The Barnet Book of Photography:A Collection of Practical Articles
A Collection of Practical Articles
9781465542526
pages
Library of Alexandria
Overview
Writing in London on a day in winter with a murky sky and sloshy streets, the title of Alpine Photography is verily refreshing. It brings back days of sunlight and joyous experiment, and as we write the soul stirring scenery is before us called up by photographs taken under varying conditions of comfort and discomfort. That there is something different in Alpine photography to photography in our own country, we are bound to believe, since a special article is demanded for it. The first question invariably asked is as to the nature of the outfit required. We should here like to divide our reply into two divisions. The one concerning the mountaineer, and the other the ordinary tourist. For the former we have no doubt in our minds that a hand camera to take ¼ plate or 5 × 4 pictures is the most convenient form of camera to take. It is not our business to advertise any person’s wares and we shall content ourselves by saying that personally we prefer a camera which has separate slides and does not possess a magazine, more particularly when glass plates are to be used, though a form of Kodak is not to be despised. But perhaps we are prejudiced in favour of glass plates, for they are simple to manipulate and have no cockles nor other drawbacks which the careless photographer may have to encounter. Probably the most useful lens to employ is a doublet of which the focal length is about a quarter more than the width of the plate, since it includes a fair angle and the margins of the photographs are not likely to be markedly different in general density to the centre, as is the case when wide-angle lenses are employed. In England a lens which will cover with a large stop, say f/8, is a desideratum, but in the Alps it is very rarely that such a large ratio of aperture to focal length is required. As a rule for ordinary plates a lens has to be stopped down to f/16 to give a negative in say 1/50th of a second. Nevertheless where orthochromatic plates are to be employed it is very necessary to have a lens which will cover a plate satisfactorily with f/8 in order to use a colour screen for producing orthochromatic effects, since the loss of photographic light caused by the screen can only be compensated for by such an aperture even when the shutter is slowed down. The reader is therefore recommended on the whole to furnish himself with one of the modern lenses which work at f/8, though he must remember that the larger the aperture employed the more the margins and centre of the picture will suffer from unequal exposure. With some hand cameras there is a means of attachment to a stand, but a stand on a mountain is difficult to use and moreover has on more than one occasion been proved dangerous to carry. The mountaineer if he desires to give a time—and not an instantaneous—exposure on his excursion, would do well to have a small clip ready to attach to the head of his ice axe. The axe will form a sufficiently stable stand for the more prolonged, but still short, exposure that he may be required to give on some particular subjects such as a photograph at sunrise or near sunset. Photographers in England are rarely afflicted with breathlessness through exertion, but it is different in mountaineering. A mountaineer may keep his wind, but it would be rare to find that his heart was beating equably after some spurt of exertion, such as rock climbing. It is often after some such exertion that he comes upon some view which he may wish to record on his photographic plate. The usual method of holding the hand camera would under such circumstances prove a failure so far as sharpness of image is concerned. Pressed against his middle or upper chest, the beatings of the heart will record themselves on the photograph. Under such circumstances resort must be had to some form of support on which to rest his camera. After many years' experience, the writer has come to the conclusion that there is no support superior to the ice axe. It is not necessary to cause it to stand upright in the ground, ice, or snow, though this should be done if possible. It will suffice to rest the point on the rock, and place the camera on the axe head, with the pick parallel to the body. We then have a firm support in one direction, and the hands, which are not affected by the automatic motion of the heart, can be trusted to keep it steady in the other direction. Photographs taken with a good lens, and with such a stand, will bear enlarging up to 22 inches, at least. It is because these photographs will bear enlarging that a small plate is recommended to the mountaineer. There is not a large proportion of Alpine views taken on the mountain side of which one would care to have anything but a memorandum, and it is such a size as that recommended which gives such a memento, and which, if desired, allows a more formidable size to be acquired at home, where we may suppose there are all the conveniences that a photographic laboratory affords. The writer has had experience on mountains with cameras varying from 12 × 10 to the ¼ plate size. When younger and more inclined to waste a few valuable minutes of daylight in putting up a camera stand, the 12 × 10 gave pictures which we often lamented having taken, whilst in his more mature years, a snap-shot has never been regretted. The cameras which require stands, require one porter at least to carry them, for although the late Mr. Donkin carried his own 7½ × 5 camera up the highest peaks, it is few men, who, even if they had the energy or the physique that he had, would imitate his example. A porter means an extra expense in fees, and an extra mouth to feed, and very likely entails slowness in a climb through having an additional man upon the rope. A quarter plate or a 5 × 4 camera the owner, however, can himself carry; but the best form of attaching it to his body has been a difficult task to evolve. Many and many different attachments have been tried. One thing is quite certain, and that is, the camera should be in a stout case, but it cannot be carried over the shoulders by a strap as we can do in comparatively level countries. Let anyone try to come down a rock with the camera slung over his shoulders, and he will soon find it dangling in front of his stomach, or swinging like a pendulum, and threatening to displace him from what at best may be a treacherous handhold. The method of attachment we adopt now, will be readily seen from the diagram. The shoulder strap is utilized, but a ring is attached to the back of the case as shown, and a strap or piece of whipcord comes over the strap as shown. The two shoulders are in AA and the case is carried as a knapsack. The length of the cord or strap BB is so adjusted, as is also the length of the shoulder strap, that the camera lies against the small of the back, and that it will not swing away from the body. At one time the ring was placed in front of the case, but the result was merely to cause the top of the case to rest against the back. The plan shown above has answered under almost every variety of circumstances, and the weight is inconsiderable. (A friend has his camera attached to the bottom of a small rücksac and this answers, but as the writer does not carry his own provisions or change of garments he has not adopted this plan). A long day’s march may be undertaken if this contrivance be employed, and the weight is scarcely felt
