Quote Originally Posted by Ari View Post
Thank you, Paul and Kent. Great stuff.
I'm doing about 95% of what you're saying, but as always, the devil is in the details. Thus the problems I was having.
As of today, my plates are starting to look like typical beginner developer pours, which I prefer over the ridges.

As always, when we eliminate one problem, another appears.
Now I'm getting vertical lines on my plates, more pronounced in the first plate:
Any ideas as to what it is? It's not in the scans, it's on the plates. I can't think of any equipment I have that would cause the lines.
My plates go in the silver bath the other way, i.e., horizontally.
I did keep the collodion cold, as it was very humid today. I had an ice pack in the cooler along with all the chemicals. Maybe the collodion was too cold?

Side note: I'm pleased with these plates, technically. While the development missed in spots, the rest is better.
I did no correction at all on these plates other than re-size them for the web.
Ari, how long does it take for you to submerge the plate in the silver bath? More than one second? A 4x5 plate should be submerged in one second from start to finish, as long as you are not rushing/splashing it.
To be honest, these stripes look more like artifacts from the plate material itself. I assume this is black trophy plate? Is it bare metal on the reverse, or painted white? Do you wipe the surface with alcohol after peeling the plastic off and before pouring collodion? Have you changed brands of trophy plate? Have you tried the same image on the same day, but on glass? If you have an issue like this suddenly appear, do a control test by switching base materials: try one on glass.