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Old Photographs, Recognition, Handwriting Deciphering => Free Photo Restoration & Date Old Photographs => Topic started by: rubyrose on Saturday 28 July 07 00:43 BST (UK)
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Hi All
Have just been given this photo of my father in law and am quite intrigued as to how it was done. Has anyone else seen a photo like this before and do you know how it was done?
Cheers
Ruby
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I would say , its a hall of mirrors.
It's a great photo , you are almost getting three dimensional view of him , very unusual
Jim
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Hi Jim
I did wonder if it was done with mirrors, so do you reckon my father in law has his back to the camera and all the others are mirror images?
Its quite spooky to have this photo cos he looks just like my grandson who is about the same age as Stan was in the photo.
Cheers
Ruby
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Hi Ruby
What a fantastic image 8) 8)
Here are 2 cleanups from me ::) ::)
Mudge
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Wonderful photos,
I had a montage photo of my son taken when he was two.
The photographer took a number of shots (different expressions etc) and arranged them onto to one background.
It is known as "The five faces of Fred"!!! Not his name!!
It has pride of place in the US now.Not as artistic as yours though.
Spring
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Fascinating photo! Do you have a date for it? The lace collar looks anachronistic beside the advert in the paper he's holding, which looks much more modern. Can anyone read it?
Cheers,
China
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The more I look at this, the more intriguing it gets.
Really seems that mirrors are involved, but where? I can see that part could be from the rear of Stan with two angled mirrors, in front , but it is the immediate left and right photos which are a puzzle.
Some of our Ancestors left some real mysteriies!
Spring
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Hi All
First of all, thank you Mudge for the lovely clean ups, I really like the sepia one.
Stan was born in 1915 and he looks about 5 or 6 on the photo, so it was probably taken in 1920 or 1921. At first I thought it was taken at the same time as the small photo on the left which shows Stan with his father, grandfather and great grandmother in about 1918 but looking at the original, larger, picture I can see that the lace collar is different and Stan is also younger, probably about 3.
I think the mirror photo was taken in Liverpool. On the back of the photo it says Van Ralty Ltd. and it is printed as a postcard.
Its clever stuff, like you Springbok, I think it looks like it was done with mirrors but I can't figure out how.
Cheers
Ruby
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I think you have several separate images there, that have been transposed on top of one another (either a multiple exposure in the camera, or separate negatives). The far left and 2nd from right images are related, and the second from left and far right images are related. The central image of the back of the boy's head seems to not have an attached reflection. I can't see any joins to suggest there are mirrors there, and can't work out how it could have been done with mirrors given how dark the background is, there are no reflections of anything else and there's no sign of a flashgun.
Just some thoughts, anyway! I know there are a couple of "old-school" photographers who lurk on this board, so they might be able to enlighten you further (and possibly send me skulking back into my corner ;D )
Prue
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What a wonderful picture !
I think mirrors is the answer ! There is a hinge or join coming out of the middle boys head (!) ... and if you look at the finger hooked over the edge of the newspaper ... it the same in some images and reversed in others ... hence, mirror image ? But not being that sort of 'clever' photographer, I have no idea how it was done !
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Thanks for the replies Prue and Lydart. Prue I think that maybe your suggestion is a possibility, perhaps it is several images put together. If it is, I wonder how they got Stan to stay in one place long enough to take the photos!
If it is mirrors, it is very clever the way it has been done 'cos you just can't see where the mirrors have been at all.
Ruby
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If you look at the original , then above the boy with hus back to us is a double line? A mirror perhaps.?
Then looking at a side pair .The immediate left boy has his head tilted to the opposite direction to the boy bat the back A reflection Maybe? And the same seems to apply to the pair on the right hand side.
Spring
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Sorry Lydart ,it took me so long to write ,that you beat me too it....Great minds of course!
Spring
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It surely is an interesting photo. It is all done with mirrors, the boy in the middle with his back to the camera is the original, all others are reflections. You can't see the camera in the mirror because the boy is blocking its reflection. The setup would have been complicatied, as the studio would have had to been black, even with a flash to accomplish the final effect. Indeed, a well done photo.
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I wonder if anyone can bring up the reflection above the boys heads.
If you look closely on the origanal there appears to be a sort of "frame" "words" or something of interest.
Have just remembered an old dressing table which my Ma had,with a central mirror and two hinged side mirrors, so that you could see the back of yourself. At the correct angles you could see multiple reflections!
Spring
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IMO
First step - Take photo of back of boy standing in front of two angled mirrors in darkened room. (angled mirrors - camera can not see the camera)
Second steps - Take separate images of boy, standing at different angles to camera against black background.
Third step - dub steps two over step one.
Fourth step - to further confuse the eye - mount negative the wrong way round in the enlarger before exposing the print. (you can read the newspaper in the reflection)
George
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Hi Everyone
Just had a closer look at the original photo - from the left, the first mark by Stan's hand on the image on the left is a scratch. The mark next to the second image from the left does look like some kind of circular frame. The background has definitely been painted black you can vaguely see the paint brush marks.
George, your opinion sounds like a good one but it must have taken a lot of patience to get it right.
I've got to go out now, my sister's birthday, but will be back later to see if there are any more ideas.
Thanks to you all.
Regards
Ruby
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I still go with one shot, with mirrors arranged somehow ... a child could never stand in EXACTLY the same pose while that was done, without moving the angle of his head or a finger ...
We need one of our photo whizz-kids to try to recreate the picture and then he/she might be able to demo it to us !
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Hi Lydart
Looks like the general consensus is that the photo was done with mirrors. It would be great if someone could recreate the photo and show us how it was done.
Thanks everybody for your ideas and suggestions.
Regards
Pauline