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Making a Tintype

18 Jan

Process Historian Mark Osterman demonstrates the making of a Civil War-era tintype.
Video Rating: 4 / 5

 
25 Comments

Posted in Photography Videos

 

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  1. GeorgeEastmanHouse

    January 18, 2013 at 10:39 am

    At that point the image appears to be negative. When the lighter colored silver iodide is removed in the fixer, it reveals the black metal plate below, which makes the tan image appear lighter in comparison.

    The paper tintypes used in street cameras were a gelatin emulsion on glazed black card stock. It was processed in a special developer / fix combination.

     

  2. GeorgeEastmanHouse

    January 18, 2013 at 10:51 am

    Hi Robert, wet collodion tintypes are different than conventional gelatin photography. The parts on a gelatin negative or print that were exposed to
    light and then developed is a black color. In collodion, those parts exposed to light and developed are a tan color.

    What you saw in the video were the tan colored highlights of the picture against the unfixed silver iodide.

     

  3. Robert Goidel

    January 18, 2013 at 11:09 am

    I noticed that the image is made into a positive. How is the reversal method achieved? Are you familiar with the later paper ferrotype of photography achieved at State Fairs or Carnivals from the 1950’s to the early 1960’s? Always wondered about the chemistry involved. Great Video! Thank you!

     

  4. deltafour1212

    January 18, 2013 at 11:32 am

    Im not a rocket scientist but isn’t using a “spirit lamp” and putting the tin on the flame itself an accident waiting to happen?
    With all the fumes from the chemicals used and the collodion itself being highly flammable?
    I hate to see the plate and you catching on fire

     

  5. Danielle Deutsch

    January 18, 2013 at 11:49 am

    A well ventilated bathroom works too.

     

  6. keysignify

    January 18, 2013 at 12:48 pm

    One person doesn’t like the banjo.

     

  7. CSAmerican

    January 18, 2013 at 12:56 pm

    Dealing with such dangerous chemicals, I would expect you must want to wash your hands an awful lot

     

  8. zoeymelf

    January 18, 2013 at 1:37 pm

    Some random answers to questions people have posed below…. @dodphoto, you can purchase the chemistry from Bostick and Sullivan , @ flashmx Wood holders should last quite some time, the material that people use is called trophy plate aluminum, @picaticatara. Tintype images can last over a hundred years.. @ georgeeastmanhouse. Thanks for posting this video! You guys make it look so easy!

     

  9. Feoremar

    January 18, 2013 at 1:59 pm

    That was super cool

     

  10. tiest0913

    January 18, 2013 at 2:11 pm

    romantic !

     

  11. HalogenBurn

    January 18, 2013 at 2:55 pm

    No gloves?

     

  12. DODPHOTOGRAPHY

    January 18, 2013 at 3:08 pm

    how would one go about collecting resources to begin this type of photography, ie general needs and costs of chemistry. Were the masks custom made to hold the plate? I don’t have a field camera but have been interested in this method for sometime.

     

  13. kruphoto

    January 18, 2013 at 4:01 pm

    awesome video! way to keep the origins of photography from vanishing. I wish I had access to a dark room.

     

  14. Jan Kratochvil

    January 18, 2013 at 4:42 pm

    Thank you very much. Greatly captured movie. I will start to make my first WP images soon. I have a work shop behind me and I prepare to make my own film holder for my “new” Kodak 2D 8×10. I would like to make the plate holder from a wood. How strong will the collodium mixture affect the wood? Will such a plate holder survive at least one year or more? I assume to take about 20 images monthly. How thin should be the tin for tin type, 2mm? Thank you again.

     

  15. anytownUSA

    January 18, 2013 at 5:26 pm

    outstanding video… thanks

     

  16. MigdalBaval

    January 18, 2013 at 6:06 pm

    No – he is carnishing the plate. This is to protect the delicate collodion surface on he plate to make the image last longer. Otherwise, it would get all nasty and scratched up as time went by. Another upside is that the varnish contains oil of lavender, so it smells lovely =)

     

  17. GrosNoob06

    January 18, 2013 at 7:05 pm

    absolutely great. amazing to re-discover this process in the digital era. thank you.

     

  18. Fabiano Silva

    January 18, 2013 at 7:30 pm

    What he is doing at 3:20 ? Toning?

     

  19. UPAEPTVJAT

    January 18, 2013 at 7:52 pm

    Thank you B&H !!!
    

     

  20. theternalcity

    January 18, 2013 at 8:09 pm

    such a beautiful process and image…

     

  21. flecktarn1000

    January 18, 2013 at 8:34 pm

    im glad to see people doing this….this is super cool

     

  22. MigdalBaval

    January 18, 2013 at 9:01 pm

    Pardon if this is a silly question – but where does one get frames like that?

     

  23. picaticatara

    January 18, 2013 at 9:32 pm

    how long do they last?

     

  24. Trundlebedtales

    January 18, 2013 at 10:31 pm

    This is absolutely wonderful to share. I so want a tintype made of me. It’s one of my life goals.

     

  25. rowdyman22

    January 18, 2013 at 11:12 pm

    I just was going threw some of my grandpa’s old stuff and found like 30 of these style photo’s, what would the best way to date them? and or figuring out who these people are?