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 ladies in red – Nataly and my 8×10 Intrepid large format camera.
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Did you know I also do digital photography? Check out my digital site for portrait and wedding photography Jalanlee.com
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 reliably works with wet plate collodion. Why? The simple answer is there are not enough wet plate photographers around to justify the development costs for a meter. Another way to think about it is wet plate photographers don’t make enough money to afford how much a reliable meter would cost!
So how does a wet plate photographer adjust for the impacts of changing light? Experiment, experience and luck!
The first image is always an experiment. A plate is prepared and you just guess at the camera settings. After the first plate, you make an adjustment and maybe get it right. Sometimes a step plate is made first – where the dark slide is moved every 1 or 2 seconds to give a range of exposures. So for example, you end up with a plate with 2, 4, 6, 8 and 10 seconds of exposure in strips. After development you select the best exposure time (assuming your timing range bracketed the best time). This plate is an example of “luck”. Foggy day with the sun starting to break through. I took this at 6 seconds exposure and aperture f/4.5. Overexposed! But not too bad.
Experience comes after days where the changing light has really bad impacts on wet plate collodion! I have had days where 7 or 8 plates fail before getting even a close image. Remember, it takes 15 or 20 minutes to make each plate so it could take hours to find the right formula. Learning is painful but leads to quicker guesses in the future. So my experience told me the first plate was overexposed by a lot so I closed the camera aperture to f/8 (one quarter the light of f/4.5) This image was still overexposed – but much better!
The last factor (at least for me) is luck! Luck does favor the prepared, they say, but for me luck is still a random thing! The fog lifted and the sun came out for the next image! So I stuck with f/8 and dropped to 3 seconds exposure – and the plate came out so nice! Just pure dumb luck
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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 mixed with alcohol and ether and bromides to make the plate coating. Silver nitrate has to be mixed into a 7-8% solution for the silver bath. Silver nitrate is dangerous for your skin and eyes so a lot of protection has to be worn when handling silver baths. Developer has to be mixed along with the fixing solutions. I also mix up my own Sandarac varnish.
Aluminum and Glass Plates
I use mostly recycled & antique glass for my Ambrotypes. I have to search out old windows and other sources of glass. I then remove the glass, clean it and cut to size. The edges of the cut glass are sanded to remove sharp edges. Then the glass is cleaned again and coated with albumin (to help the collodion stick).
The generic name “tintype” comes from the past when actual tin sheets were used for plates. Now I actually use trophy grande anodized aluminum plates. The plated can come cut to the various sizes or I buy large sheets and cut them to size myself.
Plate Rinsing and Drying
After fixing the plate I need to do five steps of washing. The plates are washed with tap water four times followed by a final distilled water rinse. This step removes any trace of residual chemical that could cause problems 100 years in the future. The plates are then left to air dry on racks for at least 24 hours.
Varnishing & Coating
The final step in plate preservation is varnishing. I use the traditional Sandarac varnish which is a blend of frankincense and lavender oil. The plate is warmed up over an alcohol flames, varnish poured on the surface and drained. The plate is then reheated over the flame carefully (because the varnish is flammable) to set. The plate is then racked to air cure for at least 24 hours.
The varnishing step is really fun because of the wonderful smell of lavender oil with the spiciness of frankincense!
If your plate is an Ambrotype on clear glass I can also blacken the image to render it a positive. I love to use a sheet of black, or other color velvet. I might also coat the image with traditional asphaltum.
Mounting and Framing
Finally, I get the plate ready for delivery to you my client. Each plate is signed and a Certificate of Authenticity is also signed. I make my own sleeves to hold your plate. I can also frame the plate or add a chain mount or a magnetic mount if you like. Often I also package your plate for shipment and run to the UPS store or the USPS facility.
Now that you have seen behind the scenes of wet plate collodion photography you will never ask “why does a plate cost so much”?
I almost forgot, after all that work, I also have to clean up and resupply my mobile darkroom!
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 it and keep it. I actually like it a lot. Not sure why but does that really matter?
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 5×7 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 for much of it. They have a great patina and more than a little of my sweat and a bit of blood when I was not careful.
So are they objects of art? Well, I like the tintype image and I think it is art. Will they have meaning to anyone when I am gone or will they just be junked? Does it matter?
My father in law was a stone mason his whole life. He helped to build hundreds of wonderful buildings in his life, and the people who use them every day have no idea who he was. When he passed I made sure and get his two levels. They hang in my garage right now and I use them on occasion. He was a stickler for doing it right so when I use his levels I feel some pressure to make sure and do my job as perfectly as I can. The levels are worn and dirty and have seen a lot of use. I sometimes think about refinishing one of them to hang on my wall but maybe they are better left in their current state…
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 a digital photo and added them to my blog photo collection. The 6x6in tintype above is of a metal art owl. My wife sometimes like to weld up creations from random old junk. This owl guards my Summer office!
Here is another metal art creation (not one of my wife’s). A classic 5 pointed star which is on the wall of my Summer office.
