The first step of this journey is to learn this process. I enrolled on an Introduction to Wet Plate Collodion Course at Photofusion, South London. The course is run by Daniel Barter, a wet plate collodion professional, and a great teacher.
This course focused on the process of wet plate in the creation of tintypes. This is a method of creating a positive image directly onto an aluminium plate. It’s almost like creating a postitive film from scratch; collodion is poured onto the plate, sensitised in silver nitrate, and then placed into the back of the camera as is (wet) so that it can be exposed. A lot of light is needed for this process; on this course, we focused on creating portraits, whereby the subjects are flooded under UV (or continuous) light.
The results are magical. Once the plate is exposed, it is developed and fixed. As the chemistry in the process is only sensitive to UV light, colours react differently than in black and white film. Blue eyes, for example, become piercing and bright. And, due to the long exposure, the results are often blurred which create an ethereal feel.
