Tennant, John A.
Photography at home by John A. Tennant is a practical instructional handbook written in the early 20th century. It guides amateurs in making photographs indoors for pleasure and profit, focusing on how to handle lighting, interiors, portraits, enlarging, copying, and decorative photographic crafts.The book begins by showing how to judge weak indoor light with actinometers and exposure meters, then applies this to interiors by daylight, gaslight, and flash. It details lens choice and angle of view, ways to prevent halation (backed or non‑halation plates, films), room arrangement, and balancing illumination with blinds and reflectors. Portrait chapters explain window placement, modelling with shadows and a reflector, background selection, exposures for adults and children, and safe, effective flashlight technique, including silhouettes and firelight effects. Further sections cover flowers, fruit, and still life using orthochromatic materials and color screens, natural arrangements, suitable backgrounds, and simple camera‑less printing on blueprint and sepia papers. Clear, home‑built methods for enlarging by daylight and artificial light lead into bromide development, test strips, and optional toning to sepia, red, green, or blue. The closing chapters teach copying prints and daguerreotypes (with careful restoration steps) and give working formulas for printing on fabrics and making imitation enamel photographs on china—always with practical exposures, placements, and developmen…
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