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Here is another of those old photographs that benefitted from a bit of enhancement. No restoration here. I just removed the yellow and increased the contrast just a bit. It made quite a difference.
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There are three chairs, one table and one footstool. The rest is a painted backdrop.
The second fellow from the left is sitting on an upholstered occasional chair. The woman is sitting on another with the man on the right resting his arm on the narrow chair back. There is a third chair behind the guy on the right. It seems to be turned so that the chair back is against his back. Maybe it was to help him hold still.
Note right hand of the man sitting on the footstool.
I thought it might be mom and pop and the five boys but it looks like they are all aged within a narrow span of years. "Mom" and "Pop" are too young to be the parents of five boys.
The youngest looking boy on the far left is too old to be the child of the woman. She looks no more than about twenty-five herself and the boy looks about 15 or 16.
"Mom" is wearing a ring on her left hand but is that her husband standing behind her with the startled look?
Time for another repeat of my theory about why so many of these old portraits have people doing a wide-eyed stare.
The photographer would tell the subject or subjects to hold very still and don't blink their eyes or move their lips. In response they would clench there jaw and hold their eyes in a rigid unnatural stare.
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Labels: enhanced, Found Photograph
2 Comments:
At Tuesday, June 01, 2010 9:36:00 AM,
Twilight said…
Interesting, anyjazz. They nearly all have their fingers tucked into their palms too - maybe the photographer had a thing about fingers showing - maybe they had dirty nails. ;-)
At Tuesday, June 01, 2010 10:53:00 AM,
anyjazz said…
Many of these old "studio" portraits were actually shot outside to take advantage of the light. A ground cloth, a back drop and a few pieces of furniture and you have the feeling they are inside.
Now, say it was outside on a cold day and you have curled fingers to keep them warm.
But actually it was probably to help them hold still. Fingers twitch, so the photographer might have had the subjects curl their fingers slightly just to help hold them steady.
So, hold your breath, don't blink, don't move the mouth and hold hands very still. It sometimes took five or six seconds to expose a film plate. The subjects would sometimes make a fist, take a deep breath, clench their jaw and assume a wide-eyed stare.
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