Collodion - Wet Plate Images

[Mark Paschke]

I think i somewhat got collodion pouring down - my biggest original mistake was to be greedy and not pour enough, so it was not covering plate fast enough so i kept getting overlapping drying bits there.. It also helped to pour in full light - i red one was too dim , specially while wearing protective sweaty eyegear to see how its all covering But pouring of developer is still issue for me - i am just not quite getting how it suppose to be, because as a creature of habit i like to see things actually covered in developer and of course with plate you basically go for wet.. And it kinda feels like developing with 1:3 mix is taking a bit too long, so i am starting to panic, add more.. and its all downhill from there But last one i got was actually fairly decent bar those three stripes. Its going to be long weekend, and i got very few shoots scheduled for it, so i am probably going to keep dorking some more and see where it leads me.. Collodion is mixed and waiting now to age down a bit for a day

I drown my plate in developer and usually start to get nervous as you do after about 10 seconds but be patient and wait 30 or more seconds until you see like 6-7 shades come in

[SergeiR]

I drown my plate in developer and usually start to get nervous as you do after about 10 seconds but be patient and wait 30 or more seconds until you see like 6-7 shades come in

Hm.. You mean you pour developer into container and then submerge plates into it?

[Mark Paschke]

Also I noticed that the old workhorse collodion doesn't need much drying time before the bath, this may be your issue. I pour the plate in about 5-10 seconds and am waving it back and fourth while I screw the lid back on the collodion, I then make about 3 big swooping motions like I'm fanning something in front of me and then it goes in the silver bath and fairly quick since I use a Lund traveling bath

[Mark Paschke]

Hm.. You mean you pour developer into container and then submerge plates into it?

No but I have a weird antique glass thats about twice as big as a shot glass and its about half full and when I pour that on the plate, the plate is completely saturated in like 1 second and has a puddle that stays on the entire plate while I shake it around, are you sanding or using a sharpening stone to edge your glass? I then dump a fair amount of water over the developed plate then I take it out of the dark room and rinse it for about 30 seconds before throwing in fixer

[SergeiR]

No but I have a weird antique glass thats about twice as big as a shot glass and its about half full and when I pour that on the plate, the plate is completely saturated in like 1 second and has a puddle that stays on the entire plate while I shake it around, are you sanding or using a sharpening stone to edge your glass? I then dump a fair amount of water over the developed plate then I take it out of the dark room and rinse it for about 30 seconds before throwing in fixer

I dont do glass yet - just blackened alum. plates. Not that far advanced May be juggling whole puddle is issue for me, i just always feel like its running off . Guess i need to rewatch some videos.

[GeoffreyO]

One week shooting wetplate and I'm fairly happy with the result so far!

Clear glass ambrotype
Poe Boy collodion formula
Black Art Woodcraft 8x10 camera
w/ 8" no-name brass petzval @ f/4.5
10 sec, outdoors, overcast.
No head brace so a little soft

[Brian Bullen]

I've been away from photography for a couple of years due to some life "stuff", but slowly getting back into it. Darkroom is in the beginning stages of construction, the wet plate dark box is the only option right now. This is my mom taken in June. Sorry no scanner so a very poor iPhone photo will have to do.

[Brian Bullen]

My wife teaches media arts and the girl on the right is a former student and now a friend of our family. She brought her scooter over to "scooterize" with my kids in between plates.
The second is of my son, who recently started shooting with a Nikon fm-2

[John Fink Jr.]

Nice plates Mark.

I shot these just 2 days ago and it was overcast but the sun was popping out during exposure so it was tough but the longest was 2 seconds
Attachment 101026Attachment 101027Attachment 101028Attachment 101029

[SergeiR]

Thank you for all the help last night, folks. After some twitching, analysis of technique.. here is plate with fresh batch of collodion, my 6th wetplate in my whole life and first one i kind of like



Skelly by Sergei Rodionov, on Flickr