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!

Learn more about my mobile darkroom and how we do Tintype photography sessions on location

My assistant has also posed for other portraits – here is her cyanotype portrait

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