Tintype Eyes

My esteemed blogeague John Foster, whose blog is linked here as Accidental Mysteries recently posted a handful of defaced photos from Square America, another recommended site. They're quite nice and each one tells a story.

Here is a similar image, a circa 1880 tintype with manipulated eyes. Creepy! The fellow's peepers additionally have attempted eyeglasses. The effect is to make the Victorian ladies look like today's crash dummies. I assume a child did it, but then I still doodle on posters and the magazine movie stars just for fun, so who knows. Enhancing, doctoring, tinting and manipulating photographic images didn't start with photoshop (or Life magazine around 1963, heh heh). Tintype photographers regularly colored and painted their product, either at the request of the sitter or just because they could. The deceased who had never had a picture taken were often propped up and captured, later open eyes were painted on so loved ones could remember the departed in a gruesome and artificial manner. Those with chains and jewelry would have gold highlights added on occasion, cheeks were tinted pink on a regular basis.

Original Tintype c. 1880 Collection Jim Linderman