Reading Comprehension

PT139 · S3 · P2 · Q10 A Return to Tintypes

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When Jayne Hinds Bidaut saw her first tintype, she was so struck by its rich creamy tones that she could hardly believe this photographic process had been abandoned.

Topic

A current trend of people resurrecting old-fashioned photographic techniques.

Framework

Highlight Noteworthy / Explain Something Puzzling

Main Point

Since our author is spotlighting this current trend of re-discovering old, janky, idiosyncratic photographic methods, what does she think is most distinctive / impactful / interesting about it?

Her voice enters the most in the last two paragraphs, where she seems to be trying to explain the appeal of these techniques to the people engaging in them.

Those paragraphs sound like an answer to the puzzling question of,

The main point should be a distillation of "current trend + motivation for trend", like:

There is a recent trend of photographers' rediscovering old photographic techniques, because they love the unpredictability / imperfection / intimacy / mystery that they get out of using these techniques.

Summary

P1 - Teaser Example 1 (Bidaut, tintype)

In realtime, we probably assume we're reading a passage about Bidaut or about tintype. It's only when we get to paragraph 3 that we realize the trend being discussed is broader than just Bidaut and Estabrook and broader than just tintype.

P2 - Teaser Example 2 (Estabrook, tintype)

This rinky-dink 4-line paragraph is very unusual in LSAT RC, so we would proceed curiously, like,

If we asked ourselves the $1 million question, , we'd come up with stuff like tintype, photography.

P3 - Introduction of Central Topic

Here we figure out that the 1st two paragraphs were just examples of this broader trend that's happening within photography. We would probably use a framework of Highlight Noteworthy (since it feels like a descriptive article about some topic the author finds compelling), or Illustrate General Claim (because we realize now that paragraphs 1 and 2 were just examples of a broader thing).

P4 - Background on Central Topic

This paragraph's first couple sentences telegraph that we will be informed about why these old techniques that are trending are appealing / why they disappeared in the first place. Turns out the two answers are intertwined. The reason they disappeared is because they produce a lot of irregular, blemished results, and that's precisely what these photographers enjoy about them.

P5 - Artistic Analysis

Here the author gets more explicit about the artistic statement practitioners are able to make by using these old techniques, as well as the artistic experience they get to have in making their art.

10.

Information in the passage most helps to answer which one of the following questions?

What are some nineteenth-century photographic
Inverse Bait: not revived
The only 19th century photo techniques we heard of (tintype, albumen, daguerrotype plates, pinhole cameras) are ones that are part of this revival.
3% picked this
What is the chemical makeup
Out of Scope: chemical makeup
The 1st paragraph just says, "The image-containing emulsion can often create a raised surface on the plate." The 3rd paragraph says, "mixing emulsions from 19th century recipes". But we have no idea what chemicals were involved in that emulsion.
3% picked this
What are the names of
Too Specific: pinhole users
The only contemporary photographers named are Bidaut (who we only hear about using the tintype) and Estabrook (who we only hear about using old albumen prints an tintypes). We don't have any names we can attach to pinhole cameras.
2% picked this
What effect is produced when
Unsupported Causal Relationship: eggy effect
In the 3rd paragraph were just hear in passing that one of the techniques being revived is "coating paper with egg whites", but we have no idea what specific effect is produced by doing so.
8% picked this
Correct
What were the perceived advantages
Why this is right
In the 4th paragraph it says, The old techniques are heavily hands-on and idiosyncratic. That is ... the prime reason for their eclipse. Most became obsolete in a few decades, replaced by others that were simpler, cheaper, faster, and more consistent. And two sentences later. Today's artists quickly discover that to exploit the past is to court the very uncertainty that early innovators sought to banish. So the perceived advantages of more modern techniques were that they were simpler, cheaper, faster, more consistent, less hands-on, less and less idiosyncratic / uncertain.
Skill tested: Five Questions · how this choice captures the passage's function is the move to repeat next time.
83% picked this

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