The Fisherman

[Two23]

Towards the end of the week I generally have my work all caught up so I can go take photos after lunch. Today I headed a dozen miles north of town to an old mill dam. My intention was to take a photo of an gnarled old tree. The area below the dam is popular with fishermen and as I set up my camera and took a couple of test plates a nearby fisherman struck up a conversation with me. This year I've been making an effort to photo the people I meet on my many "roamings" so I got him to pose for me. I used an 1845 Ross Petzval FL=5 inch, wide open. It's obviously a quarter plate lens but I think it worked pretty well here. I will try to get a photo of my portable dark lab I use in the back of my Subaru. It easily handles 8x10. I still have a lot of fun doing 4x5 with the Chamonix though.


Kent in SD

[paulbarden]

Excellent!

[Tin Can]

Like!

Perhaps share exposure times with...

[Two23]

Like!

Perhaps share exposure times with...

Exposure was a half second, lens wide open at roughly f3.5. The tendency for beginners is to overexpose. The image should usually be at peak around 15 seconds when developing. If it's taking 40 -60 seconds for the shadows to come up in the image while developing, you've underexposed. If the image starts coming up immediately it means you've overexposed.


Kent in SD

[Tin Can]

Now we’re talking

Thank you!

Very useful and bear’s endless repetition for this old man

Exposure was a half second, lens wide open at roughly f3.5. The tendency for beginners is to overexpose. The image should usually be at peak around 15 seconds when developing. If it's taking 40 -60 seconds for the shadows to come up in the image while developing, you've underexposed. If the image starts coming up immediately it means you've overexposed.


Kent in SD

[pau3]

Towards the end of the week I generally have my work all caught up so I can go take photos after lunch. Today I headed a dozen miles north of town to an old mill dam. My intention was to take a photo of an gnarled old tree. The area below the dam is popular with fishermen and as I set up my camera and took a couple of test plates a nearby fisherman struck up a conversation with me. This year I've been making an effort to photo the people I meet on my many "roamings" so I got him to pose for me. I used an 1845 Ross Petzval FL=5 inch, wide open. It's obviously a quarter plate lens but I think it worked pretty well here. I will try to get a photo of my portable dark lab I use in the back of my Subaru. It easily handles 8x10. I still have a lot of fun doing 4x5 with the Chamonix though.


Kent in SD

I love the image and the story. Please, show us the portable lab. I'm really curious.

[paulbarden]

Exposure was a half second, lens wide open at roughly f3.5. The tendency for beginners is to overexpose. The image should usually be at peak around 15 seconds when developing. If it's taking 40 -60 seconds for the shadows to come up in the image while developing, you've underexposed. If the image starts coming up immediately it means you've overexposed.


Kent in SD

Kent brings up an excellent point: development times. This is especially important for new practitioners learning the ropes - positive plates made using standard materials for positives should stick to the 15 second limit for developing an image. Especially when learning, the tendency is to let the plate develop longer if it doesn't look quite right, and this will only lead you away from optimal results, not toward it. Collodion doesn't handle quite like film does; longer development times introduce problems with plate fogging and other unwanted effects. If you simply let the developer stay on the plate for 40- 50 seconds or more, you will continue to develop the silver image, but you also begin developing out the unexposed silver, which only builds fog in the black areas.

Do yourself a favor and stick to 15 seconds. If the plate is too dark after 15 seconds development, make another plate and adjust exposure, not the development time. Believe me, you will start to understand how the materials work if you standardize the development time and make exposure fit that standard, not the other way around.

[drewf64]

Kent brings up an excellent point: development times. This is especially important for new practitioners learning the ropes - positive plates made using standard materials for positives should stick to the 15 second limit for developing an image. Especially when learning, the tendency is to let the plate develop longer if it doesn't look quite right, and this will only lead you away from optimal results, not toward it. Collodion doesn't handle quite like film does; longer development times introduce problems with plate fogging and other unwanted effects. If you simply let the developer stay on the plate for 40- 50 seconds or more, you will continue to develop the silver image, but you also begin developing out the unexposed silver, which only builds fog in the black areas.

Do yourself a favor and stick to 15 seconds. If the plate is too dark after 15 seconds development, make another plate and adjust exposure, not the development time. Believe me, you will start to understand how the materials work if you standardize the development time and make exposure fit that standard, not the other way around.

Great info for developing positive plates, Paul.
I am getting started with a B&S kit for glass collodion negatives.
* Where would you set your developing time for negative plates?
* What exposure times would you start with for "direct sun" portraits and "open shade with North light " portraits? I am shooting with a CZ Jena Tessar 300mm f4.5.
I have been all over the place with exposures & developing times so I need to re-group and re-start with a solid developing time!
Thank you ....... Again!!
Drew