Tintype Summer Field – Photograph by Richard Flint
This month’s photo of the month is slightly special. It’s a tintype image, or more accurately it’s a digital photo in the visual style of a hand coloured tintype photo. The photo was taken while on a walk along mucky lane.
The tintype photo process, also known as a melainotype or ferrotype, dates back to the Victorian era, being at its most popular during the 1860’s and 1870’s. There are some photographers who use tintype today but it is a rather specialised process that needs a lot of practice and care to get good results.
The original Victorian process used several highly toxic ingredients including potassium cyanide as a fixer. Modern photo chemicals now, thankfully, make the work much easier and safer. Even more convenient, photography software enables photographers to create tintype style images, just like the one above, without the use of chemicals.
Do you have a great photograph you’d like to share with us?
If you’d like to submit an image for the photo of the month slot, you can send it to [email protected]
More details about how to submit photographs can be found HERE