[pure-silver] Re: Old portrait technique?

blame the flu!

Correction:

I would say in general "Vignetting" is dodging
in such a way that results in printing in an oval or circular shape; there are 
many variations so dont get too hung up on the shape.

my flu confused me

Ray


--- On Mon, 7/28/08, Ray Rogers <earthsoda@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> From: Ray Rogers <earthsoda@xxxxxxxxx>
> Subject: [pure-silver] Re: Old portrait technique?
> To: pure-silver@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Date: Monday, July 28, 2008, 10:24 AM
> Very definately a portrait style called
> "Vignetting".
> 
> These were at one time so common they might have been
> called the "hallmark" of the professional studio
> photographer.
> 
> 
> I still use the technique in nearly everything I print.
> 
> Perhaphs you know the technique as "dodging"
> 
> My flu does allow me to go for an award winning defination,
> but I would say in general "Vignetting" is dodging
> in an oval or circular shape; there are many variations so
> dont get too hung up on the shape
> 
> 
> Ray
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> --- On Mon, 7/28/08, Michael Healy
> <emjayhealy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> 
> > From: Michael Healy <emjayhealy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> > Subject: [pure-silver] Old portrait technique?
> > To: pure-silver@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
> > Date: Monday, July 28, 2008, 3:26 AM
> > I've been scanning a boatload of ancient prints
> the past
> > two years, most ranging from as 
> > recently as 1950 as far back as about 1885. A few have
> > shown a phenomenon that  
> > puzzles me. I'm wondering whether anyone on the
> list is
> > familiar with this.
> > 
> > Every one of the images in question is a formal studio
> > portrait. These date (I'm 
> > guessing) from the 1930s and the 1940s. (I'm
> stabbing
> > at this, and/but the subjects 
> > either are known relatives or were related to people I
> can
> > ID). The odd thing is that all of 
> > the prints have been blacked out (faded blackout) at
> about
> > or below the knees. Initially I 
> > supposed that I was looking at print deterioration;
> but
> > after encountering a good half-
> > dozen of these, I have begun to think that
> photographers
> > were deliberately raising or 
> > dropping one of the standards so the image would
> > "softly" or "gradually" fade/cut
> off
> > the 
> > portrait for a sort of softened or faded look. 
> > 
> > It's hard to isolate the examples as to time and
> place.
> > A bunch of them come from the 
> > collection of my partner's father, who is
> > Japanese-American but was raised in Japan 
> > before and during the war. So his photos include
> portraits
> > shot in occupation-era Japan. 
> > But some also include portraits of his father and
> brother,
> > shot in at least one studio in 
> > California's Central Valley, where my
> partner's
> > Japanese grandfather was operating a 
> > farm before the arrests that followed Pearl Harbor.
> Also,
> > I've come across a couple of 
> > these in photographs I recently inherited from my own
> > father - photos shot in studios in 
> > Springfield, Illinois in the 1930s.
> > 
> > As I said, I thought at first that these were
> instances of
> > deterioration; but the 
> > deterioration I've encountered tends to involve
> fading.
> > Even where it involves silvering, 
> > there already must have been heavy black to begin
> with. So
> > was this a portrait style, or 
> > should I be viewing this as some kind of print
> > deterioration? If so, what does it signify?
> > 
> > Sorry, I don't have a webpage where I can post
> > examples. 
> > 
> > Mike Healy
> >
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> 
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