PHOTOGRAPHY, PHOTO-ENGRAVING, AND THREE-COLOR WORK

Acknowledgment

This monograph was prepared by Prof. David J. Cook, Demonstrator and Instructor, in the Bissell Colleges, at Effingham, Ill., under direction of Charles H. Winslow, Chief of the Research Division of the Federal Board for Vocational Education. Acknowledgment is due to Dr. John Cummings, of the Research Division, for editorial assistance.

In the field of photography, photo-engraving, and three-color work you can succeed and re-establish yourself in civil life as an independent worker, in spite of your handicap, provided you have natural aptitude for the work. You can do this even if you have lost your hearing, or lost a hand, an arm, a foot, or a leg, or both legs, or an arm and a leg.

In the best studies and shops of the country, from $25 to $75 a week may be made by competent men; or one may establish himself in business with pleasant surroundings and ideal working conditions. The photographer and photo-engraver meet people at their best, and the taking of a picture, or the making of an engraving becomes merely an incident in a pleasant business transaction. Much of the work may be done while seated, and the work as a whole requires but little strength.

Photography, photo-engraving, or three-color work may be practiced as an art, as a business, as a profession, or as a science, and one has a wide range of choice in electing just the kind of work suitable to one’s condition, preferences, and past experience.

PLAN No. 945. AIR BRUSH WORK

Air brush work pertains to the working-up of enlargements and contact prints in black and white, sepia, or color. Expert operation of the air brush is little less than magical in its delicate shading and color effects. Operators of the air brush command high salaries and are in great demand.

PLAN No. 946. BROMIDE PRINTING

This is a trade in itself, and numerous houses make a specialty of bromide enlargements for the trade.

PLAN No. 947. COMMERCIAL PHOTOGRAPHY

Photographing machinery, furniture, fixtures, fabrics, glassware, and manufactured products is a distinct branch of trade, and the commercial photographer often builds up an enviable business, conducted with but little overhead expense. He is moreover, much in the open, and he can choose practically his own time to do his work. Some commercial photography is commonly done also by the regular portrait photographer, and much of this work can be done in the studio under cover. But little equipment is required, and the compensation is fair.

PLAN No. 948. COPYING, COLORING PHOTOGRAPHS AND LANTERN SLIDES, SLIDE MAKING, WORKING IN BACKGROUNDS, MOUNTING, SPOTTING AND FINISHING, RETOUCHING AND ETCHING

All of these special services are embraced in regular studio practice. Good workmen in any one of the lines indicated command good pay and steady employment. The demand for experts generally exceeds the supply, especially for retouchers and etchers, who can improve negatives artistically, and correct the seeming exaggerations of the camera. Good retouchers may establish retouch studios in the larger cities and secure work from local photographers at from 30 cents to $1 per negative, depending upon the amount of work required per negative. A good retoucher can do up to 20 negatives a day, piece-work.

PLAN No. 949. LANDSCAPE AND ARCHITECTURAL PHOTOGRAPHY

This work takes one out into the open; is very healthful; and quite a body builder. One with a knowledge or liking for building and construction work may fairly expect to succeed well. Practically all railroads employ view photographers, and their work is exceedingly interesting on account of the travel from place to place.

PLAN No. 950. PRESS PHOTOGRAPHY

The press photographer leads an exciting life and the man with a “nose” for news items finds himself ideally located at a good salary. Many of the best men recently engaged in war photography were formerly press photographers.

PLAN No. 951. AMATEUR FINISHING

Amateur finishing offers a good field for profit, and many establishments in large cities, and even in smaller communities, provide amateur finishing in sufficient amount to keep a photographer busy long into the night in the busy season. The busy season may, in fact, be practically all the year around, as almost everyone now has a hand camera or kodak, and depends nearly altogether on the amateur finisher to develop and print films.

PLAN No. 952. MAKING HOME PORTRAITS

The home portrait worker photographs his patrons in their own home surroundings. He need have no studio. Hence his expenses are light and his profits relatively large. Home portraiture is one of the most delightful branches of photography, and the highest prices are obtained for work in this line. Equipment will cost about $200; there is no overhead; and the worker may work either during the day, or at night by the aid of artificial lighting installations, such as flashlight or electric light.

PLAN No. 953. MOTION PICTURE PHOTOGRAPHY

Motion picture photography is becoming more and more popular, and appeals strongly to the man who has a liking for the stage and for things emotional. Good operators make perhaps the highest salaries paid photographers. Here again one can specialize as a camera man, a laboratory man, or a printer. The laboratory work is chiefly that of developing the negative and positive films.

