaller but often quoted 
 names), the most influential name we come to is 
 Van Ostade, another impressionist of great 
 
 * J. E. Millais, since died. 
 
NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. I05 
 
 power, of whom we have already spoken. Next 
 we come to De Hooghe. This is the man who first 
 really gripped thoroughly and expressed truly on 
 canvas the mystery and poetry of the open air. 
 There are two specimens (courtyards) of this 
 painter's work at the National Gallery. They 
 are an education in themselves, and are well 
 worth long and careful study ; indeed, there 
 are few pictures more worthy of study. There 
 they hang, fresh as nature and beautiful as 
 paint can express, good, valuable for all time 
 — why ? Because the painter has known how 
 to give the sentiment of plein air. There 
 they hang, true and lovely, pictures of Dutch 
 life in the seventeenth century. No history 
 .can come up to them in historic value, none 
 can be so true. A contemporary of De Hooghe 
 was Jan Van Neer, of Delft. The few pictures 
 that have descended to us of this painter prove 
 him to be as great an artist as De Hooghe 
 himself. His " The Soldier and the Laughing 
 Maiden" is the best known and has many of 
 the qualities of a Rembrandt. 
 
 Cuyp we will pass over with few words. His 
 hot coloring smacks of the imagination rather 
 than of nature. Paul Potter and Ruysdael also 
 are men with unduly great reputations; they 
 are both false in sentiment, and they handled 
 nature with impertinence. Any careful ob- 
 server can see that Ruysdael played with the 
 lighting of landscapes as did Turner, but he has 
 a sense of decoration. 
 
 Hobbema at times verged near unto greatness, 
 
Io6 NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 as for instance in the painting of a road with 
 trees, in the National Gallery, which our readers 
 will do well to study. In sea painting. Van der 
 Velde the younger is wonderful in his love of 
 nature. Good specimens of his work can be 
 seen in the National Gallery. 
 
 Coming down to our own times, the elder 
 Israels stands out as a distinguished artist. We 
 have only been able to see a few of his pictures, 
 but those show us the master. In carefully 
 studying the modern schools of art at the great 
 Paris exhibition, I felt at first that the modern 
 Dutch were original, and so they are to a limited 
 extent, but they fall far behind the Scandina- 
 vians in their originality. The Dutch have, how- 
 ever, only followed good conventions. Artz's 
 work is good, but a little 'painty.' One of the 
 best landscapes I have seen is J. J. Van de 
 Sarle's. Bastert is good, as is B. J. Blommers, 
 though his work is a triile 'painty.' J. Gabriel 
 had a fine, open landscape, "Une Tourbiere en 
 Oberysel." The younger Israel's " Paysans a 
 Table" is good. S. J. Cati's work is impres- 
 sionistic anji full of a distingu^ air, and very 
 true to nature, though rather chic. 
 
 J. Maris is well known for good work, whilst 
 a picture of some windmills, by S. M. Maris, 
 is one of the very best landscapes I ever saw. 
 W. Martens is a good portraitist, and Mauve has 
 left some good landscapes. Mesdag's sea pieces 
 are good, though rather tight and painty. Roe- 
 lofs, too, is a good painter of Dutch landscape. 
 
 Good water-colormen are Weissenburgh, 
 
NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 107 
 
 Mesdag, Bosboom, Poggenbeck, J. Israels, Artz, 
 and the elder Israels, and Mauve in his " Coppice 
 Before a Fallen Tree." 
 
 Good etchers are found in Veth and Zilcken. 
 
 Russia and the Sclave States. 
 Of the arts of these countries there is but 
 little to be said. The art, what there is of it, is 
 not national, but is really French in its origin 
 and sentiment. Thus Edelfelt's work, though 
 some of it was painted in Finland, is the work 
 of a French impressionist, and not a first rate one 
 either. The late Miss BachkirtzefiE's work is but 
 poor French impressionistic work, whilst of 
 other Russian painters, A. Harlamoff, Pranis- 
 kuikoff, Lehman, Trembacz, are the only Rus- 
 sian painters whose work may be considered 
 "national;" but they can claim no originality, 
 though they are good painters. But any one 
 could see that in these artists, and in those of 
 Roumania, e.g., Grigoresco, that whatever was 
 good was impressionistic. 
 
 SCANDANAVIAN ArT. 
 
 But it is in the neighbourhood of Russia — in 
 Scandanavia — that we found the most original 
 note struck in painting outside of France. 
 There was, perhaps, just a suspicion of French 
 influence in the work, but proof was given that 
 an original and powerful art was developing. 
 
 Beginning with Norway. Mile. Backer's 
 " Interieur d'Eggedal " is good. J. Grimelund's 
 " Port D'Anvers " is bold and true, F. Kolstoe's 
 
Io8 NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 " Pecheur Norvegien " is a strong work with a 
 style of its own. C. Krohg's work is good. E. 
 Peterssen and O. Sincling are good impression- 
 ists. C. Skredsvig is a good landscapist and his 
 work has fine quality. Wenzel's "Festin de 
 Premiere Communion" beats S. Forbes' "Wed- 
 ding" all to pieces. Werenskold's work, too, is 
 first-rate. The Swedish painters are, perhaps, 
 better than the Norwegians. Berch is a fine 
 portrait and landscape painter. Birger is strong 
 in his " Retour de la Chasse," whilst Ekstrom's 
 landscapes are capital. Haborgis good. Heyer- 
 dahl's " L'Ouvrier Mourant " is very fine, 
 though weak in parts in drawing. N. Kreuger 
 is a first-rate impressionist. Carl Larsson, too, 
 sent two beautiful pictures — in -an arbor and 
 outside. Thegerstrom, Wahlberg and Zorn all 
 sent really good work, and as for Salmson's 
 work, there is no Englishman can approach him. 
 Our so-called impressionists should study 
 Salsmson, Larsson, Kreuger, Thorel, Zorn, 
 Osterlind, Krojer, and others. 
 
 In Denmark Archer, Johansen, Therkilsden, 
 and, above all, P. S. Kroyer. There are but 
 few men anywhere who can approach Kroyer; 
 his " On the Sea-Shore " and Departure of the 
 Herring Fleet" being most original impressions. 
 His merry " Hip, hip, hip, Hurra, hurra, hurra," 
 is masterly. 
 
 To wind up, we are assured that, next to 
 France, Scandanavia towers a head and 
 shoulders above any other country in the 
 world in art to-day, for there only, out of 
 
NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. IO9 
 
 France, do we find any original, any living, 
 any great art. 
 
 France. 
 
 And now, lastly, we come to France — France 
 where art has in modern times reached its high- 
 est level. France has in modem times always 
 been the leader of civilization in Europe, and 
 even now she is in the van of modern progress, 
 our intellectual mother. We may have a finer 
 literature to show, in Germany science may 
 be more profound, but in all that is greater 
 than literature or science, that is in solving 
 the problem of throwing off the yoke of 
 religious and political despotism, France has 
 become the leader. Practical, energetic, and 
 thrifty, the French with all their faults, still 
 remain in many ways the first nation of the 
 world.. France and the French have more of 
 the Ancient Greek's esprit than any other nation 
 has or ever has had. In all the humanizing 
 influences that distinguish brute man from 
 civilized man, the French are to the fore, but in 
 histrionic, glyptic and pictorial art, she is unap- 
 proachable, and still reigns Queen of the Arts, 
 in those branches. 
 
 Passing over Nicolas Poussin, Le Brun and 
 other lesser names, whose works are not those 
 of masters, we arrive at Claude Lorraine; but the 
 first name that really stands forth as great in 
 French art is that of Watteau. Watteau, how- 
 ever, cannot be ranked among the Immortals, 
 for though his technique was marvellous, and 
 
no NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 his power of drawing unsurpassed, he like all 
 his contemporaneous artists is a little artificial, 
 for they lived in the artificial times of Louis XIV. 
 
 There is a picture in the National Gallery 
 which well explains what we mean. Then 
 name after name is handed down to us, but in 
 vain do we look for a master among them. 
 Boucher and Greuze still have admirers, but 
 they are not great painters. Delacroix strove 
 to rise from the artificial influence of the time, 
 but he was not strong enough to become a 
 master. It was reserved for Ingres to make a 
 real advance. He, though imbued to some ex- 
 tent with the old spirit of classicism, was a deep 
 lover of nature, and the story of the struggle 
 for the mastery between those two opposing 
 tendencies is the story of his art and life. 
 Though he rises above all previous painters of 
 his country, he cannot be ranked with the 
 masters. With Ary SchefiEer there was a retro- 
 gression which in its turn was counteracted by 
 Delaroche. It was Delaroche who afterwards 
 rashly said every artist would one day have to 
 use photography. Still, in vain do we look for 
 a genius, and until Constable's pictures, ex- 
 hibited in 1824 in Paris, aroused the French as 
 to the real aims of art, no really great master 
 appears. But when practical France saw, she 
 immediately took up with impressionism. Then 
 we have first Decamps, who took up the newly 
 revived ideas, but failed, and Rousseau made 
 the real departure — the poetry and mystery of 
 nature roused in him an ardent sympathy, and 
 
NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. Ill 
 
 all honor to him for struggling on at Barbizon, 
 in the face of the neglect and contumacy of the 
 Salon. But Rousseau, hero though he was, 
 never rose to be a mighty painter, and his 
 works fall far behind those of the best painters 
 of to-day, but as a pioneer his name will always 
 be remembered, and though he failed, he .at 
 least took Nature as his watchword. After 
 Rousseau came Corot, a master good for all time. 
 His early works show signs of the classical 
 spirit, from which he had not yet shaken him- 
 self free; thus we sometimes see in his early 
 works, peasants strangely habited and remind- 
 ing one of the seventeenth century or ancient 
 Greece, which is of course ridiculous ; but his 
 later work is true and great. Full of breadth and 
 feeling for the subtleties and poetry of nature, 
 he has never been surpassed. Examples of 
 his work in England can sometimes be seen in 
 the French Gallery, the Hanover Gallery and 
 at Goupil's, but it must be remembered that 
 great as Corot is, there is much of his earlier good 
 work that is bad. Another painter is Daubigny, a 
 contemporary of Corot's, and though not such 
 a subtile observer as Corot, still he is a painter 
 whose work has had great influence; but it has 
 been surpassed by younger men. Daubigny 
 seems to us to have emulated " sharp " photog- 
 raphy. Troyon was another who like Corot loved 
 and studied and painted from nature, but he 
 lacked the insight into nature that Corot had, 
 and his work is not as fine as that of his con- 
 temporary. 
 
112 NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 At length, however, we arrive at an Immortal 
 name, that of Jean Francois Millet. This great 
 man must not be confounded with two Jean 
 Francois Millets, who lived years before, and 
 who were not artists at all, though painters. 
 Everything about J. F. Millet the Great, is 
 worthy of study. Let the student seize every 
 chance of studying his works, chances which 
 will, alas ! be rare enough, as many of his best 
 pictures are in America and most of the others 
 in France. His pastels and water-colors are 
 not very good, but his etchings which (repro- 
 duced) can be seen in the British Museum, are 
 valuable for strength and power. Here is a 
 directness of expression rarely surpassed. Be- 
 fore leaving him we will quote a few passages 
 from his letters which show his attitude toward 
 Nature : 
 
 "I therefore conclude that the beautiful is 
 the suitable. . . . Understand that I do not 
 speak of absolute beauty, for I do not know 
 what it is, and it seems to me only a tremendous 
 joke. I think people who think and talk about 
 it do so because they have no eyes for natural 
 objects; they are stultified by 'finished' art, 
 and think nature not rich enough to furnish all 
 needs. Good people, they poetize instead of 
 being poets. Characterize ! that is the object. 
 
 " When Poussin sent to M. de Chantelon his 
 picture of the 'Manna,' he did not say, 'Look, 
 what fine pate ! Isn't it swell ? Isn't it tip- 
 top?' or any of this kind of thing which so 
 many painters seem to consider of such value, 
 
NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 1 13 
 
 though I cannot see why they should. He says: 
 ' If you remember the first letter which I wrote 
 to you about the movement of the figures which 
 I promised you to put in, and if you look at the 
 whole picture I think you will easily under- 
 stand which are those who languish, which are 
 filled with admiration, those who pity, those 
 who act from charity, from great necessity, 
 from desire the wish to satiate themselves, and 
 others — for the first seven figures on the 1 eft hand 
 will tell you all that is written above, and all 
 the rest is of the same kind ! ' 
 
 "Very few painters are sufficiently careful 
 as to the effect of a picture seen at a distance 
 great enough to see all at once, and as a whole. 
 Even if a picture comes together as it should, 
 you hear people say, * Yes, but when you come 
 near it is not finished ! ' Then of another, 
 which does not look like anything at the dis- 
 tance from which it should be seen, ' But look 
 at it near by; see how it is finished ! ' Nothing 
 counts except the fundamental. If a tailor 
 tries on a coat, he stands off at a distance enough 
 to see the fit. If he likes the general look, it is 
 time enough then to examine the details; but if 
 he should be satisfied with making fine button- 
 holes and other accessories, even if they were 
 chefs-d'ceuvre, on a badly cut coat, he will none 
 the less have made a bad job. Is not this true 
 of a piece of architecture, or of anything else ? 
 It is the manner of conception of a work which 
 should strike us first, and nothing ought to go 
 outside of that. It is an atmosphere beyond 
 
114 NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 which nothing- can exist. There should be a 
 milieu of one kind or another, but that which 
 is adopted should rule. 
 
 " As confirmation to the proposition that de- 
 tails are only the complement of the fundamen- 
 tal construction, Poussin says, * Being fluted 
 (pilasters) and rich in themselves, we should be 
 careful not to spoil their beauty by the con- 
 fusion of ornament, for such accessories and 
 incidental subordinate parts are not adapted to 
 works whose principal features are already 
 beautiful, unless with great prudence and judg- 
 ment, in order that this may give grace and 
 elegance, for ornaments were only invented to 
 modify a certain severity which constitutes 
 pure architecture.' 
 
 " We should accustom ourselves to receive 
 from nature all our impressions, whatever they 
 may be, and whatever temperament we may 
 have. We should be saturated and impregnated 
 with her, and think what she wishes to make us 
 think. Truly, she is rich enough to supply us 
 all. And whence should we draw, if not from 
 the fountain-head? Why for ever urge, as a 
 supreme aim to be reached, that which the 
 great minds have already discovered in her, 
 because they have wooed her with constancy 
 and labour, as Palissy says ? But, nevertheless, 
 they have no right to dictate for mankind one 
 example for ever. By that means the produc- 
 tions of one man would become the type and 
 the aim of all the productions of the future. 
 
 " Men of genius are gifted with a sort of 
 
NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. I15 
 
 divining-rod; some discover in nature this, 
 others that, according to their kind of scent. 
 Their productions assure you that he who finds 
 is formed to find; but it is funny to see how, 
 when the treasure is unearthed, people come for 
 ages to scratch at that one hole. The point is 
 to know where to find truffles. A dog who has 
 not scent will be but a poor hunter if he can 
 only run at sight of another who scents the 
 game, and who, of course, must always be the 
 first. And if we only hunt through imitative- 
 ness, we cannot run with much spirit, for it is 
 impossible to be enthusiastic about nothing. 
 Finally, men of genius have the mission to 
 show, out of the riches of nature, only that 
 which they are permitted to take away, and to 
 show them to those who would not have sus- 
 pected their presence, nor ever found them, as 
 they have not the necessary faculties. They 
 serve as translators and interpreters to those 
 who cannot understand her language. They 
 can say, like Palissy, ' You see these things in 
 my cabinet.' They, too, may say, ' If you give 
 yourself up to nature, as we have done, she will 
 let you take away of these treasures according 
 to your powers. You only need intelligence 
 and good will.' 
 
 " It must be an enormous vanity or an enor- 
 mous folly that makes certain men believe that 
 they can rectify the pretended lack of taste or 
 the errors of Nature. On what authority do they 
 lean ? With them who do not love her, and 
 who do not trust her, she does not let herself be 
 
Il6 NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 understood, and retires into her shell. She 
 must be constrained and reserved with them. 
 And, of course, they say, * The grapes are green. 
 Since we cannot reach them, let us speak ill of 
 them.' We might here apply the words of the 
 prophet, ' God resisteth the proud, and giveth 
 grace to the humble.' 
 
 " Nature gives herself to those who take the 
 trouble to court her, but she wishes to be loved 
 exclusively. We love certain works only be- 
 cause they proceed from her. Every other 
 work is pedantic and empty. 
 
 We can start from any point and arrive at 
 the sublime, and all is proper to be expressed, 
 provided our aim is high enough. Then what 
 you love with the greatest passion and power 
 becomes a beauty of your own, which imposes 
 itself upon others. Let each bring his own. 
 An impression demands expression, and espe- 
 cially requires that which is capable of showing 
 it most clearly and strongly. 
 
 " The whole arsenal of nature has ever been 
 at the command of strong men, and their genius 
 has made them take, not the things which are 
 conventionally called the most beautiful, but 
 those which suited best their places. In its own 
 time and place, has not everything its part to 
 play ? Who shall dare to say that a potato is 
 inferior to a pomegranate ? 
 
 " Decadence set in when people began to 
 believe that art, which she (Nature) had made, 
 was the supreme end; when such and such an 
 artist was taken as a .model and aim without 
 
NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. II7 
 
 remembering that he had his eyes fixed on 
 infinity. 
 
 ''They still spoke of Nature, but meant 
 thereby only the life-model which they used, 
 but from whom they got nothing but conven- 
 tionalities. If, for instance, they had to paint a 
 figure out of doors, they still copied, for the 
 purpose, a model lighted by a studio light, 
 without appearing to dream that it had no rela- 
 tion to the luminous diffusion of light out of 
 doors — a proof that they were not moved by a 
 very deep emotion, which would have pre- 
 vented artists from being satisfied with so little. 
 For, as the spiritual can only be. expressed by 
 the observation of objects in their truest aspect, 
 this physical untruth annihilated all others. 
 There is no isolated truth. 
 
 " The moment that a man could do something 
 masterly in painting, it was called good. If he 
 had great anatomical knowledge, he made that 
 pre-eminent, and was greatly praised for it, 
 without thinking that these fine acquirements 
 ought to serve, as indeed all others should, to 
 express the thoughts of the mind. Then, 
 instead of thoughts, he would have a pro- 
 gramme. A subject would be sought which 
 would give him a chance to exhibit certain 
 things which came easiest to his hand. Finally, 
 instead of making one's knowledge the humble 
 servant of one's thought, on the contrary, the 
 thought was suffocated under the display of a 
 noisy cleverness. Each eyed his neighbor, and 
 was full of enthusiasm for a manner." 
 
Il8 NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 Bastien-Lepage, the hero of the forgotten 
 " tinted photo " or value movement, is not even 
 always strong in drawing, and his sentiment is 
 often false, untrue, and brutal, and not nearly 
 so fine as Courbet's sentiment; yet Courbet pre- 
 ceded him; he was but a follower, where Courbet 
 was a leader. 
 
 Of the older living painters. Jules Breton 
 and Lhermitte stand out as strong men ; but 
 Breton has long ago been passed, and Lher- 
 mitte is not the man he was, but some of Lher- 
 mitte 's work will live always. There is a rc - 
 markably fine Lhermitte in the Luxembourg, 
 which every one should try and see. Of other 
 living painters much might be written, for they, 
 in our opinion, represent the acme of modern 
 painting. We strongly recommend all readers 
 of this book, after they have studied the pictures 
 and sculptures here referred to, and have some 
 insight into nature, to make without fail a 
 yearly pilgrimage to the French Sa/on, where 
 they will see fine painting, though of course 
 there is much bad work in the Sa/on, as at 
 other exhibitions. 
 
 The marvellous pastel work, aquarelles, and 
 charcoal drawings will all show them how im- 
 measurably behind France, England is in all the 
 pictorial arts. Englishmen do not know what 
 drawing is— therein lies the cause of their fail- 
 ure. This very year (1888) we went to the 
 Academy the day after seeing the Sa/on, and 
 what a fall was there ! 
 
NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. II9 
 
 Since writing- these notes on the great French 
 painters of this period we have seen nearly 
 every Corot, Le Page, Millet, Daubigny, Troy- 
 ons, Courbet, Manet, Monet, and the works 
 of other epoch -makers. To begin with, we 
 think little of Daubigny, as we have remarked 
 above. Courbet, though he seems never to 
 have had justice done him, is masterly in 
 his '* Stone-Breakers," one of the greatest works 
 I ever saw: the works of Le Page, next to 
 which it hung, appeared small and insignificant 
 in comparison. Courbet's " Drunkards," too, is 
 good. The more I see of Le Page the less I 
 like him, though his portrait of " My Grand- 
 father" is excellent, but his "Joan D'Arc," 
 " Potato Gatherers," etc., are very poor and 
 have no sense of focus, no atmosphere, and 
 they are both false in sentiment. It is a cock- 
 ney's view of the country. " Les Foins " and 
 others are positively bad. Millet was a poet — 
 though he seemed to me to feel color as a 
 house-decorator would — but for all that he had 
 a subtle feeling for the poetry of the fields, as 
 in the " Hoer," but in the " Angelus "he shows 
 weakness, and the "Sower" is exaggerated. 
 " The Hoer," though, is perfect. Corot is too 
 subtle to describe, he is the poet of landscape 
 painting. Some early Corots, though, are as 
 sharp and bad as photographs, and recall Cana- 
 letti's work. Jules Breton has been overated, his 
 work is uneven and "painty." Cazin is fine 
 in atmospheric effects, but there is withal an 
 artificiality of coloring that spoils him for a 
 
I20 NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 master. Diaz is much mixed up with " clas- 
 sical " ideals. Ingres appears second-rate. In 
 Manet I find the old spirit struggling with the 
 new, some of his work being absurdly bad, but 
 again in other works, such as " Le Port de Bou- 
 logne," he is masterly. I saw one Meissonnier 
 I liked, a portrait, broader than anything of 
 his I had hitherto seen — but, withal, Meisson- 
 nier will not set the Seine a-fire a hundred 
 years hence. Rousseau put new wine into old 
 bottles. 
 
 Of the work of some modern Frenchmen the 
 student should study the paintings of A. Aub- 
 let (good), Baillet (good in composition), P. A. 
 Besna.rd (good in rendering light), J. F. Bou- 
 chor (good focus), Benj. Constant and Bougereau 
 (for learning what to avoid), Carolus Duran 
 (though rather painty), Carrifere (for drawing 
 and atmospheric effects, very fine in some ways, 
 but too much positive spherical aberration in 
 his lenses), Cazin (for atmosphere), Dagnan- 
 Bouveret (for figures), P. E. Damoye (for good 
 landscape work), A. L. Demont (poetic land- 
 scape without atmosphere, compare with 
 Cazin's work) E. A. Duez (for good impression- 
 istic work), E. Feyen (for good focus), H. Ger- 
 irex (to see that he is not a good painter), T. A. 
 Girardot (true out-door effect), J. Japy (good 
 landscapist), L. Joubert (good landscapist), 
 C. Leandre (good landscapist), P. Mathey (good 
 portraits), Meissonnier (to compare petty work 
 with work like Corot's), Pelouse (for coarse 
 landscapes), A. Perret (good painter), E. Pele- 
 
NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 121 
 
 teau (a good landscapist) J. F. Raffaelli, Moret, 
 Michel, and others (to see good landscapes on 
 the border of being ruined by "idealizing:" 
 compare with Corot), Renouf (to see good, 
 honest painting). A., Roll (to see the work 
 of a strong impressionist, and how well he can 
 render light), P. Voyse (to see a forcible land- 
 scapist), Protais (to see soldiers well painted). 
 
 This brings us to the end, so we will leave 
 painting with France in the van, and Scandan- 
 avia following closely, with Holland and Bel- 
 gium pressing close behind it, and America and 
 England floundering in the rear of these, for 
 we are no believers in the tall talk of the great- 
 ness of the immediate future of English paint- 
 ing. 
 
 Sculpture. 
 
 With sculpture the same old story greets us 
 that we meet with in the history of painting^ 
 After the masterpieces of Greece come the 
 puerile conventionalities of the Early Christians. 
 But as we have hitherto done so shall we con- 
 tinue — that is, we shall discuss the masters 
 only, and the first we come to is Nicola Pisano. 
 Though his work shows that he was still imbued 
 with the spirit of classicism, yet he struggled 
 to throw off the paralyzing conventionality of 
 servile imitation, and tried hard to get back to 
 nature, and some of his sculptures in Pisa are 
 wonderful for expression. He was the pioneer 
 where followed the great Donatello. Pisano's 
 son worked in the same direction as his father, 
 and has left some wonderful architectural monu- 
 
122 NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 ments and sculptures, but. his fame rests chiefly 
 on his architectural works, with which we are 
 not here concerned. Andrea and Nino Pisano 
 made great strides toward truth and natural- 
 ness, and so paved the way for the great man- 
 to come. They were immediately followed by 
 Ghiberti, who spent many years of his life in 
 working at the well-known mighty doors of the 
 baptistery at Florence. These great gates, 
 however, show no subtlety of the sculptor's 
 art. Tonality there is none ; the whole is 
 rather a kind of emblematic picture-writing 
 than sculpture, but Ghiberti says he spent his 
 time in studying nature and investigating her 
 methods of work," so that even though he did 
 not succeed, nature was his watchword. But 
 all these sink into insignificance before the 
 mighty name of Donatello. Like all true and 
 great artists, Donatello appreciated the limits 
 of his art, and followed his principles with 
 sincerity. Whilst we are now writing, the 
 wonderful low relief of St. Cecilia, which is on 
 view at Burlington House, is fresh in our mind. 
 There is the work in dark marble, looking as 
 fresh, beautiful, life-like, and artistic, as it did 
 the day it left the artist's hand. 
 
 What simplicity, what truth o: impression, 
 what decorative power, and what subtle tonality 
 is there seen ! Those who remember this mas- 
 terpiece may have noticed the way in which the 
 outline of the neck is raised, and how untrue it 
 looked close to; but at a distance the impression 
 was perfect, and the suggestion of shadow most 
 
NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. I23 
 
 beautifully rendered. That the modelling of 
 the mouth is feeble is obvious, but where is per- 
 fection ? Casts of this work can be had for a 
 mere trifle from Bruciani, Covent Garden, and 
 we strongly recommend those who have not 
 seen the original to get one, for a suggestion of 
 such work is better than a gallery of trash. 
 There is another fine specimen of Donatello's 
 work in low relief at South Kensington, but 
 in that there is the mark of the allegorical, 
 and it just misses the distinguished and simple 
 character of the St. Cecilia. We do not care 
 for his Judith and Holofernes, though it is 
 one of the most noted of his works, and owes 
 its renown more to its historical association than 
 to its artistic qualities. It was natural that such 
 a great man should have many followers, but, 
 like most imitators of genius, they copied his 
 bad points and none of his good ones, for these 
 they could not attain to, not being geniuses 
 themselves. The wonderful medals of Vittore 
 Pisano or Pisanello must not be forgotten, 
 as they are well worthy of study. The student 
 can get casts of most of these for a trifling sum, 
 and we strongly recommend him to buy a few 
 casts of Pisanello's medals. 
 
 The work of the Delia Robbia family is so 
 well known that we must touch upon it, 
 although for most of it we care little or nothing, 
 the medium, a glazed terracotta, being un- 
 attractive. Lucca, the greatest of the family 
 worked, however, at first in marble. Here and 
 there in his work one meets with a beautiful 
 
124 NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 face, and often with fine expressions, but the 
 whole lacks simplicity and fineness. He was 
 more a " decorative " artist than a sculptor. 
 
 Of Michael Angelo we have spoken. Ben- 
 venuto Cellini, a name well known, was a mas- 
 ter in gold-working, but hardly a sculptor. 
 Many lesser names follow, but no immortal is 
 again seen in Italy; for though Canova made a 
 name of some sort, he was no master. After 
 Michael Angelo came imitation and decline. 
 Neglect of nature, together with patronage, 
 killed the spark of art, and so thoroughly killed 
 it that even writers on art who had no art- 
 training were listened to upon technical mat- 
 ters, as Winckelmann and Lessing, but their 
 works only produced an artificial afflatus, as 
 Canova and Thorwaldsen proved, for both were 
 small men, false in sentiment, and with little or 
 no insight into nature. We say this advisedly, 
 after seeing much of Canova's work and nearly 
 all that of Thorwaldsen. There is little big- 
 ness in their works, but in addition to a classi- 
 cal sentiment a puerile imitativeness which is 
 still in vogue in Italy to-day in such work as a 
 Pears delights in, " You Dirty Boy," and other 
 trivialities. England, Spain, Holland, and 
 America seem, up to the present, not to have 
 produced a single great sculptor. At present 
 France leads the way, and has some strong men 
 in Jouffrey, Aube, Falguiere, Rodin and Carles ; 
 but there, too, the tendency seems to be towards 
 a fumbling imitation and petty motif. There is 
 
NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 1 25 
 
 much talk of French sculpture being in advance 
 of French painting. We do not helieve it. 
 
 And now we must end the chapter with the 
 final advice to the student to study all good 
 examples of the great artists whose work we 
 have noted, and to leave all others alone. By 
 and by the student will find that he is in a posi- 
 tion to compare the good with the bad, then will 
 It be time enough for him to look at the second- 
 rate work, much of which contains fine passages 
 here and there, and special merits of its own; 
 but these cannot be appreciated until the stu- 
 dent has considerable knowledge, and that is 
 only to be obtained by a serious study of nature 
 and of the work of the best masters here cited. 
 
 Finally, we think we have shown that the 
 study of the beautiful in nature has been the 
 watchword of all the best artists, and that, after 
 all, there are but few artists in any age. Many 
 painters and modelers and sculptors there be, 
 but artists are few indeed. Men such as the 
 sculptors of the Egyptian lions, the sculptors of 
 the Assyrian lion-hunts, Pheidias, Van Eyck, 
 Durer, Holbein, Titian, Velasquez, Donatello, 
 Rembrandt, De Hooghe, Moroni, Gainsborough, 
 Millet, Corot, Courbet, Whistler and M. Maris. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 Phenomena of Sight, and Art Principles 
 Deduced Therefrom. 
 
 It will be well now to inquire on scientific 
 grounds what normal human eyes really 
 do see; for our argument is, that a living being 
 does not see things as does the photographer's 
 lens. That the living impression will vary 
 with individuals, there is no doubt, for the artist 
 will see subtleties never dreamed of by the 
 commonplace or uneducated person, and his aim 
 will, of course, be to portray those subtleties in 
 his picture, and hence one source of individual- 
 ity in a work, another being in the way in which 
 it is done, and a third the inherent difference be- 
 tween artists. Our task now shall be to examine 
 into the physical, physiological and psychologi- 
 cal properties of sight, and to arrive at a con- 
 clusion, in so far as science allows us, as to how 
 normal eyes do see things. The student will 
 do well to read the Chapter on Sight in 
 Dr. Michael Foster's ''Text Book of Physiol- 
 ogy," as well as the matter on the eye in 
 Ganot's Physics, before going any further in 
 this chapter, for we do not wish to go over 
 ground which has been occupied previously, 
 our aim being to give a review from the artistic 
 
NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 127 
 
 Standpoint of the physical, physiological, and 
 psychological properties of eyesight. We will, 
 then, proceed to consider how well we see 
 external nature, that is, within what limits, for 
 we never see her exactly as she is, as we shall 
 show. 
 
 To begin with, then, the retinal nerves are 
 strictly reserved to respond to the vibrations of 
 ether — called light. If the student has ever 
 had a blow on his eye, he has probably seen 
 " stars," because every stimulus to this pair of 
 nerves makes us see things, and not feel them. 
 Now each sense has certain limits between 
 which it can detect subtle vibrations, but beyond 
 which all is blank. The more refined the 
 organization of the person, the greater will be 
 the number of vibrations he can distinguish. 
 Thus 399,000,000,000 vibrations in a second pro- 
 duce in us the sensation of light; above this the 
 vibrations appear as spectral colors until the 
 number 831,000,000,000,000 is reached; to an 
 increase in the number of vibrations above that 
 number the average optic nerve does not respond. 
 Now the eye is an optical apparatus fixed be- 
 tween the brain and the ether, not that we may 
 perceive light, for we could do that without the 
 eye but that we may distinguish objects. The 
 glyptic and pictorial arts are based on the sen- 
 ation of sight as music is founded on the sense 
 of hearing. In the pictorial arts, then, we must 
 clearly distinguish between the physical, physi- 
 ological, and psychological properties of sight. 
 
128 NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 A. Light. 
 
 I, Physical characters of the eye as an optical 
 instrument. 
 
 If a ray of light passes through a small hole 
 into a darkened room (pin-hole camera), an 
 image is formed of the object or objects without. 
 The condition of a good definition of the image 
 is that "all the rays from each point on the 
 object must be carried to its own point on the 
 image." If this hole be enlarged, this condition 
 is impossible, and the light spreads over certain 
 areas called diffusion areas or diffusion circles. 
 In other words, widely divergent rays and con- 
 tiguous rays become mixed. To admit more 
 light a lens is used in the eye, and by the pho- 
 tographer, for although it is possible (by pin- 
 hole camera) to take pictures without a lens, 
 the light so admitted is necessarily so limited 
 that the exposure needed is too long, apart from 
 other objections I have elsewhere pointed out. 
 The lens, however, helps us by admitting more 
 light, and at the same time giving better defini- 
 tion, but it also introduces many disadvantages 
 and renders things as we do ?iot see th em. Now a 
 theoretically perfect physical image has been 
 described by physicists as being both bright 
 and sharp in definition, but the theoretically 
 perfect image does not exist; for, apart from 
 other considerations, the lens which we use to 
 get microscopic sharpness amongst other things, 
 cuts off light, and the sharper the image is ren- 
 dered by stops, the less relief do we get. 
 
NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. I29 
 
 . Thus we see the lens introduces defects into 
 the image which are not seen by the eyes. 
 
 In the human and photographic lenses the 
 chief theoretical faults are: — 
 
 Dispersion . All refraction or bending of light 
 by a lens is accompanied by dispersion. This 
 error is corrected in opticians' lenses to a great 
 extent. In the human eye, however, this theo- 
 retical fault is present, as can be proved by 
 looking at a lighted lamp through a violet glass 
 when a red flame will be seen surrounded by a 
 bluish violet halo. The effect then of dispersion 
 on the theoretically perfect image is a slight 
 blurring of the sharpness of outline, since the 
 size and position of the optical images thrown 
 by the differently bent rays is not the same. 
 
 A lens having a spherical surface bends the 
 rays so that they do not all come to a focus at 
 the same point. What is the effect of this on 
 our theoretically perfect image? Again it is 
 slight blurring of the sharpness of outline. It is 
 said the spherical aberration in a perfectly cor- 
 rected optician's lens is less than that in the lens 
 of the human eye. From this it is highly 
 probable that the chromatic aberration is less 
 in the perfectly corrected lens than in the 
 eye for both these aberrations work together. 
 This must be remembered in connection with 
 our later remarks. In the lower animals, spher- 
 ical aberration is nearly absent. Their vision 
 therefore is more periscopic, and therefore more 
 like that of an optician's lens. 
 
 This defect can be avoided in the optician's 
 
130 NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 lens, but it exists in, and is a serious fault of, 
 the human eye. It is, however, found in many 
 opticians' lenses, and is one cause of false 
 tonality. 
 
 Helmholtz considers the amount of spherical 
 aberration unimportant as compared with astig-- 
 matism. Astigmatism is the result of imperfect 
 centering of the cornea and lens. This defect is 
 found in most human eyes. 
 
 Astigmatism prevents the eye seeing vertical 
 and horizontal lines at the same distance per- 
 fectly clearly at once. The defect in centering 
 also causes irreg-ular radiation, so that, as Helm- 
 holtz says, The images of an illuminated point 
 as the human eye brings them to focus, are inac- 
 curate." What is the effect of those defects on 
 the "perfect image " ? Dimness of outline and 
 detail in the textures of objects seen. 
 
 The optician's lens is made of pure glass, the 
 media of the human eye are not clear, but 
 slightly turbid, so that Helmholtz says, " The 
 obscurity of dark objects when seen near very 
 bright ones depends essentially on this defect. 
 The effect of this entoptic turbidity is to cause 
 irradiation which has the same subjective effect 
 on objects as aerial turbidity has on objective 
 things. This defect is most apparent in the blue 
 and violet rays of the solar spectrum; for then 
 comes in the phenomenon of fluorescence to in- 
 crease it." By fluorescence is meant the prop- 
 erty which certain minutely divided substances 
 possess of becoming faintly luminous, so long 
 as they receive violet and blue light. The bot- 
 
NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. I3I 
 
 ties filled with solution containing quinine 
 whicli look blue in the chemists' windows, owe 
 their color to this fact, as also does the blueness 
 of " London " milk. These defects, combined 
 with entoptic impurities which are constantly 
 floating about in the humours, all help to detract 
 from the brightness and sharpness of the 
 "perfect image." 
 
 The " blind spot " is that portion of the retinal 
 field with no cones or rods, and therefore insen- 
 sitive to light. This causes a gap in the field 
 of vision. " This blind spot is so large that it 
 might prevent our seeing eleven full moons if 
 placed side by side, or a man's face at a distance 
 of only six or seven feet," says Helmholtz. In 
 addition to this, there are lesser gaps in the 
 retinal field, due to the cutting off of light by 
 the shadows thrown by the blood vessels. Any 
 one who has examined the retinal field with an 
 ophthalmoscope knows what this means. 
 
 In addition to this the macula lutea is less 
 sensitive to weak light than other parts of the 
 retina. The effect of all these imperfections is 
 to blur and dull the perfect image. The serious 
 defects due to the blind spot are not noticed, 
 according to Helmholtz, because " we are con- 
 tinually moving the eye, and also that the im- 
 perfections almost always affect those parts of 
 the field to which we are not at the moment direct- 
 ing our attention." The italics are ours. Here, 
 then, is another great difference between the 
 eye and the optician's lens. 
 
 The focus of the eye in a passive state is 
 
132 NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 adjusted to the most distant objects. It focuses 
 for nearer objects by contracting the ciliary- 
 muscle which pulls tight the zonule of Zinn and 
 so curves the crystalline lens. It can focus thus 
 up to within six inches of itself, but the changes 
 of focus are almost imperceptible to the eye 
 beyond twenty feet. Now a theoretically per- 
 fect eye might form perfect images of objects 
 at infinite distances when there were no inter- 
 vening objects. But as has already been shown, 
 the eye is theoretically imperfect, and its images 
 are not therefore perfect, and it could not form 
 theoretically perfect images, even if the atmos- 
 phere were pure ether and nothing else, for 
 there are other facts in nature which prevent 
 this; thus we cannot see a sharp image of the 
 sun with the naked eye on account of its dazzling 
 brightness. 
 
 The fovea centralis or central spot is a most im- 
 portant factor in the study of sight and art. For 
 though the field of vision of the two eyes is more 
 than 180 deg. laterally, and 120 deg. vertically, 
 yet the field of distinct vision is but a fraction 
 of this field, as we can all prove for ourselves 
 JN'ow the field of distinct vision depends on the 
 central spots for the reason that the central spot 
 differs anatomically from the rest of the retina 
 by the absence of certain layers which we need 
 not specify here. The absence of these layers 
 exposes the retinal bacillary layer to the direct 
 action of light. Helm hoi tz says "all other 
 parts of the retinal image beyond that which 
 falls on the central spot are imperfectly seen," 
 
NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 133 
 
 SO that the image which we receive by the eye 
 is like a picture minutely and elaborately 
 finished in the centre, but only roughly sketched 
 in at the borders. But although at each instant 
 we only see a very small part of the field of 
 vision accurately, we see this in combination with 
 what surrounds it^ and enough of this outer and 
 larger part of the field, to notice any striking 
 object, and particularly any change that takes 
 place in it.'' If the objects are small, they can- 
 not be discerned with the rest of the retina, 
 thus, to see a lark in the sky, Helmholtz says it 
 must be focused on the central spot. Finally 
 he says, To look at anything means to place 
 the eye in such a position that the image of the 
 object falls on the small region of perfectly clear 
 vision. This we may call direct vision, apply- 
 ing the term indirect to that exercised with the 
 lateral parts of retina, indeed with all except the 
 central spot." Again, he says, " Whatever we 
 want to see we look at and see it accurately; what 
 we do not look at, we do not as a rule care for at 
 the moment, and so do not notice how imper- 
 fectly we see it." Taking the distance between 
 the two central spots at 3 inches it follows from 
 perspective that we must have an object six 
 inches distant to see it, this, then, suggests the 
 limits of the angle of view we may include from 
 one point of sight. Now all this is most im- 
 portant in connection with art, as we shall show 
 later; we must beg the student therefore to hold 
 it fast. 
 
 It will be seen from all this that a perfect 
 
134 NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 periscopic image is never seen by the eyes of 
 man, though in some of the lower animals the 
 matter may be different. It is evident, too, for 
 many reasons, that the photographic lens and 
 the eyes do not show the same picture. 
 
 B. Intensity. 
 A quotation from Helmholtz will best illus- 
 trate this point. He says, " If the artist is to 
 imitate exactly the impression which the object 
 produces on our eye he ought to be able to dis- 
 pose of brightness and darkness equal to that 
 which nature offers. But of this there can be no 
 idea. Let me give a case in point. Let there 
 be in a picture-gallery a desert scene, in which 
 a procession of Bedouins, shrouded in white, and 
 of dark negroes, marches under the burning 
 sunshine; close to it a bluish moonlight scene, 
 where the moon is reflected in the water, and 
 groups of trees, and human forms, are seen to 
 be faintly indicated in the darkness. You know 
 from experience that both pictures, if they are 
 well done, can produce with surprising vividness 
 the representation of their objects; and yet in 
 both pictures the brightest parts are produced 
 with the same white lead, which is but slightly 
 altered by admixtures; whilb the darkest parts 
 are produced with black. Both being hung on 
 the same wall, share the same light, and the 
 brightest as well as the darkest parts of the two 
 scarcely differ as concerns the degree of their 
 brightness. 
 
 How is it, however, with the actual degrees of 
 
NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. I35 
 
 brightness represented. The relation between 
 the lightness of the sun's light, and that of the 
 moon, was measured by WoUaston, who com- 
 pared their intensities with that of the light of 
 candles of the same material. He thus found 
 that the luminosity of the sun is 800,000 times 
 that of the brightest light of a full moon. 
 
 An opaque body, which is lighted from any 
 source whatever, can, even in the most favora- 
 ble case, only emit as much light as falls upon 
 it. Yet, from Lambert's observations, even the 
 whitest bodies only reflect abo ut two-fifths of the 
 incident light. The sun's rays, which proceed, 
 parallel from the sun, whose diameter is 85,000 
 miles, when they reach us, are distributed uni- 
 formly over a sphere of 195 millions of miles in 
 diameter. Its density and illuminating power 
 is here only one forty-thousandth of that with 
 which it left the sun's surface; and Lambert's 
 number leads to the conclusion that even the 
 brightest white surface on which the sun's rays 
 fall vertically, has only the one hundred-thous- 
 andth part of the brightness of the sun's disk. 
 The moon, however, is a gray body, whose mean 
 brightness is only about one -fifth that of the 
 purest white. 
 
 And when the moon irradiates a body of the 
 purest white on the earth, its brightness is only 
 the hundred-thousandth part of the brightness 
 of the moon itself; hence the sun's disk is 80,000 
 million times brighter than a white which is 
 irradiated by the full moon. 
 
 Now, pictures which hang in a room are not 
 
136 NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY 
 
 lighted by the direct light of the sun, but by 
 that which is reflected from the sky and clouds. 
 I do not know of any direct measurements of 
 the ordinary brightness of the light in a picture 
 gallery; but estimates may be made from known 
 data. With strong upper light, and bright light 
 from the clouds, the purest white on a picture 
 has probably i-2oth of the brightness of white 
 directly lighted by the sun; it will generally be 
 only i-4oth, or even less. Captain Abney's ex- 
 periment put this at a lower figure, but this in 
 no way affects the argument. 
 
 Hence the painter of the desert, even if he 
 gives up the representation of the sun's disk, 
 which is always very imperfect, will have to 
 represent the glaringly lighted garments of his 
 Bedouins with a white which, in the most favor- 
 able case, shows only the i-2oth part of the 
 brightness which corresponds to actual fact. If 
 he could bring it, with its lighting unchanged, 
 into the desert near the white there, it would 
 seem like a dark grey. I found, in fact, by an 
 experiment, that lamp-black, lighted by the sun, 
 is not less than half as bright as shaded white in 
 the brighter part of a room. 
 
 On the picture of the anoon the same white 
 which has been used for depicting the Bedou- 
 ins' garments must be used for representing 
 the moon's disk, and its reflection in the water; 
 although the real moon has only one-fifth of 
 this brightness, and its reflection in water 
 still less. Hence white garments in moonlight, 
 or marble surfaces, even when the artist gives 
 
NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 137 
 
 them a gray shade, will always be ten to twenty 
 times as bright in his picture as they are in 
 reality. 
 
 On the other hand, the darkest black which 
 the artist could apply would be scarcely suffi- 
 cient to represent the real illumination of a 
 white object on which the moon shone. For 
 even the deadest black coatings of lamp-black 
 and black velvet, when powerfully lighted, 
 appear gray, as we often enough know to our 
 cost, when we wish to shut off superfluous light. 
 I investigated a coating of lamp-black, and 
 found its brightness to be about one-hundredth 
 that of white paper. The brightest colors of a 
 painter are only about one hundred times as 
 bright as his darkest shade. 
 
 The statements I have made may appear 
 exaggerated. But they depend upon measure- 
 ments, and you can control them by well-known 
 observations. According to Wollaston, the 
 light of the full moon is equal to that of a can- 
 dle burning at a distance of twelve feet. Now, 
 assume that you suddenly go from a room in 
 daylight to a vault perfectly dark, with the 
 exception of the light of a single candle. You 
 would at first think you were in absolute dark- 
 ness, and at most you would only recognize the 
 candle itself. In any case, you would not 
 recognise the slightest trace, of any objects at 
 a distance of thirteen feet from the candle. 
 These, however, are the objects whose illumi- 
 nation is the same as that which the moonlight 
 gives. You would only become accustomed to 
 
138 NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 the darkness after some time, and you would 
 then find your way about without difficulty. 
 
 If now, you return to the daylight, which be- 
 fore was perfectly comfortable, it will appear 
 so dazzling- that you will, perhaps, have to close 
 your eyes, and only be able to gaze round with 
 a painful glare. You see thus that we are con- 
 cerned here not with minute, but with colossal, 
 differences. How now is it possible that, under 
 such circumstances, we can imagine there is 
 any similarity between the picture and reality ? 
 
 Our discussion of what we did not see at first, 
 but could afterwards see in the vault, points to 
 the most important element in the solution; it 
 is the varying extent to which our senses are 
 deadened by light; a process to which we can 
 attach the same name, fatigue, as that for the 
 corresponding one in the muscle. Any activity 
 of our nervous system diminishes its power for 
 the time being. The muscle is tired by work, 
 the brain is tired by thinking, and by mental 
 operations; the eye is tired by light, and the 
 more so the more powerful the light. Fatigue 
 makes it dull and insensitive to new impres- 
 sions, so that it appreciates strong ones only 
 moderately, and weak ones not at all. 
 
 But now you see how different is the aim of 
 the artist when these circumstances are taken 
 into account. The eye of the traveler in the 
 desert, who is looking at the caravan, has been 
 dulled to the last degree by the dazzling sun- 
 shine; while that of the wanderer by moonlight 
 has been raised to the extreme of sensitiveness. 
 
NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. I39 
 
 The condition of one who is looking at a pic- 
 ture differs from both the above cases, by pos- 
 sessing a certain mean degree of sensitiveness. 
 Accordingly, the painter must endeavor to pro- 
 duce by his colors, on the moderately sensitive 
 eye of the spectator, the same impression as 
 that which the desert, on the one hand, pro- 
 duces on the deadened, and the moonlight, on 
 the other hand, creates on the untired eye of 
 its observer. Hence, along with the actual 
 luminous phenomena of the outer world, the 
 different physiological conditions of the eye 
 play a most important part in the work of the 
 artist. What he has to give is not a mere tran- 
 script of the object, but a translation of his 
 impression into another scale of sensitiveness, 
 which belongs to a different degree of impres- 
 sibility of the observing eye, in which the 
 organ speaks a very different dialect in re- 
 sponding to the impressions of the outer world. 
 
 In order to understand to what conclusions 
 this leads, I must first explain the law which 
 Fechner discovered for the scale of sensitiveness 
 of the eye, which is a particular case of the more 
 general psycho-physical law of the relations of 
 the various sensuous impressions to the irrita- 
 tions which produce them. This law may be 
 expressed as follows: Within very wide limits 
 of brightness, differences in the strength of light 
 are equally distinct, or appear equal in sensation, 
 if they form an equal fraction of the total quan- 
 tity of light compared. 
 
 Thus, for instance, differences in intensity of 
 
140 NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 one-hundredth of the total amount can be recog- 
 nized without great trouble, with very different 
 strengths of light, without exhibiting material 
 differences in the certainty and facility of the 
 estimate, whether the brightest daylight, or the 
 light of a good candle be used." 
 
 Herein, then, are contained the limits with 
 which we can render true, and the physiological 
 reasons why we can render a fairly true impres- 
 sion of a scene in nature by painting, but a far 
 less true one by photography. 
 
 The only constant factor, then, is the ratio of 
 luminous intensities, — that is, the picture must 
 be as true as possible in relative tones or values. 
 Obviously a picture of bright sunlight should 
 look brighter in a moderately lighted room than 
 the surrounding room, that is, its first impres- 
 sion on the observer should be as if he were 
 looking at a landscape beyond the walls, through 
 the frame. 
 
 From these remarks it will be seen how utterly 
 impossible it is to render truly a bright sunlight 
 scene, for if the values be true, starting from 
 the top of the scale, the highest light, when you 
 get to the middle tints, they are too black 
 already, and the picture is out of tone and false. 
 Obviously the right way is to start from the 
 lower end of the scale, the darks, and get them 
 as true as possible, and let the lights take care 
 of themselves; but more of this anon. 
 
 D. Color. 
 
 As photographers, the matter of color exer- 
 
NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 14I 
 
 cises US but indirectly, still the subject should be 
 understood, on account of its bearing on paint- 
 ing. " Color perception," says Le Conte, " is a 
 single perception, and irresolvable with any 
 other. It must, therefore, have its basis in reti- 
 nal structure," it is, in fact, an internal sensation, 
 and has no objective or external existence. 
 
 Helmholtz divides the vibrations of ether 
 known as light into three degrees. He says the 
 longest and shortest rays do not essentially differ 
 in any other physical property, except that we 
 distinguish them from the intermediate waves. 
 Thus the ear can receive at once many waves of 
 sound or notes, and they remain distinct, but 
 notes of color do not keep distinct in the same 
 way, " so that the eye is capable of recognizing 
 few differences in quality of light," says Helm- 
 holtz, and can only perceive the elementary sen- 
 sation of color by artificial preparation. He also 
 says, the only bond between the objective and 
 subjective phenomena of color may be stated as 
 a law thus, " Similar light produces under like 
 conditions a like sensation of color. Light, 
 which under like conditions, excites unlike sen- 
 sations of color is dissimilar; " what we want in 
 art, then, is the appearance of the phenomena. 
 The illumination of the sun's rays cannot be 
 weakened without at the same time weakening 
 their heating and chemical action; this is a point 
 to be remembered in exposure. 
 
 Color is, of course, excited by the length of the 
 waves and their frequency, red being the longest 
 and slowest, and they diminish in length and in- 
 
142 NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 crease in frequency in the order of the spectrum 
 through orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, to 
 the shortest waves, which produce the effect of 
 violet, the whole combined forming white. Now 
 Hering has shown that there are only four 
 primary color sensations, though he at one time 
 included black and white, thus making six. The 
 four are red, yellow, green, and blue, which are 
 reduced by him to two complementary colors, 
 red and green, and yellow and blue. In our 
 present state of knowledge the Young-Helm- 
 holtz theory of three primary color sensations 
 for red, green, and blue seems preferable as a 
 working hypothesis, though it seems incompati- 
 ble with anatomical and physiological facts. 
 
 All objective differences between color, may 
 be reduced to differences of hue, difference of 
 purity, and difference of brightness. These are 
 the three color constants. 
 
 By tone, or hue, we mean in fact difference of 
 color as in the spectral colors. Purity is greatest 
 in the pure colors of the spectrum, and becomes 
 less in proportion as they are mixed with white 
 light. A pure or full color has no admixture of 
 white. All compound colors are less full than 
 the simple hues of the spectrum. 
 
 Brightness or luminosity is strength of light, 
 or amount of illumination. It is measured by 
 the total amount of light reflected to the eye. 
 A pure and bright color is full or saturated. 
 
 In nature black and white must be included 
 among the primary colors when quality is spoken 
 of, as light acts on black and white. 
 
NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. I43 
 
 All differences of hue, therefore, are the re- 
 sult of combinations in different proportions of 
 the four primary colors. 
 
 Among the defects of the eye in seeing color, 
 Helmholtz says, " All are red blind at the inner- 
 most portion of the field of vision, all red colors 
 appear darker when viewed indirectly." 
 
 The furthest limit of visible field is a narrow 
 zone, in which all distribution of color ceases, 
 and there only remain differences of brightness. 
 Probably those nervous fibres which convey im- 
 pressions of green light are alone present in this 
 part of the retina. The yellow spot makes all 
 blue light appear somewhat darker in the centre 
 of the field. 
 
 All these inequalities are known and more or 
 less rectified by constant movement.* As the 
 eye becomes fatigued by bright light, so that it 
 cannot at first answer to delicate stimulus, so it 
 can become partially fatigued for certain colors. 
 
 Fatigue weakens the apparent illumination of 
 the entire field of vision, hence the propriety of 
 giving the impression as we first see it. Another 
 reason for doing this being that as the eye neces- 
 sarily focuses the various parts to paint these, it 
 gradually sees more and more detail in these 
 parts, and so the painter is always in danger of 
 losing breadth. We have not this danger to 
 contend with as we do our pictures at one stroke, 
 but we can realize the fault of overloading 
 with detail by careless focusing. 
 
 ♦Vide, pp. loi. 
 
144 NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 The color of illumination of a picture, too, 
 varies greatly by effect of local color. 
 
 What is constant in the color of an object is 
 not the brightness and color of the light which 
 it reflects, but the relation between the intensity 
 of the different colored constituents of this light 
 on the one hand, and that of the corresponding 
 constituents of the light which illuminates it on 
 the other. For example, white paper in full 
 moonlight is darker than black satin in daylight, 
 or a dark object with the sun shining on it re- 
 flects light of exactly the same color, and perhaps 
 the same brightness, as a white object in shadow. 
 Grey in shadow looks like white. 
 
 Brightness of local color diminishes with the 
 illumination or as the fatigue of the retina is in- 
 creased. In sunshine, local colors of moderate 
 brightness approach the brightest, whereas in 
 moonlight they approach the darkest. Pictures 
 to be seen in daylight do not admit of difference 
 of brightness between sun and moon. As colors 
 increase in brightness, red and yellow become 
 apparently stronger than blue. Painters make 
 yellow tints predominate when representing 
 landscape in full sunshine, while moonlight 
 scenes are blued. Helmholtz says: "Differ- 
 ences of color which are actually before our 
 eyes are more easily apprehended than those 
 which we only keep in memory, and contrast 
 between objects which are close to one another 
 in the field of vision are more easily recognized 
 than when they are at a distance. All this 
 contributes to the effect. Indeed, there are 
 
NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 145 
 
 a number of subordinate circumstances affect- 
 ing the result which it would be very interest- 
 ing to follow out in detail, for they throw 
 great light upon the way in which we judge 
 of local color; but we must not pursue the 
 inquiry further here. I will only remark that 
 all these effects of contrast are not less inter- 
 esting for the scientific painter than for the 
 physiologist, since he must often exaggerate the 
 natural phenomenon of contrast in order to pro- 
 duce the impression of greater varieties of light 
 and greater fulness of color than can be actually 
 produced by artificial pigments." 
 
