7 Classic Photography Tricks, Frauds, and Trends from the Pre-Photoshop Era

This article is part two of a series on photo manipulation before the digital age. The first part explored the methods used for photo retouching prior to Photoshop.

You’ve heard it before: The camera tells the truth. But that wasn’t always the case—even before computers could easily twist reality at the click of a button. When photography was first introduced, it gave people a powerful way to capture the world. And naturally, they quickly found ways to use this new medium to alter reality for amusement or gain. Keep reading to learn about some popular photo tricks from the 19th and early 20th centuries.

1. SPIRIT PHOTOGRAPHY

“John K. Hallowell and fifteen other faces” by S.W. Fallis (1901) // Image credit: Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division

In 1862, a jewelry engraver from Boston, William H. Mumler, claimed to have the unique ability to capture photographs of spirits. With the rise of Spiritualism—a belief system based on the idea that the dead could communicate with the living—and the devastating losses from the Civil War, Mumler’s “gift” quickly gained popularity. People visited his studio for portraits, only to find that their photographs included the spirits of deceased loved ones, friends, or even historical figures like Beethoven. Prominent individuals, such as Mary Todd Lincoln, Henry Wilson (Vice President under Ulysses S. Grant), and abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison, also posed for Mumler’s mysterious spirit photographs.

Bronson Murray by William H. Mumler (1862-1875) // Image credit: Getty Open Content Program

In 1869, Mumler faced fraud charges brought against him by the State of New York. His trial became a national sensation, covered on the front pages of Harper’s Weekly and various other publications, tarnishing his reputation. However, he was eventually acquitted. Despite this, by the time of his trial, other “spirit photographers” had emerged both in the U.S. and Europe, and the practice continued to thrive, particularly after World War I. Books and magazines also offered guides for skeptics, showing them how to create their own “ghost” photographs.

“Room Shot with Ghost Photography.” Image credit: A. Parzer-Mühlbacher via Photographisches Unterhaltungsbuch (1905)

2. DOUBLING (OR TRIPLING, OR QUADRUPLING …)

A young girl capturing her own image. Image credit: R.H. Anthony via Trick Photography: A Handbook (1906)

One of the most straightforward and widely-used photographic tricks of the 19th century was the doppelgänger portrait. By combining multiple negatives, photographers could show a single person appearing several times within one photo. This method was somewhat basic, though. More advanced photographers employed a duplicator, a device that exposed only one section of a negative while leaving the rest untouched. Popular Mechanics explained, “The duplicator works as follows: Placed over the lens, with the opening’s straight edge aligned perpendicularly, it blocks off the majority of the lens’s view. The remaining portion projects an image onto the sensitive plate, covering roughly half of the visible scene. Since the duplicator can be rotated, both halves of the scene could be captured, one at a time, without exposing the other half during the process.” This often resulted in a distinct vertical line running down the middle of the image, a fuzzy seam splitting the two exposures.

The duplicator offered nearly limitless creative possibilities. Camera Magazine enthused, “It could show men boxing, fencing, arguing, and more; with enough precision in the subject’s poses, it was even possible to create an image of a man stabbing himself, the knife seemingly lodged in his own chest.”

Magic: Stage Illusions and Scientific Diversions, Including Trick Photography (1897)

Victor Bracq via Photographischer Zeitvertreib (1903)

“For those who might object—likely the ladies—to such lifelike images, Camera Magazine suggested a more playful alternative: portraying games of chess or cards with duplicates.”

“Playing chess with himself, and observing the game.” Image credit: Col. A.C.M. Pennington via Anthony’s Photographic Bulletin (1887)

For reasons unknown, a common theme in doppelgänger portraits featured the subject pulling themselves along in a wheelbarrow.

“Frank Bonds wheeling himself in wheelbarrow.” Image credit: Ford Hand (1909) via University of Washington Libraries on Flickr

Mirrors provided an incredibly simple way to duplicate a person’s image within a photograph. By positioning two mirrors at a 75-degree angle, photographers could capture five different views of the subject in one portrait—no retouching required.

Mirror portrait of a young girl. Image credit: V. Whitbeck via oakenroad on Flickr // CC BY 2.0

3. DECAPITATION

Trick photo, decapitated man with bloody knife holding his head, circa 1875. Image credit: George Eastman House via Flickr

Mia Fineman, assistant curator of photography at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, suggests that the Victorians and Edwardians' fascination with fake decapitation was probably influenced by stage magic. While researching a 2012 exhibit on photo manipulation before the digital age, Fineman told PBS, “I discovered a link between trick photography and stage magic, the most popular form of mass entertainment in the late 19th century. Stage magicians often performed illusions featuring decapitation and ‘talking heads,’ and photographers—both professional and amateur—quickly adopted this motif. Fake decapitation was the LOLcats of the 19th century.”

