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.