If you think image manipulation is new, think again. Learn how to retouch actual glass negatives using nineteenth-century techniques in this unique hands-on workshop. The art of retouching evolved in the mid-nineteenth century when early photographic negatives were only blue sensitive. The results were often extraordinary. Negative manipulation was generally performed to correct problems associated with color sensitivity, but it was also used as a creative tool just as Photoshop is used today. 

The glossy collodion chloride print was initially introduced in the 1860s but did not become popular for another thirty years. It remains the most archival silver-based printing process ever invented. Also known as the American Aristotype, collodion papers were popular from 1880 to 1920. 

Can you tell a photogravure from a platinum print? When is a photograph really a reproduction of a photograph? It’s all about the ink. When photographs are used to make printing plates to be printed in ink, the resulting images fall under the category of photomechanical prints. Some of these reproductions are so convincing they can fool even the experienced collector.

Ambrotypes and tintypes are the hottest alternative processes used in fine art photography today. In this intensive five-day workshop, participants will be guided through the basics of making these unique positive wet-collodion images by Mark Osterman, internationally recognized as a modern master of the collodion process.

You will learn how to cut and clean glass plates, coat glass and metal plates with collodion, sensitize, expose, and process your own images. Tinting and special burnishing techniques pioneered by Osterman will also be taught.

Conducted by Mike Robinson, acknowledged as a modern master of the medium, this workshop covers the techniques perfected by commercial daguerreotypists in the 1850s. Participants will learn both modern and traditional techniques of polishing and will produce two mercury-developed, gilded daguerreotypes. Also covered will be advanced concepts of contrast control, alternative fuming techniques, and housing options. 

Make your own tintype portrait and still-life image in this special two-day basic workshop designed just for beginners. Learn the basics of the 1850s wet collodion process used for making real tintypes. Mark Osterman teaches this informative and fun class in the same place where he taught the museum’s first public collodion workshop in 1995. Each participant will receive a copy of the new Scully & Osterman basic collodion manual, which includes all formulas, instruction and sources of supply.