“Dr. H.S. Lynn, magician” by Davies & Co., Melbourne, Victoria, Australia (1863). Image credit: State Library of Victoria, Australia

In 1863, British magician Dr. H.S. Lynn—who was performing in Australia under the name Professor Washington Simmons—used this photograph to promote his illusion, the “Lost Head.” He achieved the effect by performing in front of a black background and draping a black cloth over anything he wanted to make disappear. Known as Black Art, this technique worked similarly to black background photography, which by the 1890s became a popular method for creating various photographic tricks, including decapitations.

“The Head in the Hat” by A. Parzer-Mühlbacher via Photographisches Unterhaltungsbuch (1905)

4. TWO-HEADED PORTRAITS

Trick photograph of a man with two heads (1901). Image credit: Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division

Much like a photograph of a man playing cards with himself, a double-headed portrait could be easily created using a duplicator. W. Butcher and Sons even sold a camera equipped with a built-in duplicator, which they marketed with an image of a two-headed woman.

Ad for "Craven" camera featuring two-headed woman. Image credit: Trick Photography: A Handbook (1906)

5. PERSON IN A BOTTLE

Man in bottle. Image credit: Trick Photography: A Handbook (1906)

“One of the most entertaining tricks is capturing a photograph of a person inside a bottle,” columnist Richard Penlake wrote in the February 1909 issue of Photographic Topics. Penlake was not alone in his fascination. In 1897, a book about stage magic and photographic illusions instructed readers on how to create what the author called “the most curious illusion of all” by masking a negative for double exposure, with the person and the bottle photographed in sequence against a black background.

“How did the boy get into the bottle!” Image credit: Frank Grafton, The Guide to Nature (1914)

6. TURN A PERSON INTO A STATUE

“Cabinet card of a bust of a young woman, c.1895” by Bond & Co. Image credit: State Library of South Australia on Flickr // CC BY 2.0

One peculiar trend involved transforming a person into a statue by carefully etching and retouching the portrait negative. To achieve the most lifelike stone effect, The Year-Book of Photography and Photographic News Almanac recommended in 1885, “The hair must of course be powdered, and doubtless a powder puff applied to the face is advantageous to give the portrait its alabaster appearance.” The subject would then be photographed standing behind a pedestal or a piece of cardboard painted to resemble a pedestal. Alternatively, the photographer could overlay a negative of a pedestal on top of the person’s negative, scraping away unwanted portions of the image to create a similar effect.

Woman into statue, before and after. Image credit: Trick Photography: A Handbook (1906)

While women are the subjects in most examples I've found of this trend, the occasional man was also game to see himself in statue form.

Photographic Pastimes (1891)

7. PORTRAIT AS A MUMMY

Strommeyer & Heymann cabinet card (circa 1885). Image credit: josefnovak33’s Flickr

In the late 19th century, European expatriate photographers in Cairo began to offer novelty portraits where the subject was posed in a sarcophagus with only their face visible. New York World reported in 1899 that every “enterprising” Cairo photographer produced these portraits “for his American patrons,” as “The mummy pictures are considered graceful and appropriate souvenirs of a trip to Egypt to present on returning to the friends at home.” But Americans weren’t the only ones eager for these souvenirs: The Archduke Franz Ferdinand (yes, that Archduke Franz Ferdinand) posed as a mummy during his 1896 trip to Egypt.

Portrait of Archduke Franz Ferdinand seemingly by Heymann & Co. (1896) // Image credit: Courtesy Artstetten Castle, Lower Austria

According to British and American media coverage of the trend, photographers in Cairo used actual sarcophagi to create the portraits, “a hole sufficiently large for the face to show through having previously been cut in the richly-decorated monumental case,” reported the Yorkshire Telegraph and Star in 1899. The paper noted, however, that “Ingenious photographers vary the picture by obtaining a photograph of a mummy,” and some likely used prop versions of the cases. Once the trend reached New York—thanks to the influence of a wealthy society lady named Mrs. James P. Kernochan, who popularized the idea in 1899 after a trip to Cairo—photographers would either superimpose the subject’s face onto a photo of the mummy, or pose sitters inside a life-size cutout of a sarcophagus. Models of the sphinx were also popular.

James Deering and Abby Deering Howe, c.1880s, taken in Cairo, seemingly by Heymann & Co. // Image credit: Courtesy Vizcaya Museum and Gardens Archives, Miami, Florida

Mummy pictures trended in two waves, one in the 1890s and one around 1908. The first wave popularized sarcophagus pictures in both Paris and New York, with the New York World reporting that young women were “finding amusement in replying to requests from amorous swains for their photographs by presenting them with a mummy picture. […] The feelings of the lover may be imagined when he is unexpectedly confronted with the features of his beloved enshrouded in the antique habiliments of death.” In 1908, the trend experienced a resurgence in Egypt and London, with young women supporting the fad in Britain as they had in New York a decade earlier. After all, according to The Philadelphia Enquirer, “[T]he coarse lines of the mummy case and the crude hieroglyphics thereon, serve to accentuate the pretty lines of the girl’s face.”