Good stuff, Garrett.
Last plate is really nice, especially considering the ripeness of all your chemicals.
Good to know that they last that long.
Are you keeping anything in a separate fridge?
Good stuff, Garrett.
Last plate is really nice, especially considering the ripeness of all your chemicals.
Good to know that they last that long.
Are you keeping anything in a separate fridge?
I was out again today and took a few 4x5 tins, outdoors. Temperature was 101 F with 30 mph wind. Developer was kept in a cooler, silver bath was in temperature 101 to (?)110 F. What caused the spots by the arrow? Have not seen this before but it happened several times today.
Kent in SD
In contento ed allegria
Notte e di vogliam passar!
Yes, I keep the collodion, raw or mixed, and the dev in the fridge. Silver in a cabinet. By the way, keep collodion in glass, never plastic.Originally Posted by Ari
My session came out so well (and I'm pleased) because I knew how to react to several potential problems occuring. Like the "dark area" on the plates. My wife looked at the first one, and said "there is a shadow on the background cloth....see, it's dark there". I knew right away what it really was. Developer burning through. Tried to alter my pour.
Another thing was the margins were dark, all around the edge. Why? Because the collodion on the 2 edges was thinner than the other 2, and started drying out very quickly. Usually it won't do that, even in Arizona. But with super old collodion, it will be more likely to dry out faster, because the solvents have been added a few times to reduce thickening of the pour off bottle.
Black spots? Silver needs to be sunned and filtered.
The thing about wetplate is it's 50% technique. You HAVE to understand what you are doing.
Garrett
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What was I doing wrong in above photo?
Kent in SD
In contento ed allegria
Notte e di vogliam passar!
I don't doubt that an ambient temperature of 100F will adversely affect the process, even if you have kept the developer at a more reasonable temperature. I've found that pouring collodion when temps exceed 85F becomes more and more difficult, and leads to poor plates with marks on them. I don't suppose you were keeping the collodion cooled as well? Quinn states in his books that the silver bath is inclined to misbehave at temps above 80F:
“The silver bath will work best at temperatures between 15C – 26C (60F – 80F). If the temperature of the silver is below or above these temperatures, you’re likely to experience problems.”
Excerpt From: Quinn Jacobson, M.F.A. “Chemical Pictures.” Quinn Jacobson, M.F.A., 2014. iBooks. https://books.apple.com/us/book/chemical-pictures/id794481149"
Yeah, silver bath could have been near 100F degrees or even 110. The collodion was kept cooler but still could have reached 90 F by the time I was finishing. Looks like I need to start keeping the silver cool too. Lucky for me the temps are supposed to drop back down into the 70s and 80s after today. No doubt they'll be back up in July and August though. Just as I had figured out how to take photos when it was 15 F, it got hot a couple of months later. Those early frontier guys knew what they were doing! I can see how dry plates made things significantly easier.
Kent in SD
In contento ed allegria
Notte e di vogliam passar!
It could possibly be light leaks. Hard to tell from your scan. Keeping the chemicals around room temp is best, but mine have gotten pretty hot. Try it again, if still there with all the same factors, we'll figure it out. My hunch is it won't be repeatable.
Garrett
flickr galleries
I was out yesterday in the middle of South Dakota and photo'd some stored railroad equipment. Most of it is semi-abandoned. I liked the 1930s vintage snow plow. Chamonix 4x5, c.1890s B&L RR 150mm, tin type. f32 & 10s. Temperature was about 85 degrees and my development time was about 5-8s. I'm thinking of mixing up new developer adjusted for the warm temperatures.
Kent in SD
In contento ed allegria
Notte e di vogliam passar!
I got out last weekend and had plenty of time to try my new Anton 8x10 plate holder. I went up to a log cabin an hour north of me to test the holder and my latest lens--a rapid rectilinear FL=20 inch with a set of stops. The holder took a little getting used to as the back completely comes off and there's a trick to getting it back on in the semi-darkness. Other than that it worked flawlessly. With the Stenopeika I only made two successful 8x10 plates out of something like 40 tries. (The dark slide would scrape the emulsion most of the time.) With the new holder I made three successful plates out of three tries! My first try was pretty good, even. (Exposure a bit low.)
It was in the upper 80s to low 90s when I was making the tins, and that did affect my developer even though I kept it in a cooler with blue ice. I took shots on both Saturday and Sunday. On Sunday I couldn't pour a decent plate. The collodion kept gelling up shortly after hitting the plate. I realized I was near the bottom of the bottle. I've been simply pouring the excess collodion off the plate back into the bottle. Now that it's hot outside the ether quickly evaporates, along with some of the alcohol. There wasn't enough left in the bottle to keep the collodion fluid. I mixed up fresh collodion and poured in my stock bottle and this solved my solvent problem. The freshened batch worked fine.
Here's a couple of 8x10 tins I made. First used an 1854 pillbox lens FL=14 inch. Second shot was from the c.1880s rapid rectilinear FL=20 inch.
Kent in SD
In contento ed allegria
Notte e di vogliam passar!
10 x 12 Alumitype. Love Wetplate for all its eccentricities. This was the first plate for me that showed how powerful the sensitivity of wet plate characteristics really are. My friend has no freckles visible to the naked eye but wet plate goes through to find them in subsequent layers of her skin. 10 x 12 Canham. 240 Heliar. Exposure 11 seconds. Natural light with a homemade tinfoil reflector with olive oil smeared on it to soften it a bit. Work with what you gots.
Monty
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