Sun and Silver.photo - Modern Tintype Adventures Blog

Wonderful session Riverside tintypes with Nataly. The 1st of February and almost 50 degrees temperature is an excellent opportunity for making some tintypes. We met at Riverside Park in Neenah and had fun around the fountain and by the river. The fountain is “Playing in The Rain” by Dallas J. Anderson. And is fun and whimsical. Someone dresses the children in knit hats for the Winter! Nataly came in a stunning red dress and had a lot of fun with the children in the fountain – almost as if Summer is just around the corner. Our first pose in the…

Some times it is fun to capture some classic tintype portraits on a Winter day. Cameron and I met by the Fox River in Neenah for some cold weather tintypes. It was a day that started with heavy fog, giving way to sunshine and finally dark clouds. But, we also saw temperatures in the 40’s which is really nice for February in Wisconsin. Wet plate collodion can be a difficult process because of the way it reacts to changing light. Light meters work really well for film and digital photography but not for collodion. So the alchemist has to guess…

Time to go BTS on a tintype session with Nataly Divine. The warm February 1st gave us an opportunity for some outdoor Tintype portrait. We also grabbed a few digital pictures during our tintype session for a bit of BTS (Behind The Scenes). Nataly wore a beautiful red dress in a 1920's style. Here are a few close ups of her in both monotone / black and white and color. The color picture captures the overcast skies at the end of our time together. Of course, where would a BTS post be without showing the camera? Here is two beautiful…

One of the most difficult aspects of 19th century photography is how changing light impacts wet plate collodion. The light sensitive silver in a wet plate "sees" light much differently than our eyes. Yellow and blue become white and shades of orange become black. Tattoos can completely disappear and eye glasses can look like sun glasses in the portrait. More modern cameras come equipped with sophisticated light meters. The light in the scene is measured when you take the photograph and the camera will adjust the exposure to get it right every time. But there is no exposure meter that…