In preparing the discussion of the technique of pictorial photography which is given in the following pages the author's purpose has been to produce a book adapted to the needs of those workers who, without wishing to undertake a study of the abstruse scientific phases of the art, nevertheless have passed beyond the elementary stages and feel a desire for pictorial expression. Every effort has been made to adapt the book to the needs of such photographers, and for that reason the author has endeavored to make clear, not only the actual. technical methods, but also the fundamental principles underlying those methods, since a thorough grasp of the principles is of importance in enabling the worker to locate and to correct his mistakes and also to study and to grow in power of expression, which is almost impossible when his knowledge is simply a matter of remembering certain arbitrary facts.
Inasmuch as pictorial photography only is being dealt with, some subjects which would otherwise find a place in a text-book have not been discussed, the most conspicuous omission of this sort being in the case of gas-light papers, which, though valuable to the commercial worker, have not great usefulness to the pictorialist, because of their lack of absolute permanence and of the highest esthetic quality. The author has regretfully been obliged to omit a discussion of ozotype and of ozobrome, owing to the difficulty of obtaining the materials for these processes in this country.
