Chapter 5

"I see your point, Scott," Harry Halliday commented, rubbing his chin with his hand. "I must admit, however, that I have mixed emotions about it."

"From every standpoint, Harry," Scott insisted, "it makes sense. It gives us glamour where we need it. Brings the product alive, so to speak, and makes for an identifiable market. It'll sell, Harry, you know it will. And we can cover up the instrument panel without being too obvious."

"But at the same time, Scott, we'll be bringing somebody else into the act and thereby increase our security risk," Harry remarked.

"A professional model, Harry, for God's sake!" Scott said. "Professional models don't have brains. They have bodies and faces."

"Just the same," Harry Halliday persisted, "it is a security risk. Look, Scott, I understand your problems. And, to be perfectly honest, I like your new approach. Just give me some time to chew on it and get some reactions from the powers above, okay?"

"Okay, Harry," Scott said with a sigh, "but please give it the old college try. I need all the help I can get. Say! The instrument panel is our one risk, right?"

"Right."

"Well, how about shooting without the panel on the cart? Or maybe with a mock panel?"

"We thought of the mock panel, Scott, and decided it was too much of a risk. Our competitors will put anything we put out under a strong magnifying glass, and if they see that we're using a mock panel, they'll know something is up. We know how they think because our people think the same damned way."

Both men laughed and Harry assured Scott he would consider the use of models for action photographs of the new golf cart. Scott went back to the tight security area where the new golf cart stood waiting teasingly for him to solve its problem.

Scott walked around the golf cart for the better part of a half an hour, studying it from every angle and trying to tune in the possible solutions to his problem. Then he shot two rolls from a variety of angles he hadn't shot the day before. He did a series from on top of a ladder to see if shooting down would help.

He could tell from his view finder that the above shots helped glamorize the golf cart, but they were also critical as far as exposing the instrument panel.

His frustration grew as he finished his third roll of film for the morning. Scott even toyed with the idea of using a critical focus that would throw the dash area out of focus in the photograph, but the size of the golf cart and the distances involved made that all but impossible.

It was when he was sitting on a crate sipping a steaming hot cup of coffee that the idea hit him. He remembered a technique that had been pioneered by a famous photographer in Dallas many years ago. The famous photographer had died and his technique was little used because of the patience and time required for the intricate lighting and critical exposure, but Scott became excited as he thought about it because it might just work.

The idea was simple. You lighted the entire setting with blue lights, like a Hollywood winter scene. Then you used a high powered bird's eye with a white light to spotlight the area to be emphasized in the final photo. The bird's eye had to be powerful enough to wash out the blue in that one spot, and that spot shouldn't be more than twenty percent of the total photograph.

In the final print you had a dramatic effect. The photo was in tones or rich yet subdued blues, and the spot area was in full, bright color.

Scott remembered that the technique had been employed to dramatize a line of sporting goods, an auto air conditioner, and even stereo components in a living room. The more he thought about, the more he was certain it would work.

The problem was that he'd never be able to explain it to Harry Halliday. Harry would have to see it to understand and appreciate it. The beautiful point was that the blue lighting would obscure the instrument panel to the point that an industrial spy with a microscope or loupe would climb a wall!

Scott finished his coffee and once again began pacing around the golf cart. There was an excited spring to his step now. The possibilities were endless with this new technique he had in mind! It wasn't really necessary to use blue. Green or red could be employed with the same effect. In fact, green might be better. Green had an outdoors connotation that would compliment the golf cart.

At noon Scott received word that Harry would be tied up in a conference until late in the afternoon and the photographer decided to call it a day and develop the rolls he had taken and work on his new idea.

On his way back to his apartment house, Scott stopped and bought a roll of special color film and some blue gels for his lights. He wanted green, but the film he'd have to use was a special order item and had to be refrigerated, so he decided to use blue for his tests.

In his small lab in the storage room at the apartment house, Scott set to work. First, he loaded the rolls he'd shot into the developing machine. Then he began setting up a small studio in the corner of the room. Using four pans and two kliegs, he lighted the corner in subdued blue. Then he set up his most powerful bird's eye. He placed a portable radio he'd brought down from his apartment as the test product on a small table and concentrated the white spot on it tightly. The damned bird's eye tended to bleed back on the wall and Scott borrowed a ladder from the storage room next door to raise the bird's eye as high as he could.

The result was far from perfect, but it was the best he could do with the low ceiling. In the Merrill factory, he would have a twenty-five foot ceiling to work from.

Scott was loading the special film into his camera when the door opened quietly and Kathy Marsh walked in.

"Hi," she said a little shyly.

"Hi, Kathy," Scott responded in a preoccupied tone of voice while he finished loading the film.

He wasn't at all comfortable about having her here in his work room after the close call they'd had yesterday. Scott had spent a somewhat sleepless night worrying about what would happen if his escapade with the fourteen-year-old girl ever got out.

Scott was about to tell her that he was busy, but he reminded himself that it certainly wasn't the little girl's fault.

"What are you doing?" Kathy asked.

Kathy was afraid to mention what had happened yesterday. She wanted to talk to him about it, tell him how much she liked everything they did, but instinct warned her to let him bring it up. When old man Wilson had knocked on the door, Scott had been in a true panic and she knew that he was worried about the fun they had enjoyed together.

"I'm still trying to solve that damned problem," Scott replied. He went on to explain the technique he was testing.

The young girl didn't understand everything the older man told her, but she nodded her head as if she did. It was so complicated!

Scott set his camera on a tripod and focused on the radio. He shot a time exposure, but wasn't at all satisfied.

"That damned light is bleeding all over the wall!" he sighed.

"Would it help if I held the radio?" Kathy offered.

"Hey, that might work!" Scott exclaimed. "And it will give me something to use to argue with Harry about using a model."

"Should I run upstairs and change clothes?" Kathy asked.

"No," Scott responded quickly. "These are just test shots. What you're wearing is fine, Kathy. Here, we'll get rid of this table and have you stand in a three-quarter profile and hold the radio."