Photographic Amusements, Ninth Edition / Including A Description of a Number of Novel Effects Obtainable with the Camera

CARICATURE PHOTOGRAPHS.

There are quite a number of different methods of making caricature portraits. A simple one is to make two photographs of an individual, one of the head alone and another of the entire body on a much smaller scale. From these two negatives prints are made, and the larger head is cut out and pasted on the shoulders of the full length figure. Any signs of the cutting out are removed by the use of a brush and a little coloring matter. From this combined print another negative is made so that any number of these caricature prints can be made without extra trouble. The effect is shown in Fig. 44.

From Tissandier's Handbook. FIG. 44.—CARICATURE PORTRAIT.

Foregrounds for making caricature portraits are sold in this country. The method of using them is shown in Fig. 45. The card containing the grotesque drawing is held by the sitter on his knees and arranged by the photographer in such a way that his head rests just above the neck of the painted body. A white background is arranged behind and when the negative is made all traces of the edges of the foreground are removed by careful re-touching.

FIG. 45.—CARICATURE

FIG. 46.—MAKING THE CARICATURE PORTRAIT.

Another method of obtaining grotesque caricature portraits has been devised by M. Ducos du Hauron. His apparatus, which he calls "La Photographie Transformiste," is thus described by Schnauss in his "Photographic Pastimes." A, Fig. 47, is the front of the box, which is furnished with an exposing shutter formed of a simple sliding piece fitting into the grooves R R, R R. B P are two screens pierced with slits a a, c c. C is the rear end of the box where the dark slide is placed. D is the lid of the box, which is lifted either for placing the slotted screens or for putting in the sensitive plate. When not working direct from nature, the transparency is placed in the grooves R R, R R, at A.

FIG. 47.—THE HAURON "TRANSFORMISTE."

FIG. 48.—PHOTOGRAPH AND DISTORTIONS WITH THE "TRANSFORMISTE."

According to the arrangement of the slits, the caricatures obtained will be different. If, for instance, the first slit be a vertical one, and the other, i.e., the one nearest the picture, a horizontal one, the picture, in comparison with the original, will be distorted lengthwise. If, however, one of the slits forms no straight line, but a curved one, the transformed picture will show either lengthwise or sideways curved lines, according to the slit being a vertical or a horizontal one. The form of the resulting picture will also be different according to which one of the slotted plates is placed more or less obliquely in the box.

FIG. 49. and FIG. 50.

FIG. 51. and FIG. 52.

The slits must be made very exactly; above all, their edges must be absolutely sharp, every incorrectness being transferred to the picture. They may be made about one-third of a millimeter wide; if they are too narrow the picture will not turn out sharp. In making the slits it is a good plan to cut them in thin black paper, and to mount the latter on glass plates.

FIG. 53.

In a later description of the apparatus we learn that the discs containing the slits are often made circular in shape and so arranged that they can be revolved as shown in Fig. 53. This, of course, allows of a still greater variety of positions of the two apertures in relation to each other and an increasing number of grotesque effects. Reproductions of some of the pictures obtained are given.[3] See Figs. 48 to 52.

[3] Reprinted from La Science en Famille.

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