 Again, when turbidity is composed of fine 
 particles its appearance is blue, as the mists 
 seen in autumn hanging round coverts, but it is 
 whiter than the aerial blue because of the color 
 of the covert behind. When this turbidity is 
 absent the colors are brighter, hence the fierce 
 blue on bright sunshiny days with easterly 
 winds. This matter of turbidity must not be 
 forgotten in portrait work; it is this which helps 
 to give relief, hence the absurdity of all pho- 
 tographers' devices, the object of which is to 
 minimize this turbidity. In addition to these is 
 the ever-changing effect of atmosphere on color, 
 that subtle medium with which the enchantress 
 Nature produces ever-changing effects. In 
 short the rule of aerial perspective is that atmos- 
 phere tends to make all distant dark objects 
 blue-gray, whilst it either warms distant bright 
 objects or leaves them unaltered. 
 
 Another point which must not be forgotten is 
 
146 NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 that with bright illumination bright objects be- 
 come more like the brightest, and with feeble 
 illumination dark objects become more like the 
 darkest. This is a very important matter, for it 
 means that in bright sunshine the lightest greys 
 are lost in white, whilst in dull weather the 
 darkest greys are lost in black, hence the falsity 
 of having deep blacks in brightly -lighted land- 
 scapes, and as has been shown, these are imtrue, 
 and the result of ignorance and of faulty man- 
 ipulation. As Helmholtzhas it, " The difference 
 of brightness and not absolute brightness ; and 
 that the differences in them in this latter respect 
 can be shown without preceptible incongruity if 
 only their graduations are imitated with expres- 
 sion." 
 
 E. Binocular Vision — Psychological Data. 
 Single Image. 
 
 The remarks already made would apply 
 equally well to man if he were a one-eyed animal, 
 but we find there are other considerations to 
 take into account since man is two-eyed. Now 
 the phenomena of binocular vision cannot be 
 treated of with such accuracy as the physical and 
 physiological facts already discussed. It is ob- 
 vious there is a common binocular field of view 
 for the two eyes. Now Dr. Le Conte shows us 
 that we see all objects double, except under cer- 
 tain conditions. When we look directly at any- 
 thing, then we see it clearly, but all things nearer 
 tons than the object looked at and beyondit, are 
 
NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 seen double, or blurred and indistinct. This is 
 the case in life, as can be proved, unless we con- 
 tract diplopia from drink or drugs. 
 
 There are, besides, two adjustments, the focal 
 and the axial, the one an adjustment for distant 
 vision, the other for single vision, and connected 
 with these is the adjustment of the pupil, which 
 contracts and expands, not only to light, but 
 also to distance and nearness of the object. 
 Therefore, three adjustments take place when 
 we look at anything. Thus we see our perfect 
 image can only exist in one place at once, that 
 all between the eye and object and beyond the 
 object is indistinct, and that the further off the 
 object is the more luminous does it appear. 
 Two objects, too, may be seen as one. We will 
 now proceed to discuss in detail how the eyes 
 affect our perception of objects. 
 
 Perspective.* 
 
 Some years ago Mr. Goodall (a painter) .and I 
 made some experiments with the object of 
 comparing a monocular perspective drawing 
 with the drawing of a properly corrected pho- 
 tographic lens. We found that under similar 
 conditions they were alike, as was, of course, a 
 priori, probable. Since that I published a short 
 paper with an experiment, which threw grave 
 doubts upon the truth of perspective drawing 
 
 * When we use the term perspective drawing, we mean a malhe 
 matical drawing of various objects in the field of vision (z>., ang-ular 
 measurements), as received on a glass plate (ordinary perspective 
 drawing) or upon the screen of a camera, for, under like conditions, 
 they are, as is well known, identical. 
 
148 NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 when compared with what the eyes really see. 
 
 We now offer a series of propositions, experi- 
 ments, proofs and deductions, which we venture 
 to think are of fundamental importance to all 
 artists, as well as to physiologists and psychol- 
 ogists. 
 
 Our experiments and deductions will show 
 that for scientific reasons the accepted rules of 
 monocular perspective are likely to mislead the 
 artist, and prove the fallacy of photographic 
 and all mechanical methods of measurement 
 for artists who wish to draw things as they 
 appear. 
 
 Proposition A. — The eye does not constitute a 
 symmetrical lens, thef top and bottom portions 
 being different. That portion of the eye which 
 perceives distance and distant objects {i.e., those 
 above the ground), sees the objects on a larger 
 scale than the portion of the eye which views 
 the foreground or nearer objects, therefore our 
 impression of nature is not what we get with a 
 mathematically correct perspective drawing, or 
 the drawing of an aplanatic photographic lens. 
 That is, a perspective drawing surprises us by 
 making the foreground objects look larger in 
 proportion to the distance. Also we see a larger 
 arc with the lower half of the eye than with 
 the upper. 
 
 Proof 1. — That we do not see the same amount 
 with both halves of the eye (upper and lower) 
 is proved by the observer lying on his back and 
 
 t We have ignored for the sake of simplicity the optical law of in- 
 version of the image on the retina ; when that is considered, the terms 
 " upper " and "lower '' must be merely interchanged. 
 
NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY, 149 
 
 looking straight up at the sky, when he will 
 find that the field of vision of the upper half is 
 much more limited than the space seen by the 
 lower half of the eye. This holds for either 
 one eye alone or for both when used together. 
 
 The proof is completed when we stand with 
 our back to the landscape, bend down and look 
 between our legs. Here the fields are inverted, 
 and consequently the distance appears small 
 and far off, and gives much more the appear- 
 ance of a sharp photographic rendering of the 
 scene. This peculiar effect has long been well 
 known, and it has puzzled a good many observ- 
 ers, but hitherto no valid scientific explanation 
 has been offered. 
 
 Proposition B. — We think this may be the 
 result of the naturally selective action of the 
 retinal nerves. It has been to our advantage 
 in the struggle for life to see all the objects 
 near to us and close around clearly, and to 
 compass as wide a field as possible. It has also 
 been to our advantage in the struggle for life 
 for certain parts of nerves to try and draw 
 distant objects nearer and to enlarge them, so 
 that special functions may have developed 
 purely by natural selection. 
 
 Deduction i, — That mathematical perspective 
 drawing gives quite a false impression of what 
 we see when using either one of our eyes or 
 both. 
 
 That such is actually the case we will now 
 endeavor to prove, at the same time still further 
 supporting our contention that the upper and 
 
150 NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 lower portions of the eye see objects in different 
 perspectives. 
 
 Proof I. — Let the observer select a church 
 tower or tall chimney for experiment. If the 
 sides arQ parallel the object will appear to his 
 eye wider at the top than at the bottom when 
 he stands facing- it at the distance of the tower 
 itself and looks steadily at its center. These 
 experiments are best made in the diffused light 
 of evening. The experimenter must not move 
 his eyes up and down the tower from top to 
 bottom, and so measure or correct his impres- 
 sions, but he must look steadily at the center of 
 the tower and take his pure sensuous impres- 
 sions. As most towers and chimneys do taper 
 considerably the result the observer gets when 
 close to them is that they look parallel or nearly 
 so. This fact was, no doubt, felt by the archi- 
 tects of the Parthenon, and it has never been 
 known why they built the columns leaning 
 inwards, a little out of the perpendicular. That 
 they were built out of plumb has been proved 
 by measurement, that they look parallel is well 
 known, and the reason of this we venture to 
 find in our proposition. 
 
 Proof 2. — A very simple proof is to look about 
 the middle of a doorway or door — it will be felt 
 that the door or doorway is wider at the top 
 than the bottom. The same holds with books 
 in a book-case. 
 
 Proof ■^.— Q,vA. two slips of paper. 
 («) 8 inches long by 2 inches wide. 
 {U) 8 inches long by 2 inches by inches 
 wide, so that it tapers of an inch. 
 
NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 151 
 
 If the parallel slip (a) be held upright 8 
 inches from the eye (its own length) and looked 
 at straight in the center — the center of the 
 paper being opposite to the eye — the paper will 
 appear slightly wider at the top than at the 
 bottom, the same proviso of not correcting the 
 pure impression by measurement (looking up 
 and down it) holding, as we pointed out in the 
 case of the church tower. 
 
 If the observer now takes the tapering slip 
 (^) and holds it narrow end upwards, looking 
 at it in the same way, it will appear parallel ; if 
 he hold it wide end upwards, it will appear 
 much wider at the top than at the bottom. 
 
 This holds equally true if the experiments 
 are made either with one eye or both — showing 
 that binocular vision has no effect on the im- 
 pressions. 
 
 Proof \. — Another interesting experiment is 
 to place a penny upright on a table and a half- 
 penny 1 8 inches behind it and a little to the 
 right or left of the penny. The eye must look 
 over the penny at the halfpenny, so that the 
 penny is a foreground object and the halfpenny 
 a distant object. If the observer now looks 
 steadily at the halfpenny, at the same time 
 seeing the penny, he will find the impression is 
 that the halfpenny looks nearly as large as the 
 penny. 
 
 Proposition A and Proofs deal mainly with 
 what we would describe as Vertical vision — that 
 is, with the variations in the appearances of 
 objects when placed one over the other, as in a 
 
152 NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 vertical column, or with objects at a distance as 
 compared with objects in the foreground. 
 
 But within the radius where binocular vision 
 acts (calculated by Mr. T. R. Dallmeyer to be 
 60 yards), new and important variations occur. 
 These properties we shall consider under the 
 term of horizontal vision. 
 
 Proposition. — Within the limits where binocu- 
 lar vision is effective (say normal vision, 8 
 inches to 60 yards) objects appear smaller when 
 they are compared with objects beyond the binoc- 
 ular limit — that is, they appear smaller as com- 
 pared with drawings as given by monocular or 
 mathematical perspective. 
 
 An experiment to practically bring the effect 
 of the binocular vision variations entering into 
 the matter may be made as follows : 
 
 Take the tapering slip of paper aforesaid {b) 
 and place it between the two eyes, the wide 
 end resting upon the bridge of the nose, the 
 slip being inclined at an angle of 30*^ with the 
 horizon. The result is that the paper vanishes 
 towards the eyes — diametrically an opposite re- 
 sult to what perspective would lead us to expect. 
 This phenomenon still holds if the paper be 
 gradually moved away from the eyes and held 
 at arm's length, but in the same plane. 
 
 Proof. — Place a book at a distance of 6 feet 
 from the eyes. Then proceed to measure the 
 width of the book with a pencil (one eye being 
 closed), as a draughtsman draws objects by 
 monocular perspective, and then opens the other 
 eye and measure the width of the book with 
 
NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 153 
 
 both eyes, the binocular measurement will be 
 found to be smaller than the monocular meas- 
 urement. If the height of the book be measured 
 in the same way, there will be no difference in 
 the result obtained with one or both eyes. 
 
 But more convincing is Proof 2. Wafer a 
 square sheet of white paper (say 8 inches square) 
 on the wall or on a window, 6 feet from the 
 observer, and look at it. The impression given 
 will be that it is larger vertically than it is 
 horizontally. This explains the old trick of 
 marking off the height of a tall hat against a 
 wall, as a rule everybody places the mark too 
 high — the reason is now explained. 
 
 Still another proof. Stand a halfpenny and 
 penny on the table, as directed in the previous 
 experiment. Now place the eyes on the same 
 level as the plane of the table and observe. The 
 result will be exactly the reverse to that pre- 
 viously obtained. That is, when looking directly 
 at the halfpenny, at the same time looking 
 (indirectly) at the penny, the penny will appear 
 the larger, and vice versa when looking directly 
 at the penny and indirectly at the half -penny, 
 the halfpenny will appear nearly as large as the 
 penny. 
 
 Another everyday proof. Let a person sit in 
 one end of a long punt with parallel sides, and 
 look at the other end — it will look to him to be 
 wider than where he is, and yet its sides will 
 by perspective laws vanish quickly away from 
 him. 
 
 These proofs show the effect of binocular 
 
154 NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 vision, which is to increase the appearance of 
 height and to narrow the appearance of breadth, 
 consequently it makes objects appear taller 
 than a perspective drawing would do. 
 
 Deduction. — The reason we get a different 
 impression of relative sizes of objects by normal 
 vision from that given by mathematical per- 
 spective drawings and photographs, is that the 
 combination of these properties of Vertical and 
 Horizontal visions gives quite a different result 
 to that of perspective drawings. 
 
 Final. — Having shown how we see* forms, it 
 only remains to say that a mathematical per- 
 spective drawing or the drawing of an aplanatic 
 photographic lens does not give forms as we 
 see them. They are altogether false to the 
 visual impression of the proportions of things 
 and therefore give a wrong idea of the original 
 scene. On the other hand, a perspective draw- 
 ing or correct photograph gives the actual facts 
 scientifically, i.e.., the pillars of the temple as 
 leaning, the paper in experiment as square. All 
 such drawings are, therefore, purely scientific 
 diagrams, and artists, who wish to render what 
 they see, must not rely upon them. 
 
 Aerial perspective is the perspective due to 
 the scattering of light by aerial turbidity, for 
 the atmosphere contains floating particles of 
 matter; as the object recedes the curtain of 
 turbidity becomes thicker and distant dark ob- 
 jects grow dimmer and bluer. This turbidity 
 I believe makes the objects appear closer to- 
 gether, just as two dots joined by a line appear 
 
NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 155 
 
 nearer together. If this be so, there is another 
 reason why in nature objects appear differently 
 to the eye than they would in a photograph, 
 and why sharp, clear, bright scenes in photo- 
 graphs often appear so scattered. Also it is 
 evident if every plane be sharply focused dull 
 and bright objects in the middle distance and 
 distance will be brighter or duller than they 
 appear to the eye, which is another reason 
 why some object should be thrown a little out 
 of focus in a landscape photograph. 
 
 Thus artistic vision depends upon vivid vis- 
 ual impressions, and it is the artist's duty, as 
 M. Helmholtz says, " to find out the more pre- 
 dominant elements and relations of the visual 
 impressions that determine our conception of 
 what is seen." We will briefly analyze them. 
 
 Light. 
 
 That must be given truthfully first of all. We 
 must be true in tone in our practice before all 
 things. We have spoken of these things else- 
 where. 
 
 Form. 
 
 Since on a plane surface we can only get a 
 faithful perspective view which is stationary, 
 so long as the point of sight (eye) is stationary, 
 it follows an artist can really only get one 
 picture from one point of sight, and directly he 
 alters that point of sight he has a new picture. 
 This causes painters much trouble, but it causes 
 us none, if we work within the legitimate con- 
 
r56 NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 ventional limits of perspective and use our lenses 
 correctly. But it will be said by moving our two 
 eyes we estimate distance and the size of objects^ 
 and our eyes give us two pictures appearing as 
 one. True, and herein again is another radical 
 difference between the eye and the lens. We 
 feel the displacement of objects as we approach 
 a picture (less on approaching a large picture) 
 and this accounts for the effect of violent per- 
 spective, for in small pictures the want of the 
 second representation for the other eye is too 
 marked. Hence, perspective drawings, seen 
 from a point of sight that does not really occur, 
 appear true. Therefore, owing to this imperfect 
 action of binocular vision, there is always an 
 incongruity between the picture and reality, so 
 the painter gives depth by subordinate means — 
 i.e., by the relative focal sharpness of planes, by 
 the direct intelligibility of the work so that it 
 works quickly on the spectator by the true per- 
 spective rendering of different objects and their 
 varying sizes, and by truth of tone and modeling, 
 by the focusing of light, and the mutual reflec- 
 tions of surfaces on each other, and serial per- 
 spective and coloring. Of these conditions (some 
 accidental) the true rendering of tone, focus, and 
 serial perspective, are the most important. And 
 so the painter makes the unity of a picture more 
 favorable than any photographer ever can and 
 gives a much truer impression of a landscape 
 than a camera can. 
 
NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. I57 
 
 Contrast. 
 
 Another great mental aid to the desired effect 
 is contrast. Brightness appears changed by the 
 proximity of the mass of another tone, so that 
 the original appears darker by approximating 
 a light shade and vice versa. Successive con- 
 trasts are obtained, as Helmholtz says, by the 
 previously fatigued retina passing over them. 
 Another reason then why the planes should not 
 all be rendered of equal sharpness for then^ 
 there is a loss of contrast and, therefore, of sol- 
 idity, and the fatigued retina wants a subdued 
 and delicate distance to dwell upon, and it 
 responds more quickly to that stimulus after 
 looking at the principal object. By careful, 
 artistic focus, this contrast is emphasized. In 
 short the subjeetive phenomena must be repre- 
 sented in the picture, and no photographer can 
 do that. For example, the eye irradiates light 
 owing to the turbidity found m its media, and 
 irradiation sheds its halo uniformly over far and 
 distant objects, the photographic lens does this 
 to a far more limited extent. But we must use 
 our lens and chemicals to render this irradiation. 
 It has been said that, if we run our eyes over a 
 landscape, we instantaneously focus the various 
 planes ; this is not so if they are any distance 
 from us and any distance apart, for then there 
 is a distinct and appreciable time taken to effect 
 this alteration and physiology clearly explains 
 why this is so. To do this, too, implies taking 
 a new point of sight for every plane; that the 
 eye can do, for it really consists of a series of 
 
158 NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 lenses ; but the photographer has but one lens, 
 and if he wants new points of sight or new pic- 
 tures, in fact, he has to use his lens afresh. We 
 cannot get beyond our limitations, and even 
 painters are limited here by conventional 'laws 
 they may only take one point of sight for one pic- 
 ture, because they, too, are working on a plane 
 surface. As Professor Helmholtz says, complete 
 apprehension of external objects by the sense of 
 sight is only possible when we direct our atten- 
 *tion to one part after another of the field of 
 vision, in the manner I have described — that is, 
 new points of sight must be taken each time, 
 which would necessitate a series of pictures and 
 several lenses for us, a compromise for the 
 painter. All art is limited, but pictorial art 
 being a translation on to a plane surface of sub- 
 jective sensation is limited by the very organs we 
 see with and partially the conventional laws of 
 perspective that have grown out of them — that 
 is, if we pretend to paint anything as it is seen. 
 
 On these data and within these limits, then, 
 must we work, and here we append a few 
 general principles deduced from these data, 
 which must guide us in our work. 
 
 Art Principles Deducted from the Data 
 Cited. 
 
 We have shown why the human eyes do not 
 see nature exactly as she is, but see instead a 
 number of signs which represent nature, signs 
 which the eyes grow accustomed to, and which 
 from habit we call nature herself. We shall 
 
NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 159 
 
 now discuss the relation of pictorial art to 
 nature, and shall show the fallacy of calling the 
 most scientifically perfect images obtained with 
 photographic lenses artistically true. They do 
 not give a true impression of the scene, as we 
 have shown, and shall again show, but what is 
 artistically more true is really what we have all 
 along advocated ; that is, that the photographer 
 must so use his technique as to render, as far 
 as possible, a true impression of the scene. Th^ 
 great heresy* of ''sharpness" has lived so long 
 in photographic circles because, firstly, photog- 
 raphy has been practiced by scientists, and, sec- 
 ondly, by unphilosophical scientists, for all 
 through the lens has been considered purely 
 from the physical point of view, the far more 
 important physiological and psychological stand- 
 points being entirely ignored, so that but one- 
 third of the truth has been hitherto stated. 
 
 To begin with, it must be remembered that a 
 picture is a representation on a plane surface of 
 limited area of certain physical facts in the 
 world, arouud us, for abstract ideas cannot be 
 expressed by painting. In all the works in the 
 world the painter, if he has tried to express the 
 unseen or the supernatural, has expressed the 
 unnatural. If he paint a dragon, you find it is 
 a distorted picture of some animal already ex- 
 isting ; if he paint a deity, it is but a kind of 
 man after all. No brain can conjure up and 
 set down on paper a monster such as has never 
 existed, or in which there are no parts homolo- 
 
 ♦ This heresy I claim that this book hushed for ever, 1897. 
 
l6o NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY, 
 
 gous with some parts of a living- or fossil creature. 
 We defy any man to draw a devil, for example, 
 that is totally unlike anything in existence. 
 All so-called imaginative works fall then within 
 the category of the real, for they are in certain 
 parts real because they are all based on realities, 
 even though they may be utterly false to the 
 appearance of reality. By this we mean that 
 an ideal dragon may be based on existing ani- 
 mals ; his form may be a mixture of a cobra, 
 saurian, and a mammal, as is often the case ; so 
 far it may be real, but then the way in which it 
 is painted must be false, for the natural effect 
 of light and atmosphere on the dragon may and 
 probably will be ignored, for there is no such 
 animal to study from. The modern pre-Raphael- 
 ites are good examples of painters who painted 
 in this way; they painted details, they imitated 
 the local colors and textures of objects, but for 
 all that their pictures are as false in impression 
 as false can be, for they neglected those subtle- 
 ties of light and color and atmosphere which 
 pervade all nature, and which are as import- 
 ant than form. Children and savages make this 
 same error ; they imitate the local color, not 
 the true color as modified by light, adjacent 
 color, and atmosphere. But what the most ad- 
 vanced thinkers of art in all ages have sought 
 for is the rendering of the true impression of 
 nature. 
 
 Proceed we now to discuss the component 
 parts of this impression. 
 
 When we open our eyes in the morning the 
 
NATURALISTIC PHOTO?RAPHY. l6l 
 
 first thing we see is light, the result of those 
 all-pervading vibrations of ether. The effects 
 of light on all the objects of nature and on 
 sight have been dealt with in the beginning of 
 this chapter, it only remains, therefore, to deduce 
 our limits from these facts. In the first place, 
 from what has been said in that section, it is 
 evident we cannot compete with painting, e.g., 
 we are unable to pitch our pictures in so high a 
 ke)^ as the painter does, and how limited is his 
 scale has been shown, but by the aid of pig- 
 ments he can go higher than we. It has been 
 shown, too, that it is impossible to have the 
 values correct throughout a picture, for that 
 would make the picture too black and untrue in 
 many parts. This fact shows how v^rong are 
 those photographers who maintain that every 
 photograph should have a patch of pure white 
 and a patch of pure black, and that all the 
 lighting should be nicely graduated between 
 these two extremes. This idea arose, no doubt, 
 from comparing photography with other in- 
 complete methods of translation, such as line 
 engraving, or from following the old ideas of 
 correct values throughout the scale : an impos- 
 sibility. 
 
 The real point is that the darks of the picture 
 shall be in true relation, and the high lights 
 must take care of themselves. By this means a 
 truer tone is obtained throughout. Now, to 
 have these tones in true relation, it is of course 
 implied that the local colors must be truly ren- 
 dered, yellow must not come out black, or blue 
 
l62 NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 as white, therefore it is evident that for highly 
 colored objects color-corrected plates are neces- 
 sary. But such plates are useless when the 
 quantity of silver in the film is little, for the 
 subtleties of delicate tonality are lost, which are 
 not compensated for by gain in local color, and 
 this is a point the makers of orthochromatic 
 plates must take into consideration. But in 
 rendering the pale and evanescent colors of a 
 landscape we are of the opinion that truer 
 values are to be got on an ordinary plate than 
 on orthochromatic plates, excepting only , very 
 highly colored objects as yellow flowers. It will 
 be seen now why photographs of brightly colored 
 objects on uncorrected plates (even when the 
 greatest care and knowledge in using them is 
 exercised), are not, as a rule, perfectly successful, 
 and why the ordinary silver printing-paper is 
 undesirable,f or it exaggerates the darkness of the 
 shadows,a fatal error. False tonality destroys the 
 sense of atmosphere; in fact, for the true render- 
 ing of atmosphere, a photograph must be relative- 
 ly true in tone; in other words, the relative tones, 
 in shadow and half shadow, must be true. If a 
 picture is of a bright, sunlit subject, brilliancy 
 is of course a necessary quality, and by brilliancy 
 is not meant that " sparkle " which so delights 
 amateurs. Of course, the start of tone is natur- 
 ally made from less deep shadows, when the 
 picture is brightly lighted, for the black reflects 
 light, and all the shadows are filled with reflected 
 light. It will be seen, therefore, that it is of 
 paramount importance that the shadows shall 
 
NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY, 163 
 
 not be too black, that in them shall be light, as 
 there always is in nature — more, of course, in 
 bright pictures, less in low-toned pictures — that 
 therefore the rule of detail in the shadows" is 
 in a way a good rough-and-ready photographic 
 rule. Yet photographers often stop down their 
 lens and cut off the best modeling light, as well 
 as valuable aberrations, at the same time sharp- 
 ening the shadows and darkening them, and 
 throwing the picture out of tone. It cannot be 
 too strongly insisted upon that *• strength" in a 
 photograph is not to be judged by its so-called 
 "pluck" or "sparkle," but by its subtlety of 
 tone, its relative values in shadow and middle 
 shadow, and its true textures and modeling. 
 Photographers have been advised by the mis- 
 taken to spot out the "dotty high lights" of an 
 ill-chosen or badly-rendered subject to give it 
 "breadth." Such a proceeding, of course, only 
 increases the falsity of the picture, for the high 
 lights, as we have shown, are never high enough 
 in any picture, and if a man is so unwise as to 
 take a picture with "spotty lights," he is only 
 making matters worse by lowering the high 
 lights, which are already not high enough. This 
 does not, of course, apply to the case where a 
 single spot of objectionable white fixes the eye 
 and destroys harmony, but to the general habit 
 of lowering the high lights in a " spotty " photo- 
 graph. Spotty pictures, in art as well as in 
 nature, are abominations to a trained eye, and 
 it is for that very reason that such subjects are 
 more common among photographers who are 
 
164 NATURALISTIC PHOMOGRAPHY. 
 
 untrained in art matters than in the works of 
 even third-rate painters. The effect of the 
 brightest sunlight in nature, for reasons ex- 
 plained, is to lessen contrast and give the 
 subject breadth, and the effect of a sharply- 
 focused, stopped-down photograph is to abnor- 
 mally increase contrast in the unseparated planes 
 and flatten the modeling, and thus falsify the 
 tonality. As the tendency of "atmosphere" 
 is to grey all the colors in nature more or less, 
 and of a mist to render all things grey, it 
 follows that " atmosphere " in all cases helps to 
 give breadth by lessening contrast. As shown 
 in the previous chapter, this aerial "turbidity," 
 by which is meant atmosphere, takes oflE from 
 the sharpness of outline and detail of the image, 
 and the farther off the object is, the thicker 
 being the intervening layer of atmosphere, the 
 greater is the turbidity ccBter is paribus, therefore, 
 from this fact alone, objects in different planes 
 are not and should not be represented equally 
 sharp and well-defined. This is most important 
 to seize — as the* prevalent idea among photog- 
 raphers seems to be that all the objects in all 
 the planes should be sharp at once, an idea which 
 no artist could or ever did entertain, and which 
 nature at once proves untenable. The atmo- 
 sphere in the main rules the general appearance 
 of things, for if this turbidity be little, objects 
 look close together, and under certain conditions 
 are poor in quality. 
 
 * This and much other matter now no longer obtains, as many- 
 photographers have adopted and practice the original teachings of this 
 book. 
 
NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 165 
 
 In addition to tone and atmosphere, he must 
 consider ''drawing;" but by choosing a suitable 
 lens, and using it correctly, our drawing is done 
 as well as it can be done by an instrument, 
 so that we need not regard this matter of 
 form. A minor aid to rendering depth is 
 the illumination of the object, a lateral illu- 
 mination giving the greatest idea of relief, 
 but the photographer should be guided by no 
 so-called "schemes of lighting," because, for 
 more important reasons, it may be advisable to 
 choose a subject lighted directly by the sun, or 
 silhouetted against the sun. All depends on 
 what is desired to be expressed. For example, 
 a photographer may wish to express the senti- 
 ment and poetry of a sunset behind a row of trees. 
 Is he to consider the minor matter that there 
 will be little relief, and it is not a good " scheme 
 of lighting"? No, certainly not, otherwise he 
 must forego the subject. Nature ignores all 
 such laws. The only law is that the lighting 
 must give a relatively true illusion of the sub- 
 ject expressed, and that a landscape must not 
 be lighted by two or more suns. In portrait 
 work, even, it must be remembered that the 
 serial lighting must stand out against the back- 
 ground, for in all rooms there is a certain amount 
 of turbidity between us and distant objects. 
 
 The reason we prefer pictures which are not 
 too bright lies in the fact that the eye cannot 
 look long at very bright paintings without 
 tiring. As a physical fact, too, the most delicate 
 modeling and tonality is to be obtained in a 
 
l66 NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 medium light. From what has been previously 
 said, it will now be understood that a picture 
 should not be quite sharply focused in any part, 
 for then it becomes false ; it should be made 
 just so sharp as will best give the appearance of 
 nature from one point of sight, and no sharper, 
 for it must be remembered that the eye 
 does not see things as sharply as the photo- 
 graphic lens, for the eye has faults due to 
 dispersion, spherical aberration, astigmatism, 
 atrial turbidity, blind spot, irradiation, etc., 
 and beyond twenty feet it does not adjust 
 perfectly for the different planes. All these 
 slight imperfections make the eye's visions 
 theoretically more imperfect than that of the 
 optician's lens, even when objects in one plane 
 only are sharply focused, therefore, except in 
 very rare cases, which will be touched upon 
 elsewhere, the chief point of interest should be 
 slightly — very slightly — out of focus, while all 
 things, out of the plane of the principal object, 
 it is perfectly obvious, from what has been said, 
 should also be slightly out of focus, not to the 
 extent of producing destruction of structure or 
 fuzziness, but sufficiently to keep them back 
 and in place. For, as we have been told, " to 
 look at anything means to place the eye in 
 such a position that the image of the object 
 falls on the small region of perfectly clear 
 visions, and whatever we want to see, we 
 look at, and see it accurately ; what we do 
 not look at, we do not, as a rule, care for 
 at the moment, and so do not notice how im- 
 
NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 167 
 
 perfectly we see it." Though this does not 
 in all cases hold as a hard and fast rule, such 
 usually is the case, as has been shown, for when 
 we fix our sight on the principal object or motif 
 of a picture, binocular vision represents clearly 
 by direct vision only the parts of the picture de- 
 lineated on the points of sight. The rule in 
 focusing, therefore, should be, focus for the 
 principal object of the picture, but all else must 
 not be sharp ; and even that principal object 
 must not be as perfectly sharp as the optical 
 lens will make it. It will be said, but in nature 
 the eye wanders up and down the landscape, 
 and so gathers up the impressions, and all the 
 landscape in turn appears sharp.* But a picture 
 is not " all the landscape," it should be seen at 
 a certain distance, twice the breadth of the 
 picture being the rule, and the observer, to look 
 at it thoughtfully, if it be a picture^ will settle 
 on a principal object, and dwell upon it, and 
 when he tires of this, he will want to gather up 
 suggestions of the rest of the picture. If it be a 
 common-place photograph taken with a wide- 
 angle lens, say, of a stretch of scenery of equal 
 value, as are most photographic landscapes, of 
 course the eye will have nothing to settle 
 thoughtfully upon, and will wander about, and 
 finally go away dissatisfied. But such a photo- 
 graph is unsatisfactory. Hence, it is obvious 
 that panoramic effects are not suitable for art, 
 and the angle of view included in a picture 
 should never be large. It might be argued 
 
 * This objection has been fully answered elsewhere. 
 
l68 NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 from this, that Pseudo-Impressionists who paint 
 the horse's head and top of a hansom cab 
 omitted all suggestions are correct, since the 
 eye can only see clearly a very small portion of 
 the field of view at once. We assert, no, for if 
 we look in a casual way at a hansom cab in the 
 streets, we see only directly the head of the 
 horse a.nd the top of the cab, yet, indirectly, 
 that is, in the retinal circle around the fovea 
 centralis we have far more suggestion and feel- 
 ing of horse's legs than the eccentricities of the 
 Pseudo-Impressionist school give us, for in that 
 part of the retinal field indirect vision aids us. 
 The field of indirect vision must be suggested 
 in a picture, but subordinated. But we shall 
 go into this matter later on, here we only wish 
 to establish our principles on a scientific basis. 
 Afterwards, in treating of pictorial questions, we 
 shall simply give our advice, presuming the 
 student has already studied the scientific data 
 on which that advice is based. All good art 
 has its scientific basis. Sir Thomas Lawrence 
 said, " Painting is a science, and should be pur- 
 sued as an inquiry into the laws of nature. 
 Why, then, may not landscape pamting be con- 
 sidered as a branch of natural philosophy, of 
 which pictures are but experiments ? " 
 
 Some writers who have never taken the trouble 
 to understand even these points, have held that 
 we admitted fuzziness in photography. Such 
 persons are laboring under a great misconcep- 
 tion ; we have nothing whatever to do with any 
 " fuzzy school." Fuzziness, to us, means destruc- 
 
NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 169 
 
 Hon of structure. We do advocate broad sug- 
 gestions of organic structure, and artistic focus 
 of relative planes, which is a very different 
 thing from destruction, although, there may 
 at times be occasions in which patches of 
 "fuzziness" will help the picture, yet these are 
 are rare indeed, and it would be very difficult 
 for anyone to show us many patches in our 
 published plates. We have, then, nothing to do 
 with " fuzziness," unless by the term is meant 
 that broad and ample generalization of detail, 
 so necessary to pictorial work. We would remind 
 these writers that it is always fairer to read an 
 author's writings than to read the irrespon- 
 sible constructions put upon them by prejudiced 
 and half-educated persons. 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Naturalistic Photography and Art.* 
 
 Before proceeding further, it will be well to 
 give an epitome of the past matter, we shall do 
 this in the following chapter. 
 
 When I first took up photography I was told by 
 the whole photographic world (including optical 
 experts) ; told by all, without exception, that if 
 the photographic observer closed one eye and 
 placed the other eye at the focal distance of 
 the lens used in taking the photograph under 
 observation, he would see the picture " true to 
 nature." 
 
 I felt all along that such was not the case, 
 and maintained the "sharp " or any other photo- 
 graph when viewed under such conditions was 
 not true to nature — to nature as the iwo eyes see 
 it, and hence arose a long and inky warfare. 
 
 It was in this as in many other disputes — 
 we were both right and we were both wrong. 
 
 The opticians were right from the mathemat- 
 ical standpoint, and I was right from the physi- 
 ological and psychological standpoints, and so it 
 was evident there were two truths to nature — 
 the perspective or mathematical truth and the 
 
 * a paper read before the Photographic Society of Great Britain, 
 March, 1893, revised. 
 
NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 171 
 
 psychological or visual truth. After many prac- 
 tical experiments I found the closest truth to 
 nature in photography {from the psychological 
 point of view) was to be obtained by throwing- 
 the background of the picture out of focus to 
 an extent which did not produce destruction of 
 structure — that was my limit ; Ihe principal 
 object of the picture being either sharp or just 
 out of the ''sharp." This convention I termed 
 the naturalistic method of focusing, and pointed 
 out that it had no connection with a general 
 soft sharpness such as that produced by Mrs. 
 Cameron's badly-corrected " Jamin lens," or by 
 pin-holes,or by throwing the whole of the picture 
 out of focus — practices all inferior from the 
 naturalistic standpoint, in my opinion, to my 
 focusing method — which is a deliberate and 
 conscious act to be modified according to cir- 
 cumstances, and no haphazard "dodge "like the 
 " soft sharpness " or " bastard naturalism," as my 
 friend Mr. Balfour called the more mechanical 
 "soft sharp" method. 
 
 This naturalistic method of focusing I prac- 
 tised and advocated and found later on by 
 further research that it was justified by physi- 
 ology. All this led to a great storm in a tea- 
 cup, and disputes arose as to how we did 
 see with two eyes and what was really truth 
 to Nature from the visual standpoint. In 
 the course of this argument I was pleased 
 to find a broad-minded optician taking an 
 interest in these matters. I refer to my 
 friend Mr. Dallmeyer, whose acquaintance I 
 
172 NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 did not make till after the publication of my 
 book. 
 
 This argument — though warm at times — did 
 good, and set many thinking, and at last I was 
 lucky enough to drop upon the key to the solu- 
 tion, which key I published in April, 1890, in 
 a number of Photography. It was a short papfer 
 entitled, "A Note on Naturalistic Focusing." 
 My friend, Mr, Goodall, who was formerly 
 interested in the practice of photography, was 
 told by me of this little research, and imme- 
 diately he took it up enthusiastically and sug- 
 gested some new proofs and experiments, and 
 together we made first experiments and pub- 
 lished the results in a pamphlet entitled, " Per- 
 spective Drawing and Vision," * a pamphlet 
 that created another storm in the tea-cup, but a 
 pamphlet whose propositions, I venture to say, 
 still remain unshaken, though the Royal Astron- 
 omer at Sydney was invited to a public argu- 
 ment in the Photographic News — a challenge 
 still open to him or any other person of physio- 
 logical or psychological training : and here I 
 may say Dr. Griffiths and Mr. Sutcliffe were 
 the only two photographers who were, at the 
 time, acute enough to see and acknowledge in 
 public the full force of the pamphlet. 
 
 From this pamphlet it was again self-evident 
 to me that there is no absolute tcvXh. to Nature 
 from the visual standpoint, for as each man's 
 sight is different, the only absolute truth to 
 Nature for each man is his own view of her 
 
 * Reprinted in the chapter on " Sight. ' 
 
NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 173 
 
 (thoug-h certain broad features remain true to 
 all). On the other hand, from the mathematical 
 standpoint or perspective drawing standpoint, 
 there is an absolute standard, such as the sharp 
 photograph taken with rectilinear and other- 
 wise duly corrected lenses. 
 
 Now I will quote you a paragraph from 
 a text-book on Psychology, published only 
 last year (1892), a passage which shows how 
 this view is now so far accepted that it has 
 entered psychological text-books for students. 
 The quotation is : 
 
 " Almost all the visible shapes of things are 
 what we call perspective distortions. Square 
 table-tops constantly present two acute and two 
 obtuse angles, circles drawn on our wall-papers 
 show like ellipses, etc., and the transitions fron 
 one to another of these altering forms are in 
 finite and continual," 
 
 That is the position. Whence it is again 
 evident that no photograph gives things as 
 we see them with our two eyes, though some 
 photographs give results nearer to what we 
 see than others, and those are the naturalistic 
 photographs. 
 
 The next question I put to myself was : How 
 true must the photograph be so that it may be 
 considered naturalistic? And this gave me 
 much trouble, but at last I think I can offer the 
 solution, which is, — It must be true in funda- 
 mentals to the point of illusion. Thus, a man's 
 boots must not be twice as big as his head, and 
 so on with everything. 
 
174 NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 So what I advocate is truth to the point 
 of illusion (for I am not considering to-night 
 scientific photographs but pictorial photo- 
 graphs). And I may now say the methods 
 of practice I advised in Naturalistic Photography 
 I still advise, and the bulk of artists I held up for 
 admiration in that work I still hold up as the 
 best exemplars of their various crafts, but I do 
 not consider photography an art but regard it 
 as a mechanical (I say " mechanical" advisedly) 
 process, whose results are sometimes more 
 beautiful than art, but are never art, just as 
 Nature is often more beautiful than art — just 
 as the beautiful white water-lily surpasses 
 the painted lily — yet is the real lily not art 
 but Nature. So the photograph is not art, 
 but a mechanically recorded reflection of Nature. 
 To state this matter more clearly I have adopted 
 a genealogical form of presentation. 
 
 NATURE. 
 
 (The fountain-head of sensuous impressions, but not 
 of concepts or ideas.') 
 
 Photography. 
 (A cross between Nature and a machine.') 
 
 Realism. 
 
 Naturalism. 
 
 (The sharp photograph 
 — wherein sentiment, 
 illusion, and decoration 
 
 (The more or less cor- 
 rect reflection of Nature, 
 wherein truth of senti- 
 
NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 175 
 
 are disregarded ; mere- ment, illusion of truth (so 
 ly a register of bald far as possible), and deco- 
 facts mathematically ration are of first import- 
 true.) ance. 
 
 From which it is self-evident that I believe 
 there is no true realism nor naturalism in the 
 arts proper but only in pjiotography : for true 
 realism and naturalism are impersonal — the re- 
 sults of a mechanical process which photog- 
 raphy logically is, because under the same 
 physical conditions the same results will always 
 follow. Place the camera under certain physi- 
 cal conditions and the same results will always 
 follow, which is not the case with art, which is 
 personal; indeed, the personal element in real 
 art is paramount and all-pervading. Thus, art 
 is a cross between Man and Nature, or — 
 
 ART. 
 
 (Cross between Man and Nature— no machine intervening) 
 
 Impresswni'sjjt. 
 (Which is a purely direct 
 personal vision of Nature 
 as thus an impressionist 
 may paint sharply or may 
 paint colors wrongly from 
 defect of vision : as does 
 Manet.) 
 
 Idealism. 
 
 (Cases in which the im- 
 agination is used; that is, 
 the combining of several 
 ideals into one harmoni- 
 ous whole. The idealist 
 may transcend known 
 Nature and so the vase 
 is produced. 
 
 In brief, what I submit is that all artists 
 (who do not use photography, and such are 
 
176 NATURYLISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 bastards) are either impressionists or idealists 
 and that logically they cannot be either realists 
 or naturalists, for they can never be truly im- 
 personal. M. Zola calls himself a "naturalist," 
 but he is not, as has been pointed out : were 
 I to classify him it would be as a morbid 
 impressionist. On the other hand, M. Viaud, 
 a far more sensitive artist, has been called 
 a " naturalist ; " he has publicly denied it, calling 
 himself an ''idealist," which he is not — he is 
 an impressionist ; morbid, too, in his way. On 
 the other hand, Theocritus I should call a 
 sane impressionist, and Milton an idealist,— or 
 to put it into paint, Mr. Whistler is a sane 
 impressionist and Rossetti an idealist. 
 
 And there can be insane impressionists and 
 idealists, as lunacy students know, as well as 
 mattoid impressionists, as was the late Richard 
 Jefferies in literature, and, say, Ruskin in art. 
 
 But still there is a link binding Nature, Art, 
 and Photography together— a touch of kinship 
 —and that is decoration. The artist admires 
 Nature when she " sings in harmony," i.e., is 
 decorative ; he admires the photograph when it 
 " sings in harmony," i.e., is decorative, and he 
 admires works of art when they " sing in har- 
 mony," i.e., are decorative. 
 
 Thus, photographs must be decorative to 
 appeal to artists, but that does not make them 
 art any more than Nature is art when she is 
 decorative. In a word, art is the personal ex- 
 pression of a personal vision of Nature or ideal. 
 A decorative photograph is a mechanical reflec- 
 
NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 177 
 
 tion of Nature when she "sings in tune," the good 
 photographer requiring to know when Nature 
 does " sing in tune." In a word, he must have 
 true perception of the beautiful to succeed, 
 after that he is merely the starter of a machine. 
 
 If you will allow me to digress for a moment 
 let me here make a reservation. It is that it 
 matters not, for tnerely decorative purposes, 
 what lens be used or how it be used, what ex- 
 posure be given or how it be given, what devel- 
 oper be used or how it be used, what printing 
 method be adopted or how it be handled, pro- 
 vided always the result be decorative, for no 
 photograph can be said to have any " art quali- 
 ties " (this does not allow it can be art) without 
 being first of all decorative — a harmonious 
 whole. That is the first quality which differen- 
 tiates the few photographs from the thousand. 
 But there are higher qualities, degrees of inter- 
 est and distinction, as it were, and to possess 
 these it must be illusively true, and fine in its 
 natural sentiment, as well as decorative ; in a 
 word " naturalistic." And even Mr. Whistler (a 
 far greater artist than philosopher) gives himself 
 away upon this very point in what I yfears ago 
 called his brilliant but illogical " Ten o'clock," 
 though such an acute critic as Mr. Henley has 
 called this lecture the greatest art writing of 
 the century, which I submit it is not. In this 
 " Ten o'clock " Mr. Whistler advocates through- 
 out his work art for art's sake (/. e., pure decor- 
 ation) as the be-all and end-all of art. But I 
 
lyS NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 submit that he gives his case away when he 
 writes : — 
 
 As did her high-priest Rembrandt, when he saw 
 NOBLE DIGNITY in the Jew's quarter of Amster- 
 dam." 
 
 Or— 
 
 " To the day when she dipped the Spaniard's 
 brush in light and air, and made his people . . , 
 STAND UPON THEIR LEGS, that all uobility and 
 sweetness, and tenderness and magnificence 
 should be theirs by right." 
 
 " Noble dignity," " tenderness," &c., have 
 nothing necessarily to do with decoration, but 
 they are the all-essential qualities for fine- 
 ness of sentiment in the pictures cited. 
 
 It was on this very point that our greatest 
 poet, Mr. Swinburne, fell foul of Mr. Whistler 
 and got worsted. I venture to think, had Mr. 
 Swinburne merely quoted these and similar pas- 
 sages his position would have been invulnera- 
 ble, but he must argue. Indeed, truth of 
 sentiment and fineness of sentiment are dis- 
 tinctly advocated as virtues in these passages 
 and as I have always claimed them to be, and 
 so what becomes of Vart pour Vart theory and 
 the contention that " subject " has nothing to do 
 with it. I have always maintained " subject " is 
 as necessary as decoration for the perfect work, 
 and I still maintain it; but ** subject " is often 
 confounded with "story-telling." 
 
 What is wanted in naturalism is a decorative 
 illusion of Nature, a decoration embodying some 
 fine and true natural sentiment, the decoration 
 
NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 179 
 
 without the sentiment (not sentimentality) is a 
 mere sensuous patch-work of color, the senti- 
 ment without the decoration is mere " literature 
 in the flat," and the truthful illusion without 
 either sentiment or decoration is a mere state- 
 ment of fact, which explains why Mr. Whistler's 
 masterly "Carlyle" must always be of more 
 interest than, say, a " still-life " picture by the 
 same hand. 
 
 This may be a fitting place to insert a warn- 
 ing against an error born of misunderstanding. 
 It has been said many times that by-and-by 
 photographers will do works of art when they 
 get " soul " into their photographs. The pho- 
 tograph that is fine in sentiment and dec- 
 oration and true to illusion can never be 
 improved upon any more than can the statue 
 of the Venus of Melos. A perfect work is good 
 for all time, as Mr. Whistler. has said. Means 
 are now at the command of photographers to 
 produce the perfect black and white photo- 
 graphic work, though in future increased facili- 
 ties for producing such work may be found by 
 inventors. 
 
 And now we will return to the main subject, 
 which I shall lay before you in a series of propo- 
 sitions only, for psychology has not yet become 
 a science in the true sense ; psychological work is 
 merely in the working hypothesis stage, though 
 by no means at the worked out hypothesis end. 
 
 Proposition I. 
 That the material universe may be regarded 
 
l8o NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 by US as eternal (though varying in aspects) and 
 the fountain-head of all our sensuous impressions. 
 
 Proposition II. 
 That accepting the doctrine of evolution the 
 mind has evolved from the merest crude sensa- 
 tions of the amoeba to the complex and subtle 
 sensations of the master artists of to-day. 
 
 Proposition III. 
 That in the course of this evolution there 
 arose the sensation and perception of the beau- 
 tiful,* and this emotion was followed by acts in- 
 tended for ornamentation of their persons or 
 homes. 
 
 Proposition IV. 
 That from this germ developed the sense of 
 the beautiful until in civilized man this appre- 
 ciation of the beautiful may be divided into 
 three steps : — 
 
 1. That of sensation. 
 
 2. That of perception (intellectual). 
 
 3. That of emotion. 
 
 That these three be three distinct processes, 
 yet are they one — indissoluble. . 
 
 Proposition V. 
 That the appreciation of the beautiful is thus 
 subjective, an ideal existing in the minds of men 
 in varying degrees of development ; and that 
 though Nature (by which the objective world 
 
 * According to Darwin this is first noticeable in birds. 
 
NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. l8l 
 
 is meant) has probably produced at various 
 times exquisite harmonies, it took man to recog- 
 nize these as beautiful, and so it has been said 
 the artist is the master of Nature. 
 
 Proposition VI, 
 That as the nervous system developed, these 
 appreciations became more delicate and subtle, 
 and so a man with a naturally delicate sense of 
 vision gradually purges himself of the coarser 
 emotions, and his perceptions are more purely 
 cerebral acts. A master artist regards first of 
 all by mere acquaintance the decorative harmony 
 of a picture or natural scene, then by previously 
 acquired knowledge he knows why it is lovely, 
 fit, true in sentiment, and distingue, and that 
 knowledge gives way to the emotion of joy, 
 which is expressed physically by his smiling 
 face. 
 
 That the reverse is the process with the Phil- 
 istine ; the crude and tawdry appeals first to his 
 emotion, hence the popularity of the sentimen- 
 tal subject, of the anecdote, of "literature in 
 the flat." 
 
 Proposition VII. 
 That we have physiological proof that men's 
 sensitiveness vary in degrees of fineness, thus a 
 virtuoso in flour knows samples grown in differ- 
 ent countries by their feel — a virtuoso in wine 
 knows a glass of port taken from near the bot- 
 tom from one taken from the top of a bottle ; 
 and the blind Laura Bridgeman knew purely by 
 
l82 NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 touch the clothes of all the inmates of a work- 
 house. From which it is self evident that in 
 all persons the boundary of their appreciation 
 is hard drawn; in some cases therefore fatally 
 limited by their very organization. A man 
 whose vision is not delicate can never see the 
 delicacies of line, color, and tone patent to a 
 more delicate nervous organization. Such a 
 limited person is forever doomed to be outside 
 the pale of the pictorial art world, as the man 
 with no ear for music is for ever doomed to be 
 an " outsider " in the musical world. 
 
 Proposition VIII. 
 That as the sense of beauty is a human ideal, 
 this ideal will vary with individuals and in the 
 individual from day to day, nay, from hour to 
 hour. Indeed so complex are the brain pro- 
 cesses, and so dependent upon each other, that 
 an artist may begin a picture with one ideal and 
 finish it with quite a different ideal. Indeed, 
 it is one of the great difficulties of the artist 
 to keep steadily to his original ideal through- 
 out the work. A glass of wine, a santonine 
 powder, may completely change his ideal or 
 power of execution. From which it is plain 
 how delicate a thing is a work of art, how 
 thoroughly personal is every touch in a work 
 worthy the name of art — what a perfect index 
 of its creator's mind. 
 
 Proposition IX. 
 That the ideal existing in any given brain at 
 
NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 183 
 
 any moment is complex, the result of the man's 
 whole previous life up to date; wherefore, this 
 ideal is no mere reflection of Nature, but a re- 
 sult of imagination, or the selection from vari- 
 ous ideals or parts of ideals; and thus man may- 
 go beyond Nature and conceive things that do 
 not exist in the world — such as the vase, the 
 phonograph. 
 
 That fine art is the artistic expression of this 
 ideal by a personal method, and that no man is 
 an artist who has the ideal and can see the 
 beautiful if he have not the power of execution 
 as well. Art is therefore achievement. By their 
 results alone are artists to be judged; as thus a 
 very inferior technician may be a very delicate 
 seer of the beautiful, but the world only give 
 him credit for his picture — his result — and if 
 that be poor, if his hand cannot express his 
 ideal, he does not rank highly nor often does 
 he get credit as a seer. "Art is therefore 
 with the man," as Mr. Whistler has said. 
 
 Proposition X. 
 
 That Nature sometimes sings in tune, or suc- 
 ceeds in producing glorious and exquisite har- 
 monies, harmonies fully appreciated by the 
 seers of the beautiful, for many more may ap- 
 preciate than can depict; hence the rarity of 
 real artists. Whence also a layman may be a 
 far keener seer than most painters; but seer 
 and masterly executant is Genius itself. 
 
 Again, that the harmonies of Nature are alto- 
 gether different from the harmonies of art — 
 
184 NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 are dependent on different phenomena, and that 
 Nature and art are different worlds. That 
 Nature sometimes sings in tune Mr. Whistler 
 himself has allowed, but I submit that it is 
 absolutely impossible to reproduce that har- 
 mony on a plane surface; it is a thing by itself, 
 a thing spirt; though a number of unphilo- 
 sophical painters think they do reproduce 
 Nature — but they do not. Here is a very sim- 
 ple proof suggested to me by my friend Mr. 
 Havard Thomas, a sculptor. Let the observer 
 look at a distant landscape behind some reed- 
 stalks in the foreground. The reed-stalks in 
 Nature, under certain conditions do not blot out 
 any of the background, we see round them, and 
 see the whole landscape beyond. In art the 
 reed-stalks would always blot out part of the 
 background. I think our sense of the third 
 dimension of space or " distance " arose first 
 through this peculiarity of vision. For further 
 and deeper proofs of the utter impossibility of 
 reproducing Nature as we see her I must refer 
 you to Prof. Helmholtz's Scientific Lectures, to 
 Mr. Rood's Chromatics, and to our Perspective 
 Drawing and Vision. A careful study of these 
 publications aided by a few experiments made 
 for himself will convince the veriest neophyte 
 that it is impossible to reproduce Nature or make 
 a " mere transcript." 
 
 Proposition XI. 
 That in photography we are confronted with 
 a new phenomenon, in that we find some of the 
 
NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 185 
 
 results of a machine give true pleasure to mas- 
 ter artists, which has never hitherto been the 
 case with machine-made works. 
 
 Proposition XII. 
 That photography is not art, because a ma- 
 chine comes between the man's ideal and Na- 
 ture, and the result is machine-made ; the trap- 
 ping of a sunbeam. Say the photographer, like 
 the painter, goes to Nature with certain ideals 
 —we will for illustration's sake assume that two 
 men have exactly similar ideals of the beautiful 
 (which is of course impossible). They go to- 
 gether to Nature, and find a beautiful natural 
 harmony in a lovely stretch of purple sands by 
 the sounding sea. The photographer at once 
 sets up his machine, focuses and exposes; but 
 in these very processes his ideal has gone. 
 What results may be beautiful, but it is no 
 more the representation of his ideal, the vision 
 he first saw. It is something else, for the ma- 
 chine imposes certain conditions which were 
 never in the photographer's mind at all. How 
 often has the most experienced of us been dis- 
 appointed with the photograph of what was 
 fine in Nature— fine to our eyes that is, and 
 sometimes vice versa ? 
 
 The painter, on the other hand, begins, and 
 if he be an expert each touch helps to his de- 
 sired or ideal end; this wavelet is delicately put 
 in, that breaker strongly and broadly, and so 
 on; everything is done unto one end, and all is 
 certain from the first— whereas the photographer 
 
l86 NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 has boxed, a maimed and contracted reflection 
 of what he saw. True, it may be a beautiful re- 
 flection, but after all it is Nature's drawing, and 
 not the man's. Still, such machine-drawn pict- 
 ures may in certain cases satisfy, or rather 
 harmonize, with the photographer's ideal of 
 beauty, or indeed with the master painter's, as 
 does a beautiful natural landscape; and yet again 
 the beautiful photograph is not art any more 
 than the natural scene of which it is a reflection. 
 
 Proposition XIII. 
 
 That though the machine draws the photo- 
 graph, yet in the production of a photograph 
 there are a few (very few) very limited incal- 
 culable elements, as there are in organ grinding 
 and engine driving. 
 
 These are — 
 
 (1) Selection of view. 
 
 (2) " lens. 
 
 (3) " focus. 
 
 (4) " time of exposure (under, 
 
 correct, or over), devel- 
 oper, and development 
 curve. 
 
 (5) " printing method. 
 These limited incalculable elements give a 
 
 man a very limited opportunity of blending 
 his materials to his ideal, and though by taking 
 advantage of these with knozv ledge he may sur- 
 pass other photographers in decorative work, 
 still they are too limited for him to express to 
 any degree of certainty or fullness his ideal, 
 
NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 187 
 
 and since the drawing is mechanical, these few 
 very limited incalculable elements cannot en- 
 able a man to express his ideal in anything like 
 the same degree as does a personal art. Indeed 
 photography is not nearly so personal an art as 
 sailing or rifle shooting, both of which have 
 very little of the mechanical about them and 
 much of the personal. 
 
 In photography man puts the machine under 
 certain physical conditions, and the machine 
 will always (under these same conditions) bring 
 about the same result, therefore the process is 
 logically mechanical. On the other hand, a 
 personal art is one in which the results would 
 differ again and again under the same physical 
 conditions, for the mind would work differently 
 on each so-called " replica " of the original — no 
 artist could paint two pictures exactly alike. A 
 photographer might take fifty views of a sub- 
 ject exactly similar, from which it is self-evi- 
 dent that photographs are not works of art in 
 the sense accepted by artists, though photog- 
 raphy may be an art or craft in the old sense of 
 the word art, as surgery is an art; but such a 
 use of the word **art" as applied to photog- 
 raphy would not satisfy the dilettante, for the 
 word so used would include every photographer 
 as an artist, which is not what the ambitious 
 mean at all. 
 
