Wet Plate - A Beginner's Experience

[Ari]

Made one plate today before I was cut short by a family visit.
I deliberately underexposed to compensate for dry-down, but it didn't dry down (or up) as much as a slightly over-exposed plate did earlier this week.
I wanted to do more plates this way, but, hey, family first. Anyway, I think it's not a bad way to proceed, a darker plate is easier to correct in PS/LR.
This scan is not quite faithful to the original, I added some contrast and boosted the whites and blacks a touch.

[goamules]

As soon as you think you learn a "rule" about wetplate, it can be proven wrong! The last time I shot plates I got pretty good results. My developer was close to 2 years old.

[Duane123]

Great thanks for the info I plan to start next year. I’ll watch your thread to pickup some tips.

[Ari]

Read up some more on developer, and while Quinn recommends mixing fresh each time, he acknowledges that it isn't always practical to do so.
He goes on to say pretty much what Mark said, that it can keep for a year or more and still work fine. Dilute with vinegar or distilled water in the hotter months.

Duane, if you're not in a hurry, wait for another sale at B&S and buy the kit then. It will keep for a long time until you're ready to use it.

[Mark Sawyer]

All the chemicals are available online and very simple to mix. Much cheaper than the pre-mixed kits, and you're going to do it sooner or later. The best help is to take a workshop or find someone to informally show you the ropes.

[Ari]

Three plates today, all taken around 1130pm-1230pm. All were shot at f/4.5, wide open.

The first one is with an Ilex Paragon Anastigmat, which is quickly becoming a favourite of mine:




Same lens, this time with the diffusion dialled up to 20. It's also out of focus, and I had a difficult pour as I let the collodion warm up too much in the 90F+ weather.
I wiped the first pour as it looked bad and was causing a big ridge, so I wiped it down with water and re-poured.
I like the effect here, it's not unappealing, so I kept it.




And last one is with a B&L Zeiss Tessar, which gives excellent sharpness and a nice even contrast:



This time I kept everything cool with an ice pack in the cooler, and it helped.
I'm getting more comfortable with the whole process, and can now go about 4 minutes between fixing a plate, cleaning up and being ready for another plate.
But lots of small details to work on, chiefly the scratches, fingerprints, streaks, etc etc. The dark box I have is excellent, but I do bump into the top or slides often, even if I'm being careful. Too much handling of the plate also.
I'd love to be able to make a perfectly clean plate, and then if I ever want to, be sloppy and show the imperfections.

[Tin Can]

Very helpful Ari with great progress!

I am learning from you, I need to internalize any process I attempt before I can try/do anything

Thank you

[Ari]

Thank you, Randy.

[Two23]

Three plates today, all taken around 1130pm-1230pm. All were shot at f/4.5, wide open.

The first one is with an Ilex Paragon Anastigmat, which is quickly becoming a favourite of mine:




Same lens, this time with the diffusion dialled up to 20. It's also out of focus, and I had a difficult pour as I let the collodion warm up too much in the 90F+ weather.
I wiped the first pour as it looked bad and was causing a big ridge, so I wiped it down with water and re-poured.
I like the effect here, it's not unappealing, so I kept it.




And last one is with a B&L Zeiss Tessar, which gives excellent sharpness and a nice even contrast:



This time I kept everything cool with an ice pack in the cooler, and it helped.
I'm getting more comfortable with the whole process, and can now go about 4 minutes between fixing a plate, cleaning up and being ready for another plate.
But lots of small details to work on, chiefly the scratches, fingerprints, streaks, etc etc. The dark box I have is excellent, but I do bump into the top or slides often, even if I'm being careful. Too much handling of the plate also.
I'd love to be able to make a perfectly clean plate, and then if I ever want to, be sloppy and show the imperfections.

Keeping developer (and collodion) cool is a big deal in the summer. It's been so hot here that I keep my developer in my cooler bag until I have an exposed plate and am ready to develop it. I find that taking the same shot over and over and perfecting as I go has helped me a lot. As for scratches, easy to do with the dipper in the silver tank if you aren't careful.


Kent in SD

[Ari]

Thanks, Kent. It is indeed satisfying to shoot the same thing over and over and work out problems from that.
There are so many ways to mar a plate, it's something that I'll have to be extremely careful with (I thought I was being careful already) in order to get rid of defects.
Space in the dark box is certainly a factor, maybe I'll get one of those 1-man grow tents to work with and see if it's an improvement on the bumping and fiddling inside a dark box.