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Thread: Wet Plate - A Beginner's Experience

  1. #81
    Tin Can's Avatar
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    Re: Wet Plate - A Beginner's Experience

    I did enjoy 'flying' on Windows Flight Simulator long ago

    But I never tried a real airplane and know the difference

    and I always crashed any big airplane, but with a Jenny I was successful

    Curtiss JN-4D "Jenny" in Microsoft Flight Sim 2004 18 second YouTube



    Quote Originally Posted by goamules View Post
    Nothing wrong for you to ask. I just didn't know if you were following a book. It's like learning to fly an airplane really. You need to study first, from an expert instructor. Then you need to practice with an expert. Then you need to solo. Some people try to jump into the soloing without ever having done steps 1 and 2. It's like a student pilot at the controls, taking off, and asking questions like "is this the throttle?....what does that knob do?...should I pull back now?"

    Or if learning to fly by the "ask the community" learning method, you hear "always take off into the wind....a cross wind is easier to learn from...don't go to full burner on takeoff...always go to full afterburner on takeoff..." etc.
    Tin Can

  2. #82

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    Re: Wet Plate - A Beginner's Experience

    Quote Originally Posted by Ari View Post
    The big plus on the forum is having access to years of experience, and getting some home-made tips from the likes of Mark and Paul, and others, which help enormously with the big picture.
    Quinn's book (2014 edition) is excellent, I've read it front to back a dozen times during the lockdown, but some finer details are vague or missing. Or maybe they need to be updated, too.
    My understanding is that the main reason Quinn rewrote Chemical Pictures was to fill in the many gaps in the previous edition. Ari is correct: there are many seemingly basic questions that are not answered in the 2014 edition - questions that may seem simple and basic to an experienced practitioner, but modern manuals often omit the minutiae in favor of making the content as easily digested as possible. Quinn's 2019 edition does a much better job of addressing the smaller details, and yet manages to miss some of the little things too. (For example, the 2019 edition still doesn't say whether or not you can use an aluminum plate to "excite" the silver bath for the first time) The instructional videos that accompany the 2019 edition are a huge asset to the content. There is something about having a person demonstrate something in front of your eyes that can make the content much easier to grasp than a written description is. John Coffer's Doer's Guide also has DVD content accompanying the book and his video demos are equally valuable. In fact, both of those books are great wet plate guides, and both have unique content: I refer to each of them fairly regularly. If cost is no obstacle, then I would recommend to new practitioners that they own a copy of each.

  3. #83
    Tin Can's Avatar
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    Re: Wet Plate - A Beginner's Experience

    Are Coffer's videos that we can buy better than his YouTube videos of his classes?

    John offers a lot for free on YouTube. I really like his Mammoth Plate camera cart in this video

    John Coffer - The Tintype Recaptured
    Tin Can

  4. #84

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    Re: Wet Plate - A Beginner's Experience

    Quote Originally Posted by Tin Can View Post
    Are Coffer's videos that we can buy better than his YouTube videos of his classes?
    Yes. The videos that accompany the book are tutorials specific to the book content. John's YouTube videos are more overview than instructional - the DVDs that support the book are very specifically and thoroughly instructional, and very detailed.

  5. #85

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    Re: Wet Plate - A Beginner's Experience

    ...and entertaining, I like the one where he is talking about mixing chemistry, and a chicken walks by at his feet.

  6. #86
    Unwitting Thread Killer Ari's Avatar
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    Re: Wet Plate - A Beginner's Experience

    Hey! Thought I'd post a brief update, and I hope that others starting out are getting close to producing some plates as well.
    The last few items I needed finally arrived: 4x5 aluminum plates and the storage box I'll use as a dark box.

    I've re-purposed a cooler to securely hold the chemicals I'd need to use, and made the necessary modifications to the dark box (sleeves, rubylith top).
    Chemicals all mixed, silver bath is almost as excited as I am.

    Once again, my mother-in-law is visiting for a week, starting tomorrow. Thanks to the newly-minted dark box, I'll take the show on the road and make some plates not-at-home.
    That should be tricky enough so that when shooting at home, it will feel quite easy.

  7. #87
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    Re: Wet Plate - A Beginner's Experience

    Quote Originally Posted by Ari View Post
    Hey! Thought I'd post a brief update, and I hope that others starting out are getting close to producing some plates as well.
    The last few items I needed finally arrived: 4x5 aluminum plates and the storage box I'll use as a dark box.

    I've re-purposed a cooler to securely hold the chemicals I'd need to use, and made the necessary modifications to the dark box (sleeves, rubylith top).
    Chemicals all mixed, silver bath is almost as excited as I am.

    Once again, my mother-in-law is visiting for a week, starting tomorrow. Thanks to the newly-minted dark box, I'll take the show on the road and make some plates not-at-home.
    That should be tricky enough so that when shooting at home, it will feel quite easy.


    Show us pictues!


    Kent in SD
    In contento ed allegria
    Notte e di vogliam passar!

  8. #88
    Unwitting Thread Killer Ari's Avatar
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    Re: Wet Plate - A Beginner's Experience

    Quote Originally Posted by Two23 View Post
    Show us pictues!


    Kent in SD
    Of course!

  9. #89
    Unwitting Thread Killer Ari's Avatar
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    Re: Wet Plate - A Beginner's Experience

    Finally got outside and shot some plates today. The heat outside is intense, feels hotter than the advertised 97F.
    I kept my chemicals in a cooler with an ice pack, this caused the collodion to form a skin as soon as it was poured.
    Later plates were fine as the collodion warmed up a bit.

    The pouring and silver bath were quite easy for me. The hard part was the developer because I couldn't see much in the dark box.
    I may have a dark rubylith, or maybe the reflections made it hard to see, even with a bicycle lamp inside the box.

    Got three plates done, with varying degrees of success, and I'll post them later, as soon as they dry.

  10. #90
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    Re: Wet Plate - A Beginner's Experience

    Must place box in shade to see into it. I think you need more light too. Mine is really bright, and I shine it into the box.


    Kent in SD
    In contento ed allegria
    Notte e di vogliam passar!

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