Part 3
To take his photographs, Bentley used a bellows camera, that is (7) a portable camera with a pleated extension joining the lens and the film plane. “Dodging and burning” is a technique photographers use to lighten and darken specific areas on a print (8). The camera’s accordion-like body allowed him to maneuver the lens so that it connected directly to the eyepiece of his microscope. Bentley would collect the snowflakes, putting them on a microscope slide and snap a photo (9). Collecting the snowflakes wasn’t exactly simple. To cushion the snowflakes’ fall, Bentley caught them (10) on a velvet-covered tray. Then, using a feather (11) to transfer each flake to a slide. After Bentley took a photo, he put the negative aside to develop later. Per snowfall, he could photograph an impressive number of snowflakes (12).
7.
A. NO CHANGE
B. camera; this being
C. camera—
D. camera;
8.
The writer is considering deleting the underlined portion. Should the bolded portion be kept or deleted?
F. Kept, because it introduces a photographic technique of Bentley’s that will be described later in the essay.
G. Kept, because it establishes that Bentley was an experienced photographer.
H. Deleted, because it detracts from the paragraph’s focus on the quality of Bentley’s photographs.
J. Deleted, because it interrupts the description of Bentley’s camera.
9.
A. NO CHANGE
B. putting them on a microscope slide, and snapping
C. put them on a microscope slide, and snapping
D. put them on a microscope slide, and snap
10.
F. NO CHANGE
G. the flake
H. this
J. it
11.
A. NO CHANGE
B. He then used a feather
C. Using a feather, then,
D. Then used a feather
12.
The writer is considering revising the underlined portion to the following:
about seventy-five snowflakes.
Given that the information is accurate, should the writer make this revision?
F. Yes, because it provides specific information about the types of snowfalls Bentley was able to photograph while he lived in Vermont.
G. Yes, because it provides specific information that helps demonstrate Bentley’s productivity during his snowflake photography sessions.
H. No, because although it provides specific information, it indicates that Bentley wasn’t satisfied with the number of snowflakes he photographed.
J. No, because although it provides more information, it does not provide the exact number of snowflakes that Bentley photographed.
Part 4
Bentley, nothing if not meticulous, would later duplicate the original negative and scrape away the dark emulsion that surrounded the image of each flake. Then he would place the doctored duplicate onto a clear glass plate and print it. This method changed the background of the image from white to black, accentuating (13) the details of the photographed flake. Between 1885 and 1931, Bentley repeated this painstaking process, nonetheless (14) producing about 5,000 photomicrographs of snowflakes. Of course, not one of Bentley’s flakes looks exactly the same as another.
13.
A. NO CHANGE
B. black and it accentuated
C. black, it accentuated
D. black accentuating
14.
F. NO CHANGE
G. ultimately
H. otherwise
J. usually
15. Question 15 asks about the preceding passage as a whole.
Suppose the writer’s primary purpose had been to write about a notable achievement in photography. Would this essay accomplish that purpose?
A. Yes, because it describes Bentley’s innovative method for photographing an object that had never been captured on film.
B. Yes, because it focuses on the process of snowflake formation and the man who discovered it.
C. No, because it instead describes how scientists used Bentley’s photomicrographs to study snowflakes.
D. No, because it instead focuses on Bentley