10 early “fake” photographs that trick the eye

1. Daydream (1870–1890), unknown

There are two realities colliding in this nineteenth century Visiting card Which were purchased most likely to be collected and traded. Visiting cards They were small, mass-produced prints mounted on cardstock, and were very popular in the Victorian era. In this picture we see the present: a woman and her partner with the tools of their craft; And an imagined future: her dream of becoming a mother. Roseboom explains that the image was a “darkroom trick,” achieved by shielding part of the photographic paper from light and later adding a second negative to it. Such images took photography to a new dimension, suggesting the deep thoughts of their subjects, and paving the way for future comic strips with their speech bubbles and thought clouds.

Courtesy of the Rijksmuseum

2. A Man Astonished by His Own Thinking (c. 1870-1880), Leonard de Kooning

In this comedic souvenir, in which a man comes face to face with his ghost, painter and photographer Leonard de Kooning exposed only half of the photographic plate, then had the subject adopt a different pose before exposing the other half. Photography may be a relatively new art, but the transition between the two images is imperceptible. “He’s like a magician,” Roseboom marvels. “You know you’re being scammed, but you don’t know how the photographer does it.” Quoting Oscar Gustav Rejlander, the pioneer of this type of composite printing, photographer Robert Sobieszczyk (1943-2005) said: “This method of working led not to falsehood but to truth. An image made by a single negative [claimed Rejlander] “It’s not true, and it never will be – the focus can’t be everywhere.”

Courtesy of the Rijksmuseum

3. The Beheading (1880–1900), F. M. Hotchkiss

“We still expect photography to bring truth, but that idea only emerged from comics in the 1930s to inform readers about how things were elsewhere in the world,” Roseboom says. Until then, the creative freedom to change the image was unchallenged. “Everything possible will be tried and produced,” he says. “There were no ethical restrictions on producing unrealistic images. No one would stop you from doing it.” For example, removing and moving someone’s head presented the photographer with an interesting puzzle. In the case of this cabinet card, the print pattern mounted on the card has replaced the smaller card Visiting card By the 1880s – with black humor, the creative mission was very successful. Only the position of the curtain, which would have hidden the original head, and some optical alterations visible under a microscope, provide clues as to how the photographer might have deceived him.