Making Your Camera Pay Part 3

To me, it seems that the ideal camera makes photographs of 3-1/4 x 4-1/4 inches. This is very slightly smaller than 4 5, and a less costly "film-eater." Negatives of that size are sufficiently large to make salable prints without enlarging them, and if a larger print is desired, they are of good proportions for the operation of enlarging.

Prints of the 2-1/4 3-1/4 size are too small to offer to magazines unless the subjects are all-commanding; however, the size is a very good one, and not too small for the making of excellent enlargements if the lens of the camera is good. I have heard of one photographer who uses exclusively a vest-pocket camera equipped with a fast anastigmat lens: he never attempts to market any of the small prints, whose size is 1-5/8 2-1/2, but enlarges the prints to about 4 6. There are many advantages possessed by the small camera over the large camera; but 3-1/4 4-1/4 is the happy medium. I have never had a print of that size returned because it was too small.

There is no need to limit one's self to the production of prints of only standard dimensions. In the cases of magazines desiring artistic prints, the prints gain materially by tr.i.m.m.i.n.g them so as to produce a compositional balance of ma.s.ses. Also, some buyers specify prints of a certain shape for use as covers and headings, to fit frame-cuts and such. These buyers state their specifications, as "prints size 4 6, with the long edges horizontal," or the opposite. It is not necessary to produce prints trimmed to the exact size of the cover, either; all that is necessary is to make the print of the same _proportions_ as the cover, and the engraver will enlarge or reduce it to the correct size.

There is one best finish for prints intended for publication: that is, black-and-white--_never sepia_--and glossy, burnished. Glossy prints are not much more difficult to make than dull-surfaced prints, the only necessary additional effort being the use of a squeegee plate, or ferrotype plate. The preference for glossy prints results from the fact that their surfaces are absolutely smooth and without grain. This enables the engraver to make a clearer halftone, for a print with a grained surface reproduces surface and all in the cut.

Glossy paper, when dried in the ordinary way, has a surface which is perfectly smooth, yet half-dull. When glossy prints are dried in contact with a ferrotype plate the surfaces are highly polished, and this gives the prints more brilliancy. Prints so prepared are ideal for reproduction-purposes.

Newspapers, as well as some moderate-priced magazines printed on news-print paper, and printed at high speed, require coa.r.s.e-screened cuts; in these, fancy lighting is detrimental, and fine details are lost; what is wanted are broad ma.s.ses of light and shade.

Some editors prefer prints which are untrimmed and printed to the very edges of the negative. Such prints give the editor opportunities to trim the prints as he pleases. And in the case of simple news-photographs and ones which have no claim to artistic consideration, it seems to be the preferable method of submission.

Certainly, editors will not object to such prints, and they may welcome them in preference to trimmed ones.

Single-weight paper is always preferable to double-weight, even in the larger sizes.

Prints must be sharply focused and distinct--not "fuzzy."

A contrasty print is sometimes recommended as the best to offer; but that is a mistake. The photo-engraver wants prints with plenty of detail in the shadows, and with a tendency to softness; but with not a vestige of flatness. "In the making of the screen-negative and in the various steps of etching, he--the engraver--can introduce highlights into a rather soft subject; but he cannot produce detail in harsh lights and shadows," declares _Photo-Era Magazine_. The process of halftone-making has developed so that the reproduction can be made almost indistinguishable from the original. In any event, make the best print possible--a normal and truthful representation.

Having produced your print, add your name and address to the back of it, and then write, in pencil and on a hard surface, the caption that should be placed under the photograph when it is printed.

Some editors decry the practice of writing the caption on the back of the print; for the print goes to the engraver and the copy for the caption goes to the printer. The alternative is to write the caption on a slip of paper which should be pasted by one end to the back of the print. In any case the photographer's name and address should be stamped on the back.

An ideal print for reproduction and publication, then, should be:

Not smaller than 3-1/4 4-1/4 inches; on single-weight glossy paper, burnished; very sharp; not contrasty or flat; correct proportions if necessary; untrimmed, if preferred; name and address on back; caption plainly written on back, or on an attached slip.

Prints pa.s.sing this examination are ready to be s.h.i.+pped to market.

VI

WHERE TO SELL

Once upon a time a publisher had a remarkable inspiration. He would publish a perfect book. He went about the task with painful care.

Months were consumed in the making of a book which would be perfect from every viewpoint. After the publisher had corrected every typographical error, had made every possible improvement, and was unable to detect even one flaw in it, he made proof-copies of it and sent them to men on the faculties of universities, to leading printers, to book-making experts, to authorities in English, and to leaders in every other branch of work from which it was possible to view critically the making of the book. He asked them to examine the proofs minutely and to tell him of any flaw, however small, that they might find. Each one of the critics returned his proof with the statement that he had not found the slightest imperfection. Thereupon the beaming bookmaker published his perfect book and offered a large sum to any one who could find a single flaw in it. And many months pa.s.sed.

Then, one day, he received a letter that pointed out an error in the book. Another letter followed; then another; and at the end of a year, he had received a half dozen letters, each pointing out a different mistake--and each was very noticeably a mistake. And that is the story of the perfect book.

It is with that book in mind that I have decided not to give here the usual list of buyers of photographs. Such a list may be complete and correct when compiled; but by the time it could be put into print and published, lo! some of the magazines would have suspended publication, other new ones would have sprung up, other buyers would have changed their requirements; so that after a year, the entire list would be useless.

I do not add even a list of non-buyers who were once buyers, for the reason that some of them may become buyers again at any moment.

Consequently, in my opinion, to place a list of photograph-buyers in this article would be to waste much s.p.a.ce, and with the possibility of inconveniencing any photographers who might attempt to use the list after a year or so of its publication.

