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A variation of the "wet collodin" was the ambrotype. The ambrotype is an underexposed wet-collodin negative on glass. Ambrotypes were mounted against black backing appearing like a positive, but did not have the tonal range of a Daguerreotype and could not be duplicated. Ambrotypes, tintypes made the Daguerreotype a dead art. Reaerachers working on negatives found that if an extremely thin, under-exposed negative is placed in front of a dark background, the image gives the illusion of a positive. This was because the silver reflected light, The areas without silver appeared black. This was the principle behind the Ambrotype process, the pictures being more correctly known as collodion positives. Photographers cleaned a glass plate and carefully poured iodized collodin on it. The next step was immerse in a silver-nitrate bath. Finally it was put into the camera while still wet. After exposure, it had to be performed before it dried. Ambrotypes were, like Daguerreotype direct positives, made by under-exposing collodion on glass negative, bleaching it, and then placing a black background--usually black velvet, less commonly varnish--behind it. Ambrotypes somewhat resembled Daguerreotypes. They were also often finished in leather cases often with velvet backing, also giving the impression of a Daguerreotypes. The process for preparing an Ambrotype, however, as described above was quite different. They were also much cheaper to produce, giving the process a substantial advantage.
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