He
urged that negatives _ad rem_ should be taken most carefully, and that,
like the picture I showed him, they should be full of half-tone and
detail, and yet have plenty of vigor. They should, he said, be robust in
the high lights, have perfectly clear glass in the few points of deep
shadows, and thus have powerful relief. Moreover, the negatives should
be retouched only by a competent hand, and care taken that the likeness
shall be in no way altered, which is so frequently the case now.
If done as thus suggested there is no doubt that remarkably fine
pictures are to be produced on opal, whether ground or not. Most
artistic results are to be obtained, and, with proper care, absolute
permanency. In this age of keen competition, all have to think of what
may be really recommended to one's _clientele_, and likely to meet with
approbation from strangers and friends when the picture has once been
delivered; and I candidly think that the opal, of all, is the picture
most likely to meet with this general approbation.
I hope I have left it clearly to be understood that the class of opal
picture to which I have chiefly alluded is one that remains untouched
after the transfer--that is, absolutely unpainted upon.
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