Victorian Tintype Portraits 2025

Back and expanded due to popular demand this 2025 Halloween season, is the chance to bring home a piece of photographic history. Union Tintype and Hellcat Darkroom will be on site, ready to take your portrait using 19th-century photographic technology, resulting in a one-of-a-kind tintype portrait. Bring home a special memento of your trip to Lyndhurst during the most exciting time of the year. CAS Photography, based in San Diego, CA, will also be on deck, selling their incredible reproduction 19th-century frames and paper mats for your photo! Prices below.

As this is a traveling studio, costumes will not be on-site to rent.

You must reserve your time slot and choose the size of portrait you want. Each session can accommodate up to 5 individuals. Groups of 6 or larger should purchase multiple, subsequent time slots. Each slot results in one physical portrait, so choosing two slots for a large group results in TWO images. Timed entry is available every 10 minutes and will alternate between Union Tintype and the Hellcat Darkroom. Photography must be reserved beforehand, as there will be no walk-on availability.

Please be aware that due to the nature of the chemical processes, photos can have unavoidable issues. We will happily rephotograph for you on the day of your photoshoot; groups get one reshoot for chemical mistakes.

Purchase includes entry to the Gothic Harvest Market, Grounds Access, and Mansion Access.

Check out the gallery below (or social media) of examples of portraits from the past two years!

Collodion, or wet-plate photography as we have come to know it today, was invented in 1851 by a gentleman named Fredrick S. Archer. This process was invented to allow images to be made on glass, enabling multiple copies to be made from the same plate. In 1856, the tintype process was introduced, enabling collodion images to be created on thin sheets of metal.

The unique thing about this process is that the plate must remain wet before being sensitized and exposed. If the plate dries out before the photographer has time to develop the image, it will no longer be light-sensitive and will be completely useless. Hence the name “wet plate” process.

When you have a wet plate done, not only do you receive a beautiful piece of history with your image in it — you also get a short history lesson and witness the process of genuine 19th-century photography.