What Makes Our plates Different?
Our Signature Tintype Plates are manufactured from 0.040″ thick aluminum, featuring a glossy black front and glossy white reverse.
Developed specifically for wet plate photography, our Signature Plates offer four distinct advantages over traditional trophy plate aluminum, making a noticeable difference in both quality and presentation.
Designed with both the photographer and the finished artwork in mind, these plates bring S.K. Grimes’ commitment to precision manufacturing to the wet plate process. Scroll down to discover the four features that set our Signature Plates apart.
Available in standard sizes and quantities through our online store.
1. Greater Rigidity – Less Deflection
Your focus is only as accurate as your image plane.
Depending on your plate holder’s design, retaining springs can bend thinner aluminum plates, shifting the photographic surface away from the plane where you carefully established focus.
And it doesn’t take much pressure.
In our testing of 5×7 plates, the dial indicator used to measure deflection applied just 0.132 lbf of spring force (roughly the weight of a tennis ball). That small amount of pressure caused a conventional 0.025″-thick aluminum trophy plate to deflect 0.020″—almost its entire thickness!
Under the same test conditions, our 0.040″ Signature Tintype plate deflected just 0.001″.
To produce the same 0.020″ deflection in our Signature Tintype plate, we had to increase the applied force to 0.820 lbf —more than six times the original force.
The difference isn’t just thickness. It’s the ability to maintain a flatter, more consistent photographic surface when subjected to pressure.
When you focus your camera, you’re establishing a precise image plane. If your plate bends after it’s loaded into the holder, the photographic surface may no longer sit where you intended.
You wouldn’t focus through a bowed piece of ground glass, so why shoot on a bowed plate?
2. A More Substantial Feel
The added thickness gives our plates a noticeably more substantial weight and feel. It’s a tactile difference you immediately appreciate. As one of our clients remarked, it felt “like holding a piece of glass.” Once you’ve handled our thicker plates, traditional thin aluminum can feel surprisingly flimsy. That added sense of substance carries through to the finished photograph, giving each tintype a more substantial, premium feel that your clients can appreciate as well.
3. A Clean, Professional Finish
Our glossy white reverse eliminates the scuffs and scratches commonly found on bare aluminum. Developer and fixer residue wipe away more easily, leaving a cleaner, more professional appearance on both sides. The glossy black front is also shipped with a protective film to help prevent scratches and surface damage during handling and transport.
4. Customize Your Plate
A tintype is a physical photograph meant to last. Your signature should be just as permanent.
S.K. Grimes offers custom laser engraving, allowing photographers to permanently add their signature, studio name, logo, website, or other identifying information directly to their plates.
Engraving is about more than signing your work. It’s about authentication, recognition, and helping your clients find you.
How often have you seen a tintype from a festival, pop-up event, or portrait session where the owner can’t remember who took it? Without a name or website, finding that photographer again can be nearly impossible.
Custom engraving options include:
Handwritten signatures and studio logos
Studio names, websites, and contact information
Dates, serial numbers, and edition numbers
Custom text, graphics, and event information
Unlike markers, labels, or stickers, laser engraving creates a permanent mark that won’t wash off, peel away, or fall off over time.
With your plates marked before exposure, there’s no need to individually sign photographs after a session. Every plate becomes an opportunity to establish your brand, showcase your professionalism, and help future clients find you.
Prefer to continue using single sided .020-.025: thick trophy plate or still have a bunch on hand? We can etch them too! Click here for more info on standard trophy plate engraving.
Your photographs are made to last. Make sure your name lasts with them.
Don’t see the size or exactly what you are looking for in our store? Contact us directly with your request.