CHAPTER I.

TRICK PHOTOGRAPHY. LAVATER’S APPARATUS FOR TAKING SILHOUETTES. [Illustration: SPECIMENS OF SILHOUETTES OBTAINED BY LAVATER.] This is not a photographic diversion, but it is so interesting and so much of a historical curiosity that we reproduce it here. When first introduced, the silhouette attracted the attention of the learned, and was regarded as one of the wonders of the age. Lavater, in his celebrated work on physiognomy, describes an accurate and convenient machine for drawing silhouettes. The engraving is almost self-explanatory. “The shadow,” says Lavater, “is projected upon a fine paper, well oiled and dried, and placed behind a piece of plate glass supported in a frame secured to the back of the chair. Behind this glass the artist stands, and holding the frame with one hand, draws with the other.” A candle was used to furnish the necessary light. The proportions of the silhouette must be judged principally from the length and breadth of the face; a correct and well-proportioned profile should be equal in breadth and height. A horizontal line drawn from the point of the nose to the back of the head (provided the head be erect) should not exceed in length a perpendicular line which extends from the top of the head to the junction of the chin and head. All of the forms which deviate sensibly from this rule are so many anomalies. In support of these observations Lavater gives a number of specimens of silhouettes, and insists upon the conclusion which he deduces from their study. We take a few examples of them. In No. 1 Lavater sees an upright soul, an even temper, taste, and frankness; in No. 2 the contour of the nose carries the infallible mark of a good temper; in No. 3 we have clearness of judgment. [Illustration: LAVATER’S APPARATUS FOR TAKING SILHOUETTES.] PHOTOGRAPHY UPON A BLACK GROUND. Some of the most interesting trick photographs are obtained by the use of a black background. In brief, the process consists in limiting the field of an objective so as to preserve intact for subsequent exposures the unused portion of the sensitized plate, and to be able to obtain upon the latter such combinations as may be desired of any number whatever of successive poses. The annexed diagram shows the arrangements which may be used. Nos. I. to III. are the ones most frequently used, and No. IV. permits of taking a number of photographs analogous to the one that we reproduce in our second engraving. [Illustration: FIG. 1.--EXPLANATORY DIAGRAM.] Where a kneeling girl is represented as a statuette upon a table, the operator is seen in the rear, manipulating the rubber bulb which controls the shutter. In Fig. 3 is shown a picture taken in open daylight, using as a black background the opening of a large coach house; as a screen, a piece of blackened cardboard was used, as is shown, supported by a violin stand to the right of the figures. Now, if we closely examine the child who, in front of the cart, is assisting in the delivery of his own head, we shall find that it is traversed vertically by a line of shadows, indicating that a slight veil was produced at the first exposure upon all that portion of plate that was exposed by the incompletely drawn shutter of the frame. If the plate had been entirely exposed it would be difficult to suspect anything. [Illustration: FIG. 2--COMPOSITE PHOTOGRAPH IN TWO POSES, AT DIFFERENT DISTANCES, ON THE SAME PLATE.] [Illustration: FIG. 3--GROUP IN OPEN AIR, IN TWO DIFFERENT POSES ON ONE PLATE.] [Illustration: FIG. 4.--FACSIMILE OF A COMPOSITE PHOTOGRAPH.] [Illustration: FIG. 5.--A DECAPITATION.] [Illustration: FIG. 6.--ANOTHER DECAPITATION.] The apparatus for producing the composite photographs upon a black background is very simple. A blackened piece of cardboard is provided with an aperture nearly corresponding to the place preserved in the definitive picture for the object, head, bust, etc., that one desires to isolate. This screen is slid into the first fold of the bellows of the camera, that is to say, very close to the sensitized plate, and at the moment of focusing, the position of the apparatus is so regulated as to make the image of the subject appear through the apertures in the screen and in the proper position. This process is the most rapid and is the surest. No reflection is any longer possible, and the preservation of the plate is absolute. What is no less advantageous is the sharpness of the outline, which permits of the most delicate junctions; such sharpness is inversely proportioned to the distance that separated the screen from the sensitized plate. We present a number of engravings of photographs taken upon a black background. [Illustration: FIG. 7.--THE HEAD IN THE WHEELBARROW.] [Illustration: FIG. 8.--THE HEAD UPON A PLATE.] [Illustration: FIG. 9.--THE SAWED-OFF HEAD.] [Illustration: FIG. 10.--THE REDUCTION.] Our next engraving represents a decapitation by means of a saber, and it is taken by means of an exposure in which the head was placed upon a block, the subject inclining forward upon his knees, and the diaphragm occupying about two-thirds of the plate, completely masking the body up to the neck. Then, without changing the position of the apparatus, the diaphragm is placed on the other side in order to conceal the head, and the body is photographed in the second position along with the person representing the executioner. It would have been possible by a third exposure to so arrange things as to make the executioner the decapitated person. By the same process the following trick photographs are made. [Illustration: FIG. 11.--MAN IN A BOTTLE.] The sawed-off head is one of the best of these photographs. Fig. 10 gives the same individual photographed twice on two different scales. This kind of reduction gives very astonishing results. The most curious illusion of all is the one in which a man is seen inside of a bottle. The individual represented was first photographed on a sufficiently reduced scale to allow him to appear to enter the bottle. The diaphragm was arranged around the subject. The bottle was then photographed on a large scale, and the result is, the man is seen in the bottle. SPIRIT PHOTOGRAPHY.[15] [15] From “Photographic Amusements,” by Walter E. Woodbury. New York,