WHAT IS A TINTYPE?
WE Create a photograph that is made of silver, a picture rendered on metal and an image which is completely unique. Hand made from start to finish. The Tintype Studio use a technique called the Wet Plate Collodion Process, invented by the Victorians, we combine that with state of the art studio lighting to create one-off, objects of beauty.
Each plate is handmade in the darkroom; it’s carefully coated in collodion and sensitised in a silver nitrate bath to create a light sensitive plate. The plate is placed in James's Victorian camera and the picture is made using modern flash lights and an exposure of a few seconds.
The plate is then developed in the darkroom and then placed in a fixing bath where you watch as a positive image emerges. We then carefully dry the pictures, varnish them and make a high resolution scan.
These pictures last forever, the process is over 150 years old and tintypes exist from that time which look as though they have just been made. Hold in your hands a one-off physical picture which can never be copied.
FAQ’S
How long do I have to stay still for?
When the process was invented, people sitting for a portrait would have to stay perfectly still for up to 15 seconds, which is why they often had a slight look of terror in their eyes. However we use high powered flash guns, so the exposure time is pretty much instantaneous.
How long does is take to make a picture?
From start to finish, each pictures take around 20-30 minutes to make.
Are the final images delicate, and how should I display them?
Once the emulsion has dried and the plate has been varnished, the plates are surprisingly robust, we use exactly the same process as the Victorian’s used in the 1850’s and there are plates made then which still look superb today, 170 years later. Displaying them is a matter of taste, but we think a box frame, so you can see the edges of the plate, is a good way to show them off.
What’s the best things to wear for a tintype and should I put on make-up?
This process only registers a limited part of the visual spectrum; primarily the blue and ultra violet end, and reds, yellows and oranges barely register at all - so blues, greens, violets are lighter shades and reds and oranges look black.