II THe UNIY6RS1TY Of CALlfORNIA TILINE LIBRARY COPI Optical ) maintai; if-idity. J6s.; 10 b RY! with a stop it easily covers a 10 by S plate to the corners, which is larger than that engraved on the mount as its possibility. Working as it does with such a LARGE APERTURE (F/6 approx.), it serves as a portrait and group lens, as well as a andscape and copying objective. There is no doubt of its proving a -nost USEFUL LENS. J. TRAIL TAYLOR, Btit. Jrnl. of Photography. PERKEN, SON, & PAYMENT, ngle work ire? are | interior nee of dis ILINEi ipidity, md views i the C4{ L. ETR hitecture;; the subj ; PORT osures in ined by d upon ti Rectiline:: review is really an excellent insfrumjj Photfigra.} PORTRAIT LENS. "The j LENSES are MODERATE in pri4 most EXCELLENT results." Amateur Phci TRADE MARK. WIDE-ANGLE CAMERA (LONG Focus). Price, including Three Double Dark Slides. 4iby3j 5 by 4 6j'by| ft by 6 10 by 8 12 by 10 15 by 12 140s. 146s. \165tJ 188s. 235s. 288s, 350s. " In this Camera, wiuch is RIGID and PORTABLE the focus- sing screen can be brought forward close to* the front c baseboard, so as to avoid obstruction when using lenses qfshrt focus. It is provided with DOUBLE SWING arrangement and LONG focus- sing adjustment by quick acting rack. When closed i tie lens may remain attached to the front and project through the TURN- TABLE." British Journal Photographic Almanac. PAYMENT'S CAMERA (LONG Focus.) Price includes Three Double Dark Slides. 4i by 3J 6J by 4f 8$ by 6 10 by 8 12 by 10 *15 by 12 120s. 145S. 168s. 212s. 258s. 314R. " The ' Rayment ' Camera in particular claims attention, both for its BEAUTY OF WORKMANSHIP and for the EASE and READINESS with which it can be put into action." The Camera. 'OPTIMUS' CAMERA (LONG Focus.) Prire includes Three Double Dark Slides. 4J by 3J 130s. 10 by 8 227s. 12 by 10 275s. 137s. 175S. " I should strongly recommend Rayment's Camera. It is LIGHT, COMPACT, very RIGID, and extends to about double the usual focus." Amateur Photographer. "OPTIMUS CATALOGUES POST FREE, i Lantern is efficient for Exhibitions, ns gives crisp definition, being a superior natic Photographic Combination, with md-Pinion, Compound Condenser of 4 in. er, 8-wick Refulgent Lamp. d. iteinBox 1 10 any outside body 2 20 any outside body, Panelled , Brass Stages and Sliding i Iron Body, Brass Sliding ?erforated) ... 420 250 2 10 O MAGIC LANTERNS. BI-UNIAL. . -j s. d. Panelled Mahogany Body and Moulded Foot, Ach>onoati MARION'S MOUNTS (Manufactured at their Factory, Courbevoie, Paris} ARE STILL THE BEST. The Purest Materials and Finest Surface Papers used in the Mam 1 facture. New Patterns on application. Sole Agents for Great Britain and the Colonies for VOIGTLANDER & SON'S CELEBRATED EURYSCOPE! For large direct Portraits & Groups The Rapid Euryscope. For General View, Group, and Portrait Work ...... The Medium Rapid. For Ordinary Portrait Work ... The Portrait Euryscope, For Groups in confined situations... The Rapid Wide- Angle. For Architectural Work ...... The Wide-Angle Euryscoj 22 & 23, SOHO SQUARE, LONDON THE STUDIO, AND WHAT TO DO IN IT. THE STUDIO: AND WH-A.T TO DO IN IT H. P. ROBINSON, AUTHOR OF "Pictorial Effect in Photography'' ^Picture Making by Photography" &c., &c. LONDON: PIPER & CARTER, 5, FURNIVAL STREET, HOLBORN, E.G. 1891. LONDON : PIPER ANB CARTER, PRINTERS, FURMVAL STREET, HOLBORN, t.C. .I PREFACE. MY little books on the Art side of photography have been received with so much favour, that I venture to add another to the number. " PICTORIAL EFFECT " treated of art principles ; " PICTUEE MAKING " of the application of those principles to out-door photography ; the present work is chiefly concerned with portraiture. For in-door work a studio is essential. There have been so many different forms of studios invented, designed, or modified from others, that when a photographer wishes to build a studio, and turns to the authorities for information and guidance, he finds something very like chaos, for in the multitude of coun- cillors there is confusion. In the following chapters I have briefly described the leading types of studios, and devoted a chapter to a description of what a very long and varied experience, and the building of half-a-dozen studios for myself, and the designing of a large number for my friends, confirm me in thinking the best. Throughout the book I have not attempted to recommend anything that is desirable but impossible, or to decry anything that I feel is not quite correct, but yet is part of the photo- 395901 VI PREFACE. grapher's business to employ. For instance, I quite agree with the late Mr. Norman Macbeth, whose advice on art was always sound, that as the portrait is derived directly from living subjects, so should the backgrounds and surroundings be composed of real objects ; but I know that in the practical business of a