Thought members here could appreciate -tintype

[Rube Burrows]

I have been making true tintypes for a while now using the same process that was used in the 19th century.

I made this one yesterday and figured I would show the members here since I know ya'll can appreciate a good lever gun.

Sorry for the poor scan though. The scanner kind of makes it look like it has more sepia in it.

[Rube Burrows]

Here is another phot of the same tintype.

[jeepnik]

Right and left inverted. True sign of a tintype. It takes a true artist to make them. Film took a good deal of the skill out of making images, and digital even more so. Thanks for keeping the art alive.

[gamekeeper]

Cool, nice to know the art is not lost.....

[Pete44ru]

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Pretty cool !

Although, I'd have scrounged up a chair that was a little more beat up & older-looking.

Now, you gotta do one of those Civil War/pioneer/cowboy type pics (below).




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[jnyork]

Outstanding. Keeping the old ways alive is always a good thing to see. Hope you will post more.

[claybob86]

Neat stuff!

[Blaine]

Right and left inverted. True sign of a tintype. It takes a true artist to make them. Film took a good deal of the skill out of making images, and digital even more so. Thanks for keeping the art alive.

I did not know that....

[Old No7]

Now that is COOL -- thanks for sharing!!

Oh, and let's see more...

Old No7

[Bill in Oregon]

Rube, a man after my own heart. In the last couple of weeks, I ordered copies of Ty Guillory's "Making the Traditional Wet Plate Camera," and Mark and France Osterman's "Basic Collodion Technique: Ambrotype and Tintype."
Are you self-taught? Make your own camera? I'd love to wander down this old path.

[Pitchy]

Cool, makes me want to dig out my home made box camera.

[OldWin]

That's really neat! Excellent work.

[JerryB]

Real proud for you Rube!! Reckon that took a bunch of work, looks like you got it down good.

[Sixgun]

Very cool...I got all excited and was ready to PM you with an offer of the first ''94 made for a left handed guy. Then my brain kicked in.....very nicely done and I learned something new today.....that this type of photography is still being done...----6

[bmtshooter]

Great job !! Those look like silver nitrate stains on your fingers. Can't wash those off.

[Carlsen Highway]

Thats wonderful. I had no idea people were still making tintypes. I had never thought of it.

I have done a lot of photography and darkroom work in my time (all of it 35mm though) would you mind running though the equipment chemicals and process?

[Griff]

Very nice Rube. That's a LOT of dark work right there!

[Rube Burrows]

Thanks everyone. I am self taught and have only been doing it since February. I started collecting the things needed for about a year and then finally started putting them to use in February. It has been quite a learning experience but real fun also. I even turned a cargo trailer into a mobile darkroom so I can shoot on more locations.

I have just always had a love for the old Tintypes and Ambrotypes of the day. I had been kind of collecting old photos for a while, rescuing them from flea markets and other places. I thought, why not make them today? There is a small community of people still doing it today.

Six, be nice to have something as rare as the only left handed Winchester but I'm sure if we look at other tintypes you'll find others that look similar.

I'll post a few more later on.

[Rube Burrows]

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Pretty cool !

Although, I'd have scrounged up a chair that was a little more beat up & older-looking.

Now, you gotta do one of those Civil War/pioneer/cowboy type pics (below).




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It's def. my hopes that some day I will be good enough and confident enough to attend a Civil War Reenactment or even a SASS event and take photos there of all the people dressed up.

[Rube Burrows]

Thats wonderful. I had no idea people were still making tintypes. I had never thought of it.

I have done a lot of photography and darkroom work in my time (all of it 35mm though) would you mind running though the equipment chemicals and process?

I mix my own chemicals and there are lots of different ingredients that go into each one but the list of mixed chemicals are as follows;

Collodion
Silver Nitrate bath
Developer
Fixer
Varnish

I pour the collodion onto the metal then I put it in a bath of silver nitrate to sensitize the plate. Once sensitized, under dark room conditions then take out of the silver nitrate bath and place into a plate holder. Once in the plate holder I can then come out of the dark room and take it to my camera that has already been focused and set up. I put the plate holder in the camera and then when I am ready to shoot the photo I open the lens for the number of seconds needed (some lenses are slow and require up to 8 or so seconds) to take the photo and then close the lens. I then take the plate holder back out of the camera and head over to the darkroom and under dark room conditions I take the plate out of the plate holder and then pour the developer over the photo and develop for the photo. Then I place it in a rinse tray for a few seconds and then a different rinse tray. Then I can come out of dark room conditions and place the photograph into a fixer which turns the photo from a negative to a positive. Then I let the photograph dry on a drying rack. Once dry I usually give it another rinse and then dry it over an alcohol lamp. Once dry again I heat the photograph up again and pour a varnish over the surface to seal the photo. If not varnished the photo will over time turn black due to the air effecting the silver in the photo.

[Rube Burrows]

Vageeswari.jpg

Here is one of my old cameras. This one is my largest one and will make up to 10x12 which I have not done yet. It is my least used camera right now.

When I get home from church I will post more if people are interested.

[Rube Burrows]

Great job !! Those look like silver nitrate stains on your fingers. Can't wash those off.

You're right about that.
I have a box of gloves that I bought to use but once your hand gets sweaty and everything it does get in the way sometimes.

I like it much better without gloves on. It makes pouring the plates and doing other things easier without them but like you said.....can't wash off the silver nitrate stains.

[marlinman93]

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Pretty cool !

Although, I'd have scrounged up a chair that was a little more beat up & older-looking.

Remember Pete, chairs were new back then, so beat up wouldn't look correct. Doubt most people in the 1800's looked for a beat up chair to photograph their fine levergun!

[KWK]

Right and left inverted. True sign of a tintype.

Just to add some detail, not all tintypes were inverted so (some cameras corrected for this), and other, similar processes also were usually inverted.

Really nice work RB.

[jeepnik]

Great job !! Those look like silver nitrate stains on your fingers. Can't wash those off.

I work with silver nitrate daily. Frequent exposure is not a good thing. Try some tight fitting nitrile gloves. You don't loose dexterity and it avoids contact with the chemicals.

You're right about that.
I have a box of gloves that I bought to use but once your hand gets sweaty and everything it does get in the way sometimes.

I like it much better without gloves on. It makes pouring the plates and doing other things easier without them but like you said.....can't wash off the silver nitrate stains.

[Rube Burrows]

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Took this one yesterday.

[Rube Burrows]

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[Rube Burrows]

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[Rube Burrows]

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[Rube Burrows]

https://youtu.be/1h7tCuNbknQ

[PaperPatch]