First Collodion

[JenkinsLeftEar]

I have just taken, using an old Kodak Brownie, my first collodion.
255605
I was pleased to see any image, but obviously am looking to improve the quality of future plates. I used two day old collodion and a silver nitrate bath that I left a poured plate in over night. I left it in the silver for about 5 minutes. I had an exposure time of two minutes at about iso 8. I then developed and fixed. Any advice would be very appreciated.

[paulbarden]

I have just taken, using an old Kodak Brownie, my first collodion.
255605
I was pleased to see any image, but obviously am looking to improve the quality of future plates. I used two day old collodion and a silver nitrate bath that I left a poured plate in over night. I left it in the silver for about 5 minutes. I had an exposure time of two minutes at about iso 8. I then developed and fixed. Any advice would be very appreciated.

Your exposure and development looks reasonable, so you're off to a good start. The artifacts around the edges are probably due to the pouring of the collodion, and all I can say about that is: practice! A lot! Learning how to get the collodion poured on the plate to make a perfect image is the hardest part of the process, and it simply requires practice.

Note: there's no reason to leave the collodion coated plate in the silver bath for more than 3 minutes, unless the bath is very cold (under 50F). Leaving not in the bath 5 minutes isn't going to improve your results. At 70F, two to 2.5 minutes is sufficient.

[CreationBear]

I’m still sneaking up on the the medium, having been inspired by Paul’s fantastic work, but wanted nevertheless to pay homage to your user name.:) If you’ve not already, check out Tobias Smollet’s Roderick Random—Smollet was the prototypical 18th C Scots physician who served as an assistant surgeon aboard ship during the shambolic Cartagena campaign…really ahead of his time as a “war correspondent.”

[shelby_wright]

Two minutes is pretty long; was that indoors? Outdoors I get anywhere from 1-9s at f/5.6 depending on whether the subject is in full sun or shade.

[paulbarden]

Two minutes is pretty long; was that indoors? Outdoors I get anywhere from 1-9s at f/5.6 depending on whether the subject is in full sun or shade.

I expect the image was made in a shady location. Remember also that the box brownie has a small aperture. I believe it starts at f16 and goes smaller, so exposures will be long. I recall making tintypes with a box brownie and used the middle aperture. It was overcast, and the exposure was 90 seconds (or longer) if I remember correctly.

[JenkinsLeftEar]

I expect the image was made in a shady location. Remember also that the box brownie has a small aperture. I believe it starts at f16 and goes smaller, so exposures will be long. I recall making tintypes with a box brownie and used the middle aperture. It was overcast, and the exposure was 90 seconds (or longer) if I remember correctly.

This was taken in pretty bright conditions, outside and the ground was covered in snow so it was pretty reflective. Do you think that would be an over exposure?

[paulbarden]

Two minutes in those conditions does seem excessive, but that image doesn't look horribly overexposed. The other issues I mentioned are more obvious.

[Jem Wilton]

Well played mate...I was really lucky with my first two plates - they were recognisable, the next three were so overexposed it looked like a grey fog. At least you've got an image. If it's of any help, I exposed at 8 seconds at F4.. developed for 15 seconds only and then washed and fixed. Kept the plate in the silver bath for abart 5 mins...Good luck mate