Card – picture – or sign exhibiting – Picture frame – Mat – mount – or backing
Patent
1994-09-14
1999-11-09
Silbermann, Joanne
Card, picture, or sign exhibiting
Picture frame
Mat, mount, or backing
40772, B44C 502
Patent
active
059790962
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a mask for superimposition onto a photograph, to thereby accentuate a portion of the photograph.
2. Background of the Invention
Passe partout frames have for many years been a frequently employed means for showing a particular portion of a photograph. Such frames are made of a sheet of paper or cardboard having a cut-out, oval portion that allows the desired portion of the photograph to be freely visible when the photograph is mounted within the frame, while the rest of the photograph is hidden by the frame. Consequently, a viewer will immediately focus attention directly on the exposed portion of the photograph without being diverted by other images within the viewer's field of vision.
One particular portion of a photograph which is frequently accentuated, when arranged in a passe partout frame, is a portrait view of a person. A portrait is perceived much differently as compared to a photograph that includes the full figure of a person and the surroundings at the place the photograph was taken. When the photograph is framed as a portrait, the viewer immediately focuses attention on it. Thus, a visual effect is obtained in which the framed portrait is accentuated and manifests itself clearly to the viewer, who thus perceives the portrait far more intensely than the viewer would when contemplating the photograph in full.
This attractive effect is, however, to a certain extent reduced by the sharp edge along the cut-away portion of the frame, which provides for an abrupt transition from the portrait to the frame. Thus, the frame itself becomes sufficiently perceptible to attract part of the viewer's attention.
It has been sought to remedy the above mentioned drawback through a purely phototechnical method. When using this method, a peripheral region of a photograph is dimmed during the shooting of the negative or at a later time, when the prints are made, so that the central area appears with 100% sharpness and gradually fades out to vanish completely at a surrounding, neutral peripheral region. This peripheral region may be provided with uniform coloration, which does not by itself capture the eye. On the contrary, the smooth fading out directs the eye unnoticed towards the central portion of the photograph, the peripheral region in reality not being perceived. Thus, the resulting visual effect is optimal, allowing the central portion of the photograph to be studied without disturbing interference from other images within the field of sight, leading up to the central portion, which invariably would attract the attention of the viewer.
Thus, a distinct demand exists for a mask using means just as simple as a passe partout frame, which provides a visual effect as good as the one realized by the above mentioned phototechnical method.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
According to the novel and distinctive features of the invention, a mask is provided, made of a thin sheet having an opaque, peripheral region and with an intermediate, transitional zone, across which the opaque, peripheral region gradually fades out to a transparent, central area. This mask may be employed in the same simple manner as a passe partout frame for accentuating a particular portion of a photograph, and with the same good visual effect achieved by, phototechnically, isolating a portion of a photograph by letting it gradually fade out into a neutral plane.
One particular inexpensive and simple embodiment of the mask is, according to the present invention, achieved when the mask is made of a transparent thin sheet with, e.g., black or white coloration, with preferably 100% coverage in the peripheral region, said coverage gradually decreasing through the transitional zone to 0% in the central area.
The coloration may advantageously be carried out using a repro- and printing technique, combining the size of the raster with the intensity of the raster to achieve the desired coverage. Such a mask is particularly suitable for mass production at a modern repro- and print
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Ferdinandsen Alexander
Ferdinandsen Bendix
Silbermann Joanne
Zoomas ApS
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