Pre-digital Age Civil War Photo Manipulation

23rdYahoos

Corporal
Annual Winner
Joined
Dec 15, 2011
Location
Chester County, PA
I came across a story about how photographers in the 19th c. were very clever in maniplutaion of photographs, and gave these three images as examples. I have to admit that I had never thought about the possibility of such 'art' being used back then.

Photo # 1: A photo of President Lincoln's head was placed on the image of Southern politician John Calhoun to create the portrait on the left.

abe-jpg_204659.jpg



Photo # 2: The photograph of Ulysses S. Grant on the left is actually a composite of these three different photographs pieced together (Head, Background, rider and horse).

article-2107109-11F436F2000005DC-189-964x362-jpg_204703.jpg



Photo # 3: General Francis P. Blair (on the far right end) was added to this Matthew Brady photograph at a later date.
article-2107109-11F436F6000005DC-292-964x347-jpg_204704.jpg


Just thought I would share ...
 
That's pretty cool. I hadn't seen those. For more on this whole concept, google Henry Peach Robinson. Though he was English, not American, his thing was to treat photos as purely manipulatable images, similar to an artist creating a painting.
 
That's interesting about the photograph manipulation. I knew of the basic manipulation things they did but not those.
 
Back
Top