International photographer (Jan-Dec 1934)

Fourteen The INTERNATIONAL PHOTOGRAPHER April. 1934 The different "art" in the making of the two illustrations which accompany this article lies in the fact that they were taken by means of the ordinary home window light, by space and "contrast" laws which Steadman has reduced to a studiable science, teachable to all art students in the schools. There is no thought of "super" art involved. The idea is that of correct or normal lightings which can be rendered in full agreeable tone gradations, ordinarily in the full scale from white to black, but within tone limits, without chalky whites or dead blacks. With these laws mastered, the students will be free to produce fine "lightings" of different types in the garden or grove as well as in their homes. It is indifferent whether they utilize this art in the production of photographic portraiture or paintings. CIENTISTS tell us that the behavior of the electron is comparable to the movement of a planet around its sun. This electronic storm never ceases. The character of that movement determines the nature of the atom which the electron inhabits, while the assembly of atoms which compose a molecule of matter, determines the sort of matter which is formed by the combination. For example: Two atoms of hydrogen and one of oxygen form a molecule of water, while two atoms of each form a molecule of hydrogen peroxide. The molecule is the "Structural Unit" of substances, or the smallest part of a substance which can exist separately. The electronic storm, as an inherent property, determines the nature of the substance which it takes up. For example: It may contain the life germ, as did the wheat that lay for more than five thousand years in a tomb. Or it may be nutritious, as a food, or it may be the ash which remains undestroyed when a thing is burned. It is the inherent molecular movement which gives all matter its characteristics. Compare tin with steel, glass with stone and lead with a diamond. This movement is augmented by heat and by light. When a metal is hot enough the molecules which naturally hold it together become so agitated, or move in space so far, each against its fellows, that the metal is disrupted and rendered liquid. Lay a white card on a window sill in the sunlight and cast a shadow upon it with a finger or a pencil. In the sun-lit area the molecules are under a stress of increased motion against each other, as caused by the sun. In the shaded area this stress or movement is reduced. These conditions impart themselves to the rods and cones of the retina and we "see" the light and shadow. If the paper were black instead of white and the solid angle of the sun's pencil of rays to each molecule were augmented with a powerful lens, the molecular MOLECULAR ENERGY INHERENT AND INFLOWING By F. Morris Steadman friction which would be *et up would disrupt the clinging molecules and set the paper on fire. The Boy Scout is taught how to set up this molecular friction by rubbing a dry stick in order to set it aflame when no matches are at hand. Photographic films and papers are very sensitive to this molecular friction. In strong light they turn dark before the eyes. Films and plates take on this disrupting strain in a graduated degree, according to the intensity of the light in the different parts of an image which a lens casts upon them. The greater the disruption of the molecules in the film, the easier it is for the solution to penetrate it so that the chemical action can be carried on faster or slower in the different parts of an "exposed" film, thus forming the negative with its different densities. It is the function of the "exposure" to create this molecular disruption with accuracy. We speak of a "correct exposure." In former articles I have explained the use of these sensitive tinting mediums for measuring the brightness of ordinary surfaces. It will be well to repeat that, like the "independent" molecule of matter, each grain of these sensitive salts is an independent object and becomes brighter or darker, or warmer or cooler, according to the influx to it of the energy which surrounds it in space. For example : Suppose that it is desired to take the "tint time" of the light, say at sunset. This is the time required in that light for a "least visible tint" to be formed on the sensitive paper. We could use for the purpose, a piece of the paper a foot square, or an inch square, or a piece just large enough to enable the discoloration to be distinguished. All would give the same result and paper would simply be wasted by using more than the smallest piece mentioned. This is because each grain of the sensitive salts tints independently, and only enough area is required to accommodate the vision, and not to satisfy any other physical or chemical law. In the problem of illumination we must ask: "How is this molecule or this grain of sensitive salts illuminated?" It is as easy to think of an illuminated point as of an illuminating point. The former is nature's own act of illumination, while the latter is unknown in nature. THE MADISON MART Messrs. P. A. Lins, E. F. G. Herr and Wm. A. Kunze, formerly of the Herbert & Huesgen Company, have opened a store at 403 Madison Ave., New York, known as the Madison Mart. Here they will carry a full line of domestic and imported cameras, motion picture cameras and accessories, films, high grade toys, gifts and novelties. They have also a fully equipped laboratory for developing, printing and "art-proof" enlarging. They cordially invite our readers to visit their new store. Please mention The International Photographer when corresponding with advertisers.