Tintype w/ Bud Kibby

Tintype, or wet plate, or collodion process is a rare form of photography these days. It combines chemistry and art so make a visually unique image. A friend and photography colleague, Bud Kibby recently had me at his studio for what turned into a meeting of the minds… along with a few drinks and some experiments with expired collodion.

While Bud and I both shoot portraiture, to say our styles are different is a bit an understatement. But what I find the most interesting is that both of our lighting styles were born out of necessity. Some of the first spaces I shot portraiture in were small with low ceilings, thus most of my subjects I prefer to have sit and I use smaller modifiers like beauty dishes, small softboxes and small fill cards. Bud on the other hand, while still in a modestly sized shooting space, packs in as much light as he can. Unlike modern cameras which can effectively capture images in even the dimmest of conditions, collodion on metal is not a sensitive medium. It requires so much light portraits in broad daylight would still require an exposure of 5-10 seconds! As opposed to 1/2000th-1/8000th for modern digital cameras. For you photography nerds out there, most current DSLR and Mirrorless cameras have a base ISO of 100 ISO of 50, Collodion has an ISO of 0.25. A difference of 9 stops of light.

Bud’s setup is nothing short of impressive. 9 2400w/s Speedotron packs across 6 heads, all running on max power. That is 21,600w/s!!! The system is capable of tripping every circuit breaker in a small house! To achieve the same exposure on my Hasselblad with a base ISO of 50 (and the same aperture), every pack would be dailed down to to just 5w/s each, or just 45w/s. The Speedotron Bud uses are the same sort of units you’d find in the rafters of a professional basketball or hockey arena, whose photographers need the power due to the great distance between the floor and the ceiling.

Once the lesson in tintype was over, we decided to switch places. This time I was teaching him a lesson in my style of lighting. Dramatic, punchy lighting with a darker, moodier backdrop. I used the beauty dish as a key and lowered the power of all the large modifiers. Having more room to work with that I ususally do, I pulled back shot 3/4 length shots, getting to use a greater number of lights I workshopped different lighting styles for myself. All in all, it was a great evening spent with wonderful company.

If you are interested in having a tintype session with Bud, click HERE!