 Proposition XIV. 
 That therefore it would be wiser for all pho- 
 tographers to drop the use of the words " art " 
 
l88 NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 and " artist " in connection with photography 
 (photography is a science or hopes to be some 
 day) — and classify exhibition works as — 
 
 (1 ) Pictorial (when the intention is merety 
 
 and purely to produce a beautiful 
 thing). 
 
 (2) Scientific (accurate mathematical re- 
 
 flections). 
 
 By using the terms "pictorial photographs" 
 and " scientific photographs " we should, I think, 
 allay all opposition from artists — not to say 
 painters, and critics (who are right in refusing 
 to call photographs works of art), and should 
 be at the same time working in a less preten- 
 tious way and in a legitimate pursuit, humble 
 as compared with painting, 'tis true, though the 
 best results surpass all but the masterpieces of 
 art in beauty. And I would suggest that this 
 Society sets the example at their forthcoming- 
 Exhibition, and describes the works submitted 
 into two classes, scientific and "pictorial"; for 
 works should be. classed according to their 
 intention. 
 
 Proposition XV. 
 The pictorial photographs are worth doing 
 (if well done) because they give us certain 
 beautiful qualities art cannot give, hence their 
 raison d'itre. That the producers of such may 
 prove themselves as keen seers (not artists) of 
 the beautiful as the master artists themselves, 
 They may have art-knowledge too, yet if they 
 be no creators by personal method I submit 
 
NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 189 
 
 they are not "artists." But then this does not 
 mean, on the other hand, that mediocre draughts- 
 men whose vision is vulgar or obtuse are to 
 patronize seeing photographers, for such me- 
 diocrities are not "artists," and indeed, seeing 
 photographers have far more claim to the title, 
 as the masters would allow. 
 
 Proposition XVI. 
 That though photographs are sometimes 
 more beautiful than art, they never equal 
 Nature when she sings in tune. Indeed, I sub- 
 mit that when Nature "sings in harmony" she 
 is more beautiful than photography or art : 
 unrivaled in her delicacy, fineness, and dis- 
 tinction. 
 
 Proposition XVII. 
 
 That "idealism" and "impressionism," if 
 used in connection with photography, are mere 
 contradictions of terms, and used by slovens in 
 thought — or worse. 
 
 Let us conspire not to be called by any false 
 or vain names such as "artists," but to pro- 
 duce beautiful pictorial work, each of us in his 
 own way. Let us in friendly and unselfish 
 spirit band together for the furtherance of this 
 end, and let the too eager or ambitious (I will 
 not say vain) neophyte remember that the proof 
 of his delicacy of vision is in a measure what 
 he shows us of his own, and that as there are 
 few Laura Bridgemans with perfect touch, so 
 there are few seers of the mcst delicate beau- 
 
190 NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 ties, because few organisms have delicate vision. 
 Let the neophyte remember that physiology 
 proves that most are for ever fatally limited to 
 remain without, and no disgrace either, if such 
 have but the honesty and pluck to own it; the 
 disgrace is pretentiousness and- imposture: in 
 pretending to see. 
 
 Amongst these blind have been the vast body 
 of persons who have ridiculed Mr. Whistler, 
 indeed nearly the whole press has ridiculed 
 him; and yet to-day his pictures hang in the 
 most honorable position in Paris, the city at 
 present the Queen of the Arts, and so it will 
 always be, for I for one believe that truth is 
 great, and will in the end prevail over obtuse- 
 ness and dishonesty. 
 
 As for these propositions, I do not intend to 
 fight over them, for they are propositions, and 
 therefore no fighting matter, but provisional 
 until psychology shall either prove or disprove 
 them. 
 
 End of Book I. 
 
TECHNIQUE AND PRACTICE. 
 
BOOK n. 
 
 TECHNIQUE AND PRACTICE. 
 
BOOK 11. 
 
 TECHNIQUE AND PRACTICE. 
 
 "Artists are supposed to pass their lives in earnest 
 endeavor to express through the medium of paint or 
 pencil, thoughts, feelings, or impressions which they 
 cannot help expressing, and which cannot possibly 
 be expressed by any other means. They make use of 
 material means in order to arrive at this end. They tell 
 their story — the story of a day, an impression of a 
 character, a recollection of a moment, or whatever, 
 more or less clearly or well, as they are more or less 
 capable of doing. They expose their work to the public, 
 not for the sake of praise, bnt with a feeling and a hope 
 that some human being may see in it the feeling that 
 has passed through their own mind in their poor and 
 necessarily crippled statement. The endeavor is honest 
 and earnest, if almost always with a result weakened by 
 over-conscientiousness or endeavor to be understood. 
 . . . Your work is exhibited not with the intention of 
 injuring any of the human race. It is a dumb, noiseless, 
 silent story, told, as best it may be, by the author to 
 those whom it may concern. And it does tell its story, 
 not to everybody, but to somebody." 
 
 William Hunt. 
 
CHAPTER I. 
 
 THE CAMERA AND TRIPOD, 
 
 The camera as used to-day is a modified 
 form of the camera obscura adapted to the 
 special end of taking photographs. It is essen- 
 tially nothing but a light-tight box, to one side 
 of which a lens can be adjusted, and to opposite 
 side of which the slide containing the sen- 
 sitive plate can be applied and exposed, so 
 that it receives no light, save that passing 
 through the lens. There are many patterns 
 and many minor differences in the construction 
 of these boxes, some few of real value, but the 
 majority are of no advantage. In all apparatus 
 the student should choose the simplest and 
 strongest, for in pictorial work lightness per se 
 is no object, nay, it may be harmful, as leading 
 to over-production. In fact nothing should 
 stand in the way of getting the best results, 
 and though many of the cameras on the market 
 are light and fitted with numerous devices 
 which are said to simplify operations and help 
 the worker, yet such is not really the case, and 
 these thousand-and-one aids to work are apt to 
 become deranged, and finally to embarrass the 
 photographer at some critical moment. 
 
 In choosing a camera, then, for landscape 
 
6 
 
 NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 work, choose a square one, with a reversing 
 frame, a double swing-back, and good leather 
 bellows, these being better than flat sides, as the 
 light is not reflected from the sides of the box 
 onto the plate, the bellows thus act as dia- 
 phragms. Let the flange of the lens be fitted, 
 to a square front which can be easily removed 
 and replaced, and let there be a rising front, 
 but do not have a movable front, for the lens 
 should always be at right-angles to the focal 
 plane. It is advisable to have the camera 
 brass-bound for the sake of its preservation, 
 and if for use in tropical climates the bellows 
 should be made of Russian leather, as the oil of 
 birch with which the leather is cured is most 
 distasteful to insects. In ordering a camera 
 there are a few points which experience has led 
 us to consider essential to comfort. One is that 
 the part of the base-board of the camera which 
 rests on the tripod head should be strengthened 
 or made of much stouter material than is 
 usually used. Another is that the thumb-screw 
 should be of much larger diameter than is 
 usually the case, and this should be borne in 
 mind, even in the making of the smaller cam- 
 eras, for on a windy day when the camera has a 
 heavy lens on one end and a loaded double dark 
 slide on the other, the vibration is often ruinous 
 to the picture during exposure, while sudden 
 gusts of wind may even crack the wood round 
 the screw hole. It seems to us a thumb-screw 
 at least half an inch in diameter should be 
 used, unless the camera be made to fit into the 
 
NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 7 
 
 tripod head, a method often adopted of recent 
 years, and of course the best way of all. On 
 more than one occasion we have nearly lost the 
 camera altogether in the water when trying to 
 screw it to the tripod when working from a 
 boat on a tide-way, but by having a part of the 
 base-board made to fit into a wooden tripod 
 head, this at times most difficult operation is 
 rendered easy and certain. 
 
 The camera should always extend and close 
 by means of a tail-screw, those opening by 
 means of a rack and pinion are much more 
 liable to get out of order. Of course this re- 
 mark is not applicable to the smallest-sized 
 cameras. A round spirit-level sunk into the 
 tail-piece of the camera is useful. In ordering 
 a camera the two vital points to be considered 
 are the size, including the length of the bel- 
 lows. The size of plate you intend working with 
 determines the size of the camera. We have 
 worked with all sized cameras, from quarter- 
 plate up to one taking twenty-four by twenty- 
 two inch plates, and it is only after long ex- 
 perience and much consideration that we ven- 
 ture to offer an opinion on the size to be chosen. 
 For ordinary work, then, we recommend the 
 half-plate size as the minimum, and the ten by 
 eight inch size as the maximum. Perhaps a 
 whole-plate camera (8^x6^ inches) is on the 
 whole as useful as any. The strength required 
 to do a day's work with a twelve by ten inch 
 camera is beyond any but a strong man. It is 
 assumed, of course, that the pictures of the sizes 
 
8 
 
 NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 cited are for albums, portfolios, or book illus- 
 trations. It must be remembered, however, 
 that the size of a picture has nothing to do with 
 its pictorial value, a pictorial quarter-plate 
 picture is worth a hundred commonplace pic- 
 tures forty by thirty inches in size. For pro- 
 ducing large pictures for the wall, however, we 
 consider the camera should be between fifteen 
 by twelve inches and twenty-four by twenty- 
 two inches ; we cannot imagine any thing larger 
 than twenty-four by twenty-two inches for out- 
 door work, and our memory goes back to a 
 marsh road in Norfolk, where we and two 
 peasants had all we could do to carry a twenty- 
 four by twenty-two inch camera when set up 
 from one marsh to another. 
 
 The student will of course remember that his 
 camera must be square in order to have a re- 
 versing frame fitted, but that makes no differ- 
 ence to the size of dark slides. Having then 
 fixed on the size of his camera, a question re- 
 quiring the greatest thought, he must next tell 
 the maker the length of bellows he requires, 
 which is usually measured from front to back 
 when the camera- is racked out to its full 
 length. As we recommend the use of long- 
 focus lenses, as will be seen in the chapter on 
 lenses, and as no definite law can be laid down 
 for this length, it is advisable to order a camera 
 four or five inches longer than the focal length 
 of the lens which is advertised to cover the 
 next larger size plate to that which your dark 
 slide holds. 
 
NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 9 
 
 And now for a caution against a fallacy cur- 
 rent in photographic circles, which is that one 
 size of plate is more suitable for pictorial pur- 
 poses than another. The size of the plate has 
 nothing whatever to do with success or beauty. 
 Every composition will demand its own par- 
 ticular size and shape, and say you work with a 
 ten by eight inch camera, you will find you will 
 often take a nine by four inch or a ten by three 
 inch plate or a dozen other sizes and cut off all 
 the rest. All fanciful rules for fixing on the 
 size of a plate for pictorial reasons cannot be 
 too strongly condemned. Such things must be 
 left to the individuality of each worker, and 
 every picture-gallery in Europe gives the lie 
 to all rules for a choice of size. The photog- 
 rapher must, of course, suit his plate to his sub- 
 ject, not his subject to his plate. 
 
 For studio, or indoor work, the camera may 
 of course be heavier for obvious reasons, and a 
 different form of support is necessary, the one 
 usually adopted being very convenient for lower- 
 ing or raising the lens so that the best point of 
 sight is obtained according to the position of 
 the model. It seems to us, however, that these 
 studio cameras and stands are made a great 
 deal too heavy and cumbersome. For this 
 kind of work a very necessary part of the ap- 
 paratus is a hood of some dark material fixed on 
 to the front of the camera and extending above 
 and beyond the lens, in order to obviate the 
 effect of the numerous reflections always 
 present in a glass studio. Out of doors this 
 
lO NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 is only necessary when the sun is shining into 
 the lens ; otherwise it is never needed, for we 
 have tried it, and have proved that its use has in 
 no way improved either the truth or the quality 
 of the negative. In cases where the sun shines 
 into the lens a hat, a piece of cardboard, a 
 folded newspaper, or anything of the kind, will 
 answer the purpose equally well. 
 
 The tripod head should be preferably of tough 
 wood covered with felt. A metal tripod head 
 is apt to endanger" the woodwork of the camera, 
 even when covered with leather. The legs 
 should be simple and firm, the best we know of 
 being made of two pieces of ash or oak hinged 
 at the bottom, the points shod with iron, and 
 the legs being stiffened when in position by a 
 bar of iron which is secured by a hinge. Every 
 one should have two pairs of legs at least ; one 
 pair, so that when the camera is set up the lens 
 may be on a level with the eye of a man of aver- 
 age height, and one pair shorter, so that the lens 
 is only three feet from the ground. In addition 
 to these we always have handy three tough 
 poles eight feet long and about the diameter 
 of a broomstick ; these are shod with iron heels, 
 and have notches cut at the unshod ends. 
 These are most useful to lash to the long legs 
 when using them in water-ways. It is as well 
 to have six double-backs, for by filling them all 
 at one operation the student empties a box of 
 plates, and so avoids a chance of mixing ex- 
 posed and unexposed plates. The most con- 
 venient method of carrying the plates in all 
 
NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 11 
 
 cases up to and including the ten by eight size, 
 is to have a bag made which will take the 
 camera, three double-backs and the focusing 
 cloth, and a separate bag for the other three 
 double-backs which can be left behind or taken 
 out at pleasure. 
 
 A very useful piece of apparatus is a clamp 
 which can be screwed on anywhere, but especi- 
 ally to a boat's gunwale, the taifrail of a steamer, 
 a fence, and many other places whence good 
 pictures can often be secured. Such a clamp 
 can be purchased at most of the dealers' shops. 
 
 Having decided on these matters, we will 
 suppose the novice is now provided with camera 
 and tripod. Now for a few de,tails about start- 
 ing. In setting up the camera on its tripod, one 
 leg should be placed either between the photog- 
 rapher's legs or exactly opposite to him, he will 
 then find he can command the camera easily 
 and alter its postion with a touch. If, on the 
 contrary, the legs are put up by chance, he will 
 soon find his lens playing all sorts of gymnastic 
 tricks, one moment looking fixedly up at the 
 stars, the next studying with the deepest inter- 
 est the ground at its foot. 
 
 The manipulation of the rising front is a 
 power needing considerable study, for, by 
 moving it, you can regulate the amount of 
 foreground you wish to include in your picture. 
 The limit of rise of the front is determined by 
 the manufacturer, and the limit beyond which 
 the student must not go is determined by the 
 covering power of the lens he is using, for he 
 
12 NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 will remember that every lens only covers a 
 certain circle, the area of the circle depending- 
 on the construction of the lens. The usual 
 method of describing the covering- po"wer of a 
 lens is to give the measurements of the greatest 
 parallelogram that can be inscribed within this 
 circle. It will be easily seen that if the lens we 
 use only just covers the plate, that when the 
 front is raised above a certain point, the lower 
 corners will have no image exposed on them, 
 and the higher the lens is carried, the more of 
 the lower part of the picture will be cut off. 
 As the image is upside down, the blank corners 
 will appear in the sky of the negative. It is 
 then obvious that if the covering capacity of 
 the lens is greater than needed for the plate 
 used, the rising front may be used to a much 
 greater extent than if you only use a lens cov- 
 ing the plate you are exposing. It must always 
 be remembered that if the optical axis of the 
 lens be raised above the center of the plate the 
 illumination may be unequal. 
 
 The effect of the horizontal and vertical 
 swing-back is identical, as is obvious if the cam- 
 era be placed on its side, for the horizontal 
 swing becomes vertical, and vice versa. If the 
 camera be set up plumb, the effect of using the 
 vertical swing-back to its extreme limits (which 
 are determined by the mechanical construction 
 of the camera) is to lengthen objects in the 
 direction of their obliquity and to sharpen the 
 focus of some of them, whilst objects in other 
 parts are blurred and dwarfed. What does this 
 
NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 13 
 
 mean from an art point of view ? It means 
 that as a rule it throws the whole picture out 
 of drawing, the relative positions of the planes 
 are altered, the relative definition in the planes 
 is altered and with it the relative values, and 
 therefore, as a rule, the picture is artistically- 
 injured. This rule-of-thumb use of the swing- 
 back arose, no doubt, from the practice of those 
 whose aim was the production of " sharp " pic- 
 tures, for with the swing-backs they invariably 
 use small diaphragms to obtain sharpness all 
 over. For architectural work the swing-backs 
 should never be used and the camera should 
 never be tilted. The swing-backs can, however, 
 be used, with the greatest caution, in pictorial 
 work, and their value can scarcely be overrated, 
 but it requires great knowledge to use them 
 appropriately. The subtle changes in the 
 drawing and composition of a picture which 
 can be obtained by an intelligent use of the two 
 swing-backs, make them, to those who know 
 how to use them, most valuable tools. But if 
 the beginner will take our advice, he will keep 
 his ground-glass plumb, and his horizontal 
 swing-back square, and never venture to alter 
 either until he has thoroughly mastered his 
 technique^ and has some insight into the princi- 
 ples of art. The use of these swing-backs 
 seems so easy, as of course it is, when " sharp- 
 ness " is all the desideratum. By their means, 
 the appearance of the whole scene can often be 
 more truly rendered, and things can be subdued 
 and kept back in the most wonderful manner : 
 
T4 NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 and since we wish to get a true appearance of 
 the scene we are interested in, not a realistic 
 wealth of detail, it can be easily understood 
 how invaluable are the swing-backs when used 
 cautiously. Muybridge's galloping horses are 
 in all of their movements scientifically (realis- 
 tically) true, but many of these are never seen by 
 the eye, so quick are they, and they are, conse- 
 quently, not true to illusion. On the other hand, 
 the student, if he goes to the British Museum, 
 can see in the Parthenon Frieze that the 
 sculptors in some cases carved the legs of the 
 farthest of three horses in higher relief than 
 those of the nearer horses, but if he goes off a 
 few paces and views the carving in its entirety^ 
 he will see the true appearance is gained ; the 
 nearest legs look the farthest off, and so the work 
 is true in illusion, though not true in absolute 
 fact. And though the use of the swing-back 
 makes the drawing scientifically a little false, 
 yet if the proper lenses be used, the falsity is so 
 very slight as to be hardly noticeable. Indeed, 
 it may give a truer impression. 
 
 By perforating a thin metal plate with a mi- 
 nute hole, large enough only to admit a pin's 
 point, and fitting it to the front of the camera 
 in place of the lens, an image will be thrown 
 on the focusing screen, as the piece of ground 
 glass at the opposite end of the camera is called. 
 If the image be received on to a sensitized plate, 
 it will be impressed on the plate, and can be 
 developed in the ordinary way. But such a 
 " pinhole " photograph is absolutely ruined by 
 
NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 15 
 
 lack of tone, and since the exposures required 
 to produce pictures without lenses vary roughly 
 from one to thirty minutes, this method cannot 
 be seriously considered here, for, as we shall 
 show, within certain limits, the quicker the 
 exposure the better ; nevertheless, the drawing 
 of pictures taken in such way would obviously 
 be scientifically more correct, but the lens gives 
 the operator greater power of modifying the 
 planes of the view and producing truer tone 
 and no differential focus can be got with a 
 pinhole, for everything is sharp. Indeed, we 
 have never seen anything done with a pinhole 
 that could not be better or as well done by a 
 lens, and the best things we have seen could 
 never have been done by a " pinhole." Mr, 
 Spiers was the first to produce pictorial " pin- 
 holes " and some uncultured persons out- 
 Heroded Herod and called " pinholes " printed on 
 rough papers (after Col. Noverre's example) 
 "impressionistic photographs " — and themselves 
 ''impressionists," to such depths of folly will 
 blatant and pushing coxcombery go. 
 
 The student must be careful to see that the 
 inside of the camera is a dead black, and that it 
 keeps so. At times the camera may leak or get 
 out of register, that is, the plate does not ex- 
 actly take the place of the ground glass, in 
 which case he should at once send his camera 
 to the maker. Should the student wish at any 
 time to test the register of his camera, he has 
 only to pin up a printed card and focus it as 
 sharply as possible, using his lens at full aper- 
 
l6 NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 ture, using-a mag-nifying glass, if one be at hand . 
 Then load the dark-slide with a plate of ground- 
 glass, and after sliding it into position, open the 
 slide (if a double-back) when the image will be 
 seen on the ground-glass plate, and its sharp- 
 ness can be noted. The other side of the 
 dark-slide is then tested in the same way. If 
 perfectly sharp, the camera is in register. 
 
 A good form of small camera to be carried in 
 the hand is still a g-reat desideratum for studies. 
 Exquisite studies of figures, birds, and all sorts 
 of animal life could be made with such a con- 
 trivance, studies admirably suitable for tail- 
 pieces or illustrations to go in with the text. 
 That there are dozens of patterns of hand cam- 
 eras commonly called " detective cameras," we 
 are well aware, and we have tried some of the 
 best, but we have found none satisfactory for 
 our purposes, and can therefore recommend 
 none. We may here remark that the name 
 " detective camera " is, in our opinion, undesir- 
 able; photographers ought not to have it even 
 suggested to them that they are doing spying- 
 work with their cameras, whereas the term 
 " hand-cameras " meets every requirement. 
 Of course the smaller cameras advertised to be 
 worn on the person are merely toys. The cam- 
 era we should like to see introduced would be 
 a very light collapsible camera, which could be 
 easily carried in the pocket when not in use. 
 It should be able to take pictures not larger 
 than four and a half by three and a half inches, 
 and should be fitted with the Eastman spools. 
 
NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 17 
 
 SO that any number of exposures could be made. 
 The lens should be a quick acting long focus 
 rectilinear lens, fitted with a good shutter. 
 There should be a light view meter attached to 
 the top. There is no necessity for a ground- 
 glass screen, for on the tail-board could be 
 registered various distances, at which the film 
 is in focus ; and since for pictorial purposes 
 most of the studies would be of objects near at 
 hand, this arrangement would be effectual, 
 The larger cameras can at times be used as hand 
 cameras. We have repeatedly used a 12 x 10 
 camera as hand camera, but for the particular 
 work required a small, light, quickly prepared 
 instrument is required. 
 
 The handiest view meter I have used is a 
 square frame fitted to the front of the camera 
 with another frame behind with an eye piece, 
 both centered so that the front frame includes 
 the same position as the ground-glass screen. 
 
 When in the country the operator may break 
 his focusing screen. If such an accident hap- 
 pen, he can use as a substitute one or other of 
 the following screens : Expose an ordinary dry 
 plate to the light for a second and develop it 
 in the ordinary way until it shows a uniform 
 grayness, then fix and dry. Another way is to 
 cover a glass plate with a thin layer of starch or 
 olive oil, or a piece of oiled paper or a wet cam- 
 bric handkerchief stretched across the frame 
 will answer. 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 LENSES. 
 
 If the reader should know nothing of light 
 and optics, we recommend him to get Ganot's 
 Physics, and thoroughly master Book VII., on 
 " Light." This may seem a little formidable, 
 but our reader will find that with a very simple 
 knowledge of mathematics he can easily under- 
 stand all the fundamental sections, and it is our 
 opinion that light and chemistry should be 
 studied directly from systematic text-books 
 that treat of those subjects. In the Appendix 
 we shall refer to some additional books which 
 we consider advisable for the student to read, but 
 for the present we strongly recommend him 
 to thoroughly master the parts of Ganot that 
 we have cited, and to avoid all other desul- 
 tory reading until he has done so. 
 
 Far too much time has been given, and far 
 too much importance has been hitherto attached 
 to the subject of optics in connection with photog- 
 raphy. Much time and expense would have 
 been saved had the pioneers of photography 
 had good art educations as well as the ele- 
 mentary knowledge of optics and chemistry 
 which many of them possessed, for without art 
 training the practice of photography came to 
 be looked upon purely as a science, and the 
 
NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 19 
 
 ideal work of the photographer was to produce 
 an unnatural, inartistic and often unscientific 
 picture. It is, indeed, a satire on photography, 
 and a blot which can never be entirely re- 
 moved, that at the very time the so-called 
 scientific photographers were worrying opti- 
 cians to death, and vying with each other in 
 producing the greatest untruths, the)'- were 
 all the while shouting in the market-place 
 that their object was to^produce "truth to 
 nature" works. At length, when the most 
 doubly patented distorting lenses were made to 
 meet their demands, they, with imperturbable 
 self-confidence, presented a sharp, visually un- 
 true photograph, insisting upon its truth. " A 
 truer picture," said they, "than drawing"; 
 " truer than the eye sees," some said. In short, 
 their picture was absolutely perfect. When a 
 lens giving a brilHant picture, with all the de- 
 tail and shadows sharp, and the planes all equal- 
 ly sharp, was at last produced, the scientists 
 were in excetsis. But, alas ! they often proved 
 themselves as unscientific as they were inartis- 
 tic ! Had they but taken up their simplest form 
 of lens and used it as magnifying-glass, they 
 would have seen immediately that all was 
 not right, and instead of clamoring for the 
 pictoral falsities of " shortness^of focus," " wide 
 angle views," and the other hydraheads of 
 vulgarity, they might have set to and made 
 the lens which was required. It was but a 
 simple thing that was required. 
 We shall endeavor to render this rather com- 
 
20 NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 plex subject sufficiently clear, so that the stu- 
 dent may know what he is doing when he uses 
 his lenses. Difficult as it is to put this matter 
 simply and clearly, we shall approach the sub- 
 ject with that object. 
 
 To begin with, a lens is not absolutely neces- 
 sary to take a photograph with. Such pictures 
 may be taken with what is called a " pin-hole " 
 or diffraction camera. We will not stop to say 
 how they can be ^ade, because we consider 
 them undesirable for pictorial purposes. The 
 light simply passes through a minute hole per- 
 forated in a metal plate and placed over the 
 place where the lens usually goes. 
 
 The very phenomena of diffraction, which 
 have given the name to the pin-hole camera, 
 are against its use. Capt. Abney has laid down 
 that to obtain the best possible definition, for a 
 focal length of i6 inches the diameter of the 
 pin-hole should be .032 of an inch; for a focal 
 length of 100 inches .08 of an inch; but it must 
 be remembered that the pin-hole picture is 
 always in focus, has great depth of focus and 
 an angle depending on the focal length used 
 (or distance from a plate of given dimensions) 
 and is slow to work with. 
 
 Now it will be asked if our pin-hole can take 
 these pictures, why use a lens ? The answer is, 
 that some very fair pictures have been taken 
 without a lens, but since our wish as producers 
 of pictures is to give as true an appearance of 
 nature as we see it as possible, we must make 
 use of lenses, because a pin-hole is not suffi- 
 
NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 21 
 
 ciently flexible to meet our needs. For example, 
 the exposure must necessarily be long — from i 
 to 30 minutes. We cannot, therefore, take 
 quickly-moving objects; perhaps we want good 
 modeling and sharpness; we cannot get it, for 
 by using the smallest possible pin-hole admis- 
 sible we get flatness,* and modeling is always 
 ruined. Then if we want brilliancy we must 
 use a big orifice, but if we want sharpness with 
 it we shall not get it, for a large hole gives us 
 diffusion circles and consequent fuzziness. 
 
 "Well," you say, "I don't mind that." To 
 which I reply, " That is possible, but then we 
 must have command of the amount of diffusion 
 circles, so as to get our differential focusing. 
 
 To help us in these matters lenses of all 
 kinds have been made for a variety of pur. 
 poses and objects, and we shall go into 
 these as clearly as we can, showing the 
 student what to avoid. Lenses, though free 
 from diffraction, except with exceedingly small 
 stops, must necessarily introduce evil as well 
 as good qualities; they are essentially a com- 
 promise. We shall discuss what a naturalistic 
 photographer must avoid. 
 
 The chief points to grasp clearly are the 
 following: Our lenses are convergent systems 
 forming real images; a divergent lens gives no 
 real image. A lens for optical purposes may 
 be regarded as an infinite number of prisms 
 united together. 
 
 * For a given distance of plate from pinhole there is one best aper 
 ture to ascribe to the pin-hole : a larger or smaller orifice giving worse 
 definition through excessive diffraction. 
 
22 NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 It is well known that a prism will refract or 
 bend a beam of light out of its direct course 
 before entering the refracting medium of which 
 the prism is composed. The effect of such a 
 refraction is not only to alter the course of the 
 ray but also to split the components of white 
 light into a chromatic beam, known as the spec- 
 trum; the most refrangible rays being violet 
 and ultra violet, which have a powerful influence 
 upon the ordinary photographic plate, the least 
 refrangible being the red, this end of the spec- 
 trum, to be accurate, the yellow rays, having 
 most effect upon our organs of sight and little 
 effect upon the silver salts contained in an 
 ordinary photographic plate. We shall have 
 occasion to say something more about chro- 
 matic aberrations a little later on. 
 
 In Figure I we see parallel rays of light 
 Pj P2 P3 P4 falling upon the lens. Pi_ at the point 
 
 Fig: 1 
 
 A 
 
 P 
 
 P 
 
 3 
 
 P 
 4 
 
 where it enters the lens, is refracted or bent as 
 though passing through an exceedingly minute 
 prism (exaggerated in the drawing) ABC, 
 similarly the ray Pg is refracted by another 
 prism in close contact D E F G. F is the point 
 
NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 23 
 
 termed the focus of the lens to which all rays 
 passing- through the lens meet, provided the 
 lens be aplanatic or without aberration, the 
 points Ri and are the centers of curvatur j of 
 the surfaces of the lens. It will be seen that the 
 surfaces of the prisms depicted are tangents to 
 the radii from Ri at the points of incidence of 
 the rays Pj. 
 
 Figure II shows the effect of a parallel beam 
 passing into a refractive medium, such as glass 
 
 from which it does not emerge, the focus being 
 formed at F, within the medium. The lenses, 
 however, with which we deal in photographic 
 practice pass from air into the refracting 
 medium, glass, and emerge into air again before 
 arriving- at the focus. Our lenses then are 
 constituted of a refracting medium or refract- 
 ing media, which are bounded with spherical 
 curves as illustrated simply in Figure III. The 
 
 p 
 
 P 
 
 B 
 
 A 
 
 Fi<j. in 
 
 p 
 
 6 
 
 surface A B is struck from the center of curva- 
 ture R and would form an image at / (as in 
 
24 
 
 NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 Fig. II) if continuing in the same medium ; the 
 ray Pi A after being bent in the direction, A f 
 meets another bounding surface C D, the two 
 surfaces A B and C D forming the lens, and is 
 here refracted at C to the focus F. 
 
 All lenses are composed of glasses of one of 
 
 A 0 C D C F 
 
 the shapes A, B, C, D, E, or F. A and D are 
 respectively plano-convex and plano-concave 
 lenses, B and E double convex and double con- 
 cave respectfully, C and F convergent and 
 divergent menisci. 
 
 Achromatic combinations or lenses con- 
 structed to combine visual intensity with the 
 highest chemical intensity are combinations of 
 lenses, one of the forms A, B, or C which are 
 convergent, combined with one of the forms 
 D, E, or F which are divergent, the combinations 
 may be double, triple, or even a still larger 
 number of lenses may be combined together. 
 As a rule, and with the older glasses one 
 general law obtained, viz., that the higher the 
 refractive index of any kind of glass the greater 
 was its dispersive power, that is to say, that if a 
 prism was constructed of the same shape of 
 any two kinds of glass, and a beam of light 
 passed through such prisms, the beam would 
 
NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 25 
 
 be bent or refracted more, and also the spread- 
 ing of the spectrum would also be greater with 
 the prism composed of the denser glass. The 
 properties which obtain in some of the Jena 
 glasses do not follow this regular order, for, in 
 the cases to which we are referring, one glass 
 may have a higher refractive index than 
 another, and yet have at the same time less 
 dispersive power ; the contrary also holds in 
 some cases, in that one glass may have a higher 
 dispersive power than another and yet have a 
 lower refractive index. The result of these im- 
 provements in glass manufacture has materially 
 assisted opticians to overcome the difficulties 
 formerly presented to them in the cure of 
 astigmatism. Larger apertures are now pos- 
 sible than was formerly the case, consistent 
 with a flat field and freedom fiom astigmatism. 
 
 The next matter upon which we must say a 
 word is a property that all lenses possess. There 
 is for every lens or lens system one point in the 
 single lens or combination through which all 
 rays of light will pass without deviation, this 
 point is called the optical center. In the two 
 lenses shown in Figure V, the method of deter- 
 
 s 
 
 s 
 
 6. 
 
 R 
 
 X 
 
 mining the position of the optical center is 
 
26 NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 shown. Parallel radii, Rj A, B, are drawn 
 from the centers of curvature Rj Rg, meeting 
 the surfaces of the lens at A and B. These are 
 joined and in every form of lens the point 
 where the line A B crosses the axis or is pro- 
 jected to meet the axis in C, is the optical 
 center of the combination. From the Figure it 
 will be seen that in a double convex lens this 
 lies within the material of the lens, but in the 
 convex meniscus it lies slightly beyond the 
 deeper curve and outside the material. 
 
 In all lenses, except the. telephotographic 
 combination to which we shall refer later on, the 
 optical center may be said to be contained within 
 the lens mount. We do not wish in this chapter 
 .to enter into what might be puzzling technical- 
 ities to the ordinary reader, so that we shall not 
 enter here further into the question of the 
 nodal or Gauss points and planes in optical com- 
 binations. There are in reality two nodal points 
 in every lens or lens system, these two points 
 are separated very slightly in some combm- 
 ations, and very widely in others. This is 
 particularly the case in a telephotographic 
 combination, and has an astounding difference 
 in the back focus, but still maintaining the 
 same equivalent focus according to whether 
 the lens is screwed into the mount one way or 
 the other, that is to say, whether the front or 
 back combination is presented to the object. 
 But, as we have already stated, ordinary pos- 
 itive systems have the optical center or the 
 nodal point from which the focus is measured, 
 
NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 27 
 
 self-contained. We do not propose to enter 
 more fully into this interesting subject. 
 
 We may now proceed to the all-important 
 " Law of Conjugate Foci," which is simple 
 enough. The main principle to bear in mind 
 in approaching this subject is the fact that 
 image and object are always interchangeable. 
 In Figure VI we see parallel rays from a very 
 distant object passing through the lens and 
 coming to focus at the point F i ; if we were to 
 place a bright object in the position Fj, the 
 rays would emerge from the lens again as a 
 parallel beam. It is seldom in ordinary photo- 
 graphic practice that all the points in the sub- 
 ject are so far distant that they may be con- 
 sidered parallel, and hence it is that we must 
 give the law of conjugate foci careful considera- 
 tion. In looking at Figure VI it will be self- 
 
 o 
 
 ■ p 
 
 
 \ 
 
 \ 
 
 1 p 
 
 - --- - 
 
 
 
 i 
 
 
 evident that if the parallel beam of light passed 
 from left to right through the lens instead of from 
 right to left, the image would be formed at F^, 
 the distance C Fj or C Fg being the measure of 
 the equivalent focus, a factor which is known 
 to the user of a photographic lens, as it is or 
 should bo accurately given by the optician. 
 The law of conjugate foci is simply this, that 
 
28 NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 at whatever multiple of the equivalent focus the 
 object is situated from the measure of the 
 equivalent focus toward the object, the image 
 will be displaced the reciprocal of the number 
 of times of that number of times beyond the 
 focus for parallel rays. In the figure we have 
 shewn the object O situated at a distance of 
 twice the equivalent focus, viz., O Fg beyond 
 F2 ; it then follows that the distance Fj I is one- 
 half the focus beyond Fj. If the object was 
 situated one hundred times the focus beyond 
 F2 the camera back would have to be extended 
 one hundredth of the focus beyond the position 
 at which it would be in accurate focus for 
 parallel rays. The nearer the object ap- 
 proaches the lens the greater, therefore, is the 
 displacement of the camera back from the 
 position in which it is in focus for parallel rays. 
 If the object O is made to approach the lens 
 until the distance S Fg is the exact measure 
 of the equivalent focus, the displacement from 
 Fi must also be again the exact measure of the 
 equivalent focus, and an object placed at Sj will 
 be reproduced of exactly the same size at Si, these 
 points are known as the "symmetric points." 
 In the ordinary tables given for copying or en- 
 larging, the common rule for copying the same 
 size is to place both object and focusing screen 
 at double the equivalent focus of the lens on 
 either side of it, in other words, occupying the 
 position of the " symmetric points." A general- 
 ization to be derived from the study is that if 
 we are engaged upon photographing moving 
 
NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 29 
 
 objects, if they are receding, we follow them 
 with the focusing screen by wheeling in ; on 
 the other hand, if they are coming towards us, 
 wheel out the camera and so again follow the 
 movement of the object in order to obtain it in 
 good focus. 
 
 Suppose the light from a star falls on a bi- 
 convex lens ; these rays are assumed to be par- 
 allel. They emerge and meet at the principal 
 focus as explained. Conversely, a candle placed 
 at F would make the rays divergent (outgoing) 
 parallel rays, so practically the star and the can- 
 dle are theoretically interchangeable. These are 
 conjugate foci, but in practice the rays from a 
 luminous body are no longer parallel. If the 
 radiating point taken is nearer than infinity (the 
 star), but still situated on its axis, the rays 
 emitted by the luminous body are no longer 
 parallel ; they diverge and fall divergently on 
 the lens and their focus is formed so much the 
 farther beyond the lens the nearer the point 
 approaches it. At a point from the lens equal 
 to twice its principal focal length, the image is 
 formed at an equal distance behind the lens, and 
 the nearer the radiating point gets, the further 
 back the image is formed, and when the point 
 approaches to the lens to the distance of the 
 principal length, the rays emerge parallel to 
 each other and no longer form an image. 
 
 External luminous objects may be considered 
 to be made up of an infinity of luminous points, 
 each of which sends a pencil of rays to our eyes, 
 or to our. focusing screens. It is thus clear 
 
30 NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 why the image is upside down on the ground 
 glass, for the light must travel in straight lines. 
 From what has been said already, it will be seen 
 that the sharpness of the image depends upon 
 the relation of the size of a pin-hole to its dis- 
 tance from the plate, and that the larger the pin- 
 hole beyond a certain limit, the less sharp the 
 picture, but the brighter it is, the smaller, 
 within certain limits, the hole, the sharper the 
 picture but the fainter it is. Now the quick- 
 ness or rapidity of the pin-hole or lens depends 
 on the ratio of the working aperture to the 
 equivalent focus. That is, supposing the hole 
 or lens to be two inches in diameter, and the 
 distance of the focusing screen eight inches 
 from the aperture, the camera would be said to 
 be working at 8 divided by 2 = four or f/^. 
 
 For convenience this is written as either \ or 
 fls^ or spoken of as i to 4. To compare the rela- 
 tive rapidity of different lenses or ratio inten- 
 sity as it is called, the denominators are simply 
 squared, when the results will give the ratio of 
 rapidity. Thus compare ratio intensities of two 
 lenses working at fl\o and fl20 respectively. 
 
 Their relative rapidities are as 100: 400 or as 
 i: 4. That is the lens working at flio is four 
 times as quick as the lens working at f/2o. 
 
 This holds with all lenses of whatsoever kind. 
 But it must be remembered that working 
 aperture is not necessarily the diameter of the 
 lens-tube, but of the area through which the rays 
 pass, thus fixed stops or introduced diaphragms 
 necessarily diminish the working aperture, but 
 
NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 31 
 
 when comparing two lenses in this way full 
 aperture is understood, that is there are no 
 diaphragms introduced. The student will 
 now understand on what the quickness of 
 the lens depends and why the introduction of 
 smaller diaphragms increases the length of ex- 
 posure, y/S is a quick lens, /76 very quick, and 
 /73 the quickest ordinarily made. 
 
 Now the next point is what size will the 
 image be on our ground -glass. 
 
 Now it is evident that the size of the image 
 depends upon the focal length of the lens and 
 the distance of the object from the lens. We 
 must remember here that there is one focal plane 
 in a camera where the image is seen sharpest, 
 by wheeling out or wheeling in the camera this 
 sharpness is blurred. Now if a man is focused 
 sharply and he moves away, we must follow 
 him by wheeling in to get him sharp, and he 
 gets smaller; and conversely, if he approaches 
 we wheel out to get him on the focal plane 
 and he gets bigger. Now providing we know 
 any two of the factors, i.e., focal length of lens, 
 distance of object from lens, and size of image, 
 the third can easily be found. 
 
 Let F be the principal focal length of the 
 lens, D the distance of the object, the focal 
 length at which the object is sharp. Then 
 
 III 
 
 F ~ Fi d' 
 
 e.g. Take a lens of 20 inches equivalent focus 
 and suppose the foreground or nearest object 
 
32 NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 we require to be sharp to be between 60 and 70 
 feet, say 800 inches; we have 
 
 I I I 
 
 20 F 1 800 
 
 39 Fi = 800 or Fi = 20'5i. 
 
 So that the camera must be wheeled out half 
 an inch beyond the position for parallel rays 
 in order that the object be sharp; and the size 
 of the image will be ^^th of that of the object, 
 actually as 20.51 to 800. 
 
 Referring- to our figure illustrating conjugate 
 foci, we may state, for all practical needs, the 
 object being distant 40 times the focus, the 
 image will be ^-^ of the focus beyond the focus 
 for parallel rays, f g- or half an inch. 
 
 If we wish, therefore, to get an image of a 
 certain size, with a certain lens, we can deter- 
 mine how far off to place that object to get our 
 desired size. Mr. Secretan, however, has 
 worked out a series of most useful tables which 
 are published. 
 
 Now for the time I wish my readers to regard 
 all photographic lenses ever made as being ex- 
 actly like one another, except in the matter of 
 focal lengths and angles of view included, and 
 when we regard the size of images and amount of 
 view taken in, all lenses may be considered on 
 these points as only quantitatively different. Now 
 it is perfectly obvious that the narrower the angle 
 of view included in the picture the longer the 
 focal length. Therefore the question arises, with- 
 in what angle must we work. Perspective has 
 
 / 
 
NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 33 
 
 clearly shown that we get better and more 
 pleasing- views of objects if we draw them 
 from a point distant twice the distance of the 
 greatest diameter. Now if we get off to that 
 distance we shall find it advisable to use what 
 are called long-focus lenses, and these neces- 
 sarily include a small angle of view. 
 
 Perspective and experience show that the best 
 working rule for choosing the focal length of the 
 lens is to select one twice the base length of a 
 picture as nearly as can be though a focal length 
 of the diagonal of the picture is safe. It will thus 
 be evident that if you use a wide-angle lens a 
 part of the picture will be in true perspec- 
 tive; and if you take a picture with a lens of 
 20 inches focal length, and one with a lens of 
 12 inch focal length, there will be a part of 
 the picture in this which can be enlarged so as 
 to give exactly the same picture as the 20 inch 
 focal length picture. "Now the great advantage 
 to the novice to be derived from the use of lenses 
 of long focus is that he cannot so ignorantly em- 
 ploy them as he can the wide-angle lenses. Then 
 it will be asked, " what is the use of these wide- 
 angle lenses?" These lenses were made for 
 .people (not artists) who wished to embrace the 
 whole of nature in their photographs, and they 
 were made to include large angles of view, not 
 to be correctly employed for using portions of 
 the picture only. When a view is taken with a 
 wide-angle lens close up, as is usual, the result- 
 ing photograph is artistically false, and these 
 lenses give false drawing thus, for we must look 
 
34 
 
 NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 at the complete result, and not cut out that por- 
 tion of the picture which is in good perspective. 
 The near objects are relatively out of propor- 
 tion; the eye cannot take in a wide angle of 
 view such as these without straining itself terri- 
 bly, which is not looking at a thing. We shall 
 be told that if we place the eye at the distance 
 of the focal length that the perspective will be 
 true. It will be true for the small portion we 
 can see, but not for the parts that we have to 
 strain our sight to include.* 
 
 Let anyone take a large building with a short 
 focus lens and then place his eye at the distance 
 of the focus, he will see, not the building, but a 
 few sharp windows, with modeling and tone 
 such as he never saw in nature. Putting the 
 eye at the distance of the focal length is the 
 best point of sight when the picture has been 
 taken in true perspective. This may be said to 
 hold of all pictures. 
 
 It will be seen from what I have said, that 
 the wide angle lenses can give true perspective 
 for certain portions of their picture if correctly 
 used, but that is no gain, and their use in 
 ignorant hands is so dangerous and their other 
 bad qualities so truthful, that I have no hesi- 
 tation in condemning them for artistic work. 
 The focal length of the lens then should be as 
 a working rule, twice the length of the base of 
 
 * We may stite that the drawing given by the lens is the same as 
 with a pin hole similarly disposed to the plate, the drawing being in 
 theoretical matkeinatical persp.ctive, and may convince some who 
 would "strain at a gnat," that they see the whole picture as they 
 would view the object. 
 
NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 35 
 
 the picture, that will meet the case. A lens 
 should never include more than 40 deg. 
 
 Apart from what may be called false perspec- 
 tive lenses (which they are if used for the pur- 
 pose for which they are made), for it cannot too 
 often be repeated that they are never made 
 for the purpose of using them so they would be 
 pictorially long focus lenses, i. e., when portions 
 of the picture are correct in perspective; there 
 are cevisim. single lenses that distort objects. 
 Now the shorter the focus of a lens (the diame- 
 ter remaining the same), the greater is the dis- 
 tortion. By using a diaphragm this distortion 
 varies, for if the diaphragm be brought right 
 up close to the optical center of the lens, its 
 center only is free, there is no distortion, but 
 if it be moved away from the lens, distortion 
 follows within certain limits, for if moved 
 towards the lens we get barrel-shaped dis- 
 tortion or a bulging of the sides of a square. 
 By moving the diaphragm behind the lens 
 towards the ground-glass we should get 
 pin-cushion distortion or the opposite kind of 
 bulging. This distortion is overcome say in a 
 rapid rectilinear lens by uniting two objectives 
 and placing the diaphragm in the middle; in 
 short the lenses neutralize each other. 
 
 Now all single lenses have Ihis distortion 
 more or less; it is not perfectly corrected, it 
 cannot be, so that is another point against them. 
 Of course, if a large aperture single lens be 
 employed and the picture only taken with the 
 central or more parallel rays, this distortion is 
 
36 
 
 NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 almost inappreciable, but as we have said it is 
 there, and the more of the lens is used the more 
 distortion must you get. We have hitherto 
 supposed all lenses to be theoretically alike for 
 simplicity's sake, and every lens to possess the 
 same qualities. 
 
 From this short study we have arrived at the 
 fact that for naturalistic photography narrow 
 angles, long focal lengths and rectilinear lenses 
 must be used. 
 
 But there are many other qualities possessed 
 by different lenses that we must discuss and 
 weigh in the balance, and altogether try and 
 find out what are the best all round lenses, so 
 that we may give as true a visual impression 
 of nature as possible. 
 
 This leads us to consider peculiarities in 
 lenses called aberrations. If we return to the 
 pin-hole camera we remember that as we in- 
 crease the size of the aperture beyond a cer- 
 tain size the image becomes blurred. Now as 
 our single lens gets bigger the marginal and 
 central rays do not come to a focus on the focal 
 plane at one and the same time. This is called 
 spherical aberration because it results from the 
 sphericity of the lens. 
 
 The other aberrations which we shall discuss 
 as we proceed are chromatic aberration, curva- 
 ture of the field, distortion, astigmatism, and 
 lens reflection. 
 
 Now a lens with spherical aberration gives a 
 halo to the image, the halo constitutes lateral 
 spherical aberration. 
 
NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 37 
 
 To illustrate : 
 
 Figure VII illustrates the passage o£ mar- 
 ginal and central rays through an uncorrected 
 
 Marginal ta^s 
 
 lens, the marginal rays come to a focus at 
 considerably nearer the lens than the focus of 
 the central rays which takes place at fl\, the 
 distance between f/\ and f/2 is what is termed 
 the longitudinal aberration, the transverse 
 aberration is shown at A B. This occurs as an 
 outstanding halo round the best focus possible, 
 viz., at //i. Between //i and //2 there is a por- 
 tion L, known as the least circle of aberration, 
 and is the smallest section it is possible to make 
 — the cone of rays convergent from the lens. 
 The measure of a spherical aberration is greater 
 or less according to the curves assigned to a 
 glass lens constructed to produce a given focus. 
 Practically an infinite number of curves may 
 be ascribed to give the same focus, all differ- 
 in the amount of longitudinal and transverse, 
 spherical aberration. Using glass of refractive 
 index 1.5 the "crossed" lens in which the 
 curvatures of the radii are as i to 6 will have 
 the least aberration and a deep meniscus the 
 most. Referring to the lens as shown in Fig. 
 
38 NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 VII the aberration given by this is nearly four 
 times greater than if the parallel rays were re- 
 ceived upon the convex surface, or in other 
 words, if the lens had been reversed. 
 
 The student would do well to examine this 
 aberration practically by focusing a lamp flame 
 with the full aperture of an uncorrected lens, 
 it is most visible with lenses of short foci, rela- 
 tively to their diameter. If we utilize only the 
 central rays, and this is readily done by using a 
 diaphragm, we shall be able to nearly destroy 
 the outstanding aberration when the aperture 
 is reduced to about fl^^. 
 
 Spherical aberration is destroyed completely 
 by combining a negative lens with the con- 
 vergent lens. Such a lens is termed aplanatic. 
 In lens making, however, it is necessary not 
 only to cure the spherical aberration but the 
 chromatic aberration also, the latter must 
 always be considered of primary importance in 
 a well corrected lens. The form given to a 
 lens will be determined by the purpose for 
 which it is intended, such as, proper correction, 
 of flatness of field, equality of illumination, 
 freedom from marginal astigmatism, etc., so 
 that it frequently happens that spherical aber- 
 ration cannot be completely cured, sometimes 
 the effects of correction are to leave outstand- 
 ing possible spherical aberration, when a lens 
 is said to be under-corrected. Occasionally neg- 
 ative spherical aberration is found outstanding 
 when the lens is said to be over-corrected ; in 
 this latter case the marginal rays have a longer 
 
NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY, 
 
 39 
 
 focus than the central rays. We should mention 
 here that this positive spheiical aberration is 
 occasionally purposely left outstanding in lenses 
 to give a softness to the picture. Single lenses 
 are invariable supplied with a fixed stop ranging 
 between fl\o to J'7i6, and at their apertures the 
 aberration is eliminated, if larger apertures are 
 worked with, then the spherical aberration will 
 assert itself , There is another defect noticeable 
 in single lenses, whether corrected or not for 
 spherical aberration. 
 
 If we examine a point of light off the axis of 
 the lens it will be found that the central point 
 * or areol (if spherical aberration exists) lengthens 
 as the point departs from the principal axis, 
 forming what is technically termed a coma, 
 this of course is inadmissible and has to be 
 cured by the aid of the diaphragm, in an un- 
 corrected single lens it requires a stop of about 
 f/Z°, but if a " compound single " combination 
 from/7io to f/i6. 
 
 If two lenses are compared, the one having 
 twice the diameter of the other, their radii of 
 curvatures being equal, the one with the double 
 diameter will have four times as great longitudi- 
 nal aberration, and eight times as great a circle 
 of lateral aberration; again, if two lenses with 
 the same aperture, of which the focal lengths 
 are as one to two, that which has as its focal 
 length, two, has half the longitudinal and one 
 quarter the lateral aberration of the other. 
 
 Now, in certain lenses this aberration is com- 
 pletely . destroyed by adding a divergent lens 
 
40 NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 which form together a convergent lens, free 
 from spherical aberration. Such lenses are 
 called " aplanatic " lenses, but in lens making it is 
 most important to correct chromatic aberration, 
 and though the same correction for spherical 
 aberration is applied for chromatic, it so hap. 
 pens that having to be perfectly corrected, the 
 spherical aberration is not always perfectly got 
 rid of, and if any remains, and if it corrects 
 spherical aberration too much, the system is said 
 to possess negative spherical aberration. If it 
 leaves too much spherical aberration, the system 
 is said to have positive spherical aberration. 
 
 The spherical aberration in the case of a sin- 
 gle combination, constructed to give a flat field 
 cannot be completely destroyed; it becomes 
 negligible with diaphragm apertures varying 
 from F. lo to F. i6. This positive spherical 
 aberration is some times purposely left out- 
 standing in lenses to give a softness to the 
 picture. 
 
 We refer above to the aberration when present 
 in a narrow angle lens, where the rays are par- 
 allel to the axis of the lens, but when these rays 
 strike the lens obliquely as in wide angle 
 lenses, the longitudinal aberration alters its 
 position, and the areola lengthens as the point 
 departs from the principal axis, and going 
 through different forms lengthens until termin- 
 ating in a point at their upper end, which is 
 given the name " coma." This form also affects 
 an aplanatic system, for the rays of light fall 
 obliquely to its axis. 
 
NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 4I 
 
 Now, this aberration has been considered a 
 vital necessity in pictorial photography, and has 
 been brought into great prominence of late, be- 
 cause unscrupulous opponents of naturalistic 
 photography, not being able to controvert the 
 first principles of Naturalistic Photography, 
 tried to raise issue on subordinate points, and 
 they naturally fixed on the one they knew would 
 be most distasteful to photographers, namely, 
 Diffusion versus Sharpness. 
 
 This diffusion has been advocated by one or 
 two artistic photographers only. Sir W. J. 
 Newton advocated it by throwing everything a 
 little out of focus, which gives a superficially 
 similar appearance as introducing positive spher- 
 ical aberration into the lenses, as was after- 
 wards done by Claudet and Dallmeyer, and 
 Mrs. Cameron advocated it by precept, in her 
 classical portraits. 
 
 This effect can be got by using a pinhole 
 camera, but in this instrument the diffusion is 
 equally spread over all the different planes, 
 and there is no power of emphasizing one 
 plane more than another and the latitude of 
 the use of diffusion is limited, and, owing to the 
 smallness of the aperture, things come out flat 
 and lack modeling. The length in time in ex- 
 posure, too, is against, it. 
 
 Mr. Davison has made some interesting ex- 
 periments in this direction, but we are certain 
 that the pinhole camera is of no practical uscj 
 whatever can be done with it, can be better 
 done by employing a lens with positive spherical 
 
42 
 
 NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 aberration which has every advantage, artisti- 
 cally considered, but it is undesirable. With 
 Dallmeyer's original portrait lens, the quality can 
 be introduced at will, by unscrewing the back 
 combination ; in our opinion, not a desider- 
 atum. 
 
 The only way, in using an aplanatic lens is 
 to throw the principal object slightly out of 
 focus, and by the judicious use of diaphragms, 
 to arrange the picture so that the distant planes 
 are out of focus. Sometimes it is not necessary 
 to throw the principal object out of the sharpest 
 focus. This is my principle. 
 
 But, it will be asked, to what extent may this 
 power be used ? 
 
 The answer is : so as not to carry it to the 
 extent of destroying structure, as I have before 
 laid down. What this means the student can 
 see practically by focusing a white numeral on a 
 black ground with the lens uncorrected for this 
 aberration. He will find that in one position he 
 cannot recognize the numeral, but as he stops 
 down it takes form though the halo is still 
 round it and though its detail is absent. 
 
 Since I enunciated my views on Naturalistic 
 Photography, I have fully discussed this point 
 elsewhere. 
 
 Lenses with no spherical aberration are apla- 
 natic. The " rapid rectilinear " type, originally 
 so named by Dallmeyer ; properly corrected 
 portrait lenses, — the long focus landscape lens, 
 with the diaphragms in situ, — the lenses of 
 Zeiss and Goerz, — are all aplanatic. 
 
NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 43 
 
 As all the lenses we shall use will be aplan- 
 atic we need not go farther into this matter. 
 
 CHROMATIC ABERRATION. 
 
 The next important aberration is that of 
 chromatic aberration. If a beam of white light 
 falls on an ordinary uncorrected lens, the 
 prism breaks up the light and the rays are 
 brought to different foci. The violet being 
 more refrangible, has its focus at v, whilst the 
 red has its focus at r ; the other rays focusing 
 between these points. 
 
 Around each of these points can be seen 
 halos which take off from the sharpness of the 
 image. Now if one wants to take a photograph 
 of this beam, and if we look at the point r on 
 the screen we will find it appears clearest to us, 
 
 Fi9 3niL 
 
 but if we put our focal plane there we shall 
 only get a confused picture, because the violet 
 rays are the active ones. But by wheeling in 
 the camera up to v the image will grow sharper 
 and sharper. 
 
