This article is only available in the PDF format. Download the PDF to view the article, as well as its associated figures and tables.
Time is generally lacking for the average physician to become an expert photographer unless he chooses to take up the photographic art as a hobby. I have long been convinced that professional photographers cannot, as a rule, take satisfactory medical photographs. The difficulty lies in posing the subject, as the professional photographer is seldom able to realize exactly what is desired by the physician. This is particularly true in the case of skin diseases. It is for those who desire to make photographic records of their own cases that the following observations, based on personal experience, have been recorded.
Of the various sources of illumination, diffused daylight is in many ways most satisfactory. Direct sunlight, however, is to be avoided except for taking colored photographs (Lumière plates) when the exposure is necessarily long. Daylight photography has its disadvantages, as a properly lighted studio, which is necessary to produce the best