So, I don’t remember which of you it was that brought up the tintype emulation idea but I couldn’t help playing with it quickly. So here are my results…
This is a quick take I did with a test image I had laying around:
Here is the original image I was working from:
I basically searched for a bunch of tintype images and then just studied what I found a bit (here is a sample from wikimedia):
©Michael Shindler/Photobooth (cc-by-sa)
What I found was a few interesting things to keep in mind when playing with these:
- The first and most obvious thing is the color toning. There’s a bit more than a simple desaturation, but it doesn’t necessarily have to be all that much more. There’s also a bunch of different ways that this can be approached (desaturation + tinting, gradient mapping, sample colorize, or more).
- The imperfections in the final result help to contribute to the “look” of these images. The borders, stains, scratches, and leaks are all part of the charm.
- The use of a very shallow depth of field helps portraits to pop a bit more. This is less about the medium and more about the process (ie: you can still achieve that shallow DoF on modern equipment just as easily - see Martin Schoeller’s portraits).
Color Toning
This was relatively easy. If you look at any number of tintype images, you’ll notice that they all share a compressed tonal range and slightly lifted black/compressed whites. There are a couple of ways to approach this.
Sample Colorize
GIMP has a neat built-in function for colorizing an image based on the colors from another image:
Colors → Map → Sample Colorize…
Just open the image you want to modify, and another image that has the colors you’d like to sample from, like an existing tintype! 
Once the sample and destination are chosen, simply press the Get Sample Colors button to map the colors onto the destination preview. If it all looks good simpy hit Apply, and you’re all set!
Gradient Map
A similar method is to use the Gradient Map function. In this case you will have to create a new gradient first, then choose a black and white point color. Then select that gradient and run
Colors → Map → Gradient Map
The only advantage to using this method is if you want to have finer control over the gradient values for the map (different white point or black point, for instance).
Desaturate & Tint
This is simply desaturating the image using your favorite technique, then using the Colorize tool to change the Hue of the image (maybe around 48°, and saturation around 10-15).
Tweak
Whatever method is used, getting the color tones close is just the first step. The next step would be to modify the mid-tones to produce a visually pleasing result. Study the actual tintypes carefully to see how the highlights are falling off, and what is happening in the shadows as well. In my example curve, I’ve lifted the blacks a bit, pushed the highlights down even more, and introduced a slight “S” shaped curved to the lower mid-tones (to increase contrast slightly here):
This step is basically just a tweak visually until it looks good to your eye sort of step…
Fake that DoF
If you’re already shooting on a medium format with a fast lens, you can probably skip this step (This is probably true on full frame as well). Part of what gives these images their look and feel is the razor-thin DoF, and if you’re not shooting something that can give it to you, you’ll have to fake it (or accentuate it).
While not quite 100% there, you can try duplicating your layer so far and hitting with a gaussian blur, then adding a layer mask. Simply think about the focal plane you’d like to have, and mask those areas to be sharp with a nice soft brush. Get creative, but the idea is to try and replicate a thin focal plane. Play with it.
Sharpen & Local Contrast
I ran a wavelet sharpen pass with high radius and low amount to slightly exaggerate the local contrasts. You can also run a sharpen pass if needed on your image, but remember to add a layer mask and selectively apply it as necessary to match the DoF from the previous step. Experiment!
Grunge!
In the example image you’ll notice that not only does the border have some nice physical grunge, but the image overall does as well in places. In my example I simply laid some textures over my image in Overlay blend mode (or sometimes as Lighten only), and adjusted opacity to taste. (Here’s a search on Flickr for free textures for instance).
Border
The border was simply re-used from another image. You can simply overlay the example tintype image and mask out the middle section with your subject, leaving the border behind.
There’s really no good “formula” for creating these I think. Mostly just a feel for the what the overall color toning should eventually look like, and attention to what gives these images their distinctive look and feel.
Share any experiments below!
