Opalotype
Opalotype or opaltype is an early technique of photography.
Opalotypes were printed on sheets of opaque, translucent white glass; early opalotypes were sometimes hand-tinted with colors to enhance their effect. The effect of opalotype has been compared "to watercolor or even pastel in its softer coloring and tender mood."[1] "Opalotype portraits...for beauty and delicacy of detail, are equal to ivory miniatures."[2]
Opalotypes were first patented in 1857 by Glover and Bold of Liverpool.[3] They were made either by transferring a print to opal glass or by printing directly onto a light-sensitive coating on the glass; later opalotypes used processes including collodion, carbon transfer, and silver gelatin.[4][3] Opalotype photography, never common, was practiced in various forms until it waned and disappeared in the 1930s. "Milk glass positive" is another alternative term for an opalotype.[4]
Opalotype is one of a number of early photographic techniques now generally consigned to historical status, including ambrotype, autochrome, cyanotype, daguerreotype, ivorytype, kallitype, orotone, and tintype. This and many other historical photographic methods are now considered alternative photographic techniques and are practiced by a small number of dedicated artists.
Notes
[edit]- ↑ Frank, Robin Jaffee. Love and Loss: American Portrait and Mourning Miniatures. New Haven, Yale University Press, 2000; p. 287.
- ↑ Gernsheim, Helmut. Creative Photography: Aesthetic Trends, 1839–1960. New York, Courier Dover, 1991; p. 56.
- 1 2 Glaser, Greta. "Technical Investigation of a 20th Century Hand-Colored Opaltype" (PDF). Topics in Photographic Preservation. American Institute for Conservation. Retrieved 2026-09-06.
- 1 2 "Glass Positives: 1880s–1930s". The Historic New Orleans Collection. Retrieved 2026-09-06.
References
[edit]- Mentzer, Jennifer Jae. "The Technical Study of Two Opaltypes." Photographic Records Working Group Newsletter, April 2004; pp. 3–4.
- Perez, Michael, editor-in-chief. Focal Encyclopedia of Photography. Oxford, Focal Press, 2007.
- Wall, Edward John. The Dictionary of Photography for the Amateur and Professional Photographer. London, Hazelton, Watson & Viney, 1902.
External links
[edit]- An example of opalotype.
- A second example.
- A third example.
- A fourth example.
- Alternative Photographic Processes web site
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