 The plane v is the one to place the plate in. 
 The brightest rays (of least refrangibility) look 
 
44 
 
 NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 brighter and clearer to us, but they have 
 but little actinic power. The one is the 
 " visual " focus — the other the " chemical " 
 focus. These two foci must coincide or else 
 the objective is said to have a chemical focus. 
 
 This aberration is corrected as we have said 
 above, by using another lens of different 
 dispersive power, for a lens cannot correct 
 the chromatic without the spherical aberration, 
 though it may do the reverse. 
 
 It is comparatively easy to correct this aber- 
 ration for parallel rays, but for oblique rays this 
 is very difficult, and is most apparent in wide 
 angle single lenses, where it is not marginally 
 perfectly corrected. This is one cause of the 
 falsity of tone, which. I was the first to notice 
 in lenses. 
 
 The coma of such a lens is prismatic, as 
 I have actually seen. The picture is, there- 
 fore, sharper in the middle. This aberration, 
 like the spherical, may be over or under cor- 
 rected, and we may then have positive chromatic 
 aberration and negative chromatic aberration. 
 In both cases we see the visual sharp, but the 
 chemical is not sharp. 
 
 If a lens has positive chromatic aberration, 
 objects nearer than that focused for come out 
 best defined, but if the lens has negative chro- 
 matic aberration, objects farther off than that 
 focused for appear best defined upon the photo- 
 graphic plate. 
 
 Mr. Dallmeyer has made me a lens with 
 positive chromatic aberration — the aberration 
 
NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 45 
 
 purposely introduced to experiment with. In 
 using such a lens, if we focus for an object 
 everything- between us and the object will be 
 sharper than the object focused for, and all 
 others beyond will fall away. It is, however, 
 useless for artistic purposes, although more 
 than one person said the problem has to be 
 solved by such a lens. 
 
 CURVATURE OF FIELD. 
 
 To obtain perfect definition over the whole 
 of the plate, with nearly all lenses the screen 
 should have a slightly concave spherical form, 
 corresponding to the curvature of the field of the 
 image. Received upon a plane plate the image 
 is sharpest in the middle and blurred around 
 the edges— a fact often attributed to spherical 
 aberration alone. 
 
 Together with this must be considered depth 
 of focus. Monckhoven defines depth of focus as 
 the property of lenses of giving a clear image — 
 in planes of which the distance is unequal — it 
 follows, therefore, that the screens may be 
 moved slightly out of focus plane without the 
 image appearing less sharp. This can be 
 proved experimentally with a camera. 
 
 Their depth of focus varies with the aperture 
 of the lens used, and this alone, for theoretically 
 there is no such thing as depth of focus with 
 an aplanatic lens. 
 
 Figure IX illustrates the manner of judging 
 the distance through which the focusing screen 
 
NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 may be moved, still giving a sufficiently well 
 defined image to be termed sharp. The limit 
 permissable is one-hundredth of an inch, but 
 this may be occasionally exceeded, and fre- 
 
 quently is by some photographers, due care 
 being exercised that the extreme planes within 
 which foreground and distance are included 
 do not necessitate in their conjugate foci circles 
 of indistinctness sufficiently large to destroy 
 structure. In the figure it will be seen that 
 the rays, Pi, P^, cross the axis at the focus, F, at 
 a considerably greater angle than do the more 
 central rays, P3, P3. If we allow a circle of con- 
 fusion as large as shown at dj, dg, the camera 
 screen can only be moved between the planes 
 of di, dg, without giving too large an amount of 
 out of focus effect. If on the other hand we 
 insert a diaphragm and limit the passage of 
 the rays to those passing between Pg, and P3, it 
 will be observed that the camera back may be 
 moved within the very much greater distance, 
 ds, d4, and still have no worse definition than 
 recited in the former case. 
 
 We learn another lesson from this figure. 
 One frequently hears the remark that with 
 such and such a lens all objects beyond a cer- 
 tain distance are in focus. A plane passing 
 
 p, 
 
 F.-g. JX 
 
 ' » ♦ 
 
NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 47 
 
 through F, is the focus, as we have seen, for 
 parallel rays, and the screen is never moved 
 nearer to the lens than this position. Now it 
 is evident from this figure that an object whose 
 conjugate image would be formed at do, is the 
 nearest to the lens when used at full aperture, 
 that can be permitted; on the other hand, if 
 the lens were stopped down as at P2, P3, objects 
 considerably nearer would also be in focus, the 
 nearest of all having its conjugate image at d^. 
 It will thus be seen that " depth of focus" varies 
 as the aperture of the lens, lenses of high in- 
 tensity having less depth of focus than slower 
 lenses, and again less of it is obtained when 
 focusing upon nearer objects. The stop must 
 not be too small or diffraction will assert itself, 
 and it is safe never to employ a stop smaller 
 than F/30, certainly nothing smaller than F/60. 
 
 The effect of the diaphragm employed to 
 give greater depth of focus also influences the 
 curvature of the field of a lens, and by limiting 
 the size of the marginal pencils produces the 
 effect of greater flatness of field. As stated 
 before, the employment of the new Jena glasses 
 has enabled us to obtain lenses giving greater 
 flatness of field than was formerly the case. 
 Such lenses are invaluable for copying flat sur- 
 faces, such as maps and plans, but the slight 
 curvature inherent in our best aplanatic lenses 
 is seldom a drawback. It simply means this; 
 that if the object photographed be flat the im- 
 age will be slightly curved by the lens, but if 
 the subject be arranged in a curve radially 
 
48 
 
 NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 from the lens as is frequently more or less the 
 case, the image will be perfectly received upon 
 the plane of the plate. 
 
 Curvature and Astigmatism. 
 
 In any lens with spherical aberration there 
 is a position of a stop which gives a symmetri- 
 cal excentrical pencil. Take a few examples 
 of a single thin lens, the object being distant, 
 in which case we always have positive spherical 
 aberration. 
 
 Fig. X is a meniscus with convex side to 
 incident beam. The radius of first surface 
 being two and two-ninths inches and second 
 surface four inches, the focus is ten inches, and 
 the stop should be behind the lens at a distance 
 
 of one and nine-elevenths inches; the field is 
 then free from astigmatism, the radius of curv- 
 ature of field in primary and secondary planes 
 being fifteen inches. 
 
 Fig. XI is a curved lens, the radius of first 
 surface is five and five-ninths inches and sec- 
 ond surface fifty inches; the focus, as before, is 
 ten inches, and stop is here at vertex. Then 
 
NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 49 
 
 radius of curvature of field in primary plane is 
 two and eight elevenths inches and secondary 
 plane six inches, both being strongly curved, 
 and principal plane most so. 
 
 Fig. XII is case of plano-convex with plane 
 side to incident light. Radius of second sur- 
 face is five inches for ten inch equivalent focus 
 
 lens. The stop is now in front of lens at dis- 
 tance of three and one-third inches, and here 
 again there is no astigmatism, the radius of 
 curvature in primary and secondary planes 
 being both fifteen inches. 
 
 Fig. XIII is case of meniscus lens, but with 
 concave side to incident light. Radius of first 
 surface one and one-ninth inches and of second 
 
50 NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 ten-elevenths inch; distance of stop two-thirds 
 inch in front of lens. 
 
 Then radius of curvature of primary image 
 is one hundred and fifty inches and of second- 
 ary image twenty-one and three-sevenths 
 inches. This is nearest approach to flatness 
 that can be obtained with a single thin lens, 
 
 
 ^^^^^^^^ I 
 
 R 
 1 
 
 
 Fiq.sn. / 
 
 / 
 
 
 and here there is astigmatism, the primary 
 curvature being less than secondary. R is the 
 radius of primary curvature, i. e., the curvature 
 of field given by rays lying in the plane of the 
 drawing; Rg radius of second curvature given 
 by rays lying in plane perpendicular to plane of 
 drawing; L is lens; S the stop. 
 
 When I began to study lenses in relation to 
 pictorial photography I was impressed by the 
 much truer expression given by some lenses 
 than by others. I first called attention to this 
 
NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 51 
 
 and found that coma and astigmatism were 
 causes, as also unequal illumination. 
 
 Mr. Dallmeyer has taken the matter up since 
 I first mentioned it in " Naturalistic Photog- 
 raphy," and in a valuable. paper " On reflected 
 images, optical combinations, and their effect on 
 the brilliancy of the final image," he throws 
 more light on the subject. I shall quote from 
 his paper, and although he does not apply it to 
 the resulting tonality of the picture, he has un- 
 consciously given us a great deal of help. 
 
 A flare spot is due to a real and uncorrected 
 image of the diaphragm on the plate by internal 
 reflection in the back of the lens upon the plate, 
 and he says, as is well known, " an alteration in 
 the position of the diaphragm cures it." Mr. 
 Dallmeyer's deductions are : 
 
 1. The fewer the number of reflecting sur- 
 faces, cceteris paribus, the greater the brilliancy. 
 
 2. The smaller the diameter of a lens, cceteris 
 paribus, the greater the brilliancy. Therefore, 
 uncorrected surfaces and larger apertures, 
 lower the tone of the image. This is easily seen 
 by focusing an object with various lenses. 
 
 Next, as Mr. Dallmeyer points out, we must 
 consider the light reflected by the lens and the 
 diffused light in the coma and the reflection from 
 the plate. As I said, I noticed practically long 
 ago that the resulting image was different in 
 tonality. 
 
 It has been shown, too, that a percentage 
 of light is lost by reflection from the front of 
 the lens. The scientific man will no doubt try 
 
52 NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 to measure all these things, but practical ques- 
 tions of tone are not to be so treated. The only 
 method is for the experienced tonist to judge of 
 the result by looking at nature and then at his 
 camera picture. 
 
 As shown before, by throwing part of the pic- 
 ture out of focus, I got truer perspective and 
 tone ; so by using large apertures I add here we 
 get truer tonality. The small stops, besides 
 killing modeling, injure tone, for different 
 planes are rendered with equal brightness, which 
 is fatal. 
 
 Mr. Dallmeyer is mistaken that I assume the 
 mistiness due to true reflection gives atmos- 
 phere ; that is a misconception. By using larger 
 stops we get truer tones, and so get atmosphere, 
 and by using certain lenses we do not get that 
 unusual brilliancy which is as fatal as universal 
 sharpness, but we get truer tone and so help to 
 get atmosphere. 
 
 I have often been asked which lens gives the 
 truest visual impression on the ground glass, 
 and my experience is that the back combination 
 of the rapid rectilinear gives the truest tonality 
 when used at open aperture. 
 
 The long focus landscape lens, too, gives true 
 tonality ; the wide angle landscape, false ton- 
 ality when used at open aperture. It may be 
 possible by analysis to find out here and there 
 how various factors which affect the appearance 
 of the image, may be controlled and modified. 
 Though this will be a gain to science, I doubt 
 if it will be much gain to art, for we can by 
 
NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 53 
 
 judiciously using a good aplanatic lens obtain 
 fairly true tonality on our ground glass 
 screens. 
 
 One of the effects of my throwing the princi- 
 pal object slightly out of focus, on some occa- 
 sions, is to obtain a truer tonality. Spherical 
 aberration of course affects the tone of the re- 
 sulting image. It lowers it throughout and 
 indiscriminately, and is, therefore, inartistic. 
 
 I doubt not but some curious studies could 
 be made in the use of lenses uncorrected for 
 spherical aberration. As has been said, we 
 condemn all lenses with outstanding positive 
 spherical aberration. What we want is an aplan- 
 atic lens, in a word, one corrected for all aberra- 
 tions. These lenses are the triumph of optical 
 science and are of various kinds. 
 
 Mr. Lake Price long ago said that the area of 
 aperture of the lens was the very helm by which 
 it was governed. This is so, given an aplanatic 
 rectilinear lens. 
 
 Now, in choosing our lens we have to keep in 
 mind the work for which it is intended. 
 
 There are times when we wish to use a 
 quick lens, others when a big image of a dis- 
 tant object is important. Then we require long 
 focus lenses. I think no one should use a lens 
 including more than 40 degrees, and the* focal 
 length we think should be at least as long as 
 the diagonal of the plate used, preferably twice 
 the length of the base of the plate. In a 
 
 *Of course this does not apply to lenses of peculiar construction like 
 the telephoto lens. 
 
54 
 
 NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 specially constructed lens like the telephoto 
 this does not of course apply. 
 
 The student will find it advisable to have a 
 quick-acting rectilinear portrait combination 
 like the Dallmeyer D. lens. A rapid recti- 
 linear giving wide angle, and longer focal length, 
 and a set of long focus landscape lenses. I have 
 four of these for use with my camera. 
 
 The wide angle landscape and wide angle 
 rectilinear lens I consider undesirable, for if 
 they are not to be used as wide angles, of what 
 good are they ? Though it is true that if you 
 enlarge a portion of the picture it will be the 
 same as that taken by a wide angle, still, the 
 lens is more cumbersome than a long focus 
 including the same angle. 
 
 For example: Used on a lo-inch base along 
 focus landscape for 6^ x 8^ plate has a focal 
 length of 12 inches, and includes an angle of 
 45 degrees, precisely the same angle and focal 
 length as a 12 x lo wide angle landscape gets 
 in on the same plate. 
 
 Personally, I prefer a battery of lenses vary- 
 ing in focal length from 12 to 35 inches, and in- 
 cluding angles varying from 23? degrees to 45 
 degrees, the base line of my plate being 10 
 inches. 
 
 The Telephotographic or Large Image 
 Lens. 
 
 This lens is constructed for photographing 
 near objects of large size or distant objects of 
 relatively large dimensions with comparatively 
 
NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 55 
 
 short camera extensions. In all lenses that we 
 have hitherto dealt with, the optical center of 
 the combination has been contamed within the 
 lens mount. In the telephotographic lens now 
 under consideration, the entire system is posi- 
 tive in nature, forming a real image ; its constit- 
 uents are ordinarily a positive lens of which the 
 focus is considerably longer than that of the 
 negative component. It is evident that if the 
 components were placed in close proximity the 
 focus of the system would be negative and 
 
 hence no real image would be formed. By 
 proper adjustment, however, of the separation 
 between the two elements, a real image can be 
 formed at any camera extension chosen. The 
 shorter the extension the greater is the amount 
 of subject (always a narrow angle) included 
 upon the plate, and the greater the extension the 
 less the amount included upon the same plate. 
 
 The greater the camera extension the longer 
 is the corresponding equivalent focus. 
 
 This lens therefore has a great selective 
 
56 NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 power, and is invaluable in composing pictures 
 from its selective capability. 
 
 This lens differs in optical construction from 
 ordinary positive systems, in that the optical 
 center, or to be more precise, the nodal point 
 from which the equivalent focus is measured 
 lies outside and beyond the front combination^ 
 The result of this is that the novice is astounded 
 at the large size of image that can be obtained 
 at a comparative short extension of camera. 
 In 1887 I asked Mr. Dallmeyer if such a lens 
 could not be made, and he replied — no ! Next 
 in the autumn of '96, I again requested him 
 to assist me in the construction of an 
 instrument for the dual purpose of obtaining 
 large images of small objects in natural history 
 observations, as well as for photographing dis- 
 tances with truer rendering as regards per- 
 spective, and in a manner that should obviate the 
 depressed and dwarfed rendering given by all 
 ordinary photographic methods, and suggested 
 that the ordinary telescope could be converted 
 aud arranged for such a purpose. This Mr. 
 Dallmeyer very shortly accomplished, relying 
 (as he has pointed out in a paper delivered 
 before the Society of Arts) upon well known 
 principles in the science of optics and as the 
 history of the subject has shown he was the 
 first to do so in a serious manner for photo- 
 graphic purposes, and improvement after im- 
 provement has followed the first design. Need- 
 less to say many others seeing the commercial 
 value of such a construction followed in the 
 
NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 57 
 
 wake, but we wish to place on record the true 
 history of the origin of this valuable adjunct to 
 the apparatus of the photographic world. 
 
 The original construction was of very great 
 power or magnification, but Mr. Dallmeyer has 
 subsequently introduced instruments of more 
 moderate power. The high power systems in- 
 clude an angle of 12 to 15 degrees, and the later 
 more moderate power from 18 to 20 degrees. 
 
 Before giving shortly details of the method 
 
 of calculating the focus and intensity ratios of 
 the telephotographic system, we must call pho- 
 tographers' attention to two very important 
 factors in the employment of this instrument. 
 
 In the first place as we have already stated 
 the optical center of the combination being out- 
 side and beyond the front combination, it will 
 be evident that the slightest tremor in the cam- 
 era itself will appear very much exaggerated in 
 the resulting image as against using an ordinary 
 camera, in which the optical center is contained 
 
58 
 
 NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 within the lens itself for in the telephoto- 
 graphic lens we have practically to consider 
 any slight movement in the camera itself as a 
 movement of the short end of a lever, the 
 indistinctness of the image being reckoned by 
 the vibration or movement of the long arm of 
 the lever (in our case the optical center situated 
 outside the camera). 
 
 The other point to be taken into consideration 
 is one that can only be arrived at by practical 
 experience, and that is the very short exposures 
 necessary for distant objects. In ordinary pho- 
 tography, we usually find without very care- 
 
 ful development that the distance is " burnt 
 out " if a full foreground development is re- 
 quired. No definite rule for reduction and 
 exposure for distant objects can be set down 
 but if the exposure is calculated according to 
 intensity ratios, we shall be safe in stating that 
 a reduction of one half to a third of that calcu- 
 lated in the ordinary manner may be given. 
 The simplest means for determining the cor- 
 
NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 59 
 
 responding- foci and intensity ratios of a tele- 
 photographic system is by means of the ratio 
 between the foci of the positive and negative 
 elements. This ratio can always be determined, 
 for example, if a six inch lens is combined with 
 a three inch negative, the ratio is 2 to i ; if the 
 six inch positive is combined with a two inch 
 negative, the ratio is 3 to i, and so on. If 
 the distance between the diaphragm of the lens 
 and the screen be measured and multiplied by 
 the ratio as above stated, the result will be the 
 equivalent focus of the system, and the intensity 
 is simply this equivalent focus, divided by the 
 clear aperture of the diaphragm employed. 
 This rule is quite sufficiently accurate for all 
 ordinary purposes, but we will add a further 
 and exact mathematical rule, dependent upon 
 the linear magnification of the image given by 
 the positive lens alone. 
 
 Magnification — Divide distance from negative 
 or posterior lens (after the image has been 
 focused sharply) to focusing screen by the focus 
 of the negative lens, and add one to the result. 
 
 Corresponding focus — Focus of positive lens 
 multiplied by the magnification. 
 
 Intensity ratio — Intensity of positive divided 
 by the magnification. * 
 
 Delicate optical instruments, like lenses, mUwSt, 
 it is needless to say, be carefully protected. 
 
 A good lens should be free from scratches, 
 striations, dull patches due to imperfect polish- 
 ing, and veins; but air bubbles do not affect its 
 value, for it must be remembered that the shape 
 
6o NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 of the hole through which the light passes does 
 not affect the image, save only by cutting off 
 some of the light. Thus, if a wafer be stuck to 
 the center of the lens, the image will be found 
 unimpaired. Dust and dirt, however, though 
 they do not seriously impair the definition of 
 the image, yet cut off much light, as will occur 
 to any one when he thinks of the difference be- 
 tween the light of a room, when the windows 
 are dirty, and when they are perfectly clean. 
 Lenses should not be left in bright sunlight, for 
 this causes a change that slows them, the dark 
 also injures them in certain cases, for, as all 
 microscopists know well, darkness causes a 
 change in Canada balsam, with which lenses 
 are cemented together. 
 
 Mr. Dallmeyer insists that lenses should be 
 kept dry and free from sudden changes of tem- 
 perature, otherwise they may tarnish or sweat, 
 as it is called. Any one who has been troubled 
 with this sweating will never forget it. Our 
 experience is that the best way to keep lenses 
 is in small leather, velvet-lined cases. We gen- 
 erally keep with them a piece of soft chamois 
 leather, or an old silk handkerchief. No com- 
 pound of any kind should be used to clean 
 lenses ; if anything appears to be going wrong 
 with them, they should at once be sent to the 
 maker. 
 
 A valuable little tool is a view-meter. The 
 handiest and compactest we have seen is that 
 supplied in telescopic form. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 DARK ROOM AND APPARATUS. 
 
 There is no need to despair if there be no 
 dark room, no place to build one, no means to 
 pay for one. Some of our most successful plates 
 were developed in a scullery, and others in the 
 bedroom of a house-boat. In fact, the sooner 
 the student learns to develop anywhere, the 
 better. 
 
 If a dark room be necessary, you cannot do 
 better than build one as suggested by Captain 
 Abney, in his "Treatise on Photography," 
 modifying it to suit your taste and means. One 
 thing, however, you should be careful about, 
 and that is the ventilation, and money should 
 not be spared on that department. The dark 
 room can be scientifically ventilated by any 
 good sanitary engineer. We have already, else- 
 where, gone into the subject of ventilation of 
 dark rooms, warning photographers of the per- 
 nicious effects of defective ventilation.* The 
 best sinks are made of earthenware, as supplied 
 by Doulton. The lamp should be large, and 
 give a good light. Ruby glass is, to some, in- 
 jurious to the eyesight, and has been known to 
 
 * " Ventilation of the Dark Room " and "Ammonia Poisoning" in 
 the "Year Book of Photography and Photographic News Almanac " 
 for 1886-87, and on "Pharyngitis and Photography" in the "Year 
 Book of British Journal of Photography" for 1887. 
 
 61 
 
62 NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 produce nausea and vomiting, in which cases 
 cathedral green and yellow glass should be 
 added. The photographer will require at least 
 eight dishes, and at the very start he should 
 make it a rule never to use a dish save for one 
 purpose. We consider the best dishes for all 
 purposes are made of granatine or ebonite. 
 They should be bought in a nest, the smallest 
 size taking the largest plate used by the oper- 
 ator, and the other seven increasing in size, so 
 that one fits into the other. This makes them 
 more convenient for carriage. The dishes should 
 be distinguished by painting on their bottoms. 
 One will be wanted for developing, one for the 
 alum bath, one for the changing bath, one for the 
 hyposulphite bath, one for an intensifying bath, 
 leaving others over for odd jobs. 
 
 When it is remembered that hyposulphite of 
 soda is so " searching " that it has been known 
 to penetrate through the ordinary so-called 
 " porcelain " dishes and crystallize on the out- 
 side, one may judge how important it is to keep 
 a separate dish for each operation. 
 
 A light wooden board with a handle is most 
 convenient for putting over the developing dish 
 in the earlier stages of developing, especially 
 when using orthochromatic plates, but the 
 student must be careful to keep it on a shelf by 
 itself. Another requisite is a broad brush of fine 
 sable hair, say three inches broad, this had bet- 
 ter be kept perfectly dry and clean in a box of 
 its own. 
 
 The chemical solutions should be kept in 
 
NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 63 
 
 bottles with glass stoppers, each bottle should 
 have an enamelled label, so that it can be 
 readily seen in the dark room and cannot be 
 destroyed by acids. A zinc washing trough 
 which holds two dozen plates must be procured. 
 A simple wooden drainage rack is also neces- 
 sary. We have tried several travelling lamps, 
 and there are several good ones now on the 
 market, of these we prefer the candle illumi- 
 nated. Two measuring-glasses at least must 
 be procured. It is as well to have one minim 
 glass to hold sixty minims, and a large measure 
 to take the full quantity of developer required 
 for one plate. A pair of ordinary scales with 
 weights (apothecaries'), costing a few shillings, 
 will complete the list of apparatus required. A 
 few simple printing frames will be wanted, one 
 of which should be a size larger than the plate 
 used. A square slab of glass, the size of the 
 plate, and another a few inches larger each way, 
 will be found the best for trimming prints upon, 
 A razor or very sharp knife will be found the 
 best tool for this purpose. 
 
 Our student should get all these things of 
 good quality, and set his face against the syrens 
 who whisper in his ear that he ought to get 
 this and ought to have that ; he does not want 
 anything more than we have told him, a greater 
 number of things will only embarrass him. We 
 are perfectly well aware that the most elaborate 
 fittings have been put up by photographers, 
 and we are equally aware that these have as yet 
 not led to the production of a single picture. 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THE STUDIO. 
 
 For portraiture a studio is a necessity for 
 obtaining the best results. We shall very briefly 
 discuss the question of studios, for we hold that, 
 provided a studio be large enough and light 
 enough, there is not much else to consider. We 
 have been in several studios, and worked for a 
 considerable time in them, one of which we, hav- 
 ing hired, had all to oursel ves,so that our remarks 
 are based on the experience of studios photo- 
 graphic as well as on those of painters and 
 sculptors. 
 
 The best light is undoubtedly a top light and 
 a side light, the side light reaching to within a 
 few feet of the ground. It is a common fallacy 
 among some portrait photographers that the 
 side light should reach to the ground, so that 
 the boots may be lighted. Such an idea evi- 
 dently arises from a misconception of the thing 
 required ; the boots are to be subdued as much 
 as possible, it is the model's portrait we want, 
 not that of his boots. The studio in this country 
 should, if possible, face north or northeast, the 
 roof slooping at a inclination of half a right 
 angle. There should be no tall buildings stand- 
 ing near it, as exterior shadows and reflections 
 
 interfere with the purity of lighting. 
 
 64 
 
NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 65 
 
 We do not intend to give specifications for the 
 building of a studio, for this has been already 
 admirably done; this proviso only being made, 
 that the studio be made long enough to use long- 
 focus lenses so that we shall get better results 
 The glazing should not extend from one end of 
 the studio to the other; an unglazed space 
 should be left at each end. By curtains the 
 length of glazing can always be shortened. A 
 gray distemper is perhaps the most suitable 
 color for the walls. 
 
 Successful portraits can be taken in ordinary 
 sitting-rooms, but we do not think the best 
 results can be obtained in this way, although 
 fine pictures of the man and his surroundings 
 can be obtained, but not the best portrait pic- 
 tures, on account of the inferior and com- 
 paratively ill lighting, although there are, no 
 doubt, rooms in private houses as good as any 
 studio, but such cases are exceptionable. 
 
 Regarding business arrangements and con- 
 veniences, we have nothing to do with them. 
 
 FURNITURE. 
 
 The old, and even modern, portrait painters 
 are answerable for many of the faults to this 
 day committed by photographers, because they 
 take portrait painters as models. Lawrence 
 was especially guilty in the use of conventional 
 backgrounds and accessories. Of photographic 
 furniture, as generally understood, there should 
 be none. The studio should be furnished 
 
66 NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 simply, and with taste, as an ordinary sitting- 
 room. There should be no shams of any kind, 
 and the furniture should be chosen with a 
 regard to unobtrusiveness and grace, rather 
 than massive beauty. All heavy curtains, 
 draperies, hot-house plants, and such incon- 
 gruous lumber, should be avoided. It should 
 be remembered that what is wanted is a 
 portrait — the face, or figure, or both — and all 
 accessories should be subdued. It is very little 
 use to lay down rules for these things, all must 
 depend on the individual taste of the photo- 
 grapher. 
 
 But, above all, avoid shams and cheap orna- 
 mental objects, such as cheap bronzes, china 
 pots, and Birmingham bric-a-brac. The chairs 
 should be upholstered with some good plain 
 colored cloth, with no pattern, and the floor 
 carpeted with matting, or a simply colored 
 carpet without pattern. Let simplicity and 
 harmony predominate. The room in fact 
 should be a harmony in some cool color, and 
 the furniture should not be felt when in the 
 room. 
 
 Head-rests must be entirely tabooed. We 
 have taken many portraits some with very long 
 exposures and no head-rest was necessary. In 
 nine cases out of ten it simply ruins the portrait 
 from an artistic point of view. 
 
 Reflectors, on light stands, should be ready 
 for use ; but it is obviously erroneous to use 
 large and unwieldy reflectors. The reflector 
 is really only necessary for tlie head and 
 
NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 67 
 
 shoulders ; for our object is to subdue all other 
 parts as much as possible. 
 
 All artificial backgrounds should be banished, 
 together with such stupid lumber as banisters, 
 pedestals, and stiles : they are all inartistic in the 
 extreme. It is a false idea to represent people 
 in positions they are never found in — such as a 
 girl in evening dress against a seascape, and all 
 the other hideous conventionalities of vulgar 
 imagination. The background— which is a 
 matter of vital importance — should be arranged 
 to suit the sitter, that is, a harmony of color 
 should be aimed at. Light fabrics without 
 patterns, skins, or pieces of tapestry, will serve 
 every purpose and give more desirable results. 
 The portraitist should keep a selection of 
 pieces of fabric of light hues, and a light skele- 
 ton screen can be kept ready, to which to tack 
 them as required, suiting the color to the dress 
 of the sitter. Gradated backgrounds are a 
 mistake, the tonality is much better shown by 
 having a background of one tint, and so arrang- 
 ing the light that the modelling and tonality 
 shall be decorative. 
 
 Breadth and simplicity are the foundations 
 of all good work. The background should 
 never be placed close behind the sitter, as is 
 customary ; but its distance from the sitter 
 should be studied with the lighting. As a rule, 
 it is better to place the background three or 
 four feet from the back of the sitter. What is 
 required is that the head shall melt softly into 
 the background, and yet retains its modelling. 
 
68 NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 The camera should work with a shutter — the 
 Cadett pneumatic shutter for portraiture being 
 as good as any we know — and the pneumatic 
 apparatus should have a very long india-rubber 
 tube attached, for reasons to be explained 
 later on. 
 
 Means may be arranged for taking pictures 
 by artificial light, if necessary, though per- 
 sonally we do not care for them. The tonality, 
 though truje to the light, has a false, artificial 
 appearance by day. There are many methods 
 of making artificially lighted pictures ; the best, 
 in our opinion, are those taken by the electric 
 light. Others are done by gas, and by mag- 
 nesium flashes— a method quite recently revived 
 as something new, and for certain groups, most 
 useful. The best of those we have seen gave 
 results that appeared to us somewhat artificial. 
 
 You must remember that in a studio you are 
 taking a person in a room, and that is the im- 
 pression you must try to get in your picture 
 It is a false idea and an inartistic one to endeavor 
 to represent outdoor effects in a studio. Studio 
 lighting and outdoor lighting are radically differ- 
 ent, and in a studio you have only to try and 
 give an indoor effect. This has been the princi- 
 ple of all great artists. None but an amateur 
 could fail to notice the falsity of lighting as 
 seen in outdoor subjects taken in the studio. 
 On the other hand, in a studio you may get any 
 effect of lighting you can for indoor subjects, for 
 all such effects are to seen in a room by a care- 
 ful observer. Adam Salomon took many of his 
 
NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY, 69 
 
 portraits in front of a red-glass window. This 
 is quite legitimate, as is also the arrangement 
 of fabrics for the background, and the dictating 
 what colored dress the sitter shall wear. Let 
 our student work in harmonies of color as much 
 as possible, and let him never take outdoor 
 effects in a studio. Make the room as much 
 like a comfortable sitting-room as possible, and 
 hide all the tools of the craft. 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 FOCUSING 
 
 Having now seen the principles by which 
 we must be governed, and the apparatus re- 
 quired, we will briefly apply them. 
 
 By focusing we understand, bringing the 
 ground-glass into the plane which coincides 
 with the sharpest projection of the image called 
 the focal plane ; the position of this plane vary- 
 ing of course with the focal length of the lens 
 and the distance of the object from the lens. 
 Presuming, then, that the camera is in register, 
 and set squarely before the object to be photo- 
 graphed, as can be determined by the spirit- 
 level, let the student proceed to focus his pict- 
 ure as sharply as he can without any "stop." 
 He must be careful that the swing-backs are 
 parallel to the front planes of the camera. 
 
 Now the great habit to cultivate is to think 
 in values and masses, that is, you must, in yoiir 
 mind, by constant practice, analyze nature into 
 masses and values, and if you constantly prac- 
 tise this at the beginning, you will find that it 
 becomes a habit, and automatically, as you 
 look at a scene or a person, you will see on the 
 ground-glass of your mind the object translated 
 into black and white masses, and you will 
 70 
 
NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 7 1 
 
 notice their relative values. This habit is 
 absolutely necessary for good work, for it is 
 by this analysis that you will learn to know 
 what is suitable for pictorial art, and what is 
 not ; for if the masses and values in a picture 
 are not correctly expressed, nothing will ever put 
 the picture right. Our own experience has 
 been that where this analysis has left an im- 
 pression of a few strong masses, the picture 
 has always been stronger when finished than 
 otherwise. Now our student, having sharply 
 focussed his picture with open lens, must take 
 his head from beneath the focusing cloth, and 
 look steadily at his picture ; fixing his eye on 
 the principal object in the picture, he should 
 go through this mental analysis, and at the 
 same time note carefully how much detail he 
 can see, both in the field of direct and indirect 
 vision ; and his object should be to render as 
 truly as possible the impression thus obtained. 
 He should then look on the focusing screen, and 
 putting in his largest diaphragm, and using his 
 swing-backs, and altering the focusing as may 
 be necessary, see how truly he can get this im- 
 pression, always remembering that the larger 
 the diaphragm he uses the better, for he will re- 
 member that after a certain aperture many use- 
 ful aberrations are cut off. For this reason he 
 should always begin with an open aperture, and 
 work down to the smaller size diaphragm as 
 needed. By working in this way, he will soon 
 see what command he has over his transla- 
 tion, all by the judicious use of his focusing 
 
72 NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 screen, swing-backs, and diaphragm combined. 
 In focusing he must remember one thing — 
 never to focus so that it can be detected in the 
 picture where the sharper focusing ends and 
 the less sharp focusing begins — as can be 
 brought about by diaphragms. The sharpness 
 should be gradated gently. He must also 
 remember that the ground-glass picture is 
 false and deceptive in its brightness, even in a 
 perfectly aplanatic lens, due to obvious physi- 
 cal facts. This is a point of great import- 
 ance, which must not be forgotten. The 
 ground -glass picture, though greatly admired 
 by the Tramontane masters, and approved by 
 Canaletto and Ribera, as Count Algarotti 
 assures us in one of his raptures on the camera 
 obscura, is not so natural and beautiful as it 
 may appear from the toy point of view — it is 
 not what the artist wants, any more than he 
 wants the pictures of an ordinary camera 
 obscura, for if these pictures were satis- 
 fying in an artistic sense, every one could, 
 by erecting a camera obscura, have the satis- 
 faction of his desire, and there would soon 
 be an end to the pictorial arts, for no one who 
 loved this picture so dearly would want a 
 camera to take photographs with, but only one 
 to look through. The deceptive luminosity of 
 the ground-glass picture must not be allowed 
 to influence our normal mental analysis of the 
 natural scene. As we said before, therefore, 
 the principal object in the picture must be 
 fairly sharp, just as sharp as the eyes see it, and 
 
NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. ^ 73 
 
 no sharper ; but everything else, and all other 
 planes of the picture, must be subdued, so that 
 the resulting print shall give an impression to 
 the eye as nearly identical as possible to the 
 impression given by the natural scene. But, 
 at the same time, it must be distinctly under- 
 stood that so-called "fuzziness" must not be 
 carried to the length of destroying the structure 
 of any object, otherwise it becomes noticeable, 
 and by attracting the eye detracts from the 
 general harmony, and is then just as harmful as 
 excessive sharpness would be. Experience has 
 shown, that it is nearly always necessary to throw 
 the principal object slightly (often only just per- 
 ceptibly) out of focus, to obtain a natural ap- 
 pearance, except when there is much moisture 
 in the air, as on a heavy mist-laden gray day, 
 when we have found that the principal object 
 (out of doors) may be focused quite sharply^ 
 and yet appear natural, for the mist scattering 
 the light softens the contours of all objects. 
 In the cases of lenses with positive spherical 
 aberration this holds too, but they are more suit- 
 able for portraiture, though at times they will 
 do for figure subjects, but as a rule the conju- 
 gates in landscape are too widely apart to give 
 them any advantage. Nothing in nature has a 
 hard outline, but everything is seen against 
 something else, and its outlines fade gently 
 into that something else, often so subtilely that 
 you cannot quite distinguish where one ends 
 and the other begins. In this mingled decision 
 and indecision, this lost and found, lies all the 
 
74 NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 charm and mystery of nature. This is what 
 the artist seeks, and what the photographer, as 
 a rule, strenuously avoids. 
 
 As this loss of outline increases with the 
 grayness produced by atmosphere, it follows 
 that it is greater on gray days and in the dis- 
 tance ; and less on bright, sunshiny days. For 
 this reason, therefore, the student, must be very 
 careful on bright days about his focusing, for 
 on such days there is often no mist to assist 
 him, but still he must keep the planes separate 
 and attain good modelling, or he has no picture. 
 Let us image an example : A decaying wooden 
 landing-stage stands beneath some weeping 
 willows at the edge of a lake. From the land- 
 ing-stage a path leads through a garden to a 
 thatched cottage one hundred yards distant ; 
 behind the cottage is an avenue of tall poplars. 
 On the landing-stage stands a beautiful sun- 
 bronzed village girl in a plain print dress ; she 
 is leaning against the willow and is looking 
 dreamily at the water. We row by on the lake, 
 and are struck by the picture, but above all by 
 the dazzling native beauty of the peasant girl ; 
 our eyes are fixed on the ruddy face and we 
 can look at nothing else. If we are cool enough 
 to analyze the picture, what is it we see directly 
 and sharply ? The girl's beautiful head, and 
 nothing else, and we can only see that from 
 one point of sight. We are conscious of the 
 willow-tree, conscious of the light dress and the 
 decaying timteers of the landing stage, conscious 
 of the cottage, away in the middle distance, 
 
NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 75 
 
 and conscious of the poplars telling blue and 
 misty over the cottage roof ; conscious, too, are 
 we of the water lapping round the landing- 
 stage ; — we feel all these, but we see clearly and 
 definitely only the charming face, unless we 
 move our head. Thus it is always in nature, 
 and thus it should be in a picture. Let us, 
 however, still keep to our scene, and imagine 
 now that the whole shifts, as does scenery on a 
 stage ; gradually the girl's dress and the bark 
 and leaves of the willow grow sharp, the cottage 
 moves up and is quite sharp, so that the girl's 
 form looks cut out upon it, the poplars in the 
 distance are sharp, and the water closes up and 
 the ripples on its surface and the lilies are all 
 sharp. And where is the picture ? Gone ! 
 The girl is there, but she is a mere patch in all 
 the sharp details; all relief, contract and model- 
 ling are lost. Our eyes keep roving from the 
 bark to the willow leaves and on from the cot- 
 tage thatch to the ripple on the water, there is 
 no rest, all the picture has been jammed into one 
 plane, and all the interest equally divided. 
 Now this is exactly what happens when a deep 
 focusing lens with small diaphragms is used, 
 the operator (for no artist would do this) tries 
 to make everything sharp from comer to cor- 
 ner. Let the student choose a subject such as 
 we have suggested, and put what we have 
 imagined into practice, and he will see the 
 result; he must, for scientific reasons, lose model- 
 ling and so flatten his picture, to say nothing of 
 other causes. Yet this " sharp " ideal is the 
 
76 NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 childish view taken of nature by the uneducated 
 in art matters, and they call their productions 
 true, whereas, they are just about as artistically 
 false as can be. For this reason, too, it must be 
 remembered that the foreground is not always 
 to be rendered sharply. If our principal object 
 is in the middle distance, let us say, for example, 
 some cottages on the border of a lake ; our 
 foreground, consisting we will suppose of 
 aquatic plants, must be kept down, and pur- 
 posely made unimportant. This is done chiefly 
 by the focusing and stopping. 
 
 Among the few satisfactory portraits we have 
 seen, that fatal sharpness has been avoided. 
 The well-known miniature painter. Sir W. J. 
 Newton, one of the first vice-presidents of the 
 Photographic Society of Great Britain, distinctly 
 advised that all portraits should be thrown a 
 ** little out of focus." The falsity of focusing a 
 head sharply is shown by the fact that by doing 
 so freckles and pimples, which are not noticed 
 by the eye, stand out most obtrusively, indeed 
 a case is on record, where an eruption of small- 
 pox was detected in its earliest stage by the 
 lens, while nothing at all could be detected by 
 the eye, though this was but partly due to 
 the lens, and part was owing to chemical rea- 
 sons.. This false focusing has brought in its 
 train another huge falsity — retouching — of 
 which we shall speak more fully hereafter. 
 
 Sharp focusing, too, by making objects tell 
 relatively too strongly, throws them out of tone, 
 and so ruins the picture. When sharpness is 
 
NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 77 
 
 obtained by stopping down, the diaphragm cuts 
 off light and injures normal brilliancy, flattens 
 the modelling, cuts off the useful aberrations, 
 exaggerates shadows, and so throws the picture 
 out of tone. Of course, if the object in view is to 
 produce a diagram for scientific purposes such, 
 for instance, as photographs of flowers for a work 
 on botany, or of fish for a work on ichthyology, 
 or of butterflies for a work on entomology, the 
 most brilliant illumination possible should be 
 aimed at, and the focusing should be micro- 
 scopically sharp, for such works are required to 
 show the structure as well as the form, but even 
 in these the modelling must not be flattened. 
 But, above all, the drawing should be correct, 
 and this is approximately obtainable only by the 
 correct use of lenses, which, as we have pointed 
 out, has not always been the case. If, on the 
 other hand, the operator wishes to produce pic- 
 tures of flowers, butterflies, fruit, fish, &c., the 
 same rules hold good as for any other 
 As an example of the treatment of flowers, the 
 student will do well to study Mr. Fantin's paint- 
 ings of flowers. 
 
 We have seldom seen flowers, fruit, or still 
 life decoratively rendered by photography, 
 though we have seen many scientific records to 
 all appearances perfect, but in which the draw- 
 ing was often a little false. We have seen 
 it stated by the inexperienced who have pro- 
 duced diagrams of microscopic and other ob- 
 jects, that they were untouched (and rightly 
 so), and that, therefore, these diagrams were 
 
78 
 
 NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 artistic and true to nature. Of course, from 
 what has been already said, it is obvious they 
 were not necessarily true to nature (though, 
 perhaps, none the less useful for that), and the 
 statement that they were " artistic " arises of 
 course from a total misconception as to what 
 that word means. 
 
 Here, then, we must quit this subject, and we 
 hope that we have impressed upon the student 
 the fundamental necessity for exercising much 
 thought, and judgment, and care, in focusing, 
 stopping down, and using the swing backs, for 
 these three all work together, and are quite as 
 important as the questions of exposure and 
 development. If the student has mastered all 
 that has gone before, and thoroughly under- 
 stands his text, he will not stumble over focus- 
 ing. 
 
 Of course there is no absolute state of " sharp- 
 est focus," but when we use the word "sharp " 
 we mean the sharpest focus obtainable by any 
 existing photographic lens when used in the 
 ordinary way. 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Exposure. 
 
 A plate can be exposed in three ways, that is, 
 by removing- the cap and replacing it, when the 
 exposure is made ; by folding the camera cloth 
 and placing it over the lens (the cap having 
 been removed), before the shutter of the dark- 
 side is drawn, and then quickly withdrawing 
 and replacing the cloth and sliding back the 
 shutter ; and thirdly by using a mechanical aid, 
 called a shutter. 
 
 The first method needs no comment save that 
 the cap should be withdrawn in an upward 
 direction. The second method has been of in- 
 valuable service to us, and is much practised by 
 Scotch photographers. By this means very rapid 
 exposures can be made, and yet detail obtained 
 in dark foreground masses. The third method 
 is so well known that hundreds of mechanical 
 contrivances, called "instantaneous shutters," 
 have been invented. We have always done all 
 the work we could by quick exposures, and 
 here we may at once say that for pictorial pur- 
 poses " quick exposures " are absolutely neces- 
 sary where possible. We do not say " instanta- 
 neous exposures," because it is high time that 
 this unmeaning word should be relegated to the 
 limbo of photographic archaics. Is it not ob- 
 
 79 
 
8o NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 viously illogical to call exposures of ^i^- of a 
 second, and of one second, both instantaneous ? 
 — yet such at present is the custom. " Instan- 
 taneous " means nothing at all, for a quicker 
 exposure can be obtained by the second method 
 we have described than with some shutters. It 
 is in fact difficult to classify exposures, for obvi- 
 ously the classification must be based, cczteris 
 paribus, on the time the plate is exposed, and 
 this, especially in quick exposures, is not to be 
 measured- save by special apparatus, which of 
 course is of no use for every-day work. We 
 offer as a suggestion the following rough work- 
 ing classification for describing exposures. We 
 would define as 
 
 QUICK EXPOSURES, 
 
 Uncapping and capping lens as quickly as possi- 
 ble. Snatching velvet cloth away and replacing 
 it as quickly as possible. All shutter exposures 
 which cannot be timed by the ordinary second- 
 hand of a watch ; a note being added in the case 
 of shutter exposures, givmg make of shutter, 
 and stating whether it was set to quickest, 
 medium, or slow pace. 
 
 TIME EXPOSURES. 
 
 All other exposures might be called time 
 exposures, it being understood by this term, 
 that the exposure tvas long enough to be counted 
 by the seco?id-hand of an ordinary watch. A 
 note could always be added, giving the number 
 of seconds the plate was exposed. 
 
NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 8l 
 
 We are perfectly aware this method would 
 give only approximately rough statements of 
 the times of exposure, but that is all that is 
 wanted for ordinary work, for after all, except 
 in delicate scientific experiments, the times 
 given to exposures must always be roughly true. 
 On the other hand, in cases of delicate scientific 
 work, it may be required to measure exactly 
 the length of the exposure, and this is easily 
 done with the proper apparatus, as applied by 
 Mr. Marey and others. Our nomenclature is 
 intended for the use of ordinary operators, so 
 that they may describe fairly accurately the ex- 
 posure given to a particular plate ; and it is at 
 any rate more accurate than any nomenclature 
 now in use, for, as we have shown, by the 
 camera cloth method a quicker exposure can be 
 made than with many shutters working slowly. 
 The fundamental distinction, it seems to us, for 
 everyday work is, whether the time of exposure 
 is measurable by the second-hand of an ordinary 
 watch or not, and that is the point on which our 
 nomenclature is based. Hence, when we use 
 the term "quick exposures" in this work, we 
 mean it as already defined. The shutters them- 
 selves should, we think, be called "quick ex- 
 posure shutters," or simply exposure shutters," 
 instead of instantaneous shutters. We will say 
 but few words on "shutters," as these mechani- 
 cal aids to exposure are called. 
 
 Theoretically, the best shutter is that which 
 allows the lens to work at full, aperture 
 for the longest time, and which causes no 
 
82 NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 vibration or alteration of the position of the 
 apparatus during exposure. The mechanism 
 should be simple and strong, and the whole 
 small in bulk. We find Thornton & Pickard's 
 shutter the handiest for out-door work. Another 
 important matter is the correct position of 
 the shutter, and this, theoretically again, is 
 behind the lens, providing the aperture be large 
 enough to prevent any of the rays of light 
 admitted by the lens being cut off. But in 
 practice, a shutter working in the diaphragm 
 slot of the lens answers best, and theoretically 
 the worst way of all is to work the shutter on 
 the hood of the lens. 
 
 All portraits should be taken by shutter, and 
 by quick exposure, if possible ; in fact, we feel 
 sure a first principle of all pictorial work in pho- 
 tography is quick exposure. There is nothing to 
 be said for time exposures, although we are 
 fully aware how much has been written on their 
 advantages, and the beneficial effects on the 
 resulting negatives. We, however, have never 
 seen these wonderful gains, and for quality 
 we have seen very rapidly exposed plates result 
 in negatives which will hold their own in quality 
 against any, whilst in every other respect there 
 is everything to lose in "slow" or time ex- 
 posures. Quick plates in addition allow of a 
 wider range of tone. There are cases, of 
 course, when time exposures are admissible, 
 and even necessary, as in certain gray-day land- 
 scapes, but when dealing with figures or por- 
 traits in good light, let the exposure be as quick 
 
NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 83 
 
 as possible, ere the freshness and naturalness 
 of the model be lost. 
 
 From what has already been said, the student 
 can understand that the exposure will vary with 
 the attendant circumstances. When he consid- 
 ers that there are several factors to be consid- 
 ered in determining the length of exposure, 
 such as the lens used, the diaphragm, the hour 
 of day, the season of the year, the constantly 
 varying conditions of light, the subject, and the 
 plate used — he will see how apparently hopeless 
 the subject is, but Hurter & Driffield's exposure 
 meter * will prove invaluable. 
 
 Still, a few examples showing the protean as- 
 pects of nature, and the difficulties of dealing 
 with it, will illustrate our meaning. Bouquet has 
 calculated that the sun at an altitude of 50 deg. 
 above the horizon is 1200 times brighter than at 
 sunrise. If we, then, apply the ordinary chem- 
 ical law, that the chemical action is proportion- 
 ate to the illumination, noon would be the time 
 to give the least exposure ; but such is not our 
 experience, for the period of greatest intensity 
 is often an hour or so before or after noon* 
 because the angle of reflection is more favorable 
 to us in England. Again, another factor to be 
 considered is the presence of clouds ; white 
 clouds needing less exposure, as they reflect 
 light to a powerful extent. Again, in sunrise 
 and sunset light we have to consider refraction, 
 the warm colors predominating. Another point 
 to consider is our altitude, for there is less 
 
 *To be bought at Messrs Marion & Co.'s, Soho Square, Lendon. 
 
84 NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 atmosphere in high altitudes ; therefore, as any- 
 Alpine traveler knows, the sun acts more pow- 
 erfully on the peaks than in the valleys. Dr. 
 Vogel tells us that the light of the blue sky is 
 chemically active and powerfully so. It will be 
 seen, then, from previous remarks, why winter 
 light is so feeble, Bunsen has worked out the 
 chemical power of light, and expressed it in 
 degrees thus : 
 
 12 (noon). I p.m. 2 p.m. 3 p.m. 4 p.m. 
 
 June I . . . . 38° 38° 38° 37° 35° 
 Dec. 21 . . . 20° 18° 15° 9° 0° 
 
 5 p.m. 6 p.m. 7 p.m. 8 p.m. 
 
 June I 30° 24° 14° 6° 
 
 Dec. 21 . . . 0° 
 
 Thus at noon on June 21st the light is nearly 
 twice as powerful as on December 21st, and 
 when we couple with this fact the moisture gen- 
 erally found in the atmosphere at mid-winter, 
 we see how deceiving are appearances. Again ^ 
 it is acknowledged by many that the light in 
 autumn is one and a half times as great as it is 
 in spring ; but we cannot act on this knowledge 
 alone for outdoor work, for the conditions of 
 vegetation are quite different, for, as Tyndall 
 has shown, " in delicate spring foliage the blue 
 of the solar light is for the most part absorbed, 
 and a light mainly yellowish-green, but contain- 
 ing a considerable quantity of red, escapes from 
 the leaf to the eye : ... as the year advances 
 the crimson gradually hardens to a coppery 
 red." 
 
 Another complication is the east wind. It 
 certainly sweeps away the moisture from the 
 
NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 85 
 
 air and dries everything up, giving all things a 
 black shade, and bringing them up closer to 
 view, at the same time dwarfing distant objects ; 
 and while an east wind does all this by taking 
 away moisture from the atmosphere, the actinic 
 value of light is at the same time lowered. On 
 the other hand, after rain, the light acts quickly, 
 probably owing to the numerous reflections from 
 moist leaves, and from the fact that they do not 
 absorb so much light under these conditions. 
 That the warm colors require a longer exposure 
 than others is too well known to need dwelling 
 on. The presence of water in the foreground, 
 on the other hand, necessitates a shorter expos- 
 ure : even the amount of sky included in the 
 picture will affect the length of exposure. The 
 existing temperature, too, strongly affects the 
 negative. 
 
 It is perhaps necessary here to state that there 
 is no set key or scheme of lighting to work by. 
 Some persons have preached that no photograph 
 should be taken when there is no sun, or that 
 sunlight is the best time for taking a photograph ; 
 such statements are as absurd as childish, one 
 might as well ordain that all music should be 
 played in one key. As beautiful pictures are to 
 be obtained on the gray dull days of November 
 as in sunny June. We remember once reading 
 a statement that all paintings were of sunshine 
 subjects. We quite forget by whom this extraor- 
 dinary statement was made, but at any rate the 
 writer must have been very ignorant 01 his 
 subject ; he could never have heard of half the 
 
86 NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 great pictures o£ the world ; but surely the 
 name of Rembrandt might have occurred to him. 
 A photograph must be true in sentiment, and as 
 true as possible to the impression of the time of 
 day, just as a picture must be. There are some 
 subjects which in sunshine look beautiful, and 
 which on gray days are worthless, and vice versa. 
 Therefore, here again there is no rule, each 
 subject must be judged by itself. 
 
 The rapidity of plates can be measured by an 
 instrument called a sensitometer. Actinometers 
 are valuable aids, and we recommend Hurter & 
 Driffield's instrument. 
 
 But as in all good things, simplicity goes 
 hand in hand with perfection. We have advo- 
 cated quick exposures as absolutely essential to 
 pictorial work, and it follows, therefore, that in 
 making quick exposures there is less liability of 
 going wrong ; so the two work hand in hand. 
 He who exposes slowly misses the very essence 
 of nature, and it is this very power of exposing 
 so quickly that gives us a great advantage over 
 the graphic arts. The painter has to resort to all 
 sorts of devices to secure an effect, which per- 
 haps only lasts for half an hour in* the day. 
 Not so with photographers, if we see and desire 
 to perpetuate an effect, it is ours in the twink- 
 ling of an eye, and thus in a really first-rate 
 photograph there will always be a convincing 
 freshness and naturalism. 
 
 Here, then, we must leave the very vital ques- 
 tion of exposure. It is, perhaps, the most im- 
 portant and the most difficult of all photo- 
 
NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 87 
 
 graphic acts. In the studio the matter is 
 simpler than out of doors, because the light is 
 not so much affected by ever varying meteor- 
 ological conditions; in landscape work, on the 
 other hand, exposure becomes a most difficult 
 problem. 
 
 It is in exposures that intuition acts, as it 
 does in all intellectual matters, and he who can 
 seize on the right exposure at once by instinct 
 is the photographer born. 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 Development. 
 
 Before entering on the subject of develop- 
 ment, it is necessary to tell the student that if 
 he does not already understand the principles 
 of chemistry, he should lose no time in doing 
 so, and as aids to such understanding he can- 
 not do better than get Roscoe's " Lessons in 
 Elementary Chemistry,"* and Abney's " Pho- 
 tography with Emulsions," and master the 
 chapters mentioned in the footnote, ignoring 
 the rest for the time. Also let him buy Blox- 
 ham's " Laboratory Teaching." For a few 
 shillings he can purchase apparatus enough to 
 do qualitative analysis. This he will be able 
 to do by following Mr. Bloxham's directions, 
 omitting, perhaps, testing with the blow-pipe. 
 If he has the time and means, he will do well 
 to do some quantitative analysis, working, say 
 with water, since it is of such immense import- 
 ance to the photographer. He will find a 
 knowledge of chemistry as interesting as use- 
 
 * Roscoe's Chemistry : 
 Lessons i, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 
 15, 16, 17, 18, and potassium, sodium, and am- 
 monium in lessons 19, 22, 23; chromium and 
 uranium in lesson 25 ; mercury, silver, and 
 platinum in lessons 26, 27, and 28. 
 Photography with Emulsions : 
 Caps. I, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 22, 24, and 31. 
 
 88 
 
NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 89 
 
 ful, and the power of observation and accuracy 
 acquired by the study will be invaluable in sub- 
 sequent stages of his work. We refer the 
 student to works on chemistry by specialists, 
 because we think it is a mistake to swell the 
 bulk of our book by an exposition of chemical 
 principles. We caution the student, however, 
 who intends to take up pictorial photography 
 to have nothing to do with plate-making. 
 That manufacture can only be done satisfac- 
 torily by experts constantly employed at it, and 
 it is as reasonable to expect a painter to prepare 
 his own colors, and make his own canvas, as to 
 insist upon a photographer making his own 
 plates. 
 
