Charleston TinTypist

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Charleston, SC
Charleston TinTypist

Photographic Artist making real TINTYPES💠1851 wet-plate collodion process 💠Lives in Charleston, SC. F.A.Q. on website.Questions? The process was invented in 1851.

Only working at events listed on my schedule—No private sessions. Please EMAIL✉️[I’ve turned off DMs]⭐️ I create authentic tintypes using the historic wetplate collodion process entirely by hand. I mix my own chemicals using exact recipes from that period. I have been doing this process since 2013. I hope to make your picture at an upcoming event! The best way to reach me is by e-mail: [email protected]

09/05/2026

Hey there! Just a friendly reminder for anyone posting about upcoming events in reenacting groups. (or any group, for that matter)
Please remember to include the STATE where the event is happening. Naming just a town or museum is fine for locals, but out-of-state people won't know the location, and we don’t want to have to conduct a search online. If you want to draw a wider audience, (people DO plan road trips around events!) please remember that not everyone automatically knows your area.
Also, [I’ve said this before, so please forgive me for repeating myself😬] please refrain from using artificial intelligence to generate fake images for your flyers and posters. I know the urge is great, but they rarely give an authentic, or aesthetically pleasing result. And to be completely honest, they actively stop a lot of people from attending. I attend quite a few events, and I’ve had multiple people talking to me about the ai flyer trend, and many say they won't even bother going to an event, if the flyer looks like it was made with AI. It completely repels the authentic kind of reenactors, and pretty much goes against the entire vibe of what you’re trying to promote (I assume you’re going for an authentic vibe).
You don't have to be a graphic designer to make something decent. You can download beautiful, copyright-free historic images and engravings directly from the Library of Congress for free!! Purchase a “Civil War fonts package”, and if you have some basic abilities, you can get an authentic looking flyer that will actually make people want to show up. Heck, throw some text on top of a photo from the last event. Even that is better than ai.
I know it’s very time consuming and stressful to put on an event, but when you go the extra mile with your flyers, it certainly makes a difference.
We do appreciate your efforts and we all hope your events will be successful! Truly.
(The picture is the last poster I made for my own setup at events, which is redacted - I’m in the process of updating it with my new pricing. Doing this task prompted these ramblings🤷🏻‍♀️ It wasn’t aimed at anyone in particular, so don’t take it personally.)

09/03/2026

Here are some images for pose inspiration for your next tintype session. 🫶🏻
While the examples below are historic images (not my own work), they beautifully demonstrate the art of traditional portraiture. If your goal is to capture the authentic aesthetic of the 19th century, studying original historic photographs is the best place to start. Every photographer and client brings a unique vision to their session, and exploring these archives is a great way to discover your own style.
When posing multiple people, composition is everything.
In modern photography, casual lifestyle shoots are more common, and subjects often stand naturally. Of course, experienced photographers still carefully guide poses to ensure the most flattering results.
In the early days of photography, studios took meticulous care with positioning because they had to—there was only one shot to get it right! Actually, many early photographers began their careers as trained painters (such as Josiah Johnson Hawes of the famous Southworth & Hawes studio). They brought classical art principles and a deep respect for composition into their studio.
While skill levels varied, the masters who took this level of care created timeless art that we still admire today.
(Images source: Pinterest. The first image is from the collection of Cindy Motzenbecker)

08/28/2026

Change of plans! I’ll be at Ft Clinch, Florida (Fernandina Beach) the 1st weekend in NOVEMBER (instead of September, as previously stated). Just wanted to give a heads up! 🙌
Edited: my site has now been updated: https://charlestontintypist.com/fort-clinch-fl-sep-5-6/
The photo was taken at the fort a few years ago. I made that cart. 😃That’s the second cart I’ve made. The first one was small but heavy. I ended up selling it. So I decided to use cedar for this bigger one and it’s more lightweight. I can slide it onto my truck bed upside down (had measured before I built it, so it fits perfectly). Premade wheelbarrow handles for the handles and I had the wheels already. Had to buy the axle and brackets. I did not use any plans. And hand painted the word photographer. I have a removable table that drops in and supports my darkbox. Works out pretty well.

