CHAPTER IV.

THE STUDIO.

[Sidenote: Studio.]

For portraiture a studio is a necessity for obtaining the best results. We shall very briefly discuss the question of studios, for we hold that, provided a studio be large enough and light enough, there is not much else to consider. We have been in several studios, and worked for a considerable time in them, one of which we, having hired, had all to ourselves, so that our remarks are based on the experience of studios photographic, as well as on those of painters and sculptors.

[Sidenote: Top and side light.]

The best light is undoubtedly a top light and a side light, the side light reaching to within a few feet of the ground. It is a common fallacy among some portrait photographers that the side light should reach to the ground, so that the boots may be lighted. Such an idea evidently arises from a misconception of the thing required; the boots are to be subdued as much as possible, it is the model’s portrait we want, not that of his boots. The studio in this country should, if possible, face north, or north-east, the roof sloping at an inclination of half a right angle. There should be no tall buildings standing near it, as exterior shadows and reflections interfere with the purity of lighting.

[Sidenote: Building a studio.]

We do not intend to give specifications for the building of a studio, for this has been already admirably done, and we advise any one proposing to build to consult Dr. E. L. Wilson’s “Photographics,” page 163 et seq. [Sidenote: Dr. Wilson’s specification.] In our opinion this description leaves nothing to be desired; this proviso only being made, that the studio be made long enough to use a long-focus lens, that shall give us correct drawing. We have not tried Dallmeyer’s new lenses in a studio, but if quick enough they should be used in preference to all others. Even if these lenses be not quick enough for studio work, no doubt one will soon be made that will be quick enough. [Sidenote: Glazing.] The glazing should not extend from one end of the studio to the other; an unglazed space should be left at each end. By curtains the length of glazing can always be shortened. [Sidenote: Walls.] A grey distemper is perhaps the most suitable colour for the walls.

[Sidenote: Home portraiture.]

Successful portraits can be taken in ordinary sitting-rooms, but we do not think the best results can be obtained in this way.

Regarding business arrangements and conveniences, we have nothing to do with them.

FURNITURE.

[Sidenote: Furniture.]

The old, and even modern, portrait painters are answerable for many of the faults to this day committed by photographers, because they take portrait painters as models. Lawrence was especially guilty in the use of conventional backgrounds and accessories. Of photographic furniture, as generally understood, there should be _none_. The studio should be furnished simply, and with taste, as an ordinary sitting-room. There should be no shams of any kind, and the furniture should be chosen with a regard to unobtrusiveness and grace, rather than to massive beauty. All heavy curtains, draperies, hot-house plants, and such incongruous lumber, should be avoided. It should be remembered that what is wanted is a portrait—the face, or figure, or both—and all accessories should be subdued. It is very little use to lay down rules for these things, all must depend on the individual taste of the photographer.

[Sidenote: _Objets d'Art_, so called.]

But, above all, avoid shams and cheap ornamental objects, such as cheap bronzes, china pots, and Birmingham _bric-à-brac_. The chairs should be upholstered with some good plain coloured cloth, with no pattern, and the floor carpeted with matting, or a simply coloured carpet without pattern. Let simplicity and harmony predominate. The room in fact should be a harmony in some cool colour, and the furniture should not be _felt_ when in the room. Our advice is, buy your furniture anywhere, save at a photographic furniture dealer’s.

[Sidenote: Head-rests.]

Head-rests must be entirely tabooed. We have taken many portraits, some with very long exposures, and no head-rest was necessary. In nine cases out of ten it simply ruins the portrait from an artistic point of view.

[Sidenote: Reflectors.]

Reflectors, on light stands, should be ready for use; but it is obviously erroneous to use large and unwieldy reflectors. The reflector is really only necessary for the head and shoulders; for our object is to subdue all other parts as much as possible.

[Sidenote: Backgrounds.]

All artificial backgrounds should be banished, together with such stupid lumber as banisters, pedestals, and stiles: they are all inartistic in the extreme. It is a false idea to represent people in positions they are never found in—such as a girl in evening dress against a seascape, and all the other hideous conventionalities of the craftsman’s imagination. The background—which is a matter of vital importance—should be arranged to suit the sitter, that is, a harmony of colour should be aimed at. Light fabrics without patterns, or pieces of tapestry, will serve every purpose, and give most artistic results. The portraitist should keep a selection of pieces of fabric of light hues, and a light skeleton screen can be kept ready, to which to tack them as required, suiting the colour to the dress of the sitter. Gradated backgrounds are a mistake, the tonality is much better shown by having a background of one tint, and so arranging the light that the modelling and tonality shall be subtle and true.

Breadth and simplicity are the foundation of all good work. The background should never be placed close behind the sitter, as is customary; but its distance from the sitter should be studied with the lighting. As a rule, it is better to place the background three or four feet from the back of the sitter. What is required, is that the head shall melt softly into the background, and yet retain its modelling.

[Sidenote: The camera.]

The camera should work with a shutter—the Cadett pneumatic shutter for portraiture being as good as any we know—and the pneumatic apparatus should have a very long india-rubber tube attached, for reasons to be explained later on.

[Sidenote: Artificial light portraits.]

Means may be arranged for taking pictures by artificial light, if necessary, though personally we do not care for them. The tonality, though true to the light, has a false, artificial appearance by day. There are many methods of making artificially lighted pictures; the best, in our opinion, are those taken by the electric light. Others are done by gas, and by magnesium flashes; a method quite recently revived as something new, whereas it is very old. The best of those we have seen were done by the American “blitz-pulver;” but the results appeared to us somewhat artificial. We think artists will always avoid these artificial lights.

[Sidenote: Studio effects.]

You must remember that in a studio you are taking a person _in a room_, and that is the impression you must try to get in your picture. [Sidenote: A lighting rule.] _It is a false idea and an inartistic one to endeavour to represent outdoor effects in a studio._ Studio lighting and outdoor lighting are radically different, and in a studio you have only to try and give an _indoor effect_. This has been the principle of all great artists. None but an amateur could fail to notice the falsity of lighting as seen in outdoor subjects taken in the studio. [Sidenote: Studio lighting.] On the other hand, in a studio you may get any effect of lighting you can for indoor subjects, for all such effects are to be seen in a room by a careful observer. [Sidenote: Adam Salomon.] Adam Salomon took many of his portraits in front of a red-glass window. This is quite legitimate, as is also the arrangement of fabrics for the background, and the dictating what coloured dress the sitter shall wear. Let our student work in harmonies of colour as much as possible, and let him never take outdoor effects in a studio. Make the room as much like a comfortable sitting-room as possible, and hide all the tools of the craft.