A few days ago, we told you about an app called Koloid that allowed iOS users to capture some of the look and feel of wet collodion photography using their iPhone. The $1 app let you not only take photos, but ‘develop’ them as well by tilting your phone to run chemicals over them.

The new app Tintype doesn’t go quite that far, but when it comes to authenticity, creator Michael Newton has made sure that his app brought the most accurate looking tintype processing possible to the iOS world. Read more…

Getting an authentic tintype of yourself or one of your photos isn’t easy. Unless you live near Photobooth in San Francisco or know how to make one yourself, your options are extremely limited. There’s a new option available, however, and this one will let you order a tintype from the comfort of your couch.

Restoration company Digital Tintypes recently announced a new website by the same name that will take any photo you give them and turn it into an 8″ x 10″, 5″ x 7″, 2.5″ x 2.5″, or 1″ x 1″ pendant tintype using the original processing techniques. Read more…

Back in the days before every photo was tagged and shared with family, friends and strangers alike, a photograph was a rare, prized possession. In the Civil War era it wasn’t uncommon for soldiers to carry a small tintype of a family member into battle, and if they died, sadly so did all of the information about that photo. That’s why the Museum of the Confederacy needs your help.

They’ve had eight of these unidentified tintypes in their possession for over 60 years, but now, using the power of the internet, they’re hoping they might be able to identify the photos’ subjects and shed some proper light on these people’s history. If you think you might be able to help, head to the museum’s website to take a look at all eight pictures and maybe, just maybe, help them identify one.

(via Popular Photography)

If film is dying, then tintype photography has been extinct for years, but there’s still one studio/gallery in San Francisco that can immortalize your portrait using this classic method in as little as 20 minutes. This video done by Cool Hunting Video shows store co-founder Michael Shindler going through the whole process, from prepping the plates, to taking the photos with a modified camera, to developing the one-off direct positive. The results, as usual, speak for themselves.

(via Gizmodo)

Last week we shared an interesting video that shows how Civil War-era tintype photographs were created. Here’s another video on the process from a different angle: instead of discussing or showing the technical details, Michigan-based photographer Robert Shimmin talks about its history and his own journey with tintype photography. He says that the process is “a little bit like cooking and a little but like alchemy”. Unlike with more modern forms of photography, shooting tintypes forces Shimmin to carefully consider each shot due to the fact that each one requires so much time and effort.

(via MLive via PopPhoto)