This section is from the book "Complete Self-Instructing Library Of Practical Photography", by J. B. Schriever. Also available from Amazon: Complete Self-Instructing Library Of Practical Photography.
Preparing The Apparatus. To prepare your apparatus for daylight work is a very simple matter. Select a room with a window facing north, if possible, a room that has only one window in it. If there is more than one window, all except one must be covered with black opaque material and made absolutely light-tight. The accompanying Illustration No. 12 will serve to show how to construct, very cheaply, an enlarging apparatus with an ordinary view camera converted into an enlarging camera. First procure two boards 1/2 in. thick, about 18 in. wide, and as long as the width of the window. Attach one of these boards to the sill of the window that you propose using, fastening it so that it will act as a shelf. Fasten the other board across and against the window sash with the lower edge resting perpendicularly on the shelf. Next place your camera on the center of the shelf with the ground-glass against the upright board, and with a pencil mark an outline for an opening in this board just a little smaller than the outside measurements of the camera. Cut out this opening; then tack a heavy opaque cloth (large enough to cover the camera) around the opening so as to form a sleeve. This will close all openings around the edge of the ground-glass and camera-back.
604. When the balance of the window is covered with heavy press-board or opaque cloth no light will be admitted into the room except that which comes through the groundglass and lens. The camera should be placed within an inch of this opening, allowing for the thickness of the plate-holder between the ground-glass and camera and should be covered with the cloth so that no light enters except that which passes through the back of the instrument. Before attaching your camera to the window and shutting out all light you must fasten a reflecting-board about 18 x 24 inches on the outside of the window, and six inches below the bottom of the opening in the board. Cover it with white cardboard, and fasten a cord to each side of the center of the outer edge of the board and to each side of the window-frame, to hold the board in place.
Illustration No. 12. Enlarging Box for Daylight. See Paragraph No. 603.
605. Where the window, at which the camera is arranged, is not obstructed by buildings or trees which interfere with the direct passage of the light through the negative and lens, no reflecting-board is needed. But. where a clear view to the sky from the window is not to be had, as for instance in. cities or closely built up districts, the to the window. A window should be chosen into which the sun does not shine.
THE SPLINTER Study No. 10-See Page 357 Mrs. Nancy Ford Cones.
light from the sky must be reflected into the camera at such an angle that the rays pass through parallel to the axis of the camera and lens. This can only be accomplished by placing the reflecting-board at an angle of 45 degrees
Illustration No. 13 Enlarging Apparatus for Artificial Light See Paragraph No. 606.
 
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