The ambrotype is an early photographic process invented by Frederick Archer in the early 1850s (patent pending in 1854). It represents a weak (underexposed) negative image on glass, which consists of metallic silver, viewed against a dark background and thus appears positive. 

The ambrotype technique is based on a wet collodion process involving the manual application of the emulsion on glass immediately before taking the photograph.

Ambrotypes are most commonly shot with large format cameras on the appropriate glass plates, usually 4x5" or 5x10". 

After developing, the ambrotype is dried and then mounted on a dark backdrop or coated with opaque black paint or varnish on the reverse side.

The ambrotype emulsion has a low sensitivity of about ISO 2-6 and requires long exposures. Under bright studio lighting, shutter speeds vary around 7-10 seconds. To prevent people from moving during the exposure and the image from getting blurred, special head supports are used on the back side of the subject's head, which are invisible in the shot.

Classic ambrotypes involve vintage lenses (primarily Petzval), which have extremely shallow depth of field and have the characteristic effect of "swirling" background around the optical axis of the lens.

The recipe for ambrotype wet collodion emulsion varies depending on the quality of the original ingredients, the photographer's interpretation, and many other factors. Even the same photographer's emulsion tends to vary within a series of different coatings.

To create the Ambrotype profile Dehancer team invited Anatolee Green , one of the famous ex-USSR photographers, who is still using this technology today. Therefore, this unique Dehancer profile contains his name in the title. 

Examples of ambrotypes by Anatolee Green.

A few shots of the Ambrotype (by Anatolee Green) film profile building process.

Examples of the Ambrotype (by Anatolee Green) emulation in Dehancer.