PICTORIAL STEREOGRAPHY 143failures. But such scenes are not the only ones worthy of repro-
duction. In fact such scenes depend upon the majesty of the
original and demand only technical skill on the part of the
photographer.
On the contrary there are many scenic subjects whose beauty
is revealed only to the observant, and when such a scene is used
to make a beautiful stereogram, the stereographer deserves more
credit than when his subject is such that a deliberate effort would
be required to produce a poor picture.
For example there was such a subject reproduced by Faulk-
coner; the locale, the Indiana woodland; the time, early spring;
the central subject, a modest little waterfall. At first glance the
slide seems to be in monochrome, similar to a brown-black toned
slide. Nor is there anything in particular to recommend the
composition when viewed as a planar picture, but when the
stereogram is viewed as such, the whole thing changes. The mono-
chrome resolves itself into tones of gray, green and brown, ac-
cented by a small tree filled with brilliant red and a smaller
shrub sprinkled with white. The whole thing is a subtle compo-
sition, the first glance does not reveal the scene. It grows and
continues to grow upon one, as element after element impresses
itself upon one. Finally when it has been absorbed the spectator
realizes that the scene is one of breath taking beauty and that
it involves a subdued but highly intricate color pattern.
This scene is a highly successful scenic stereogram but one for
the connoisseur.
Another subject is the pictorial representation of historic sites,
a field in which Short is doing excellent work, although his spe-
cialty is the general scenic beauties of the Atlantic Coast from
Florida to Maine. Autumn foliage is a subject which attracts
many workers, but there are few who concentrate upon the color
pattern regardless of the spatial pattern.
Figure work is a fertile field, but the usual pictorial euphe-
misms of planar figure study are not appropriate to stereo. There
is a straightforward realism in stereo which is easily adapted to
fantasy but which is incompatible with the little hypocrisies dear
to the heart of the portrait and figure photographer. Dramatic
lighting is more useful in stereo than in planar work, but if light
is to be used as a spatial solid the beam must be made visible