Test any solvents (including water) before use as varnishes, paints and the collodion layer are sensitive to many organic solvents.
It is only sensitive to blue/UV light, so artificial blue-light sources are helpful, and sunlight is effective. Then the plate is placed in the camera and exposed.
Then the plate is placed into a plate holder (a back for a large format camera).
Once it sets up, the plate is taken into a dark room and placed into a bath of silver nitrate, which sensitizes it. Surface tension and a steady hand keep it from spilling. Then the collodion is poured to the center and allowed to flow to cover the whole plate. Sometimes an albumen subbing layer was applied to the glass prior to the collodion. The plate must be wet for the whole procedure - sensitizing, exposing, developing, fixing, and rinsing.įirst a glass plate is prepared by filing down the edges so they are smooth. Unvarnished plates will exhibit white or red-yellow “tarnish” layers over the image.Īmbrotypes are created using a wet-plate printing technique. Varnished plates will not show signs of image “tarnish”. There may also be a secondary dark textile, metal, glass or paper support.Īnalysis: A varnish will fluoresce in UV light. Support: Glass (possibly backed with dark paint). Image layer: Collodion and physically developed silver, usually varnished.Ĭolor: Monochrome (may have applied color) List of contemporary photographers producing ambrotypes: īack painted ambrotype over light table Identification Characteristics One well-known daguerreotypist was Platt D. Historic Practitioners: Any daguerreotypist involved in commercial portraiture around 1850 would have dabbled in the production of ambrotypes. Main Period of Use: Popular in North America from 1850 to 1870. He coined the word, “ambrotype” from the Greek word for “imperishable”.
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daguerreotypes without reflection, daguerreotypes on glass, collodion positives, positive pictures on glass, verreotypes, James Ambrose Cutting submitted the first official series of patents in 1854. Patented: Although earlier practitioners were producing precursors to the ambrotype, i.e. Invented: In 1851, Frederick Scott Archer presented the wet plate collodion technique to the photographic societies. Ambrotype half over opaque background, half over light table