strange eyes in early photographs
 

Prior to the turn of the 20th Century almost all black and white photographic negative plates had an orthochromatic emulsion which was only sensitive to blue and green colors. Additionally as much light as possible was used to shorten exposures, but caused the pupils of the subjects eyes to be closed down and small. A particular result was that portraits of people with especially bright or strong blue or green eyes would end up with strange unnatural looking all white eyes when prints were made from these negatives. The usual correction for this was “spotting” of the negative or print using primarily soft graphite pencils or special spotting paints applied with ultra fine brushes - obviously some photographers or their assistants were more skillful at this than others. This problem gradually went away after the turn of the century with the introduction of panchromatic films which were sensitive to all colors and faster as well.

From what I see on the sellers info you can make a offer.

Great photo. The damage to this photo can be corrected with modern day tec. The real problem with the photo is the price?

Precisely; nobody noticed my 20 minute lunchtime retouch in an earlier post. Zombie effect cured:

http://i1218.photobucket.com/albums/.../zombiejpg.jpg

Looks Great Jeff.......

Much better Jeff.

well done Jeff and all in 20 minutes.

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Bob,
Great information... Thanks for explaining the cause of the brightness, and the process of “spotting” they used when enhancing the eyes... You are right, some photographers were much better skilled at this alteration than others...

Best, CSL
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Looks like he is blocking the end of a corn field in South Dakota

Old photos tend to fade but the retouching ink does not. The eye problem is also that with slow shutter speeds the subject tended to blink and blur the eye area. David