NEW DEVELOPMENTS IN PHOTOGRAPHY

CHARLES A. SAVAGEInstructor in Photography

Rochester Athenaeum and Mechanics Institute

[EDITOR’S NOTE. Mr. Savage’s career as a research specialist and teacherbegan with a school-boy interest in photography. He began with a smalldark room in the basement of his home in Warren, Pennsylvania. His suc-cess soon attracted public attention. This resulted in many appointmentsin his home studio. He attended the Rochester Athenaeum and MechanicsInstitute and later became a member of the faculty. In his article he brieflydescribes some of the recent developments in photography that will be ofinterest to science teachers in schools an colleges. D.W.R.]

There have been three outstanding fields of development dur-ing the past year and each has broadened the scope of photo-graphic science to a marked degree. The first deals with lightingand equipment such as the Kodatron Speedlamp, the midget-typeflashbulb, and the use of fluorescent lights. Second, in the field ofprojection equipment is noted the development of greater pre-cision in American-made cameras, enlargers to compensate fordistorted perspective, and Varigam variable contrast printingpaper. The third area of development has been the continualincrease of courses in photographic science in schools and col-leges.

I. LIGHTING EQUIPMENT

1. The Kodatron speedlamp. The new speedlamp is probablyone of the most important developments of the year. Althoughfor several years it has been possible to make ultra-high speedphotographic exposures, such equipment was available to onlya very few persons. The new lamp was designed by Prof. H. E.Edgerton of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and isnow being distributed by the Eastman Kodak Company. Thelamp produces an effective light flash with a duration of only1/30,000 second! It has opened new possibilities to schools andcolleges to conduct low cost experiments of this kind in theclassrooms. It is a sensation to think of the developments thatmay grow out of the many stop-action studies of both humanand mechanical motion when production allows this device tobecome widely used. In every field of science and industry thislight will make high speed analysis a commonplace procedure.Also, it is obvious that such fast exposures will simplify many

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old photographic problems of the illustrators and portrait art-ists. Taking pictures of highly animated children, dancers, oranimals, in fact, pictures of any fast action has always been amajor difficulty. Much of the regular commercial photographerseveryday work will consist of making defect analysis pictures offast moving machinery and will result in new income.The light operates on the regular 110 volt 60 cycle line. It is

quite portable and convenient to use. The complete unit con-sists of the Kodatron tube and a removable reflector mountedon an extension standard which, in turn, is fastened to a sturdycastor base. The base, also, acts as a carrier for the power sup-ply unit. The tube and power unit can be detached from thebase for field use. It is interesting to know that the flash is ac-complished by a gaseous discharge. The Kodatron tube containsKrypton and Xenon. About 2000 volts for the discharge isstored in condensers which are capable of building up the nec-essary power in about 10 seconds. The Kodatron tube is re-placeable and has a life of about 5000 flashes. Mounted withinthe tube is a secondary light used for focusing and to accuratelyindicate the lighting that will result from the flash. This featureis an example of the practical design of the entire machine.

2. The ^midget^ flashbulbs. These lamps are about the size ofan automobile headlight bulb and, similarly, have a bayonettype base. Obviously these two features add to the convenienceof using flash equipment. It is possible to carry thirty of thesebulbs in an ordinary coat pocket that would hold only two orthree large bulbs. The positive contact and simple mechanismof the bayonet base and socket help to reduce the probability offailure. Even more important, the light source is small enoughto allow efficient concentration of light by parabolic reflector.The old style large bulbs only permit flood-light illuminationclose to the camera. Reflectors for the small bulbs will directsufficient light for exposure to objects as far as 150 feet from thecamera.

Adjustable-focus reflectors have been designed for the inex-pensive "midget" bulbs. Such equipment provides either aclose-flood or a distant spot of illumination. Obviously, thisopens up new possibilities in flash-photography, such as sportsand news. Those who wish to photograph wild life at night willfind the problems very much simplified by the carrying power ofthis directed-flash. The use of a telephoto lens with flash be-comes quite practical.

