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92 AMATEUR MOVIE MAKING
tures, but first of all let us consider the subject itself.
There is a fascination for many people in the night itself. There is a faint suggestion of mastery in the deep shadows, and the lights, particularly in the cities where lights are grouped in thousands, glitter with a brilliancy which turns the most drab street into a veritable theatrical setting. The factor which gives this appearance is not the lights themselves, which are far inferior in intensity to daylight, but the contrast between the light and the shadow. If we are to reproduce this effect we must retain the shadows, yet this is the very thing which most amateurs try to eliminate.
In the still field there have been innumerable night pictures which have been perfect representations of the scene they are intended to depict. A study of these pictures will show us one or two limited areas which are sharply lighted. These areas give us the key to the picture. The rest of the picture space is filled with shadow of varying intensity, but in which no one object stands out sharply. So in making night pictures we reverse the usual rule. We expose for the highlights and let the shadows take care of themselves. By doing this we retain the deep shadow which gives character to the night picture.
In working with subjects like this try to recall some of Rembrandt's masterpieces. There we have shadow, and more shadow and still deeper shadows. This effect gives to these works their wonderful richness of tone. Light is a thing of beauty, but to render it properly we must make it appear as self luminous, a very difficult thing. Next to this light in beauty are rich shadows, and these we can easily secure by proper photographic illumination — or rather the lack thereof. If you make a night shot in which one object and only one is plainly discernible, and that lighted by a unidirectional light, you will have a scene which is quite convincingly a night scene.
This brings us to a consideration of the subject itself. There must of course be enough positive illumination to affect the emulsion during our exposure which is limited to approximately l/35th of one second. This means that an unusual amount of illumination must be provided,