 Some people have tried to propagate the false 
 idea that a picture taken on a plate of the 
 exhibitor's own making has a special kind 
 of merit, but obviously this is only true when 
 the object is an " Emulsion process competi- 
 tion." In judging of the merits of a picture, 
 no facts should be taken into consideration, 
 save its pictorial qualities. Still the student 
 should know the methods by which his 
 plates are prepared, and that his chemistry 
 will teach him, and when he has found plates 
 which suit him, let him keep to them. We 
 have worked with fourteen different kinds of 
 plates, and have found most of them good, 
 though each requires different treatment. One 
 piece of advice is, however, necessary, always 
 buy your plates direct from the makers, unless 
 you can rely upon your dealer. Some plates 
 
9° 
 
 NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 are, of course, much quicker than others, and 
 this point the beginner must carefully bear in 
 mind, making his exposures accordingly. He 
 must not forget, however, that there are brands 
 of plates which are " starved " of silver ; these 
 he should avoid, and it would be well if a 
 vigilance committee were appointed in every 
 society to test batches of plates occasionally, 
 and report on them in the photographic jour- 
 nals, thus showing up the fraudulent manu- 
 facturers. Assuming, then, that the student 
 has carefully studied the chemistry of develop- 
 ment and has fixed on a satisfactory brand of 
 plates, we will proceed to give him a few prac- 
 tical hints, but before we do so we must get rid 
 of an obstacle in his path, and that is the wet- 
 plate process. 
 
 If the student were to ask ten middle-aged 
 photographers whether they prefer a wet plate 
 or a dry plate negative, nine out of ten would 
 without doubt answer, " Oh, a wet-plate neg- 
 ative." If the student is curious and asks, why ? 
 he will get a vague answer, in which the words 
 " bloom " and " beauty " play conspicuous 
 parts, the adjectives reminding him of an ad- 
 vertisement for patent balms for the skin. 
 The fact is, not knowing the first principles of 
 art, photographers have raised for themselves 
 false gods, and they are still worshiping them. 
 Let us at once and most emphatically state 
 that wet plate negatives do not give so true an 
 impression of nature as a gelatino-bromide 
 plate. We have seen much of the best of Mrs. 
 
NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 9I 
 
 Cameron's work, and she obtained from collod- 
 ion and silver decidedly the best results ever ob- 
 tained from wet plates, for she had artistic 
 insight, yet even in her work the tonality is not 
 so true, and the " quality " and freshness is not 
 so fine as can be obtained from gelatino-bromide 
 negatives. The work by this process is hard, 
 and incapable of expressing texture correctly, 
 while the general impression is more or less 
 artificial. This is fortunate for us, for the slow- 
 ness of the wet-plate process would seriously 
 handicap it, even if the result were better 
 than that of dry plates. The inadequacy of 
 collodion plates is emphasized when we look 
 at the work of the vulgar who used them, and 
 whose ideal was sharpness and "bloom." Such 
 work will be found most unnatural and un- 
 desirable. Surely many of the false ideas current 
 amongst photographers arose from the evolu- 
 tion of the art. Daguerreotypes, the first pho- 
 tographs, were shiny, and most of the subsequent 
 processes followed in their wake, until one 
 clear-sighted photographer, Blanquart-Evrard, 
 tried to combat the evil tendencies. Con- 
 sidering, then, the poor pictorial quality of 
 collodion plates and their slowness in ex- 
 posure, there is absolutely nothing to be said 
 in their favor. It is decided, then, that our 
 student will work with gelatino-bromide plates. 
 
 We will assume now that we have our " latent 
 image" on the plate, correctly exposed. We must 
 now brmg it out or develop and fix it, and this 
 is one of the easiest processes of photography; 
 
92 NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 provided the exposure has been correct. Let us 
 remember that the light reflected from the dif- 
 ferent planes of objects before the camera, has 
 acted on the molecules of haloid salts in our 
 emulsion in different ratios, that is, the light 
 reflected from white objects has eaten into the 
 plate, not deeply, the depth of erosion varying 
 as we descend the tonal scale until we reach 
 the black, but as light acts on everything in 
 nature we shall get a certain amount of etching 
 or eating into the blacks even. Now it will be 
 quite clear that different tones or planes will 
 be bitten by the light (if we may so express) 
 according as they reflect light. We shall thus 
 develop first the plane of high lights and so on, 
 then the middle planes, till we come to the deli- 
 cate grays of the distance. In short, the action 
 is analogous to the biting of an etched plate 
 which has bitten-in tones, with this difference, 
 that in the etched plate we bite the blacks 
 first, as that is a positive, and in the photographic 
 plate we bite the white first. But alas! in the 
 photograph we cannot control the biting; it is 
 mechanical. 
 
 We have now our dishes ready and we 
 mix our developer accordmg to directions 
 given with the plates and to our exposure as 
 before. We remember the action of our chemi- 
 cals. After taking our plate from the carrier 
 we brush it over to remove all dust particles 
 and plunge it into the developer, taking care 
 that the developer covers the plate at once or 
 we shall surely get uneven patches. Then 
 
NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 93 
 
 rocking the plate gently we watch for the ap- 
 pearance o£ the high lights (the whitest parts) 
 and an experienced eye will be able to judge 
 by the way they come up if all is going well. 
 If a turgid outline comes up and the develop- 
 ment does not progress and cannot be coaxed 
 with developer, the plate is under-exposed and 
 useless. But if all goes well it will come up and 
 develop gradually. Finally the student must 
 remember that the negative must always appear 
 a little denser than he wants it, for when the 
 unaltered salts are washed out of the clearing 
 solution, he will find the density appears less 
 than he thought. When he has decided the 
 negative is sufficiently treated he must wash it 
 thoroughly at the tap and plunge it into the 
 alum bath for a minute or two, then re-wash it 
 and plunge it into the hyposulphite bath until it 
 is clear, that is, no yellow-greenish patches ap- 
 pear on the plate as he holds it at an angle 
 with the light. He should leave it some min- 
 utes after it appears clear to thoroughly get rid 
 of the unaltered salts, then wash and replace 
 in the alum, after which wash and transfer to 
 the washing tank. 
 
 It is a pleasure to lock oneself in one's 
 developing room with a batch of good plates 
 to bring forth pictures from behind the gleam 
 of the yellow-greenish film. It is perhaps 
 the most pleasant of all photographic pro- 
 cesses, and the feeling, when one holds a good 
 thing before the developing lamp, must be ex- 
 perienced to be appreciated. It was once thought 
 
94 NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 that we could control the development of the 
 image to any extent, but Messrs, Hurter & 
 Driffield's chemical researches show that to be 
 impossible; in fact, they can develop a properly 
 exposed plate in the dark mechanically, and the 
 only control the operator has is over the 
 "development factor", i.e., a numerical ex- 
 pression for the amount of development a 
 plate receives and is controlled by the length of 
 time occupied in development. That is the 
 gradations of a negative can be adapted to the 
 range of the printing paper. This factor is de- 
 termined graphically. In September, 1890, I 
 asked Messrs.Hurter& Driffield to solve a simple 
 problem I sent them, concerning a white, black, 
 and gray house, and their reply I print, hoping 
 it will be of use to all students. 
 
 DENSITY AND OPACITY. 
 
 These terms have hitherto been used indis- 
 criminately to express the same property of the 
 negative, viz.: that of preventing the trans- 
 mission of light. There would have been no 
 necessity whatever, from the photographer's 
 point of view, for us to draw any distinction 
 between the two terms. On the other hand 
 there is no necessity to have two words to ex- 
 press the same thing, and the word " opacity" 
 seemed to us sufficient to express the optical 
 property of the negative. 
 
 The opacity of the negative depends of 
 course upon the amount of silver deposited 
 after development upon a given area. This 
 
NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 95 
 
 amount of silver is so small, in the case of 
 small areas, that it would be impossible to 
 weigh it. It has therefore to be determined by 
 optical methods. The values obtained by these 
 methods are not absolute, but relative only. 
 They are proportional to the amount of silver 
 per unit area, and just in the same sense in 
 which the word " density" is used in physics, 
 we too employ it to denote the relative amounts 
 of silver. The word density therefore means, 
 in this sense, the density of the deposit, i.e., the 
 relative quantity of silver per unit area. 
 
 What we wanted to discover was the relation 
 between the exposure and the opacity of the 
 resulting image. This relation is, however, 
 of a very complicated nature, while the relation 
 between the exposure and the weight of silver 
 is of a much simpler character. Again, the 
 relation between the weight of silver and the 
 opacity is of a similar simple nature. The 
 weight of silver per unit area is thus the con- 
 necting link between the light which produced 
 the image, and the opacity of that image ; and, 
 in order to avoid the long circumlocution "rela- 
 tive amount of silver per unit area," we appro- 
 priated the word " density." 
 
 This distinction between "density" and 
 " opacity" may appear to others frivolous and 
 mistaken, but, as other publications we shall 
 make on the connection between negative and 
 positive will show, it is exceedingly useful. The 
 number which we call " density" can, by a sim- 
 ple multiplication be converted into milli- 
 
96 
 
 NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 grams of silver per square centimeter area. We 
 also use it in calculating the exposure necessary 
 to produce a positive from a negative by direct 
 contact. 
 
 We will now proceed to consider the problem 
 of the landscape with its white, gray, and black 
 houses situated in different planes, the black 
 being furthest away. 
 
 We have no experiments which show the in- 
 fluence of the atmosphere in long distance views. 
 
 Apart from the effects of the atmosphere, 
 the distance has a very small influence on the 
 time of exposure. 
 
 Theoretically, the exposure to a white surface 
 necessary to yield the same opacity in the 
 negative as the sky would produce in one 
 second would be 
 
 At a distance of loo x focal length of lens 1.02 sec. 
 
 50 ' 1 04 " 
 
 20 " 1. 10 " 
 
 ID » 1.23 » 
 
 2 » 4.00 " 
 
 We assured ourselves by experiments that 
 the distance has a very small influence on 
 the time of exposure. We placed three large 
 sheets of white cardboard at different distances 
 from the lens, and photographed all three simul- 
 taneously. We measured the " density" of the 
 images of the three sheets and found 
 
 Density Density 
 Ft. in. observed, theoretical. 
 
 At 6.6 distance or 9.7 X focal length, 1.150 1.150 
 " 14 o " 21. " 1.205 I. 165 
 
 " 21.6 " 32. " I-2I5 1,215 
 
NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 97 
 
 These results show that apart from the effect 
 of the atmosphere, the distance has but a 
 trifling influence on the exposure, and it is im- 
 possible to time exposures so accurately as to 
 allow for these small differences. We shall 
 therefore pay no further attention to the dis- 
 tance, but consider the three houses as situated 
 in the same plane. 
 
 in order to represent these objects in their 
 relatively correct tones, the first absolute essen- 
 tial is a thickly and evenly coated plate, and 
 this we must assume we have. Before long 
 we hope plate-makers will realize the impor- 
 tance of attention to these points. It is entirely 
 a mistake to suppose that a plate is thickly 
 enough coated because there is enough silver 
 upon it to yield the maximum density required. 
 Our investigations show that great contrasts 
 can only be truly rendered on a well coated 
 plate rich in silver compounds. 
 
 With the view to render the meaning of what 
 follows clearer to you, we have prepared a dia- 
 gram of which we send you a tracing. 
 
 Every plate has its own characteristic prop- 
 erties, which we represent graphically by means 
 of a curve. This curve we call the character- 
 istic of the plate, and it is roughly represented 
 in the annexed sketch. The four curves here 
 shown are all members of one system, and 
 they are all of them characteristic of the same 
 plate. 
 
 If, with various intensities of light, a series of 
 exposures be made on a plate, and the images 
 
98 NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 be fully developed, each exposure will be rep- 
 resented by a deposit of a definite amount of 
 silver (its density). If, now, we choose, as 
 abscissae, the exposures in such a manner that 
 every successive equidistant point means double 
 
 Exposure /NGEOAfErmcAL PfiOSffEss/o/^ 
 
 the previous exposure; and, as ordinates, we 
 choose the densities, the curve, when plotted, 
 has always the form shown in the sketch. The 
 curve has three distinct branches, as discussed 
 
NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 in our paper, which correspond with under, 
 correct, and over exposure. If we develop to 
 the full limit, the curves may appear like No. i, 
 and if we develop to a less extent, it may ap- 
 pear like Nos. 2, 3, or 4, or any other lying in 
 between these; but the various ordinates of 
 the flatter curves are strictly proportional to 
 the corresponding ordinates of the highest 
 curve. Thus each plate may be represented 
 by an entire system of curves. 
 
 Which of these curves will be reached in de- 
 velopment depends on the composition of the 
 developer, time of development and temper- 
 ature. 
 
 We will suppose that our landscape with 
 its three houses has been taken upon a plate 
 sufficiently well coated to render them true 
 in tone, and that we know the characteristic 
 of the plate. We now proceed to discuss this 
 landscape under the three heads, under, cor- 
 rect, and over exposure (Vide tracing). 
 
 I. Under Exposure. 
 
 If the exposure given have been insufficient, 
 the three equidistant lines Bj, G^, W^, may 
 mark the light intensities reflected by the three 
 houses, which, for the sake of argument, we 
 will take as 5 for the black, 20 for the gray, and 
 80 for the white. 
 
 What we affirm is, that any alteration, either 
 in time of development or constitution of devel- 
 oper, will simply decide upon which of the sys- 
 
100 
 
 NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 terns of curves the respective densities shall be, 
 whether, for example, at a, b, and c, or at d, e, 
 and /. 
 
 It would be possible, even in a case of tinder 
 exposure, aided by an experienced eye, to so 
 develop that something akin to a correct re- 
 lationship between the two extreme densities 
 might possibly result, but the density of the 
 
 intermediate tone would be relatively false, the 
 density representing the gray house too closely 
 approaching that of the black house. 
 
NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. lOI 
 
 If the under exposures have been very de- 
 cided, the ratios of the amounts of silver 
 deposited would be as i : 4 : i6 (that is, as 
 5 : 20 : 80), however long the development 
 might be continued. But when the amount of 
 silver is in this ratio ; that is, in the same ratio 
 as the light reflected by the objects, the opacities 
 of the images will produce prints false in tone, 
 and this false relation being established by the 
 peculiar form of the curve, the photographer 
 has no power to alter it. 
 
 The opacity varies with the development, but 
 it varies according to law. The photographer 
 cannot cause the opacity of the white house to 
 grow without that of the black house growing 
 with it, in accordance with a fixed law, indicated 
 by the system of curves. 
 
 II. Correct Exposure. 
 
 If a longer (correct) exposure be given, the 
 ratio of the silver deposited will be altogether 
 different from that we have just considered. 
 Instead of the silver being deposited in the 
 ratio of the light intensities, it will be in the 
 ratio of the logarithms of these intensities. 
 With these particular intensities (5 : 20 : 80): this 
 would mean that the difference between the 
 amounts of silver representing the white and 
 gray houses is the same as the difference be- 
 tween the amounts of silver representing the 
 gray and black houses. 
 
 Different treatment in development would 
 
I02 NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 result in different amounts of silver deposited, 
 though their ratio would remain undisturbed ; 
 but any increase of density in the white house 
 would result in a corresponding increase of 
 density in the black and gray houses, in such a 
 manner as to bring the three points on the lines 
 Bg, Gg, Wg simultaneously from a lower to a 
 higher curve, say from g, h and i to j, k and 1. 
 The photographer has the power to decide how 
 far he will allow the density of the white house 
 to proceed, but he cannot restrain the density 
 of the black house while he allows the density 
 of the white house to increase. 
 
 Among the infinity of curves which are inter- 
 mediate between the axis of the abscissae and 
 the extreme curve, there is only one which 
 would correspond to a negative from which a 
 print true to nature could be obtained. It is 
 the finding of this curve which is the difficulty 
 in development. When this curve is reached, 
 the opacities of the three gradations represent- 
 ing the three houses would be exactly as 
 5 : 20 : 80, the ratio of the light reflected by the 
 houses. 
 
 If, however, development were stopped be- 
 fore this curve was reached, and if it happened 
 that the plate were slightly fogged, the negative 
 would convey to the eye the impression of over- 
 exposure. Such a negative could be put right 
 by intensification, and many experienced 
 photographers would hence declare that they 
 had corrected an over-exposed plate, whilst a 
 measurement of the relative densities of the 
 
NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. I03 
 
 three houses, would, at any stage of the develop- 
 ment, have revealed the fact that it was a case 
 of correct exposure after all, and that the real 
 fault was under-development. 
 
 III. OvER-ExPOSURE. 
 
 In the case of unduly prolonged exposure the 
 images of the three houses would fall m the 
 upper part of the curve where intersected, say, 
 by the lines Bg, Gg, Wg. The result of this 
 would be that the tone of the gray house would 
 too nearly approach that of the white house, 
 whilst, in the case of under-exposure, it too 
 nearly approached that of the black one. You 
 might, by development, decide the density of 
 one of the houses, but it would be out of your 
 power to alter its relationship with respect to 
 the other two. 
 
 Exposure decides within which of the three 
 periods the three houses shall lie. 
 
 Development decides which curve of the sys- 
 tem shall be reached. 
 
 The difficulty which we hope to be able to 
 overcome is the decision of the right moment 
 at which to stop development so that the result- 
 ing print will be true to nature. At present 
 the experienced eye can alone decide the point. 
 
 The particular problem, in the solution of 
 which we should highly esteem your kind assist- 
 ance, is to decide when a print is true to nature. 
 We have ourselves some doubt as to whether a 
 picture has not to be somewhat exaggerated in 
 
I04 NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 light and shade, in order to convey an adequate 
 appearance of relief. 
 
 When stereoscopic pictures are viewed in the 
 instrument, the effects of light and shade are 
 often offensive, whilst, viewed without the 
 stereoscope, this impression is not produced. 
 What is your opinion upon this subject? 
 
 In order to assist you still further to under- 
 stand our distinction between opacity and den- 
 sity, and the influence of development, we are 
 
NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 105 
 
 sending you an experimental plate. It is a 
 *' Cramer " plate, and it is a feature of these 
 plates that they take a long time to develop, 
 12 minutes being generally insufficient. You 
 must understand that the plate we send was ex- 
 posed entire to a standard candle, the three strips 
 being respectively exposed 1.25, 2.5 and 5 C.M.S. 
 as indicated in sketch. 
 
 The plate was then cut 
 into three portions 
 which were developed 
 respectively, 4, 8 and 
 1 2 minutes. The strips 
 are marked with their densities which are 
 
 No. 1 0.3101.0 .. 0.52010 .. 0.7251.0 
 
 No. 2 0.530 167 . . 0.905 170 . . 1.235 ^-^^ 
 
 No. 3 0.695 2.3s . . I. 140 8-33 . . 1.625 2 88 
 
 The ratios existing between these densities 
 are given in small figures, and are, you will see, 
 practically the same in all three cases, thus 
 affording another proof that the " ratio of den- 
 sities is altogether unalterable. 
 
 The opacities corresponding to these densi- 
 ties are as follows: 
 
 No. 1 2.04 — 3,31 .... 5.30 
 
 No. 2 3.38 8.03 . . . 17. j8 
 
 No. 3 4.95 ... J3.80 42.17 
 
 We always use a developer recommended by 
 Messrs. Hurter & Driffield: vts. their, standard 
 pyro-soda developer, e., a solution containing 
 in 1000 parts, 8 parts of pyrogallol (sufficient 
 
 No. I 
 
 No. 2 
 
 No. 3 
 
I06 NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 to readily allow high densities to grow), 40 
 parts of soda, and the same amount of sodium 
 sulphite. 
 
 After development the plate should be well 
 washed, and then placed in an alum bath. 
 Alum acts as ^ scavenger, and clears up all the 
 remains of the developer. Next the plate 
 should again be well washed, and put in the 
 hyposulphite bath. This bath should be con- 
 stantly renewed, for as soon as it becomes well 
 discolored it is inadvisable to continue its use. 
 It should not be made stronger than i to 5, 
 I to 10 being the best proportion. Taking the 
 plate from- the fixing bath, you should wash it 
 very thoroughly, and re-plunge it into a fresh 
 alum bath, leaving it for a few minutes, then 
 again wash it and put it into a plate-washer, 
 the water of which should be frequently 
 changed. It can then be placed in a drying 
 rack, and left to dry gradually in a dry room, 
 where no dust is raised. 
 
 It is, in our opinion, always well to expose 
 two plates on each subject, but once having 
 seen a beautiful thing in nature, the enthusi- 
 astic student will determine to get it perfectly, 
 if it takes fifty plates and as many days to do 
 it in. 
 
 We strongly advise those desirous of doing 
 pictorial work to begin by studying tone on 
 selected subjects especially fit for the study 
 of tone; for example, a figure in a white dress 
 against a white background, another in a black 
 dress against a black background, and then a 
 
 / 
 
NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 107 
 
 white dress against a black background, and a 
 black dress against a white background; some 
 white flowers against a sheet of white paper; 
 yacht-sails against the sky; faces against the 
 sky; black velvet in bright sunshine, and on a 
 gray day; yellow flowers (with orthochromatic 
 plates) on a white background. In short, the 
 student should think of all the possible harmo- 
 nies and discords that can be found indoors 
 and out of doors, and he should, before taking 
 a plate, make a mental translation of the sub- 
 ject into black and white, and put on paper 
 roughly, with a piece of charcoal, what he ex- 
 pects to get, by drawing rough masses in tone 
 of the subject. He should at first think noth- 
 ing whatever of composition, or the more poet- 
 ical qualities of a picture; but simply study 
 tone, and by this he will learn thoroughly what 
 he ought to aim at. Let him eschew all re- 
 quests to take portraits, dogs, horses, parks, 
 and what-nots: but let him always study 
 tone. 
 
 When he has mastered tone, and with it expo- 
 sure and development, he knows the most diffi- 
 cult part of his technique and practice, let him 
 then proceed to picture-work. In this early 
 stage let him take anything and everything 
 that is a study of tone, and let him take it any- 
 how, no posing, no arrangement, and when he 
 knows. his metier thoroughly let him destroy 
 all these early plates ruthlessly. We strongly 
 advise him to give away no prints of early 
 work, or he will most surely rue the day when 
 
Io8 NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY, 
 
 he did so. In our opinion a year is not too 
 much in which to work in this way, both in- 
 doors and out of doors, in studios and out, with 
 shutter and without, before there is any at- 
 tempt to take a portrait or picture of any kind. 
 
 In working' with gelatine plates various un- 
 avoidable accidents and faults will crop up, 
 some of which can, however, be remedied. 
 Such cases we will now go into. 
 
 Under-exposure gives chalky whites and 
 sooty blacks, ergo no tonality, ergo worthless. 
 No remedy, destroy at once. 
 
 Over-exposure gives thin negatives. What 
 a thin negative is, is a matter of opinion, and 
 must be settled by a comparison of the print 
 with the impression of nature which it is 
 wished to obtain. For many effects thin nega- 
 tives are invaluable, and the student must not 
 take the ordinary photographer's opinion as to 
 his negatives; but only that of an artist, for, as 
 has been shown, low-toned prints are unrecog- 
 nized by the ordinary craftsman, his aim and 
 object is never to produce such things, these 
 he designates by all sorts of names, whereas 
 they may be, by their tonality, infinitely truer 
 than his " sparkling " falsehoods. In short, it 
 all depends on what the student wishes to 
 express. Some of the best work done has been 
 produced from negatives made purposely thin, 
 which have at the same time been true in tone, 
 and full of breadth. The density of a negative 
 can be increased by intensifying the negative; 
 but it must not be forgotten that intensification 
 
NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. I09 
 
 does not correct the relative tonality in a par- 
 ticular key. This is a matter of great impor- 
 tance which has been overlooked.* From this 
 it will be seen that such a negative is worth- 
 less for artistic purposes, and had better be 
 destroyed at once. 
 
 But there are cases in which the tonality 
 is relatively true but the negative is pitched 
 in too low a key, that is, it is too low in 
 tone throughout. For such cases* intensifica- 
 tion is invaluable, and Mr. Chapman Jones 
 has introduced a valuable system of intensifi- 
 cation which he read in a paper before the 
 Photographic Society of Great Britain. The 
 great advantage of Mr. Chapman Jones's sys- 
 tem is that he has great control over degrees 
 of intensification. 
 
 Get the following solutions : 
 
 A. A saturated solution of mercuric chloride, 
 to which has been added strong hydrochloric 
 acid (half a drachm of acid to a pint of solution). 
 
 B. One pint of a ten per cent, solution of 
 sodium sulphite (but re-crystalized), acidified 
 with sulphurous acid until the solution ceases 
 to give a red color to a dilute solution of phenol- 
 phthalein. Litmus paper is useless as a test in 
 this case. 
 
 C. A quarter of a pint of a saturated solution 
 of ferrous oxalate. 
 
 D. One and a half pints of a saturated solution 
 of a neutral potassium oxalate. This may just be 
 
 * Cf. Journal and Transactions of the Photographic Society of 
 Great Britain, Vol. XIV., No. 4, pp. 4° et seq. 
 
no NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 acidified with oxalic acid, but the acid slows its 
 action. Now we have a negative which we just 
 wish to give a last flip of density to throughout 
 to scale. We pour a sufficiency of the mercuric 
 chloride solution into a dish and place our 
 negative in it until it becomes grayish white. 
 Then take it out and wash it under running 
 water for an hour at least. Then plunge it 
 into the sodium sulphite solution where it will 
 blacken and we have attained our desired 
 result. 
 
 But suppose we want to carry the intensifica- 
 tion a stage farther. We again treat it with the 
 mercuric chloride solution, but this time we 
 take one part by volume of the ferrous oxalate 
 to six parts by volume of the neutral oxalate 
 solution and mix them, adding 3-4 ounces of 
 water. Now we plunge our negative into this 
 new solution until it darkens again. It will 
 now have about twice the opacity it got by the 
 sulphite treatment, and so we can go on repeat- 
 ing the process up to five or six times. Mr. 
 Jones puts it thus in his admirable " Introduction 
 to the Science and Practice of Photography ": 
 
 "i. Mercuric chloride followed, after well 
 washing with sodium sulphite gives the little ad- 
 ditional brilliancy sometimes lacking in a care- 
 fully made and almost perfect negative. 
 
 2. Mercuric chloride on the original negative 
 followed, after thorough washing, by ferrous 
 oxalate, gives roughly as much increase of den- 
 sity as compared with No. i, as No. i gives 
 when compared with the original negative. 
 
NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. Ill 
 
 3. A repetition of the application of mercuric 
 chloride and ferrous oxalate— that is, these 
 reagents applied to the result of No. 2— give 
 another step in the intensification. 
 
 (Note. — The result of this treatment is about 
 equal to the action of mercuric chloride fol- 
 lowed by ammonia upon the original negative.) 
 
 4. The result of No. 3 may be treated again 
 with the mercuric chloride and ferrous oxalate, 
 and so on as often as may be necessary. 
 
 5. The fourth and fifth consecutive applica- 
 tion of mercuric chloride and ferrous oxalate 
 will probably give a result about equal to that 
 of the uranium intensifier acting upon the 
 original negative. 
 
 6. If a still greater effect is desired the last 
 intensifier maybe used on the original negative. 
 This intensifier, though, is not required for 
 nature negatives." 
 
 The negative by this method is not stained^ 
 the shadows are not choked, the tonality of 
 relative luminosities is not deranged, the 
 operations are reliable, and the result perman- 
 ent. I have found it a valuable method. Though 
 formerly opposed to intensification, this scien- 
 tific and reliable method of Mr. Jones has made 
 me reconsider its advisability and in certain 
 cases I recommend it, but prefer, if possible, to 
 hit off the right tonality at once. 
 
 It must be remembered that the ferrous 
 oxalate acts much more slowly than either am- 
 monia or sulphite. If a dark looking stain is 
 left on the negative the ferrous oxalate has not 
 
112 NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 been sufficiently washed away and a further 
 washing will remedy it. Every operation 
 should be thorough and the processes must not 
 be hurried. 
 
 The student will find that for certain effects 
 he may intentionally produce a slight fog over 
 his plate, as has often been done with very good 
 results; but if his plates are unintentionally 
 fogged, they are ruined. Fog is due to light 
 having had access to the plate, either during 
 manufacture, during exposure, or during de- 
 velopment. By developing an exposed plate it 
 can be proved whether it was fogged during 
 the manufacture, as in that case the plate turns 
 black. If the fog is caused by a leaky camera 
 the edges of the plate, which are generally clear 
 glass, are not fogged, for they have been hidden 
 behind the rebate of the dark slide. Light 
 coming through the dark slide shows itself in 
 lines or patches, and is not general. If all these 
 sources have been eliminated, the dark room 
 must be suspected. This is tested by putting a 
 plate in the slide, drawing the shutter out half 
 way, and exposing the plate for a few minutes 
 to the developing light. If the exposed half 
 fogs, then the dark room is to blame. 
 
 We have only met with red and green fog 
 once, and that was in developing a uranium 
 plate. This is green by reflec;ted light, and red 
 by transmitted light. It is generally deposited 
 at the corners of the plate and round the edge. 
 
 Yellow and brown fog are rarely met with, 
 and are yellow and brown by reflected light, 
 
NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. II3 
 
 whereas stains are colored only by transmitted 
 light. The student can easily distingniish be- 
 tween fogs and stains in this way. We have 
 been very successful experimentally with Cap- 
 tain Abney's method of clearing off green fog. 
 He recommends the following solution to be 
 used after fixing : 
 
 ]J Ferric chloride 50 grains 
 
 Potassium bromide 50 grains 
 
 Water 4 ounces 
 
 The plate should be well washed after this 
 treatment, and developed up with the ferrous 
 oxalate developer. 
 
 But such plates are not always saved pictor- 
 ially by the method, for the tonality may be 
 thrown out, and the texture of substances is 
 nearly always damaged. 
 
 Frilling is due to the expansion of the gela- 
 tine, and will rarely occur if the plate be put in 
 the alum bath before fixing. The gelatine can 
 be made to contract by soaking in methylated 
 spirits of wine. 
 
 Blisters are of rare occurrence, and will dry 
 out if the plate be carefully handled and washed 
 in alum, as directed. They may be treated 
 locally with methylated spirit, which causes the 
 gelatine to contract. 
 
 The best reducer for dense negatives we know 
 of is Dr. Eder's. He recommends the use of — 
 A,, one part chloride of iron to eight parts of 
 water. B., two parts neutral oxalate of potash 
 to eight parts of water. A well-known author- 
 ity on photographic matters. Dr. H. W. Vogel, 
 
114 
 
 NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 says, " Both solutions keep a long time without 
 deteriorating. Immediately before using, equal 
 parts of A and B are mixed, forming a bright 
 green solution, which keeps well for several 
 days in the dark, but decomposes in the light. 
 Of this mixture a little is added to a fresh and 
 strong solution of 'hypo.' In difficult cases i 
 part ' hypo ' and ^ to of iron solution are em- 
 ployed. The plate to be reduced is placed in 
 this solution. The image weakens quickly and 
 uniformly. The plate is taken out and washed 
 just before the desired reduction is reached, 
 because the action continues during the wash- 
 ing, gradually diminishing under the stream 
 from the tap. This reducer acts on plates de- 
 veloped either with 'pyro' or 'oxalate,' and 
 does not destroy the details in the shadows like 
 cyanide. There is also less tendency to frill 
 than with the cyanide bath." 
 
 Reducers, like intensifiers, should not be re- 
 sorted to, unless in case of a very valuable 
 negative, for it must never be forgotten that, 
 though the printing density is reduced, the 
 tonality is not corrected. 
 
 Yellow stains due to the developer, are easily 
 removed by Edwards' Yellow clearing solution, 
 which we have found most effectual — 
 
 Sulphate of iron 3 ounces 
 
 Alum I ounce 
 
 Citric acid i ounce 
 
 Water i pint 
 
 Transparent spots are due to dust in camera or 
 slide, or to using the " hypo " bath too long. If 
 
NATURALISTIC PTHOTOGRAPHY. II5 
 
 the Spots have sharply defined edges, they are 
 due to air bubbles forming at the beginning 
 of development. 
 
 Halation is a bugbear we have had little ex- 
 perience of, though we have taken many in- 
 teriors. The only occasion on which we met 
 with it was once when the plate was over-ex- 
 posed on a stained glass window, containing 
 much blue in it. If a large stop be used, and 
 the exposure kept as short as possible, our ex- 
 perience is that no halation need occur. If, 
 however, the student fears it, and there is al- 
 ways a danger of it where any bright lights act 
 on the film, he should, with a squeegee and 
 some glycerine, apply a piece of some dark 
 tissue to the back of the plate ; this is easily 
 stripped off before development. There is a 
 slight amount of halation in every plate, but it 
 is really nearly always inappreciable and is 
 after all true in illusion for the eye does not 
 see things sharply against the sky. Mr. San- 
 dall has introduced a valuable plate for interior 
 work and various " backing " solutions are now 
 in the market to prevent this result. 
 
 All plates should be kept in a dry place, and 
 whilst traveling it is as well to keep them in 
 tinfoil. The effect of damp is to produce 
 patches, which either do not develop at all or 
 develop unequally. 
 
 The removal of varnish is easily accomplished 
 by putting the plate into hot methylated 
 spirit, and rubbing the varnish off with cotton 
 wool. 
 
Il6 NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 It has been said that sea air affects gelatine 
 plates ; this has not been onr experience. 
 
 The backs of the negatives which are gener- 
 ally dirty, should be cleaned by scraping, and 
 then rubbing up with a rag moistened in hot 
 water, or preferably, methylated spirit. The 
 negatives should be kept in a dry place, in 
 grooved cardboard boxes. Wooden boxes 
 should not be used for storing either plates or 
 negatives. 
 
 Marblings are due to a dirty fixing bath ; or 
 to an uneven action of the developer arising 
 from not rocking the plate, or to adding the 
 alkali to the developer in the dish and not 
 thoroughly mixing them before putting in the 
 plate. The clearing solution removes some of 
 these. 
 
 Prolonged and patchy fixing is due to the 
 alum bath being used before " fixing " in plates 
 from which the developer has not been thor- 
 oughly washed. It can be remedied by wash- 
 ing and swilling the plate in water just ren- 
 dered alkaline by ammonia, and then fixing as 
 before. We once had a plate which took 
 several hours to fix even after this treatment. 
 
 We have had limpet shell markings appear in 
 a few negatives some months after develop- 
 ment. We know of no remedy for the defect ; 
 nor do we know the cause, but believe it to be 
 due to hyposulphite of soda left in the film. 
 
 Deposit on film is sometimes met with after 
 the imperfect washing out of hyposulphite of 
 soda ; or sometimes whilst the negative is in 
 
NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. II7 
 
 the fixing bath, if it has been in the alum bath 
 previously and not thoroughly washed, sulphur 
 is deposited. The remedy is obvious. 
 
 Colored metallic-looking patches appear at 
 times near the edges of the plate, which may, 
 or may not, be accompanied with fog. We 
 have often observed these patches in plates 
 which have been kept a long time. There is 
 no remedy if they are unaccompanied by fog, 
 but if fog is present, the ferric-chloride solution 
 will generally remove them. 
 
 Scratches on the back of the negative show 
 as dark lines in the film. 
 
 Rarely, we have met with small patches 
 which seem to have refused to develop ; they 
 are generally circular. Captain Abney says 
 they are due to the use of chrome alum in the 
 emulsion. There does not appear to be any 
 remedy for this accident. 
 
 In one batch of plates we were greatly troubled 
 by dull spots and pits, one of the plates being 
 covered with pits as thickly as if it had been 
 peppered from a pepper-box. Captain Abney 
 says they are due to the use of gelatine which 
 contains grease. They ruined a whole series 
 of fine negatives for us once. These complete 
 the enumeration of the accidents likely to occur 
 during development. 
 
 We shall now presume that the student has 
 thoroughly dried his negatives, after having 
 developed them. Before storing them, how- 
 ever, he must varnish them, to protect them 
 from scratches, and especially from damp, for 
 
Il8 NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 gelatine, being very hygroscopic, easily absorbs 
 moisture. At times, when warming an ap- 
 parently perfectly dry negative over a flame, 
 preparatory to varnishing it, a slight steam can 
 be seen to arise, due to the evaporation oE the 
 moisture in the film. This moisture in the 
 gelatine would of course in time lead to decom- 
 position, and ruin the image ; for these reasons, 
 then, all negatives should be varnished. Be- 
 fore " varnishing " each negative should be 
 carefully brushed over with a camel's hair 
 brush. Now it is obvious that many of the 
 varnishes used are more or less non-actinic, as 
 Dr. Carey Lea has proved ; he, therefore, 
 recommends the following : — 
 
 Bleached lac lo drachms 
 
 Picked sandarac 5 drachms 
 
 Alcohol 12 ounces 
 
 Let the lac dissolve in the alcohol, then filter, 
 first soaking the filter paper with alcohol. 
 Pour slowly, and if necessary at the end add one 
 ounce more of alcohol to enable the rest to pass. 
 Next add the sandarac to the filtrate and re- 
 filter, using of course a fresh filter. 
 
 Warm the plate gently, and, holding it in the 
 left-hand bottom corner between the thumb and 
 finger, pour a pool of varnish on to the plate 
 that will cover about one-third the area of the 
 plate, then let it run to the right-hand top 
 corner, then to the left-hand top corner, then to 
 the thumb, and finally drain off at the right- 
 hand bottom corner into a filter. Then place 
 it on a drainage rack, till just set, when rewarm 
 
NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. HQ 
 
 by the fire, etherwise it does not set hard and 
 smooth. 
 
 Since paper negatives and a roller slide were 
 suggested by Fox Talbot, and made fit for use 
 by Blanquart-Evrard, several ingenious persons 
 have been trying to improve upon these early 
 attempts. From time to time, during the last 
 fifty years, various workers have announced old 
 ideas as new discoveries, nor have these been 
 confined to roller slides and paper negatives, 
 but extended to many other photographic 
 processes. That no one can claim any origin- 
 ality of discovery on this head since Talbot and 
 Evrard is obvious ; only perfected methods 
 can be claimed. There have been many of 
 these introduced, but none worth discussing 
 until that ofEered by the Messrs. Walker and 
 Eastman. They have perfected Talbot's and 
 Evrard's work, and though they have numerous 
 imitators their work is facile princeps. 
 
 Now the student will naturally expect us to 
 give an opinion on these paper negatives. For 
 many photographic processes they are of course 
 invaluable, but for pictorial work our opinion is 
 that they are not equal to the ordinary method. 
 These remarks apply equally to the various 
 flexible films which have lately been introduced. 
 
 For hand cameras, we should think, film 
 negatives would be very useful, and for small 
 studies such as they produce, would do well. 
 
 There still remains, however, a very import- 
 ant point from the pictorial point of view, as re- 
 gards tonality, for as the student who has read 
 
I20 NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 his chemistry knows, the different parts of the 
 spectrum act differently on the different haloids. 
 The effect of this has been to destroy true 
 tonality, thus a yellow flower comes out black 
 if taken on ordinary plates. To remedy this 
 dyes have been used which absorb the weakly 
 acting- rays, and thus has been made one of the 
 greatest advances in photography, both scien- 
 tifically and pictorically. This orthochromatic 
 photography has engaged the attention of ex- 
 perts, and Abney, Vogel, Eder, Ives, and 
 Edwards are hard at work upon it now, besides 
 many amateur scientists. We have been for 
 some time working in this direction for ar- 
 tistic purposes, having begun with Tailfer's 
 plates before any others were introduced into 
 the English market. For the photographing of 
 pictures Messrs. Dixon and Grey conclusively 
 proved the superiority of the process by their 
 exhibits at the Exhibition of the Photographic 
 Society of Great Britain, in 1886. But the mat- 
 ter is more complex and difficult when land- 
 scapes and portraits from life have to be con- 
 sidered. It is with the wonderful protean 
 aspects of nature that we have to deal when 
 working from nature, and we feel the question 
 is not one to be entirely settled in the laboratory. 
 Our method is always to work out of doors, 
 noting, as far as possible, the conditions and 
 judging the results by the prints, and though 
 such experiments are far from conclusive, we 
 can at present say that the orthochromatic 
 plates are partially correct in the rendering of 
 
NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 121 
 
 tonality, but not perfect, the reds overrun the 
 other colors and are too strongly rendered. In 
 fact, the reds and greens are not truly rendered, 
 and even if the correct values of the spectrum 
 are rendered in a laboratory, it does not there- 
 fore follow that the relative tones of nature will 
 be truly rendered for it must never be forgotten 
 that spectral and pigmentary colors are dif- 
 ferent and that no pigmentary color is pure. 
 We have then to make our orthochromatic 
 plates so that they will give us true tonality as 
 the eyes see it and none but an accomplished 
 tonist can judge of this. This is the point 
 which must be remedied. Undoubtedly ortho- 
 chromatic photography alone will be used in 
 the near future, but just at present it is not 
 cut-and-dried enough for all practical purposes. 
 And later research tends to confirm our first 
 impressions as Captain Abney's recent paper 
 showed. In fact, for many landscapes it is evi- 
 dent that ordinary plates give a truer rendering 
 than do orthochromatic plates. The student, 
 however, must use these plates for landscapes 
 with bright colors as yellow flowers, etc. They 
 are supplied by many dealers. 
 
 Thus it will be seen that in every operation 
 the art-knowledge of the operator will tell. 
 For example, let us suppose a camera set up 
 with the lens fixed, before a beautiful landscape 
 composed on the ground-glass screen by an 
 artist, then let us imagine that two photog- 
 raphers proceed to take plates of the picture. 
 After the very first operation of focusing, 
 
122 
 
 NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 stopping and adjusting the swing-backs ; a 
 marked gulf will separate the two pictures ; the 
 gulf widens as the exposure is made, and final- 
 ly in the developed plates they are no longer 
 the same thing. One may be a sharp, common- 
 place fact, untrue in illusion, the other may 
 be full of illusion and poetry. Let a print be 
 taken from each plate and presented to an ar- 
 tistically uneducated craftsman and to an artist, 
 the craftsman will go into raptures over the 
 sharp craftsman picture, the artist will do the 
 same over the artistic picture, but the artist 
 will not look for a moment at the craftsman's 
 ideal, and this little matter any one can prove 
 for himself. Let the student, then, strive to 
 earn the artist's praise, and let him ignore the 
 workman's, and value his opinion on these mat- 
 ters at the same price he would value his opin- 
 ion upon any other subject where taste and re- 
 finement are called into question.. 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 RETOUCHING NEGATIVES. 
 
 Retouching is the process by which a good, 
 bad, or indifferent photograph is converted into 
 a bad drawing or painting. 
 
 Theoretically, retouching may be considered 
 admissible, that is if the illusion can be made 
 more true by it. There are, perhaps, half a 
 dozen painters in the world who could do this, 
 but no one else. Nature is far too subtle to be 
 meddled with in this manner. We have dis- 
 cused the question with many artists, and their 
 verdict is the same as ours. It is the common 
 plea of photographers that photography exag- 
 gerates the shadows, but we think it has been 
 shown that if photography is properly practised 
 no such exaggeration of shadows takes place 
 and if it did, retouching would only add to the 
 falsity in another way. This retouching and 
 painting over a photograph by incapable hands, 
 by whom it is always done, is much to be 
 deprecated. The result is but a hybrid, and is 
 intolerable to any artist. One fatal fact in all 
 painted photographs, and one which for ever 
 keeps them without the realm of art, is that the 
 shadows, being photographic, are black and not 
 filled with reflected color as in nature and as in 
 
 "3 
 
 * 
 
124 NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 good oil painting. The same remark applies to 
 mechanically-colored photographs. Such abom- 
 inations, from an art point of view may, how- 
 ever, be useful in the trades, for pattern plates 
 and such things. Consider for a moment the 
 habit of working up in crayon, monochrome, 
 water-color and oils. What does it mean ? and 
 how is it done? In some establishments the 
 practice is for a clerk to note down certain of 
 the sitter's characteristics, such as " hair light, 
 eyes blue, necktie black "; these remarks are sent 
 with a photograph, generally an enlargement, 
 to the artist ! He, in a conventional and crude 
 manner makes necessarily a travesty ' of the 
 portrait, and for these abominations the cus- 
 tomer pays from 5/. to 20/. Consider the utter 
 sham and childishness of the whole proceeding^ 
 and remember that a portrait painter of the 
 greatest ability can only paint with the model 
 actually before him, yet these workers-up, who 
 are not artists at all, can paint from memoranda 
 made by a clerk. It is astonishing to think 
 there are people in the world foolish enough to 
 pay for such trash. Even the very best oil 
 painting done in such a way is but trash, and if 
 the photographic base is so destroyed or cov- 
 ered over that none of it shows, it must then be 
 judged on the grounds of monochrome drawing 
 or painting as the case may be, and a sad thing 
 it is when judged on these grounds. It may be 
 said, " But painters paint posthumous portraits." 
 Yes, they do, confiding public, but they paint 
 them as sculptors model posthumous busts, but 
 
 • 
 
NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 1 25 
 
 they do not call them works of art. We know 
 several artists who are compelled by necessity 
 and the vanity of human nature to execute 
 these posthumous portraits, and we know, too, 
 how they value such work. But it must not be 
 forgotten what a gulf separates able artists 
 from the third-rate "workers up" for photog- 
 raphers. Moreover, honest artists never at- 
 tempt posthumous portraits on the top of a pho- 
 tograph, but simply use the photograph as a 
 guide for modelling, light and shade, etc., a 
 quite legitimate use, both for painter and sculp- 
 tor. The Royal Photographic Society of Great 
 Britain is to be congratulated on the stand it 
 has made in the matter by not hanging any of 
 these abominations on their walls, and it is to 
 be hoped they will stand firm and never admit 
 hand-colored photographs of any kind until the 
 great problem of photography in natural colors 
 is solved. 
 
 We have amongst photographers to-day per- 
 sons who pride themselves on their skill in tak- 
 ing out of a photograph double chins, wrinkles, 
 freckles, and all the character of a face, and 
 who call themselves, we believe, "high art pho- 
 tographers"; mere flatterers of mankind's weak- 
 nesses are they, not even honest craftsmen. 
 And not only do they thus mutilate portraits, 
 but with their Chinese white and Indian ink will 
 they, with all the confidence of the uneducated, 
 touch up a landscape or a face with no model 
 before them. Of tonality of course they never 
 heard, and Nature they never knew. It was 
 
126 NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 once our lot to judge the pictures at a Cam- 
 bridge photographic exhibition, and we were 
 not a little staggered by the audacity with 
 which one noted " London firm " had touched 
 up and worked upon an opal enlargement of 
 Niagara Falls. The picture was very true and 
 beautiful before those vandals had got hold of 
 it, but great Caesar ! what a sight it was after- 
 wards, with its impasto of Chinese white, and 
 its shiny gum-polished, India-ink deepened 
 shadows ! In short, a more meretricious pro- 
 duction it has seldom been our lot to inspect, 
 and this thing was exhibited by a University 
 undergraduate ! If such is the taste of an ed- 
 ucated man, what can one expect from the rest 
 of the world ! Let then, the student avoid all 
 these meretricious productions as he would all 
 vulgarities, such as eating peas with his knife. 
 No first-rate artist will allow his prints to be re- 
 touched; he would never be able to bear the 
 look of them afterwards. That the idea of re- 
 touching springs from a wrong theory is evi- 
 dent; the improper use of lenses gave false draw- 
 ing, and people were inartistically and sharply 
 photographed, so that wrinkles, warts, freckles 
 and even the pores of the skin showed, and so 
 on, and then arose the demand for a retoucher 
 to correct all that, and one error led to another, 
 although, without doubt, the false work of a re- 
 toucher is much truer than the false work of an 
 uneducated operator. Certainly people do not 
 see, at the distance a photograph is taken from, 
 the wrinkles, spots, and other small blemishes, 
 
 • 
 
NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. I27 
 
 and they are too uneducated to see the falseness 
 of tone and texture which retouching engenders. 
 Of all the photographers who talk glibly of art, 
 we warrant scarcely one is able to distinguish 
 between a bust carved by a stone-mason, one 
 carved by a mediocre sculptor, and one carved 
 by a master, in fact we have proved this, 
 and yet they talk, talk, write, and lecture on 
 art; while to an artist the difference between 
 each of those three busts is as great as 
 the difference between a mountain, a hillock, 
 and a marsh. The public see the warts and 
 spots, and call them false, the greater falsity of 
 tone and retouching they cannot distinguish. 
 An etcher once remarked to us, " How is it 
 photographers seem to do everything to make 
 photographs anything but photographs ?" And 
 such is the case ; the matchless beauty of a pure 
 and pictorial photograph does not satisfy their 
 vulgar minds, and yet such is the only kind of 
 photograph at which artists will look. 
 
 It is now fifty years since Daguerre publicly 
 announced Niepce's discoveries, and on the 
 scientific and industrial side, photography has 
 results to show nothing short of marvellous, 
 but what has it to show on the artistic side? Of 
 the thousands who have practised photography 
 since 1839, and who are now dead, how many 
 names stand out as having done work of any 
 artistic value? Only three. One who was at 
 the same time a sculptor, namely, Adam- 
 Salomon, but without first-rate artistic ability; 
 one a trained painter, but with very second rate 
 
128 NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 artistic ability, Rejlander; and one, an amateur 
 — Mrs. Cameron. Besides these three there is 
 no name among the numerous dead photog- 
 raphers worth a mention, and even now the 
 work of Rejlander and Adam-Salomon is 
 archaic. It serves but as landmarks in the his- 
 tory of our art. Mrs. Cameron's work alone will 
 survive, and only her portraits, her compositions 
 being childish. And have matters improved? 
 Well may it be asked by those who have the 
 good of photography at heart, whether it will 
 always be thus. We hope not; but if it is to be 
 otherwise, some radical change must be made, 
 and the blind no longer lead the blind. We 
 have said, then, that of all the thousands of 
 craftsmen who have practised photography and 
 are dead, three names only stand out as having 
 produced works to which we can apply the title 
 artistic. Now let us see what those three have 
 to say to the matter of retouching.* 
 
 Mr. Adam -Salomon, though he strengthened 
 certain parts of his negatives by artificial means, 
 which in the hands of an artist like himself, 
 was admissible, condemned retouching alto- 
 gether. He says, ''Eschewing retouching with 
 brush or pencil on the film, risking the further 
 deterioration of the negative, I make light finish 
 the task it has, from want of time, or bad qual- 
 ity, insufficiently done, and in such a manner 
 that no hand can hope to rival its delicacy and 
 precision, and this is the only plan that a lover 
 
 * Since 1882 matters have slowly improved, but until quite recently 
 Rejlander and Salomon's imitators had loo much influence. That is 
 broken now and there is hope (i8qo). 
 
NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 129 
 
 of his calling can justifiably pursue." So we 
 see that a highly-trained sculptor, like Adam- 
 Salomoil, said that he dared not retouch, but 
 only sunned down violent contrasts at first, and 
 then printed in all the picture, so that it could 
 not be detected. 
 
 Rejlander, not being a painter of great ability, 
 but having a painter's training, tried all meth- 
 ods in certain directions; but he too came to 
 the conclusion that retouching was inadmissi- 
 ble, and he says: "I think the practice of re- 
 touching the negative a sad thing for photog- 
 raphy. It is impossible, for even very capable 
 artists, to rival or improve the delicate, almost 
 mysterious gradation of the photograph. Mag- 
 nify the photographic rendering of, say, the 
 human eye, with a strong lens, and it is found 
 to be almost starting in its marvellous truth. 
 Magnify the retouched image, and it will look 
 like coarse deformity. It ceases to be true. I 
 have sometimes seen a touched photograph 
 which looked very nice, but it possessed no 
 interest for me; I knew it could not be trusted. 
 I have been charged with sophisticating photo- 
 graphs because I combined and masked and 
 sunned prints. But there is a great distinction 
 between suppressing and adding; I never added. 
 I stopped out portions of the negatives which 
 I did not require to form my picture; I sunned 
 down that which was obtrusive, and where one 
 negative would not serve, I used two or more, 
 joining them with as much truth as I could. 
 But I never attempted to improve negatives. 
 
130 ■ NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 I never believed that I could draw better or 
 more truly than Nature. I consider a touched 
 photograph spoiled for every purpose." This, 
 then, was Rejlander's verdict, and though from 
 this we gather he had not yet thrown off the 
 fallacy of combination-printing, yet he subse- 
 quently abjured that also. Even when he did 
 use combination-printing, he practised it in a 
 manner never equalled by his imitators, for 
 like all imitators they have copied the bad 
 qualities and left all the brains behind. 
 
 Mrs. Cameron, the last and greatest of the 
 three, had knowledge and feeling enough also 
 to eschew retouching, none of her work is re- 
 touched. The more we see of Mrs. Cameron's 
 work, and the work of Adam-Salomon and 
 Rejlander, the more astonished we are at her 
 untaught artistic ability, for her work towers 
 above that of both Rejlander and Adam-Solo- 
 mon, and were it not for her puerile figure- 
 pieces and childish angels, etc., she would have 
 taken a very high place indeed in our world for 
 all time, but like all untrained persons she was 
 very uneven and uncertain, and though in her 
 portraits, she is really great, in her illustra- 
 tions to the "Idylls of the King," etc., she is 
 puerile and amateurish. 
 
 When, it comes, by the means of retouching, 
 to straightening noses, removing double chins, 
 eliminating squints, fattening cheeks, and 
 smoothing skins, we descend to an abyss of 
 charlatanism and jugglery, which we will not 
 stop to discuss. Thst such things pay and 
 
NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 131 
 
 please vain and stupid people, no one denies, 
 but so do contortionists please a certain public, 
 so do jugglers and tight-rope dancers, and such 
 like, but all that is merely grotesque. 
 
 There are various practices of doctoring the 
 the negative by using paint and other mediums 
 on the backs, or by grinding the backs of the 
 negatives. These are, in our opinion, all un- 
 necessary and harmful, the remarks on retouch- 
 ing apply equally well here. Such artifices 
 may easily deceive and even please the unedu- 
 cated, but the artist only sees them to despise 
 and condemn them. The technique of photog- 
 raphy is perfect, no such botchy aids are neces- 
 sary, they take the place of the putty of the bad 
 carpenter. 
 
 Of course, spotting does not come under the 
 head of retouching. The spotter does not at- 
 tempt to modify structure or tone, but merely 
 to render an unavoidable and accidental blem- 
 ish " less patent. All spots should be filled with 
 red paint mixed with a little gum and water 
 but care must be exercised in this operation, to 
 put on only just enough paint to fill the hole. 
 
 Our parting injunction, then to the photogra- 
 pher who would do good work, is, avoid re- 
 touching in all its forms; it destroys texture and 
 tone, and therefore the truth of the picture. 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 
 PRINTING. 
 
 Having his negative, the next thing our 
 student will want to do is to print from it ; but 
 before doing so, it will be necessary to decide 
 upon the process he will use. 
 