08/28/2026

Serves me right for commenting that retouching was common in the mid 1800s… and I was asked to cite my sources. Aannnd…I did not comply. 🤣
But here are a few sources for y’all 😉

From the Library of Congress: "Like the ambrotype, tintypes were often hand-colored.”
My side note: not just hand colored, but darker lines were added for definition if needed.
[Source: https://www.loc.gov/collections/liljenquist-civil-war-photographs/articles-and-essays/ambrotypes-and-tintypes/]

“Tintypes were among the photographic processes most frequently and most extensively hand- colored in America (Burns 1995, 1)” [source: https://docslib.org/doc/203164/the-technical-analysis-of-hand-painted-tintypes-from-the]
[note to self: Read this article. It goes into detail of the dyes used]

“Tintypes—or ferrotypes—were first introduced in the US in the 1850s. Made by printing photographic images onto sheets of thin metal, they were inexpensive to produce, offering an affordable alternative to painted portraits. Often they were hand painted by women using oils, watercolors, and dry pigments.”
[source: https://www.mfa.org/exhibition/painted-tintypes-photography-for-the-people]

And descriptions and sources of the images below:

1.Seated Couple. Unidentified photographer. Oil on tintype. Ca. 1850s. Federal Revival style gilt frame. [Source: https://sites.utexas.edu/ransomcentermagazine/2010/06/22/collection-showcases-hand-colored-tintypes-in-period-frames/]

2. A hand-coloured daguerreotype by J. Garnier, c. 1850 [Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hand-colouring_of_photographs]

3. Retouched eyes. English CDV. photographer was J.H. Beals of Camelford. [source: https://finedags.com/product/retouched-eyes/]

4. Hand drawn beard [source:
https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-e_-yG2E0N8U/T1gDBgvvQEI/AAAAAAAAQRw/v3r1wGAjBUA/s1600/paintedbeardb.jpg]

I hope these are enough citations. 😉🫶🏻

08/20/2026

The antique daguerreotype of the gentleman with weirdly dark hair for his advanced age was posted by Jesse Cress in a photography group and pointed out it looks dyed or a wig. It reminded me of article I read back in 2019 about an archeological team at Camp Nelson in Kentucky who discovered glass bottles of hair dye behind a photographer’s area.
So I looked up the article and here are some quotes about the bottles they found:
“When we started reconstructing, some had embossed lettering,” … of bottles labeled Bear’s Oil, Christadoro, and Dr. Jaynes. “We found a lot of them. It’s something you just don’t find on other sites.”
“The dye is interesting,” he said. “It suggested that people were fixing up their hair before they had their photograph taken. So people may have actually been darkening their hair to look better in the photo.”
“One of the things the photographic books mention is if you had light colored or blonde hair, the black and white photography process could make you look like you had white or gray hair.”
I will add that I’ve noticed that if someone has some grey hair, it looks much whiter in a wetplate image. I took a selfie years ago when I was still coloring my hair, and you could see my white streak despite it being colored at the time. I thought that was fascinating. The process sees things the naked eye doesn’t.
I will post the article link in the comments.
While looking for a few more photos on Pinterest I noticed that the company “scovill” also made hair dye. They sold photographic chemicals back in the day. I’ve shared some pics of advertisements for hair products. Some are dye, some “restoratives” which claimed to restore color to the hair. 😃

08/18/2026

Not an easy project, but finished, finally. A painted floor cloth for my traveling tintype studio setup. I used an old canvas cloth I already had. Used latex paints after reading advice and tips from other reenactors who’ve made them before.🫶🏻

08/11/2026

In honor of school starting back up in many places, here’s a color comparison against a tintype I made in 2019. I did end up switching the two sisters on the far left...I felt the young lady without the hat should be on the end— don’t ask me why, it’s just felt more balanced.
The wetplate collodion tintype of “Misses Bates School” was made at Olustee, Florida, February 2019.

08/05/2026

I don’t think I shared this clip that Rebecca made of her tintype appearing in the fixer tray and sent to me. This was at the reenactment at Olustee, Florida in February 2026.

07/08/2026

What was it like going to the beach back in the 1860s? Did people actually swim? Well, finding a genuine photo of an American beachgoer from the 1860s is super rare.
A huge reason for the lack of photos of beach goers from that time period was probably early Victorian modesty. Following the fashion rules of the day meant women swam in shorter dresses with full pants underneath and shoes. To prevent the surf from causing “scandalous” wardrobe malfunctions, women apparently even sewed small weights into their hems to keep their dresses from floating up.
On top of wardrobe challenges, early photography wasn’t easy. Trying to carry a heavy wooden camera or pushing a portable darkroom on a cart in the sand must’ve been exhausting. Only a few bothered!
I posted a photo below of a group of men on a beach in 1863 in England. Likely a photographer was commissioned to come out and make the photo for the bathing club. Clearly they are more sc****ly dressed than the ladies, as they were likely on a segregated beach without any women around, but they did pose wearing their top hats. 🤣
By the late 1800s, things got easier for photographers. The dry-plate process was invented, and more roving beach photographers started setting up shop and making images on the beaches. As modesty rules slowly began to loosen, people wanted to pose in their bathing suits and a photo at the beach became a common vacation souvenir!

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