This is the 2d installing in a light series of articles on photo handling in the day before computers . Thefirst explainedhow photo retouching make before Photoshop .
You know the one-time cliché : The camera does n’t lie down . But that was n’t true even before figurer made it possible to alter world with the chink of a mouse . As soon as photography came onto the setting — offering an unprecedented chance to record the world — the great unwashed figure out how to utilize this new technology to twine the world for fun and profit . say on to discover some pet photographic tricks from the 19th and other 20th centuries .
1. SPIRIT PHOTOGRAPHY
“ John K. Hallowell and fifteen other faces ” by S.W. Fallis ( 1901 ) // figure credit : Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division
In 1862 , a jewelry engraver in Boston namedWilliam H. Mumler“discovered ” his ability to photograph the spirits of all in people . Thanks to the rise of Spiritualism — a religious movement premised on the belief that the dead communicate with the living — and the gamey death toll of the Civil War , Mumler soon found his “ natural endowment ” in high demand . Clients would number to his studio to be photograph , and when the portrait was rise , alongside the client would be the spirit of a deceased congener , friend , or other person with whom the artist’s model felt a strong affinity . Even the spirits of at rest notable masses , like Beethoven , were sleep with to be conquer on film . A number of prominent hold up citizenry also sat for Mumler , includingMary Todd Lincoln , Henry Wilson(Ulysses S. Grant ’s vice president ) , and the emancipationist William Lloyd Garrison .
Bronson Murray by William H. Mumler ( 1862 - 1875 ) // look-alike credit : Getty Open Content Program
Mumler was accused of dupery by the State of New York in 1869 . His trial run was enshroud on the front page ofHarper ’s Weeklyand in newspaper and magazine around the country , largely ruin his repute , though he was at last clear . But by the time of Mumler ’s trial run , a host of other “ spirit photographers ” had take aim up the trade in the United States and Europe , and the practice retained its believers through the 1920s , know a revitalization in popularity following World War I. Meanwhile , booksandmagazinesabout photography offered instructions for non - believers on how to produce their own “ ghost ” photographs .
“ Room Shot with Ghost Photography . ” Image credit : A. Parzer - Mühlbacher viaPhotographisches Unterhaltungsbuch(1905 )
2. DOUBLING (OR TRIPLING, OR QUADRUPLING …)
small girl taking her own picture . Image cite : R.H. Anthony viaTrick Photography : A Handbook(1906 )
One of the simple and most popular photographic tricks from the nineteenth century was the doppelgänger portrait . lensman could splice together multiple negatives to show the same mortal several time in a single picture , but that was a rather earthy method acting . Most lensman used a duplicator — a gadget that allowed for one surgical incision of a negative to be exposed while the rest stay unexposed . Popular Mechanicsexplained , “ The principle of the duplicator is this : direct over the lens , with the straight edge of the chess opening perpendicular style , it cuts off from use the dandy part of the lens . The part that is left have an image on the sensitive plate which is just about half of what is really in front of the television camera , within the champaign of view . As the copier can be reversed by revolving it , it is obvious that both halves of the thought can be taken , one at a prison term , and that during the exposure of one one-half , nothing is being taken in the other half . ” This technique often leave a telltale vertical line along the center of the image — a fuzzed chevron separating the two photo .
The possibilities offered by the copier were endless . Camera Magazineenthused , “ Men can be show boxing , fencing material , arguing , etc . ; and , if careful note were taken of the subject in the two poses , it would be possible to give a view of a man actually jab himself , with the knife apparently buried in his bureau . ”
legerdemain : degree Illusions and Scientific Diversions , Including Trick Photography(1897 )
Victor Bracq viaPhotographischer Zeitvertreib(1903 )
“ Those who object — as the ladies probably will — to such naturalistic pictures , may discover amusement in portraying game of chess or cards in duplicate,”Camera Magazinesuggested .
“ act chess with himself , and await on at the game . " Image credit : Col . A.C.M. Pennington viaAnthony ’s Photographic Bulletin(1887 )
For whatever reason , a pop apparatus for doppelgänger portraits involve the subject pulling him- or herself in a wheelbarrow .
“ Frank Bonds wheeling himself in wheelbarrow . " epitome credit : Ford Hand ( 1909 ) via University of Washington Libraries onFlickr
Mirrors also offer an incredibly unproblematic means of repeating the same individual ’s image within a painting . Two mirrors set at a 75 - degree slant produced five sight of the Willem de Sitter in a individual portrait — without any retouching necessary .
Mirror portrait of unseasoned girl . picture recognition : V. Whitbeck via oakenroad onFlickr//CC BY 2.0
3. DECAPITATION
Trick picture , behead serviceman with bloody knife defy his head , circa 1875 . Image credit : George Eastman House viaFlickr
According to Mia Fineman , an adjunct curator of photography at the Metropolitan Museum of Art , the Victorian and Edwardian enthusiasm for simulated beheading was likely exalt by stage magic . During her research for a 2012 showing on photo manipulation before computers , FinemantoldPBS , “ I discovered a connection between trick picture taking and point magic , which was the most democratic shape of aggregate entertainment in the recent 19th C . Stage magicians often performedillusions boast decapitationand ‘ talking head , ’ and this motive was speedily picked up by photographers , both professional and amateur . phoney decapitation was the LOLcats of the 19th century . ”
“ Dr. H.S. Lynn , magician ” by Davies & Co. , Melbourne , Victoria , Australia ( 1863 ) . look-alike credit : State Library of Victoria , Australia
Performing in Australia in 1863 , the British magician Dr. H.S. Lynn — then move by the name Professor Washington Simmons — used the above pic to advertise his legerdemain the “ Lost Head . ” He accomplished this illusion by perform in front of a black background and covering with pitch-dark material whatever he wanted to appear unseeable to the consultation . Called Black Art , this stage trick proficiency worked the same way as black background picture taking , whichin the 1890sbecame the favored method for producing many photographic illusion , including decapitations .
