Collodion Plate

A wet-plate photographer has just pulled this likeness. The upload is the sitter and the pose; the result is a tintype: a thin black-lacquered iron plate, the image in silver, highlights a little mercury-bright, shadows pooling to black. She is still herself — same face, hair, clothes, angle. Collodion is slow; expression is held, not candid-blurred. Chemistry irregularities live at the edges: a pour line, a blueish stain, not damage across the eyes. Hold the plate at a slight angle so the metal catches. No modern black-and-white conversion, no Instagram grain, no daguerreotype gilt case unless a sliver of the plate’s own edge.