FAQ

What is a tintype?

One of the earliest photographic processes, wet plate collodion, requires a metal or glass sheet be prepared with a light-sensitive chemistry, still wet at the time of exposure. The tintype utilizes this process on a sheet of metal (despite the name, historically this was iron and modern practitioners primarily use aluminum). The ambrotype is the same process using glass instead. The resulting images created are reversals and the process is sensitive to differnt parts of the spectrum rendering a portrait that has a different character than a modern image. Each plate is one-of-a-kind, without a negative from which to create duplicates. Each finished plate is coated with a protective shellac and packaged to take home or ship.  It is a photograph in the truest sense - your image written with light ((from the Greek roots phōtos=light, graphé=drawing). Time itself preserved.

What do I get?

It depends on the type of session you book, but generally for a studio session you get 2-3 one of a kind, archivally varnished plates which should last generations. We generally have enough time to create multiple plates from which you select your favorites. Additional plates can be purchased. A web-ready scan is provided in addition to the plate itself. Plates are carefully packaged for protection or gifting. Typically time and material cost does not allow for a reshoot if you don’t like how you look but in the case of a chemical flaw that obstructs important face details I will make an additional plate. If you are unsatisfied with your expression and time allows, I can reshoot at $25 per additional plate (added to the initial session fee).

When do I get it?

For studio sessions there is generally a two-week turnaround. This allows time for adequate washing, varnishing, scanning, and packaging. In some cases time allows for rush-processing if you are visiting or need the plate sooner for an event or gift. Please contact me about rush processing fees.