Troubleshooting, or What the Hell Is That?

[Ari]

Holder works fine, thanks.
I added two small metal tabs on either side to keep the plate from getting too close to the dark slide.
When I find some glass or plastic of the right thickness, I'll switch out the metal tabs.

[Willie]

Looking at the striations/marks - are they 90 degrees from the direction you peel off the plastic protection material? In other words - marks up and down - did you peel off the coating side to side? When working with high end plexi for custom framing the direction of removal can leave striations like you are seeing with your plates. Means you have to clean the surface so the striations don't show up in some lighting situations.

Maybe - this is one of the causes?

[paulbarden]

Ari, I think the only possible way to achieve the 3D waterdrop marks is to expose the plate to white light before or during development, creating shadows of the water drops on the plate. I can't imagine how else this happened.

[Ari]

That sounds very plausible, Paul. The whole 8x10 plate experience was a comic fiasco, the dark box was way too small. I had the Benny Hill theme song in my head the whole time.
It was likely exposed to light a couple times in my struggle to gain control of an 8x10 plate inside of a shoebox.
The drops are the best part of this botched image, and I'd be happy to be able to control the effect more.

[Mark Sawyer]

Holder works fine, thanks.
I added two small metal tabs on either side to keep the plate from getting too close to the dark slide.
When I find some glass or plastic of the right thickness, I'll switch out the metal tabs.

If you're moving the plane of the plate, it may be out of registration with the ground glass.

[Ari]

Mark, no I didn't move the plane. The plate holder already has plastic bits at all four corners to keep the plate at the plane of focus.
But if the plate is bent, or bulges in the middle, it sticks out and gets scratched by the dark slide.
What I did was add two more "restraints", one on either side of the holder, halfway down each long side.
This has worked well to get rid of the scraping dark slide.

It's a Stenopeika holder, not a bad design, but not fully thought out in some areas.

[goamules]

Do you remember that old Kung Fu TV series? "When you can walk across the rice paper without tearing it, you are ready to go."

Same with wetplate. You shouldn't mess with 8x10s until you can reliably make quarterplates. Most photographers in the 1800s did thousands of 1/6 through 1/4 plates a year, and seldom messed with larger.

[Ari]

Do you remember that old Kung Fu TV series? "When you can walk across the rice paper without tearing it, you are ready to go."

Same with wetplate. You shouldn't mess with 8x10s until you can reliably make quarterplates. Most photographers in the 1800s did thousands of 1/6 through 1/4 plates a year, and seldom messed with larger.

I'm worried that one day I may actually perfect this process.

[Two23]

The blue box can handle up to 5x7 OK, but it's just too small for 8x10. You will need something bigger. The one I built using light proof drapery liner (I sent you a small piece) and PVC frame is plenty big enough. It's a step inside type which solves a lot of problems getting enough light to work by. It is very light and collapses into the plastic bin I used as a base.


Kent in SD

[Ari]

The blue box can handle up to 5x7 OK, but it's just too small for 8x10. You will need something bigger. The one I built using light proof drapery liner (I sent you a small piece) and PVC frame is plenty big enough. It's a step inside type which solves a lot of problems getting enough light to work by. It is very light and collapses into the plastic bin I used as a base.
Kent in SD

Yup, that's my next project. I have a bin, no time right now.
And thanks, I kept the fabric you sent for just such an occasion.