 This is a question of great moment, and one 
 which will here be considered on purely pictorial 
 grounds. When first we began photography, 
 we printed in all sorts of ways ; but silver 
 printing, on account chiefly of its unpleasant 
 glaze, was soon discarded. Then we prepared 
 some ordinary drawing paper, and printed on 
 that, till one day we saw an album of views 
 printed in platinotype. Their beauty acted 
 like a charm, and straightway we took to 
 platinotype. Still we felt that for portraiture, 
 a red color g^ve a desirable warmth. So we 
 tried carbon, and practised it when necessary. 
 Even now, when we look back on those days, 
 we remember the intense pleasure carbon print- 
 ing gave us. In the year 1882, when we first 
 exhibited at Pall Mall, we sent four platinotype 
 prints, and two silver prints. At that exhibi- 
 tion, there were only three other exhibits in 
 platinotype. Immediately after that exhibition 
 we determined to give up all methods of print- 
 132 
 
NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 133 
 
 ing except platinotype, and we have since 
 steadily by example and precept advocated that 
 process. When we were brought into contact 
 with artists, and learned something of art, we 
 knew the reason of what we had instinctively felt 
 to be true. And now, after much experience 
 and careful examination, in many cases in com- 
 pany with able artists, of all the printing papers 
 and processes to-day employed, we emphatically 
 assert that the platinotype process is still facile 
 princeps. We should maintain this, even if 
 platinotypes were no more permanent than sil- 
 ver prints, but here again, as in all good things, 
 simplicity of manipulation goes with excellency, 
 for there is no doubt that platinotypes are per- 
 manent, they will last in good condition as long 
 as the paper on which they are printed. This 
 fact alone would finally place the process at the 
 head of the list. Since the introduction of the 
 platinotype process various papers have been 
 introduced into the market, with unglazed sur- 
 faces, for which the quality of permanency has 
 been claimed. Several of these are old methods 
 re-dressed, as the gelatino-bromide and chloride 
 papers. But are these papers permanent ? At 
 any rate they do not give any truer tonality 
 than silver prints, and this is a fatal draw-back. 
 We have examined hundreds of prints on 
 gelatino-bromide and chloride paper, and they 
 all give false tonality as compared with platino- 
 type. The gelatino-bromide paper like all 
 silver prints, whether matt or glazed, is false in 
 tonalit}^, the blacks are too black, and the whole 
 
134 NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 picture lowered in tone. Then, again, as to the 
 question of permanency, it is of course incon- 
 testable that silver prints fade, and as regards 
 the gelatino-bromide paper, experiment has not 
 proved it to be permanent. This is what a 
 chemist, Mr. A. Spiller, says in the Year Book 
 of Photography and Photographic News for 
 1888: Writing on "Bromide versus albumenized 
 paper," he says, " From the above consider- 
 ations it may fairly be conceded that under the 
 same conditions a bromide print will most likely 
 remain intact longer than an albumenized paper 
 print ; but more than this, I am afraid, with 
 the evidence at present at hand, we are not in a 
 position to state. In offering this, it must be 
 understood that only under equally favorable 
 circumstances is the bromide process likely to 
 yield results more permanent than that on 
 albumenized paper, for just as a gelatine plate or 
 silver print fades when the ' hypo ' fixer has 
 been imperfectly removed, so again in the 
 bromide process, if insufficient washing after 
 fixing be resorted to, the resulting photograph 
 cannot be expected to last long." 
 
 Such was the opinion of every photographer 
 who had thought the matter out, but we give 
 Mr. Spiller's opinion since it is that of a 
 specialist in chemistry. In conjunction with a 
 landscape-painter we went carefully into this 
 question of the different printing processes, for 
 a book we were conjointly engaged upon was 
 to be illustrated by photographs from our 
 negatives. We soon determined, on artistic 
 
NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY, I35 
 
 grounds, that there was nothing that could 
 compete with platinotype. Before deciding, 
 however, we wrote, at the request of our pub- 
 lishers, to a leading producer of gelatino- 
 bromide papers, asking him if he could guaran- 
 tee the permanency of prints on this paper. 
 When the answer came it was evasive and un- 
 accompanied by any guarantee. These gelatino- 
 bromide papers are to be met with under dif- 
 ferent names, and though for certain trade or 
 industrial purposes they may be invaluable, for 
 pictorial purposes they are inferior to platino- 
 type. Carbon, though superior to silver print- 
 ing, is still inferior to platinotype, for even 
 when the glaze is got rid of, the method of the 
 formation of the image, being sculpturesque, 
 gives a falsity of appearance and an unnatural 
 running together (like melted wax) of portions 
 of the detail. 
 
 There is, then, in our opinion, for our student, 
 but one process in which to print, and that is 
 the platinotype process discovered by Mr. 
 Willis. Every photographer who has the good 
 and advancement of photography at heart, 
 should feel indebted to Mr. Willis for placing 
 within his power a process by which he is able 
 to produce permanent and beautiful work. 
 We have no hesitation in saying that the dis- 
 covery and subsequent practice of this process 
 has had an incalculable amount of influence in 
 raising the standard of photography. No man 
 of taste could rest content to practice photog- 
 raphy so long as such inartistic printing 
 
136 NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 methods as the pre-platinotype processes were 
 in vogue. If the photoetching process and the 
 platinotype process were to become lost arts, 
 we, for our part, should never take another 
 photograph. 
 
 But here it is necessary to warn the student 
 against the remarks of the platinotype com- 
 pany and many of their admirers, who main- 
 tain that for good prints " plucky " negatives 
 are necessary; and then follows the old story 
 about fire," snap," " sparkle," and Co. As 
 we have already despatched that gang, we will 
 spend no more time over them. For low-toned 
 effects, and for gray- day landscapes, the plati- 
 notype process is unequaled, but the "fire," 
 "snap," "sparkle" company think such effects 
 bad, weak, muddy, and what not. Of course, 
 the student will listen to nothing of this, but 
 try for himself, and when he wants advice, let 
 him ask it of good artists. We once showed a 
 gray-day effect to a clerk at the Platinotype 
 Company's Office, having previously had the 
 opinion of some first-rate painters upon it; the 
 clerk looked at it critically and said " Yes, very 
 nice; but look at this," and he took us to a 
 frame hanging in the same room and pointed 
 to a commonplace view, taken with a small stop 
 in bright sunlight — a view, we believe, of a 
 church or something of that kind; there was 
 his ideal of what a platinotype should be. The 
 print in question was very fit for a house- 
 agent's window. No! Platinotype printers do 
 not seem to know what a good thing they have. 
 
NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. I37 
 
 Their paper is as suitable and as beautiful for 
 soft gray-day effects as for brilliant sunshiny 
 effects, and it is to be hoped they will soon 
 have their eyes opened to this fact, and cease 
 to encourage the false notion that good— ergo 
 plucky, sparkling, snappy— negatives are those 
 required for the use of the paper. The process, 
 however, is not perfect, the only perfect print- 
 ing process being photo-etching, as we shall 
 show presently; but of all the processes for 
 printing from the negative it is the best; of all 
 the typographic processes it is the best; and 
 it is better than many of the copperplate 
 processes. 
 
 The Ferro-Prussiate printing process, of 
 course, does not concern us, blue prints are 
 only for plans, not for pictures. 
 
 Our printing process, then, is to be platino- 
 type and platinotype only, and as there is no 
 use in swelling this work with facts already 
 published, we advise every student to get full 
 directions from the Platinotype Company, 29 
 Southampton Row, High Holborn, London, 
 and to study them carefully.* It is advisable 
 to arrange the printing so that you are not 
 compelled to keep the paper any time; get it 
 fresh when required, therefore, and only as 
 much as you require for immediate use. Be- 
 fore putting it in the box, drive all the mois- 
 ture out of the calcium-chloride by heating it 
 
 * Those who wish to study the chemistry of the subject should buy 
 " Platinotype," by Capt. Pizzighelli and Baron A. Hubl, translalated 
 by the late J. F. Iselin. M A., and edited by Capt. W. de W. Abney, 
 F R.S. London: Harrison & Sons, 89 Pall Mall. 
 
138 NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 on a shovel, or old tray, over the fire, and dry 
 the box thoroughly before the fire. Dry also 
 all the printing frames thoroughly before a fire, 
 also the rubbers, the use of which must not be 
 neglected. Be sure you mix the baths and de- 
 veloper with pure boiled distilled water only, or 
 else you will be liable to find a fine powder on 
 the print.'". 
 
 Be very careful not to place the prints in 
 water between the washings. Above all, never 
 use your dishes for any other purpose. Sorne 
 photographers, living in the country, complain 
 that they cannot get up heat to boil a large 
 enough quantity of developer for 12 x 10 prints. 
 We found an excellent heating apparatus in the 
 tin spirit lamps with treble wicks, supplied by 
 Allen of Marylebone Lane, with his portable 
 Turkish baths. With two of these lamps we 
 had no difficulty in heating a developer for 
 24 X 22 prints. The dish can be supported by 
 blocks of wood at the four corners, and raised 
 to the height required by other blocks, or a 
 tripod. The prints when taken from the wash- 
 ing water should be dried on a clean sheet, and 
 are finally improved by pressing with a warm 
 iron. For spotting, India ink is the most suita- 
 ble medium. This, it is said, is permanent, and 
 any shade can be got, but good India ink, like 
 many other articles of trade, is a rare thing. 
 
 There are different kinds of paper sold by the 
 Platinotype Company for printing, and the 
 printer will of course choose the texture of 
 paper that suits his subject. Delicate land- 
 
NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. I39 
 
 scapes and small portraits should be printed on 
 the smooth papers, while for strong effects, 
 large figure subjects, and large portraits full of 
 character, the rough papers are more suitable. 
 The charcoal gray tint of ordinary platinotypes 
 is apt to become monotonous in book illustra- 
 tion, and it is as well to vary it occasionally by 
 using the sepia tints; these are quite suitable 
 for landscapes and certain figure subjects. 
 Directions are given by the company for pro- 
 ducing this color. A great desideratum is a 
 red color for portraiture, and it is to be hoped 
 that Mr. Willis will see his way to producing a 
 paper on which prints in what is called " Barto- 
 lozzi red" can be obtained.* Red, though it 
 does not give such true tonality, gives a truer 
 impression of flesh and texture, just as sepia 
 often gives a truer impression of certain kinds 
 of landscape. But of course these tints must be 
 used with judgment, and no one but a vandal 
 would print a landscape in red, or in cyanotype. 
 Having now disposed of the question of the 
 printing process to be used, we must discuss 
 some of the details incidental to printing. 
 
 Whoever introduced the practice of vignet- 
 ting was no artist, and the "dodge" was 
 evolved from a misconception of the aims of 
 art, or for commercial purposes. Its origin is 
 obvious, the idea was taken from one of the 
 incomplete methods of artistic expression, such 
 as chalk drawing. In such methods the artist 
 
 * Various workers have since introduced various methods of pro- 
 ducing diflEerent colors and tints. 
 
140 NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 has a perfect right to leave the background un- 
 tinted, or only to shade round the head so as 
 to give it relief, but with a perfect technique 
 like photography, vignetting is useless. We 
 get by this method a softly, delicately lighted 
 head, against a sparkling background, the 
 two are incompatible, not only that, but the 
 photographer who vignettes is deliberately 
 throwing away a most effective aid to perfect 
 presentation, namely, the relief effected by the 
 reflected light from his background, and when 
 you add to this the conventional shape of the 
 vignetted head and shadows, the result is feeble 
 in the extreme. Here, then, is another false 
 god which has for years held sway. We ask the 
 student, did he ever see a vignette painted by 
 Da Vinci, Rembrandt, Holbein, Velasquez, 
 Gainsborough, or Frans Hals? Such men 
 knew too well the value of a background to 
 throw it away; they could not have painted a 
 vignetted head. Look at their chalk drawings, 
 and the case is very different; there they were 
 dealing with an incomplete method, and kept 
 rigidly within their bounds. In our early photo- 
 graphic days, we learned printing from an in- 
 dustrial photographer, who did an extensive 
 business in vignetted heads, and it was a source 
 of great amusement to us to watch the mechani- 
 cal application of the vignettes by the "head" 
 printer. This is of course another source of 
 the mechanical appearance of ordinary photo- 
 graphs; for by vignetting fifty different heads 
 a certain uniformity must result, as in a regiment 
 
NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. I41 
 
 dressed in uniform, with of course the fatal re- 
 sult, the loss of all individuality, character, and 
 of course " art." The few photographic portraits 
 that we have seen worth studying were certainly 
 not vignetted. Mr. Hill and Mrs. Cameron 
 did not vignette, they knew better. That people 
 demand vignettes and pay for them is nothing 
 to us, let photographers sell them as they do 
 scraps and chromographs, and other fancy arti- 
 cles, if it please the childish and vulgar, but let 
 them not be called works of art, for on the con- 
 trary they are certain indices of bad taste. Vig- 
 netting might be admiissible in certain decora- 
 tive cases in book illustration, as when a land- 
 scape decorates an initial letter, but in pictures, 
 never. 
 
 The simplest application of combination print- 
 ing is the printing of a cloud into a landscape 
 from a different negative. Though it is far pre- 
 ferable to obtain the clouds on the same negative, 
 and this is quite easy in landscape photog- 
 raphy, it is, if you use great judgment, admis- 
 sible to print in clouds from a separate nega- 
 tive, but this requires an intimate knowledge 
 of out-door effects, and the clouds must be 
 taken in a particular way. Printing in clouds 
 is admissible because, if well done, a truer ren- 
 dering of the scene may be rendered, and the 
 joining of sky and landscape is nearly always 
 gradual and undefined. But the ordinary way 
 of taking cloud negatives is much to be con- 
 demned. The practice is to point the camera 
 to the zenith if need be, to focus sharply, to use 
 
142 NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 the smallest stop, develop and select for final 
 use according to the lighting, indeed, not al- 
 ways being very particular on that point. But, 
 by elevating the camera a point of sight is 
 taken difTerent from that employed in taking 
 the landscape ; by focusing sharply, often using 
 a wide-angle lens drawing falsely, the clouds are 
 rendered false in tone and false in drawing. 
 All this an artist detects in a moment, a work- 
 man, never. The first necessity, then, in taking 
 cloud negatives is that the point of sight shall 
 be the same as that chosen for the landscape ; 
 the second that the clouds shall be so focused 
 that their tonality shall remain true ; and 
 the third and most important point that 
 the cloud form shall be harmonious with 
 the landscape. The very simplest truths of 
 nature are daily ignored by photographers in 
 the works they exhibit. There are often three, 
 or even four suns in one landscape, or at least 
 the evidences of them ; mighty cumuli float 
 over lakes where there is no ripple, and yet 
 there is no reflection ; or, as we have seen, re- 
 flections of clouds have been printed in where 
 there are ripple marks ; or heavy nimbi lighted 
 from one direction are placed over cirro-cumuli 
 lighted from another direction ; or, again, a 
 setting sun sinks to rest over wave-broken 
 water that reflects glints of light from exactly 
 the opposite direction. 
 
 The best way, then, if a cloud negative is 
 wanted, is to take it at the same time as the 
 landscape and from the same point of view, get- 
 
NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. I43 
 
 ting as much as possible the same view 
 as seen in nature. The exposure -must of course 
 be by a shutter set fairly quickly. We think the 
 best way of printing in clouds so obtained, is to 
 take a piece of damp tissue paper the size of 
 the negative, gum it around the edges to the 
 back of the negative, then with some blacklead 
 and a stump blacken the sky out when the 
 paper is dry, carefully following the contours 
 of those objects which stand in relief against 
 the sky with a lead pencil. In this way you 
 can with marvellous accuracy stop out the sky, 
 and the work being on the back of the negative 
 and in plumbago, the contours still show the 
 mingled decision and indecision of nature. The 
 print is then taken, and afterwards the cloud 
 negative is arranged as desired, the sky-line 
 being covered with cotton-wool and the rest of 
 the exposed landscape by a black cloth. No 
 special printing frames are required for this 
 purpose, only one a size or two larger than the 
 negative you are printing from. Cloud print- 
 ing, as we have said, is the simplest form of 
 combination printing, and the only one admis- 
 sible when we are considering pictorial work. 
 Rejlander, however, in the early days of 
 photography, tried to make pictures by com- 
 bination printing. This process is really what 
 many of us practised in the nursery ; that is 
 cutting out figures and pasting them into white 
 spaces left for that purpose in a picture-book. 
 With all the care in the world, the very best 
 artist living could not do this satisfactorily. 
 
144 NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 Nature is so subtle that it is impossible to do 
 this sort of patchwork and represent her. Even 
 if the greater truths be registered, the lesser 
 truths, still important, cannot be obtained, and 
 the softness of outline is entirely lost. The 
 relation of the figure to the landscape can never 
 be truly represented in this manner, for all 
 subtle modelling of the contours of the figure 
 is lost, and the perspective drawing will be 
 false. Such things are easy enough to do, and 
 when we first began photography we did a few, 
 but soon gave it up, convinced of its futility. 
 Rejlander, though he tried it, soon saw the 
 folly of such play, and he is the only artist we 
 know of who used it Mrs. Cameron and Adam- 
 Salomon never indulged in such things that we 
 know of. Some writers have honored this 
 method of printing by calling it the highest 
 form of photographic work. Apollo help 
 them ! The subject is hardly worth so many 
 words, for though such " work " may produce 
 sensational effects in photographic galleries, it 
 is but the art of the opera bouffe. 
 
 In printing, variously-shaped masks are used. 
 There is no objection to them, but in our 
 opinion they do not in any way improve the 
 subject, although they do not necessarily spoil 
 it like vignetting. 
 
 Besides all these "dodges," there are ma- 
 chines for producing imitation enamel portraits 
 in basso-relievo and cavo-relievo, but all such 
 ideas are false in theory, and the results inartistic 
 hybrids unworthy of any serious consideration. 
 
NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 145 
 
 Recently some French and English amateurs 
 have revived the old gum-bichromate " print- 
 ing method, announcing it as a new discovery 
 and dubbing it by the stupid and specious name 
 "photo-aquatint," which should be applied 
 to photo-etching if to anything photographic. 
 The chief claim of these amateurs has 
 been that the process allows of the exer- 
 cise of individuality." Of course this is 
 merely verbal juggling — for what is photog- 
 raphy is mechanical — in the drawing and ren- 
 dering of forms for example, — what is due to 
 jets of hot water is not photography nor limited 
 to this process, for ordinary carbon printers 
 have always modified their results by " hot- 
 water " locally applied. We have examined 
 what are given out to be the best examples of 
 this work and find them all most false in tone 
 and bad in texture, and in no way whatever 
 comparable to a naturalistic platinotype, say. 
 Every good quality of photography is lost in 
 them except the mere outline of things, the 
 weakest part of photography, and the method 
 is most incomplete and inferior to the best 
 ordinary carbon prints — for example. The 
 process merely uses photography as a basis for 
 after "hand- work" of a most fumbling or 
 bungling description. 
 
 Here, then, we come to an end of the subject 
 of printing, and in our opinion the student 
 should consider himself fortunate indeed in 
 having so beautiful a method as the platinotype 
 process with which to work. 
 
CHAPTER X. 
 
 ENLARGEMENTS. 
 
 The best enlargements made for the trade 
 are made from very sharply-focused negatives. 
 In fact, some of the best enlargers take up the 
 original negative from which the enlargement 
 is to be made, and examine it with a small 
 magnifying-glass, and if any of the outlines are 
 woolly they will not promise a good enlarge- 
 ment. This, then, shows that a small negative 
 must be taken very sharply if it is to produce a 
 good enlargement; that is, it must be taken 
 purely from that point of view, all pictorial con- 
 siderations being thrown aside. It is obvious, 
 then, from what we have already said, that this 
 is undesirable, for every negative should be 
 suited to the subject. From what has been 
 said already, it is evident such a negative will 
 be untrue in illusion. 
 
 Enlarging, too, of course, increases all false- 
 ness in drawing; if the drawing in the different 
 planes is wrong in the small negative, it will be 
 still more apparent in the large negative or 
 print. 
 
 But it will be argued, and justly, that 
 sometimes an enlargement is more pictorial 
 than the small picture from which it was pro- 
 146 
 
NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. I47 
 
 duced. There are even cases where an enlarsfe- 
 ment can be truer in perspective than its orig- 
 inal, but tone, texture and modeling are gener- 
 ally still false. This is sometimes, but rarely, the 
 case; and when such is the case, it is the result 
 of chance. You would never be able to take a 
 negative in a particular way so that you know 
 for certain it will be improved by enlarging 
 so many diameters, and therein lies the in- 
 herent defect which unfits this process for 
 pictorial work. 
 
 The* actual process of enlarging is very 
 simple, either by artificial light or daylight; 
 but it is in our opinion a needless and undesir- 
 able proceeding. 
 
 We have made many experiments in this 
 direction, but we have never yet been able to 
 get an enlargement as fine in quality as the 
 direct photograph. Many of the little subtleties 
 which give quality to the work are either lost or 
 are only obtained accidentally. Not long ago 
 we saw a beautiful portrait — an enlargement, 
 the print from the small negative of which was 
 very poor, and no one was more surprised at the 
 improvement in the enlargement than the pho- 
 tographer himself, but he could never make 
 sure of doing the same thing again from 
 a different negative. Therefore, enlarge- 
 ment must always be a speculation, and 
 though, like all speculations, some may 
 succeed, yet are the majority haphazard, but 
 then in certain cases the results may be worth 
 
 * See Dr. Murchison's Optics. Book II. 
 
148 NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 keeping, A picture of fine quality, quarter- 
 plate size, is worth a dozen enlargements 24x22. 
 
 It is only in certain very limited effects that 
 the tonality will be true after enlargement, 
 and that of course constitutes another fatal ob- 
 jection. The original negatives having been 
 taken with a small stop, the modeling is flat- 
 tened, and no enlargement will give true model- 
 ing or replace the lost modeling. All textures, 
 too, are stretched, and generally have an un- 
 natural appearance. Mathematically, of course, 
 it is theoretically legitimate, but jjractically, as 
 a rule, it is unsatisfactory. It will have been 
 seen from the chapter on lenses that there are 
 many points in the use of the lens, such as 
 reflected images, which may further alter the 
 enlargement as well as matters here cited. 
 
CHAPTER XI. 
 
 TRANSPARENCIES, LANTERN AND STEREOSCOPIC 
 . SLIDES. 
 
 For industrial and educational purposes trans- 
 parencies of all kinds are valuable, and we shall 
 touch upon them elsewhere. With lantern slides 
 our art student has nothing to do. A lantern 
 picture is an optical illusion, and lantern slides 
 are toys when they do not serve lecture pur- 
 poses. For lecture purposes they are of course 
 invaluable, but they have no place per se, as 
 pictorial works, neither have stereoscopic slides. 
 They all rank with the camera obscura, the 
 diorama, and the panorama. 
 
 We say all this because a beginner must be 
 cautioned against paying any serious attention 
 to these subjects if his aim be to become a 
 good pictorial photograph. Such work is 
 much too serious for her devotees to trifle 
 with any other subject, and besides the mak- 
 ing of lantern and stereoscopic slides is apt 
 to have a bad effect on the beginner. His at- 
 tention becomes centered on the production of 
 pretty things — neat, small, superficial prettiness 
 pervading most of the work of good lanternt 
 slide workers. Conventional compositions 
 and niggling prettiness are the lantern-slide 
 maker's beau-ideals. Of course these qualities 
 149 
 
150 NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 are very admirable for lantern slides, for with- 
 out them ihey would have but little attraction; 
 but they are quite distinct from, and very, very 
 far removed from having any connection with 
 the best photography. 
 
 We know many artists who photograph and 
 value photography per se, -but we have yet to 
 meet that one who deigns to make lantern 
 slides except for the purpose of making enlarge- 
 ments from which to draw. It has been said 
 that the appearance of stereoscopic pictures is 
 wonderfully true; this is not the case. There 
 is a luster, false tonality, and apparent illusion, 
 which to an artist makes them anything but 
 true, for the aim of art is not complete illusion. 
 In short, until photographers do away with 
 much of the play " of their craft, and look at 
 it seriously, they cannot hope that highly 
 trained artists will join in with them. 
 
 For scientific lectures of course lantern slides 
 are invaluable, as we have already said, and for 
 this purpose they should be untouched; but we 
 cannot help smiling when we hear of producers 
 of slides claiming for their work the title of 
 "artistic" because they are untouched and true. 
 Scientific truth is not necessarily art, as we 
 have often pointed out, and as Muybridge's 
 photographs prove. 
 
 Let our student, then, avoid these snares, un- 
 less he wishes to cultivate what Mr. Herkomer 
 has aptly called " Handkerchief-box act." 
 
CHAPTER XII. 
 
 PHOTO-MECHANICAL PROCESSES. 
 
 From our earliest photographic days we al- 
 ways felt that all "ordinary" printing methods, 
 however good in themselves, would finally have 
 to give way to photo-mechanical methods, as 
 all processes are called by which the negative 
 is permanently reproduced. All the photo- 
 mechanical printing processes may be divided 
 into two great classes : 
 
 A Processes in which the aim is to produce 
 diagrams. 
 
 B. Processes in which the aim is to produce 
 pictures. 
 
 For the first purpose any of the methods are 
 useful; that is, typographic processes, where the 
 block is set up with the type in the printing- 
 press; the collotype process, where the prints 
 are subsequently mounted on paper, or inter- 
 leaved in a book; and the photo-etching pro- 
 cess, where the plates are introduced between 
 the leaves of a book. 
 
 It is obvious that when the aim is diagram- 
 matic, brilliancy, sharpness, correct drawing, 
 and the truthful rendering of texture are the 
 requisites, as in the reproductions of negatives 
 from nature to illustrate scientific works, books 
 of travel, etc. In such cases these are the main 
 
152 NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 points to be considered; and when to these con- 
 siderations is added the question of cost of pro- 
 duction, it is evident nearly all the processes 
 worth mentioning which are now in existence 
 will serve one or other, or all such purposes. 
 But when the question comes to be considered 
 from a decorative point of view, the matter 
 is totally different, for it is a sine qua non 
 in this case that all the fine quality of 
 the original photograph be preserved the 
 cost must not be considered. We shall 
 then briefly discuss these processes. As 
 we said in a former chapter, of ordinary 
 printing out methods the platinotype process is 
 alone worth considering for this purpose, but 
 for book illustration a serious objection to 
 its use is its monotony.* For although there 
 are two colors, the charcoal gray and the sepia, 
 the gamut of color is very limited; a serious mat- 
 ter this, for our experience leads us to believe 
 that there is a particular color and tint especially 
 suitable to each subject. Another objection 
 to all ordinary printing papers is the want of 
 relief in the gelatine film of an ordinary nega- 
 tive, a want which gives a certain flatness in the 
 resulting print, when compared with a print 
 from a copperplate where the cavo-relievo is 
 deeper. Relief in the block undoubtedly has a 
 great influence on all results, and in all the 
 photo-mechanical processes depth" is an es- 
 sential, and the best processes are those in 
 which the printing-plates are the deepest. 
 
 ♦ This can now be more or less remedied as we have said. 
 
NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY, 153 
 
 Another fact which renders platinotype less 
 valuable than photogravure is that there is 
 always a certain amount of "sinking in" of the 
 image, as there is with a painting on canvas; 
 but a painting can be brought up by varnish, a 
 platinotype cannot. 
 
 Let us, then, examine the various processes, 
 and see which will serve our purpose. 
 
 For artistic reasons we are of the opinion 
 that Collotypes, Woodburytypes, and all such 
 methods, are undesirable; and this we say de- 
 liberately, after long study of the subject, for in 
 supervising and choosing illustrations for the 
 books which we have illustrated we carefully 
 examined specimens of nearly all the photo- 
 mechanical processes extant. We say this, al- 
 though an impractical writer on the subject of 
 photo-mechanical processes has given out the * 
 opinion that the ideal process is one in which 
 the resulting print should be a facsimile of a 
 "silver print;" but of course such a remark 
 is artistically wrong, and is only true when 
 speaking of scientific photographs. 
 
 For the benefit of the student, then, we say 
 there are but two processes to be considered for 
 artistic book illustration — a typographic block 
 to be printed with the text, and an intaglio cop- 
 perplate. The typographic block has the whites 
 lowered like a woodblock; and as it is printed in 
 the ordinary way, with the type, there is no 
 extra trouble or cost in the printing. With a 
 copperplate, on the other hand, the plate must 
 be carefully inked and wiped, and each print 
 
154 NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 separately pulled by hand, the difference in 
 time taken by this process, and consequently 
 the cost, is therefore greatly increased. 
 
 After a careful examination of all the typo- 
 graphic processes we have no hesitation in say- 
 ing that there is not one satisfactory in the 
 market. When the original picture is not tra- 
 vestied and cheapened by mechanical-looking 
 crenellations and stipplings, it is marred by ob- 
 vious handwork and by falsity of tonal transla- 
 tion. Any photo-mechanical process, to be per- 
 fect, must, as we have all along maintained, 
 require no retouching of any kind. All the 
 typographic blocks, too, are too shallow; hence 
 in the rough working and pressure of the 
 printing-press all tonal subtleties are injured by 
 smudges, as the block becomes clogged with 
 ink and fluff from the paper. Many of these 
 blocks serve remarkably well for rough dia- 
 grammatic purposes, but for artistic purposes 
 there is not one we can recommend when the 
 object is to reproduce pictures taken from 
 nature. For some kinds of work they serve the 
 purpose. A first-rate photo-mechanical block to 
 print with the text in the ordinary printing 
 press, which is entirely the result of a chemical 
 process, is a great desideratum, and it is a prob- 
 lem which experimenters in this direction will 
 do well to study. Not only is it that there is no 
 typographic block adequate, but in addition, 
 when the present process is employed for dia- 
 grammatic purposes, or to satisfy the pictorial 
 standards of the untrained in art, they are ter- 
 
NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. I55 
 
 ribly marred by crude retouchings and daub- 
 ings with Chinese white, until such travesties 
 of nature appear that are only to be equalled by 
 some of the "finishing artists" of the photo- 
 graphic studio. Yet, bad as these block pro- 
 cesses are, they are infinitely better than the 
 second-rate woodcuts made from photographs. 
 Day after day, books appear illustrated with 
 woodcuts and pen and ink drawing? done from 
 photographs, in which the woodcutter or pen 
 and ink draughtsman has effectually ruined all 
 the beauty of the photograph. If the student, 
 then, should ever be in the position of having 
 to choose between the facsimile w^oodcuts of 
 English woodcutters and photo-mechanical 
 block-work, let him choose the latter as the 
 lesser evil; it is better than any except the 
 American school of facsimile woodcutters. And 
 here it may be well to note a dishonest practice 
 which is daily becoming more common with 
 writers of books of travel who buy photographs 
 abroad, and unscrupulously have their books 
 illustrated with them. We know of certain 
 such illustrations which are advertised as being 
 prints from wood-blocks and pen and ink draw- 
 ings done from sketches by the author. Quite 
 recently a book of travel appeared illustrated 
 with third-rate woodcuts purporting to be done 
 from sketches by the author, which were really 
 done from photographs purchased in the shops 
 abroad. We know of one case where this was 
 done in England, the photographs pirated being 
 English photographs. Should such a thing 
 
156 NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 ever happen to the student, he must, as a duty 
 to the photographic world, prosecute without 
 compunction, and exact the utmost penalty of 
 the law. Such dishonesty is one of the most 
 despicable forms of thieving. 
 
 B.ut to return to our subject. As we have 
 said, we felt from the first that photo-etching 
 was the ultimate goal to be reached ; that was 
 the final end and method of expression in 
 monochrome photography. We argued the 
 matter out with many painters, and they agreed 
 with us, as did they agree that the process of 
 reproduction must be the result of chemical 
 changes only — that no retouching was admis- 
 sible, or a hybrid would be the result, and a 
 hybrid is detestable to all artists, although we 
 have recently seen writers untrained in art 
 matters advocating a photo-etched plate as a 
 basis for etching or mezzotinting. Having 
 decided, then, on these points, we determined 
 to try the photo-etching processes of the various 
 firms. On inquiring from the best English and 
 French firms, we found that but very few, in 
 most cases no landscapes from nature had been 
 reproduced in this way, although a few portraits 
 had been done. We carefully examined the 
 specimens( nearly all specimens of picture work) 
 of thirteen different firms ; in fact, all the firms 
 practising photo-etching that we could hear of. 
 From this examination it was evident that how- 
 ever good many of the processes were for picture 
 work but few were adaptable to our needs. Hav- 
 ing at last settled on the four apparently most 
 
NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 157 
 
 suitable processes, we began our studies. Neg- 
 atives were sent to each of these firms, of whom 
 only one had ever attempted reproducing a 
 landscape direct from a negative from nature. 
 The proofs came, and were in every case most 
 unsatisfactory ; they had all been barbarously 
 retouched, all the tonality had been falsified, 
 faces against the sky were made lighter than 
 the sky, faces were roughly outlined with an 
 etching-needle, high lights were scraped away 
 needlessly, and shadows barbarously deepened 
 with the roulette. Our battles then began, and 
 we demanded plates free from retouching ; the 
 voluminous correspondence we had on the sub- 
 ject would afford amusement. Various firms 
 protested — it couldn't be done ; it was absurd ; 
 was art the result of a chemical process ? and 
 Heaven knows what ! However, we persisted 
 with inflexibility, and though we had to accept 
 in some cases the least visible retouched plates, 
 we finally gained the day all round, in so far 
 that all the firms supplied us with plates with 
 no visible retouching. Thus was instituted a 
 a new departure, negatives from nature were 
 reproduced, through our battlings, with no 
 visible retouching ; and although a few dia- 
 grammatic negatives had been reproduced here 
 and there before us, we were the first to start 
 the serious reproduction of negatives from 
 landscapes and figure subjects which could be 
 regarded as pictures per se, and not merely as 
 topographical views. 
 
 But now the coast is clear, and the student 
 
158 NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 can get his negatives done without visible 
 retouching by asking for it. From an examin- 
 ation of these results it was soon evident that 
 one firm, the Typographic Etching Company,* 
 produced plates immeasurably superior to those 
 of any other firm, and in addition, Mr. Colls, 
 formerly this firm's chief photo-etcher would 
 finally guarantee their production without re- 
 touching, though he too, at first, greatly re- 
 touched the plates. 
 
 For reproducing negatives taken from nature, 
 then, this process is perfect, and we cannot see 
 how any photo-engraving process will ever 
 surpass it. Mr. Colls is a careful worker and 
 perhaps therein lies the secret of his success. 
 It is perhaps invidious to select a firm for 
 special mention, but as the results of Mr. Colls 
 are in every way so superior when artistically 
 considered, we feel it our duty to record the 
 fact here for the benefit of the student. Quite 
 recently there has been much discussion on 
 the vital question of " Photogravures v. En- 
 gravings," and some of the English firms have 
 publicly announced that is it necessary to fin- 
 ish their work by hand, while others privately 
 maintained the same fact. Mr. Colls, on the 
 other hand, maintains that a plate, perfect 
 in quality, can be produced without the aid of 
 a touch by hand. Further on will be found a 
 communication on the process by the etcher, 
 Mr. Colls, who therein states that he can and 
 does produce his work without any retouching. 
 
 * Mr. Colls has since se ; up works of his own. 
 
NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 159 
 
 His process renders the light in the shadows 
 better than any of the other processes, this 
 being affected by the method of working, and, 
 as a whole, the quality " of his work is unap- 
 proachable. 
 
 And here we would caution the scribes of 
 the press who have lately written so freely and 
 so mistakenly on the subject of photogravure, 
 that the best photogravures are not produced in 
 France, but in England. Englishmen do not 
 seem to know when they possess a " good thing," 
 
 We venture to say, without any diffidence, 
 that for the reproduction of negatives from 
 nature, the process as perfected by Mr. Colls is 
 facile princcps, and to assert that for the repro- 
 duction of pictures, some of the English pro- 
 cesses are equal to, if not superior to, the 
 continental processes. This is also the opinion 
 of several artists who have seen specimens of 
 the work done in both countries. The process, 
 as worked in America, does not give results 
 equal to those obtained in England. For dia- 
 grammatic purposes, we consider nearly all of 
 the English processes possess qualities of equal 
 value. 
 
 Another new departure for which we had 
 some battling was a minor point, but an import- 
 ant one. It was on the question of lettering. 
 It had been the practice of many of the firms 
 to engrave in plain lettering beneath the pic- 
 ture, the name of the firm, and the words 
 
 negative by ," and often in addition the 
 
 word " copyright." This engraving, as it was 
 
l6o NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 usually done, gave a "cheap" look to the pic- 
 ture. We felt that the picture was injured by 
 this procedure, so we insisted that our name 
 should be cut in the picture, in a quiet manner, 
 as an etcher would sign his name, and that no 
 ordinary engraving should appear on the plate. 
 In case, then, our student should at any time 
 have any of his works reproduced, we will give 
 him a few hints, for though the publisher does 
 the business part, the illustrator always has the 
 passing of the plates. 
 
 When sending his plates, then, to be bitten, 
 he should send a well-printed platinotype print 
 with them, a print having just the effect he 
 wishes for in the copper plate. If clouds are 
 to be introduced, the cloud negative should be 
 sent as well. He will in due time receive a 
 proof, which he must go carefully over, making 
 any notes on the margin as to re-biting, &c. If 
 it be retouched or utterly bad, it must be re- 
 jected. Of course, it is here evident that his 
 art knowledge will come in, for if ignorant of 
 art, how can he make remarks to the "biters" 
 who are sometimes artists ? He must continue 
 asking for proofs until he receives a satisfactory 
 one, for no plate can be forced upon him if he 
 can prove it to be wrong. If he have real 
 grounds for objection, he will find the English 
 firms most generous, for they take a pride in 
 their work. They have, in some cases, made as 
 many as three plates from a subject for us, with 
 no extra charge, and this we could never get a 
 French firm to do. When he approves of the 
 
NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. l6l 
 
 plate, he signs the proof to that effect. Then 
 comes the great question of "color," that is the 
 colored ink to be used; for one of the great 
 advantages in photo-etching lies in the number 
 of colors and shades of colors which can be 
 used. Here, again, his artistic knowledge 
 comes in, and he will find the effects produced 
 by different colors are marvellous. Having, 
 then, suggested his color and tint, he will re- 
 ceive proofs printed in them, and he finally 
 decides upon the tint suitable for each plate, 
 and these are kept as standards on a file. The 
 matter of printing papers, too, offers great 
 variety and scope for artistic selection; but here 
 the student will find he has not a free hand, the 
 publisher often limiting his choice in that on 
 financial grounds. The student must see, how- 
 ever, that if India paper be used, an unsuitable 
 tint be not selected. For example, India paper 
 may be yellow or white, obviously then, if the 
 plate is to be printed in bartolozzi red, white 
 India must be used, and not the ordinary yellow - 
 tinted India. The student must be careful 
 when sending his platinotype print, to cut it 
 exactly to the limits he wants the picture on 
 copper. Copper-plates can be produced in this 
 way from prints in cases where the negative 
 has been broken. If the sky is not an import- 
 ant part of the picture, it is better to have it a 
 flat gray tint, or delicately gradated. The 
 student, of course, remembering certain physi- 
 cal truths, as for example, that still water is, as 
 a rule, lower in tone than the sky which it re- 
 
l62 NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 fleets, &c. The best test of relative value of 
 sky and water is to turn the picture upside down. 
 All these subtleties must be carefully con- 
 sidered, for a sky lower in tone than the still 
 water reflecting it, would, with rare exceptions, 
 be a fatal artistic error, and enough to condemn 
 the plate. The details which thus, go to make 
 or mar a picture are countless. 
 
 This then, is our experience of the photo- 
 mechanical processes, and, as we make it a rule 
 never to write on anything we have not full 
 practical knowledge of, we have asked our 
 friend, Mr. Colls, to write us some particulars 
 of these processes. We have done this because 
 there are certain misleading books in the 
 market on the subject, written by men without 
 such special knowledge as can only be obtained 
 by a man who has worked at the process for 
 years and at nothing else, and who is, in addi- 
 tion, practically trained. Mr. Colls is both a 
 specialist and an artist in this work. 
 
 In our opinion enthusiasts who practice pho- 
 tography will also photo-etch their own plates, 
 which is greatly to be desired, but since these 
 processes are at present kept very secret, this 
 knowledge cannot now be acquired. Neverthe- 
 less, we feel that the day is not far distant when 
 every one who expresses himself by photo- 
 graphy will also bite his own plates and make 
 his own blocks, and the prints will be published 
 by print-dealers as etchings are now. This, in 
 our opinion, is the only method which can give 
 fullest satisfaction. A final important consid- 
 
NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 163 
 
 eration is the number of good prints which can 
 be pulled from each plate. Colls' plates, being 
 bitten deeper, will obviously stand more wear 
 and tear than the others, and will produce a 
 greater number of good impressions. Mr. Colls 
 thinks that at least 3000* good impressions can 
 be pulled from each plate, if the steel-facing 
 will last. We append Mr. Colls' remarks: — 
 
 METHODS OF REPRODUCING NEGATIVES FROM 
 NATURE FOR THE COPPER-PLATE PRESS. 
 
 " In giving a description ot the various 
 methods that are employed for reproducing 
 photographs from nature for the copper-plate 
 press, it is obvious that only those which are 
 purely ' automatic ' need be mentioned, as it is 
 impossible to give a true rendering of those 
 beautiful forms and delicate gradations of tone, 
 which we see in nature, by any but automatic 
 means. For so ever-varying and sudden are 
 her changes, that it is by photography alone we 
 are able to secure these effects, and having ob- 
 tained them, we require a process which will 
 give us identical impressions, and one which 
 will harmonize with printed matter when re 
 quired for book illustration. 
 
 " This we have in the Intaglio plate, which 
 gives the most perfect tonality, and possesses 
 all the richness and quality of a mezzotint 
 plate, with the same degree of permanency. 
 
 * In my opinion this is too high an enimate, for though some plates 
 may give 3000 good prints others may not give 300 satisfactory prints. 
 
164 NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 " For convenience of description the different 
 methods of producing Intaglio plates may be 
 classed under two heads — ' Grown ' and ' Bitten.' 
 I will first mention the ' grown,' and will en- 
 deavor to point out the characteristics of the 
 different processes, so that a comparison may 
 be made between them, with the object of de- 
 termining the one best suited for the purpose. 
 In all the growing methods the basis of the 
 process consists in obtaining a gelatinous mould 
 of the subject ; the most usual and simple way 
 being to develop a carbon print from a reversed 
 negative on a polished copper-plate which has 
 been previously silvered, to prevent the copper 
 which is afterwards deposited upon it adhering ; 
 and to produce the grain which is necessary to 
 hold the printing ink. The mould when wet is 
 dusted over with powdered glass, sand, or the 
 like, previously treated with wax or stearine, 
 to assist its removal. 
 
 " When the mould is quite dry the gritty par- 
 ticles are removed by gentle rubbing, leaving 
 the gelatine in a grained state. Plumbago is 
 then rubbed well over the picture to render the 
 mould conductive, and it is placed in the 
 electrotyping battery and a stout cast taken. 
 There is some little uncertainty attending the 
 entire removal of the gritty particles, and great 
 danger that in making the mould sufficiently 
 conductive in the heavy portions, the fine work 
 is destroyed by getting blocked with the plum- 
 bago. The former objection has been over- 
 come by substituting powdered resins, which 
 
NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 165 
 
 can be readily dissolved away without injury 
 to the mould, and the latter by the introduction 
 of a tissue containing granular plumbago, 
 which while producing the necessary grain for 
 holding ink, is one of the best conductors of 
 electricity, so that no after-treatment is re- 
 quired. 
 
 " Similar to this is a process by which the 
 grain is obtained by the action of light on a 
 chemical substance, which crystalizes under the 
 action of light, the crystals becoming larger the 
 longer they are acted on by it. A deposit of 
 copper is then made on the crystalline surface 
 and a plate obtained. 
 
 " By these methods very satisfactory results 
 may be obtained for certain classes of work 
 where the range* of tone is not great, they are 
 more particularly suited for reproducing the 
 works of early engravers, old cuts, etchings, 
 pencil and crayon drawings, and similar work 
 upon rough or grained surfaces. In fact, when 
 printed upon old paper, as is sometimes done 
 in particular cases, so closely do they resemble 
 the originals, that the most expert judge would 
 have great difficulty in detecting the reproduc- 
 tion from the original ; but for reproducing 
 nature work, where the scale ranges from the 
 highest lights to the deepest shadows, these 
 methods are not suitable without much hand- 
 work, which is ruinous to the faithful rendering 
 of the subject, and the introduction of the 
 roulette which is used to give the necessary 
 depth does not improve the appearance, as the 
 
l66 NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 depth obtained by it is heavy, and lacking that 
 transparency which is so desirable in all classes 
 of work from nature. The great drawback to 
 these methods is that the. grain produced is 
 upon the surface of the plate, standing up in 
 innumerable little prickles, and the only way 
 of working up a plate is with the roulette and 
 scraper (the nature of the grain being unsuited 
 for re-biting). These, added to the soft nature 
 of grown copper, as compared to rolled or ham- 
 mered copper, which is used in the biting 
 methods, necessitates the greatest care in print- 
 ing, and usually require very strong and some- 
 times forcing inks to give the necessary 
 strength, and although a plate be steel-faced it 
 will not hold out for a large number of im- 
 pressions. 
 
 " There are other ways of producing a grain 
 upon a gelatinous mould by re-sensitizing and, 
 when dry, dusting over the picture brocade 
 powder, either coarse, or fine, as the suject may 
 require ; the mould being previously treated 
 with vaseline, or a similar substance, to allow 
 of the powder adhering, and exposing to day- 
 light for a short time. The powder is then re- 
 moved, and it is ready for the battery, after 
 being blackleaded. As all the growing methods 
 resemble each other so closely, I will not men- 
 tion any others, but will proceed with a short 
 description of the biting processes. 
 
 " A polished copper-plate, preferably a ham- 
 mered one, is thoroughly cleaned, to remove 
 all traces of grease, and is dusted over with 
 
NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 167 
 
 powdered asphalt or resin, and the plate heated 
 until the powder becomes partially melted. A 
 carbon print from a reversed transparency is 
 next developed upon the grained plate and al- 
 lowed to dry. The unprotected margin is then 
 painted round with asphalt, or other resist- 
 varnish, and a wall of bordering wax placed 
 round the work. It is then ready for biting, 
 which is done with perchloride of iron, the bare 
 portions being first attacked ; water is then 
 added, and the biting proceeds to the next tone, 
 and so on, adding water when required, until 
 the solution has penetrated the thickest portions 
 of the film. The greatest care must be exer- 
 cised during this operation, and a careful watch 
 kept lest the action remain too long on any 
 part. The biting should proceed in a gradual 
 manner, so that the values are not exaggerated. 
 The plate is then rinsed in water, the bordering 
 wax removed, and the pigment cleaned o£E with 
 a little potash ley. 
 
 " The biting of a plate resembles very closely 
 the development of a dry-plate positive, as the 
 action may be seen throughout the operation as 
 each successive tone is reached. There are 
 many variations to the above method, and each 
 worker has his particular way of producing the 
 grain, making the mould, biting, etc., but they 
 are all based on the one just described. As the 
 introduction of the biting methods as commer- 
 cially worked is of more recent date than the 
 grown, less is known of it, and those who work 
 it most successfully keep it secret, and were it 
 
l68 NATtJRALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 known there is little likelihood of its being 
 satisfactorily worked by any but those experi- 
 enced in copper-plate work, as long and careful 
 study is necessary to master those minute de- 
 tails which are so important to ensure good 
 results. For so delicate are the operations, that 
 the changes of weather, temperature, etc , play 
 an important part, and must be attended to. 
 
 " One of the great advantages a bitten plate 
 has over a grown is that the scale is greater than 
 by any other method, and the nature of the 
 grain admirably lends itself to re-biting should 
 any parts require deepening. That is, re-enter- 
 ing the original work by covering the grained 
 surface with a protective coating, which resists 
 the action of the acid etching fluid, and deep- 
 ening those parts that may require it, stopping 
 out with resist-varnish any portion where deep- 
 ening is not wanted. This at once does away 
 with the roulette, and the plate still maintains 
 its original character. Re-biting is seldom re- 
 quired on a plate from nature, for with care a 
 plate can be made zvhich needs no after-work 
 whatever^ and when bevelled and steel faced is 
 ready for the press, notwithstanding the asser- 
 tion that has been made to the contrary, which 
 recognizes the process only as a basis for skilled 
 afterwork* It is needless to say that in all 
 mechanical processes the very best negative 
 is required to work from, for although a 
 
 * I have, since writing this article, learned the process from Mr. 
 Colls, and can add my testimony to his, that plates c^n be reproduced 
 of the finest quality that do not require a single touch with a tool of 
 any kind. 
 
NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 169 
 
 great deal may be done in the biting to counter- 
 act any defects in the negative, yet, if the 
 negative is wanting in any particular, the 
 after-result is sure to suffer. And here I wish 
 to say that by the very best ' negative ' I do 
 not mean the ordinary photographer's beau- 
 ideal, but a negative which gives as true as 
 possible an impression of the object photo- 
 graphed, and is full of the ' quality ' and sub- 
 tlety of nature. 
 
 "The grain obtained on a plate which is 
 bitten, differs materially from one that is grown, 
 inasmuch as in the former it is below the sur- 
 face, and in the latter upon it, as previously 
 described; consequently its wearing capabili- 
 ties are far greater. 
 
 " Another biting method which possesses the 
 merit of ingenuity rather than utility, is of con- 
 verting an ordinar}^ bromide of silver positive 
 into chloride of silver, by the action of per- 
 chloride of iron and chromic acid. The film 
 when damp is brought into close contact with 
 the face of a polished copper-place. Chloride 
 of silver now rests upon the copper-plate, more 
 of it in the vigorous or dark portions, and less 
 of it in the lighter, and by a galvano-chemical 
 process the chloride of silver decomposes, form- 
 ing metallic silver and soluble chloride of cop- 
 per, and producing depths corresponding to the 
 amount of chloride of silver present. The energy 
 of the action may be increased by moistening 
 the film with a weak solution of chloride of 
 zinc, and a battery current seems necessary 
 
lyo NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 to produce good results. As can be seen, the 
 process is a very delicate one, admitting of 
 little if any latitude in working, and, unlike the 
 first-mentioned biting process, will not permit 
 of any work being put on the positive as is 
 usually done in the first method for certain 
 work where the darks are very hard and pro- 
 nounced, and a great saving of after-labor 
 avoided. 
 
 " It is advisable to say that the work done on 
 the positive and plate to which I refer is done 
 in connection with facsimile work, and not with 
 ' nature work,' for in the reproduction of engrav- 
 ings the deep blacks of the engravings have to 
 be reproduced, and since in nature there is no 
 black of this kind we do not have to accentuate 
 parts of the plates to produce it." 
 
 Since writing the above it has been dis- 
 covered that the English can produce better 
 photo-etchings than foreigners, and yet years 
 after I stated the fact, this tardy acknowledg- 
 ment was made. And the Society of Arts en- 
 couraged English work, but instead of get- 
 ti r.g the man who l:ad dene more toward im- 
 proving photo- etching than anybody to read the 
 paper on ''Photogravure," an amateur novice 
 was asked to read the paper and a still greater 
 amateur put in the chair. 
 
CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 MOUNTING AND FRAMING. 
 
 Having our print, the next question is how 
 shall it be mounted and framed. There can, of 
 course, be-no laws for this, but we feel justified 
 in making a few remarks on this head. 
 
 The best mountant we know of is a weak 
 solution of fine French glue. It acts better 
 than any other mountant we have used, and we 
 have tried several of the formulae made with 
 starch, arrowroot, and other compounds. Fine 
 French glue holds firmly and there is no cock- 
 ling after mounting. After mounting, the prints 
 are improved by being passed through a press, 
 but this is by no means necessary. We shall 
 now make a few remarks upon framing. In the 
 first place it is our opinion that all cut mo unts 
 are inartistic. Mr. Whistler, not long since, 
 made some remarks on this head, which are 
 well worthy of attention. His objections to cut 
 mounts were that the different tints of the pic- 
 ture, the gold border, and the cut mount, weak- 
 ened the edges of the picture and detracted from 
 its directness and strength, and this is no doubt 
 true. For this reason we do not think platino- 
 types look well mounted on India paper, the 
 edges are decidedly weakened, and as for mount- 
 
172 NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 ing silver prints on India the result is most in- 
 harmonious. In our opinion then the print 
 should be mounted upon white paper, preferably 
 Whatman's rough drcwing-paper, and for all 
 pictures less than whole plate size, we should 
 recommend a margin from three to four 
 inches. A suitable moulding for these would 
 be a beveled moulding enameled white. In all 
 cases where the mount shows, it must be re- 
 membered that the color should harmonize with 
 the print. We saw some photographic prints of 
 Whistler's ''Sarasate" mounted on plain black 
 cabinet mounts, and they looked charming. As 
 in that case, the picture came out nearly all 
 black, the whole made a harmony in black. 
 When the prints are mounted on cards as in the 
 case of cartes and cabinets, there should be 
 absolutely nothing on the face of the card. 
 The hideousness of the photographer's name in 
 shining gold letters is far too common. Noth- 
 ing could look better for these small pictures 
 than plain black mounts, with no word or letter, 
 or colored line, or any other "embellishment." 
 If the photographer is such a tradesman at heart 
 that he must air his medals, let him put all that 
 part of him on the back of the card. The 
 method of stamping each photograph with the 
 photographer's name is not less to be depre- 
 cated. For the industrial photographer some 
 simple but artistic lettering should be chosen, 
 and it should be printed small in one comer, in 
 Indian ink, which harmonizes with the gray of 
 platinotypes. Any good die-cutter could sup- 
 
NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 173 
 
 ply an artistic stamp, and the charge, even if a 
 little greater than usual, could not be very 
 great. Or the photographer might cut out his 
 name artistically in the gelatine film, but we 
 recommend the former plan. The mounts for 
 cartes and cabinets should have a margin of at 
 least half an inch all round, as this adds con- 
 siderably to the effect. 
 
 For platinotypes ranging from 15 by 12 and 
 upwards, we prefer to frame them up closely, 
 showing no mount. The frame we like best for 
 large black and white work is a pattern we took 
 from a painting by De Hooghe. These frames 
 are made of mahogany, 2^ inches wide, and be- 
 veled inwards, and have a rather broad slip of 
 English gilt between the frame and-the picture. 
 The mahogany is stained black or some other 
 color and polished. Pictures of 15 by 12 and up- 
 wards should also be framed close up, and for the 
 larger sizes we prefer black frames and simple 
 mouldings with but little carving. Cambridge 
 frames are simple, but do not look distinguished. 
 Each picture should have a separate frame, and 
 we trust that exhibition committees will one 
 day see their way to enforcing this rule, which, 
 besides ensuring a better effect, would prevent 
 much bad work being hung. Sometimes six 
 prints are hung for the sake of one or two, be- 
 cause they are all in one frame. We could 
 scarcely believe, had we not seen it, the fact 
 that some exhibitors have chronicled on a part 
 of their frame the medals taken elsewhere by 
 the picture. Sucli a proceeding, besides being 
 
174 NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 vain and ill-bred, is apt to influence credulous 
 judges. One would think it quite needless to 
 say that this form of advertisement is not orna- 
 mental, nor does it enhance the virtue, qualities 
 or beauty of the picture. All artificial methods 
 of mounting and framing are to be avoided. 
 One of these is mounting on glass. All albums 
 used for mounting prints should have plain 
 pages, tinted in harmony with the charcoal gray 
 of the platinotype. All the vulgar decorations 
 of ships, flowers, etc., which disfigure the photo- 
 graphic albums of to-day should be rigidly ex- 
 cluded. The bad taste of the manufacturers 
 of these things is only another proof of the 
 bluntness of the aesthetic feelings of producers 
 and buyers alike. 
 
CHAPTER XiV. 
 
 COPYRIGHT. 
 
 The hazy notions existing among many pho- 
 tographers as to how to secure the copyright of 
 their photographs, and other details, has led us 
 to make a few remarks on the subject. In the 
 first place the student is cautioned to secure the 
 copyright of every photograph worth keeping, 
 for we presume he will only keep pictures. 
 This should be done at once; it is our practice 
 to send the first rough print at once to the copy- 
 right .office. 
 
 The photographer must write to the Regis- 
 trar, Stationers* Hall, Doctors' Commons, E. C, 
 for forms for copyrighting photographs. These 
 cost one penny each, and a money order must 
 be enclosed for the amount, stamps not being 
 accepted. He will then receive the form as 
 given on the next page. 
 
 The student must carefully note the footnote 
 on the schedule, and be most particular in all 
 cases when he sells his copyright in any plates 
 to have a written agreement drawn up and 
 signed beforeYie fills in the copyright schedules. 
 After this proceeding he can fill up the schedule 
 as directed, and it is, of course, only on these 
 occasions that he will be required to fill in col- 
 umns two and three of the schedule. 
 
 17s 
 
176 NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 The student should carefully study the mat- 
 ter of copyrighting-, for he will find both pub- 
 lishers and photographers are, as a rule, ill-in- 
 formed on those parts of the copyright law to 
 which we now refer. 
 
 He fills in then all but columns 2 and 3, as in 
 the dummy, and returns the form with a shil- 
 ling, a copy of the photograph to be registered, 
 and one penny for postage^ when he will receive 
 a receipt. Each photograph must be separately 
 copyrighted. This i^. \d. protects the photo- 
 graph for 42 years, or for the author's lifetime 
 and seven years after death. The author (being 
 a British subject, or resident within the domin- 
 ions of the Crown) is entitled to the copyright 
 of every photograph made in the British domin- 
 ions or elsewhere. We shall extract a few per- 
 tinent remarks from an excellent article on 
 copyright, w^hich appeared in the Year's Art 
 of 1887." 
 