portrait photographer, it would be next to impossible to compass this desirable result, and therefore I have admitted the use of painted screens. The chapters on Posing and the Managemeut of the Sitter embody the result of twenty-five years of daily work in the studio, and I trust will be of use to the professional photographer; and the concluding chapters will, I hope, aid him in other departments of his profession. Although the great bulk of the book is new, I must acknow- ledge that some of the chapters have already appeared in the pages of the Photographic News, a journal which, without neglecting the strictly scientific detail upon which mechanical photography depends, has always urged upon photographers the study of art as of even more vital importance to success in their profession than science, which, after all, is only a similar means to a picture-making end as colour-making is to painters. CONTENTS. PAGE. CHAPTER I. VARIOUS FORMS OF STUDIOS 1 CHAPTER II. THE BEST FORM OF STUDIO 12 CHAPTER III. BACKGROUNDS 22 CHAPTER IV. ACCESSORIES 31 CHAPTER V. LIGHTING THE SITTER 37 CHAPTER VI. POSING AND THE MANAGEMENT OF THE SITTER THE HEAD ... 44 CHAPTER VII. POSING AND THE MANAGEMENT OF THE SITTER THE HEAD VIGNETTE i 50 CHAPTER VHL POSING AND THE MANAGEMENT OF THE SITTER THE THREE- QUARTER LENGTH MEN 57 CHAPTER IX. POSING AND THE MANAGEMENT OF THE SITTER THE THREE- QUARTER LENGTH LADIES 62 CHAPTER X. POSING AND THE MANAGEMENT OF THE SITTER FULL-LENGTH FIGURES ... 69 Vlll CONTENTS. CHAPTER XL POSING AND THE MANAGEMENT OF THE SITTER GROUPS ... 74 CHAPTER XII. POSING AND THE MANAGEMENT OF THE SITTER OUT-DOOR GROUPS 80 CHAPTER XIII. POSING AND THE MANAGEMENT OF THE SITTER CHILDREN ... 86 CHAPTER XIV. POSING AND THE MANAGEMENT OF THE SITTER EXPRESSION IN PORTRAITURE 93 CHAPTER XV. POSING AND THE MANAGEMENT OF THE SITTER- SUGGESTION AND INTERFERENCE IN POSING 99 CHAPTER XVI. SMILES AND SMILING 104 CHAPTER XVII. LIKENESS FAMILIAR AND OCCULT 109 CHAPTER XVIII. RETOUCHING ... 116 CHAPTER XIX. HINTS TO SITTERS 122 CHAPTER XX. How TO SHOW PHOTOGRAPHS 126 CHAPTER XXI. THE ITINERANT PAINTER 132 CHAPTER XXII. THE EDUCATION OF A PHOTOGRAPHER . 136 THE STUDIO, AND WHAT TO DO IN IT. CHAPTEE I, VARIOUS FORMS OF STUDIOS, THE possession of a good studio goes quite half way to the pro- duction of good work, and its design and construction have been a matter of anxious thought and earnest enquiry from the earliest times of the art. A clever operator will, of course, get presentable pictures even under difficulties, and it follows that bad workmen will do bad work, however good their tools may be ; but I hold that those who exercise any art should never have their attention distracted from their work by defect of their appliances, and the studio to a portrait photographer is an appliance of the utmost importance. I propose, therefore, to give a rapid sketch of the most important of the many forms of studios that have been erected or proposed. Some of them may have individual advantages not possessed by others, while in many cases the form of studio adopted must be determined by the space available ; but from all of them it is possible that a photographer about to build or alter a studio may get hints that may be of use to him. I shall then give plans and descriptions of a studio that I know from experience offers the greatest advantages for e very-day work. It is a peculiarity of photographers to invent modifications - r x ; i: *! *V;j J A T ? E STUDIO. this has not been confined to the chemical processes only, but has extended to the studios in which those processes are employed. The forms of studios or glass-rooms, as they were originally called have exercised the ingenuity of their devisers from the time of the discovery of photography. At first, as the name implies, as much glass as possible was employed, and when a clear space could be got for the erection, the studio was all glass. As time went on, experience taught that a portrait could be taken as quickly and with better results when less illumina- tion was employed, and the area of the space admitting light has been gradually reduced until a very little light, properly directed, is now found sufficient for most purposes. The forms taken by studios have been very numerous, and in some cases quite fantastic, and have ranged in cost and style from that of Aladdin's Palace to the meanest shanty. They have taken that of the "lean-to," the ridge roof, the tunnel with many variations, and amongst the eccentric kinds have been a revolving studio, another looking like a gigantic accordion ; and at one time, a domed or circular roof was strongly advocated, under the erroneous impression that the curves of the dome would concentrate the light, and make it more powerful. In addition to this, it was once thought that, as effective light was