[Garth Herrick]

Thanks Tom,

Now you've got me thinking about the merits of painting my walls black. Your advice and experience is extremely helpful. After all, if one must have slides or traditional prints from negatives, there is no opportunity for a digital cheat like I have used.

Speaking of glare, the trickiest thing to photograph I have ever encountered is a Daguerreotype. This, as you probably know is the earliest form of photography (1839 to 1860), and is essentially a polished silver mirror that must be viewed against the darkest possible background. I came up with a black velvet funnel lens surround that reached all the way down, within an inch or so, to the daguerreotype plate, on the shooting stand. A thin slice of raking light, 5 or 10 degrees to the plate was more than adequate. Too much light, and the camera lens would be visible in the photograph, despite the long black velvet funnel!

Thanks again,

Garth