Collodion - Wet Plate Images

[paulbarden]

How do y'all deal with shooting wetplate in open sunlight like this? My collodion is 50:50 fresh mixed with reeeeeally old stuff, and is very very contrasty. To try and curb it I tried exposing for longer and shortening development time to 10 seconds, with a little improvement but still really heavy and hard to pull detail out of the shadows. Does anyone else have any tips for getting it under control? I'm using ferrous sulfate, glacial acetic acid and potassium nitrate in my developer.

If I were you, I'd avoid adding aged collodion to the new, as that will only boost contrast and make it difficult to balance shadows with highlights. Have you tried straight-up fresh collodion without adding older stuff? I would also suggest trying one of the formulas for negatives (with three or more salts), as those seem to do a better job of recording a full range of values.

[cuypers1807]

+1 for only using fresh collodion to control the contrast.

[Keith Fleming]

I am not a wet-plate photographer, but I do have an observation based on living out on the Olympic Peninsula of Washington State. In our fall and winter rainy season, even at midday the contrast can be VERY low. So low that I have experimented with taking a incident light meter reading, adding 3 stops of extra exposure, and developing normally. For wet plate photographers in the Northwest, it might be good to experiment with adding old collodion when shooting on very cloudy, low contrast days.

Keith

[AlexGard]

If I were you, I'd avoid adding aged collodion to the new, as that will only boost contrast and make it difficult to balance shadows with highlights. Have you tried straight-up fresh collodion without adding older stuff? I would also suggest trying one of the formulas for negatives (with three or more salts), as those seem to do a better job of recording a full range of values.

thanks paul.

i had a litre of old Old Reliable I've been trying to slowly burn through. I try do all my shooting on overcast days if I can help it but yesterday I just needed to get out and blow off some steam.

So I use etherless Old Reliable. I can only get denatured alcohol which doesnt agree with Ether in my experience and sometimes takes weeks to clear if at all when mixed fresh. Do you have any suggestions for specific recipes I can try? Mixing this old and new collodion gives great results when the light is ideal, i''ve still got about half a litre to get through.



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[paulbarden]

thanks paul.

i had a litre of old Old Reliable I've been trying to slowly burn through. I try do all my shooting on overcast days if I can help it but yesterday I just needed to get out and blow off some steam.

So I use etherless Old Reliable. I can only get denatured alcohol which doesnt agree with Ether in my experience and sometimes takes weeks to clear if at all when mixed fresh. Do you have any suggestions for specific recipes I can try? Mixing this old and new collodion gives great results when the light is ideal, i''ve still got about half a litre to get through.

Hi Alex.
So, you can't buy Ethanol in your part of the world, even from scientific supply companies and the like?? There's nobody who can ship you laboratory grade Ethanol? Hmmm. Maybe try adding only 20% old collodion to the new and see if that helps.
Alternatively, one of the recipes for making negatives might give you a better tonal scale. I have used John Coffer's "#7 for Negatives" for making ambrotypes and found it quite good (it has two iodides and two bromides. Email me for a recipe: castlebravo "at" icloud "dot" com) But the Coffer #7 still calls for Ethanol and Ether, so I'm not sure that helps you.

Have you experimented with making a negative developer and leaving it on the plate for a minute? That might be worth exploring.

[paulbarden]

Today's wet plate negative (Collodion on 5x7 inch glass):



Made with a very beaten up old B&J Watson and a Voigtlander Petzval lens. Exposure was 8 minutes at f3.2

[hoffy]

Today's wet plate negative (Collodion on 5x7 inch glass):



Made with a very beaten up old B&J Watson and a Voigtlander Petzval lens. Exposure was 8 minutes at f3.2

8 minutes? Very low light?

Beautiful results

[drewf64]

Today's wet plate negative (Collodion on 5x7 inch glass):



Made with a very beaten up old B&J Watson and a Voigtlander Petzval lens. Exposure was 8 minutes at f3.2

Lighting is exquisite, Paul!
Beautifully captured!

[AlexGard]

Hi Alex.
So, you can't buy Ethanol in your part of the world, even from scientific supply companies and the like?? There's nobody who can ship you laboratory grade Ethanol? Hmmm. Maybe try adding only 20% old collodion to the new and see if that helps.
Alternatively, one of the recipes for making negatives might give you a better tonal scale. I have used John Coffer's "#7 for Negatives" for making ambrotypes and found it quite good (it has two iodides and two bromides. Email me for a recipe: castlebravo "at" icloud "dot" com) But the Coffer #7 still calls for Ethanol and Ether, so I'm not sure that helps you.

Have you experimented with making a negative developer and leaving it on the plate for a minute? That might be worth exploring.

I can get undenatured ethanol but i require a permit from the Australian Tax Office, I think just because of our insane regulation on drinkable alcohol in general, and I need to keep a record of its storage and use as far as I know. The permit isn't impossible i just need to get a reference from someone who is a pharmacist, teacher, doctor etc. Too much hassle for me at this point and undenatured works fine. for the most part.

The idea of using a negative developer did occur to me yesterday, I could perhaps give it a try.

I'll shoot you an email later tonight. cheers

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[paulbarden]

8 minutes? Very low light?

Beautiful results

Thank you. And yes - it was after sunset and this room is quite shaded from the outside. In a span of 20 minutes you go from a 1 minute exposure to well over 7 or 8. This is a very slow material, as I'm sure you know.