Phoenix

array(1) { [0]=> array(41) { ["_id"]=> string(8) "tintypes" ["_enhanced_status"]=> string(0) "" ["_abbrev"]=> string(2) "TT" ["_name"]=> string(8) "Tintypes" ["_synonyms"]=> string(24) "Ferrotypes, Melainotypes" ["_use_term"]=> string(0) "" ["_popular_start_date"]=> string(4) "1860" ["_popular_end_date"]=> string(4) "1880" ["_aat_id"]=> string(9) "300134759" ["_aat_level_1"]=> string(11) "photographs" ["_aat_level_2"]=> string(19) "photographs by form" ["_aat_level_3"]=> string(9) "positives" ["_aat_level_4"]=> string(16) "direct positives" ["_aat_level_5"]=> string(0) "" ["_aat_level_6"]=> string(0) "" ["_aat_level_7"]=> string(0) "" ["_searchkey"]=> string(7) "tintype" ["_filename"]=> string(0) "" ["_type"]=> string(0) "" ["_base"]=> string(0) "" ["_dates"]=> string(0) "" ["_alternative"]=> string(20) "process_tintype.html" ["_edinburgh"]=> string(45) "1_early_photography_-_processes_-_tintype.htm" ["_leggat"]=> string(0) "" ["_0896594386"]=> string(0) "" ["_VA"]=> string(0) "" ["_christies"]=> string(0) "" ["_britishlibrary"]=> string(0) "" ["_private_notes"]=> string(5451) "Michael Gregorio (FB post, 18 November 2023) Ferrotypes began to appear in England in the 1860s, having been invented in America by a man named Hamilton Smith in about 1856. Smith called them ‘Melainotypes’ (Melaina was a figure in Greek mythology representing Darkness), referring metaphorically to the dark metal plates of cheap tin on which the photographic images were made. The name was too complicated for public taste, however, and they were soon known as ferrotypes or, even more simply, tintypes. The process was a clever extension of the wet collodion (ambrotype) process, the advantage being that the black backing required to reverse the bleached negative image on glass was eliminated. By pouring wet collodion directly onto a metal plate and exposing it to light in the camera, a positive image could be made and sold within minutes. Soon the ferrotype process was being widely used by British street photographers. However, a number of British photographic studios which specialised in cartes-de-visite picked up on a new fad in the late 1870s, and started offering “American Gem” cartes. Using a camera which had been invented by the American photographer, Simon Wing, multiple postage stamp-sized portraits were made on a large tintype plate with a single exposure. Cut down and mounted in a specially-designed carte with a tiny portrait opening, they were popular in England until about 1884, when the fashion for Gems died out as quickly as it had begun This is a sample of American Gems from my collection. Other carte forms of tintype mounting, ‘Victoria Gems,’ are also shown to vary the diet a little… The emphasis is concentrated not so much on the tiny photographs themselves – the majority of which are instantly forgettable – but a) on the amazing range of carte mounts, which embraced many passing fashions for the Romantic, the Sentimental, and the Oriental, and b) on the names and business addresses of the relatively small number of British photographic studios which produced them. Ninety percent of these cartes were made in Britain, though a few (usually the slightly larger framed portraits) are from America. There are also some incredibly rare Italian examples. (Coll. Michael G. Jacob). Allan Janus Smith taught at Kenyon College in Ohio. I visited once, and was able to look at some of the very first tintypes. ===== https://www.parisphoto.com/en-gb/fair/glossary.html (Accessed: 28 July 2022) A VISUAL GLOSSARY OF PHOTOGRAPHIC TECHNIQUES Paris Photo and the Ville de Paris have partnered to create an online visual glossary of photographic techniques of L’Atelier de Restauration et de Conservation des Photographies de la Ville de Paris (ARCP). The glossary will provide definitions for historical and contemporary techniques, as well as illustrations of works from municipal photography collections. A tintype is a monochrome direct positive on metal plate support. Like the ambrotype created on glass plate, it is a negative image that is seen as a positive, due to the dark support, the silver grains composing the light parts of the image. The resulting pictures are usually small formats, the most common being the "visiting card" (sixth or ninth plate), the "jewel - portrait" (2.5 × 3 × 3 cm) or the "postage stamp" (1.2 × 2.5 cm) formats. Full plate tintypes (16.2 × 21.6 cm) and landscapes views are the rarest. The process was presented for the first time in France by Adolphe Martin in 1852, though many other patents were later filed in England and the United States. It is across the Atlantic that the tintype saw its greatest use principally from the Civil War period through the early twentieth century, under the term "melainotype" or "ferrotype". A quick and cheap process, it was popularized by itinerant photographers. The manufacturing of a tintype is identical to that of Ambrotypes only the support differs, iron plate replacing the fragile glass plate. The manufacturing of a tintype is identical to that of Ambrotypes only the support differs, iron plate replacing the fragile glass plate. A thin plate of tin about 0.15 mm thick is covered with a black varnish consisting of bitumen of Judea and carbon black, and insolubilized by light. It is then coated with collodion sensitized in a solution of silver nitrate. Afterexposure, the plate is developed and rinsed with water as soon as the image appears. The image is finally fixed, rinsed, and sometimes hand colored with light color pigments, before being varnished. In the twentieth century, the collodion layer was replaced by a gelatin-silver bromide emulsion. Tintypes can be presented in paper mounts with rectangular or oval window mats to be slided conveniently into book-like albums, or more rarely protected in american cases, under glass. This type of presentation, commonly associated with daguerreotypes and ambrotypes, sometimes make them difficult to identify.When ferrotypes are not protected, they are recognizable by their metal support and alterations to its features such as deformation of the metal, or the appearance of rust between the support and the image, which can cause uprisings and scales. Images are often cream or chocolate-brown toned or colder when silver gelatin emulsion is used. The varnish may turn brown and crack due to exposure to light. Visual glossary of photographic processes © ARCP / Mairie de Paris, 2013." 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