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3. TJie fluorescent liglit. This light answers the photographers’wish for a cold light which has high actinic value. Too muchheat is produced by the ordinary incandescent lamp of high inten-sity. In portraiture, for example, it is often quite uncomfortablefor the subject to pose for any length of time under hot lights.Being cool, fluorescent lights fulfill this and other needs. Theycan be conveniently used for projection work where there isdanger of buckling or actually burning film with ordinary bulbs.Although it is difficult to obtain a great intensity with the pres-ent fluorescent tubes, the actinic value, or exposing power of thelight, is very high.The tubular shape of these lights is another advantage. It

makes it possible to place several units side by side in a reflectorto form a broad source of light that will cast no sharp shadowson or from the subject. Incidentally, this softness, together witha pleasant color, eliminates the eye strain usual to the use ofordinary lights. With regular bulbs such a soft, broad lightsource can only be obtained by the use of a diffusion screen be-tween the subject and light. Diffusion causes loss of intensityand economy.The actual color of fluorescent light is very close to that of

daylight. This is an advantage in photography since most filmsare more sensitive to daylight than to tungsten light. All thesefactors point to the efficiency of fluorescent light, plus the factthat its power consumption is lower than ordinary light of equaleffectiveness.

II. PROJECTION EQUIPMENT

Developments in camera and projection equipment have notbeen as revolutionary as those in the field of lighting. Progresshas been made, however, through constant improvement in en-gineering and production. Thus, finer quality and more featuresare available at lower cost. Difficulty with foreign importationhas given American manufacturers the necessary incentive tobuild cameras of instrument precision equal to the famous im-ported types.

1. Enlargers. There has been very definite improvement inthe design of enlargers. This is particularly true of enlargersbuilt for small-size negatives. Many new projection machines areconstructed so that the plane of the easel and that of the nega-tive carrier can be adjusted to compensate for distorted per-spective in the negative image. Further, on some machines theplane of the axis of the lens can be changed to facilitate focusing

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the image when the easel and carrier are not used in their nor-mal, parallel positions. These adjustments are very valuable’tothe photographer whose camera has no swing back feature.To explain, very few hand cameras have enough, if any, risingfront or swing back adjustments to allow the user to photo-graph a subject such as a tall building without pointing thecamera upward. This means that the plane of the film cannot beverticle and parallel to the building. The resulting image willmake the building appear too narrow at the top. The picturewill have exaggerated perspective since we don^t think of build-ings as having tapered sides. A negative of this description canbe printed without difficulty in the new enlargers so that thebuilding will appear normal. Thus a long felt projection equip-ment need has been taken care of by application of the sameprinciples that have been used on view cameras for years.

2. Varigam. The latest and most outstanding achievement inthe progress made with sensitized materials is the introduction ofvariable contrast enlarging paper. It is known as "Varigam.^Ordinary photographic papers are usually made in severalgrades of contrast to compensate for the difference in densityrange or contrast often found in negatives made under variouslighting conditions. This new paper, however, is made with con-trollable contrast which not only eliminates the necessity forstocking various papers but introduces a new technique for spe-cial effects and correction.

Contrast control is made possible by the fact that the paperhas very soft gradation when an exposure is made through ayellow filter and very high contrast when exposed through ablue filter. Combined use of the filters permits any intermediatedegree of contrast to be obtained. What might be termed "nor-mal" contrast results when about equal exposure time is giventhrough each filter. Very interesting effects can be obtained by"dodging’^ through these filters, that is, by manipulating thefilters. Thus any part of an image can be given more or less con-trast as desired by the operator.

