ae- FLATTER THE SITTERS' VANITY. Photographs Sow Made to Suit the Finer of the Inordinately- Vain. The old saying that "photographs do not lie" must go to join the growing host of exploded notions. It may have been true when photography was new and undeveloped, but the fact remains that at the present time photographs may be and are made to lie with great frequency and facility. The methods by which this result is accomplished are more various and extensive than most persons suspect. Retouching in Its simplest form, such as smoothing out deficiencies in the complexion, is well known to everybody, but it is not so generally understood that even the shape of the features may be altered by skillful work with the . negative. Lines of : figure are also frequently changed. The writer has seen and compared the original proof and. the finished picture of a well-known actress, famous for her beauty. In the proof hollows appear in the meek, and. the lines of the shoulders, though graceful, leave something still to be desired in the way of perfect roundness and symmetry. The finished photograph shows a transformation. The hollows are gone and the irregularities of the shoulder lines have become curves of perfect beauty. It is a lie, doubtless, but a pleasing and satisfactory one. v. So much for the results of retouch ing. But there are tricks of posing which pervert the truth just as completely. By throwing an objector part of an object so far into the foreground or background that it is out of focus it may be made to appear of a size wholly different from its real proportions. The most familiar instance of this trick is seen in the pictures of wonderful "catches" of fish. The honest fisherman holds the string out at arm's length in front of his body, so that, compared with himself, his trophies appear huge. A one-pound trout passes itself off gay-ly as a five-pounder, and other varieties gain in apparent size in the same satisfactory ratio. When professional athletes, "strong men" or prize fighters come before the camera the same focusing device is employed. Hercules throws out his arms, folded, well in front of his chest, and in the picture the development of his biceps is almost terrifying in its proportions. If he desires to give prominence to the muscles of his shoulders and upper back, he stands sidewise, so as to bring them nearest the lens, and by maneuvering and posing a little any part of the body which it is desired to emphasize may be made to appear well developed. N. Y. Tribune.