Motion Picture News (Jul-Aug 1916)

1126 A C C E S S b k Y N E 'W S -SEC T I O k Vol. 14. No. 7 t!lilil!llllltalllllllllllll The Camera A Department Devoted to Motion Picture Photography in All Its Phases, Studio and Laboratory Work Inquiries relative to motion photography promptly answered Making Enlargements From Film Images It Sometimes Happens That " Stills " Have Not Been Made When a Picture ^X'as Produced, or Possibly No Still Photograph Exists — How to Secure Good Stills by Enlargement from the Picture — Images Must Be Carefully Selected and Be Tolerably Free from Scratches THE use of photographs by the advertising and publicity departments of the film companies is quite extensive, and hardly a motion picture is made without a series of "stills" depicting various phases of the action having been taken. It sometimes happens that these pictures or " stills " have not been made when a picture was produced, or possibly no still photograph exists of some important scene in the film play. Quite a few instances have come under the observation of the writer where pretentious multiple-reelers have been filmed without a single " still " being photographed. When photographs of such a film subject are needed the question naturally resolves itself into one of securing enlargements from images on the film strip. Enlargements secured direct from the film are occasionally seen, and almost without exception the photographic quality of the pictures thus secured is an abomination. Several years ago the writer, requiring some illustrations which could only be obtained from the images of film positives, gave consideration to the process of securing satisfactory enlarged reproductions of various scenes which would be comparable in quality to pictures taken with a " still " camera. As a Tcsult of considerable practice high-class results were finally achieved, and the writer possesses hundreds of negatives (on glass plates) enlarged from the images on positive films, which could not be distinguished by an expert from actual camera exposures. Careful Selection of Images for Enlargement Of course, the film images to be enlarged must be carefully selected. They should be tolerably free from scratches, should exhibit no blur such as is generally noticeable in moving objects, and should be free from fingerprints, which latter would appear very unsightly in the finished enlargement. There are two methods by which these enlargements may be produced from the images on motion picture filius. If the negative is available it may be threaded through a projector mechanism (framed at the aperture), focussed upon a sheet of paper on the copying board or easel, and after being suitably illuminated from the rear, the focussed image may be projected for a brief period upon a piece of bromide paper. When developed and fixed we have an enlarged photograph representing the scene on the negative. Most companies are loth to subject a valuable negative to this procedure, however, and in cases where the negative is not available the enlarging must be done from a piece clipped from a positive film. We will suppose that a suitable piece of positive film has been selected. This is mounted between two clean glass plates and placed in the slide-holder of a stereopticon (the stereo of a motion picture machine will not do) or the negative holder of an enlarging lantern. An enlarging lantern, as is probably well known, is e°xactly similar in arrangement and principle to a stereopticon. Our next requirement will be a plate-holder and some negative glass plates. The plates must be rapid ones, so as to yield soft images. After trying many brands of plates, the writer finds that the Seed 30 gives the best results in this particular work. A plate-holder is loaded and its dark slide closed. By means of pegs or other suitable supports the loaded plate-holder is secured to the copy-board or enlarging easel so that it is directly in the path of ^he light rays from the lantern lens. A piece of white paper is now placed on the dark slide of the plate-holder, and having moved the lantern backwards or forwards until an image of the desired size is secured, the film picture which is in place in the negative holder (or slide carrier) is sharply focussed upon the white paper placed at the front of the plate-holder. Making an Exposure on the Negative Plate The lens of the enlarger is now stopped down to a small opening (only a lens with a diaphragm is suitable for this class of work) and covered with a cap or by standing a piece of cardboard in front of it. The room being now darkened, the paper is removed from the front of the plate-holder and the dark slide of the same withdrawn. The lens is now uncovered, thus making an exposure upon the negative plate. With a small stop the exposure (with a light source of moderate intensity) will generally be one or two seconds, according to the density of the film image from which the enlarged negative is being made. Exposure completed, the lens is covered and the dark slide inserted into the plate-holder. While still considering the actual process of making the enlargement, a few words will not be amiss with regard to the most practicable size to which the film should be enlarged. The writer invariably uses 4x5 plates, as experience has proven that the most acceptable results are secured on plates of this size, or smaller. As was mentioned in the Camera Department two weeks ago, very few motion picture scenes are focussed critically sharp. This fact is most amazingly apparent when enlarging a film image even to a slightly increased size. .\nother characteristic defect of the nega'-ive film which prompthappears upon enlargement is the grain of the silver particles in the emulsion. For this reason a negative plate of 6!/2x8^ or 8 X 10 inches in size generally shows a considerable lack of sharpness and exhibits a decidedly " grainy appearance. It is therefore best, instead of making a large negative plate and printing from it by contact, to produce a more perfect negative plate of smaller size and make the required number of bromide enlargements therefrom. The latter method yields far the best results, judging from comparisons made by the writer. There is another point of interest and importance connected with the enlarging operation. In his preliminary work in enlarging from film strips the writer used an enlarger equipped with condensers and objective capable of handling plates up to 5 x 7 in size. Although the films experimented with were above reproach as regards sharpness of focus, it often seemed as though the enlarged results were not as crisp a sthey should have been. A little reflection on the subject resulted in the lantern being equipped with a good quality projector lens (specially fitted with an iris diaphragm) such as is used on a motion picture projector. It will be obvious that the ideal lens for enlarging these small film pictures must naturally be one which is ground to accommodate just that size of image. The results secured with the motion picture projecting lens possessed the desired sharpness and proved that such an objective was better suited to the work than was a lens designed to be used with larger sized images. Preventing Stray Light from Fogging Plate During Exposure Another point which should be given attention is that of masking th-e film image on all sides with black paper when placing it