Information about Ferrotype

The ferrotype, also called the tintype or melainotype, is a photographic process developed in the United States in the 19th century. It was invented by Prof. Hamilton Smith of the Kenyon College, Ohio in 1856.

The process is a wet plate process. This is a process where the photographic emulsion is contained in liquid collodion. The ambrotype was the first wet collodion process, invented by Frederick Scott Archer in 1851 and introduced in the United States by James Ambrose Cutting in 1854.

While the ambrotype remained very popular in the rest of the world, the tintype process superseded the ambrotype in America by the end of the Civil War and went on to become the most common photographic process until the introduction of modern gelatin based processes, and the invention of the reloadable amateur camera by the Kodak company. Ferrotypes waned in popularity by the end of the 19th century, although a few makers were still around as late as the 1950s and on some carnivals in Europe these images are still made as novelty.

The ferrotype was a minor improvement to the ambrotype, replacing the glass plate of the original process with a thin piece of black enameled, or japanned, iron (thus "ferro"). The new materials reduced the cost of the productions considerably, and the image, on gelatin-silver emulsion on the varnished surface, has proven to be very durable. Like the ambrotype, the image is technically negative, but, due to the black background, appears as a positive. Since the ferrotype 'film' was the same as the final print, most ferrotype images appear reversed (left-to-right) from reality. Some cameras were fitted with mirrors or a 45-degree prism to reverse and correct the image, while some photographers would photograph the reversed ferrotype to produce a properly oriented image.

Ferrotypes were relatively simple and fast to prepare, compared to other early photographic techniques. A photographer could prepare, shoot, develop and varnish a ferrotype plate in a few minutes, having it ready for a customer quickly. The earlier ferrotypes were often cased, like daguerreotypes and ambrotypes, but uncased images in paper sleeves and for albums were popular from the beginning.

Ferrotyping refers to a finishing treatment applied to glossy photo paper to bring out its reflective properties. In it, newly-developed, still-wet photographic prints and enlargements which have been made on glossy paper are squegeed onto a polished metal plate called a "ferrotyping plate." When these are later peeled off the plate, they will retain a high reflective gloss.

For more information about the technical aspects of the process read "The Contemporary Wet Plate Collodion Experience" by Quinn Jacobson.

References

• Wet Plate Forum Board
• A Contemporary Ferrotype - aka Tintype
  
• Brief history of the wet collodion process
• How the wet plate collodion process works