It is hard to believe I did my first wet plate in the Fall of 2022. After a few months of practice I shut down for the Wisconsin Winter and started back up in April 2023. So in terms of actual capture time I have been making wet plates – Tintypes and Ambrotypes – for less than a year. Of course I have an advantage over other photographers in that I am a trained Chemist. There is a lot of applied chemistry in tintypes and Ambrotypes – from mixing various potions to making adjustments. So being a degreed chemist helped a lot!
Here is tintype of more metal art – in this case a butterfly sculpture. This sculpture spins away in our back year all year and is very beautiful (if you like rusty butterflies).
I occasionally find antique tintypes. Here is a tiny 2x3in tintype from the 1800’s Three dapper men pose in their Sunday best suits. At least I think they were Sunday best but just guessing as I know absolutely nothing about them or the tintype.
Next is a Ambrotype – wet plate on glass. This image is from the fountain in Riverside Park, Neenah. This is a 6x6in plate made on black stained glass. Most of my Ambrotypes are made in recovered antique glass. I find old windows and salvage the glass. It is a lot of extra work but I like the use of old glass to make 19th century era photos. I do sometimes buy new stained glass because it is hard to find old stained glass. I added a lead came border and copper hangers to finish off the image.
This is a burl on my 100+ year old box elder tree. Certainly a random wet plate! Not an exciting photo as I was doing a set of tintypes to experiment with development settings. But I still kind of like it. The tree is unfornatuely getting near the end of its life. We have already lost some of the big branches and it is only a matter of time before it lets go.
This is a BTS (Behind The Scenes) tintype of the lighthouse at Asylum Point. Wet plates need to a good wash after development and fixing. This removes any residual chemicals which might cause the plate to stain or darken with age. I usually do 5 washes with tap water followed by a final wash with distilled water (to remove any hardness from the tap water). It is a lot of work but worth the effort if I want to have my tintypes last forever!
The last two random wet plates are portraits. The first is a 6x6in tintype of one of my friends at Riverside park. The last is an Ambrotype self portrait. This is on 5x7in glass. I always wanted to be a cowboy…
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 make some tintype plates anyways. We set out for Asylum Point with my mobile darkroom fully stocked. All the plates we made that day were 8 x 10 inches.
The first set of images was a borrowed skeleton in various poses. I think he looks happy!
I next persuaded my assistant to pose for a bit of a story. You would think he would look more happy with a beautiful woman posing next to him, but I think he looks a bit intimidated!
The thing with tintype sessions is they go by so quickly – it must be all the fun! So soon the light begun to fade and we started packing up. Suddenly out of the woods appeared three beautiful ladies. They seemed to be friendly despite their outfits and were happy to pause their adventure and pose for a tintype portrait. The fading light necessitated a 20 second exposure time which is a long time to stand still. But the good witches did a wonderful job and the image has only slight motion blur. Of course I think the slight blur just adds to the mood and story of the image.
As we were washing the plate then suddenly disappeared! Not sure if they were real witches or just out doing some Halloween cosplay, but I am so happy they came to the woods that day!
This year I have to plan on a lot more Halloween tintype cosplay photos!
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 and the statue was partially in shadow due to trees around the cemetery. I used my body to block some of the light so her face would not be in shadow. I also had to capture as fast as possible before the sun set. So I left rinsing until the end by leaving my plates in a tray full of water.
Once the sun set I went to work rinsing tintypes. Picture the scene – there I was in a remote cemetery, at night, by myself rinsing tintypes. For reasons unknown, there was no cell phone coverage. Strange because I was not that far out of town… All I could think to myself was life is an adventure!
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 doing. If you understand the basic drivers of what you are doing the individual activities will naturally follow.
So here are my basic principles of why I create tintypes and other visual arts…
I create to honor the Creator of everything
I want to make portraits that capture the inner “spark” we all have
I want to share images that show joy and love in a world where ugliness seems to get the most attention
I want to build relationships with my clients and models – it is not the final image that counts, but rather the moments we share together
I create to honor the Creator of everything: All of the things I have learned in my life, especially my career as a scientist, show me very clearly that everything in the universe was created by God. Our Creator took random chaos and made order and life. So when I create something, when I follow the example of my Creator, I honor my Creator.
I want to make portraits that capture the inner “spark” we all have: All people have a spark of life in them. This spark animates our bodies and our minds and is a part of the Creator. A good portrait can capture a bit of that spark for others to see.
I want to share images that show joy and love in a world where ugliness seems to get the most attention: The “news” is almost always bad! People seem to be drawn to bad news or ugly behavior. I want to show that there is love and beauty in the world. I want my images to be positive and uplifting; to tell inspiring stories.
I want to build relationships with my clients and models – it is not the final image that counts, but rather the moments we share together: I think the common thread in all of my photography is rewarding interactions. I do landscape and still life photos but enjoy people photography more than anything else. The biggest appeal of tintype, all wet plate methods, is that they are slow. You naturally take more time setting up a photo when it takes 15 minutes then when you crank out 15 frames a second. Because of this a tintype image will have more memories attached. The tintype is a reflection of the time we spent together, our conversation, our planning.
I hope to do lots more portraits and create a lot of inspiring images in 2024! If you like my principles why not contact me to start a discussion of your portrait or project?
Featured photo is “Santa Heading Home” a 5x7in tintype. You can see more of my tintypes in my Portfolio
