March portraits

[eddie]

hello all,

well the trend continues......i continue to shoot portraits around the beginning of the month.

these are 8x10 wet plate images using an unnamed 19 inch brass RR. about 2 sec. at f8

i am practicing shooting formal wedding shots using wet plate. please comment or make suggestions. (obviously the second was a fun shot but comments are welcome)

thanks

eddie

[eddie]

here are a few more portraits from the shoot.

i used my cooke 15 inch portrait lens. the 1st three are 8x10 black aluminum.

the 1st three are with the same lens but later in the day. i like the 1st shot as it has her lips in it. i am not too crazy about the pose though. i dialed in #3 diffusion afer listening to the laurie's comments. i was trying to soften everything up. the exposure was a bit short, about 1 sec. i like the mood of the darkness though.

the 2nd was more what i was looking for in the pose and the exposure. i wish i had included the lips more in this shot. i think the wind may have kicked up. f4.5 with #1 diffusion dialed in. about 3 sec.

the 3rd was a 5 sec exposure (about 5pm here in NY) f4.5 at #1 diffusion.

the last one was my exposure test shot. she does not like it all that much. she was squinting into the sun and caused some wrinkles. (i am learning here). i am trying to get some contrast in the plate. it was overcast but the sun was not fully diffused. shot at f4.5 with #2 diffusion dialed in. 1 sec. 5x7 aluminum

all shot using old work horse collodion and KCN fix.

all comments welcome. i need to get this stuff down.

eddie

[frank hoerauf]

heres some pics of my friend Mr Eddie Gunks AKA EDDIE. These are my first attempt at glass wet plate. The first two pics were made using my Gundlach 19" 4.5, the third photo was my 16" petzval f/4. These pics are not for the weak at heart, make sure all children are out of the room when viewing, they are VERY scary to look at............

[frank hoerauf]

This was my favorite of the bunch made using a Unar lens wide open F/4.5 ish. on 5x7 black aluminum, using John Coffer's patented "old workhorse" collodion. KCN fix. And yes wet plate is addicting...........

[Steve M Hostetter]

here are a few more portraits from the shoot.

i used my cooke 15 inch portrait lens. the 1st three are 8x10 black aluminum.

the 1st three are with the same lens but later in the day. i like the 1st shot as it has her lips in it. i am not too crazy about the pose though. i dialed in #3 diffusion afer listening to the laurie's comments. i was trying to soften everything up. the exposure was a bit short, about 1 sec. i like the mood of the darkness though.

the 2nd was more what i was looking for in the pose and the exposure. i wish i had included the lips more in this shot. i think the wind may have kicked up. f4.5 with #1 diffusion dialed in. about 3 sec.

the 3rd was a 5 sec exposure (about 5pm here in NY) f4.5 at #1 diffusion.

the last one was my exposure test shot. she does not like it all that much. she was squinting into the sun and caused some wrinkles. (i am learning here). i am trying to get some contrast in the plate. it was overcast but the sun was not fully diffused. shot at f4.5 with #2 diffusion dialed in. 1 sec. 5x7 aluminum

all shot using old work horse collodion and KCN fix.

all comments welcome. i need to get this stuff down.

eddie

I'd like to see you introduce studio lighting for a nice contrast ratio

[eddie]

I'd like to see you introduce studio lighting for a nice contrast ratio

yeah, i am with you steve. i have been lusting after some lights to shoot with wet plate but they are price prohibitive. you need 5-8 florescent bulbs that are powerful and 65ooK....they are about $40 each and then you have to set them up.....and ofcourse 2-3 light banks would be great.....

cheers

[Steve M Hostetter]

Well If you ever come across some money I'd try a Broncolor 3200w/s primo 4 pack with one head in a 12x16" soft box and one 32" reflect-a-sal gold/silver mix disc for fill light... Jacks camera in Muncie IN will usually have several Bronies used ,,, I call them the little New York of Indiana when It comes to exotic LF and lighting equipment in general.. I know Broncolor can be expensive but it has the most punch for your money when it comes to raw power..! f32 through that head reflector(softbox) combo will produce at least f64 @10ft. maybe f128 which is unhead of with conventional lighting
in the same class.. Also bear in mind that a one head set-up will allow a full dump of 3200 w/s though your single main head. Also the Primo pack is not an asymetrical pack so it's design lends itself to a one head config... So you might get away w/ a cheaper 1600 w/s Primo 2 I've seen em for 500.00
My experiance is w/ a Primo 4 you need to heads plugged in and one pointing away (just to cut the power output in half.. Then using an aperture of f4.5 with iso 25 you'll need to be set on the lowest power setting w/ the s/b I mentioned. I can't imagine the wet plate needing a huge amount more... I will need to mention I usually use my main around 5' from subect which increases brightness and I tend to have a stop or two bellows factor involved aswell

[Joe Smigiel]

Then using an aperture of f4.5 with iso 25 you'll need to be set on the lowest power setting w/ the s/b I mentioned. I can't imagine the wet plate needing a huge amount more...

Wetplate has an ISO equivalent of about 0.5 to 1.0 so it needs a lot of actinic exposure to produce an image. I just purchased some Speeedotron packs and heads including 9600ws and 4800ws quad lights. I'm hoping to squeak out a one-pop exposure with these at f/4. We'll see...

[Ray Bidegain]

Wetplate has an ISO equivalent of about 0.5 to 1.0 so it needs a lot of actinic exposure to produce an image. I just purchased some Speeedotron packs and heads including 9600ws and 4800ws quad lights. I'm hoping to squeak out a one-pop exposure with these at f/4. We'll see...

I tried an exposure of f/4 with 2400 ws of speedotron and got nothing, I will be interested to hear how it goes Joe.

Ray Bidegain

[jnantz]

sorry for sounding so clueless, but would neodymium/close to daylight balanced flood lights work?
i picked up a ton of lowell L lights ( the old - first ones ) from jacks years ago, and use them with floods.
they work great. the lights come in a "kit" - 4,6, 10lights &C and the bulbs come from
the bulbman . com or grey supply in east chicago indiana ...

they sometimes sell on ebay for a song, and like the original larson soff boxes
they are worth their weight in gold ...

- john