Flaws that would have been invisible in smaller photographic prints were suddenly obvious in cabinet cards, making it necessary for photographers to retouch negatives. Retouching could also be used to enhance images: here, the photographers give their client the option of appearing in a dry or snowy setting. Although the snow filters down across this woman’s dress, it does not obscure her face.

Fáciles y baratas de producir, las tarjetas de gabinete permitían a los fotógrafos y a los modelos experimentar, y a veces jugaban con la veracidad fotográfica. Aquí, el fotógrafo configura su imagen para mostrar dos momentos distintos al mismo tiempo.

Easy and inexpensive to produce, cabinet cards allowed both photographers and sitters to experiment—and they sometimes played with photographic veracity. Here, the photographer shapes his image to show two distinct moments at the same time.

Las tarjetas de gabinete contribuyeron a un replanteamiento de la fotografía. Antes de la introducción de este formato, la gente generalmente se hacía retratos para registrar su apariencia y estatura; ahora, empezaron a pensar en las fotografías como reflejos de momentos en el tiempo. En esta inusual serie extendida, los fotógrafos cambiaron, pero el estilo no. La forma en que Caroline Hughes Hannum está enmarcada en estas tarjetas llama efectivamente la atención sobre su rostro y su desarrollo físico.

Cabinet cards helped bring about a rethinking of photography. Before the introduction of this format, people generally had portraits made to record appearance and stature; now, they began to think of photographs as reflections of moments in time. In this rare extended series, the photographers changed, but the style did not. The way Caroline Hughes Hannum is framed across these cards effectively draws attention to her face and physical development.

La fotografía en color no llegó a ser práctica hasta los mediados del siglo XX. Anteriormente, las fotografías se coloreaban a mano para darles mayor realismo.

Color photography did not became practical until the mid-twentieth century. Before then, photographs were hand colored for added realism.

Las tarjetas de gabinete, tres veces más grandes que las cartes de visite, ofrecían a los fotógrafos la posibilidad de captar detalles faciales e incluir a los retratados en entornos más elaborados, aunque la mayoría de los fotógrafos tardaron en comprender estas nuevas oportunidades. Al principio, los fotógrafos trataban las tarjetas de gabinete como si fueran simples cartes de visite de dimensiones superiores, y seguían rodeando a sus modelos con mucho espacio y un par de accesorios.

Three times larger than cartes de visite, cabinet cards offered photographers the ability to convey facial details and embed sitters in more elaborate settings, yet most photographers were slow to understand these new opportunities. Initially, photographers treated cabinet cards as if they were simply oversized cartes de visite, and continued to surround their sitters with lots of space and a couple of props.