Posts Tagged ‘wet plate collodion’
Salt print process with the help of Potassium Bichromate
Salt print process was invented by Henry Fox Talbot in 1839 and it’s known as a very low contrast printing technique. From The Book of Alternative Photographic Processes I’ve learned a technique to chemically raise a contrast of a salt print. You add a drop or two of potassium bichromate to a 28ml of sensitizer and heat it up to about 40C, expose it in the shadow, best under daylight UV skylight and then do a 5 minute prewash in a hot (cca 40C) distilled water with another 3 drops of potassium bichromate. It does raise a contrast, but it also cause speckling so you need to work with heated solutions and expect that it will not work the first time. Check how many test prints I’ve done until I figure it all out…
Today’s wetplate session in Josip Pelikan skylight’s studio
Christoph Staber, a photography student from Graz, Austria, portrayed in Studio Pelikan by Borut Peterlin. 6.4.2013, Celje, Slovenia, EU.
Here’s today’s portrait in Josip Pelikan skylight studio. The studio was built in 1898 and Josip Pelikan was working in it from 1920 to his death 1977. Now it’s a part of Museum of Recent History Celje.
On the plate I have some lines from not perfectly cleaned plate. I cleaned it several days ago and I thought it’ll be OK, but after few days, a plate in a box, needs to be cleaned again. I like it as it is but I strive to achieve Quinn’s perfection and then scratch it if I want 
Those edges are from albumen coating, because I had that box prepared for wetplate negative. Nevertheless it’s kind of cool, I might use the effect in the future.
Below there is a wet plate collodion negative format 10×12″ (25x30cm), digitally inverted into positive. I wanted that everything would be sharp, so I had an exposure of 15 minutes at aperture f/32. It’s cool one, although I knew at the time that perfect exposure would be 25min, but I was afraid that the plate would get dry. It was quite warm in the studio.
The portrait was done with modified Plaubel Peco 5×7″ camera and Voigtlander Heliar 300mm f/4,5. Exposure 6 seconds, f/4.5
The studio was photographed with Vageeswari 10×12″ camera and same Voigtlander Heliar 300mm f/4,5. Exposure 15 minutes, f/32.
PS: Do you see the difference between collodion negative picture and the digital one? I didn’t notice that while I was developing the plate the keeper of the gallery changed a small detail and I don’t mean my 4×5″ camera. Leave a comment Internet!
Flooded tree in wet plate collodion negative
A flooded tree by river Krka. This is a digital scan from Wet Plate Collodion negative, format 5×7″. Photograph taken with (modified) Plaubel Peco camera and Voigtlander Heliar 300mm, f4.5, lens. Exposure 10 seconds at f/16.
Two days ago I saw this flooded tree and I knew immediately it will look good on picture, but there was too much water, I couldn’t come near the tree. Yesterday I saw the water level has fallen, but didn’t had time to make the picture and on other hand I knew the flood will be gone by tomorrow, so today I decided to make the picture. Only problem was that I had to work in Ljubljana, to make half a dozen on location portraits for Mladina weekly. OK, I did it with digital camera, but still a lot of work. I decided I have an hour to make the collodion image, no more. I drove to the place, set up the tent, made a test and then also the plate. All that in 42 minutes. I cleaned the set up and head to digital work.
Wet Plate Collodion negative snaps after work
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After finishing portraits that I had to do in Ljubljana, I’ve stopped at the spring of the river Krka. Since it’s flooding water is rushing out from the cave so I couldn’t get a decent point of view, so I started to photograph the spring of stream Poltarica. Wet Plate Collodion process is a complicated process and beside that you need to know how to do it, you need to figure out the workflow. Today I had two missions. One was to figure out why I had blisters on some plates few days ago and the second was if I can do 4×5″ negative wetplates in my small darkbox.
First mission was soon cracked. It was cold as it was the other day, it was 3 degrees Celsius and I had no blisters whatsoever. I remembered that the other day I had this problems only at the beginning of the shoot when it was raining just a little bit. I’m sure a drop of rain fell on my plate when it was already coated with collodion and when I dipped it in silvernitrate bath, rock&roll started.
Second mission was a total success as well. I’ve made four plates and I can’t wait to print them. I’ve learned many small, but important details of a workflow so now I’m thinking to do a project in Bosnia in this manner! It’ll be 20th anniversary from the end of the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina, that was established byDayton Peace Accord in 1995 and I already did a cycling tour on the ethnic border between Republic Srbska (Serbs) and Federation Republic (Muslims+Croats), photographing how landscape changed politically. The ethnic border was founded in Dayton and it’s known as Dayton border. My cycling Tour de Dayton you can see on THIS link, but this year I’ll do it again with my luxurious car and do a wetplate project and prepare an exhibition for 2015.
Anyhow, that’s me always thinking few steps ahead and now I’m thinking that I need to go to bed. I hope you like the images and good night Internet where ever you are.