J. Polo-screens. The use of these screens over the light sourcewas introduced several years ago but only recently has thisusage become popular. Consequently, it is appropriate that theybe mentioned here. Pola-screens for use over the camera lens,of course, have been available for several years. When used alonetheir effectiveness is somewhat limited�under certain condi-tions. However, almost perfect control of reflected light is pos-

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sible through the combined use of light screens and lens screenswhen artificial illumination can be used. All science as well asphotography itself is benefited by the availability of this equip-ment. One of the most interesting uses of polarizing equipmentis that of making photographic copies of oil paintings. Therough yet glossy surface of an oil painting reflects many high-lights and, consequently, when photographed by ordinary meth-ods each brush mark is exaggerated in the finished print. Whenphotographed with the aid of pola-screens the reflection of thesurface texture of a painting can be completely eliminated andthe result is a true rendition of the actual tone variations be-neath the glossy surface of the painting. This technique appliedto three-color photography makes possible inexpensive repro-ductions of excellent quality and will permit art lovers to studycopies of their favorite paintings with much more satisfaction.To understand the use of pola-screens we must first remem-

ber that the detail in the image of a painting is formed by lightthat is diffusely reflected from beneath the glossy surface, where-as the "highlights" on the ridges of the brush marks are due tospecular reflection. Therefore, if the specular reflection is elimi-nated from the image of the painting the ^highlights" of thebrush marks disappear. To do this, the incident rays are polar-ized by a pola-screen at the source, then, since specular reflectiondoes not depolarize the light, the reflected rays are completelystopped before they reach the lens by a second pola-screen be-fore the lens set with its axis of polarization perpendicular to thedirection of vibration in the polarized rays. Thus, with specularreflection and its ^highlights" eliminated, the light which actu-ally forms the image in the camera is that which has been de-polarized by diffuse reflection and, consequently, is able to passthe pola-screen at the lens.

III. PHOTOGRAPHY IN SCHOOLS AND COLLEGESThe mechanical devices designed to improve the technique

and quality of photography are undoubtedly worthwhile andinteresting. However, we must not overlook the other aspectsof progress in photography. A very important developmentdirectly concerns teachers. Plans are being made by manyschools and colleges to expand photographic educational pro-grams. This has come about since the public has been made torealize that photography is no longer simply a trade but has itsfoundation in science and art. Publicity of this fact is largely due

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to widespread advanced amateur interest and popular reading.Professional photography in all fields has gained very real pres-tige. It is well deserved since photography in various forms con-stitutes one of the nations major industries. Facilities foracademic education in this field are in demand and truly needed.Only recently, have any educational institutions offered morethan a semester or two of photography, usually as an elective.However, progress is being made.The industrial arts schools have pioneered this work for the

past decade. The Rochester Athenaeum and Mechanics Insti-tute in Rochester, New York, offers three-year courses in bothPhotographic Technology and Professional Photography. Thedemand for these courses is such that the school is forced to turnaway many applicants each year.The expansion of education in photography means a growing

demand for teachers who know photography, or, perhaps, pho-tographers who know education.

CHEMISTRY IN GENERAL EDUCATION

R. J. HOLDERLorain High School, Lorain, Ohio

Probably everyone will agree that a pupil has not receivedwhat could be called a general education unless he has some ap-preciation for and knowledge of the physical sciences. One of theoften mentioned outcomes of a science course is an appreciationfor what science and technology has done for progress. Too oftenwe are satisfied with that variety of appreciation which is noth-ing more than open-mouthed awe, which reminds one of thatexpression, "Ain^t nature wonderful.n Such appreciation forscience the student has before the llth or 12th grades. You haveoften heard the chemically ignorant remark about a visiblyreacting substance that, "It must be an acid."To secure a more intelligent appreciation the pupil must learn

to use scientific facts and observations to reach a conclusion.Chemistry will have to be taught in such a manner that pupilscan be trained in the use of the scientific method. We teachersneed to do a great deal of experimenting in the classroom andlaboratory in order to learn’the technique of teaching pupils theuse of the scientific method, and how it can function in the solu-tion of modern problems.