Wonderful feeling of light in the Sequoia image, Eric!
Wonderful feeling of light in the Sequoia image, Eric!
The Jamboree photos were probably some of my better work while shooting wet plate over the last year. I've added a digital color shot of the setup. Several other wet platers were also shooting the same subjects, so more of these may crop up. The sepia toning is mostly due to the scanner, the original has more contrast and is more black and white than this scan. The wind blew the camera over while I the plate was in the silver bath, so it was a very quick reset and focus for this shot (luckily the ansco is a fairly rugged camera). Note that the scene is reversed for the wet plate. I've had this Euryscop lens for over thirty years, and only recently started using it.
Wayne thanks for the details, great job on the quick setup and getting the shot. Wet plate photos have such a classical look.
Questions and comments are always welcome
I've been doing some reading and after only wasting 3 practice tries I got a successful transfer (not a lift) with Fuji FP-100c45. I'll be looking to get some printmaking paper (Arches 88) to use instead of normal printer paper.
Salt printing failure
Do not try this at home...
Well, I made a half decent salt print about a year and a half ago, at which time I salted several pieces of Weston Parchment with the gelatin and salts. It has been way too long for me to remember the exact receipe I used.
In a couple days I need to have some prints ready for the annual university Art Dept Faculty and Staff show. So I thought, I got one print easy enough, I'll just make three from very similar negatives (8x10's of each of my boys). Print today, mat tomorrow and frame them up and turn them in on Thursday before I leave town for a week.
I am not looking for perfect prints -- in fact as the triplets have very different body-styles and personalities, the images should not look identical. In fact, I would not mind some rough looking prints to match the rough and tumble personalities of the boys.
Ah...the well laid plans of mice and men. And probably not well laid at all, really...
I rod-coated the sheets, using 2ml of 10% sensitizer per sheet. The first test (15 min in a "pizza oven") was way too light. So I double coated the remaining sheets with another 2ml of the silver nitrate/citric acid sensitizer. The next image, exposed for 30 minutes is still too light (even before the fixer!). I did get some better density on the ends where there was more sensitizer left by the rod. I got another sheet exposing for two hours right now.
So I just triple coated the remaining sheets with 3 ml more of the sensitizer. Holding the sheets up to the light, they look a little splotchy, but they are drying right now and I'll see how they print in an hour or so. (Maybe I'll hit them with a hair drier to speed things up.)
We'll see how it all turns out. I should know better than to try to get final prints with an almost brand new process! LOL!
Below is that good image from my first (and only) salt printing session. A 5x7 print from a camera negative. On a different paper and salted differently probably, too.
Thats a nice composition. Much better than my first salt print. In typical male fashion I ignored the instructions I got on alternativephotography.com and used too little AgNO3.
David Cary
www.milfordguide.nz
I did end up with some prints -- a tad muddy-looking, but I am cutting mats for them anyway. Triple coating was what was needed for this particular paper/salting. Should not have been needed, but I will need to do more exploration of the process. I'll try to scan one of the prints this morning.
Thank you for the compliment. Sometimes it pays to break the "rules" and place something in the center of the image.
Vaughn
PS -- here is one of the salt prints...and the only one worth showing. I decided the other one was too muddy-looking. Scanned salt print, 8x10 negative (blue-sensitive x-ray film developed at the hospital's lab)
Last edited by Vaughn; 11-Aug-2011 at 10:14.
I did this in "field conditions" inside of 2 paper grocery sacks (double-bagged) with my darkcloth over it to add more cover. Waited about 15 seconds, peeled stuck it on the paper (which is resting on a piece of masonite) and started rolling with my brayer for a good 30-45 seconds, let it set for a bit longer (maybe 10-20 seconds) then pulled up on the negative to remove it from the paper. No reversing in ps - that's just the way it came out. I'm hoping that using the Arches paper will prevent the yellow cast seen in the image above.
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