composed of the blue rays of the spectrum, blue glass would give more light, and photographers glazed their studios with blue glass. The ghastly effect on the sitter may be guessed, but the advantages were not easily to be seen. THE LEAN-TO. Of all these designs, the lean-to and the ridge-roof, or some modifications of them to suit the position in which they are to be erected, are the only ones which have retained the favour of photographers. The lean-to is the most simple, and, where it can be built against a high wall to protect it from the sun, one of the most effective. It is particularly suited to small studios, those that are not more than 11 or 12 feet wide. It is not necessary to VARIOUS FORMS OF STUDIOS. have the roof entirely of glass. The following section gives the lines of a very useful small studio, that could be put up at very little expense. If made about 25 feet long, it would be found all that an amateur could desire. As a matter of lighting, I should prefer to omit the side light, and have the side solid, and two feet lower ; the light would then come from a low roof; but there are other things to think of. In so narrow a studio, there would not. be room for a full- sized background, which should I never be less than 8 feet high ; and if the door is in the side, 6 feet 6 inches does not afford any too much height. The RIDGE-ROOF is practically the same as the lean-to, differing only in the construction of the roof. As the studio I shall describe in detail further on is a modification of the ridge- roof, I need not further describe it here. Some of the earliest studios in London and other large towns were made by removing part of the roof of the garret of a house, and replacing it with glass ; and much excellent work has been done in these glass-rooms under most trying circumstances. Of studios built under these conditions, that of the late T. R. Williams, of Regent Street, is a typical example. Many photo- graphers will remember that, in many qualities, and especially in delicacy and roundness of the perfect modelling, Williams's work was at the time unequalled. For years his portraits were the wonder, envy, and admiration of all photographers. "Without recommending it for imitation, except where the exigencies of the situation make it necessary, I think an illustration and THE STUDIO. description of this studio, written when "Williams was at the height of his fame, may be of interest to my readers, especially as it shows to what an extent blinds have to be used when good work has to be done under such worrying circumstances a& trouble the photographer when his studio is full in the sun. The size of the room is about 30 feet long by 17 feet wide. As will be seen from the woodcut, the chief light is from a skylight, sloping in direction of the length of the room, not, as in the ordinary lean-to : roof, in direction of the width. The height at the ridge is about 16 feet, at the eaves 8 feet. The glass cover& the whole of the longer side of the roof. The panes at the end of the room are generally covered with blinds, so that the room is lighted entirely from a skylight facing the south-west. The sitter and the camera are placed cross-corner-wise of the room, two backgrounds, one facing each corner towards the light, being generally placed as fixtures. Some of these details are omitted in the sketch, to give a clearer view of the interior. Movable wings, covered with blue calico, are placed at each side of the background, and at times are made to cut off direct light, and at others to act as reflecting screens. The skylight is furnished with three sets of blinds, each set consisting of three VARIOUS FORMS OF STUDIOS. blinds, one above another one of dark blue calico, one of thick white calico, and another of thin white calico, or jaconet muslin. By the judicious management of these blinds almost any effect of lighting can be obtained. The diagram illustrates a mode of arrangement often used. Over one-third of the skylight, and half of the next third, the dark blue blinds are drawn, to exclude almost all light ; over the other half of the middle section a white blind is drawn, and also over the upper half of the remaining third. One-sixth of the skylight, and that the position most remote from the sitter, admits the light through clear glass ; and this, if the sun were shining, would be covered with the thin muslin blind. It will be seen that the principal light is often virtually a concentrated high side-light, the concentration giving effective cast shadows, whilst the amount of softened light admitted through thin blinds lights up the shadows, preventing blackness and hardness. Besides the blinds already described, there are two other dark blinds, which can, on occasion, be used. They are tolerably near to the head of the sitter, and can be used to