Collodion - Wet Plate Images

[Don Dudenbostel]

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
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What f stop?

[goamules]

Those are good Mark.

[Mark Paschke]

What f stop?

I shoot a wide open Voightlander , just electrical tape over the f.stop
Its a .5 so not sure how that translates to F-stop but I think someone determined 4.5 at one time, I have no idea

[Mark Paschke]

Those are good Mark.

They did turn out pretty decent for the wind blowing the guy enough for blur and the bad job I did scanning/exporting as a JPEG in photoshop CC, Im still trying to learn it a little better but his plate and my scanned tiff. are really nice if I decide to try some platinums

[SergeiR]

Also, if you're shooting outside I have found if you are in shade or out of shade but extremely overcast I expose for 3 seconds, I try not to shoot in direct sun but I would say anything over 1 second is over exposed, I develope for about 30 seconds or more..... your fixer being a fresh mix may help if you're getting cloudy results.......hows the silver nitrate bath? I leave my plate in the bath for 3 minutes, might be able to go 2 minutes but I just have good results at 3 so....

Its fresh silver, i just got batch from B&S - he kept one from kit in star camera box and it half - evaporated, and i managed to screw it up anyway, while moving to my Lund's containers, so i just caved in and got myself new 1250ml So that one is fine. I didnt get it on previous plates, so it looked really weird - like three "streaks" like across longest dimension of plate, almost like i somehow managed to pour some chemistry on, but i know i didnt.. May be my developer technique really need improvement - i am sort of struggling with it. I know that ideally i got to go to some workshop, but i am stubborn and just dont have all the extra money to burn at the moment for anything but chemistry. I think its just collodion went a bit dodgy, considering that leftover was sitting in mixed form for roughly 3 months. I mean it looked ok, but who knows - organic chemistry always was a mystery to me, since school days.

Thanks for proportions!

[Mark Paschke]

Its fresh silver, i just got batch from B&S - he kept one from kit in star camera box and it half - evaporated, and i managed to screw it up anyway, while moving to my Lund's containers, so i just caved in and got myself new 1250ml So that one is fine. I didnt get it on previous plates, so it looked really weird - like three "streaks" like across longest dimension of plate, almost like i somehow managed to pour some chemistry on, but i know i didnt.. May be my developer technique really need improvement - i am sort of struggling with it. I know that ideally i got to go to some workshop, but i am stubborn and just dont have all the extra money to burn at the moment for anything but chemistry. I think its just collodion went a bit dodgy, considering that leftover was sitting in mixed form for roughly 3 months. I mean it looked ok, but who knows - organic chemistry always was a mystery to me, since school days.

Thanks for proportions!

When I do developer these days I dump about a shot glass full on the opposite side from my hand and down that side fast as I swirl the plate like I'm doing a collodion pour at 10x the speed, I then agitate it while still slightly swirling ever so slightly. The biggest difference I made was when I bought a red LED hat light at walmart instead of using a darkroom light, strangely enough I solved a lot of weird issues doing that. I think my darkroom bulb was losing it's coating or something

[Mark Paschke]

Also check for light leaks in your camera, bellows, and plate holder

[Mark Paschke]

Those are good Mark.

Actually the best I think I have ever had was these 2, the plates just pop like crazy even in a semi dark room. They were on a sunny day but in complete shade, Oh, and people want a bad pour job with missing edges and such so I have only had a few perfect plates. I'm actually messing around with trying to get the developer just in the middle and slowly flowing it out because people like the messy looking ones more than pristine

[SergeiR]

When I do developer these days I dump about a shot glass full on the opposite side from my hand and down that side fast as I swirl the plate like I'm doing a collodion pour at 10x the speed, I then agitate it while still slightly swirling ever so slightly. The biggest difference I made was when I bought a red LED hat light at walmart instead of using a darkroom light, strangely enough I solved a lot of weird issues doing that. I think my darkroom bulb was losing it's coating or something

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

[SergeiR]

Also check for light leaks in your camera, bellows, and plate holder

Thanks, i dont think thats it.. I used same holder for dry plates - no issues , and that camera with plates and film - all holes were plugged before But there is of course always chance of new ones.. So off i go with flash gun...