Tintype image - need help with dating & some TLC please

[Avondale16]

Hi Keith...great photo...I would say this was 1880s and the photo is a reverse image...the boys jacket is fastened the wrong way.
Carol

Hi Carol - I must have looked at this image 100 times & not noticed that it was reversed 
I'm always taken by the mad backdrop & the little lad's severe hair parting 
Keith

[Avondale16]

Thanks to Carol for reminding me, I have now flipped my image to put it the right way round. It's another great photo, I hope you are able to work out who they are.
Pat

Thanks Pat for putting the image the right way round - not that I had spotted that it was reversed. Now Carol has given me a starting point I can narrow down my suspects.
Keith

[Avondale16]

Another wonderful portrait, Keith! To me there seems to be a sense of sadness in it. Sadness is fine in a photo but I've tried to balance it with a 'warmer' tint.

mike

Hi Mike - you certainly have given the image a lift with your warmer tint. I do find the portrait confusing - on the one had it appears to be trying to portray a happy event but the sea in the background looks very foreboding and the children look somewhat down at heal & melancholy. Perhaps if I can work out who the boy & girl are it may make more sense 
Thanks again for you work on this one.
Keith

[Treetotal]

One from me
Pat

I like that version Pat...you have captured the atmosphere of the photo...I think the young girl fears her little Brother might fall off the rock 
Carol

[Trishanne]

Thankyou Carol. It is a most unusual photo, the children are not really dressed for a day by the sea and that sky looks really stormy, hard to work out for Keith I would think.
Pat

[McGroger]

Could it be a studio photo? The rocks look real but I think the background looks like a painting.

Anyhow, here's my late try.

Peter

[Avondale16]

Could it be a studio photo? The rocks look real but I think the background looks like a painting.

Anyhow, here's my late try.

Peter

Hi Peter - yes I agree I think it is a studio photo. Great clean up - the more I look at the image the more detail I can see in it.
Thanks for your work on this one
Keith

[DrDude45]

It's very much a studio photo. The rock appears paper mache and there is no dirt at it's base, just completely flat floor. Higher quality studio than average as they had more props than a chair or pedestal. As to the boys jacket, I agree it's more than likely backwards in the photo for a male, however, some toddlers in that era did have the buttons on the opposite side as they did not dress themselves (the same reason why womens jackets are buttoned on the opposite side.) Can't be sure, with no other clues, but odds are like 90-10 in favor of it being flipped.

[Treetotal]

I agree it's a studio photo with a photographers backdrop and pape mache rocks which were a common feature. Tintypes are a mirror image and that's why the jacket is shown fastened the wrong way.
Carol