About Tintype photography studio

8 - 10 November 2024

Sessions each day at 10am, 11am, 12pm, 2pm, 3pm and 4pm

Don't miss this special opportunity to for a studio session with professional, award-winning photographer Emma Brown to capture your individual or family portrait with the timeless look of traditional tintype photography.

Emma invites you to join her for your session in the studio which has been turned into a darkroom so that you can sit for your portrait and see the fascinating alchemy of the process as it is developed on the metal plate in front of you.

Following the session Emma will finish and varnish the plate by hand and it will be sent to you once it is complete, you will also receive a digital copy of the image for additional prints.

Family groups are welcome. Please note children are welcome but must be accompanied by an adult and must be able to sit and not move around the studio due to equipment and photography chemicals. As the portraits require a long exposure of around 8 seconds, to achieve the best results children will also need to be able to be still for this length of time.

Emma Brown takes us through the wet collodion process, the process in which a tintype is made

A tintype is an early type of photograph which was popular with the Victorians and made on a thin sheet of metal.

How it works:

  • Unlike film photography, tintypes capture images directly onto a metal plate instead of using negatives.
  • Photographers coat the metal plate with light-sensitive chemicals, such as silver nitrate.
  • They expose the plate to light through a camera lens, capturing the image.
  • The chemicals react to light, creating a positive image directly on the metal.
  • Not only does the exposure capture white light, but also captures UV light. This means it picks up things like freckles really clearly.
  • The final result is a unique, one-of-a-kind photograph with a distinctive metallic sheen.

Discover more about Emma Brown, former Artist in Residence for Victorian Virtual Reality