Need a lesson in NYC from a professional who knows Wet Plate photography with flash

[goamules]

Have any of you (other than Joe) that are answering actually used flash? Because I have, with Mark Sawyer's setup, and they work fine. "UV bulbs", um.....not needed. This exposure was taken with 2 flashes, with about an F4 lens. I'll let Mark fill in the power details of this shot he took of me.

[jnantz]

Have any of you (other than Joe) that are answering actually used flash? Because I have, with Mark Sawyer's setup, and they work fine. "UV bulbs", um.....not needed.

thanks goamules - good to hear.
that is what giles (illumiquest) told me he uses
i asked him when i first saw his stop motion photographs. no idea
there are other ways to do it ... i am not a wet plater but a other-stuffer
my answer was just ... what someone who does it told me thay do.

[Tin Can]

You are correct Garrett, my mistake, in my newborn enthusiasm, I was writing about possible dangers of mammoth flash energy to a person with a brain aneurism, and I have not used flash for WP, nor have ever I made a WP.

I do like that flash is a possible method of WP indoors.

Crow is best fresh.

[Jason Greenberg Motamedi]

I have used strobe with wetplate and other color-blind materials, and have found no discernible difference between (Speedotron) coated and uncoated bulbs. I have two 9600ws heads, one with UV-coated and the other with uncoated bulbs, and I have never seen a difference between them.

That said, strobe with wetplate can be difficult, as the the highlights block up very quickly. Also, I don't really like how it looks, and much prefer images lit by florescent (or daylight)

[goamules]

Hi John,
Thanks for taking the time to reply
So if I'm shooting with these Bowens, http://www.bowensdirect.com/index.ph...ni-500pro.html it won't work with the tintypes? I was wondering if the measure would be different and I needed to set up a stronger light, but did not expect it not to work at all.
Raya

Tell me this, did you first get good exposures outdoors, under open shade, at noon? Make sure your chemistry is working, before adding the difficulty of trying to use 21st century lighting with 19th century processes! Our flash setup was about 5 feet from the sitter. I don't know the power, I'll let Mark answer that.

[davehyams]

I am with Garrett on this, UV coating or not doesn't make a huge difference, on lenses or bulbs. It just takes a lot of light to burn in your image. Not really any way around it, you need lots of light. Also helps if you really understand the chemistry and can optimize it for speed rather than contrast. I would first make some plates using natural light so that you understand what you are looking for in the development stage. Once you can nail plates in natural light, switch to strobe, the more watt seconds the better. I feel that the ideal set up is 9600 WS like Jason and Joe shoot, but you can get by with less like Garrett showed. This is where technique comes in, and being familiar with Garrett and Mark, I assume that their technique is really getting a lot out of their light.

[Mark Sawyer]

I haven't used the strobes much yet, but enough that I can tell they'll work. My best recommendation is you'll need about 4000 to 5000 watt seconds, although not all watt seconds are equal, and shouldn't be confused with watts per second. The sad truth is, there's no easily-accessible way of rating a strobes output, and for the UV bands needed for wet plate, doubly so. (Beam Candle Power Seconds, or BCPS, can tell you the visible output, but hardly anyone publishes that info, and it tells you nothing of UV output.)

Using soft boxes and umbrellas will usually cut your light by about one f/stop, and as John said earlier, avoid UV-coated bulbs and covers. From what I've read from others, they steal about half an f/stop

[jnantz]

... and as John said earlier, avoid UV-coated bulbs and covers. From what I've read from others, they steal about half an f/stop

hi mark

i was suggesting he USE UV bulbs ( not avoid them ) [unless it is a different john], but a boatload of light
that is what i heard was one of the things that worked .. but it was pretty much read-and repeat since i haven't really don't wet plate but once
(in daylight ), under the tutelage of a masterplater and instead have stuck mostly to later 19th century and earlier practices that don't involve ether or mercury ...

[Mark Sawyer]

My mistake in how I read your post, John, and I still may be misreading it. Some bulbs and Pyrex bulb covers are coated to block UV light. These are the ones to avoid for wet plate, because wet plate is exposed by UV light. The coatings aren't all that effective, but they do block enough of the UV light that you'll lose about half a stop exposure.

The question is, when you say "UV bulb", do you mean coated to block UV, or uncoated to allow UV through? (I've heard the term used both ways when talking about strobes...)

[YHP]

Thank you!
I first adjusted the light with my hasselblad camera and used the same setting on the Ansco View, but it seems that I need much more power. I tried another time with stronger power but still nothing on the plate :-(

Have any of you (other than Joe) that are answering actually used flash? Because I have, with Mark Sawyer's setup, and they work fine. "UV bulbs", um.....not needed. This exposure was taken with 2 flashes, with about an F4 lens. I'll let Mark fill in the power details of this shot he took of me.