Wet Plate in Winter

I took Wednesday off and intended to drive west to the Badlands and try some wet plate photos. However, a winter storm was making I-90 an icy mess for several hundred miles. So, I went north instead, up to the North Dakota border and Zion Lutheran Church. The sky was heavily overcast and it was 28 degrees F, but the wind was calm. I took a few 8x10 test plates to dial in exposure, keeping both my developer and silver tank warm (~74 degrees.) To save the battery on my car I turned the heater off on the silver tank. I poured a final plate and put into the silver tank for abou 7 minutes. Took the photo and developed it. I could see the developer beading up on the plate as I poured it on instead of flowing evenly. Below is the result. I'm thinking it does make a difference if the silver solution is warm or cold. It looks like the developer has trouble flowing on a cold one. This would have been a nice photo if I had kept the tank warm.😕


Kent in SD

Nice photo, indeed, and good to find out what others are dong in cold weather. It'll be upon us soon.
Winter came early in the prairies this year.

The silver bath works best at room temperature. There can be numerous and variable faults if it gets too cold, or too hot. It never gets that cold here, but I suppose I'd arrange some insulation on the tank, and keep it as warm as I could. I've only shot down into the 40s.