Early Work In Photography
A Text-book For Beginners

The Outfit. 41 thoroughly reliable outfit. We need hardly advise the beginner on no account to buy second-hand “ bargains,” or bankrupt stock”; such traps are often laid for the unwary, and cause much trouble, loss of money, and ultimate disgust with all things photographic. Some cameras are provided with a very convenient arrangement called a “turntable,” into which the tripod legs fit. This does away with a tripod head as well as a tripod screw, but is not really a necessary adjunct. Most cameras simply have a screw-hole lined with a brass bush at the bottom of the baseboard; by this means the camera is screwed firmly to the head of the tripod when in use Many varieties of tripod are in exis- tence, and most of them are good; some are a little more portable than others, while others are more rigid. The one we use and prefer has its legs permanently rivetted to the head, and the lower legs slide in and out from between the upper ones; the clamping arrange- ment is especially firm, or we should prefer one of the many folding patterns. We advise the student to examine seve- ral patterns of tripod, and then select the one that seems to combine lightness, compactness, and rigidity; in this matter your dealer_ should give you valuable n. help. One other small at- — tachment (and a very im- portant one) is a circular- level, which may be fixed 2 OPEN. 2. CLOSED, A Folding Tripod. pro- to the top of the camera back, near to the handle, use of this level will be explained, though it will ,______ bibly be obvious to all. The lens must be attached to the front of the camera (which is bored for the purpose), and the junction between the lens collar and the woodwork must be filled with putty, or other substance, so as to exclude extraneous rays of light. The Ihe ground glass in the focussing screen at the opposite end of the camera, must be of the finest quality, and almost entirely devoid of granularity, in order that the image may be properly focussed. Ihe reversing back is a simple arrangement, whereby a plate may be exposed in either a vertical or horizontal