Vanity Tintype is a woman, owned and operated commercial tintype photography studio located in Philadelphia’s historic Fishtown neighborhood.

Our image making process is, thoughtful, considered and unique to each client. We offer a range of packages that are reflective of the time and commitment we take with our clients. Vanity Tintype’s portrait scissions blend 19th technology and contemporary life for an unforgettable collaborative experience.

The wet plate process was the predominant image-making technology of the nineteenth century.

The wet plate process involves coating a sheet of tin (Tintype) or glass (Ambrotype) with a sticky substance called collodion. The tacky collodion skin is submerged in a bath of silver nitrate to create a piece of film that is then exposed to light, developed, stopped then, fixed. Clients experience the magic of the blue negative turning into a black & white positive image. Once washed and dried, the plate is coated with a layer of shellac, heated to a hard shell and then ready to be taken home.

The resulting image is a one-of-a-kind modern heirloom.