“ The Head in the Hat ” by A. Parzer - Mühlbacher viaPhotographisches Unterhaltungsbuch(1905 )
4. TWO-HEADED PORTRAITS
play a trick on picture of human race with two heads ( 1901 ) . Image acknowledgment : Library of CongressPrints and Photographs Division
Like a exposure showing a human being play cards with himself , a double - headed portrait could be easily createdwith the function of a duplicator . W. Butcher and Sons even sell a tv camera with a built - in copier , which they advertise with the ikon of a two - point woman .
Ad for " Craven " photographic camera boast two - headed charwoman . Image acknowledgment : Trick picture taking : A Handbook,1906
5. PERSON IN A BOTTLE
Man in bottleful . Image quotation : put-on picture taking : A Handbook(1906 )
“ One of the most amusing tricks is to produce the photograph of a feeding bottle in which stands a human being , ” editorialist Richard Penlakewrotein the February 1909 military issue ofPhotographic Topics . Penlake was not alone in thinking so . In 1897 , a book about stage thaumaturgy and photographic illusionsinstructedreaders how to reach what the author called “ the most curious illusion of all ” by masking a disconfirming for double exposure , with the person and the bottle photographed in sequence front of a disgraceful background .
“ How did the son get into the bottle ! ” Image credit : Frank Grafton , The Guide to Nature(1914 )
6. TURN A PERSON INTO A STATUE
“ locker card of a tear of a untried cleaning lady , c.1895 ” by Bond & Co. Image credit entry : State Library of South Australia onFlickr//CC BY 2.0
One odd vogue involved transforming a person into a statue by etch and touch up the portrait negative . To capture the most stone - same photo , The Year - Book of Photography and Photographic News Almanacadvisedin 1885 , “ The hairsbreadth must of course be pulverise , and doubtless a powder puff applied to the face is advantageous to give the portrayal its onyx marble appearance . ” The topic would then be photographed stick behind a pedestal or a piece of composition board painted to depend like a pedestal . Alternately , the photographer could layer a negative of a footstall over the negative of the person to attain a standardised effect before scraping off the undesirable parts of the image .
Woman into statue , before and after . Image credit : joke picture taking : A Handbook(1906 )
While women are the subjects in most examples I ’ve found of this trend , theoccasional manwas also plot to see himself in statue course .
Photographic Pastimes(1891 )
7. PORTRAIT AS A MUMMY
Strommeyer & Heymann console card ( circa 1885 ) . Image quotation : josefnovak33’sFlickr
In the late nineteenth century , European expatriate photographers in Cairo began to offer novelty portraits with the matter posed in a sarcophagus with only his or her face showing . New York Worldreported in 1899 that every “ enterprising ” Cairo photographer produced these portraiture “ for his American patrons , ” as “ The mummy photo are considered elegant and appropriate souvenir of a tripper to Egypt to present on return to the admirer at domicile . ” But Americans were n’t the only one eager for these souvenirs : The Archduke Franz Ferdinand ( yes , that Archduke Franz Ferdinand ) pose as a mummy during his 1896 trip to Egypt .
portrayal of Archduke Franz Ferdinand seemingly by Heymann & Co. ( 1896 ) // Image credit : CourtesyArtstetten Castle , Lower Austria
According to British and American media coverage of the trend , lensman in Cairo used actual sarcophagus to create the portraits , “ a trap sufficiently large for the face to show through having previously been trend in the richly - decorated monumental case , ” reported theYorkshire Telegraph and Starin 1899 . The paper mark , however , that “ Ingenious photographer vary the picture by prevail a photograph of a mummy , ” and some likely used property rendering of the cases . Once the vogue attain New York — thanks to the influence of a affluent beau monde lady namedMrs . James P. Kernochan , who popularize the melodic theme in 1899 after a trip-up to Cairo — photographers would either superimpose the topic ’s face onto a photo of the mummy , or pose sitters inside a life - sizing cutout of a sarcophagus . framework of the sphinx were also popular .
James Deering and Abby Deering Howe , c.1880s , take in Cairo , seemingly by Heymann & Co. // Image mention : CourtesyVizcaya Museum and Gardens Archives , Miami , Florida
Mummy picture trended in two waves , one in the 1890s and one around 1908 . The first wave popularized sarcophagus pictures in both Paris and New York , with theNew York Worldreporting that young woman were “ find out amusement in answer to requests from amatory beau for their photographs by present them with a mummy photograph . [ … ] The feelings of the fan may be imagined when he is unexpectedly face up with the feature article of his beloved enshrouded in the antique habiliments of demise . ” In 1908 , the style experienced a resurgence in Egypt and London , with immature cleaning woman support the furore in Britain as they had in New York a tenner in the first place . After all , agree toThe Philadelphia Enquirer , “ [ T]he harsh melody of the mummy fount and the primitive hieroglyphics thereon , function to accentuate the pretty credit line of the girl ’s typeface . ”
