Auntie Bessie

This is an old tintype. A good clear studio portrait as many of these were from those days of early photography. But what is the prop? There are no hinges or handles. What is the cloth on top? Is it a random whim of the photographer or the dust cover for an unusual piece of furniture?





Auntie Bessie, originally uploaded by anyjazz65.

So I fiddled with it a bit in Photoshop. Well, a lot. I reversed it and created the left half of the furniture assuming of course that the carving is the center. Auntie Bessie of course appeared on the left also, in a mirror image of herself. So I re-reversed her head, her buttons and the collar tassels so that it might look more realistic. (And both versions of Bessie would be looking inthe same direction.)

Somehow it was still just too spooky.

Then Hester turned up.

So I erased Aunt Bessie from the left side and replaced her with a reversed portrait of "Hester" from a cabinet card that I found elsewhere. With a bit of arty work I shaded the cloth on top so that it would not be a mirror of itself on both sides.

And that pretty well used up a morning...

The plot thickens., originally uploaded by anyjazz65.

Solved. Sort of..., originally uploaded by anyjazz65.