prevent any vertical light reaching it. All the blinds are on spring rollers, placed near the top of the skylight, and can be readily drawn so as to cover any required portion of the roof. The position and form of this studio could scarcely have been more awkward, or presented more difficulties to the operator, while the complication of three sets of blinds, besides screens, was enough to confuse any photographer ; but it was in the hands of an exceedingly able man, who produced some of the most delicate work that the world, up to that time, had seen ; hence other photographers, mistaking, as they often do, the materials ior the man, thought that success lay in his collodion and baths and developers, and especially in his glass-room. This led to imitations which eventually grew into the many forms of tunnel studios, which were at one time excessively advocated, but soon abandoned. An improvement on the form of the studio just described is THE STUDIO. shown in that erected by an American photographer, which admits of side as well as top light. After the description given of Williams's studio, the illustration will speak sufficiently for itself. The TUNNEL STUDIO is an illustration of the mischief clever photographers sometimes do by producing beautiful work under difficult circumstances. Williams, by the exercise of his great natural aptitude, patience, and skill, produces pictures with great technical beauties of light and shade.. Rejlander, with a modification of the same kind of lighting, but with the addition of a tunnel in which to place his camera, realises many poetical ideas in photography; other photographers at once jump to the conclusion that it is all in the form of the studio, and build tunnels. Photographers, as I have already said, have an itching for modifications, and a mania for modifications of the tunnel set in. Every conceivable variation was resorted to to waste the money and spoil the tempers of photographers. The end of it all was, that every photographer who could afford it took down his costly experiments, and returned to the old-fashioned oblong room under a lean-to or ridge-roof. But it is well that anyone intending to construct a studio should at least hear of these VARIOUS FORMS OF STUDIOS. experiments, especially as one of the objections to their use length of exposure no longer exists. The earliest studios of this description seem to have been in form something like the Williams studio, but very much smaller, and with a dark place for the camera attached, from which they got their name. Here is a diagram and description of a small one erected by an amateur. The total length is 28 feet ; of this, 4 feet at each side, and at the top at the background end as far as the ridge b B, is opaque, 10 feet glass, and the remaining portion, or tunnel, 14 feet wood. The height of the studio portion is 11 feet at I, and 7 feet at c, and 10 feet wide. The portion for the camera, in which there is no light, is 8 feet wide. A B C The side lights on each side have glass to the extent of 10 feet by 7 feet. The roof from I to c is glass. The opaque parts of the roof are of zinc. There is a door at each side at C, each of which, being opposite the other, admits of ready ventilation. A small dark room is erected in the unilluminated portion. The aspect of the studio is such that the sitter faces north-east, the studio having on the north and east an uninterrupted light, whilst the south and west lights are considerably excluded. The blinds are so arranged that light can be admitted from the right or left of the skylight as required. The most important of the tunnel studios, and the one which attracted a great deal of attention at the time, was one erected by 8 THE STUDIO. Eejlander ; it will be seen that very little light was admitted, a fault which would not be much felt now our processes are improved, but which was not found to be sufficient in the days of collodion for ordinary portraiture, and the light came from one side only, a fatal objection. Eejlander was famous for artistic studies, and one of the most striking things in his works was the great command he appeared to have over the lighting of the model. Almost every variety of lighting was adopted in turn to serve specific purposes, and always successfully. To the education of an artist Rej lander added years of practice as a photographer, not simply in manufacturing conventional por- traits, but in producing art studies and complete pictures. His "Two Ways of Life" will be remembered as long as the art exists. In his practice he required a great variety of effects in lighting, but with all his marvellous skill and resource he found it difficult to get what he wanted in this form of studio, and was glad when circumstances compelled him to abandon it. In designing this studio, the builder's chief