IN

LELA VAN ENGENUniversity of Wyoming^ Laramie, Wyoming

Is photography too advanced for the elementary school?Many children have miniature chemistry sets at home. Othershave small sets which they use for developing and printing pic-tures. They are fascinated by the magical changes that certainchemicals make on different things. If some father is kindenough to demonstrate the different phases of photography inhis own dark room or better yet, if the school system has a darkroom with the proper equipment, the children will have a fineexperience of seeing the changes take place in developingand printing a film.

Children should learn how the film is put into the camera. Itis better to use an inexpensive camera. How many times haven^twe heard an adult say, "Oh, I never could put a film in a camera,will you do it for me?" When it is explained to children itis just a matter of wrapping the protective paper around a spoolwhich is placed in the camera, it seems relatively simple. Thereis little chance of ruining the film unless the allows thewhole roll to become very loose allowing light to reach the film.Usually there is sufficient protective covering around the outsideso that much of it can be unrolled before damaging the film.

In studying the camera children should know the differentparts and what they do in taking the picture. An understandingof the sight, shutter, box, diaphragm, distance scale, time orinstantaneous regulator and lens will aid the child in taking pic-tures.They often do not understand the idea of "focusing.n A good

example is to have them look at the windowpane and whentheir eyes are focusing on the window the trees in the street arenot clear. When they focus on the trees, they no longer see thewindowpane. As our eyes focus on different things so does thecamera if we remember to set the distance scale. Improper focus-ing or moving of the camera will make a picture fuzzy or blurred.The object of interest should not be directly in the middle of

the picture but slightly to the left or right of the center. A goodrule for landscapes is to have some object in the foreground togive a third dimension or a feeling of depth. People are moreinteresting if they are doing something rather than just posing

612

PHOTOGRAPHY INSCHOOL 613

for a picture. A picture shouldn^t be filled with a lot of differentthings. Take a picture of one thing at a time.Some people think that the time to take a picture is after ten

in the morning and before three in the afternoon. This is notcorrect. You can usually get better results by doing just theopposite. The more at an angle the sun strikes the earth and thelonger the shadows the better the picture will be.There are three common kinds of films. The first, the color-

blind film or ^N.C." film is the one that we used before theorthochromatic films became so popular. Second, the ortho-chromatic film. If the trade name has ^chrome55 in it, it is thistype. And the third type is the panchromatic which is a veryfast film. The first two films can be developed in the dark roomusing a red safelight but the panchromatic has to be developedin complete darkness.

After the picture is taken, there are two other things thatmust be done before it is finished. The first of these is developing

Eastwards D-’7((»

Pe^e toper

Water wrHi

aceti’o acid

CLOstwfll-n’.S F-5’

Hardrtcr & f^i^e-r

(H^a)

Tan 1 Pan Z-^FIG. 1. Developing films.

P«n 5

and the second is printing. Each film has a protective coating ofpaper because the film is sensitive to light. The dull side of thefilm is next to the paper and is called the emulsion side. Theother side is shiny. The film is unrolled in the darkroom withonly a red light (no light if it is a panchromatic film) and pro-tective paper removed. Care should be taken not to get fingermarks on the film. By holding the film with both hands it canbe see-sawed back and forth through a pan of developer. East-man^s D-76 is a good developer to use. The directions for mixingit are given on the container. Two portions of developer and oneof water are mixed for the first pan. If the film curls too much,it can be moistened in water before it is put in the developer.The film should be kept in motion for about fifteen minutes

and then washed in a pan of water with acetic acid or vinegar.A few drops of acetic acid in a quart of water are sufficient. From

614SCHOOL SCIENCE AND MATHEMATICS

there it goes to a pan of hypo (Eastman^s F-5 Fixer and Hard-ner) where it is left until the yellow backing has disappearedfrom the film. It should be left in the hypo twice as long as ittakes it to clear in the developer. The film is then put in a tankof running water and washed thoroughly.When the film is ready to dry, put a safety pin through one

corner or use film clips to fasten it to a line. One of the clips canalso be used at the bottom of the film as a weight. Wipe the dustparticles and water drops off the film with a clean wet sponge.It is wise to let the film dry for several hours before printing.

