The University of Sydney - Sydney University Museums

2.6 Hand Tinted Stereo Photographs

Colour photographs became commonplace in the mid twentieth century but colour had been an important consideration for photography from its inception. Although both the daguerreotype and Talbot’s negative/positive process were unable to reproduce colour, they were more sensitive to some colours, particularly blue. Indoor studios had blue skylights and sitters were required to dress in colours that would help compensate for problems with the emulsions. This sensitivity to blue posed another problem. Although stereo photographs were especially used for outdoor photography, a clear blue sky often left the top third of a photograph as a blank white space.

Photographers and publishers sometimes compensated for these technical limitations by hand tinting their stereo photographs. The quality of their work varied immensely. Some publishers and photographers hired professional artists to tint their work or had artistic backgrounds themselves. The result was beautifully coloured stereo views.

In other cases the necessity of producing thousands of stereo photographs for sale compromised their quality, while amateurs with little experience or talent could easily undermine their photographic handiwork with a few inept strokes of the brush. The seemingly crude character of some hand tinting was not necessarily due to the incompetence or haste of the artist. Some of the harsh painting of sentimental and comic views was probably a deliberate attempt to heighten the ridiculous effect.

Ref.: Darrah: (1997: 43)