Camera secrets of Hollywood : simplified photography for the home picture maker (1931)

Chapter IX LET'S TRY S'OMETHO G D I F F E I! E N T m FTER THE PICTURE-MAKER lias taken a few rolls of film of the family and perhaps the events of several outings he will more than likely begin to feel the urge to play around with special effects and to try some tricks to see just what he can get into the little box. When he lias readied this state of mind it is time for him to start experimenting because the range is very wide and a great deal of pleasure is to be found in trying new things, just for the sake of seeing how they come out. Good photography doesn't always depend upon perfectly clear atmospheric conditions because there are many conditions under which successful pictures can be made; for instance, a bank of fog lifting from the body of a lake early in the morning. You should make this with a back light, if possible, and the lens aperture wide open. Weird effects can sometimes be obtained from the smoke of forest tires which has mixed with fog during the night. The smoke will often form in layers because of the particular air drainage and the picture be glimpsed between the strata. A striking effect can be obtained with a ship emerging from a bank of fog, or if you are living inland, a train coining up out of the fog. Sunrises and sunsets are tine subjects with which to experiment. Von will find that a sunset is much easier to photograph than a sunrise, because with the sunset you are beginning to photograph with a known maximum of light and as the light dies out its photographic value fades out, and you come to a natural finish to the scene; while with a sunrise you arc1 forced I 68 J