PLAN No. 954. PORTRAIT PHOTOGRAPHY

The portrait photographer must maintain more of an establishment than is required for some other lines of work, and may perhaps have to invest more money, since his place of business should be in some degree an art gallery. His is a busy and interesting life, and the maker of portraiture by photography should be a real artist, comparable with the artist who works with brushes and pigments. The artist-photographer’s work is just enough varied, in artistic lighting of the subject, development of the negative, retouching, mounting and finishing of the photograph, to stimulate interest. Every portrait is just a little bit different, and presents new problems for the photographer. Many studios employ 5 to 50 workers, and the incomes of some of our best studio owners amount up into five figures. Some workers specialize in portrait operating, printing and finishing, and developing and laboratory work—all highly paid branches.

PLAN No. 955. PHOTO ENGRAVING AND THREE-COLOR WORK

Photo-engraving in halftone, line, and three-color work seems bound to take its place along with its great ally, the art of printing. All sorts of texts are being more profusely illustrated, and the demand for good photo-engravers keeps pace with the demand for good printers. The following subjects may be listed as indicating specialty branches in this field, each of which provides subject matter for a systematic course of training.

Subjects Taught

Line operating.—Making the negative without the use of the screen for a literally exact reproduction of pen and ink work, etc.

Line printing.—Printing the line negative onto the coated metal.

Line etching.—Corroding the metal with etching solutions after it has been printed upon, thereby producing a printing surface.

Halftone operating.—The process of making screen negatives ready in every respect for the printer.

Halftone printing.—Printing of the stipple negative on the coated zinc or copper plate.

Halftone etching.—Etching the metal plate with the different solutions to produce a relief printing surface that will take the ink in the proper relations.

Finishing.—Working with tools upon the etched metal plates to improve them in various ways, remove defects, etc.

Routing.—Removing with the routing machines undesirable surface from the etched metal plates.

Blocking.—Mounting the metal and making it ready for the hands of the printer.

Proofing.—Inking the finished cut and printing on paper duly prepared.

Three-color work.—Making of color separation negatives color plates, selection of inks, order of printing, etc.

In photo-engraving, and three-color work, one may be an all around workman or a specialist. In shop practice one is usually employed at a single operation, and being highly skilled in that, one obtains correspondingly high remuneration.

Employment in these several occupations may be had in commercial workshops, studios, engraving plants, newspaper plants, printing establishments, manufacturing establishments, homes, colleges, or in the open, and employment is not restricted to any one locality, but may be secured in the small town as well as in the great city. The practice of these arts is in fact very widespread. All tools are provided by the employer, and but little capital is needed to become established in a paying profession. A camera and lens and a halftone screen are the principal essentials.

Why Training is Necessary

The photographer or photo-engraver who has “picked up” his profession in the ordinary manner will generally do his work but indifferently, and in consequence his success also will be only indifferent. He may have learned to do things simply by rule of thumb. To become an expert workman he must study and practice under competent instructors, and must follow some systematic course of training under such instruction. In a short time he may expect to become fitted to enter into his life work 100 per cent proficient, and he may expect to secure a good position immediately upon completion of his course. One can hardly expect to receive explicit and accurate instruction while working as an apprentice in busy shop or studio, and moreover, one rarely finds a worker that can even, if he has leisure, impart his knowledge to others as effectively as can the professional teacher. The practice in large institutions and organizations generally now is to require some systematic training as a qualification for employment.

After training one is enabled to take a paying position or to enter into business for oneself. The opportunities are good and the field is large for really good workmen. The hours are not long, and the work is not confining. The pay is better than in many other trades or professions and employment is fairly constant, as there is really no well-defined slack period.

PLAN No. 956. GENERAL INFORMATION—QUESTIONS ANSWERED

Q. What education is required to learn photography, photo-engraving, or three-color work?—A. Anyone with natural aptitude for the work who will make an earnest effort can succeed, whatever his previous education may have been.

Q. At what age is it best to learn photography or photo-engraving?—A. Any age over 18. It is never to late to learn.

Q. Can one learn to be a first-class up-to-date photographer by working in an ordinary studio?—A. Generally a student will learn more rapidly and acquire greater proficiency by taking a systematic course of training in some school of photography—even a short course.

Q. Is retouching a strain on the eyes?—A. Not if it is properly taught.

Q. Is a previous knowledge of photography necessary for those who would learn photo-engraving?—A. Not at all. All the photographic knowledge pertaining to the work is taught in the regular engraving courses.

Q. Is photo-engraving unhealthful?—A. Not in the least.

Q. Can one by taking employment in an ordinary plant acquire facility in all the up-to-date processes of photo-engraving?—A. A student will learn more in a shorter time by taking a systematic course in the subject.

Q. Do students generally take training in all three of the branches which have been described?—A. Very seldom; usually enrollments are for one of the three—i. e., either photography, photo-engraving, or three-color work.