The Optical Magic Lantern Journal (June 1898)

94 The Optical Magic Lantern Journal and Photographic Enlarger. and restricted, adds a good deal of importance to the rest of the composition. ‘This brings us to the consideration of foregrounds which, from a photographic point of view, are nine times out of ten the most important part of the picture. Being close at hand many details are seen that are unnoticeable at a greater distance demanding better definition and careful arrangement of lines; a well arranged foreground is the making of a picture, one badly done at once condemns it. Having made these remarks, the next thing is to carry them out in practice. A landscape may be summarised as a tree, a rail, and a patch of water; given these three items it should not be difficult to construct a picture. We criticise the combination from different points of view and under different conditions of illumination, choosing the best. The water will reflect its surroundings in different ways according to the angle from which we observe them, but always the shaded side of things which makes the shadows darker than the objects reflected, affording us an opportunity of contrasting lights and shadows that may be of great value to the composition. At some angle or other the water will reflect the sky alone, and come out in the picture an unmeaning patch of white, as offensive to good taste as a cloudless sky. The careful examination of water surface under different lights and conditions is instructive. It will be found that a slight ripple will give an infinitely more watery effect than a surface perfectly quiescent; absolutely unruffled water seldom looks like water in the print—there is no depth init; there are the reflections, it is true, but unsatisfactory. A sharp breeze over the surface is worse still, as all reflections are obliterated, leaving only a patch of white without fluidity or depth; a slight oily ripple is most effective. A careful study of the most ordinary and simple places, providing they possess a certain amount of variety of form, can be made into pleasing pictures if the lighting is rightly judged. No doubt in some districts subjects suitable for the camera are more plentiful than in others, but, at the same time, a most unpromising place will often provide good pictures if properly lookedover. I think in photography familiarity often breeds contempt, and miles are often traversed to obtain a picture that would be inferior to one at our own doors, under our very noses. I have noticed this repeatedly. In chocsing a locality on which we can expose our plates with a fair chance of satisfactory results, by preference select a valley through which a stream runs, or ruined or dismantled places that have for a long time been left to decay and the foliage that will surround them also left to grow wild and untouched. A tumbledown old cottage of which there are abundance of samples here and there in the country will very often make most pretty subjects; in fact, the more neglected and worthJess places are from a utilitarian point of view, the better for photography. The greatest drawback to this style of subject near town is that they are made a sort of free playground for the ubiquitous urchin who soon knocks all the picturesqueness out of them. The canals are far from being bad hunting grounds, especially in the neighbourhood of locks —groups of barges, horses, and men form often very suitable subjects. Country roads wher somewhat narrow and irregular are calculated to supply pretty pictures, especially when crossed by a shallow stream forming a ford. Wide roads do not offer the same attraction, even if bordered with fine timber. The road is usually too much in evidence, and by standing at the side the trees hide one another too much. The chance of getting a good picture out of such a road depends very much on moving objects using it, but all roads, wide or narrow, are much improved by good groups; but any man in modern attire posing himself in front spoils the whole arrangement. If such a figure happens to be in the field of view let him take some inconspicuous position and look away from the camera. If he can be persuaded to remove his coat and hang it over his arm so much the better, and if he is the proud possessor of a top hat, let him sit on it, for of all abominations a top hat in a rustic scene is the greatest. Woods and plantations are not altogether good places for photographing unless intersected with fairly wide roads, when very attractive pictures can be secured. ‘“ Edge of the Wood,” is a favourite title for views of trees, but we ‘may remember it is not at all necessary to have a wood to get such tree groupings; the wood is very often not more than a figure of speech, as it does not appear in the photograph. Usually in a wood there is little else than the lower parts of trees to be seen, which owing to the fact of being in a wood are too uniform and monotonous in shape to be picturesque; trees growing in less crowded places are almost always better in