Modern Tintype Adventures - Sun and Silver.photo Blog

How Changing Light Impacts Wet Plate Collodion

Blog / Portrait / Tintype

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…

Behind The Scenes of Wet Plate Collodion Photography

Ambrotype / Blog / Tintype / Wet Plate Collodion

Why does a wet plate cost so much? A question I sometimes get, although not too often. Part of the cost is the part my clients see - the actual image capture. But the session is actually the smallest part of making historic tintypes and Ambrotypes. So let's go behind the scenes of wet plate collodion photography and see some of the work that goes into making your historic image. Chemical Preparation The foundation of the process is chemistry. Before anything else happens there are a bunch of chemicals that have to be purchased and mixed. Collodion has to be…

Now – Tintype

Blog / Tintype

Now! It seems like everything screams now! Now is a 5x7in tintype. Sometimes the most random and unplanned work turns out to be the most interesting. Here is a tintype I did to test lighting and exposure. It is actually some artwork my Niece did. It is a painting on a board that says "Snow". With the limited space in my studio I was not able to get the whole sign in frame so it ended up being "now" instead. I was going to just clean off the image to reuse the plate (plates are expensive). But decided to varnish…

Hand Saw Tintype

Blog / Tintype

Two old hand saws in a tintype photo. One of my Winter projects is to capture some of my old tools in wet plate collodion. This 5x7 tintype is an image of my two old handsaws. I have no idea when I purchased either one of them. But do know that I have had them each for decades. I wonder how many projects these saws have been part of? I have been an active handyman for my whole life - home remodeling projects, furniture building, cutting down trees, building all sorts of wood objects... and these saws have been there…

Do You Believe?

Ambrotype / Blog

Believe To think that something is true, correct or real Do you believe? Or maybe a better question is what do you believe? Whether you believe me or not I think everyone has a belief system. Your belief system is a set of things you assume to be true. Proof or evidence is not really at issue here because none of us are completely rational. We all like to think we are rational (I do!) but it is extremely difficult to really be dispassionate and totally objective. The problem is we filter what we see and experience through our minds…

Random Wet Plates

Ambrotype / Blog / Tintype

Before January is over I need to catch up on random wet plates from 2023. I left my full time job last April to focus on alternative photography full time. Within a few weeks I started to wonder how I ever had 40+ hours a week to work a full time job. The days go by and the weeks go by and soon the year is gone and another year has started. So here is a collection of random wet plates I did during 2023. Somehow I never got around to posting them in my blog even though I did…

Halloween Tintypes

Blog / Portrait / Tintype

I am either really early for Halloween or really late! You decide, but I hope you enjoy these Halloween Tintypes even if they are out of season. This set of Halloween Tintypes, or Halloween cosplay tintypes, was made in October 2023 and I've freely confess that I have been too unproductive to post and share the story until now! We had planned a tintype photo session on the beach the week before Halloween. But life sometimes gets in the way and the client had a last minute happening and had to cancel. So we decided to enjoy the woods and…

Tintype of Morning of Life Bronze Statue

Blog / Tintype

A tintype of Morning of Life bronze statue. It was taken in December during our modest early Winter weather. This statue was created by Clarence Shaler in tribute to his twin sister Clara. She died at the tender age of 18 - in the morning of her life. The statue is outside Waupun, Wisconsin, and is one of a number of wonderful art works around the city. This tintype of Morning of Dawn was quite a challenge. I had underestimated the travel time and the sunset time so I arrived much later than I planned. The sun was already setting…

Ambrotype Portrait on Glass

Ambrotype / Blog

Ambrotypes are one of my favorite wet plate collodion techniques. There is nothing more stunning than an Ambrotype portrait on glass. Images on glass have a three dimensional quality that is unique. It is also hard to capture in an image on the web. Here is a wet plate on blue stained glass. I framed it with Came to protect the glass and to provide a means to hang the image. Back to My Blog

Turmeric Anthotype

Alternative Photography / Blog

I focus on 19th century photography methods especially tintype (wet plate collodion), salt printing and cyanotypes. I do sometimes fiddle with other, less well known, techniques. They say variety is the spice of life so here is a Turmeric Anthotype of a fern. So what in the name of silver nitrate is a turmeric anthotype!?! In 1842 John Herschel put out a paper on a new photographic processes. Essentially, he experimented with using plant based pigments exposed to light to produce photographs. So the anthotype process was born. A turmeric anthotype uses turmeric extract and sunlight to produce a photographic…

Wahclella Falls Cyanotype

Blog / Cyanotype

I don't use cyanotype for landscapes that often. Nothing wrong with the result it is just I like gold salt prints a bit better. But sometimes cyanotype really works well for a photo. Here is a Wahclella Falls cyanotype that really captures the beauty of the falls. You might ask - where is the world is Wahclella Falls? Wahclella is one the dozens of waterfalls in the Columbia River gorge in Oregon. I think it is my favorite but it is not that well known. For starters it is a bit off the usual tourist path. Next, it is a…

Tintype Principles for a New Year

Blog / Tintype / Wet Plate Collodion

Tintype principles for a new year. I had so much fun in 2023 making 19th century photography - tintypes, Ambrotypes, salt prints and cyanotypes. I think 2024 is going to be an amazing year. Often people choose New Years Day for resolutions but I would rather talk about core beliefs or principles. Resolutions are usually a set of "do" or "don't do" activities. Lose weight, exercise more, make more portraits are just a few examples. So instead of a list of things to do, or things to change, in the coming year I would rather reinforce the "whys" of what I am…