Amateur Photographer & Cinematographer (1937)

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December 22nd, 1937 The AMATEUR PHOTOGRAPHER p 6 CINEMATOGRAPHER o M 'AKING BETTER SNAPSHOTS-29 By DAVID CHARLES. This article is the twenty-ninth of a series which is dealing, week by week, with matters of interest to the camera-user who is anxious to do full justice to his subjects. WHEN I offered the advice that flashlight with combustible pow¬ ders should be avoided just at the Christmas festivities it was not intended to convey that it was not a perfectly satisfactory illuminant for portraiture or general indoor photography. All I de¬ sired to show was that the season of parties is often accompanied by the Fig. 1. The flashlamp was held too low and has failed to illuminate the dark hair against the dark background. presence of festoons of tissue paper, which it is only too easy to set ablaze. There are three simple and specific precautions which render flashlight safe. The first is to remember that the swift flick of light of which it consists is actually a large flame, usually larger than this page, which may scorch or oven set alight any curtains or the like it may come into contact with. Therefore a flash should be fired well away from such things. Avoid Old Powder. The second is to avoid the use of flashpowder which damp or age has congealed into small pellets. Such pellets may become little fiery comets, which rocket impartially and irrespon¬ sibly on to a Persian carpet or down people’s necks, their “ trajectories ” being faithfully recorded as white lines across the resulting photograph. The third precaution is the obvious one of keeping the flashlamp well away from one’s own face. The great advantage of flashlight is that it is both instantaneous and ample in volume. It is so swift that the light has come and gone before the persons being photographed have time to blink their eyes. The occasional photograph showing eyes half-closed results where the sitters know exactly when the flash is coming, and close their eyes in automatic self-protection against the sudden flare of light. Or perhaps they were caught, as some¬ times happens in daylight, at the exact instant of a normal blink. Placing the Flash. A good deal of the success of flash¬ light depends upon having the flash itself, like any other source of light, in the right place. It should be at least two feet to the side of and above the level of the camera. It is also desirable to see that there is something to act as a reflector on the “ shadow side ” of the sitter or group. This may be either a light-coloured wall or a sheet thrown over a screen. Excepting in an unusually pale sort of room shadows and general surround¬ ings are very liable to be under-exposed Pig. 4. Longer exposure and short development in a “ soft-working ” developer make all the difference. Or, as here, the negative can be “ treated" for its ailments. If one is using a lens of greater aperture than, say, f/4.5 this series of operations must be done very neatly and swiftly to avoid a secondary image from the normal lights, though of course, shutter and flashlamp can be synchro¬ nised to make the work still easier. Fig. 2. Technically excellent , and a happy pose. But a hint of what was coming has made the eyes half close. and consequently dark in the finished prints. Therefore only the fastest emulsions should be used for flashlight exposures, and special care should be taken to avoid over-development. Making the Exposure. A very simple and effective way of making flashlight exposures is to have the camera and the flashlamp on independent stands and to have a cable release on each, one held in each hand. The camera shutter is set at “bulb,” which arrangement enables one to "open-fire-close” in rapid succession. Fig. 3. Under-exposure and over-development give many flashlight photographs this intense crudeness. 26 709