585. In selecting suitable backgrounds to be worked into any negative, one can do no better than study some of the reproductions of the great masters. The different backgrounds on their work very often supply most beautiful effects that may be copied and used for backgrounds on negatives.

586. The most elaborate collection of reproductions from the work of artists of all nations may be found in the Perry pictures. These pictures are furnished in sizes from

Illustration No. 44. Worked-in Background on Enlarged Negative.

See Paragraph 584.

AT-HOME PORTRAITURE.

Study No. 8

J. H. Field

5x7 upward, at a price as low as one cent each. One can do no better than to provide himself with a variety of these studies. These studies cover the Dutch, French, Italian, German, Flemish, British, Spanish and American art, and a collection of one hundred or more of them will prove of valuable assistance to you in your background work, as well as in general art work. By sending 4 cents to the Perry Pictures Company, of Maiden, Mass., they will furnish you with a catalog containing thousands of subjects, some of which are brought together in different groups. Each subject contains a number, which number should be used when ordering.

587. For the benefit of our readers, however, we have selected a list of one hundred different studies (see " Reproductions from Old Masters," Vol. VI), covering portraiture and landscape background work. These numbers supply a fairly representative collection, and included in this collection are studies by Reynolds, Rembrandt, Cimabue, Taddeo Gaddi, Fra Angelico, Fra Filippo Lippi, Michaelan-gelo, Titian, Raphael, Correggio, Millet, Rosa Bonheur, Breton, Murillo, Franz Hals, Druer, Holbein, Gainsborough, LaFarge, Whistler, Sargent, etc.

588. One hundred studies of the small size will be supplied by the Perry Pictures Company for $1.00. The majority of these prints are printed both in black and white and in sepia. The sepia is what is known as the Boston Edition, and really gives softer effects than the black and white. The Boston Edition is always supplied in all prints in which it is printed, unless otherwise requested.

589. Larger sizes than the above mentioned may be obtained in special sets, upon application to the publishers.

590. How To Reproduce The Background On Negatives

How To Reproduce The Background On Negatives. First of all, these pictures suggest some very artistic positions for studies, which may be followed to some extent at least. In making your original negative, use a plain black, or very dark background for this purpose, and afterward work in the background to harmonize with the portrait. With the negative made, whether made specially fol-

lowing some particular study, or even if only a commercial negative where the background is to be added, select from amongst your studies the background suitable for your subject, and laying it on a table place a piece of tissue-paper over the print and trace the outlines of the background on the tissue-paper.

591. Care must be exercised in selecting the background to be used, that the lighting is in the same direction. However, an inverted lighting may be employed equally as advantageously as a correctly lighted one, for all that is required is to invert your transparent drawing on the tissue-paper when applying it to the negative. With the drawing made, and having previously ground-glassed the glass side of your negative, now place the outlined tissue-paper, with the lighting in the proper direction, on the film side of the negative, attaching the tissue temporarily to two edges, with gum stickers. Next, place the negative in a retouching easel, ground-glass side toward you, and then begin tracing the outline from the tissue onto the ground-glass, using an ordinary pencil dipped in crayon sauce, or even dry yellow ochre will answer very nicely. Apply the material very lightly, as the least amount applied will show its effect, and if it should not be applied sufficiently heavy it may be gone over again a second time, while if applied too heavily at first it is difficult to erase.

592. After the background is traced on to the ground-glass, remove the tissue-paper and make a proof-print from the negative, to see the effects made on the background. If any alterations are to be made the proof will serve as a good guide for you to follow.

593. By this means any style background used by the old masters of the different schools may be employed, and some really wonderful effects produced. These study pictures, of which further reference is made in Volume VI, will also be of wonderful benefit to you along the lines of composition and atmosphere, for which these studies are all noted, and which the photographer can learn to accomplish by following these masters.