# Spirit Photography × Staged Photography — composed image prompt
# IndexStyle — https://indexstyle.org/compose?ids=spirit-photography+staged-photography
# Spirit Photography carries the structure. Staged Photography appear as accents, each further back than the last.
# Style descriptors only. Never imitates a specific artist, studio, brand or work.

An original image that takes its structure from Spirit Photography (Style, 1862–1930s) and its accent from Staged Photography (Technique, 19th century– / 1970s revival). Structural cues: Translucent superimposed figures; Composites with mourning portraits; The séance-record format; Staged evidentiality. Accent cues, used sparingly: Constructed scenes; Props; Cinematic lighting; Deliberate artificiality. Composition: A frontal portrait of the living with the figure half over the shoulder. Type and lettering: Add a handwritten date and a testimony like line in printed form. Let one material quality come from the second style: Built sets or models, cinematic lighting, large format shot and printed big. Mood: Nostalgia, Rebellion, Calm, Luxury, Play. Color: build on #e9e6dd, #67635d, #171615 with a single accent drawn from #e4ddd2, #92705e, #2c2623. Constraints: do not imitate, reference or name any specific artist, studio, brand, character or copyrighted work. Produce an original composition in the general period languages described above.

# Where the two fight
# - Both belong to Photographic Genres, so the difference is small. Push the roles further apart than feels comfortable.
# - Roughly 1843 years apart. Keep one of them recognisably period rather than letting both drift into the middle.

# Cautions carried from each entry
# - Spirit Photography: The ghost gets rendered sharp and finished as artwork, which destroys the one condition the style needs, that a believer could read it as accident.
# - Staged Photography: Staging that only imitates a natural record leaves the assumption that photographs record reality untouched, and the whole reason for constructing the scene disappears.

# Design specs: https://indexstyle.org/styles/spirit-photography/design.md · https://indexstyle.org/styles/staged-photography/design.md