COMBINATION PRINTING The art of making a print by the use of two or more negatives. The simplest form of com bination printing is the printing of a cloud into a landscape, but combination printing proper is the art of adding trees, figures, or other objects to a picture, as practised by Rejlander, Robin son, and other past masters of the art. Com bination printing had its origin in 1855, when Berwick and Annan, of Glasgow, exhibited a picture printed from two different negatives—a, figure in a landscape. In 1858 Sarony patented an improved process which consisted of taking up the different portions of the collodion film from the glass of one or more negatives and laying them down upon another glass in their proper relative positions and printing from it. Rejlander, however, was the first to draw attention to the possibilities of combination printing, and in 1857 he used thirty negatives to produce a single picture (" The Two Ways of Life "), which he exhibited at the Manchester Exhibition of that year ; all except the part required was blocked out on each negative, all the negatives were then laid in turn upon sensi tive paper and printed, the remainder of the paper being covered with black velvet. In the following year (x858) Robinson produced the first of his famous series of combination prints, " Fading Away," for which five negatives were used, and in 1863 " Bringing Home the May " (nine negatives) ; this type of combination printing then became the craze.
The methods fully described under " Clonds, Printing in," may be adopted in some forms of combination printing ; but in others, such as the addition of a figure to a landscape, or the sub stitution of a suitable background for an unsuit able in a figure subject, a different method Will be more fitting (see, for example, "Backgrounds, Printing in "). In many cases, however, the pencil and brush marks described under the heading first given above will be found useful in securing registration.
For combining portions of two or more nega tives to form one print, whether the object is to print a new background to a figure or to combine in one picture selected parts of two or three landscapes, etc., the method described under the heading, "Backgrounds, Printing in," or some modification of it, can be adopted. In some respects the method about to be described has points of advantage compared with that given at the reference last mentioned. A silver print is taken from the figure negative, and the figure cut out very carefully with a sharp knife. Both parts of the print must be kept to form masks.
First, the portion from which the figure was cut should be attached to the glass side of the figure negative, and then the two negatives should be held together vertically with their edges resting on the table and the corners accurately coincid ing, or preferably placed on a retouching desk with their corners together. The figure negative must be underneath and the glass side of each negative towards the worker. The figure that was cut from the rough print must now be attached to the glass side of the background nega tive in such a manner that it corresponds in position accurately with the opening in the mask on the figure negative, this opening being easily seen for obtaining a correct adjustment by this method of holding the two plates.
In printing, it is immaterial which negative is used first. Either negative is placed in the printing frame with one edge in close contact with the woodwork of the frame—preferably the edge that was resting on the table when the masks were adjusted on the negatives. In the diagram the edge A B is shown pressed closely against the frame, the corner being pressed right into that of the frame. The printing paper need not be cut accurately to fit the negative, but it must touch the same side and the same corner of the frame as the negative. The paper is indicated by dotted lines. When this part of the printing is finished, the print and the nega tive are removed from the frame, and the second negative is placed in the frame with its corre sponding side and corner pressed. closely against the side and corner A B. The print is again placed in position as before with the same side and corner touching the same parts of the frame, and the second part of the printing com pleted, If the masks have both been accurately fitted to their respective negatives, the two parts of the print should join perfectly. Each print will show a soft outline due to the fact that the block ing out is on the glass side of the negative, and these two outlines will slightly overlap and soften into each other in such a manner that, with reasonable care in fitting the masks and in print ing, the junction will not show. When the block ing out is on the film of the negative it is almost impossible to prevent the junction from show ing as a hard and crude line, white in some places, dark in others. Masking on the glass side possesses the great advantage that it does not spoil the negative for other purposes. At any time the masking may be removed, leaving the negative uninjured.