 The " author " of a photograph seems to be 
 the person who actually groups the sitters, and 
 is the effective cause of the picture." An 
 agreement is made with operators to obviate 
 this reading of the law. " A photograph taken 
 from an engraving is ' an original photograph ' 
 within the section." Thus a photographer can- 
 not copy the photograph of an engraving in 
 which there exists copyright. 
 
 The copyright given by the act is "the sole 
 and exclusive right of copying, engraving, re- 
 producing, and multiplying the photograph and 
 the negative thereof, by any means or of any 
 
NATURALISTIC 
 
 PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
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178 NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 size. The fact that there is copyright in a 
 representation of a scene or object does not 
 prevent other people from making an indepen- 
 dent representation of such scene or object, but 
 a photograph of groups so arranged as to 
 exactly resemble a picture would be an infringe- 
 ment of the copyright of the picture, for if in 
 the result that which is copied be an imitation 
 of the picture, then it is immaterial whether it 
 be arrived at directly or by intermediate steps." 
 Photographers should pay great heed to this 
 clause. For if a photograph of photogravure 
 be so arranged or grouped as to resemble an- 
 other already copyrighted, the law has been 
 infringed. This is a most wholesome fact, for 
 the veriest fool can go and arrange a picture 
 after an artist has once shown him how to do it, 
 for as in all art the originality is to select a beau- 
 tiful scene in nature, there lies the difficulty. 
 
 The photograph is not protected until it has 
 been registered, and if the picture is pirated 
 before registration there is no remedy except 
 in special cases. 
 
 Photographers should then register the first 
 print they take from their negatives. Making 
 lantern slides from copyrighted photographs 
 or photo etchings is of course an infringement 
 of the law, and should be severely dealt with. 
 
 " If a picture or photograph is painted or 
 taken on commission, as the copyright (unless 
 reserved) is in the hands of the purchaser, the 
 painter or photographer may not paint or pro- 
 duce a replica.' 
 
NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 179 
 
 Penalties. " For each offense the offender 
 forfeits to the proprietor -of the copyright, for 
 the time being, a sum not exceeding lo/. When 
 several copies are sold together, the sale of 
 each copy constitutes a separate offense." It 
 will be seen that a photographer could be 
 ruined if a sale of say looo copies could be 
 proved, and serve him right, too. 
 
 All pirated repetitions, copies and imitations, 
 and all negatives of photographs made for the 
 purpose of obtaining such copies, are to be for- 
 feited to the proprietor of the copyright. 
 
 " The proprietor may also bring an action 
 for damages against persons making or import- 
 ing for sale unlawful copies, although the im- 
 portation is without guilty knowledge." 
 
 Issuing spurious pictures. — If a photograph 
 be falsely signed, it is an infringement, as it is 
 to make any alteration in the work and then 
 publish it as original. 
 
 It is commonly believed that, unless the word 
 copyright be on the photograph, it is not secured. 
 This is an error — as long as the photograph is 
 copyrighted that is all that is required. 
 
 " Pecuniary penalties can be recovered by 
 bringing an action against the offending party, 
 or by summary proceedinj s before any two 
 justices having jurisdiction where the offender 
 resides." 
 
 In ending this subject, we would impress 
 upon the photographer, that it is his solemn 
 duty to exact the utmost rigor of the law, 
 should he ever have his work pirated. 
 
CHAPTER XV. 
 
 EXHIBITIONS. 
 
 Exhibiting a work of art is publishing it, and 
 the student will, when he obtains suitable 
 works, very naturally begin to think about 
 exhibiting them. The subject of photographic 
 exhibitions is one upon v/hich we haye written 
 many times in the photographic press. Photo- 
 graphic exhibitions are in a most unsatisfactory 
 condicion all over the world. 
 
 At present, a society, or a corporation, or a 
 private firm, for ends of their own, advertise an 
 exhibition, often on purely financial grounds ; 
 they hope it will pay them, sometimes it does 
 pay and sometimes it does not. The method 
 of organizing these exhibitions is to get a list 
 of patrons, generally a few of the "classes," a 
 few photographers who are known, but whose 
 fame more often than not is based on nothing 
 solid, and is ephemeral, and finally perhaps the 
 names of a few second-rate artists may be used 
 to conjure with. Numbers of medals are ad- 
 vertised and all works have to be sent carriage 
 nearly paid. The judges are then chosen, and in 
 most cases they are utterly incompetent. No one 
 can judge a work of art unless he be an artist. 
 The combined assurance and ignorance of those 
 
 i8o 
 
NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. l8l 
 
 who accept what should be considered a serious 
 office, is laughable and lamentable. Is our 
 exhibiting student then going to submit his 
 work to men untrained in art ? If he does, he 
 will find it either unhung, skied, or passed over 
 in the awards, to make room for the pretty 
 nothings and false renderings of the craftsman's 
 ideal. The whole judging business is such a 
 blatant farce that the method of awards at pho- 
 tographic exhibitions is a stock joke among 
 artists. We have repeatedly been to exhibi- 
 tions with artists, and on nearly every occasion 
 their opinion was that many of the most worthy 
 pictures were passed over. Such a state of 
 things is appalling, and when with that is 
 coupled the notorious unfairness with which 
 certain exhibitions are directed, as recent dis- 
 closures have proved, it is indeed lamentable. 
 The tendancy of many exhibitions as at present 
 conducted is to degrade photography ; that 
 is our deliberate opinion, after having for 
 several years watched the system of making 
 and having served on several juries of awards. 
 A fatal error very common among photogra- 
 phers is to suppose that, because a man is an 
 eminent scientist or a great authority on lenses, 
 he is therefore a fit and proper person to judge 
 pictures. The truth is he is one of the most 
 unfit, for he is prejudiced, and his scientific 
 training has a bad influence on his judgment. 
 
 In our opinion all medals should be done 
 away with, all distinctions between " amateur " 
 and "professional" removed; all pictures should 
 
182 
 
 NATURALISTIC 
 
 PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 be hung on the line, the hanging committee 
 should be selected from these photographers 
 who have proved themselves by their works to 
 know most about art ; and all pictures should 
 be exhibited in separate frames. If niedals 
 must be awarded in order to attract ejthibitors, 
 let the awards be made by artists and photo- 
 graphers of recognized position only. You have 
 only to look at the majority of medals awarded, 
 to know what to expect; there is, with one or 
 two exceptions, not the feeblest suggestion of 
 art in them, they belong to the class of medals 
 awarded to patent ice-cream machines, best 
 refined arrow-root, and dogbiscuits. If medals 
 are awarded, each one should be a work of art, 
 the original having been modeled by a good 
 sculptor. The student, as a rule then, should 
 pay no regard whatever to the awards made at 
 exhibitions by photographers, the only real test 
 of value is when the awards are made by trained 
 artists, but it is rarely that even one artist or ex- 
 pert pictorial photographer serves on a jury of 
 awards. 
 
 If our student must exhibit, we advise him 
 to mafk his work " Not for Competition." 
 Gambling for medals has lately assumed alarm- 
 ing proportions, as the recent comments in the 
 Photographic Nezvs prove. It is enough to dis- 
 gust all artists, who will of course keep aloof 
 from photographic circles, as they already do, 
 so long as things continue as they are. Can 
 the folly of human nature go further than 
 when we hear of Mr. Guncotton, noted for his 
 
NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 183 
 
 studies in collodion, or Mr. Chromatic, noted 
 for his patent lens, or Mr. Gelatine noted for 
 his emulsion process, assembling in solemn 
 conclave to award medals for pictures, to judge 
 which, needs years of careful and special study 
 and wide artistic experience. The student, 
 serious on these matters, has only to note how 
 different are the awards when artists give the 
 prizes. Many of our best workers, we know, 
 will not exhibit, so long as the craftsman's ideal 
 is set up as the standard, and the judges are 
 not artists. In the early days of photography, 
 when Sir Charles Eastlake, formerly President 
 of the Royal Academy, was also President of 
 the Royal Photographic Society, and when Sir 
 W. J. Newton, the eminent miniature painter 
 was one of the Vice-Presidents, there seemed 
 some chance for photography, and all might 
 have gone well, had not these artists, as we are 
 informed, been harried and worried by the 
 ignorant wranglings of their brother " photo- 
 graphic artist " (?) judges. 
 
 Those who were thus responsible for the 
 resignation of those artists, deserve to be 
 pilloried to the end of time in photographic 
 literature, and such, we are sure, is the feeling 
 of all who earnestly wish for the good and 
 advancement of photography. 
 
 This is a painful subject, but we conceive it 
 to be our solemn duty to warn the student 
 who is anxious to follow pictorial photography 
 against all these traps. Let him set out with 
 the determination to work for the approval of 
 
184 NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 artists, and let him dispise the approval or dis- 
 approval of all ignorant of art. As John Con- 
 stable said long ago, " the self-taught artist 
 has a very ignorant master ! " 
 
 We hope the reforms regarding exhibitions 
 which we have for years advocated, and more 
 fully set forth in a photographic journal, in an 
 article entitled "An Ideal Exhibition," may 
 *some day be adopted, but we cannot be very 
 sanguine. However, until some such reforms 
 are adopted, photography must struggle on in 
 darkness, and the blind will continue to lead 
 the blind ; and all we can do is to caution 
 others, and ourselves avoid the guidance of the 
 blind, unless we too wish to be led into the 
 ditch. 
 
 ^* Similar views have been adopted, first at the Vienna "Salon," 
 and later in London. 
 
CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 CONCLUSION. 
 
 We have then finished Book II., and we pre- 
 sume that the student has now mastered his 
 technique and practice, but the end is not yet. 
 The student may thoroughly understand the 
 scientific side of photography, he may have 
 mastered completely the use of his tools and 
 he . may be able to produce pictures on his 
 plates such as he desires, but the end is not yet, 
 for now he has to learn the practice and prin- 
 ciples of art, he has to prove whether he can 
 do "a good thing," for such is only given to a 
 few. All can learn to draw, to paint, to photo- 
 graph, to etch, but they may remain draughts- 
 men, painters, photographers, etchers all their 
 lives, and never show original power. The his- 
 tory of art shows indeed how few becomes artists 
 at all, and as for those who become great artists, 
 they are as scarce as great poets. The student 
 then must study art in some form or other, as 
 well as his own technique and practice, which he 
 could learn alone if he followed our instruc- 
 tions. Art, however, cannot so be learned, and 
 the student should, if possible, attend some 
 art classes. There are numerous art schools 
 throughout the kingdom, and our student can- 
 185 
 
lS6 NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 not do better than enter one of them and go 
 through a course of drawing. Though no very- 
 profound knowledge is to be obtained at such 
 schools, what is taught is better than nothing 
 at all, and after all the student cannot expect 
 to get the best advice on the matter, that is 
 given to but the very few and fortunate. 
 . In the next book we shall give what advice 
 we can, but at the same time our student must 
 study practically some branch of art ; unless, 
 indeed, he wishes to become one of the mighty 
 band of art-ignorant craftsmen, or unless he is 
 so fortunate to be cast amongst highly talented 
 artists, to whom he can easily apply for advice. 
 For having learned his technique and practice 
 he has but learned how to speak, he can only- 
 show his calibre by what he has to say and 
 how he says it, just as all the world can write 
 yet only the highly trained can write artistically. 
 
 In a very few months the student will see, if 
 he is fitted by nature to become an original pho- 
 tographer, and if he is not, our advice is give it 
 up, or take up one of the scientific special 
 branches, and if he is incapable of doing good 
 work there, he must content himself to play at 
 photography, as too many photographers do 
 now, but in our opinion photography is not 
 worth playing at, there are so many more satis- 
 fying games when play is the end and aim. 
 
 End of Book II. 
 
PICTORIAL ART. 
 
BOOK III. 
 
 PICTORIAL ART. 
 
 " He does not sufficiently understand that things are 
 of value only according to their fundamental qualities, 
 and he still believes that the care with which a thing is 
 done, even if it is aimless, ought to be taken into ac- 
 count. In fact it would be a good thing to make him 
 understand that things exist only to the extent of the 
 stuff they contain." 
 
 J. FRAN901S-M1LLET. 
 
CHAPTER I. 
 
 EDUCATED SIGHT. 
 
 We are all born mentally blind, but almost 
 immediately we detect light, as can some of the 
 lowest animals, then we learn to distinguish the 
 colors and forms of objects as we grow older, 
 and there the majority of us stop, and yet we 
 all think we can see equally well. That we 
 cannot is a truism, for after being able to dis- 
 tinguish colors and forms, but very few persons 
 go on to educate their sight more perfectly. 
 Some of us may learn to distinguish certain 
 kinds of material, the different aspects of these 
 materials under different conditions, and so they 
 learn trades and are excellent judges of tea, 
 coffee, hosiery, and paper. Still higher come 
 the scientific men who pay more attention to 
 the education of the sight. They learn to dis- 
 tinguish the microscopic beings, the life-his- 
 tories of the lower forms of animal life, the 
 histology of flowers, the structure of the trees, 
 the aspects of the skies, the physical and chemi- 
 cal phenomena of the elements, the movements 
 of the planets, so that in all their walks nature 
 is full of interest to them ; they find wisdom in 
 a pond, they revel in a marsh, or they travel to 
 a far country for the sake of rare birds' eggs, 
 or spend days and nights in their laboratories 
 
6 
 
 NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 to solve new chemical problems, or organize 
 expeditions to study unusual phenomena of the 
 heavenly bodies ; they see and love all these 
 things. The man uneducated in science finds 
 no interest in a drop of muddy water, he finds 
 nothing wonderful in the vegetation of the 
 country side, he passes unheeded the rarest 
 birds, and the rainbow and storm cloud and 
 the blazing comet, all alike to him, have no in- 
 terest ; he is blind to them, or if he sees them 
 at all, it is as through a glass, darkly. 
 
 All this the world allows, and allows that no 
 one save those who by hard work have trained 
 themselves can see these things. But mark the 
 stupidity of mankind ; he allows he is blind to 
 the pleasures of science and will remain so, tin- 
 less he studies the subject, but when it comes 
 to art matters, like a weathercock, he shifts 
 round and thinks he can understand all that 
 without any training at all, yet he is born as 
 blind and incapable of understanding art as he 
 is of understanding science until he has trained 
 himself to understand. 
 
 The artist, like the scientific man, begins by 
 studying closely his subject — nature as a whole 
 — he studies her in all her aspects, he seeks foi 
 harmonies and arrangements in color and form, 
 for beautiful lines of composition, and only 
 after long and close observation do the scales 
 drop from his eyes and he sees a beautiful pose, 
 even in a child digging up potatoes, or a man 
 throwing a hammer or running a race, or he 
 sees subtle beauties of color in a reed-bed, or 
 
NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 7 
 
 poetry and pathos in an old peasant stooping 
 under a load of sticks, and this is far more diffi- 
 cult to see than it is to learn to see the scientific 
 truths, and that is why there are so few real 
 artists and poets and so many more scientific 
 men. Art, alas, cannot be learned like science, 
 hard work will not necessarily make an artist. 
 Most photographers are ai t-blind, but they are 
 like the color-blind old lady who did not know 
 it, and of course the only hope for them is to be 
 convinced of their blindness, then perhaps they 
 may do something towards getting rid of the 
 defect. 
 
 The student should now clearly understand 
 why it is so necessary that this faculty of artis- 
 tic sight should be cultivated and trained, for 
 since it is our fundamental principle that all 
 suggestions for pictures should come from 
 nature, we must first see the picture in nature 
 and be struck by its beauty so that we cannot 
 rest until we have secured it on our plate ; we 
 must therefore learn to see it in nature. If we 
 see a beautiful pose, or a beautiful effect in 
 nature, we should at least make a note of it if 
 we cannot secure it. A slight sketch made at 
 the time will do. Therefore, amateur reader, 
 if you have not trained yourself by study to see 
 these things in nature, blame no one but your- 
 self, but remember you are blind, blind, blind ; 
 but there is a remedy, and no surgical operation 
 is required either. 
 
 Study ! You must ever be on the look-out for 
 beauties, that is the necessary mental attitude, 
 
8 
 
 NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 Otherwise they will never be seen. You must 
 look for a thing if you wish to find it, and it is 
 only by showing us your finds that you will 
 prove you have artistic insight; we shall not be- 
 lieve a word you say about art until zve see it in 
 your zvork. If you do not study, or if you are 
 incapable, you will remain blind in spite of 
 your looking, and there will be weeping and 
 gnashing of teeth when you show to the world 
 commonplaces which you think are gems, for 
 the world will soon tell you they are common- 
 place. We once knew a person who was color- 
 blind, who resented the suggestion as a personal 
 insult, until one evening her eyesight was 
 tested, when her color-blindness was proved. 
 
 Let the student then be assured that he is 
 blind, he cannot see art and nature until he has 
 studied them long and closely. He may be ar- 
 rogant enough to think he knows all about her 
 without study. If that is so, as he grows older 
 let him refer back to his earlier works, and if 
 he has progressed meanwhile, let him recall 
 how perfect he thought those early works at 
 the time he did them, and then let him lash 
 himself for his folly. A really good work will 
 always bear looking back at, and will hold its 
 own however old the artist gets. There is no 
 royal road to this appreciation of the beauties 
 of art and nature, none but incessant and loving 
 study, and though the cockney, or sage of the 
 university, who dwells in towns and learns his 
 art and his nature in the National Gallery and 
 British Museum, may lecture on nature and 
 
NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 9 
 
 art, let the student avoid him and his example. 
 Lectures on art at any time are but Dead Sea 
 fruit. 
 
 The student then must educate his eyesight 
 in order to see the beauties of nature and art, 
 and to do this he must study hard, for the true 
 artist wishes to see these beauties and to record 
 them, that is all, nothing more. The seers who 
 see deeply, they are the poets ! In science the 
 original discoverers are the seers, and since but 
 few can aspire to become seers, nevertheless let 
 the rest be content to go on studying, for all of 
 us can see these things with an educated and 
 intelligent eye, and seeing, understand, and 
 that reward is worth the pains. 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 COMPOSITION. 
 
 No chapter of this book has g-iven us so much 
 thought as this chapter on composition. 
 
 We could easily, as most writers have done, 
 have given a digest of Mr. Burnet's laws of 
 composition with variations and additions, 
 but we have no faith in any laws of 
 composition." A law, to be logical, must 
 hold good in all cases ; now the so-called " laws 
 of composition," are often broken deliberately 
 by great artists, and yet the result is perfect. 
 This is easily explained, for these so-called laws 
 are mere arbitrary rules, deduced by one man 
 from the works of many artists and writers ; 
 and they are no more laws in the true sense 
 than are the laws of Phrenology or Astrology. 
 
 The great question then, which presented it- 
 self to us, was this : Will the study of these so- 
 called rules do good or harm to the student ? 
 Will a knowledge of them lead him to the pro- 
 duction of conventional work, or will it in any 
 way help him in his future work? We had 
 many earnest discussions on this point with 
 artists, and they seemed equall}' uncertain in 
 the matter, though one condemned all such 
 laws as absurd and unnecessary. We most cer- 
 
NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY, II 
 
 tainly feel inclined to agree with that one dis- 
 sentient, but in trying to place ourselves in the 
 position of the photographic student, with ab- 
 solutely no knowledge of art, we have come to 
 the conclusion that, perhaps, the student had 
 better study Mr. Burnet's " Treatise on Paint- 
 ing." A cheap edition of this book is published 
 by Dr. E. Wilson, of 289 Fourth Avenue, New 
 York,* and every student should get a copy of 
 it. It can be thoroughly mastered in a week 
 or two, so that not much time will be lost. The 
 numerous plates will at any rate be of some 
 use to the student. 
 
 Now, from these remarks, it must not be as- 
 sumed that we are no believer in " composition." 
 Composition is really selection, and is one of 
 the most — if not the most — vital matters in all 
 art, certainly the most vital in the art of photog- 
 raphy. But the writer maintains there are no 
 laws for selection. Each picture requires a 
 special composition, and every artist treats each 
 picture originally ; his method of treatment, 
 however, often becomes a "law" for lesser 
 lights. 
 
 It has been assumed by opponents to 
 '* Naturalism " that naturalistic photographers 
 ignore composition, and portray nature " any- 
 how," just as she happens to present herself 
 to them. Nothing could be further from the 
 truth. None is more careful in selection and 
 arrangement than the naturalistic photographer, 
 at the same time none is less conventional. 
 
 * To be had also of Messrs. P. Lund & Co., of Bradford. 
 
12 NATURiSLISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 Nature is not always suitable for pictorial 
 purposes, though she is often enough suitable, 
 and it is when she is propitious that the 
 worker depicts her ; hence the great principle 
 of naturalism, that all suggestions should 
 come from nature. The object of art training 
 is to show these propitious moods, and to 
 enable the photographer to portray them. We 
 prefer, then, the word " selection " to composi- 
 tion. The matter really stands thus, a good 
 naturalistic photographer selects a composition 
 in nature which he sees to be very fine. 
 
 By composition, as used in this paragraph, is 
 meant the harmonious and fitting combination 
 of the various component parts of the picture 
 which shall best express the subject. 
 
 Our best method will be to follow Mr. Bur- 
 net's division of his subject, and offer a running 
 commentary on the essentials of his work from 
 a photographer's standpoint, giving our ideas 
 on the subject when they differ from those of 
 the author of " A Treatise on Painting." 
 
 A TREATISE ON PAINTING," BY J. BURNET, F.R.S. 
 
 Education of the Eye. — Measurement and Form. 
 
 Omitting to comment on Mr. Burnet's re- 
 marks, we put the matter thus, that it is highly 
 desirable for all photographers to learn draw- 
 ing, and to learn it intelligently. Nothing 
 could be more lamentable than the way in 
 which drawing is taught in the majority of 
 our schools ; it is worse than, useless. The 
 
NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 13 
 
 student should go to some good art school 
 for a few months, and learn drawing-, for in 
 that way are learned the analysis and construc- 
 tion of objects, and, above all, the eye is trained 
 to careful observation, which will be invaluable 
 in the study of tone and selection. 
 
 PERSPECTIVE. 
 
 This section the student should read over 
 carefully, understanding thoroughly the " point 
 of sight " and the causes of violent perspective. 
 For in photography, though his lens may com- 
 paratively be true in drawing, he can as easily 
 obtain violent perspective as the draughtsman, 
 by placing the lens too close to his model. 
 Fore-shortening, too, should be thoroughly 
 understood. This section should then be com- 
 pared with our views as perspective is previ- 
 ously given. Aerial perspective has been 
 simply treated by us in this work, and the 
 various remarks of Burnet on this subject must 
 be taken cum gram salis. 
 
 CHIARO-OSCURO. 
 
 This term means light and shade. Now the 
 term " chiaro-oscuro " is very misleading, for it 
 is used by different artists to mean different 
 things. The whole of photography depends on 
 the proper management of light and shade, for 
 our drawing is done for us ; but we prefer to 
 use the more modern terms " tone " and "con- 
 trast " to express what we mean by light and 
 
14 NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 shade ; that term we have already fully ex- 
 plained. Chiaro-oscuro, as we understand it, is 
 the arbitrary placing- of masses of light against 
 masses of shade to produce certain desired ef- 
 fects ; it is, therefore, conventional, and akin to 
 the law which required all trees to be painted 
 fiddle-brown. It is needless to say the only 
 way such a conventional chiaro-oscuro can be 
 obtained in photography is by arranging the 
 objects in nature, or by retouching, and both 
 are against our principles. The student, then, 
 must, as we have said, master " tone," that is 
 his chiaro-oscuro, his light and shade, and he 
 must always remember to look for " breadth " 
 in his treatment. Breadth is found in all good 
 work, and it depends in photography not en- 
 tirely upon light and shade, but upon the 
 focussing as well, as we have already 
 indicated. Why are spotty-lighted, sharply- 
 focused, brightly-developed negatives so 
 " noisy " and garish and inartistic ? It is that 
 they lack "breadth." It must not be thought 
 from this that no sunny pictures have breadth ; 
 on the contrary, if the masses are large, and the 
 planes well rendered, and the tonality true, 
 there can be as much breadth in a sunny picture 
 as in a gray- day effect. It has been said that 
 " breadth " is a device of the painters, but this 
 is mere nonsense. Let the student look well at 
 a simple stretch of grass-land bordering a still 
 lake, on a damp, misty evening, and then he 
 will see breadth. Let him focus that scene as 
 sharply as he likes, including a portion of sky 
 
NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 15 
 
 as well, and develop and print from it, and he 
 will find breadth, and he will probably have a 
 clear understanding as to the meaning of the 
 word. 
 
 Mr. Burnet divides chiaro-oscuro into five 
 parts, viz. light, half-light, middle tint, half- 
 dark, dark. This arbitrary division is hyper- 
 critical. For working purposes, light, half-tone 
 or middle tint, and dark, are quite sufficient ; 
 other subdivisions are far too subtle and 
 numerous to be considered theoretically, and, 
 practically, truth of tone is only to be learned 
 by long experience and study, and we believe 
 all the directions given by Mr. Burnet for pro- 
 ducing relief, harmony, and breadth, to be arti- 
 ficial and useless. An examination of his 
 plates shows clearly how futile are his deduc- 
 tions, and how .untrue in light and shade, viz. 
 tone, they all are. 
 
 COMPOSITION. 
 
 Mr. Burnet opens with the statement that 
 " geometric forms in composition are found to 
 give order and regularity to an assemblage of 
 figures." This is the first principle on which is 
 built his structure of geometrical composition. 
 We will omit the dicta of literary men on pic- 
 torial art which Mr. Burnet is so fond of quot- 
 ing, but which we consider too worthless to do 
 more with than mention. Let us then apply 
 ourselves to the study of his thesis. 
 
 His first remarks are upon angular compo- 
 
l6 NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 sition, and as he finds that these lead him into 
 conventional methods, he goes on to say that 
 this conventionality can be rectified by balance. 
 Even if we would follow this form of compo- 
 sition our means are limited, for, unlike the 
 painter, we cannot alter and re-arrange. How- 
 ever, we have no wish to make " angular com- 
 positions," and consider them false in theory. 
 Painters on the other hand, must settle these 
 matters for themselves; we know how many 
 settle them, that is by ignoring all such teach- 
 ings as nonsense. Next we come to the " cir- 
 cular composition," which, we are told, is " ap- 
 plicable to the highest walks of art," wherever 
 they may be. Soon after this we come upon 
 the truest remark in the book. " Artists gen- 
 erally prefer the opinions of untutored child- 
 ren to the remarks of the most learned phil- 
 osophers," and we fear most modern artists 
 prefer the teachings of nature to those of that 
 philosopher John Burnet, F.R.S. Finally, Mr. 
 Burnet winds up with the words, " I must also 
 caution the young artist against supposing that 
 these modes of arrangements are given for his 
 imitation. I merely wish him to be acquainted 
 with the advantages any particular composition 
 possesses, that in adopting any invention of his 
 own, he may engraft upon it these or similar 
 advantages." 
 
 Now this reads very oddly after talking of 
 ru/es of composition, for what is the good of a 
 rule if it is not to be followed ? and it reads 
 very illogically when compared with the quo- 
 
NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 17 
 
 tation from Reynolds (Brougham ?), which 
 goes to back up the excuse for advocating rules 
 as Burnet gives them— viz., "to those who im- 
 agine that such rules tend to fetter genius," etc. 
 
 In short, the whole work is illogical, un- 
 scientific, and inartistic, and has not a leg to 
 stand on. It is very specious to say that all 
 compositions are made according to geomet- 
 rical forms, for nothing can be easier than to 
 take arbitrary points in a picture and draw geo- 
 metrical figures joining them. The pyramid is 
 a favorite geometrical form of composition. 
 Now take any picture, and take any three points 
 you like, and join them, andyou have a pyramid, 
 so does every composition contain a pyramid, 
 as does a donkey's ear. But enough of this. 
 The student is distinctly warned against pay- 
 ing any serious attention to these rules; it is, 
 however, as we have said, well that we should 
 know of them, -and we suspect we will learn 
 something of design from merely looking care- 
 fully at the plates. Of tone-he will learn noth- 
 ing. 
 
 With Mr. Burnet's remarks upon color we 
 are in no way concerned. 
 
 But the student will say, how, then, can com- 
 position be learned ? Our answer to this is that 
 composition, that is selection, cannot be learned 
 save by experience and practical work — there 
 is no royal road to it, no shilling guide. This 
 subtle and vital power must be acquired if we 
 are to do any good work, for we are dumb until 
 we do acquire it. We can no more adequately 
 
lo NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 express ourselves in photography without 
 having mastered composition, than a child 
 can express himself in prose until he has 
 learnt the art of writing. It is for this 
 reason that we must learn art practically, 
 for no written ''rules or laws" can be given, 
 Each picture is a problem in itself, and the art- 
 master can help the student to solve the prob- 
 lems as they arise, in that way only can com- 
 posit-ion be taught. The proof of this is that 
 young painters who have been through the 
 schools are very weak in composition, it is only 
 by repeated failures that they acquire the nec- 
 essary knowledge. Let the student trace the 
 development of any painter's work, and he will 
 find that his early works are always poor in 
 composition and feeble in motif. It has been 
 well said that art can be learned though it can- 
 not be taught save by practice. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 OUT-DOOR AND IN-DOOR WORK. 
 
 It is presumed the student has thoroughly 
 mastered and applied all that has preceded this 
 chapter, especially the matter of tone, other- 
 wise it is no use attempting to make pictures, 
 which means attempting composition. 
 
 Presuming then the student is master of the 
 subject as already treated, we will now proceed 
 to offer some suggestions on picture-making, 
 but be it distinctly understood they are only 
 suggestions. 
 
 We shall divide the subject into two sections, 
 beginning with out-door work. 
 
 OUT-DOOR PORTRAITURE. 
 
 Very fine portraits and groups can be taken 
 out of doors. In taking such pictures, it is ad- 
 missible to dictate the dress of the model, and 
 to arrange tea-parties, sporting, athletic, and 
 other groups. But if the student intends to 
 make them pictorial, he must be very particular 
 with, his types, and see above all things that the 
 sentiment is true. For example, it is a fine 
 parody on nature to photograph a gaunt and 
 self-conscious girl in aesthetic clothing, for dress 
 it cannot be called, with a tennis-bat in her 
 19 
 
20 NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 hand. For a tennis picture, fine girls, physically 
 well-formed, should be chosen. 
 
 Next the student should choose a simple 
 background, which with the dress and flesh 
 tints form a harmony or fine study in tone. 
 The model's dress should be very simple and 
 well-fitting, such dresses as were worn by Bot- 
 ticelH's women (dresses quite unlike the modern 
 aesthetic gowns), being very becoming for 
 women, while flannel shirts or simple white 
 trousers will look well on the men. All 
 monstrosities and exaggerations of fashion 
 should be avoided, such as flowers, chate- 
 laines, wasp-waists, high heels, and dress 
 improvers. The best material for dresses 
 for pictures is a coarse, limp, self-colored 
 muslin (butter-cloth is excellent for the 
 purpose). All jewelry should be eschewed, 
 the only decoration of this kind that photo- 
 graphs simply and well is perhaps a string of 
 pearls, which looks charming. 
 
 The work must be true in sentiment, and 
 the student must choose an appropriate treat- 
 ment of the subject. The portrait being out of 
 doors, we must be made to feel that fact ; thus, 
 a girl resting from tennis, a girl in a riding- 
 habit, or better still on horseback, would be 
 very appropriate. The background must be 
 carefully selected to be in keeping with the 
 figure, and to help to tell the story fully and 
 emphatically, and yet it must be kept subdued. 
 
 Groups are very difficult to treat artistically, 
 and our never-failing rule is to limit as much 
 
NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 21 
 
 as possible the number of people in the 
 group. 
 
 Having now chosen his model and arranged 
 other matters, the student must remember to 
 let his model stand or sit, as he or she likes, 
 and all suggestions for the pose should come 
 from the model ; this is a fundamental princi- 
 ple of naturalism. A great friend of ours, a 
 well-known sculptor, assures us he would not 
 dare to pose a model according to any precon- 
 ceived idea, but he watches the model pose in 
 different ways, and when he sees a striking and 
 beautiful attitude he seizes on that and makes 
 a rapid sketch of it. This is the only true, way 
 for the photographer to work, he must have the 
 camera ready, focused and arranged, and when 
 he sees his model in an unconscious and beauti- 
 ful pose, he must snap the shutter. It is thus 
 very evident how important is art-knowledge 
 and insight for all good photographic work, 
 and it is thus evident how a man who is sym- 
 pathetic and of a refined temperament will 
 show his taste in his work. 
 
 With commercial groups of bands, foot-ball 
 teams, etc., the student has nothing to do, and 
 let him never be induced to photograph any- 
 thing which he does not think will make a pic- 
 ture. He must have patience also, when wait- 
 ing for nature's suggestions; we have waited a 
 whole morning, rubber ball in hand, for a suit- 
 able grouping of colts, but we finally got one of 
 the best things we ever produced. If our pho- 
 tographer be a smoker, let him light his pipe 
 
22 NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 and take it easy, talking meanwhile to the 
 model ; as length his chance will come, but it 
 may only come once, and then he must not 
 hesitate or the picture may be lost in a moment. 
 It is preferable that all out-door portraits 
 should be taken on a gray day, or in the shade 
 if the sun be shining. 
 
 There is a wide field open to wealthy photog- 
 raphers for producing really good pictures of 
 their friends at country houses. But the stu- 
 dent must remember that to produce a perfect 
 picture takes a long time and can only be achieved 
 by long and patient practice, coupled with 
 artistic ability. The hurried representations of 
 shooting, boating, and family groups, which are 
 so often produced by industrial photographers, 
 are artistically beneath contempt. They are 
 mere statements of facts, and as much akin to 
 art as the directions in a cookery-book are akin 
 to literature. Photography up to a certain 
 point, and in a haphazard way, is so easily 
 learned now-a-days that there is absolutely no 
 merit in producing such work. Such photo- 
 graphs are only the confessions of untrained 
 and commonplace minds. 
 
 LANDSCAPE. 
 
 The student who would become a landscape 
 photographer must go to the country and live 
 there for long periods ; for in no other way can 
 he get any insight into the mystery of nature. All 
 nature near towns is tinged with artificiality, it 
 
NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 23 
 
 may not be very patent but the close observer 
 detects it. Among fisher-folk this may be seen 
 in the sealskin cap, in the rustic it shows itself 
 in the hard billycock hat, in landscape pure it 
 may be seen in some artificial forms of the 
 river-banks, or in artificial undergrowths ; the 
 mark of the beast, the stamp of vulgarity, that 
 hydra-headed monster which always appears 
 wherever a few men are gathered together, is 
 sure to be found somewhere. For this reason 
 then the would - be landscape - photographer 
 should pack up his things and go to some 
 locality with which he is in sympathy, just as a 
 painter does. Here let him be cautioned against 
 taking part in any of those " outings," organized 
 by well-meaning but mistaken people. It is 
 laughable indeed to read of the doings of these 
 gatherings ; their appointment of a leader (often 
 blind); of the driving in brakes, always a strong 
 feature of these meetings ; of the eatings, an 
 even stronger feature ; and finally of the bag, 
 32 "Ilford's," 42 "Wrattens'," 52 " Paget's," 
 etc. 
 
 Apply the same sort of thing to painting, and 
 would it not indeed be ridiculous ? Would it 
 not lower painting in the eyes of the world if 
 say thirty academicians with a leader for the 
 day, assembled at Victoria Station with pastels 
 and boards, or with paint-tubes and small can- 
 vases, and went by train to some village and 
 there proceeded to pastel or paint what the 
 leader suggested ; then would follow the dm- 
 ner (the best part, no doubt), and next day how 
 
24 NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 edified would be the world to read in the daily- 
 papers of the most successful outing, the result 
 of which was the covering of 32 " Rowney," 29 
 " Winsor and Newton," and 40 " Newman" 
 canvasses ! All these " playings" bring photog- 
 raphy down to the level of cycling and canoe- 
 ing, and yet many photographers wonder that 
 artists will have no official connection with 
 photography. We know well that it is for these 
 and similar reasons that serious artists will not 
 allow their names to be officially connected with 
 photography, and we here earnestly appeal to 
 all who really have the advancement of photog- 
 raphy at heart to do all in their power to bring 
 such trivial " play " to an end. Having then 
 decided to go to the country, let the student 
 think well with which kind of landscape he is 
 most in sympathy; but let him always remem- 
 ber this fact that all landscape is not suitable 
 for pictorial purposes ; he must therefore learn 
 to distinguish between the suitable and the un- 
 suitable. Landscapes there are full of charm, 
 pleasant places for a picnic or encampment, 
 but when you come to put them into' a picture, 
 they become tame and commonplace. 
 
 Again let the student avoid imitation. If he 
 knows that a photographer has been successful 
 in one place, do not let him, like a feeble imitator, 
 be led thither also, for the chances are, if his pre- 
 decessor were a strong man, that he will produce 
 commonplaces where the other produced mas- 
 terpieces, and thereby confess his inferiority. 
 It is far better to be original in a smaller way 
 
NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 25 
 
 than another, than to be even a first-rate imita- 
 tor of another, however great. 
 
 For this reason the present method adopted 
 by inartistic writers of publishing "Photogra- 
 phic Haunts " is strongly to be deprecated; such 
 guides can but lead to conventional and imi- 
 tative, therefore contemptible work. The fact 
 of the matter is, nature is full of pictures, and 
 they are to be found in what appears to the un- 
 initiated the most unlikely places. Let the hon- 
 est student then choose some district with wnich 
 he is in sympathy, and let him go there quietly 
 and spend a few months, or even weeks if he 
 cannot spare months, and let him day and night 
 study the effects of nature, and try at any rate 
 to produce one picture of his own, one picture 
 which shall show an honest attempt to probe 
 the mysteries of nature and art, one picture 
 which shall show the author has something to 
 say and knows how to. say it, as perhaps no 
 other living person could say it; that is some- 
 thing to have accomplished. Remember that 
 your photograph is a rough index of your 
 mind; it is a sort of confession of faith on paper. 
 
 We will now offer a few remarks on the com- 
 ponent parts of a picture. 
 
 THE " LINES." 
 
 As we have said there can be no rules for the 
 arrangement of lines, yet they are all-important 
 and essential to the expression of harmony and 
 directness. The student must cultivate the 
 
26 NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 habit of quickly analyzing the lines of a picture, 
 and coming to a decision whether they are har- 
 monious and pictorially suitable. For example, 
 he must not have the lines of different objects 
 cutting each other and forming unpleasant 
 angles, for if he does this the eye of the ob- 
 server will never get away from the geometri- 
 cal figure, however good the other part of the 
 picture may be. He should look for repeated 
 line, and his lines should run into the picture 
 thus all uncomfortableness is avoided. There 
 is no necessity for balance or the equal arrange- 
 ment of masses on either side of the picture, 
 for this, though it may produce pretty pictures, 
 will never produce strong ones. Every line 
 must help to tell the story and strengthen the 
 picture, otherwise it weakens it. 
 
 AERIAL PERSPECTIVE. 
 
 It is of vital importance that this be well ren- 
 dered, the method for expressing it having al- 
 ready been shown. 
 
 The student must remember that he must 
 give the true value to the separate planes of the 
 picture, or it is worthless for reasons already 
 stated. The state of the weather, has, as we 
 have indicated, a wonderful modifying effect 
 on this perspective, and must be carefully 
 studied. 
 
 TONE. 
 
 Of vital importance is the relatively true ren- 
 dering of tone as already indicated. This is 
 
NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 2'J 
 
 such a subtle subject that no directions can be 
 given for it, and the student can only master 
 the subject by long and ardent study of nature. 
 He can test his knowledge by his power of 
 criticizing pictures away from nature, for their 
 truth or falsity of tone. The key in which the 
 picture is pitched should always be in keeping 
 with the subject rendered. 
 
 COMPOSITION. 
 
 The objects must be arranged so that the 
 thing expressed is told clearly and directly, in 
 short, the student should try to express his sub- 
 ject as it has never been expressed before, All 
 things not connected with the subject should 
 be removed, and all but the chief thing to be 
 expressed should be carefully subdued. The 
 interest must not be divided, but all must go to 
 help the expression of the motif of the picture. 
 Thus a white patch the size of a threepenny 
 piece may ruin a twelve by ten inch plate, 
 as many a hat, a basket, and many a small 
 article has done ; just as a false foot may ruin an 
 otherwise fine stanza. Be most careful how 
 you introduce a detail, it may either make or 
 mar your picture. 
 
 The sentiment and detail must always be ap- 
 propriate or the result is a travesty. Thus 
 haymakers do not wear new-fashioned buttoned 
 boots, nor do rustics wear sun-bonnets and 
 aprons all clean and fashionably cut. But this 
 is only a superficial matter, the artist must carry 
 
28 NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 appropriateness much deeper than in mere cos- 
 tume; for example, a flock of sheep on a pas- 
 ture may be made quite false in sentiment, if 
 they are driven in a way that suggests a march 
 to the slaughter-house, and they very easily 
 huddle together in a manner that suggests that 
 final procession. The student will now see how 
 subtle all these matters are and how little yet how 
 much divides the masterpiece from mediocrity. 
 Some photographers think naturalism consists 
 only in taking things as they are, and they will 
 exclaim, if you criticize their work, " Oh ! it was 
 just like that any way." True, oh ingenuous 
 one, but it was just some other way as well, and 
 perhaps that other way might have given a work 
 of value whereas this way has given a bald and 
 uninteresting fact. Selection or composition is 
 a most subtle matter, and one very difficult to 
 learn, but let the student persevere, and if he 
 have the ability he will find that the scales will 
 fall from his eyes as he goes on. 
 
 ILLUSION. 
 
 The illusion must be true throughout, and if 
 all the preceding components are true the 
 illusion will be true. 
 
 Our student may now have carried out all 
 these things and yet there may be no picture, 
 his mind may be commonplace. He may have 
 wasted a good technique on a commonplace 
 subject, such as a yacht going at full sail, an ex- 
 press train, some very ordinary dogs or horses, or 
 
NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 29 
 
 some very extraordinary men or women. We 
 are then brought to a very important matter, 
 the subject. 
 
 SUBJECT OF THE PICTURE. 
 
 The subject must have pictorial qualities, it 
 must be typical, and must give aesthetic pleas- 
 ure. The student must look for elegance and 
 a distingue air in his subject. You will find that 
 the best pictures will be of those subjects which 
 hit you hardest in nature, those which strike 
 you so much so that you feel an irresistible de- 
 sire to secure them. 
 
 You must then train your feelings, for, as 
 John Constable said, "the art of feeling nature 
 is a thing almost as much to be cultivated as 
 the art of reading the Egyptian hieroglyphics." 
 You must then, when you have felt your sub- 
 ject, be resolute and only take in what is neces- 
 sary to express your subject; this is the text of 
 the artist. Everything must be harmonious 
 and comfortable, but that alone will not suffice 
 any more than will the subject alone. Every- 
 thing must be in keeping in the picture. The 
 artist must be in sympathy with his subject, 
 ^'entrer dans la meine peau," as the French say. 
 He must have no preconceived notion of how 
 he is going to do a subject, but take all his sug- 
 gestions from nature and humbly follow them, 
 and lovingly portray them. Pure imitation of 
 nature (even if it were possible) won't do, the 
 artist must add his intellect, hence his work is 
 
30 NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 an interpretation. To photograph a "fiyingf 
 express " so that it looks as if standing still is 
 imitation, to render it with the suggestion of 
 motion by its smoke and steam is an interpre- 
 tation. The great question which the student 
 should ask himself is: My aim, what is it? If 
 that be serious and honest, and not feeble and 
 vainglorious, he is all right. Remember that 
 the aim of art is to give aesthetic pleasure, and 
 that artists are the best judges of this matter, and 
 you will find that so good is their training that 
 they often elevate the meanest things they 
 touch. 
 
 The highest expression is that of poetry, and 
 therefore the best works of art all contain poe- 
 try. What poetry is and how it is to be got is 
 not to be discussed in our present state of knowl- 
 edge, suffice it to say that the poet is born and 
 not made, though the poet's speech may be im- 
 proved by training. 
 
 Thus it will be seen how difficult a matter it 
 is to produce a picture, even when we have 
 thoroughly mastered our technique and prac- 
 tice, for, to recapitulate, in a picture the arrange- 
 ment of lines must be appropriate, .he aerial per- 
 spective must be truly and subtily yet broadly 
 rendered, the tonality must be relatively true, 
 the composition must be perfect, the impression 
 true, the subject distinguished, and if the pic- 
 ture is to be a masterpice, the motif must be 
 poetically rendered, for there is a poetry of pho- 
 tography as there is of painting and literature. 
 
 Never rest satisfied then until these arrange- 
 
NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 31 
 
 ments are all fulfilled, and destroy all works in 
 which they are not to be found. 
 
 That it will be possible for comparatively few 
 to succeed is evident, but the prize is worth 
 striving for, for even if we do not all attain to 
 the production of perfect works, we shall have 
 gained a knowledge of art and an insight into 
 nature, that will be a never-failing source of 
 pleasure to us in our daily walks. 
 
 FIGURE AND LANDSCAPE. 
 
 By far the most difficult branch of photogra- 
 phy is that in which figures occur in landscapes. 
 All previous remarks apply to this branch of the 
 art, only here it is more necessary than ever that 
 every detail be perfect. This is a branch which 
 we have perhaps studied and developed more 
 than any other, excepting pure landscape, 
 and yet even now we feel but a beginner 
 in it. One thing we must never forget, 
 that is the type; you must choose your 
 models most carefully, and they must without 
 fail be picturesque and typical. The student 
 should feel that there never was such a fisher- 
 man, or such a ploughman, or such a poacher, 
 or such an old man, or such a beautiful girl, as 
 he is picturing. It a great mistake for photog- 
 raphers to attempt rural subjects unless they 
 have lived in country for a long time and are 
 thoroughly imbued with the sentiment of 
 country life. The truth of this axiom is proved by 
 the falseness of sentiment seen in most country 
 
32 NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 pictures done by good painters even. The 
 student who lives in town will fmd good figure- 
 subjects in the town, and if he has no sympathy 
 with such life, he should try such subjects as 
 shooting parties, coursing meets, riding sub- 
 jects, and beautiful women. It is fallacious to 
 try and cultivate an unsympathic field and is 
 sure to end in mediocrity or failure. 
 
 STUDIO PORTRAITURE. 
 
 The easiest branch of photography is por- 
 traiture in the studio, for all conditions, includ- 
 ing even the dress of the model, are in the 
 photographer's hands. The lighting is also 
 perfectly under control. 
 
 The principles of lighting a face are briefly 
 these : A top light gives the best and subtlest 
 modelling, and gives more relief than any 
 other lighting. But the aim of pictorial art is 
 not to give relief to illusion, therefore the top 
 light effect is modified by a side light and by 
 reflectors. The principle of using a reflector is 
 this : Light falling at right angles on a plane 
 surface gives the highest light, then as we turn 
 the reflector through a circle we get all grada- 
 tions up to full dark, when the reflector is 
 turned right round. This principle must be 
 remembered in lighting the planes of the face. 
 The portraitist must work as does the sculptor, 
 in planes and tone, that is, he must quickly 
 make an analysis of the face and observe the 
 most suitable treatment of the subject, and then 
 
NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 33 
 
 he must focus so as to bring the planes out 
 well, and they must be broad in treatment and 
 relatively true in tone. 
 
 These are the only principles which can be 
 given for lighting, their application can be 
 learned by study, first on a plaster cast and 
 afterwards on the living model. 
 
 The great thing to obtain is the character or 
 expression of the model, everything must be 
 sacrificed for this in portraiture, and enough of 
 the figure must be taken in to thoroughly 
 express the character. Thus the head alone 
 may do in some cases, it others it will be neces- 
 sary to include the hands, in others the whole 
 body. It is needless to repeat that all portraits 
 should be taken by quick exposures. The best 
 way is for the student to have a very long elastic 
 tube to his shutter, then he can walk about and 
 talk to the model, and when he sees a good 
 natural pose, he can expose, and his picture will 
 probably be good. The present way of posing, 
 using head-rests, etc., is feeble and archaic, and 
 nearly certain to result in failure. 
 
 Another important hint is to place the lens on 
 the same level as the eye of the model, neither 
 higher nor lower, especially if large heads are 
 taken. When the picture is to be full length or 
 three-quarter length, the head should still re- 
 ceive the principal attention, and all else be 
 subdued. 
 
 We have already treated of arrangements of 
 backgrounds and dresses in harmonies, and of 
 the absolute necessity for using only suitable 
 
34 NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 accessories. In addition all other principles of 
 composition, harmony, breadth, as already de- 
 scribed, must be remembered. 
 
 mm 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 HINTS ON ART. 
 
 As practical hints for working cannot be 
 woven into a continuous text, we will give 
 them separately. 
 
 Never compete for prizes for " set subjects," 
 for work of this kind leads to working from 
 preconceived ideas, and therefore to conven- 
 tionality, false sentiment, and vulgarity. 
 
 Remember that the original state of the 
 minds of uneducated men is vulgar, you now 
 know why vulgar and commonplace works 
 please the majority. Therefore, educate your 
 mind, and fight the hydra-headed monster 
 — vulgarity. Seize on any aspect of nature 
 that pleases you and try and interpret it, and 
 ignore — as nature ignores — all childish rules, 
 such as that the lens should work only when 
 the sun shines or when no wind blows. 
 
 ^olus is the breath of life of landscape. 
 
 The chief merit of most photographs is their 
 diagrammatic accuracy, as it is their chief vice. 
 
 Avoid the counsels of pseudo-scientific pho- 
 tographers in art matters, as they have avoided 
 the study of art. 
 
 If you decide on taking a picture, let nothing 
 stop you, even should you have to stand by 
 your tripod for a day. 
 
 35 
 
36 
 
 NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 Do not climb a mast, or sit on the weather- 
 cock of a steeple, to photograph a landscape; 
 remember no one will follow you tip there to 
 get your point of sight. 
 
 Do not talk of Rembrandt pictures, there was 
 but one Rembrandt. Light your pictures as 
 best you can and call them your own. 
 
 Do not call yourself an "artist-photographer" 
 and make "artist-painters" and " artist-sculp- 
 tors" laugh; call yourself a photographer and 
 wait for artists to call you brother. 
 
 Remember why nearly all portrait photo- 
 graphs are so unlike the people they represent 
 — because the portrait lens as often used gives 
 false drawing of the planes and false tonality, 
 and then comes along the retoucher to put on 
 the first part of the uniform, and he is followed 
 by the vignetter and burnisher who complete 
 the disguise. 
 
 The amount of a landscape to be included in 
 a picture is far more difficult to determine than 
 the amount of oxidizer or alkali to be used in 
 the developer. 
 
 Pay no heed to the average photographer's 
 remarks upon " fiat " and " weak " negatives. 
 Probably he is fiat, weak, stale, and unprofitable ; 
 your negative may be first-rate, and probably 
 is if he does not approve of it. 
 
 Do not allow bad wood-cutters and second- 
 rate process-mongers to produce libels of your 
 work. Be broad and simple. 
 
 Work hard, and have faith in nature's 
 teachings. 
 
NATURALIS'xIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 37 
 
 Remember there is one moment in the year 
 when each particular landscape looks at its 
 best, try and secure it at that moment. 
 
 Do not put off doing a coveted picture until 
 another year, for next year the scene will look 
 very different. You will never be able twice 
 to get exactly the same thing. 
 ■ Vulgarity astonishes, produces a sensation; 
 refinement attracts by delicacy and charm and 
 must be sought out. Vulgarity obtrudes itself, 
 refinement is unobtrusive and requires the in- 
 troduction of education. 
 
 Art is not legerdemain: much "instantane- 
 ous " work is but jugglery. 
 
 Though many painters and sculptors talk 
 glibly of *' going in for photography," you will 
 find that very few of them can ever make a 
 picture by photography; they lack the science, 
 technical knowledge, and above all, the prac- 
 tice. Most people think they can play tennis, 
 shoot, write novels, and photograph as well as 
 any other person — until they try. 
 
 Be true to yourself ^nd individuality will 
 show itself in your work. 
 
 Do not be caught by the sensational in nature, 
 as a coarse red-faced sunset, a garrulous water- 
 fall, or a fifteen thousand foot mountain. 
 
 Avoid prettiness — the word looks much like 
 pettiness — and there is but little difference be- 
 tween them. 
 
 No one should take up photography who is 
 not content to work hard and study so that he 
 can take pictures for his own eye only. The 
 
38 NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 artist works to record the beauties of nature, 
 the bagman works to please the public, or for 
 filthy lucre, or for metal medals. 
 
 At the University of Cambridge, in our stu- 
 dent days, it was considered "bad form" to 
 give a testimonial to a tradesman for publication. 
 This is still "bad form;" let the student, there- 
 fore, never let his name appear in the adver- 
 tisement columns of photographic papers be- 
 neath a puff of some maker's plates or some 
 printing papers. "Good wine needs no bush." 
 
 The value of a picture is not proportionate 
 to the trouble and expense it costs to obtain it, 
 but to the poetry that it contains. 
 
 Good art only appeals to the highly cultivated 
 at the first glance, but it gradually grows on 
 the uncultivated or the half cultivated; with 
 bad art the case is otherwise. 
 
 Give the life of the model in a portrait, not 
 his bearing towards you during a mauvais 
 quart d'heure. 
 
 Do not call reflections — shadows; learn to 
 distinguish between the two. 
 
 Always be on the look-out for a graceful 
 movement wlieii you are conversing with a 
 person, thus you will learn. Keep rigidly with- 
 in the limits of your medium, do not strive for 
 the impossible, and so miss the possible. 
 
 Never judge of the merits of a painting or 
 piece of sculpture from reproductions. 
 
 Every good work has " quality." 
 
 Do not mistake sentimentality for sentiment, 
 and sentiment for poetry. 
 
NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 39 
 
 Spontaneity is the life of a picture. 
 
 Continual failure is a road to success — if you 
 have the strength to go on. 
 
 The color of a landscape viewed in the direc- 
 tion of the sun is almost unseen ; therefore 
 turn your back on the sun if you wish to see 
 nature's coloring, and you do ! 
 
 Do not emulate the producers of photographic 
 Christmas cards and "artistic" (?) opals ; they 
 are all worthy of the bagman. 
 
 Do not mistake sharpness for truth, and 
 burnish for finish. 
 
 The charm of nature lies in her mystery and 
 poetry, but no doubt she is never mysterious to 
 a donkey. 
 
 It is not the apparatus that chooses the picture 
 but the man who wields it. 
 
 Say as much as you can, with as little material 
 as you can. 
 
 Flatter no man, but spare not generous praise 
 to really good work. 
 
 Lash the insincere and petty homunculi who 
 are working for vanity. 
 
 Hold up to scorn every coxcomb who paints 
 "artist-photographer" or " artist" on his door, 
 or stamps it on his mounts. 
 
 Remember every photograph you publish 
 goes out for better, for worse, to raise you up 
 or pull you down; do not be in haste, therefore, 
 to give yourself over to the enemy. 
 
 By the envy, lying, and slandering of the 
 weak, the ignorant, and the vicious, shall you 
 know you are succeeding, as well as by the 
 
4° 
 
 NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 sympathy and praise of the just, the generous, 
 and the masters. 
 
 When a critic has nothing to tell you save 
 that your pictures are not sharp, be certain he is 
 not very sharp and knows nothing at all about it. 
 
 Don't be led away to photograph bourgeois 
 furnished interiors, they are not worth the 
 silver on the plate for the pleasure they will 
 give when done. The greater the work the 
 simpler it looks and the easier it seems to do 
 or to imitate, but it is not so. 
 
 Photographic pictures may have one merit 
 which no other pictures can ever have, they 
 can be relied upon as historical records. 
 
 Art is not to be found by touring to Egypt, 
 China, or Peru ; if you cannot find it at your 
 own door, you will never find it. 
 
 People are educated to admire nature through 
 pictures. 
 
 Science destroys or builds up, and seeks only 
 for bald truth. Art seeks to give a truthful 
 impression of some beautiful phenomenon or 
 poetic fact, and destroys all that interferes with 
 her purpose. 
 
 Topography is the registration of bald facts 
 about a place; it is sometimes confounded with 
 art. 
 
 The artistic faculty develops only with 
 culture. A man may be a Newton and at the 
 same time never get beyond the chromographic 
 stage in art. 
 
