American cinematographer (Jan-Dec 1924)

March, 1924 AMERICAN CINEMATOGRAPHER Seventeen for the production in question. Say that ho is as sured of art twice a week in five newspapers — that is ten stills right there for the first week. What hap{>ens the second week? He has five stills where he ought to have ten. What happens the third week of the run? He has no stills left at all for the newspa]>ers. He must either do the unethical tiling of trying to slip over on one newspaper stills that have already heen used in others, or else he must resort to disseminating "star-heads" ( portraits i of the players in the cast — which latter course does not do the picture in question direct good, inasmuch as the average star-head is used time and again for many pictures, and of course gives no insight into the nature of the picture that is being exhibited. Long Shots Lose Out In addition to being photographed as closely together as possible in stills the characters should, for ordinary purposes in papers, be brought as near to the camera as practical. Long shots seldom "get over" for the reason that the objects which they present become so small in reproduction that little or no detail remains. Loss in Reproduction Newspaper reproductions can he no better than engraving processes will allow, and all such processes are subject to mechanical limitations. Every photograph loses a certain amount of the original in reproduction. A magnifying glass will reveal that tlic reproduced picture is, as it were, ;i series ol small dots, some darker than others, with empty space in between, but viewed all together give what is taken as a faithful likeness of the picture reproduced. But, in reality, all of the photograph is never seen in the reproduction. The reproduction process, to use a practical example, is much similar in certain respects to looking at an object through a screen window. We see enough of the object to know what the object is at which we are looking but in truth we don't see the parts of the object ob secured by the screen strands at all. Many Dots Make Picture So it is with the reproduced photograph. It is filmed through a screen. The parts of the picture which will really become visible when reproduced will he represented by the tiny metal dots, the imprints of which the magnifying glass will reveal in the picture in the paper. Limitations Kill Soft-Focus What then, happens to the "soft-focus" still in the average newspaper engraving room? It enters the engraving world already minus a detiniteness of detail so necessary to successful reproduction. The best reproducing picture is the picture which is sharp in contrasts, as Mrs. Lawrence suggests — a picture that can successfully stand up under the loss of a certain part of its original that the engraving process necessitates. The soft focus picture, While a thing of beauty in itself, becomes even more fague when it loses a certain pari of itself in reproduction. Then add to this loss the hurried presswork, which the speed of newspaper printing carries Continued on FaEe 18 iiiiiiiiiiiiiitiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiM^ Your Photographic cRequirements Can ALL be supplied here The largest stock on the Pacific Coast will be found at <#, TjS* EASTMAN KODAK COMPANY 510 S. Broadway, Los Angeles H Telephone 870-746 = 545 Market Street San Francisco ^«rii!i'; nni;: : m::;:: !■■!, iiininyiii li^mr'iiiiiJi!;^?!. '!"v--!iii|i;frH|||irii|iMi!:;.iir!LiMin;|ihiii;.,.;i!]i|j., !i:;ij. iHHiiiiiinniiiJitiirtiirtriMninniii;! The New Photographic Store | B. B. NICHOLS, Inc. Eastman Kodaks and Photographic Supplies | 617 SOUTH OLIVE STREET LOS ANGELES Phone Broadway 2531 ifiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiimiiifliiiiniiiiiiiiw gniiiiiiimii;iiiiiii;aiS!iuiiiiiHiiiiiii Cinema Studios Supply Corp. 1438 Beechwood Drive Holly 0819 LIGHTING EQUIPMENT FOR RENT L. A. FIRE DEPARTMENT i WIND MACHINES Water Engine fliiiiiiiiinimiiiiiiiMii™ ttillllllllllllllllllllllllllllllM 3 3 Salter. J. van Rpssem 6049 Hollywood Blvd. Phone Holly 725 COMMERCIAL PHOTOGR^HY; Still Developing and Printing^ ^hWDCaracras-FOR RENT— Still Lameras j MIIIIIIIIIIH^