For printing a printer and three pans which contain de-veloper, water with acetic acid, and hypo are used. The nega-tives are cut apart and are put into the printer one at a time.Photographic paper Velox F-3 can be used for the beginningcontact printing. F-l, F-2, and F-4 paper can also be used ac-cording to the type of negative. The sensitive paper is exposedby placing the emulsion side of the paper against the emulsion

Eos’tnian’s D-12,

Developer-

Water M/f’th

aoet i c. aoi d

Eastrmn’s F- 5"

Hardier & Fi’%er

(^o;>

Pan Jl Pa" >L

FIG. 2. Printing negatives.

Pan 3

side of the film and then shining a light through it while count-ing ^one hundred naught, one hundred-one, one hundred-two,and one hundred-three^ slowly.A dull yellow safelight can be used in the darkroom during

the printing. From the printer the negative is put in the de-veloper (a mixture of two portions of Eastman^s D-72 and oneportion of water) for about thirty seconds. If the print is toodark, it was exposed too long in the printer. If it is too light, itwasn^t exposed long enough. It is rinsed in the water with aceticacid and then left in the hypo for at least fifteen minutes. Fromthe hypo the prints go to the water tank where they are washed.The prints may be dried on ferrotype plates or on a clean

white cloth. A ferrotype polish (composed of ten grains of paraffinto an ounce of benzene or clean gasoline) is used on the ferrotype

PHOTOGRAPHY IN THE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL 615

plates so the prints will not stick. Place the prints face down onthe plate and roll them with a rubber roller to squeeze out anyexcess water. When the prints are dry, they will peel off theplate.The fourth grade of the University Elementary School found

this to be a very interesting unit. There is a great amount ofsatisfaction derived from a constructive activity of this type.It not only is educational but may develop a hobby which canbe interesting throughout life.

BOOKS ON PHOTOGRAPHY1. Basic Photography, Technical Manual 1-219. War Department,Wash-

ington.D.C. 1941.2. Boucher, Paul E., Fundamentals of Photography, D. Van Nostrand CoNew York. 1940.

3. Collins, Frederick, Photography For Fun and Money, D. Appleton-Cen-tury Co. New York. 1939.

4. Doubleday, Russell. Photography Is Fun. Doubleday, Doran and Com-pany, New York. 1938.

5. How to Make Good Pictures. Eastman Kodak Company. Rochester,N. Y. 1943.

6. Strong, William M. Photography/or Fun. Maple Press. New York. 1940.

THE CHEMICAL SHOW AT CHICAGOHow the chemical industry has contributed to the war effort and its

effect on the immediate post war period will be emphasized at the thirdNational Chemical Exposition and National Industrial Chemical Confer-ence to be held Nov. 15 to 19 at the Coliseum in Chicago under the spon-sorship of the Chicago Section of the American Chemical Society."Every telling blow rendered by our armed forces against the enemy

brings us nearer the peace," said M. H. Arveson, chairman of the exposi-tion committee. "It is a widely known and accepted fact that the chemicalindustry is taking a major part in the war effort. It reaches into virtuallyevery industry and every product and is credited with scientific advance-ments that have contributed to the assured victory of the Allies."The show and conference will have a new significance, therefore, this

year. It will depict the science of chemistry in many of its phases and itsapplication to industry and the needs of mankind in peace as well as war-time."Mr. Arveson said that new discoveries and products which have been

developed during the war by the chemical industry will soon play an im-portant part in providing luxuries as well as the necessities of life for civil-ian use.

"Just at present we are facing the problem of providing additional spaceto accommodate an almost overwhelming demand," said Mr. Arveson."We are negotiating for the North Hall of the Coliseum which will yield 71additional spaces if we can complete the deal."