Petzval Paul
14-Sep-2014, 12:25
Hi Everyone,
I've been having a problem that's giving me trouble: my exposures are too long. At first, my wet plates were in near-geological time so, working with Denise Ross of The Light Farm, I mixed up some dry plate gelatin plates that worked great but instead of ASA ~10 I was way down maybe below ASA ~1. Then I got ahold of some B&S Old Workhorse collodion to remove a variable. I also bought some new ferrous sulfate (food grade - nice stuff! ) to rule out the developer. Still, my exposures are far longer than I would expect, although the plates are otherwise clean and fog-free. Although drowned in Georgia summer sun, my studio is full of wonderful indirect light that should be perfect for such period work, I'm over at one minute at f/4.5.
The only chemical in common between the two types of plates is the silver nitrate. I bought a pound of it two years ago from artcraft chemicals and it's been stored, as far as I can recall, in normal temperatures. Is it possible that having the dry nitrate could have been affected by fumes from another chemical??? Any ideas?
Thanks in advance for any insight that can be offered.
I've been having a problem that's giving me trouble: my exposures are too long. At first, my wet plates were in near-geological time so, working with Denise Ross of The Light Farm, I mixed up some dry plate gelatin plates that worked great but instead of ASA ~10 I was way down maybe below ASA ~1. Then I got ahold of some B&S Old Workhorse collodion to remove a variable. I also bought some new ferrous sulfate (food grade - nice stuff! ) to rule out the developer. Still, my exposures are far longer than I would expect, although the plates are otherwise clean and fog-free. Although drowned in Georgia summer sun, my studio is full of wonderful indirect light that should be perfect for such period work, I'm over at one minute at f/4.5.
The only chemical in common between the two types of plates is the silver nitrate. I bought a pound of it two years ago from artcraft chemicals and it's been stored, as far as I can recall, in normal temperatures. Is it possible that having the dry nitrate could have been affected by fumes from another chemical??? Any ideas?
Thanks in advance for any insight that can be offered.