Furthermore, there are magazines and other books issued yearly which are devoted almost exclusively to listing markets for ma.n.u.scripts and photographs; these are in a position to make changes, additions and withdrawals with each subsequent issue, and so to keep the lists up-to-date and of value.

One such book is, "Where and How to Sell Ma.n.u.scripts." This book cla.s.sifies photographic markets separately; and also lists elsewhere many buyers of photographs. In addition, lists are given of newspapers, postcard-and-calendar-makers, and lists of magazines devoted to the household, agriculture, gardening, juveniles, sports, outdoors, the drama, music, art, the trades, etc., all of which magazines use photographs. The book is published by the Home Correspondence School, Myrick Building, Springfield, Ma.s.sachusetts.

Another such book, which is very similar and which contains such lists, is "1001 Places to Sell Ma.n.u.scripts," published by James Knapp Reeve, at Franklin, Ohio. These are the only two market-books which are enabled to keep their lists up-to-date and correct.

Writer-craft magazines, which maintain literary-market news-columns, list markets for photographs; these supplement the market-books.

_The Editor_, published weekly at Book Hill, Highland Falls, New York, publishes perhaps more market-notes than any other.

_The Writer's Digest_, 15-27 West Sixth Street, Cincinnati, Ohio, is a monthly writer-craft magazine which conducts a very good department of market-notes.

_The Writer's Monthly_ is the name of another magazine that lists such markets. It is published monthly. Its market-news, upon publication, is rather older I have found, than that printed in _The Editor_. The longer time necessary to print the magazine may account for that. This magazine is published by the Home Correspondence School, Springfield, Ma.s.sachusetts.

_The Student Writer_, 1835 Champa Street, Denver, Colorado, published monthly, maintains an excellent market-list. Their notes are many, varied, and reliable.

Photographic magazines sometimes list markets for photographs, although not frequently.

_American Photography_, 428 Newbury Street, Boston, Ma.s.sachusetts, sometimes publishes market-notices in its "The Market-Place"

department, but they are scanty.

_Photo-Era Magazine_ lists, when available, market-notes.

Book-publishers wis.h.i.+ng prints of special character have used this magazine as an advertising-medium.

Besides the magazines noted, other writer-craft and photographic publications may publish market-notes from time to time.

It is by no means necessary to buy both books and to subscribe for all the magazines; but if you can do so without financial discomfort, it cannot be otherwise than to your advantage. By all means, obtain one of the market-books and subscribe for one of the writer-craft magazines; and if you can add a photographic publication, so much the better. Even a market-book alone is a great aid; indeed, it is a necessity. Obtain one or both and you will be amazed at the number of times each can say, "Open Sesame" without stuttering.

The best salesman in the world could not induce a sane blacksmith to put in a stock of groceries. If the salesman has groceries to sell, he goes to a grocer and talks. Similarly, a photographer cannot hope to sell the most remarkable photograph in the world, unless he sends it to the right market.

Each magazine has its own particular needs; but the needs of different ones overlap so far, and are sometimes so similar, that a print offered to one and rejected by it may be very desirable to another; this applies to _cla.s.ses_ of magazines as well as _individual_ publications.

As an instance: _Popular Mechanics_, or _Ill.u.s.trated World_, although requiring unusual photographs, rarely buy photographs of human freaks--but nevertheless the _Sat.u.r.day Blade_ (Chicago) uses just that sort of thing.

A few blocks from here stands the largest writing-tablet factory in the world: a photograph of it would not be acceptable to the rotogravure-sections nor to _Popular Mechanics_, _Ill.u.s.trated World_, nor to _Popular Science_; yet such a photograph would be useful to an architectural magazine, a stationers' publication, or a local newspaper. When a photograph may be viewed from several industrial angles, as well as from a new-achievement or from a human-interest standpoint, the more likely are markets to open for it. _The press-photographer should not stop until he has tried every possible market._

After one or two rejections, the photographer is apt to form the opinion that editors are prejudiced against his work because he is a beginner; but nothing could be further from the fact. One national magazine says; "Should we return what you submit, do not be discouraged. Sooner or later, if you study our needs carefully, you will succeed in finding what we are after." The same thing is true of every other magazine. There is not one of them but is eager to buy your wares if you offer them the kind of goods they want.

A rejection is not a rebuke. It is a challenge. It means that your "nose for news" has failed you--has played you false; or that you have tried to sell groceries to a blacksmith. Rest a.s.sured that no editor will willfully refuse to accept, pay for and print any photograph which possesses enough merit to warrant acceptance. The editor holds his chair only so long as he produces the kind and quality of magazine its owners want him to produce; and he can do that only by co-operation with contributors. Without contributors he is at sea in a tub. The editor is the best friend the press-photographer can have.

It matters not how much "pull" you have with an editor, or how near a relative you are, or how good a friend, you can't sell a photograph to him unless you "deliver the goods."

Elliot Walker observes: "The way to sell is to give editors what they want and in the way they want it." If you do that you can't fail if you try.

Nor will any editor reject your photographs because of his personal feelings. "The magazine-editor, in the first place, keeps his personal feelings tied up; in the second place, he would be foolish, indeed, to allow them to influence his decisions; and, in the third place, the editor 'ain't got no' personal feelings when it comes to buying material for his magazine."

There is only one course to pursue--send the photograph to every possible market for it in its special line; then see if it can be viewed from another magazine-angle, and try every magazine of that trend; then repeat and repeat and s.h.i.+p it away again and again. _Don't stop until it has been returned from every market with the slightest possibility of buying it._ Then sit up nights to discover another s.h.i.+pping-point for it. Keep on to the bitter end; but if your "nose" is working and you keep on steadily, the end will come rather suddenly, and it will not be bitter.

VII