aim was to secure a mode of lighting similar to that used by painters, so that the studio obtained may be available for painters; the same con- ditions of light and shadow existing in a photograph which are required in painting. That the same light would be often valuable for portraiture and general photography, there was no reason to doubt ; the only misgiving being in the amount of light, which was found to be insufficient for any but the steadiest of sitters. VARIOUS FORMS OF STUDIOS. It had also the inconvenience, common to these studios, of being so strange and gloomy in effect as to materially interfere with the expression of the sitter. It was built of corrugated iron ; the total length was 30 feet. The portion devoted to the sitter was 10 feet long and 11 feet wide; the remaining 20 feet curving in near the door, and becoming narrower, so that, at the extreme end, where the dark room was, the width was 7 feet only. The light was obtained solely from the white spaces, a, b, c, d, e, /, in the diagram, the light falling from the north-west. The door, a, consisted of a plate of glass 7 feet high by 3 feet wide. The window adjoin- ing, b, consisted of another plate of glass, 7 feet by 5 feet ; this joined another plate, c, in the roof, which was 5 feet wide and 3 deep. These three were of white plate-glass, and constituted the chief source of light. On the opposite side there was no glass at all, but the interior was painted white to secure reflected lights. The minor lights, sitters as moderately calm ladies and gentlemen ; or, if they are not entitled to the courtesy title, then as decent men and women. Some faces are beautiful in repose, hideous in movement. A broad laugh is often beautiful in nature, because of its evanes- cence ; it becomes intolerable when fixed on paper. But there is a look of animation, far short of a smile, which suits nearly MANAGEMENT OF THE SITTER. 95 all faces, and which is so permanently beautiful that it deserves to be printed in carbon or enamel. John Gibson, the famous sculptor, considered a smile frivolous ; but what would be undignified in sculpture may be proper to less severe modes of artistic expression. He says, in a letter to a friend: "The fault of the portraits of the present age is, that every man is expected to look pleasant in his pictures. The old masters represent men thinking, and women tranquil ; the Greeks the same. Therefore, the past race of portraits in paint and in marble look more like a superior class of beings. How often have I heard the remark, * Oh ! he looks too serious.' But the expression that is meant to be permanent should be serious and calm." This is true enough of the expressions of men, but I cannot help feeling that the cheerful expressions of ladies and children are their best, especially when they are educed with such art as to appear perfectly natural ; indeed, some of the most delightful < portraits of children represent them in a very happy frame of mind. The quality necessary in a man to enable him to draw out the best expression is " a gift." It may be improved by education and practice, but it is not to be attained by those who have it not in their natures. The latter may do high-class work, but never that which electrifies. A fine work should always give that feeling of pleased surprise which sends a glow of pleasure through the frame. This is never obtained through the inter- vention of that photographer who has not the proper "music in his soul." When a man goes to have his portrait taken, his mind will, consciously or unconsciously, dwell upon the ordeal he is to go through ; he will think of how his coat fits, how he [feels, and how he will look ; it should be the business of the photographer ^ to make him forget all this and himself. The man's appearance is positively deteriorated by constant reference to self, and the 9fi THE STUDIO. consideration of how he looks when sitting for a portrait. Now what that phase conveys is exactly that which should be avoided. It is needless to tell photographers that one-half their sitters think they know how to sit, and it is equally unnecessary to add that this knowing moiety are his worst subjects. The kind of conversational treatment that would best suit every sitter must be left for each photographer to decide for himself. Everything so much depends on small things that it would be difficult to say much about them without opening a wider subject than is here intended ; but the photographer would find that it would simplify his labour, and be a kind of aid to thought, if he made a rough classification of his sitters, such as those who are best left alone. These are those who are ordered to have their portraits taken by their friends, and do not care how it is done ; they usually obey the photographer's directions without question, and their