Very small images for mounting on cards, jewellery or in albums were popular from the 1880s. Generally produced a few years later, stamp photographs were very small prints having an elaborate border and serrated edges that resembled postage stamps. Cameras to produce these images were advertised for amateur use around 1900, accessories available included different borders and perforated printing paper. What one did with a postage stamp image is not clear, but not many have survived. Hyatt produced a postage stamp camera in the United States as early as 1887.

These were popular in Britain during the Edwardian and First World War periods, often being produced at fairgrounds and seaside resorts. The images are either tintypes crimped to a frame often without a mount; a print on paper held loosely under celluloid or a print on paper bonded to a celluloid cover.

Microphotographs are very small images of large objects mounted either on a microscope slide or as a Stanhope (images of very small objects photographed using a microscope are photomicrographs). John Benjamin Dancer pioneered the technique of producing microphotographs and produced many commercially available slides sold by microscope suppliers. At a meeting of the Manchester Photographic Society, Dancer claims to have produced his first slide in February 1852, most slides date from the later 1850s. Other photographers producing microphotographs were Alfred Rosling, and George Shadbolt, their initials are usually contained on the label attached to the slide. The wet collodion process, which was capable of rendering very fine detail, was used for early microphotographs.

Stanhopes date from the 1860s though most are from the 1890s to the early twentieth century from which time their popularity decreased. They are miniature collodion images mounted behind and in contact with a magnifying lens. Charles Stanhope was the originator of the lens, the idea of using it in conjunction with a small photograph is usually credited to David Brewster. Stanhopes are usually mounted in small articles - pens, tape measures, needle cases and jewellery. Mostly these were made of bone, ivory, wood or metal and often sold as souvenirs. The images were often produced in France.

Photo-ceramics are burnt-in images on china, porcelain and similar materials; enamels are the equivalent on metal. The image is permanent being formed, when the dusting-on process is used, from vitrifiable powder rather than photographic silver.

The first application was to transfer a collodion image coated with, for example, gold chloride or platinum chloride to the article which was then fired in a kiln where the silver of the image was replaced by the other metal. A patent was taken out for a collodion transfer process in 1854.¹

The second method, which proved more popular, was to utilise a dusting-on process. A bichromate film was exposed under a negative in the ordinary way, the film remained tacky to varying degrees dependent on the exposure received, the film was then dusted with vitrifiable powder which adhered to the tacky portions of the image. The film was then mounted on the article and fired. Images in natural colour could be produced by mounting three films from three-colour separation negatives. Photo-ceramics were produced commercially by specialist firms from negatives supplied by the photographer. The first dusting-on process to be patented in Britain was in 1860, they were common from that time into the 1900s.²

An alternative to burning-in the image was to simply transfer a photographic image, collodion, carbon or gelatin silver bromide, to china or porcelain and to coat it in a varnish.³ Later half-tone images were printed on china plates and other articles.

Opalines are paper photographs stuck to glass, usually mounted in a velvet frame.

These are paper photographs mounted in contact with glass in a gilt oval frame. 5 ½" x 4".

These are photographs mounted on thin metal rather than being tintypes.

Photomaton images are a type of kiosk photograph, one means of presentation was to mount the image in a postcard with a suitable caption.

Polyfotos were introduced in Britain around 1933, 48 images were individually taken on a glass plate in a special camera that allowed the plate to be moved between exposures. A print was sent to the customer who would then pick out which of the images were to be enlarged.

It was quite common, especially at holiday resorts, for a photographer to take an unposed photograph of someone and then provide the victim with details of the shop where the print could be obtained.

Stick Backs were studio-produced photographs, typically portraits, with a gummed backing, the photographs were often purchased by the sitter un-mounted.

Sticky Backs, which date to the Edwardian period, were produced using specialised, semi-automatic, camera and printing equipment. It seems that around six individually posed negatives were produced side-by-side on a single plate. These were then printed onto gummed paper. The negative and print contain a 'sitting' number to match the print to the sitter. The company name is also often included. Several studios existed having some variation of the Sticky Backs name, some of these were chains others were separate companies. It is not clear if this was a franchise operation or if the equipment was available from a single source. In some respects Stick Backs resembled the later kiosk photograph.

The image is within a thick glass block The Amra of the British India Steam Navigation Co. Ltd. was built in the late 1930s, she is shown with a black hull, in 1955 BISN ships were changed to white hulls.