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View Full Version : Lighting for Making Tintype Copies of Conventional Prints



Robert Kalman
29-Mar-2017, 17:34
I'm interested in copying prints onto tintype. What would be the best source of continuous light in order to accomplish this? Dracast sells an LED product (https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1056161-REG/dracast_led160ad_daylight_5600k_with_aluminum.html)that produces a daylight source, and Lund Photographics sells a blue light (https://www.lundphotographics.com/cgi-bin/commerce.cgi?preadd=action&key=L001) studio flood. Are either of these suitable? Are there other choices?

Mark Sawyer
30-Mar-2017, 10:42
Probably best to scan the original, print a positive transparency, and project it onto the tintype with an enlarger.

Jim Noel
30-Mar-2017, 11:02
Probably best to scan the original, print a positive transparency, and project it onto the tintype with an enlarger.

A true tintype is sensitive mostly to UV spectrum, with some sensitivity in the blue band.

Robert Kalman
30-Mar-2017, 11:34
Probably best to scan the original, print a positive transparency, and project it onto the tintype with an enlarger.

Thanks, Mark. My enlarger is outfitted with a cold light...will I be able to project successfully onto the tintype with this light source?

Vaughn
30-Mar-2017, 11:50
Deleted. I was mistaken.

Mark Sawyer
30-Mar-2017, 12:06
Thanks, Mark. My enlarger is outfitted with a cold light...will I be able to project successfully onto the tintype with this light source?

I'd guess it would be fine. As Jim pointed out, tintypes are sensitive to near-UV and blue, which most cold heads have in abundance. In fact, the early ones didn't work well with variable contrast papers because they were overly blue, and lacked the other wavelengths needed.

Robert Kalman
30-Mar-2017, 12:14
I'd guess it would be fine. As Jim pointed out, tintypes are sensitive to near-UV and blue, which most cold heads have in abundance. In fact, the early ones didn't work well with variable contrast papers because they were overly blue, and lacked the other wavelengths needed.

Perfect. Thanks very much!

Jason Greenberg Motamedi
30-Mar-2017, 12:36
I have used strobes for doing this in-camera with a copy stand. It takes quite a bit of power (I think I used two heads with 4800ws each), but allowed me to put polarizing filters on the strobe heads as well as the lens.

Amedeus
30-Mar-2017, 13:39
True but most photographers are using lenses that significantly attenuate the UV produced by light sources and in the end, mostly utilize what's left .... blue ...

Not too many quartz lenses out there ...


A true tintype is sensitive mostly to UV spectrum, with some sensitivity in the blue band.

Mark Sawyer
30-Mar-2017, 16:30
True but most photographers are using lenses that significantly attenuate the UV produced by light sources and in the end, mostly utilize what's left .... blue ...

Not too many quartz lenses out there ...

And yet, despite it all, the images still keep coming out! :)

koraks
3-Apr-2017, 11:14
Probably best to scan the original, print a positive transparency, and project it onto the tintype with an enlarger.
Enlarged inkjet transparencies will likely look horrible at any significant enlargement (read: anything over 1:1).

I saw a brief documentary about a Dutch photographer a couple of years ago who did something like this. IIRC, he captured on MF film, made interpositives and then enlarged these onto plates to arrive at his tintypes. Unfortunately, I can't remember the series this was part of.

Robert Kalman
5-Apr-2017, 18:07
I had some moderate success using Mark's suggestion: Made a positive transparency, placed it into the enlarger, and exposed it directly onto the plate. Here are some results:

163491 163492 163493

Mark Sawyer
5-Apr-2017, 23:17
It's always hard to tell from internet images, but they look pretty good to me. You'd be the best judge, as you can hold the plate in your hand. Can you see any pixilation in the tintypes, either by naked eye or with a loupe?

Robert Kalman
6-Apr-2017, 05:02
It's always hard to tell from internet images, but they look pretty good to me. You'd be the best judge, as you can hold the plate in your hand. Can you see any pixilation in the tintypes, either by naked eye or with a loupe?

No pixilation that I can detect. There's a very subtle "hint" that the image has been copied, however, rather than having been shot live. I can't describe it with any precision, but it looks copied to me. Nevertheless, I'm happy with the result. Thanks very much for your help with this, Mark.

cuypers1807
6-Apr-2017, 08:58
Robert, I do this a lot. They will never quite look the same as an in camera tintype. I started with film positives but have switched to using Pictorico with scanned film or digital files. The larger the transparency positive, the better the plates will look. Pictorico has a texture that looks almost like grain and it shows up more on plates with 4x5 or smaller positives. I use an 8x10 enlarger with a cold head to make my plates which allows for pretty fast exposure times. It takes a little time to get the density and contrast dialed in but a lot of that can be controlled when you make the inter positive. I make plates from 4x5 up to 8x10. I am going to start making larger ones (up to 16x20) next month. You can see some of my wet plate work on my website:

www.josephbrunjes.com

I enjoy making tintypes of subject matter that normally can't be photographed because of its location or movement.

Robert Kalman
6-Apr-2017, 15:43
Robert, I do this a lot. They will never quite look the same as an in camera tintype. I started with film positives but have switched to using Pictorico with scanned film or digital files. The larger the transparency positive, the better the plates will look. Pictorico has a texture that looks almost like grain and it shows up more on plates with 4x5 or smaller positives. I use an 8x10 enlarger with a cold head to make my plates which allows for pretty fast exposure times. It takes a little time to get the density and contrast dialed in but a lot of that can be controlled when you make the inter positive. I make plates from 4x5 up to 8x10. I am going to start making larger ones (up to 16x20) next month. You can see some of my wet plate work on my website:

www.josephbrunjes.com

I enjoy making tintypes of subject matter that normally can't be photographed because of its location or movement.

I used Pictorico, too, and noticed the "grain-like" appearance under the fine grain magnifier. I also see the effects on some of my plates. Haven't attempted anything bigger than 4x5, but I'm still in the learning stages and hammering down the technical aspects of pouring collodion and developing the plates. Thanks for the info, Joseph.