Self-portrait as soldier and civilian

Commercial studio photographers often advertised their talents using the carte-de-visite format. These pocket-sized pictures, mounted on cardstock, often functioned like business cards. Often, photographers used themselves as models, producing playful, inventive images to demonstrate their skills.

Amos M. Allen produced photographs by making two separate exposures on a single negative. Such manipulations were relatively common during the mid-to-late 1800s, well over a century before the invention of digital editing software used today.