postcard.co.uk

I have several photographic cards where the producer has painted out the sky, following the skyline and painting round trees, chimneys etc quite coarsely when looked at closely. This would be to lighten grey skies. The worst offender of the cards I have is WHA - eg
http://rthcards.co.uk/fullsize.html?img ... 0WHA%20651, but also other cards.
A WHA card currently on ebay of Chiswick Eyot, WHA 651 (item 152251516644) is even more bizarre.
Maybe this stems from Young & Co as it occurs on what looks like a Young's card:
http://rthcards.co.uk/fullsize.html?img ... )%20SM%201.
I have an old glass plate negative which actually has had this done to it, in black paint on the emulsion side.
Was this a geneal practice?

Indeed! - postcard publishers would often go to great lengths to make their postcards more appealing...

When it came to embellishing postcards think John Hinde - the Daddy of them all.

My point is, it is hardly an embellishment to take a bite out of the side the Richmond tower or wipe out half of a lamp on the bridge, or to make all the trees look like cardboard cutouts! This is visible even on the cards themselves without magnification. Whatever the aim was, I wish they hadn't done it.