Popularized during the Civil War, tintypes became the premier photo app of the 19th century. Produced on a blackened metal plate, tintypes cost customers little and took just minutes to be developed. The inexpensive imaging technology spawned a horde of itinerant, often unskilled, photographers called "tintypists." Traveling town to town, tintypists set up booths at county fairs, such as the one in 1903 Virginia shown here. Subjects posed next to painted backdrops and paper-mache props, such as stones and fences. For additional fees, the resulting photograph was varnished, tinted, and set in jewelry.