To one whose lot brings him in constant contact with beginners and their productious in the photographic line, nothing seems more of a hindrance to their advancement than their uniform inability to de-termine whether certain results are due to under or over-exposure on the one hand, or under or over development on the other. Often I am sent prints that are clearly faulty from over-development in an unsuitable developer, and yet the sender goes to the trouble to explain that he is aware that the plate is over-exposed because the high lights are so chalky. Another will send in a print from a sadly over-exposed negative; one so badly over-exposed that the securing of proper density was out of the question except by most careful treatment, and he will explain that owing to the exposure being too short for the poor light everything comes out black in the print. It would seem needless to point out that both are wrong, and yet the error is a most common one. Let us go over the matter of a few negatives. One that gives a chalky looking print is clearly an under-exposed negative, or else it was correctly exposed and developed too long or with a too strong developer, possibly both. If you find yourself making such negatives, I would advise the employment of a more dilute developer, particularly during the warmer months, when the action of all the chemicals is accelerated by the increase in the temperature. If you have been using one of the ready prepared developers, try using Rodinal, diluting it to the limit advised on the formulae sheet. Should development beceme too prolonged it is an easy matter to add a little of the concencrated solution. On the other hand, if your negatives have an inclination to be of character that gives you very dark prints with no high lights where they should be in the print, you are evidently giving exposure of too long duration. Try a developer that is stronger, and if possible cut down the amount of alkali in the formula used. Of course you will shorten your exposures, but there is another cause that may be to blame for the unsatisfactory nature of your negatives. Their thinness may be due to fog caused either by a leak in the camera, or through the use of an unsafe developing light. Carefully covering the camera with a focussing cloth will guard against the first, and covering the tray during development will guard against the second, at least for an ex-posare or two, to determine where the fault lies. - Fay-ette C. Clute in Camera Craft.