Software For Wet Plate Look

[Marko]

We'll try to follow your more civilized example... certainly no ribbing there!

Just take it as a natural reaction to all this sophistry.

[goamules]

...or thin skinned-ness

[Marko]

...or thin skinned-ness

Whatever. If nobody were thin-skinned, this would not have been an issue to begin with.

The point is that none of us are children and should not be treated as such. This is a discussion forum for (supposedly) sane, (mostly) well educated adults. People should be able to hold a conversation of interest without being hassled and heckled for it. Whatever that interest may be, as long it is within the guidelines of the board.

If you don't like the topic, don't participate and nobody's going to come knocking on your door and shove it in your face.

[Two23]

No offense meant to the OP, but I feel the great disappointment in digital photography is that rather than being the new medium that it is, it so often is used to imitate what it isn't. Digital wet plate, digital zone system, digital imitation soft-focus, digital plug-ins to imitate this film or that... So when someone refers to a hand-crafted alternative process and asks how to "get that look" with a digital plug-in, there's going to be a bit of ribbing.

I'm a pretty practical Midwestern guy. Here's how I'm looking at it. The ease of scanning a neg so I can either send an image to one of the magazines I deal with or post on a forum is part of what has rekindled my interest in 4x5. (The other part I was just getting bored with my Nikon gear.) All winter, I've spent long days out working my sales job and then taking shots at night as I drove home in all the nasty conditions that Minnesota could throw at me. I often didn't get home until nearly 10 PM, or even later. Tonight it is snowing yet again, and I didn't get home until 9:30 PM. I'm a married guy with two teen sons to keep tabs on. I just don't have a whole lot of time to spend doing darkroom stuff, which isolates me even more from my family. Also, as I mentioned, most of my photography is done in winter, a season I love dearly. It's just too cold here to do wet plate stuff. Remember that I'm out there for hours at a time and shooting freight trains (mostly) that can appear at their will. Wet plates just aren't going to work well for what I do.

I mostly have been shooting my Derogy lens, and like the soft classic look it gives. I've been diving deep into photo history for the past year and have bought a number of journals and books from pre WW1 to see the photos and the discussions about them. Photography journals were the message boards of their time. While I like the older, vintage look I just see no way to shoot wet plates for the kind of photography I like to do. I'm not aware of any historical outdoor photos taken with wet plates in Dakota/Minnesota winters. If experienced professionals back in the day couldn't figure out how to do it, how am I supposed to? Eddy, have you ever shot when it was 40 below zero? I have, a number of times. Being an eclectic, practical sort of guy, I just decided to simply find another way to accomplish my goals. After all, I see photography in general as solving a series of problems to end up with what you want. I don't care what path I take to get there. I mix and match the tools I need to do the job.


Kent in SD

[eddie]

Eddy, have you ever shot when it was 40 below zero? I have, a number of times.
Kent in SD

i have shot film in below zero conditions. as for wet plate the coldest i have shot in was just right about zero (32F).

[walter23]

Kent in SD,
It's all here on the forum how to do wet plate.
Photoshop is sad. It'a a graphic arts programme abused by digital photographers 'cos they can't get the picture right in the camera. Either they haven't got the skill or their cameras just ain't good enough to allow them to print what they have "captured" without trying to get it right using a computer program that cost them a small fortune.
Even the crappy Sony Marvika that I was given in the '90's could produce an image that didn't need manipulating!
Pete.

Photoshop is a tool to achieve a look, just like the darkroom. The fundamentals are easier to control (moving a slider is way easier than spending 3 hours tuning some variable in the darkroom) but the aesthetic challenges are the same (perhaps greater, given the novice temptation to use silly digital effects, and the huge number of variables at your disposal). And a digital image is not a physical handcrafted object; if we compare them we're comparing apples and oranges.

[walter23]

I think it's more a natural reaction from people who have invested considerable time, money, energy, and intellectual effort into mastering an authentic historic process, then are asked, "how can I do that with a digital plug-in?"

The difference, and one wet plate users should be proud of, is that a wet plate image is a hand-crafted physical object. I don't doubt that a digital plug-in could replicate the appearance of a wet plate image (in digital form), but it can never replicate the original physical object. Same with a cyanotype or any other type of print. You can replicate it digitally but the point of the original technique is that it is a real physical object produced in a physical/chemical way.

No point getting all upset over mimicry.

I also see no problem with it; if you can make a really nice image using capture + digital effects, good for you.

There are all kinds of different photographic philosophies out there spanning the gamut from pure digital artwork to stuff like wet plate and tintype. Do what you enjoy.

[jnantz]

hey kent

have you seen the silver sunbeam ?
http://albumen.conservation-us.org/l...raphs/sunbeam/
it is the bible for wet and dry collodion processes ..
if you have the itch for doing something "authentic"
but weather is an issue, i think one of the dry collodion processes might work ..
i haven't done them but when i looked into
getting a kit to make gelatin tintypes someone suggested
one of the dry collodion processes to me ...

good luck!
john

[Two23]

The lens I'm using is going most of the distance, and I'm shooting ISO 400 film. I'm getting close. I've been taking a look the links posted above and they have put me on track, I think. I'm not trying to exactly replicate a wet plate. I'm after something more elusive, the feel of an old photo. The dry plates are something I've considered in the past, and will look into later this year. Surely there is an adapter or back I can use on my Shen Hao if needed. I still photo pretty much daily in summer, but my volume is a lot less than winter. That leaves me some time to try things.

Below is a shot I took with a modern Rodenstock lens and played with a little. It's still too sharp. I can quickly tell the difference between a modern lens and a vintage lens now. The film holder I used was ancient and I had trouble getting the sheet into it. Looks like I scratched the film! It turns out that this was serendipity: I like the look. (Also used a red #29.) My Derogy has no shutter and even at 10 mph this train was moving too fast for it. There is good news though. Train is a local shortline and I know the people well. They would stop the train for me to take a shot, just like they did in the old days! I'm also going to experiment with my "new" Imagon 250mm lens. I now have a Petzval and an Imagon, both are classic portrait lenses. The irony is I rarely shoot portraits and am simply after the softer look for my outdoor shots.


Kent in SD

[Two23]

Now, I have another question after doing some reading. Is it possible to scan a dry plate? I'm assuming it is. Might have to adjust my scanning frames, maybe.

As for the griping, doesn't bother me. It's all part of the internet experience. On the regular photo forums, everybody is using a DSLR. Many have never even seen a 4x5 or shot film ever. They just can't understand why I'm shooting a 4x5 when I have a fairly complete kit of Nikon pro digital gear. I've posted a few of my shots and they say, "Cripes. That looks like something from a hundred years ago!" And they don't mean that in a positive way. They already think I'm crazy because I'll sit out in the snow at 2:00 AM during a blizzard, just to flash a train.


Kent in SD