Modern Tintype Adventures - Sun and Silver.photo Blog

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Lighthouse – Salt Print

Uncategorized

It is Fall and getting ready for Winter is top priority. Our first snow has melted with the warmer weather the past week. So I have been getting my outdoor work done including Christmas lights, putting away the Summer furniture and general housekeeping around the scrap metal pile! But that didn't stop me from catching up with some salt printing. This image is from a trip to Door County, Wisconsin. It was a perfect picture day - cloudy with enough breeze to make waves on Lake Michigan. Also a bit chilly which doesn't impact the photography process but helps to…

Bridal Veil Falls - Cyanotype

Bridal Veil Falls – Cyanotype

Cyanotype / Uncategorized

A cyanotype of Bridal Veil Falls. The falls are in Oregon in the Columbia River Valley. One of a series of waterfalls Just East of Portland. This is a highly stylized rendition of the falls made with the New Cyanotype process to give very deep and dark (almost black) cobalt tones. The original is a black and white film negative which I digitized and produced a larger negative for contact printing in sunlight. Here is a closeup showing the details in the waterfall. This is a 9in x 12in print on archival paper and is available for purchase on my…

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Blue Fire

Uncategorized

One of the challenges of alternate photography printing is knowing what subjects will make great images. Cyanotypes can be especially difficult as there is no that I know of to simulate the final tones of the image. Blue Fire is a perfect example of this. I made this image just to test out my new printing frame and ended up loving it! The flames in a wispy blue color are a perfect contrast to the darker background. This image is for sale in my Etsy Shop. Is is 9in x 12in and printed on 140lb archival water color paper. Like…

Thistles in Collodion

Blog / Wet Plate Collodion

When life gives you thistles - why make a collodion wet plate? I made a series of 5x7" tintypes and Ambrotypes (images on glass) yesterday and am so pleased with how the images turned out! I harvested a variety of plants in the morning for still life images but stuck with the thistles all day. Sometimes you get in the "zone" and time fades away and things just flow. Before I knew it dinner time was approaching. So I shut down image capture and set up varnishing my day's production. Like all my plates, this set was preserved with traditional…

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Fall is Cattail Season – Wet Plate Collodion

Blog / Wet Plate Collodion

Fall is cattail season! Here is a wet plate collodion still life of some cattails I found by my home. This plate was more for practice than for "keeping". I am learning how to manage colder temperatures. The cold has an impact on the chemicals used for wet plate. Mainly everything takes longer. Longer exposure (more light) and longer development times. One of the appealing parts of this process is the randomness. You never can be sure how things will turn out until you actually shoot a plate. That makes it surprising and gives a satisfaction to the finished product.…

Character is Power

Blog / Cyanotype

Character is Power - a cyanotype. This 9in x12in cyanotype is meant as a Christmas present (and a few copies will be offered for sale). I am not sure where I first encountered this drawing and it was certainly many years ago. I have an earlier cyanotype version hanging on my office wall and I find it to be filled with meaning and inspiration. I though I should find the original author and ensure I was not infringing copyright to offer my cyan interpretation. I spent a lot of time digging and finally found the original author. The drawing is…

Collodion Orchids on Stained Glass

Blog / Wet Plate Collodion

Part of the fun with wet plate collodion is experimentation. Here is a plate of collodion orchids on stained glass. There is a lot of challenges to shooting on stained glass. But the final image is so beautiful! The first challenge is getting the exposure correct - just a matter of trial and error (which takes a lot of time). Next is developing the plate. Development is most challenging because the glass makes the image look less intense than on clear glass. The development process is done under red "safe" light and the blue glass looks strange. This plate could…

Waxing Alternative Prints

Blog / Cyanotype / Salt Print

Waxing alternative prints to protect them is a critical step in my production process. I use archival quality paper and methods to make the prints last beyond a lifetime and the final step is just another layer of protection. There are two types of prints here, salt prints and cyanotypes. Let's talk about cyanotypes first. The deep blue colors of cyanotypes are from ferrous (iron) ions in a 2+ oxidation state. This "Prussian Blue" dye is caused by sunlight and the interesting thing is that if cyanotypes ever "fade" they can be regenerated by putting thin in the sun for…

Ibanez Artist – Happy Birthday

Blog / Salt Print

Happy birthday to my Ibanez Artist Electric Guitar! She turned 40 this year. Here is a salt print of my favorite guitar. She has a lot of mileage and the wear and tear to prove it. However, she is just as sweet to play now as when I picked her up 39 years ago. I was the 2nd owner. My acquisition will remain private to protect innocent parties in my long forgotten past. Her body is a sunburst maple with gold plated hardware. She is an AR300 model but has the tail of the AR 305. Not sure how that…

Death Valley – Salt Print

Blog / Salt Print

A salt print of a panorama from Death Valley, California. Death Valley is one of the most beautiful places I have ever visited. Around every corner is something new and different. Maybe when God finished the world he had a bunch of spare parts (I always do when I work on a project). So He just dumped some of them here!

Cyanotype Portrait

Blog / Cyanotype / Portrait

Cyanotype prints can also make compelling portraits! Blue is not the first color one would choose for humans and human skin - except maybe at an awesome cosplay convention! But in the palette of monochrome colors the blue of cyanotype can be most interesting. Here is a portrait of one of my favorite people in the entire world. She is beautiful inside and out and has so many layers of thoughts! Here is a close up - those eyes and expression hold a world of mystery! In Your Eyes I see the doorway to a thousand churches! Want to see…

Asylum Point Lighthouse Salt Print

Blog / Salt Print

Asylum Point Lighthouse - a Salt Print. Warm Summer days are a perfect time to make salt prints of Winter scenes. This 35mm film photography was made last Winter. Asylum Point Lighthouse is on a small island on Lake Winnebago, just North of Oshkosh. The point is named after the Northern Asylum for the Insane which once stood on the grounds of the park. There are also 244 unmarked graves on the site! This is an 8x10" print and is one of a set of three available for purchase - Prints For Sale Back to the Blog