A tintype is a non-reflective, one-of-a-kind photograph obtained following the traditional XIX century wet-collodion process. The collodion emulsion that is used during the process is not sensitive to the same spectrum of light than the one from the human eye.
As a result, the resulted tintype image will differ from the original one.
Tintypes rely on the principle that underexposed collodion negatives appear as positive images when viewed against a dark background.
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Niles Lund of Lundphotographics shows the comparative sensitivity of the human eye and collodion.
The collodion spectrum is sensitive to Ultra Violet light and not sensitive to Red.
Spectral sensitivity of silver ioidized collodion extends beyond the visible blue and into the ultraviolet region of the spectrum, in the green region. This means that the colors below it, such as yellow, orange, and red, will not contribute to a photochemical (actinic) response and will be recorded as black. The colors above the green, into the blues, violets, and beyond, will be rendered as white
Introduced in 1851, by Frederick Scott Archer, the wet collodion process was a fairly simple, if somewhat cumbersome photographic process. It was used as the primary camera image for all of the major printing processes of the XIX century. Its most common use was portrait photography.
A solution of collodion was poured over a plate of glass, leaving a thin, clear film containing the halide. The plate was then placed in a solution of silver nitrate. When removed from the silver, the collodion film contained a translucent yellow compound of light-sensitive silver iodide. The plate was exposed still wet and then developed by inspection under red light. Once the plate was washed and dried, it was coated with a protective varnish.
The collodion process replaced the daguerreotype as the predominant photographic process by the end of the 1850’s.Tintypes first appeared in the United States in 1856, and were more durable than ambrotypes and daguerreotypes. They remained popular well into the twentieth century.
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In 1845, guncotton was invented and initially used as an explosive.
In 1847, a young medical student named John Parker Maynard designed a medical dressing called collodion by dissolving guncotton in a mixture of equal parts ether and alcohol. The collodion was used extensively by field doctors during the Crimean War (1853-1856) in a battlefield environment and the benefits related to its use were immediate.
In January 1850, Robert Bingham proposed the idea that Maynard’s collodion solution could be applied to photographic use because it appeared to be the perfect vehicle for holding light-sensitive compounds on glass.
The early positive collodion plates were occasionally referred to by the French as daguerreotypes-on-glass and were common throughout the 1850s and 1860s.
This was the first true system capable of yielding values and details that were commercially viable and equal to the daguerreotype image on silver-plated copper.
The collodion process was realized, adopted and married to albumen and in that partnership ruled photography for decades, providing the opportunity for the detail prized in a daguerreotype as well as the ability to reproduce multiple prints from a single wet collodion glass plate negative
Arctype creates tintypes from your digital images.
Your digital image is converted into an analog negative that is then exposed into an enlarger following the traditional wet-collodion process. We use the same chemicals and varnishes as in the XIX century. The final result is a traditional art piece that lasts generations.