Re: Collodion - Wet Plate Images
Quote:
Originally Posted by
basiltahan
Sensitize by inspection.
Does anyone do this? With different temperatures and emulsions, plates sensitize at different rates. Two questions:
1) What should an adequately sensitized plate look like?
2) Is there any truth to the fact that over sensitizing (is this even possible?) can cause issues during development?
I know it's not considered ideal but I always sensitize by time. 3-5 minutes. I don't have an adequate enough light in either of my darkboxes to check by inspection. To check by inspection, remove the plate from the bath and notice if the silver nitrate flows off of it in one smooth sheet. The plate will also appear milky white. If you see little legs of silver nitrate or it looks oily, chances are it hasn't had enough time. For my area of the world 3 minutes does it in 99% of cases but if it's cold out I'll go up to 5 minutes. All collodions should sensitize the same way in the same time. No harm will likely be done to your plates hanging out in the bath up to 10 minutes.
Oversensitizing would be like leaving a plate in the bath for 10 minutes or more. If it stays in too long your plates will fog. Not sure what effect it has with the developer when that happens. It very well may be that the developer itself fogs the oversensitized plate. If you leave an aluminum plate in too long, say more than 30 minutes or an hour, maybe longer, the silver nitrate will start to dissolve the plate and it will mess up your bath.
Re: Collodion - Wet Plate Images
Thank you. Does it look the same “oily” as when rinsing developer?
Re: Collodion - Wet Plate Images
I’m guessing so. But I don’t have much experience doing it by inspection. It’s just what I remember reading on the subject. The couple times I’ve done it that way the three minutes did the trick and it came out looking right.
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Re: Collodion - Wet Plate Images
The other day I set up a test shot to determine the discrepancy between my ground glass and plate holder in terms of distance from the lens. Doing so also gave me an opportunity to determine the effective resolution of my 4x5 plates when using an Industar 11M 300mm f/9. Here is the entire image, with a smaller crop (taken with macro lens) imposed over it.
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...220c7bf756.jpgCollodion resolution whole by Bill, on Flickr
Here is that crop, and a further crop of that.
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...d4e4b38517.jpgCollodion resolution large crop by Bill, on Flickr
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...21452a0b86.jpgCollodion resolution small crop by Bill, on Flickr
The close up crop was taken with a 24 megapixel digital camera, and represents around 2.5% of the 4x5 plate. Because that small section seems to hold about as much detail as can be captured with the sensor, it can be extrapolated up to give the entire plate an equivalent resolution of about 980 megapixels. Due to falloff in the lens resolution towards the edges and other such imperfections, this calculated resolution isn't all that accurate or useful, but I figured that some here might still be interested.
Re: Collodion - Wet Plate Images
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Peter Mounier
After doing some searching, apparently the name of the bridge is (according to wikipedia, and BridgeHunter.com, and others) The Big Tujunga Narrows Bridge, originally named the Armstrong Bridge.
Nice photos!
It's also known as "The Bridge to Nowhere" and was once a popular place for bungee jumping because of the remote location and near 10 mile (RT) hike to get there. Please understand that bungee jumping is now not allowed and never happens there any more. Nice job to get a wet plate set-up up there, and to get a photo without any bungee jumpers.
Re: Collodion - Wet Plate Images
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Fagrid
The other day I set up a test shot to determine the discrepancy between my ground glass and plate holder in terms of distance from the lens. Doing so also gave me an opportunity to determine the effective resolution of my 4x5 plates
Bill, this is fascinating. Thanks for sharing.
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Matt Stage
It's also known as "The Bridge to Nowhere" and was once a popular place for bungee jumping because of the remote location and near 10 mile (RT) hike to get there.
Very interesting, Matt. Now at least it's easily accessible by road. It's funny because Jay Leno drove by in a GT40 as we were shooting and honked and waved.
So you're in Granada Hills? I'm in Woodland Hills. We should go shoot sometime. I'll be at the LA County Arboretum this Friday morning.
Re: Collodion - Wet Plate Images
Oh and word to the wise, don't mix UVP-X and New Guy collodions together. It worked beautifully for me the first day, but the next time I used it 2 weeks later, every plate fogged and had streaks and pinholes. Luckily I had another collodion with me that worked fine and was able to figure out that was the problem.
Re: Collodion - Wet Plate Images
4x5 tintype. Old Workhorse, about 1 month old. Sugar developer.
I love the contrast and detail.
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...a9804f71_c.jpg
Re: Collodion - Wet Plate Images
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Punker
Bill, this is fascinating. Thanks for sharing.
Very interesting, Matt. Now at least it's easily accessible by road. It's funny because Jay Leno drove by in a GT40 as we were shooting and honked and waved.
So you're in Granada Hills? I'm in Woodland Hills. We should go shoot sometime. I'll be at the LA County Arboretum this Friday morning.
Great! I would like to shoot with you. Will send my deets by PM.
Re: Collodion - Wet Plate Images
Quote:
Originally Posted by
basiltahan
4x5 tintype. Old Workhorse, about 1 month old. Sugar developer.
I love the contrast and detail.
Wow, it really has great details. Nice shot :)