A great number of you must, by now, be well acquainted with the value of flashlight and the uses to which it can be put by the amateur. Its simplicity and safety in working have made it increasingly popular.

I expect you have successfully attempted portraits and groups at home, and also those silhouettes which, especially at this time of year, provide such a charming variation.

It has become more popular than ever, even at this early stage in the season of long nights.

If you are a member of a photographic society or club, you will easily realise this.

Amateurs of an experimental turn have discovered that, in addition to its better-known uses, flashlight may be “worked” in less orthodox ways, some of which provide very effective results.

Of these, perhaps the most attractive is that in which the fire is used to make the “flash”.

Your subject should be placed in a chair or other suitable position looking towards the hearth. You will need a white sheet hung as a reflector opposite the fire to throw back the light from there, but not in such a position as would interfere with the view.

See that your camera is properly focused so as to include your subject and a portion of the fireside sufficient to give point to your picture. A little flash powder – as much as will, say, cover a shilling – should then be folded in a small piece of paper, which should again be loosely wrapped in another piece of the same size.

You should next examine the fire in order to decide where to throw the powder to make the flash.

Arrange, if possible, that a large piece of coal shall stand betwen the flash and the camera so that direct light may be excluded from the lens.

The flash must, of course, have full play as far as your subject is concerned.

With your sitter perfectly still, and your camera ready, open the shutter and throw the packet of paper into the fire at the spot you have selected. In a moment or so the flash will occure and you may then close the shutter.

These instructions may seem involved, but the whole thing is simplicity itself; in anycase, you will find that whatever trouble has to be taken will be more than rewarded by the result.

[From the Watford Observer of November 20, 1926]