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Tintypes

A Brief History of Photography: Innovations in Chemistry

Video        Bytesize Science        14 November 2012

The history of photography

is rich with chemical innovations and insights,

producing hundreds of different processes to develop images

in unique and often beautiful ways.

But these historical images can be difficult to conserve,

especially since each type of photograph

requires a different preservation technique.

While two photos could look very similar,

they may differ chemically in dramatic ways.

This is where photo conservation scientists like Art Kaplan

at the Getty Conservation Institute come into the picture.

Art spends his days studying different styles of photographs,

their materials and the chemistry that gave life to still life

in the early days of photography.

His office is loaded

with drawers of photographic samples,

scientific instruments

and a clear passion for frozen history.

In our latest video,

Art explains the developmental processes

of several types of photographs

including daguerreotypes,

ambrotypes and tintypes.

YouTube

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mh42xZQL6-k

Kevin Bacon

 Tintype portraits of celebrities - in pictures

Taken using a Graflex Super D camera,

photographer Victoria Will

worked in a studio and lab

set up at this year’s Sundance film festival,

creating aluminium tintype portraits of actors.

With around eight minutes

to coat the tin with chemicals,

expose the frame and develop the image,

Will worked very quickly

and exposed very few frames per portrait

G

Tuesday 14 April 2015    07.00 BST

http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/gallery/2015/apr/14/
tintype-portraits-of-celebrities-in-pictures

tintype        UK / USA

The tintype format

was an early type

of photography

which used metal plates

to create reverse images

http://www.loc.gov/pictures/collection/lilj/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=--PAAJZRbn8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cXOseY7HxxU

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/12/18/
nyregion/willets-point-development-queens.html

https://www.npr.org/sections/pictureshow/2019/09/07/
737957259/photographer-looks-for-common-ground-over-the-gun-in-portrait-series

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/16/
lens/these-portraits-of-metalheads-go-to-11.html

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/27/
lens/tintype-portraits-musicians-appalachia.html

https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/gallery/2018/feb/16/
gold-stars-portraits-of-california-gold-rush-in-pictures

https://www.theguardian.com/culture/gallery/2017/nov/03/
skaters-jenny-sampson-tintype-victorian-technique-contemporary-culture-in-pictures

https://lens.blogs.nytimes.com/2017/06/08/
honoring-blues-and-roots-musicians-in-tintypes/

http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2015/10/15/
448993361/-2-photo-found-at-junk-store-has-billy-the-kid-in-it-could-be-worth-5-million

http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/gallery/2015/jun/17/
do-you-recognise-the-margate-family-in-pictures 

http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/gallery/2014/jun/19/
tintype-portraits-jerwood-fiction-uncovered-prize-winners-in-pictures

http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/gallery/2014/mar/28/
mirror-race-america-slavery-19th-century-pictures

https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2011/jun/27/
billy-the-kid-photograph-sold

aluminium tintype        UK

http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/gallery/2015/apr/14/
tintype-portraits-of-celebrities-in-pictures

 wet plate collodion        USA

Chemicals are poured

onto an enameled

4-inch-by-5-inch sheet of metal,

rendering the colors differently

than in a traditional

black-and-white image.

While a positive image

is developed almost instantly,

the scene is also reversed

like a negative.

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/12/18/
nyregion/willets-point-development-queens.html

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