What technique in older photography made the blacks not as dark outside focus region?

[Brian Ellis]

That's not true though as the appararatusat the back has good blacks so there must be some manipulation, and judging by the contrasts thats Farmers bleach.

Ian

Bleach tends to run and it would be difficult to isolate the man from the background with bleach (or to mask off one or the other so precisely). It also would have been next to impossible to dodge or burn without some of it creeping into the man or vice versa. My guess is that this wasn't something the photographer went to any great lengths to do, I think it's just the way the photograph turned out given the conditions under which the photograph was made whatever exactly they were.

[tgtaylor]

It's quite possible that the photo was taken at Scott's Base Evans Camp where Ponting had a small darkroom. Here's a modern view inside of Scott's cabin at Base Evans: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Te...hut_inside.jpg

It's interesting to note that he photographed on glass plates rather than negatives and printed some of the images using what is now called "alternative" processes. One of the images reproduced in Wikipedia measures 14"x18" so he must have used a very large camera. He was the first professional photographer to accompany an expedition. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herbert_Ponting

If I'm not mistaken, I believe that a book of his photographs from the Scott Expedition was recently published.

Thomas

[rknewcomb]

Quite a few years ago I took notice of this aspect of vintage images, a softer contrast in the background. Many of the examples that I saw were of images made outside. I had wondered if the blue sensitivity of the plate emulsions combined with the "blue" aerial haze made the background lighter because it had received more blue exposure. The interior image shown by the OP is a different matter though.
Here are a few examples, Clarence White, Alvin Coburn and Steichen.

[rknewcomb]

Attachment 92706 One more that is an interior.

[C. D. Keth]

A certain amount of that effect happens naturally. If you continue to defocus a scene that's 1/2 black and 1/2 white, eventually you will reach medium gray. Additionally, because film tones progress logarithmically, the black will milk out first.

[Doug Howk]

From the Freeze Frame Polar Expedition archive, Dr Atkinson in his lab, Sept 15, 1911. Looks quite smoky

[Nathan Potter]

Yes, exactly! For selective shallow focus technique, for example, throwing a background way out of focus results in overlapping Circles Of Confusion in that area on film. The result is a washout of density, at first along sharp density edges and then carrying the effect further to larger COCs' a washout in broader areas. The effect is part of what has become to be called "bokeh" especially when coupled with some kinds of optical lens distortions. Can be an especially appealing effect in certain antique lenses.

But in this image shown by the OP the background is relatively sharp so I don't believe the softness is a result of grossly overlapping COCs. Also I tend to agree with Brian Ellis that bleaching and dodging the background is not likely to be possible with such precision of image edge isolation from background to foreground structures unless precision masking was employed. I'll stick to my thoughts of a hazy interior.

Nate Potter, Austin TX.

[Jac@stafford.net]

Smoke, haze and dust emphasized by the lighting which I presume is a flash bulb or powder. Probably not the latter given the environment but I don't know the year of the photo. Kinda like the image below.

Attachment 92712

[alan-salsman]

I often get that effect in near far relations of f 64 style scenic printed on hand coated palladium P.O.P .The contrast seems to be in the print rather that in the negative This process reinvented by boswick and sullivan first used around 1880 and was certainly something they would be aware of.
It toes not occur in soft overcast light but always in contrasty light.

[Scott Davis]

If you notice, the scene seems to be posed, as neither the pipe nor the candle are lit. I'd say the foreground was lit with a flash, set to balance as fill light spilling in from the door/window in the background camera right. That would explain how the foreground is darker than the background.