I would like to give this a try. I am looking for some recommendations for instructions, kits, books, websites.
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I would like to give this a try. I am looking for some recommendations for instructions, kits, books, websites.
hi randy
which type of tintypes: silver gelatin or wet plate ?
wet plate you might go to http://www.collodion.org/ and http://www.collodion.com/
silver gelatin ones can be a little more finicky but just as fun
there isn't really a forum or a lot of information on making them, just rockland colloid, people who do it
and have experience ... ( i've been making them on metal and glass for a few months now ) ...
good luck !
john
Bostick & Sullivan provides wet plate starter kits here, and the people on the collodion.com forum are immensely helpful. As far as I'm concerned John Coffer's "Doer's Guide to Wet-plate Photography" (along with the instructional DVDs, strangely enough) is the only instructional resource a person would need to get started. It can be purchased from here.
-William
Thanks for the tips. So, I am guessing that the silver gelatin is using the Rockland liquid emulsion?, and wet plate is the traditional process? Do they yield similar results? How about ISO rating difference between the two? I just registered at the collodion.com. Will spend some time there.
Wet-plate collodion is the more traditional process, although silver gelatin papers and plates made an appearance on the photographic market in the late 1800s. Liquid emulsion is predominately used for printing, but it is very versatile and can be used for the production of tintypes in the camera. There is significantly less information published on that subject than there is for wet-plate... As far as I know, and you'd have to ask somebody with more experience using liquid emulsion in the camera, wet-plate tintypes have warmer "coffee and cream" tones, whereas liquid gelatin emulsions are more neutral. With liquid emulsion, good adherence to glass/tin is reportedly difficult to acheive without subbing, but as I said, I have no experience with it except coating paper for printing. The book I have on the subject suggests printing tintypes from negatives as the more practical way to produce a tintype with liquid light. Neither substance is sensitive to red light.Quote:
Originally Posted by Randy
I have seen wet collodion rated at about 0.5-2.5 ISO and liquid light rated at about 10-15 ISO (on Rockland's web site). Obviously with collodion being hand-mixed, there are lots of variables, and different formulas will produce different speeds, but neither "emulsion" is rated nor are exposures usually metered when working with them. Depending on the speed of your lenses (you want them to be fast unless you plan to shoot still-life), you can expect exposures of 2-5 seconds for wet-plate in good sunlight. Rockland also states that the speeds of their emulsions can vary by batch, and that "calibration" will be required to determine a working speed.Quote:
Originally Posted by Randy
These are just my thoughts about the differences. Please don't take them for facts. I'll say that liquid light is definitely a cheaper introduction to the tintype because the chemical profiles for processing are the same as traditional printing materials, the sensitization has already been performed, and you can print them from existing negatives. If cost is prohibitive for you, that may be the way to go...
...on the other-hand, there is a lot more information available on the wet-plate collodion process, and the results have been tried and tested for over 150 years (with about a 75 year gap in the middle). Wet-plate feels like the right way to go in my opinion, but again, it's a matter of taste and budget.
The book about liquid emulsion that I referenced before is a bit difficult to track down for a reasonable price in the U.S., but it is listed on amazon, here. As an instructional guide, it could be better, but the photos and artist portfolios are excellent. It's certainly a good place to start. You can speed up (and boost contrast to) Rockland Liquid Light by adding small amounts of developer to the emulsion before you coat your plates. It also gets faster with prolonged drying...Quote:
Originally Posted by fecaleagle
Again, you'd have to talk to John (jnanian) or someone with more experience in these matters, but it's a place to start.
Edit: I didn't read any of them, but there seem to be some useful links to threads on the forum about LL tintypes under "Similar Threads". E.g., http://www.largeformatphotography.in...nd-tintype-kit
I wasn't even aware that Rockland offered a tintype kit, but there you go.
Good Luck!
Rating for tintypes is about same (i.e if you do direct positive on wet plate).Quote:
Originally Posted by Randy
Tones actually could be nearly same too.
Prepping liquid emulsion is a bit weirder and getting it in tintype form - you pretty much stuck with a single developer on market, but emulsion itself - you can use quite a few , including making your own. Preserving them on tins seems to be a bit more tricky. Sticking them on tins - easy.
Information on those is slowly getting recovered and both processes (dry and wet) are very well described in articles here
http://www.alternativephotography.com/wp/
here is simple snap of fresh batch i covered with liquid light AP - no colour correction
http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3713/9...45260f5f_b.jpg
photo-2www by Sergei Rodionov, on Flickr
Personally, I wouldn't mess with the "liquid emulsion." There's a reason hundreds of people a year are starting to do wetplate. Maybe 3 do the Rockland kit. Wetplate collodion is fairly easy, it's a lot of fun to learn, and you become self sufficient - never needing to buy someone else's chemicals or film or developer. To start, I'd buy John Coffer's or Quinn Jacobsons guide, and just mix from scratch. But don't try to do it without a guide, the internet is full of false information or zany recommendations by people who've barely learned the process themselves. Learn from an expert guidebook, maybe watch someone do it once, and you'll be fine.
hi randy
if you poke around you might be able to find information on the reversal developer. its a weak alkaline developer with thiocyanate and fixer in it.
the thiocyanate bleaches the image as it is appearing and the fixer, makes it light safe. some folks in england who have alkaline tap water just add the thiocyanate
into their developer ( mixed with their tap water ) other folks need to buffer the water with something like washing soda.
i'm working on something that uses caffenol c which is alkaline based ... finger's crossed !
as sergei said, elements of the process can be tricky but its fun, and made with things that are a bit less dangerous than wet plate / collodion.
don't get me wrong, collodion is fun too ( i began playing with collodion around the same time i bought my first bottle of liquid light in around 1986 )
but it's kind of dangerous, and i always had the fear of my studio going up like a movie house blaze ...
as sergei said, you aren't tied to just the emulsion they suggest .. i've been using stuff that's old and expired getting great results ( as dry plates too )
and when i run out, i'll be making my own emulsion out of gelatin, sea water ( or water with salt in it ) and silver nitrate ... its pretty easy from the looks of the article
at http://thelightfarm.com/ ( much easier than what i cooked up in college ) ... so like wet plate you can go as self-made as you want ... its up to you.
if you have questions about the liquid emulsion process i'm sure sergei or i can try to answer your questions ...
the attached images are clear glass ambrotypes the last one i hand colored in photoshop ... the other 2 look like they do on the glass ...
good luck with whichever you decide to play with ...