| Vintage photographs are fascinating: They reflect | | | | These were made to look like positives by placing |
| our past, the changing styles, news, family life, | | | | them against a black background with a |
| and so much more. Dating a vintage photograph | | | | protective case, a brass die-cut frame, a backing |
| requires an understanding of the period. One | | | | of black paper and gilt borders. The skin would be |
| typical way is to compare a photograph to known | | | | colored with cheeks and lips tinted pink.Another |
| ones of a period. A well-known collector like the | | | | interesting set of photographs is the stereograph. |
| Family Chronicler would usually have a range of | | | | Taken between 1849 and 1925, they were |
| dated photographs, which can be checked out to | | | | matching side-by-side sets of images of a single |
| establish a date of the photograph.In the past, | | | | scene. These were supposed to be seen one |
| photographs were taken on formal occasions, so | | | | after the other through an optical gadget held to |
| people would wear the latest outfits and their | | | | the eye like a pair of binoculars. Each eye looked |
| best clothes before a photograph was taken. | | | | at a slightly different image and the blend of the |
| These could have been taken in a studio or at | | | | two images in the mind gave an impression of |
| home, but they would always be significant | | | | depth.The wet-plate print made its appearance |
| events. Hairdos, neckties, clothes and frills, and | | | | between 1853 and 1902 and saw cameras coming |
| background curtains are good indicators of the | | | | out of the studios into actual settings. This made |
| time period.Photographic processes can also help in | | | | photographing the far west possible. As the prints |
| dating a photo. A Daguerre-type photo would be | | | | were large, they could photograph huge areas. It |
| from around the mid 1800s. The case would be | | | | had an uneven coating with torn or rippled |
| very decorative while the photo image itself | | | | emulsion and sometimes even fingerprints!You can |
| would be on a silver-clad copper sheet attached | | | | take a look at vintage photographs at the National |
| to a sheet of glass by a foil-like brass decorative | | | | Photograph Collections. Some of them are |
| frame. Sometimes the silver image could be dulled | | | | featured online. Or maybe you could get more |
| with silver sulfide, similar to the way silverware | | | | adventurous and actually become a |
| tarnishes. An ordinary photograph would cost | | | | collector!Photographs provides detailed information |
| about $5.00.A little later in time came the | | | | on Photographs, Aerial Photographs, Black and |
| Calotype prints, which were the first photographs | | | | White Photographs, Vintage Photographs and |
| on paper. Found in museums, they are usually | | | | more. Photographs is affiliated with Digital Stock |
| yellowed. Next in line were the Ambrotype ones, | | | | Photography. |
| which were on thin negative images on glass. | | | | |