eras are of very good quality. The two distinct types of lenses are
the "rapid rectilinear" and the "anastigmatic," which names refer to
their optical properties in distributing the light. For our purpose
all we need to know is that the higher price we pay the better our
lenses will be, and in addition to this the further fact that the best
kind of results can be obtained by any lens provided that we do not
try to force it to do work for which it is not adapted.

To understand photography we must first of all get a clear notion of
the use and purpose of the stops, as the various openings or apertures
are called that the lens is provided with. A "fast" lens is one that
will give a sharp picture at a maximum opening, and such lenses are
both the most expensive and the most universal in their application.
Lenses of this class are used in making instantaneous pictures with
very rapid exposures, and for ordinary view or portrait work will
produce no better results than much slower and less expensive types.

Perhaps the best way to understand photography as an art rather than a
"push the button" pastime is to take up the process of making a
picture step by step. To begin with, the real photographer will use
plates instead of films, as much better pictures usually are possible
by their use. Dry plates come a dozen in a box, usually packed face to
face--that is, with the film or sensitive sides facing. The
plate-holder must be loaded in a dark room or dark closet, with
absolutely no exposure to daylight or any artificial light whatever
except a very faint light from a dark-room lantern, a combination of
ruby and yellow glass or paper. We should always test our dark room
and light by means of a plate before we trust them to actual working
conditions. Take a fresh plate and cover it half with a piece of
cardboard, or if it is in a holder draw the slide half way out and
allow the dark-room light to strike it for five minutes, then develop
the plate just as you would an exposed negative, and if the test plate
shows the effect of the exposure and darkens, we shall need to make
our light safer either by adding a sheet or two of yellow or ruby
paper or we must examine our room carefully to stop up any cracks
where rays of white light may enter. We must remember that a plate
sensitive enough to record instantaneous exposures of 1-500 of a
second must be sensitive to any tiny ray of outside light also. Almost
any room will make a dark