Moving Pictures of Flowers.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XLII, Issue 6, 10 February 1909, Page 57

Moving Pictures of Flowers.

One remarkable fact about the moving picture camera is that it is able to reproduce'not only the swiftest moving objects, but the slowest as well. Accordingly, it is now possible to exhibit pictures of a flower in its different processes of growth, and of the transition of a bh«Bom into fruit. Recent experiments have resulted in a process that shows on the screen the changing of a rosebud into a [full blown rose, the bursting of a lily from its leafy prison, or the slow uncurling of the frond of the Osmunda fern. The operation of exhibiting anything like the growth of a flower from birth to maturity requires, of course, considerable time, though the result consumes no more than live minutes when thrown on the screen. The negatives must be made at regular intervals, and timed according to the degree, of the plant’s growth, ■while the exposures must continue day and night untH that point is attained at which it is presumed the object has really reached its maturity. The modus operandi in the case of a rose, for instance, is as follows: —

Just as soon as the bud begins to show, the first film is exposed. and from that time on until the- blossom is full blown a fresh negative is exposed every ten minutes both day and night. The time of exposure varies, of course, according to the season, the warmth of the greenhouse, the species of flower, etc. Generally, however, less than three weeks is required for the completion of this work. In that time something like twenty four hundred films must be exposed, which are not so many when it is considered that most moving pictures of animated objects carry some ten thousand to twenty thousand separate and distinct photographs. At night the negatives are exposed bymeans of an arc light. One of the prettiest effects gained by the moving picture camera is that shown in the emergence of a butterfly from its chrysalis. The films of this were exposed with a fair degree of rapidity, inasmuch as a butterfly consumes little time—a few minutes —to develop, once having shed its ugly shell. The butter fly employed in the experiment referred to was of the peacock variety, and though it was the first attempt on the part of the operator to take a picture of this kind, the films showed up excellently, and the moving picture was most successful. In order to obtain sharp negatives the chrysalis was placed in the open, the camera focussed on it, and then many days were passed in careful observation before a slight movement indicated that the beautiful prisoner was, about to emerge. Before the chrysalis actually broke a negative was made, and then, as the butterfly began to liberate itself, the films were run off very rapidly, the speed being increased as the butterfly hogan to preen itself. The final negatives show the butterfly- floating, away in the clear blue sky until it passes from sight.