HY. ERLE COOPER.

RECORDING EXPOSURES.

By H. M. GASSMAN.

EFORE starting on my summer vacation I prepared to take about four dozen pictures on the trip. As there were no local facilities for developing the plates I brought them home.

The problem was to identify each plate from the time it was put in the holder until it was used for printing. My object was to find out the difference between plates, the effect of exposure and its relation to development and various dvelopers. Although these points have been investigated often with a few plates it requires some system rather than memory, for so many plates. My outfit included three lenses, a ray filter, four kinds and two sizes of plates.

In the first place I secured six holders, numbered each side and put in the twelve plates at home. I took with me an empty box for each size of plate, a focussing cloth to keep stray light out of the room when changing plates at night, a folding candle ruby lamp, a camel's hair brush and a small exposure book.

The book was ruled with vertical columns having these headings:

Plate holder number, name of plate, size of plate, subject, character of light, time of day, lens used, aperture, exposure, date, serial number of exposure.

By referring to this book I could select the particular plate desired, and be sure of getting it. The data on exposure was filled in immediately after making the exposure. Under "subject" it is important to give enough detailed description to differentiate the plate from any other even though taken from the same point. If the view suggest an appropriate title it should be noted also.

When I changed the plates at night the serial number of exposure was put on one corner of the film by a lead pencil or pin. The plates we packed in the empty boxes in the same manner as they were originally. Each box was labeled giving

contents.

This system worked very satisfactorily but may be modified in various ways to suit conditions which are very different.

PHOTOGRAPHING TARPON.

E

By JULIAN A. DIMOCK.

IRST corner the market on patience, then develop an abhorrence for the conventional, and photographing the leaping tarpon will become the veriest amusement to you.

Through years of assiduous cultivation my supply of the first quality is equal to all ordinary Northern demands, but for fish work in Florida it falls so far short that it has been only the inexhaustible fund which my companion had on tap that enabled me to persist long enough to catch the fish. For catching the fish is the only real difficulty that

one encounters.

Avoid the conventional methods-for you are not fishing for the sake of catching the tarpon, but in the hope of photographing his leap. Therefore banish the usual rod and reel. Use a hand line and play the fish to encourage his aerial performance. Finally reward him for his exhibition-unhook him and let him go his way.

In photographing a leaping fish the chief trouble is to know where, or rather at what distance from the camera, he is going to jump. It is, in part, to overcome this trouble that I mark my line with ribbons, so that I can keep tab on how much line is out. At twenty-five feet from the hook is a red ribbon, at fifty feet is a blue one, at a hundred feet a white one. Thus I am able to approximate the distance of the fish. If, at the moment of his jump, the line is taut the mark accurately gauges his distance, and if he jumps straight up you have only to see that your camera is focussed for a corresponding distance to have a sharp image on your plate. A scale on your camera is a necessity while a digital scale, or one which may be focussed by sense of touch alone, is of much aid, for then your eyes are free to watch the marks on the line; to follow the direction of the fish, and in general to see what is happening or more important-to see what is about to happen. For if the fish is going to make a record leap you do not want