Wednesday, June 4, 2014

Photo Masks



The real photo postcards in this post do not have a common theme. They do have something in common, however. Masks were used to print the photos in various shapes against a plain white background. The photo printing masks were opaque sheets with openings of various shapes. They masked the border or background area of the print, allowing the image to be exposed only through the opening of the mask.

Sometimes the photo masks were sold in sets of various different shapes like those in the Manning's Masks ad. This ad appeared in a number of magazines in the early 1900s.




The next postcard is the only one other than the last oval one that has any identifying information on the back. It is labeled "Donald Partridge and Emmer."










Last, but not least, is a real photo postcard with an oval mask. Oval, circle, and rectangle masks were more common than the fancier shapes. This postcard appeared on my blog before here. It is a card I bought for the subject, not the shape. The others I bought mainly for the shape, not the subject.




For More Vintage Images


http://sepiasaturday.blogspot.com/2014/06/sepia-saturday-231-7-june-2014.html

19 comments:

  1. Those are great. I love working with cut out shapes in my photo albums although I usually cut them out myself - usually something like a TV screen or a picture frame or anything that catches my eye. I'm not exactly a scrapbooker, but I dabble now & then. :))

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  2. Whatever you post on this site I always learn something new which me makes me look at Postcards in a different light. When in a small country town in Victoria recently in two different 'junk' stores I even asked to look at their old postcards! Wasn't tempted to buy any. Now I know about masks. Thankyou

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  3. Fascinating stuff - I had not seen many of the shapes before and it was interesting to see the effect they created.

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  4. Great post. Never thought about the subject before. I am sure now I will pay more attention.

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  5. I had not heard of "masks" before, but I now realize I have a few ovals that seem to fit the definition. They are not professional portraits though, so I suppose my aunt had to request it when she had her pictures developed. Is that how it worked?

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    1. I really don't know how it worked. My feeling is that the simpler shapes were used more by professional photographers and/or processors, and that amateurs were more likely to experiment with the fancier shapes.

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  6. Postcardy your blog is always a treat. Masks. I never realised how many different kinds there were. I particularly like the one in what I think is the shape of an apple. I would love to know who those girls are and where the photo was taken and what the occasion was.

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  7. I have several photo postcards with this effect and have always wondered how these quasi-frames became popular. Thankfully it was a fad that didn't last too long as I think it spoils the photos. La Nightingail may have it right that it was linked to scrapbooking. The school group is my favorite.

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    1. I think some of them spoil the photo, and some enhance it.

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  8. Hidden themes within themeless cards - a perfect choice.

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  9. These are super- I have seen this effect before but didn't know anything about it. Thanks for sharing!

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  10. Wow, what a fun idea to add a theme of so many masked postcards. What a great collection. All extremely interesting cards as well, and the dogs are so cute in the first photo. I did enjoy having an open theme this week, but you are right I do enjoy having themes and seeing what everyone comes up with.

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  11. Good information that you shared here...as well as illustrated with many of those masked photos. My thought goes to the lives of the subjects, and the school group just has so many little boys that I just am sure are ready to break loose and run around screaming...not to mention continue to get dirty!

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  12. As I was reading through your post and looking at the photographs I was thinking that I'd never, ever seen a postcard or photograph with a mask. And then I came to the last photograph with the oval. Well, I have several photographs with oval masks. More often, though, I seem to have photographs securely matted and framed behind cutout mats. Mine are photos and not postcards, though.

    I love the photographs but I admit that I want to brush away several of the masks so I can see the rest of the photo, even if it is only background.

    Thanks for sharing your knowledge, Postcardy.

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  13. It's a category! A fine collection! I had never seen that advertisement before. And that "slice-of-bread" mask is a new one on me too.

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  14. Thoy old photosse shapes are really int3eresting. I haven;t come across the word masks before. My photos are all the usual rectangles with only a coyuple of exceptions.

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  15. That one dapper young man looks like he is in a piece of toast. I've never seen the fancier shapes, just ovals.

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  16. Some of them are real novelty shapes, look like they are just an attempt to do something differfent and don't add too much to the photo in my opinion, but they are interesting all the same.

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  17. I’ve learned something new again! Perhaps those children were the apple of their Daddy’s eye.

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