Tintypes

The Wet Plate Collodion process dates back to around the 1850’s. A Tintype is created by taking a sheet (or plate) of aluminum and pouring collodion smoothly and evenly over it. Once the plate is put into a bath of Silver Nitrate it becomes light sensitive and can now be exposed in a large format camera. After the exposure it must be developed as quickly as possible. The results are an instant image. Ultimately this was the first form of Instant Photography.