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THE PRACTICAL PRINTER.
I have obtained many such tones as this one by the use of the " citric acid toning bath." Excellent tones for the red hair, with clear high-lights and halftints in the face, are easily obtained with a bath containing chloride of sodium in its composition. The young beginner might obtain a few ideas by the close perusal of the preceding chapter about toningbaths. You might say that it is a difficult thing for a toner to tone his prints in the style spoken of above, and also that he cannot tell when the hair should be a decided red, black, or medium, on account of his never having seen the original. For this reason it is advised by some photographers that the operator should do the toning, as he knows more about the "style of beauty" than the printer who never sees the original. As far as lies in the printer's power he should tone the prints as near as he can to their proper color, and his guide should be the original. A lady, who was the possessor of "lavely (1) auburn hair," once said to a photographer : "Why I you have made my hair jet black when it is auburn/" " Yes," said a friend, " they have made your lovely hair black sure enough /" • Red hair was the fashion at that time. I know of many first-class photographers that dislike the red tones for the reason, as I have heard them say, "they are not artistic." An excellent photographer in Boston, Mass., once said to the writer : "I dislike the red tone, because it makes the hair of some people red when it is jet black, and I never let my toner tone so red as to make the hair look at all so, but I request him to obtain a rich brown tone to his prints, and then they will be more in keeping with the original in the majority of cases." There is a great diversity of opinion among first-class photographers about the proper kind of tones to be obtained, as many of us are aware, and would it not be better for us to go liy the advice of those more skilled in the art than what some of us are ? I myself have always admired the German portrait stereographs, the tones of many of which I think are perfect. It is not only in the portrait work that this toning is to be so observed, but it should be more so in landscapes, marine views, &c. Always tone them more than what you would portraits, as red tones on views are abominable, and then by toning them a rich brown the finished print will look as the views do in nature, and trees,