Can you Transfer my photo to a tintype?
It seems that when I’m at non-themed shows, such as generic craft and antique shows Taking tintype photo’s that I’m invariably asked this question.
The basic answer is no, each tintype photo is an original photo taken utilizing historic methods and antique equipment. However this is not strictly true, in the 19th century people like Mathew Brady, could do what’s called copy photos, using a specialized camera, simply called a copy camera, these still existed today, however they tend to be very expensive, and to be honest I’m not sure how well one would work with a modern color photo.
However, if it’s something that you absolutely need to have, let me provide a basic breakdown of the process involved and the associated cost. While reminding you that many people consider my prices very reasonable, with it often being suggested to raise my prices on some of my different plate sizes.
To start, I can not skip steps in processing a tintype, however, the exposure doesn’t need to be done in a camera, it may be done in a darkroom using a conventional enlarger.
That being said, the photo will need to be turned into a transparent positive no larger than 4” x 5”, basically a slide, I can do this, however scanning your photo is a $30.00 flat fee, with an addition charge of $10.00 for hi resolution print on a transparency. Then, if you want digital restoration work, I charge an extra $30.00’s per hour.
Your basic cost to start is $40.00
The next part is based on the size of the tintype, for this process, it’s based upon my listed base prices, for example, let us say you want a 5×7 sized tintype, I charge $60.00.
To expose the tintype, this is done in my darkroom, which is a flat fee of $50.00’s an hour, with a minimum of 1 hour time.
Here’s the cost to you:
$40.00 (scans & prints)
$60.00 (5×7 tintype)
$50.00 (darkroom)
$5.00 (basic shipping & handling)
$0.00 (taxes)
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$155.00
So, yes I can effectively do a copy photo of your photo, with the price variances based upon the tintype size, darkroom time & digital touchup work along with extra shipping. The basic estimated price needs to be paid upfront.
Battle Born Historical Photography 