2025 Favorite Victorian Portraits

Blog / Portrait

2025 is approaching its end so we thought we would pick out our favorite portraits from the year. We'll be adding a portrait every day in December so come back daily! What makes a portrait a "favorite"? Some might say it is all about the image, the subject, lighting and pose. But we here at Sun and Silver Photo are all about creating memories. So our favorite portraits are not just the final image but they are about the experience of creating the portrait. The portrait is about the fun we had, the creative process, the location and the day.…

Root and Runner Creative Space

Blog / Popup / Portrait

Tintype images from our November 29th popup. Download button below each image. Sunandsilver-Root-Runner-Nov-29-2025-tintype-5x7-109Download Sunandsilver-Root-Runner-Nov-29-2025-tintype-5x7-108Download Sunandsilver-Root-Runner-Nov-29-2025-tintype-5x7-107Download Sunandsilver-Root-Runner-Nov-29-2025-tintype-5x7-105Download Sunandsilver-Root-Runner-Nov-29-2025-tintype-5x7-104Download Sunandsilver-Root-Runner-Nov-29-2025-tintype-5x7-103Download Sunandsilver-Root-Runner-Nov-29-2025-tintype-5x7-100Download Sunandsilver-Root-Runner-Nov-29-2025-tintype-5x7-110Download

Helios 44 Portraits with Madeline

Blog / Portrait / Vintage Lens

Along with Victorian Photography, we also love film and vintage lenses. By "Vintage" we mean lenses built 50 or more years ago. We use modern digital cameras with adapters to mount the old lenses. One of our favorite vintage lenses is the Helios 44. The optical design and glass used in the Helios gives amazing character and beautiful rendering in a portrait. Madeline posed for tintype portraits in an 1860's warehouse (images coming soon) but we also had some time for Helios 44 portraits. The portrait above is a classic Helios rendering. The window lights glow in the background and…

Somewhere

Blog / Fine Art / Portrait / Tintype / Wet Plate Collodion

Somewhere in the dark a light still shines, We see, but we don't, All the things that we want to see are there, but some of them are hidden. You can always turn towards the light, or so you tell yourself, But the darkness sometimes is the brightest place, Where everything you want to know hides, Surrounded by everything you shouldn't know. "Somewhere" is an 8x10 tintype created with the Victorian wet Plate Collodion Process. Featuring Wisconsin Model Amber - you can contact her on FaceBook at AM Model.

Classic Tintype Portraits with Nataly

Blog / Portrait / Tintype

We are always in search of the best classic portraits at Sun and Silver Photo. Of course, defining a "classic portrait" is much harder than just saying the words. So what do we mean when we say "classic"? If seeing is believing then the image above is a classic photograph. It is a 12x10 inch tintype of Nataly at The Ember Studio in Menasha. But what makes it classic? We can think of four elements: It is Black and White: Monotone photographs give the best classic feel. This image is naturally in a creamy silver tone because it is a…

Ember of Romance

Blog

Being loved by heris like being held by fire—the scorching hug willdrain oxygen from lungs,but only because going all in is her only form of love. I envy the one she loves, but I amnot, no. I am her— the ember of romantics,too charred to be remembered.Jasmine Tsai Excerpts from Ember Lover by Taiwanese poet Jasmine Tsai Victorian style portraits featuring Wisconsin model Nataly. Check out her Face Book page for more of her work. https://sunandsilver.photo/ambrotypes-with-nataly/ https://sunandsilver.photo/romantic-couple-portraits-victorian-tintype-photography/

Is Analog More Real?

Blog

What is real? When it comes to images do our eyes determine real? Is a physical object more real than electrons dancing on a screen? I have spent more time on analog photography than digital the past few years. Part of me wonders why? Digital is easier, costs nothing (after the initial investment) and I have state of the art digital cameras and lenses. Film, 19th century printing and wet plate collodion are complicated, expensive and sometimes frustrating processes. So why do i find myself attracted to analog? The thought occurred to me this week that maybe the attraction of…

Gothic Tintype Portrait

Blog / Tintype

An 8x10 gothic tintype portrait of Francheska. Taken at the annual Retzer Nature Preserve Goth & Steampunk event. This tintype used our Wollensak Vitax 5A portrait Petzval lens. The Wollensak has that beautiful Petzval swirl in the background while staying share in the center. This makes for a beautiful and timeless portrait! We had to use about 15 seconds of exposure time due to the lateness of the day. Francheska is a Milwaukee based model. After the sun set we also did two digital portrait sets. You can see the first on our companion site JalanLee.com/blog/Francheska-in-12-looks You can see more…

Nice Day for a White Wedding

Blog / Portrait / Tintype

It's a nice day for a white wedding - or so Billy says! Our white wedding photo was taken at Pleasant View Studios on a September day. Over 40 models and photographers gathered for some Pre-Halloween fun. Sun and Silver loaded up our darkroom and made the trip to do tintypes. We made over 25 tintypes that afternoon which was a record for us! Model KD Jae came by for some digital photos on the bench near our darkroom. She brought along photographer Steph or S Giron Photography. Here is one of their dreamy shots! As luck would have it…

Cloud Nine Fire Show Tintypes

Blog / Portrait / Tintype / Wet Plate Collodion

Just a random Saturday night in Wisconsin - with tintype portraits of fire artists! Cloud Nine Fire Show is a Wisconsin based troupe of talented performers specializing in the art of flow. We've worked together earlier this Summer to capture the art of flow in the historic tintype process - see our first plates at Cloud Nine Tintypes. Unfortunately, your humble alchemist was unable to to capture the fire in the plates. So like the Alchemists of old, when confronted with failure it is back to the lab and the library in the sub basement for research. The findings were…

Real Images for Real People

Blog / Wet Plate Collodion

Beauty is Truth, Truth Beauty.' – that is all Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know John Keats Veracity is the quality of being true, honest, or accurate. Photography was developed with the idea of capturing and preserving some scene in the real world. The deviations from reality were technical - mainly lens distortions and the limitations of chemistry. Unfortunately now we are bombarded with digital images that are at best doctored and at worst totally generated by AI computer systems. Sun and Silver.photo is dedicated to the thought that there is a place in the world…

Ambrotypes with Nataly

Ambrotype / Blog / Portrait / Wet Plate Collodion

July is a perfect time to do Ambrotypes with Nataly. This was the first time I fully utilized the real estate of my 12x12 Primer camera and made 12 inch by 12 inch glass plate. Silver collodion on glass is also know as an Ambrotype. It doesn't sound like a big change going from an 8x10 inch image to a 12x12 inch image but the 12x12 is actually 80% bigger. That means 80% more chemical and 80% more area to cover evenly with collodion. It also means 80% more to cover with developer as quickly as possible. So.. how did…