162 THREE-DIMENSIONAL PHOTOGRAPHYdecadence of an effete civilization and to return to the unsullied
wholesomeness of nature. More than that he must extend that
same attitude to every minute feature of his scene. That paper
plate in the background, a souvenir of some picnic party, will not
be a mere white patch easily removed by retouching. It is a paper
plate, round and light in color and foreign to the setting. See it
and remove it!
Nor can you indoors depend upon tonal mergers to effect your
composition. The dark wall behind the model’s head will be far
behind her and you cannot merge the two. You can kill all detail,
but the relief of the lighted part of the body will establish it in a
plane in front of the wall.
In the pose itself, you cannot disguise an awkward elbow angle
by swinging the arm back to make the angle more obtuse. As long
as that angle persists in any direction it preserves its awkward ap-
pearance. Forget foreshortening, it doesn’t exist. That is a feature
of planar reproduction.
Do not study the pose in the finder, you will be deceived by the
planar effect. Do not study it from a position beside the camera
at first, you will see a different aspect. Study the pose by looking
just over the camera. Base your judgment upon the appearance of
-the model as you see her. The stereo camera will reproduce what
you see.
Then of course, learn to use your eyes. Your first attempts will
be disappointing, and you will swear that the picture does not
resemble the original pose. Oh, but it does! Precisely! The trouble
is that you have not yet learned to see. Most people do not actually
see one-tenth of the things upon which their eyes fall. You will
be disgusted with yourself at first because of the many disturbing
elements which you overlook. Take plenty of time. Study the
pose. Have your model shift the pose slightly, or better yet, make
several exposures in each of which there is but a minor change.
Study all of them. Select those which you like best and then con-
tinue the study until you decide why you like them.
Show all the poses to the model. Have her select her favorites.
See if they are the ones you chose. (They will not be.) Find out
why she prefers them. Explain your choice to her. The discussion
will help both of you tremendously.
If you have a projector, project the slides. Block off one lens of