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Flickers & Tintypes Motion, one still at a time.

Section · 4 entries

Photo Objects

Old photographs handled as objects that moved, were colored by hand or went through the mail, read front and back, with every date given as a range, a place and a strength of evidence; never a price or an appraisal.

  • Stereograph, Met 1980.1056.3: Broadway in the rain, two albumen prints side by side on one arched card

    Photo Objects

    Stereograph: Twin Photos Shot a Couple of Inches Apart

    A stereograph is two photos of one scene taken a couple of inches apart, per an 1859 essay. On one Broadway card, the nearest pillar moves 29 px between halves.

    Picture credit

    "[Broadway, New York City, in the rain], stereograph, Metropolitan Museum of Art 1980.1056.3" by Edward Anthony and Henry T. Anthony — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:-Broadway,_New_York_City,_in_the_rain-_MET_DP218027.jpg — CC0 1.0 (https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/); modified: scaled from 3871 to 1600 pixels wide; nothing else changed

  • Tintype of a young man in a 20 x 13 mm window on an embossed card, Rijksmuseum RP-F-F15037, London, inscribed 1878

    Photo Objects

    Tintype: A London Label Priced 36 Tiny Portraits at 2s. 6d.

    A tintype is a portrait made in the camera on black-japanned iron. Labels on the backs of museum tintypes show studios selling tiny gems by the dozen.

    Picture credit

    "Portret van een onbekende man (Portrait of an unknown man), RP-F-F15037" by A. Brittlebank — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Portret_van_een_onbekende_man,_RP-F-F15037.jpg — Public domain: Public domain in the US (made in 1878: published or not, the term has run out) and presumed public domain in the EU (Rijksmuseum Public Domain Mark; A. Brittlebank was working in London in 1878, death date not found); the Commons file is the museum’s own upload under CC0 1.0

  • Real photo postcard print: a woman in a wide hat and a man in a cap posed on a ship's deck, passengers behind

    Photo Objects

    Real Photo Postcard: The Back Dates the Card, Not the Photo

    How to date a real photo postcard from its back: what the postmark, the stamp and a divided back can date, read against the 1907 US postal rules for post cards.

    Picture credit

    "Real photo postcard, December 1905: on board the SS Parisian (photograph area)" by Unknown author — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:1905-12-22_RPPC_On_board_the_SS_Parisian_A.jpg — Public domain: Public domain in the US (anonymous work made by 1905: more than 120 years since creation, whether or not it was published; mailed December 23, 1905) and in the EU (anonymous work; 70 years from creation or from first making available have run out); modified: cropped to a 4:3 area of the photograph (box 653,3485,7516,8627 of the 8551 x 13068 original), removing the handwriting above and below; scaled to 1600 px wide

  • Hand-colored albumen print of an iris garden with thatched pavilions, a seated man and a woman with a blue parasol

    Photo Objects

    Hand-Colored Photographs: The Color Came After the Picture

    A hand-colored photograph is a one-color picture with color added by hand. An 1872 tintype manual says to color the plate once dry, ordinarily cheeks and lips.

    Picture credit

    "Mensen in een veld met irissen in Horikiri bij Tokyo (Iris Flowers Horikiri Tokio.), Rijksmuseum RP-F-F01206-H, cropped" by Unknown author — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mensen_in_een_veld_met_irissen_in_Horikiri_bij_Tokyo_Iris_Flowers_Horikiri_Tokio._(titel_op_object),_RP-F-F01206-H.jpg — Public domain: Public domain in the US (made about 1870–1900: published before 1931, or if unpublished, an anonymous work more than 120 years old) and in the EU (presumed: anonymous photographer per the Rijksmuseum record, and any 70-year term from making or publication expired long ago); Rijksmuseum Public Domain Mark 1.0, Commons file CC0 1.0; modified: cropped at the top, at the left margin, at the right edge and above the printed title strip to a 4:3 view (3475 x 2606 px of the 4364 x 3462 original); scaled to 1600 px wide