# Can You Help?



## doorsmaniac (Oct 26, 2006)

I Know nothing about Photography and was wondering if someone could tell me what type of photo this is. Its from the late 1800's, it has the photographers name and shop logo on it, it is also backed by cardboard. I am sure there is a specific name for this type of photo. I have many more. Thanks in advance.


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## jamespetts (Oct 26, 2006)

doorsmaniac said:
			
		

> I Know nothing about Photography and was wondering if someone could tell me what type of photo this is. Its from the late 1800's, it has the photographers name and shop logo on it, it is also backed by cardboard. I am sure there is a specific name for this type of photo. I have many more. Thanks in advance.



What do you mean by "type" here, exactly? It's a portrait, isn't it? ;-)

I have to say, for a photograph that old, it is in excellent condition: the subtle tonalities and the contrast have kept extremely well. It must have been kept out of light and damp.


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## doorsmaniac (Oct 26, 2006)

Yes it is a Portrait, But I meant is it a Tin type (which I Know it is not).  there has to be a name for it.  Thanks for the compliment though


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## doorsmaniac (Oct 27, 2006)

Well I did some Deeper Research....I Have Found Out They Are Called CDV Photos.  I Have Yet To Find Out What that stands for........Does anyone here know?


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## Mitica100 (Oct 27, 2006)

Yeah, CDV=Carte De Visite (in French). Very popular at the beginning of last century.


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## Mitica100 (Oct 27, 2006)

Much like this one:

http://www.goantiques.com/scripts/images,id,114392.html


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## W.Smith (Oct 27, 2006)

jamespetts said:
			
		

> What do you mean by "type" here, exactly? It's a portrait, isn't it? ;-)



I beg to differ. A portrait is a 'head & shoulders' of _one_ person. Maybe including the torso.
Wikipedia: Portrait.
A portrait is what is called a 'bust' in sculpture.
Wikipedia: Bust.

A car ain't a train either, is it?

So the photo I'm seeing is a group photo. Not a portrait.


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## doorsmaniac (Oct 27, 2006)

Thanks Mitica...Now I Know the History Behind them By googling that term!


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## fmw (Oct 27, 2006)

W.Smith said:
			
		

> I beg to differ. A portrait is a 'head & shoulders' of _one_ person. Maybe including the torso.
> Wikipedia: Portrait.
> A portrait is what is called a 'bust' in sculpture.
> Wikipedia: Bust.
> ...


 
I'll beg to differ with you and Wikipedia.  Some of the finest portraits ever made in the history of photography were done by Arnold Newman - considered by many to be the "inventor" of environmental portraiture.  Definitely not all head shots.  I'll let you look him up.  

I'll define a portrait as a photograph in which a person is the main subject - or a horse, if you're talking about horse portraiture.  If you want to use group portrait for more than one person, that's fine by me.  But full figure portraits or environmental portraits are portraits in my book and in the book of most photographers.  To ignore them simply muddies the value of Wikipedia in my eyes.


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## ladyphotog (Oct 27, 2006)

W.Smith said:
			
		

> I beg to differ. A portrait is a 'head & shoulders' of _one_ person. Maybe including the torso.
> Wikipedia: Portrait.
> A portrait is what is called a 'bust' in sculpture.
> Wikipedia: Bust.
> ...



If you had read the defination that you posted you would have seen that it says OFTEN head shots. But to say that a photograph of a person that includes more than head and shoulders is not a portrait is not what wikipedia.org said.


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## Mitica100 (Oct 27, 2006)

Hmm... And I thought _doorsmaniac_ needed help with defining the _technical_ type of photograph, not the _style_. Am I missing something here?...


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## doorsmaniac (Oct 28, 2006)

LOL Some People just love to argue over the most trivial Stuff


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