portraits are always natural. The nervous, who require very delicate treatment ; those whom a bluff treatment would suit, and those who claim the greatest show of respect ; and, above all, those who " hate being photographed." These last- mentioned are the sort I like if I have time to deal with them properly. It makes one feel a professional pride to so work these difficult sitters that they shall feel that although they came to you with reluctance, they leave with regret. This, I find, is often the case with children. They will sometimes scream at being brought, and scream at being taken away. Then there is that much respected person who thinks he can teach you your business the best way is to listen and learn. No man can speak without saying something. A great deal of expression, and that of the most agreeable kind, may be produced by the action of the figure, as well as by the feature. Appropriate action may give life and animation to a subject not otherwise attainable. A man would not look very happy if he held down his head, and tucked in his chin, smiled MANAGEMENT OF THE SITTER. 97 he never so pleasantly; while a very little animation in the features will have an agreeable effect if it is properly backed up and assisted by an animated turn of the head ; but, at the same time, straining after expression must be avoided ; the happy mean is what the judicious photographer should strive for and get. Some photographers seem to do all they know to awe their sitters into their worst expressions. A lady who was recently sitting to me told me her experiences in getting her portrait taken in a well-known studio in London. An appointment was made beforehand. The door was opened by a man-servant in a gaudy livery. The lady was ushered upstairs, and kept waiting for half-an-hour, with nothing to amuse her but the solemn grandeur of the place. In the studio there were three photo- graphers to attend to her ; one to work the camera, another to move the furniture and place the head-rest, and a third in white kid gloves to take command of the posing. The two latter talked over the personal appearance of the sitter as if she was an unintelligent lay figure, which she says she felt she had become before the exposure commenced, and she looks like it in the print. I cannot understand how it is possible to make the sitter feel at his ease if the operator has a lot of assistants to help him. Sitting for a portrait should be a matter for friendly intimacy between sitter and photographer, not a solemn ceremony. Those who still look at photography with withering contempt and some such exist to the present day, just as it is thought that rare individuals of the plesiosaurus are yet to be found in the deep seas complain that photography has no power to idealise ; but if they had any knowledge of our mysteries, they would know that it is no longer the truthful art it was when it was famous for having no mercy. These critics take it as a foregone conclusion that a portrait should be idealised. The notion that the artist should invest 98 THE STUDIO. his sitters with a grace not their own seems never to have been doubted. Dr. Johnson said that it was one of the highest proofs of the genius of Eeynolds that he contrived to give nobleness to the head of Goldsmith in his portrait, whose genial soul and fine intellect were not habited in a very dignified or handsome body. If Eeynolds gave to Goldsmith a nobility of countenance which nature had denied, but which the painter conceived was more characteristic of the inner man than the actual present- ment, then we have in the portrait Eeynolds' conception of what Goldsmith ought to have looked like, and not the actual portrait of the man. If he merely depicted him at his best, happily catching the expression which lit up the face when it was aglow with some happy thought, then he did not give Goldsmith the noble look, but, with the true painter's skill, readily detected the noblest effect, and gave permanent form to a transient expression ; he did what every photographer should try to do, and when he succeeds he may expect to hear the sitter's friends exclaim " Masterly done : The very life seems warm upon the lips ; The fixture of the eye has motion in it, And we are mocked by art." " . | m - fftlllilP 15 ^ 12 2| M 18 IJ g 22 .. 20 ,, off < ^ . _^ - IriTDiap DALLMEYER<'0 General Library id Views. J; 9 in. 4 10 i= : " \l " ? io ( " S ! 9 iiS \ : S: A. 11 8 i 7Y?; " " ' a :: " - f V: i a:s:a . 26, OXFOBD STREET, m yV4feB%B% tl II II ^rBBBF YB 27624 U. C. BERKELEY LIBRARIES 1O-7S ---- . I 12 YEARS' SALES jiach larger than its predecessor) I L 'Hi 7495901 totj ;es t " 3ir P r j| UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY TT, t ey use more ILFOKDS than ever ay did ; more than all other Brands. RITANNIA WORKS -CO, K Ilford, London, E.