298. Placing Lace On Board

Placing Lace On Board. Lay the lace on the center of the board, and smooth out wrinkles and snags carefully with a bristle brush. Stick common black pins through the selvedge edge of the lace; the pins must be inserted at right-angles to the board. After the pins have been inserted in position the heads may be clipped off. When all of the pins are in place set the board upright in position. Now, with a long hat pin, very carefully pull the lace out from the background until it hangs on the very tips of the pins. This destroys all evidence of the grain of the background and gives more depth to the print. (See Illustration No. 60a.)

299. Photographing Delicate Laces

Photographing Delicate Laces. Where extremely delicate laces are to be photographed it may be found impossible to place them in an upright position. Should such be the case, the drawing-board background may be laid flat on the floor, and by employing a tilting tripod top the camera can be pointed downward. By adopting this method of procedure it will not be necessary to use pins, but the lace must be very carefully smoothed out - using the bristle brush. When working with the lace arranged on the floor, a splendid lighting effect may be obtained about four feet from an ordinary window. The illumination will be diffused and broad, yet the angle of light will supply snappy catch-lights with sufficient shadows to give depth to the picture.

300. Plate To Use

Plate To Use. The effect required is delicate half-tones, with predominating catch-lights contrasted with a dead black background, therefore, for the best results a slow plate should be employed, yet with care an ordinary rapid plate may be used successfully. If colored embroideries are being photographed, orthochromatic or panchromatic plates, with a three or four-times screen, should be used to render correct color values.

301. Developer

Developer. Any normal pyro developer diluted one-third with water will give good results. A metol-hydroquinon, with very little of the hydroquinon, will also prove very satisfactory. The finest results, however, may be obtained by long exposure and special development, as instructed in Volume II.

302. Glassware

Glassware. Roundness, tranparency and detail as well as the avoidance of reflections are the main points to consider when photographing glassware. In nearly all cases the background employed is black, yet some very effective results may be obtained by using a white background for making the negative, and then by contact make a transparency from the negative and print from the transparency. With the white background for making the negative you produce a black background in the finished print from the transparency, with snappy catch-lights and clear detail in the subject. Therefore, the nature of the background is not of great importance, but the greatest amount of care should be exercised that the object be so lighted as to give roundness and snap in the finished results.