From the course: Tintype Photography at New York's Penumbra Foundation

Unlock this course with a free trial

Join today to access over 22,400 courses taught by industry experts.

Preparing the tintype plate in the darkroom

Preparing the tintype plate in the darkroom

- So we're in the darkroom at the Penumbra Foundation, where Jeffrey's gonna show us the process involved in getting a plate ready to actually expose our tintype portrait onto that plate. So, first off, Jeffrey, what exactly is this that you're holding in your hand? - Well, this is a piece of aluminium. - Okay. - Called trophy tin, we get it from a trophy company because it was used by trophy companies to cut strips and engrave through. - [Man In White] Okay. - The black enamel surface so that the name would come through. We have repurposed it for this process because it's very inexpensive. It already had the black on it. - Okay. - It's not caustic or toxic in this form, and we don't have to use our own methods to blacken the plate. - [Man In White] Okay. - So it's a very inexpensive way. This is about 25 cents worth of, we call it tin, but it's really a piece of aluminium. - I was gonna say, you said aluminium, but it's a tintype. - It's a tintype. But, you know, also, a tintype was…

Contents