 Without individuality there can be no in- 
 dividual art, but remember that the value of 
 
NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 4I 
 
 the individuality depends on the man, for all 
 the poetry is in nature, but different individuals 
 see different amounts of it. 
 
 Had Constable listened to rules we might 
 have had "fiddle-brown" trees in our pictures 
 to-day. 
 
 Nature is full of surprises and subtleties, 
 which give quality to a work, thus a truthful 
 impression of her is never to be found in any 
 but naturalistic works. 
 
 The undeveloped artistic faculty delights in 
 glossy and showy objects and in brightly colored 
 things. The appreciation of delicate tonality, 
 in monochrome or color is the result of high 
 development. The frugivorous ape loves bright 
 color, and so does the young person of " culture " 
 and the negress of the West Indies, but Corot 
 delighted only in true and harmonious coloring. 
 
 Nature whispers all her great secrets to the 
 sane in mind, just as she delights in giving her 
 best physical prizes to the sane in body. Nature 
 abhors busy insanity. 
 
 Do not be surprised if you find " stolen bits " 
 of your photographs in the works of inferior 
 etchers, aquarellists, and black and white 
 draughtsmen ; it pays them to steal, while it 
 does not hurt you, for they cannot steal your 
 " quality." 
 
 Many photographers think they are photo- 
 graphing nature when they are only caricatur- 
 ing her. 
 
 The sun when near the horizon gives longer 
 shadows than when near the zenith. 
 
42 NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 The shallow public like " clearness," they 
 like to see the veins in the grass-blade and the 
 scales on the butterfly's wing, for does it not 
 remind them of the powerful vision of their 
 periscopic ancestors — the Saurians. 
 
 When the vulgar herd jape at photography, 
 stand firm and ask them if their long-eared 
 ancestors did not jape at water-color painting 
 and at etching. 
 
 When charlatans talk of improving photo- 
 graphs for the illustrated press know that they 
 merely take a photograph and daub it with un- 
 meaning patches of paint to hide the work of 
 the camera, and then they advertise their dis- 
 honest fumblings as "artistic works done by 
 hand." 
 
 Ask of critics only " fair play." Much of 
 the criticism of to-day consists in the suppres- 
 sion of the truth of the author and the advocacy 
 of the falsity of the critic. Criticism is as yet 
 in the metaphysical stage, but it will one day 
 become rational and of some worth. Then, 
 critics will not attempt the huge joke of 
 "placing" people in order like a pedagogue, 
 e.g., Matthew Arnold between Gray and Words- 
 worth, as some wonderful person did not long 
 ago in one of the reviews ; but criticism will 
 show us how works of art may serve to illustrate 
 the life-history of different epochs. The huge 
 farce of " placing " criticism will be one of the 
 stock jokes of the twentieth century. 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 SPECIAL DECORATIVE PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 By the term " decorative," we mean the 
 ornamentation of anything constructed for 
 some useful or special purpose as opposed to 
 the ornamentation whose object is to please 
 per se. Thus, though both sculpture and easel 
 pictures are decorative in one sense, they are 
 executed with no consideration or regard for 
 other purposes than to please. As we have 
 before shown, the humblest of the decorative 
 arts may be raised to the dignity of a fine art 
 if an artist takes the work in hand and succeeds, 
 or the work may degenerate into mere crafts 
 man's work. For decorative purposes, the 
 various methods are modified and adapted to 
 the important considerations of the use and 
 fitness of the object or place decorated. Thus 
 no good artist would paint a finished and studied 
 landscape on a dado, he would paint the scene 
 flat, and color it in appropriate harmony with 
 surrounding objects, for that is the aim ; and a 
 workman not an artist would, of course, pain- 
 fully elaborate and finish it so that it would be 
 neither a decorative work nor a painting in the 
 ordinary sense. In all good decorative work 
 the same old story of naturalism holds good ; 
 all the best decorative work we have seen was 
 
 43 
 
I 
 
 44 NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 suggested by nature, and though, of course, it is 
 beyond the scope of decorative art to " copy 
 nature," as superficial folk say, yet all patterns 
 and forms and harmonies should be suggested 
 by nature. We have seen harmonies of sea- 
 weed and sand which would have made a 
 beautiful color scheme for decorative work. 
 The best decorative work has always been 
 suggested by nature ; geometrical patterns be- 
 ing taken from crystals, microscopic drawings 
 of vegetable cells, etc. 
 
 However, we must omit a general discussion 
 of this interesting subject, for we are here only 
 concerned with its photographic side. We are 
 not aware that this application of decorative 
 art has ever received much attention; and 
 when we mention transparencies and enamels, 
 we have said all that has been done towards 
 employing photography decoratively. By en- 
 amels, of course, is not understood those 
 glossed and raised productions on paper, which 
 by some extraordinary blunder have been 
 erroneously called enamels. 
 
 Now the photographer, who studies and hopes 
 to excel at decorative photography, must re- 
 member that he must work on the same general 
 principles as he does in producing pictures, that 
 is, he must pay attention, in a broad way, to the 
 tone of the room, to effects of contrast, to har- 
 monies, to the effect of artificial lights and 
 of complementary colors, and above all to 
 naturalism. Thus a delicate landscape must 
 not be enameled on a tea-cup, for it is obviously 
 
NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 45 
 
 false in principle to place a picture on a curved 
 surface. Again, a palmetto leaf must not be 
 burned into the tiles of a fireplace, the two are 
 incongruous and incompatible. Taste, and a 
 regard for truth should govern all such work. 
 
 We will now briefly enumerate the uses to 
 which photography might be put in decoration. 
 
 FOR PANELING AND FRIEZES.* 
 
 Much might be done in this direction by an 
 appropriate choice of subject. For panels bits 
 of landscape of strongly marked types, sea 
 pieces, dead game, and plants might be admira- 
 bly used. By landscapes of strongly marked 
 type, we mean such things as a dead or leafless 
 tree overhanging a pond, a pollarded willow in 
 winter, and like subjects, where the elements 
 are few. the composition simple, and where 
 there are no subtle atmospheric effects. For 
 this work the subject must be expressed with 
 great terseness and directness, for the form is 
 what is required, not subtlety of tone or mys- 
 tery. A group of dead mallard or teal, or an 
 arrangement of bulrushes and water-lilies, are 
 all suitable and admirable subjects. Negatives 
 for this class of work should be rather dense, 
 and in some cases they may be as sharply 
 focused as possible, it being remembered that 
 for form (diagramatic form) decision is what is 
 required. There are certain subjects, however. 
 
 * Mr. F. HoUyer has since then done some admirable work of this 
 kind. 
 
46 NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 which will bear being only just suggested, such 
 as bulrushes, reeds, etc., which are full of 
 character in themselves. These objects should 
 be photographed against flat- tinted back- 
 grounds, the color chosen being ruled by the 
 color of the furniture of the room. The best 
 method of procedure would be to sensitize the 
 panel and print directly on to it by the platino- 
 type process, or perhaps by some of the carbon 
 processes, red carbon being especially suitable 
 for this work. The Platinotype Company give 
 directions for sensitizing various surfaces, all 
 of which can be obtained from their offices in 
 Southampton Row, High Holborn. 
 
 For friezes, beautiful arrangements could be 
 made of suitably draped figures of girls, of ath- 
 letes, and of animals, the draped figures being 
 in white, taken against a black background. 
 These subjects printed in red carbon would look 
 admirable if properly arranged. Enlargements 
 could be used in these cases, as it does not mat- 
 ter if the original negatives are made micro- 
 scopically sharp. Various subjects and methods 
 of treatment will suggest themselves to the 
 thoughtful and artistic student. 
 
 We cannot help thinking there is a field for 
 the photographic decoration of tiles. For this 
 purpose, as they are low down and seen close 
 to, tone pictures might be used; but any quality 
 of landscape would not be admissible for this 
 work. 
 
 Mr. Henderson's method of enameling is 
 fully given in the late Baden-Pritchard's 
 
NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY 
 
 47 
 
 " Studios of Europe." These tiles would have 
 to be cautiously used. 
 
 There is little or nothing to be done in the 
 decoration of windows by photography. Of 
 course, transparencies will immediately suggest 
 themselves, but they, like modern glass paint- 
 ing, are false art. The first requisite of glass 
 painting is that all the light possible shall pass 
 through the pane, and that the colors shall be 
 flat. Modern window-painters overstep the 
 limits of the art, and try to render tone as well, 
 the result being bad artistically and bad decora- 
 tively, as utility is affected. Glass transpar- 
 encies and opals are, to our mind, worthless for 
 decorative purposes, and should not be en- 
 couraged. 
 
 M. Lafon de Camarsac was the first 
 to apply photography to porcelain work, 
 in the year 1854. He worked with colors and 
 produced some marvellous results, applying 
 gold, silver, and various pigments in this way. 
 His method was used for producing enamels 
 for jewelry, but, of course, such things could be 
 utilized in decorative work. But to produce 
 pictures on tea-cups, saucers, brooches, etc, 
 seems to us against all principles of art. 
 We think that with great care and taste this 
 class of work might be artistically utilized in 
 decorative art, but none but an artist must at- 
 tempt it. So we shall give Poitevin's method. 
 
 A positive on glass is obtained, and a glass 
 plate is coated with gum sensitized with bi- 
 chromate of potash. The positive is then 
 
48 NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 placed in contact with the prepared plate and 
 exposed to the light, the result being invisible 
 as in carbon printing. A very fine hair sieve is 
 now taken, and dry powdered charcoal is sifted 
 over the coated plate, and it will be found that 
 the charcoal adheres to the parts acted upon by 
 light. Thus is produced a delicate portrait in 
 as perfect tone as the original. This portrait 
 is temporarily secured by brushing it over with 
 collodion. The collodion film has now to be 
 separated by delicate knives, and it brings 
 away with it the charcoal picture. This film 
 is next placed on a white enameled plate, 
 which plates are bought ready prepared, and a 
 fixing paste (that used by ceramic painters 
 being employed) is spread with a brush over 
 the enamel. This paste combines with the 
 charcoal image. All is now ready for placing 
 in the enameling furnace, whpn vitrification 
 takes place, and all the organic bodies are 
 destroyed, the vitrified charcoal image alone 
 remaining. We think that with taste even 
 china services might be decorated by means of 
 photography. At any rate there is a wide field 
 for any one with taste and feeling. 
 
 Wall-papers and hangings. We do not know 
 whether or not photography has been applied 
 to the manufacture of either of these materials, 
 but there is wide scope for it. It must be re- 
 membered, however, that definite patterns are 
 obtrusive and undesirable. A rather monoton- 
 ous geometrical pattern is required, the sug- 
 gestion, however, coming from nature. Thus 
 
NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 49 
 
 a good pattern could be obtained from a trans- 
 verse section of a rose-bud, or from various 
 seed-cases, such as those of the convolvulus and 
 rose. Histological specimens also, and desmids 
 and diatoms, all suggest beautiful and varied 
 forms of geometrical patterns. This has often 
 occurred to us when examining the wonderfully 
 varied and beautiful forms of the diatom 
 family. It would, it seems to us, be very easy 
 with multiplying backs to get large numbers of 
 a form on one plate, and then to reproduce 
 them by cheap photo-mechanical means, and 
 though we have never yet heard of photo- 
 graphic wall-papers, yet there is no reason why 
 they should not be manufactured, if made 
 artistically. 
 
 For hangings these same patterns might be 
 woven in or even printed directly upon the 
 materials, by the platinotype process. The 
 company who brought forward that process 
 keep prepared nainsook, why not other 
 materials ? For small things, such as d'oilies 
 an endless and pleasing variety might be intro- 
 duced. 
 
 In short, photography can and should be made 
 amenable to the principles of decorative art, and 
 employed legitimately in thousands of ways ; but 
 the student must never forget that he must 
 rigidly and resolutely keep within the bounds 
 of his medium, which bounds we have briefly 
 indicated here. Common sense, taste, and study 
 are his best safe-guards. In all attempts, how- 
 ever, let him go to nature for his suggestions ; 
 
5° 
 
 NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 she, if he be humble and patient, will not be 
 less lavish to him than to the painter. So we 
 find ourselves at the end of this chapter, and 
 our considerations on photography as applied 
 to decorative art lead us to conclude that the 
 form in which it is at present chiefly applied, 
 i.e. transparencies, is false in principle, and 
 therefore undesirable. We felt this long before 
 wc studied art at all, and although we made 
 many opals and transparencies at one time, we 
 soon gave them up as vanity and foolishness. 
 Those, however, who with training and artistic 
 feeling care to explore the undeveloped fields 
 above indicated, will be sure to find many new 
 treasures. 
 
UENVOI. 
 PHOTOGRAPHY-NOT ART. 
 
" In such an age as this, painting should be under- 
 stood, not looked on with blind wonder, nor considered 
 only as poetic inspiration, but as a pursuit, legitimate, 
 scientific, and mechanical." 
 
 John Constable. 
 
PHOTOGRAPHY— NOT ART. 
 
 Let us, lest we be misunderstood, preface our 
 article by acknowledging without stint the 
 great and invaluable uses of scientific photog- 
 raphy—that is, photography taken with the 
 best corrected optical instruments that give 
 mathematical reproductions of objects before 
 them— reproductions scientifically true in some 
 respects, but not in all; e.g., false in color 
 translation. No doubt science will remedy 
 these defects, and then we shall have an in- 
 valuable machine by which impersonal drawings 
 can be made. The uses of such drawings it 
 were superfluous to consider; they are already 
 widely known to many, and their increased 
 usefulness can be trusted to gain ground with- 
 out any advocacy. But it must never be for- 
 gotten that such mathematical plottings of 
 persons and things are not true in the sense 
 that they reproduce objects as we see them. I 
 first called attention to the fact as regards form 
 and perspective drawing, and subsequently, in 
 conjunction with Mr. T. F. Goodall, published 
 a paper on the subject. Our observations have, 
 in many cases, been corroborated by one of the 
 greatest living psychologists; and one or two 
 of the results, we have since found, were previ- 
 ously discovered by another psychologist. In 
 
 53 
 
54 NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 addition, a well-known teacher, the author of a 
 work on simplified "perspective," has accepted 
 our pamphlet, and intends withdrawing his 
 work. Our investigations easily explain why 
 photographs so often do not resemble the 
 people they are meant to represent, why land- 
 scapes are nearly always so disappointing and 
 petty, and why architectural photographs are 
 useless to the seeing draughtsman, as Mr. J. 
 Pennell so ably pointed out. 
 
 I may briefly say that perspective drawings 
 (and such are correct photographs) are useful 
 purely as " measurements "—as surveys, in 
 fact for topography; when photography is inval- 
 uable. In the matter of textures photography 
 sometimes serves— sometimes other methods 
 are truer. But in most transient landscape 
 effects photographs are disappointing. Look at 
 the full moon just rising, and take a photograph 
 of it, then compare the proportion of the moon 
 to the rest of the landscape; the photograph will 
 give an absurdly " small " impression of the 
 scene. 
 
 This brings us to the subject of photography 
 and art. It has often been asked, " Is photog- 
 raphy an art?" We answer: ''No," and with 
 Mr. Pennell agree that " it can never be an art." 
 
 It is amusing to watch the wrigglings of 
 various vain persons who would be known as 
 
 artists," and yet are living on from day to day 
 practising some other trade or profession, per- 
 sons who— provided photography were an art, 
 and all that some say of it— could never be 
 
NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 55 
 
 classed as anything but "amateurs." They 
 belong chiefly to a body of well-meaning per- 
 sons well known to neural pathologists— a class 
 that fills our galleries and libraries with rubbish 
 done at their own expense. But there are some 
 who really are puzzled to know why photog- 
 raphy is not an art. 
 
 We will endeavor to enlighten them. Let us 
 assume we are going to prove to the world 
 photography is an art; that the most fastidious 
 and critical judges of the period (artists of all 
 schools), have assembled for us to demonstrate 
 to them that photography is an art. 
 
 We begin then the "proof " (?). 
 ^ First, we must select a subject, a real objec- 
 tive picture in the world before us. We select 
 a landscape, say, that experience has taught us 
 would make an artistic painting. We may in 
 that act of selection prove we have artistic 
 judgment. We will assume we have proved 
 this fact. Next we arrange it on the screen 
 focus it as we like, place our diaphragm in the 
 appropriate slit, and put on the cap— all ready 
 to expose. No special photographic knowledge 
 is required for all this— any artist amongst our 
 judges could do the same thing— his purely 
 artistic knowledge would tell him when the 
 focus was right for his desired effect. Up to 
 the taking off the cap, then, nothing- is required 
 but artistic knowledge (saving a trifle of me- 
 chanical knowledge learnt in a few minutes by 
 any intelligent person). The person who really 
 wishes to arrive at an impartial judgment must 
 
56 NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 hold this fact closely. All done so far has noth- 
 ing to do with photography, but with art; as 
 for example, any great painter might come and 
 do all this, and then any operator could take 
 the picture. Whatever artistic value it had, 
 would of course belong to the artist who 
 selected, arranged, and focused the view. For 
 "taking" the picture is a pure science, as for 
 ever proved by Messrs. Hurter & Drifaeld. 
 
 TAKING NEGATIVE. 
 
 Having selected a good view, artists next 
 have to paint or etch, etc., it. The photog- 
 rapher does not make his picture— k machine 
 DOES IT ALL FOR HIM. Whatever subtlety ot 
 tones, of drawing, there are in the photograph, 
 these are the work of a machine. The operator 
 has no part in it, and he cannot control the 
 result at all, as the classical researches referred 
 to have proved beyond a doubt. The fact that 
 the photographer does not do the work is nearly 
 always overlooked; he gets to talk of his works 
 so much that he forgets that after all he has 
 only set the machine to ivork, and he has no more 
 done the work than the engineer who starts the 
 locomotive pulls the train. This must be 
 realized to justly estimate the credit attached 
 to the producer. Now since the machine does 
 the work, and since, any intelligent person can 
 easily learn to manipulate the machine, nearly 
 all the credit of all so-called " artistic " photo- 
 graphs is in choice of view, arrangement on 
 
NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY, 57 
 
 screen and choice of focus. In these matters 
 the photographer is absurdly limited in power 
 as compared with hand-work, by the mechani- 
 cal conditions of the camera. It is therefore 
 very easy to imitate an original worker in 
 photography— a practice, I regret to say, far 
 too common; mediocrity is ever imitative. In 
 addition, the limited powers of the machine 
 tend to level all workers, and prevent genius 
 from fully expressing itself as it can in all 
 individual arts. Very little credit really at- 
 taches to any photographer^ and such work can 
 never reach any but a mediocre plane; it will 
 never fully satisfy any genius, nor any first-rate 
 intellect. But to proceed. We have now got 
 the negative— by pure photography nothing 
 more can be done. 
 
 An artist now might improve the negative 
 by retouching, local Intensification, and reduc- 
 tion, etc.; but it must be remembered that 
 everything done by these methods is not photog- 
 raphy at all, but hand-work, and only art when 
 done by an accomplished and trained artist; 
 and I know of no artist capable of doing such 
 work who would waste time upon negatives. 
 Such work must be judged, and the credit put 
 down to art, not photography. This work is 
 done to-day for commercial ends, and fulfils a 
 commercial need, but all that has nothing to do 
 with art or photography. 
 
 Next comes the "printing" from the nega- 
 tive. An artist has the power of choosing the 
 process, and paper that will best suit his subject. 
 
NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 That is purely a matter of art-knowledge if the 
 object be artistic; but, if scientific, the paper 
 will be chosen for scientific considerations. The 
 choice here is very limited. After the paper is 
 chosen, again comes the mechanical photog- 
 rapher and starts the engine, and light does the 
 printing, he merely stopping the engine when 
 the printing is done. In this respect the merest 
 journeyman copper-plate printer is a greater 
 artist than the photographer. If the photog- 
 rapher dodge in printing by masking, that is 
 merely a crude form of art, and not photography. 
 
 Et voila I He presents his print to the 
 judges whom we imagined assembled. They 
 discuss it, and the spokesman sums up as fol- 
 lows: ''You selected the view: that was art (we 
 allow you have an eye for the picturesque). 
 You arranged it well; focused it well (we 
 think): that was art. But you were so limited 
 by the machine that your individuality could 
 but barely assert itself in this respect. Then 
 you started a machine, and that machine drew 
 the picture for you; you merely fixed its work 
 by chemicals, which is photography, not art. 
 You selected some ready-prepared paper, and 
 the sun printed your picture, and you fixed it 
 again. That is photography, with an iota of 
 art in the selection of the paper. We find you 
 have not proved to us you are an artist, for you 
 can execute nothing. You cannot even draw a 
 cube fairly; and, moreover, we find your 
 machine does not give us any idea of the 
 magnificent scene you selected. One of us — an 
 
NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 59 
 
 accomplished landscape painter — ^has been 
 drawing- the scene in black and white (we omit 
 to refer to your color impotency), and his 
 proportions and tonality are altogether different 
 from those of your photograph. His picture is 
 altogether grander and bigger, yours being 
 merely a mechanical perspective drawing, false 
 in many respects. We find that, if you think 
 photography to be art, you must decide who is 
 the artist in the case of an automatic machine — 
 the penny, the person who drops the penny in 
 the slot, or the automatic machine." 
 
 Perhaps, convinced by this inexorable logic, 
 you would say: "Yes, I yield to reason, for only 
 fools live in a fool's paradise- but would I not 
 be an artist if I were to reproduce my negatives 
 on copper, photo-etch them, and hand-print 
 them myself?" They, knowing the process, 
 would answer, " No ! The laying of the ground 
 is a mechanical process. The biting, if scien- 
 tifically conducted— and all other ways are 
 mere bungling— is mechanical; and finally but 
 chiefly you are doing a set task, viz., to repro- 
 duce your photograph. You are not like the 
 etcher creating a new work, but merely me- 
 chanically reproducing the work of a machine, 
 Any hand- work put on the plate will, of course, 
 not be photography, though it may be art." 
 
 Finally the spokesman says to you: " You 
 have demonstrated to us most clearly that 
 photography is not art, and never can be. If. 
 however, you like the results ( we do not include 
 the invaluable scientific results), do them; you 
 
6o NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 can by them show in a very limited way 
 whether you have anything of the artistic 
 temperament (we refer always to the unphoto- 
 graphic part of the work, as we have explained), 
 but do not hold yourself up to ridicule by call- 
 ing yourself an artist, unless you have been 
 trained as an artist and follow art as a profes- 
 sion; for remember that many of us here could 
 pay persons to do the merely photographic 
 work, and soon take the wind out of the sails 
 of all but the three or four of you vv^hom we 
 allow are masters in the selection of pictures in 
 nature, and could these three or four paint what 
 they select as well as they photograph it we 
 allow they would be master-artists. To be an 
 artist you must have the power of selection 
 AND EXECUTION. No matter what the medium 
 chosen, the lack of either is fatal, just as there 
 are many real poetic natures who cannot write 
 a stanza." 
 
 I may finish this little paper by a suggestion 
 as to why I think artists invariably consider, 
 and will continue to think, hand-work superior 
 to machine-work. Photographs often interest 
 them for a time, yet the interest is never lasting ; 
 people soon tire of them. I believe the reason 
 of this to be that mankind will always value the 
 personal element in a work ; they constantly 
 recur to the etching or painting because it has 
 been done by a man. 
 
 Photography then, when not scientific or 
 topographical, is a pastime, dangerous in many 
 respects, as apt to foster morbid vanity in the 
 
NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 6l 
 
 degenerate, but useful often as leading its 
 practitioners to think about art and to visit pic- 
 ture galleries, thus helping them to cultivate an 
 aesthetic sense. But the snares of vanity are 
 too strong to be resisted by the weak, and the 
 cheap press hurries them to their doom. It has 
 been well said that the chief use of the multipli- 
 cation of cheap journals and increased facilities 
 given to every one to " have his say," has been 
 the increased facility they offer for the discovery 
 of fools — since in their columns alone fools are 
 allowed to "have their say." Certain it is that 
 photographic papers have helped photographers 
 to discover many fools who would otherwise 
 have lain perdus — amateur writers upon optical 
 matters, upon art, upon science, and what not. 
 We would suggest that the common fool in 
 future hesitate before discovering himself. 
 
 Let photographers take the modest and legiti- 
 mate ground that photography is not an art but 
 a science, and further, that in one invaluable 
 branch— topography — the machine pictures se- 
 lected by an artist must always be superior to 
 others, for a topographer may sacrifice detail 
 for breadth, or accuracy for general topo- 
 graphical sentiment. Let there be no mis- 
 understanding about the use of the word artist. 
 An artist is a man thoroughly trained in the 
 practice of an art (photography is a science), 
 who devotes his life to his art to the exclusion 
 of everything else ; his sole end and aim being 
 the production of aesthetic works, whose object 
 is to give emotional pleasure. Art is personal. 
 
62 NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 and machine work can never be art. One must 
 understand something of music to get the best 
 work from a hand-organ, yet an organ-grinder 
 with musical tastes is no artist. If any photo- 
 grapher aspires to become an artist he must 
 cultivate some artistic method of expression, 
 such as painting, sculpture, literature, acting, 
 music, singing,— and practice it as his profes- 
 sion. Then, and not till then, will he be 
 recognized as an artist ; and then he may be 
 aggrieved to find that the masters of his pro- 
 fession allow but few even of such trained 
 practitioners the name of artist. 
 
 There is much good scientific work to be done 
 by photographers, and if I am permitted to re- 
 open the subject in another paper, I would sug- 
 gest some systematic work to be undertaken by 
 enthusiastic amateurs— work that would lead 
 them to a far higher level than any taking of 
 "pictures" during a short period of the year 
 will ever do ; and they will be relieved of keep- 
 ing up the pretentious title of artists, bickerings 
 will cease, and photography be more univers- 
 ally respected and advanced. 
 
 There was excuse until quite recently for men 
 who contended that photography was art. For 
 men are justified in fighting for a cause, pro- 
 vided they base their fight on knowledge up to 
 date ; and until quite recently it was justifiable 
 to contend that photography might be a fine 
 art in the hands of an artist. That position, in 
 the light of recent investigations, is untenable 
 and foolish ; but, like all old truths," it will 
 
NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 63 
 
 be for a time perpetuated as a superstition 
 amongst the vain and imcultured. Photography 
 is an easily acquired science, and never can be 
 anything else. 
 
 Finally, there are some who may say—" But 
 Carmine a second-rate painter, or Stylus a 
 third-rate etcher, says— photography is art, and 
 that is sufficient answer." It is no more an 
 answer than when third-rate scientists or first- 
 rate theologians deny the theory of Natural 
 Selection. What one or two men say on this 
 side or that matters not a rap ; but the general 
 consensus of opinion of a body of first-rate 
 specialists upon their own subject matters 
 much ; and the best artists are unanimous that 
 photography is not art, and never can be, 
 though till recently many able artists were 
 doubtful. Art is personal ; photographs are 
 machine-made goods, useful, as is machine- 
 made furniture, machine-made fabrics, and 
 perhaps—for the slums — machine-made music. 
 
«' Very few poets gets their inspiration from nature. 
 The majority of them have read other poets, and they 
 use the same ideas, clothed in different language. The 
 painter has to go directly to nature, or he is a mere 
 copyist. He cannot paint his picture like somebody 
 else. He must tell his own story if he has any to tell. 
 Please to look out of the window ! You'll get some- 
 thing different from what you get out of books, for it 
 never has been seen before !" 
 
 W. Hunt. 
 
 \ 
 
APPENDIX A. 
 
 SCIENCE AND ART. 
 
 (A Paper read at the Camera Club Conference, 
 held in the rooms of the Society of Arts, 
 London, on March 26th, i88g.) 
 
 Mr. President, Ladie^ and Fellow-Pho- 
 tographers: — Before beginning this paper I 
 would fain ask of you two things— your attention 
 and your charity, but especially your charity. 
 The reception which you accord me, ladies and 
 gentlemen, assures me you will give both, and 
 I thank you beforehand. 
 
 vSince all mental progress consists, as Mr. 
 Herbert Spencer has shown, for the most part 
 in differentiation — that is in the analysis of an 
 unknown complex into known components — 
 surely it were a folly to confuse any longer the 
 aims of Science and Art. Rather should we en- 
 deavor to draw an indelible line of demarcation 
 between them, for in this way we make mental 
 progress, and Science and Art at the same time 
 begin to gather together their scattered forces, 
 each one taking under its standard those pow- 
 ers that belong to it, and thus becoming inte- 
 grated, and necessarily stronger and more per- 
 manent; for evolution is integration and differ- 
 entiation passing into a coherent heterogen- 
 eity. Now I do not mean to premise that this 
 67 
 
68 NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY, 
 
 confusion between science and art exists every- 
 where -it does not. But I feel sure that it 
 exists largely in the ever-increasing body of per- 
 sons who practise photography. The majority 
 of them have not thoroughly, nay, not even 
 adequately, thought the matter out. It is obvi- 
 ous then, according to the teachings of evolu- 
 tion, that, if we are to make progress, this 
 differentiation must be made, thoroughly under- 
 stood, and rigidly adhered to by every prac- 
 titioner of photography. Each one must have 
 his aim clearly stamped upon his mind, whether 
 it be the advancement of science or the creation 
 of works whose aim and end is to give aesthetic 
 pleasure. Proceed we now to analyze the dif- 
 ference between the aims and ends of Science 
 and Art. Let us first approach the subject from 
 the scientific standpoint. 
 
 Assuming that we have before us a living 
 man, let us proceed together to study him scien- 
 tifically, for the nonce imagining our minds to 
 be virginal tablets, without score or scratch. 
 Let us proceed first to record the color of his 
 skin, his hair and eyes, the texture of his skin, 
 the relative positions of the variqus orifices in 
 his face, the number of his limbs, the various 
 measurements of all these members. So we go 
 on integrating and differentiating until we find 
 that we have actually built up a science — eth- 
 nology. If we pursue the study, and begin to 
 compare different races of men with each other, 
 we find our ethnology extends to a more com- 
 plex anthropology. 
 
NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 69 
 
 We next observe that the eyelids open and 
 close, the lips open, sounds issue from the 
 mouth, and our curiosity leads us to dissect a 
 dead subject, and we find that beneath the skin, 
 fat, and superficial fascice there are muscles, 
 each supplied with vessels and nerves to their 
 common origins, and are led to the heart and 
 brain. In short, we find the science of anatomy 
 grows up under our hands, and if we go on with 
 our studies we are led into microscopy. Then 
 we begin to ponder on the reasons why the 
 blood flows, on the reasons why the corriigator 
 supercilii BXid depressores anguli oris act in weep- 
 ing, the musculus superbus in practical arro- 
 gance, and the levator anguli oris in snarling or 
 sneering. So we go on studying the functions 
 of all the organs we find in our man, and lo ! 
 we are deep in physiology; and if we go deeply 
 enough we find the thread lost in the most 
 complex problems of organic chemistry and 
 molecular physics. And so we might go on 
 studying this man; and if our lives were long 
 enough, and if we had capacity enough, we 
 should be led through a study of this man to a 
 knowledge of all physical phenomena, so won- 
 derful and beautiful is the all-pervading princi- 
 ple of the conservation of energy, and so inde- 
 structible is matter. As we proceeded with our 
 studies we should have been observing, record- 
 ing, positing hypotheses, and either proving or 
 disproving them In all these ways we should 
 have been adding to the sum of knowledge. 
 And in the greatest steps we made in our 
 
70 
 
 NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 advancement we should have made use of our 
 constructive imagination — the highest intel- 
 lectual^owev, according to recent psychologists. 
 
 The results of these investigations, if we 
 were wise, would have been recorded in the 
 simplest and tersest language possible, for such 
 is the language of Science. It is needless to 
 point out that in these records of our studies, 
 as in the records of all scientific studies, too 
 many facts could not possibly be registered. 
 Every little fact is welcome in scientific study, 
 so long as it is true. And thus the humblest 
 scientific worker may help in the great work ; 
 his mite is always acceptable. Such is, alas I 
 not the case with that jealous goddess, Art; she 
 will have nothing to do with mediocrity. A 
 bad work of art has no raison d'etre; it is worse 
 than useless— it is harmful. 
 
 To sum up, then, "Science," as Professor 
 Huxley says, " is the knowledge of the laws of 
 Nature obtained by observation, experiment, 
 and reasoning. No line can .be drawn between 
 common knowledge of things and scientific 
 knowledge; nor between common reasoning 
 and scientific reasoning. In strictness, all accu- 
 rate knowledge is Science, and all exact reason- 
 ing is scientific reasoning. The method of 
 observation and experiment by which such great 
 results are obtained in Science is identically 
 the same as that which is employed by every 
 one, every day of his life, but refined and ren- 
 dered precise." 
 
 Now let us turn to Art, and look at our 
 
NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 71 
 
 imaginary man from the artistic standpoint. 
 Assuming that we have learned the technique 
 of some method of artistic expression, and that 
 is part of the science we require, we will pro- 
 ceed with our work. 
 
 Let us look at the figure before us from the 
 sculptor's point of view. Now what is our 
 mental attitude ? We no longer care for many 
 of the facts that vitally interested us when we 
 were studying the man scientifically; we care 
 little about his anatomy, less about his physiol- 
 ogy, and nothing at all about organic chemistry 
 and molecular physics. We care nothing for 
 his morality, his thoughts, his habits and cus- 
 toms — his sociological history, in fact; neither 
 do we care about his ethnological characters. 
 If he be a good model, it matters little whether 
 he be Greek, Italian, or Circassian. But we do 
 care, above all, for his type, his build, and the 
 grace with which he comports himself; for our 
 aim is to make a statue like him, a statue pos- 
 sessing qualities that shall give aesthetic pleas- 
 ure. For the raison d'etre of a work of art ends 
 with itself; there should be no ulterior motive 
 beyond the giving of aesthetic pleasure to the 
 most cultivated and sensitively refined natures. 
 
 The first thing, then, we must do is to sit in 
 judgment on our model. Will he do for the 
 purpose ? Are his features suitable ? Is he 
 well modelled in all parts ? Does he move 
 easily and with grace ? If he fulfils all these 
 conditions we take him. Then we watch his 
 movements and seize on a beautiful pose. 
 
72 
 
 NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 Now with our clay we begin to model him. 
 As we go on with our work we begin to see 
 that it is utterly impossible to record all the 
 facts about him with our material, and we soon 
 find it is undesirable to do so— nay, pernicious. 
 We cannot model those hundreds of fine 
 wrinkles, those thousands of hairs, those myri- 
 ads of pores in the skin that we see before us. 
 What, then, must we do ? We obviously select 
 some— the most salient, if we are wise— and 
 leave out the rest. ^ 
 
 All at once the fundamental distinction 
 between Science and Art dawns upon us. We 
 cannot record too many facts in Science; the 
 fewer facts we record in Art, and yet express 
 the subject so that it cannot be better ex- 
 pressed, the better. All the greatest artists 
 have left out as much as possible. They have 
 endeavored to give a fine analysis of the model, 
 and the Greeks succeeded. 
 
 It is beside the question to show how Science 
 has exercised an injurious influence upon cer- 
 tain schools in art; but that would be very easy 
 to do. At the same time, the best Art has 
 been founded on scientific principles— that is, 
 the big physical facts have been true to nature. 
 
 To sum up, then. Art is the selection, arrange- 
 ment, and recording of certain facts, with the 
 aim of giving aesthetic pleasure; and it differs 
 from Science fundamentally, in that as few 
 facts as are compatible with complete expression 
 - are chosen, and these are arranged so as to 
 appeal to the emotional side of man's nature, 
 
NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 73 
 
 whereas the scientific facts appeal to his intel- 
 lectual side. 
 
 But, as in many erroneous ideas that have 
 had currency for long, there lurks a germ of 
 truth, so there lurks still a leaven of Art in 
 Science and a leaven of Science in Art; but in 
 each these leavenings are subordinate, and not 
 at the first blush appreciable. For example, in 
 Science the facts can be recorded or demon- 
 strated with selection, arrangement, and lucid- 
 ity; that is the leaven of Art in Science. 
 Whilst in Art the big physical facts of nature 
 must be truthfully rendered; that is, the leaven 
 of Science m Art. 
 
 And so we see there is a relationship between 
 science and art, and yet they are as the poles 
 asunder. * 
 
 II. 
 
 We shall now endeavor to discuss briefly how 
 our remarks apply to photography. Any stu- 
 dent of photographic literature is well aware 
 that numerous papers are constantly being 
 published by persons who evidently are not 
 aware of this radical distinction between 
 science and art. 
 
 The student will see it constantly advocated 
 that every detail of a picture should be im- 
 partially rendered with a biting accuracy, and 
 this in all cases. This biting sharpness being, 
 as landscape painters say, " Quite fatal from 
 the artistic standpoint." If the rendering were 
 always given sharply, the work would belong 
 
74 
 
 NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 to the category of topography or the knowledge 
 of places, that is Science. To continue, the 
 student will find directions for producing an 
 unvarying quality in his negative. He will be 
 told how negatives of low-toned effects may be 
 made to give prints like negatives taken in 
 bright sunshine ; in short, he will find that 
 these writers have a scientific ideal, a sort of 
 standard negative by which to gauge all others. 
 And if these writers are questioned, the student 
 will find the standard negative is one in which 
 all detail is rendered with microscopic sharp- 
 ness, and one taken evidently in the brightest 
 sunshine. We once heard it seriously proposed 
 that there should be some sort of standard 
 lantern-slide. My allotted time is too brief to 
 give further examples. Suffice to say, that 
 this unvarying standard negative would be 
 admirable if Nature were unvarying in her 
 moods; until that comes to pass there must be 
 as much variety in negatives as there are in 
 different moods in Nature. 
 
 It is, we think, because of the confusion of 
 the aims of Science and Art that the majority 
 of photographs fail either as scientific records 
 or pictures. It would be easy to point out 
 how the majority are false scientifically, and 
 easier still to show how they are simply devoid 
 of all artistic qualities. They serve, however, 
 as many have served, as topographical records 
 of faces, buildings, and landscapes, but often 
 incorrect records at that. It is curious and 
 interesting to observe that such work always 
 
NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 requires a name. It is a photograph of Mr. 
 Jones, of Mont Blanc, or of the Houses of Parlia- 
 ment. On the other hand, a work of Art really 
 requires no name, — it speaks for itself. It has 
 no burning desire to be named, for its aim is 
 to give the beholder aesthetic pleasure, and not 
 to add to his knowledge or the Science of places, 
 i.e., topography. The work of Art, it cannot 
 too often be repeated, appeals to man's emo- 
 tional side ; it has no wish to add to his knowl- 
 edge — to his Science. On the other hand, topo- 
 graphical works appeal to his intellectual side ; 
 they refresh his memory of absent persons or 
 landscapes, or they add to his knowledge. To 
 anticipate criticism, I should like to say that of 
 course in all mental processes the intellectua, 
 and emotional factors are inseparable, yet the 
 one is always subordinated to the other. The 
 emotional is subordinate when we are solving 
 a mathematical problem, the intellectual is 
 decidedly subordinate when we are making 
 love. Psychologists have analyzed to a re- 
 markable extent the intellectual phenomenal 
 but the knowledge of the components of the 
 sentiments or the emotional phenomena is, as 
 Mr. Herbert Spencer says, " altogether vague 
 in its outlines, and has a structure which con- 
 tinues indistinct even under the most patient 
 introspection. Dim traces of different com- 
 ponents may be discerned ; but the limitations 
 both of the whole and of its parts are so faintly 
 marked, and at the same time so entangled, that 
 none but very general results can be reached." 
 
76 NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 The chief thing, then, that I would impress 
 upon all beginners is the necessity for begin- 
 ning work with a clear distinction between the 
 aims and ends of Science and Art. When the 
 art-student has acquired enough knowledge — 
 that is, Science — to express what he wishes, let 
 him, with jealous care, keep the scientific mental 
 attitude, if I may so express it, far away. On 
 the other hand, if the student's aim is scientific, 
 let him cultivate rigidly scientific methods, and 
 not weaken himself by attempting a compromise 
 with Art. We in the photographic world should 
 be either scientists or pictorial photographers ; 
 we should be aiming either to increase knowl- 
 edge — that is, science, — or to produce works 
 whose aim and end is to give aesthetic pleasure. 
 I do not imply any comparison between Science 
 and Art to the advantage of either one. They 
 are both of the highest worth, and I admire all 
 sincere, honest, and capable workers in either 
 branch with impartiality. But I do not wish 
 to see the aims and ends of the two confused, 
 the workers weakened thereby, and above all, 
 the progress of Science hindered and delayed. 
 
 III. 
 
 Next I shall discuss briefly the ill-effects of a 
 too sedulous study of Science upon an Art 
 student. 
 
 The first and, perhaps, the greatest of these 
 ill-effects is the positive mental attitude that 
 Science fosters. A scientific student is only con- 
 
NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY, 77 
 
 cerned with stating a fact clearly and simply; he 
 must tell the truth, and the whole truth. Now, a 
 scientific study of photography, if pushed too 
 far, leads, as a rule, to that state of mind which 
 delights in a wealth of clearly-cut detail. The 
 scientific photographer wishes to see the veins 
 in a lily-leaf and the scales on a butterfly's 
 wing. He looks, in fact, so closely, so micros- 
 copically, at the butterfly's wing, that he never 
 sees the poetry of the life of the butterfly itself, 
 as with buoyant wheelings it disappears in mar- 
 riage flight over the lush grass and pink cuckoo- 
 flowers of May. 
 
 I feel sure that this general delight in detail, 
 brilliant sunshiny effects, glossy prints, etc., is 
 chiefly due to the evolution of photography : 
 these tastes have been developed with the art, 
 from the silver plate of Daguerre to the double- 
 albumenized paper of to-day. But, as the art 
 develops, we find the love for gloss and detail 
 giving way before platmotype prints and 
 photo-etchings. 
 
 The second great artistic evil engendered by 
 Science is the careless manner in which things 
 are expressed. The scientist seeks for truth, 
 and is often indifferent to its method of expres- 
 sion. To him, " Can you not wait upon the 
 lunatic ?" is, as the late Matthew Arnold said, 
 as good as " Canst thou not minister to a mind 
 diseased ?" To the literary artist, on the other 
 hand, these sentences are as the poles asunder, 
 — the one in bald truth, the other literature. 
 They both suggest the same thing ; yet what 
 
78 NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 aesthetic pleasure we get from the one, and 
 what a dull fact is, " Can you not wait upon the 
 lunatic ?" There are photographs and photo- 
 graphs ; the one giving as much pleasure as 
 the literary sentence, the other being as dull as 
 the matter-of-fact question. The student with 
 understanding will see the fundamental and 
 vital distinction between Science and Art as 
 shown even in these two short sentences. 
 
 And now, ladies and gentlemen, I do not 
 think I can do better than finish this section by 
 quoting another passage from the writings of 
 the late Matthew Arnold. 
 
 '* Deficit una mild symmetria prisca. — ' The 
 antique symmetry was the one thing wanting 
 to me,' said Leonardo da Vinci, and he was an 
 Italian. I will not presume to speak for the 
 American, but I am sure that, in the English- 
 man, the want of this admirable symmetry of 
 the Greeks is a thousand times more great and 
 crying than in any Italian. The results of the 
 want show themselves most glaringly, perhaps, 
 in our architecture, but they show themselves 
 also in our art. Fit details strictly combined, 
 in view of a large general result nobly con- 
 ceived : that is just the beautiful symmetria 
 prisca of the Greeks, and it is just where we 
 English fail, where all our art fails. Striking 
 ideas we have, and well executed details 
 we have ; but that high symmetry which, 
 with satisfying delightful effect, contains them, 
 we seldom or never have. The glorious beauty 
 of the Acropolis at Athens did not arise from 
 
NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 79 
 
 single fine things stuck about on that hill, a 
 statue here, a gateway there. No, it arose from 
 all things being perfectly combined for a 
 supreme total effect." 
 
 CONCLUSION. 
 
 And now I must finish my remarks. I have 
 not perhaps told you very much, but if I have 
 succeeded in impressing upon beginners and 
 some others the vital and fundamental distinc- 
 tion between Science and Art, something will 
 have been achieved. And if those students 
 who find anything suggestive in my paper are 
 by it led to look upon photography in future 
 from a new mental attitude, something more 
 important still will have been attained. For, 
 in my humble opinion, though it is apparently 
 but a little thing I have to tell, still its effect 
 may be vital and far-reaching for many an 
 honest worker, and if I have helped a few such, 
 my labor will have been richly rewarded in- 
 deed. 
 
APPENDIX B. 
 
 TOPOGRAPHY AND ART. 
 
 My friend, J. Harvard Thomas, a sculptor, 
 and I, were one evening discussing the mental 
 attitude from which scientific men regarded the 
 pictorial and glyptic arts. To illustrate their 
 view, Mr. Thomas told me a goodstory of the late 
 Dr. W. B. Carpenter, the well khown physiolo- 
 gist. My friend one evening found the doctor 
 admiring and studying a beautiful topographi- 
 cal photograph of Fingal's cave, probably one 
 of Mr. Valentine's justly world-famed series of 
 views. Dr. Carpenter produced the photograph 
 and began to point out its beauties. Mr. 
 Thomas listened to him patiently and curiously 
 as he went on to describe the geological forma- 
 tion of the basaltic rocks, going into ecstacies as 
 he discoursed on the erosions of the tide and 
 other physical phenomena. " I have stood just 
 there," said Dr. Carpenter, pointing to a par- 
 ticular column of basalt, and seen the tide go 
 sweeping past me. Oh, yes; I like the old 
 place apart from its scientific interest; it gave 
 me a wonderful pleasure to be out there inhal- 
 ing the sea breezes after hard work in my 
 study." 
 
 *'But it is not a picture," hazarded Mr. 
 80 
 
NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 8l 
 
 Thomas. " That may be," said Dr. Carpenter, 
 " I know nothing of that, but the photograph 
 gives me great pleasure." 
 
 Now what we wish to discuss in this paper is, 
 what gave Dr. Carpenter that pleasure in 
 contemplatmg the photograph apart from its 
 scientific interest ? We may therefrom derive 
 something suggestive. The answer to the ques- 
 tion is not very complex. Nervous tissue that 
 has once been used in a pleasurable way, though 
 often exhausted at the time of use by its dis- 
 charges, gradually becomes recharged and a 
 fresh sense of tension is felt by the organism, 
 this tension aVousing in the brain emotions 
 which prompt the organism to seek afresh those 
 formerly experienced pleasures. Thus desires 
 are begotten; the chief psychological factor in 
 the origin of desire being our power of faintly 
 reviving images of past experiences. Past pleas- 
 ures and pain are revivable more or less vividly 
 in proportion as they were all-absorbing and 
 vividly impressed upon us at the time we re- 
 ceived them, but they are always necessarily 
 fainter and vaguer in outline than the original 
 vivid impressions. This, then, accounts for the 
 pleasure we derive from the representation of a 
 place that we are familiar with. 
 
 This representation of whatever kind, 
 whether painting or photograph, if tolerably 
 accurate, faintly recalls the pleasurable feel- 
 ings which were felt in that place at the time 
 that we enjoyed ourselves there. For example, 
 if we are confined to the house by sedentary 
 
 4; 
 
82 
 
 NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 pursuits, and make it our practice to visit, say- 
 Switzerland, in our holidays, we always feel a 
 thrill of pleasure on seeing Swiss pictures dur- 
 ing our absence from our playground; for the 
 photograph immediately calls up faint impres- 
 sions of the fresh, keen air, the trees, the gla- 
 ciers, the mountaineering excursions, and all 
 the diverse pleasures ^e experienced in those 
 delightful hours of rest. Gradually the desire 
 grows and strengthens to revisit the old haunts, 
 and is gratified on our next annual holiday. It 
 is probably for this reason that we buy photo- 
 graphs of places that we have visited; a curious 
 and interesting fact in this connection being, 
 that more photographs of hotels where honey- 
 moons have been spent are sold than any others 
 — at least, so I have been informed by one of 
 the widest known photographers in the world. 
 
 It seems to me that when we discuss artistic 
 work we must never forget the influence of 
 this love of places per se, and it is quite obvious 
 that it has nothing whatever to do with any 
 picturesque or artistic qualities belonging to 
 the place itself; this love of old haunts being 
 common to the lowest men and animals alike; 
 we observe it displayed by nesting birds every 
 season. 
 
 This knowledge gives us the key to the men- 
 tal attitude of the uncultured picture buyer. 
 It it is not the sentimentalism of the picture 
 that catches him, it is this topographical inter- 
 est that finally decides his purchase. 
 
 He buys poor work of some locality that he 
 
 4 
 
NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 83 
 
 knows; he commissions painters to paint views 
 of his newly acquired "place," It is this topo- 
 graphical interest that brings so many amateur 
 photographers into the field. 
 
 They delight in storing up views of places 
 they have had a good time in, and it is a harm- 
 less and pleasant pursuit, so long as they are 
 not vain and deluded enough to think that they 
 are producing works with artistic qualities. 
 But there are many simple persons who imag- 
 ine that their crude productions possess artistic 
 merits. 
 
 Especially liable are they to make this mis- 
 take if they happen to acquire easily good 
 manipulative ability. They are probably en- 
 couraged in their vanity by others with the 
 same vain and foolish natures as their own, 
 and they are finally confirmed in their credulity 
 by their real love of their own productions, 
 and by the too facile opportunities given them 
 of writing nonsense in amateur journals. For 
 a time all goes well with them, and they soon 
 begin to talk at their societies and to write in 
 their journals about art; a matter they have 
 never studied or sacrificed anything for all 
 their lives. Thus puffed up with self-conceit 
 these mentally infirm persons go on well 
 enough until they bring their work before some 
 able artist, and they are then enraged and 
 chagrined when he either passes it over silently 
 or with some conventional compliment. Prob- 
 ably they will think the artist insincere or 
 prejudiced, for they do honestly and genuinely 
 
84 NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 admire their own work themselves. The rea- 
 son of this has been explained — they honestly 
 admire their own photographs because on 
 looking at them they are able to recall faint 
 images of the pleasures experienced in the 
 places photographed, whereas they forget that 
 the artist to whom they show them has neve?' 
 been to those places, and has therefore no faint 
 images to revive. 
 
 They forget, toe, that the only qualities by 
 which their work will appeal to the artist are 
 those aesthetic qualities which they necessarily 
 do not possess, since they have never studied 
 Art. 
 
 Photographs taken to recall places that we have 
 personally enjoyed do not command that sympa- 
 thy that art work does because they are eminent- 
 ly selfish in origin, and are thus akin to all the 
 other life- serving products; as food, which is 
 essentially selfish in its nature, though pleasur- 
 able to the consumer. Art work on the other 
 hand does not appeal to the life-serving func- 
 tions, but to that love of the refined, the pure, 
 and the noble, which is found in the highest 
 men and the highest races to the greatest ex- 
 tent. I would not for a moment discourage 
 the taking of these topographical views, for 
 they undoubtedly give a sincere and pure pleas- 
 ure to the producers, if to no one else; but I 
 would beg those persons to act with ordinary 
 sanity, to act as they would do in their own 
 walks of life, and not delude themselves into 
 the idea that they are Artists, and so allow 
 
NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 85 
 
 themselves to be persuaded by insincere and 
 ignorant Philistines into rushing into print and 
 making themselves ridiculous in the eyes of 
 artists who really know what they are about. 
 The flood of nonsense poured forth lately by 
 amateur and irresponsible writers — parsons, 
 clerks, medical students, militia-men, and oth- 
 ers — is a sad proof how silly men, who are quite 
 sensible in their own vocations, can become 
 when they lose their reason and discuss things 
 they have never honestly studied. Such conduct 
 is the hall-mark of the degenerate mattoid. 
 
 Nor have they even proved by their works that 
 they have average artistic insight, uncultured 
 though it must necessarily be. If a man wishes 
 to cultivate the arts he must sacrifice every 
 thing — worldly ambition, the accumulation of 
 wealth, the glory of purple and fine linen, and 
 peace of mind; he must also be prepared to be 
 buffeted by the Philistines, to be misrepresented, 
 abused, misunderstood, and slandered, for 
 " every crown is a crown of thorns." If he is 
 prepared to sacrifice all and follow his jealous 
 mistress, he will, if he possess ability, one day 
 begin to understand what Art is. But without 
 this self-abnegation he will never, no matter how 
 great be his original ability, enter into the 
 chosen land. 
 
 I will add, however, that these topographical 
 photographs, though in some cases primarily 
 taken from selfish motives, may afterwards 
 serve useful purposes, as do the avowed topo- 
 graphical photographs. Such work is invalua- 
 
86 
 
 NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 ble from the scientific point of view, as in the 
 study of geography, etc., apart from any special 
 interest they may have for the producer him- 
 self. For such purposes every detail should be 
 clearly given, as is done in the wonderful series 
 of topographical views published by Messrs. 
 Valentine, Wilson, England, Bedford, Payne, 
 Jennings, Green, Gibson, and others. Their 
 views are invaluable as topographical works, but 
 they are not works of art, and lest I should do 
 some of those photographers an injustice I must 
 add, that to my certain knowledge, some of 
 them lay no claim whatever to any artistic 
 merit in their productions, and such look with 
 amusement upon the pretentious operators who 
 regard themselves as artists. 
 
 The aim of the artist, it will be seen, is quite 
 distinct from the aims of all these other work- 
 ers. He selects his picture from nature purely 
 on account of certain aesthetic qualities which 
 he wishes to express — it little matters to him 
 whether the original scene be in Africa or Peru, 
 so long as it suits his purpose. So it comes 
 about that when he shows his picture he often 
 meets with sympathy from the most cultured, 
 for he appeals to them, not by local interest, 
 but by aesthetic qualities Thus, too, it often 
 follows that the more artistic the work, the 
 fewer will be the persons who really fully ap- 
 preciate it; for it is, I think, perfectly explica- 
 ble on psychological grounds that a man ap- 
 preciates works of art in proportion to his 
 innate artistic instincts, though he may never 
 
NATURALISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 
 
 87 
 
 have exercised those instincts in production 
 itself. To honestly appreciate and feel a thrill 
 of glow over a Corot or a Rembrandt. " Tell 
 me a man's friends, and I will tell you the man," 
 is far more profound than it may appear on the 
 surface. Tell me what pictures, or books, or 
 music, a man honestly delights in, and I will tell 
 you that man's artistic nature, uncultured and 
 undeveloped though it be. But this axiom does 
 not imply that the admirer can ever attain to 
 the production of works anywhere approaching 
 those he admires; on the contrary, there are 
 peculiar mental qualities required in production 
 which the sympathetic admirer does not neces- 
 sarily possess, although he may possess high 
 mental qualities of quite another kind. 
 
 I think it may now be clear to many workers, 
 quite apart from the pleasure they have in their 
 photographic work, they honestly admire their 
 own productions, and why they are often irri- 
 tated and disappointed when they can get no 
 sympathy from artists. 
 
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 plates on Japanese Vellum, text on hand-made paper : bound in Morocco and white 
 linen. Limited to 100 copies, price £1 is. Ordinary Edition on white paper, with 
 plates on Dickinson's hand-made paper, bound in blue cloth, limited to 200 copies, 
 price los. 6d. A few copies of both Editions left. D. Nutt, Publisher. Popular 
 issue — revised, unlimited and not illustrated, small Svo, cloth. 
 
 Caoba, The Guerilla Chief. A Tale of the Cuban Rebellion. Crown 
 8vo. Second Edition, 3s. 6d. A true historical novel of the Rebellion, 1868 — 78. D. 
 Nutt, 270 Strand, W.C. Gives a picture of Cuban plantation life, written from the 
 Author's personal experiences. 
 
 Collectors should complete their sets of Dr. Emerson's Works 
 as soon as possible, for many of them are out of print and 
 already rare; 
 
 JOINT-AUTHOR OF 
 
 Life and Landscape on the Norfolk Broads. Folio. Illustrated 
 
 with 40 large platinotypes of Norfolk Broad scenery. Edition de Luxe, limited to 25 
 copies, bound in vellum, £10 ids. Four left. Ordinary Edition, bound in green cloth, 
 limited to 175 copies, £6 6s. A few left. S. Low & Co., Publishers, St. Dunstan's 
 House, London, B.C. 
 
 Perspective Drawing and Vision. Paper cover, 6d. Out of pvint. Is 
 
 reprinted in Third Edition of Naturalistic Photography.