A cold, but good wetplate day (no April fools joke :-)
Today was a good day. I was preparing yesterday several hours, cleaning plates, subbing them with albumen, calibrating chemicals, mixing fresh developer, getting gear together, nevertheless I succeed to forgot my plate holder at home, but luckily I’m shooting my neighborhood so I drove back home and picked it up. It was cold again! Zero degrees Celsius! I prepared stronger developer and for wetplate negative the sensitization was 7 minutes. I wanted to be eight, but I was getting some weird pimples on my plates. I’ve never seen anything like it. It’s because of albumen, low temperature, collodion drying, thin collodion film, longer sensitisation in silvernitrate and stuff, I know, but lesson learned, for the next time I’ll be subbing only edges of plates with albumen.
I’ve done several plates, but with these two wetplate negatives and I’m very happy. Working in this conditions it’s hard, especially doing a negative, but the results that wetplate negative is delivering is justifying all the pain.
As you’ve noticed, I’ve redone the image of a tree trunk in the water. The image from the earlier post was done with Kodak Folding Brownie and I wasn’t satisfied, so this time I used my Schneider Kreuznach Tele-Xenar lens 500mm f/5.5. I like it a lot!
PS: By the way, this Saturday, 6th of April, I’m working in Josip Pelikan studio and if you want, I will make you a portrait.
A short clip from yesterday’s Photo-fair in Šempeter pri Gorici, Slovenia, EU
Boris Primožič, a photographer, portrayed in wet plate collodion technique by Borut Peterlin
Gregor Cokan, a photographer, portrayed in Wet plate collodion technique
On Saturday there was a photo-fair in Šempeter pri Gorici, Slovenia, EU and I presented my work and promote the revival of Studio Pelikan. It was fun, I’ve sold two cyanotypes and wet wetplate portraits, but more then that I’ve met many colleagues and friends. Here are two portraits that I’ve done on the location and on the bottom there is a short 46 seconds video how I was sharing my love.
A giant leap in my Wet Plate Collodion process / negative and ambrotype
I’m still working hard on Wet Plate Collodion process, but negative on glass, not positive – an ambrotype. Two days ago I gave myself a challenging task. To do a nice wetplate negative in challenging conditions. I set up my darkroom tent in a park near my house, choose one motif, two view cameras and devote eight hours to make a good ambrotype and a good negative. It’s still winter in this corner of the world (Slovenia,EU), so I mixed my chemicals for -1⁰C temperature, but in my tent there was + 5C, so developing was quite demanding. Nevertheless it was a good day. Very good!
Print for sale. Size 30x40cm, FomaBrom baryt paper, toned with sodium sulfide and sellenium toners. Bidding auction on ebay. [/caption] Today I’ve printed the wet plate negative, format 5×7″, on a classic gelatine photographic paper. I was doing tests what combination of paper, exposure and toning works best. I decided to go for split toning with sodium sulfide for highlights and selenium toner for shadows. The toning increases stability of silver, so it will remain like this for at least a century. This print was done on FomaBrom fiber based paper, size 30x40cm (12×16″). All process were done by museum archival standards. I’m selling this print on ebay – LINK. Still learning how this ebay works, so I’m opening a bidding auction. This goes for the first print in edition of 12. Rock and Roll!
Two outdoor ambrotypes in 35 min
Kodak Folding Brownie 3A, f/64, t= 8s. Check solarization effect on the sky. So cool!
Kodak Folding Brownie 3A, f/64, t= 8s
Today I was driving from work through a forrest with beautiful light! True fairy tale scene. I got home, pick up my wetplate stuff that was still packed from yesterday and I head back. I’ve done two ambrotypes (or winter ambroice) plates in 35 minutes and the time start counting from stepping out of a car, setting everything up until sitting back and driving away with two plates. I’m experimenting how fast can I work, how much time and preparations do I need. I love it. Very relaxing, very spontaneous!
We have so much snow, it’s hard to park a car, so this was mine today’s workplace.
Unfortunately the sun lost it’s power after my plate was ready.
Wet Plate Collodion at temperature 0C
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Today I’ve made two plates while it was snowing. We have 84cm of snow and it was still snowing. I put chains on wheels of my car and off I went! It was a good day! Oh I forgot to mention in the video that second plate had better contrast not so muvh because of developing time, but I was sensitizing it for 6min while the first one was sensitized for 5 min.
Digital and analog manipulation by Collodion Bastard
final result, portrait of a band Napravi mi dete
In Friday’s Mladina weekly there will be published my portrait of a band Napravi mi dete (make me a child). I’ve done their portrait on Mamiya C330, on film format 6×6. Then I develop the film and exposed a wet plate collodion plate, but with chemistry of Miša Keskenović (based on receipts of J. M. Eder) that was meant for contrasty wetplate negatives. We’ve made few tests with different developers and we got results that somewhat might be opalotypes. I’ve scanned the plate and it was alright but I’ve took a step forward and hold it over flame so it broke. Cracks are more controllable then you might think, but still very unpredictable. Plate literally exploded in my hand, since I hold the flame too much in the middle of the plate. You can see the hole where all cracks are coming from. Left bottom corner. I’m attaching how pieces of the plate looked like on my scanner and then I digitally sew them together. Is this a digital manipulation? I decided to sew the pieces together digitally, because I already scratched the surface of my scanner while scanning plates. It’s a though job, being a collodion bastard, but someone have to do it…
Post Scriptum:
Today I’ve bought a table saw. Before devoting completely to photography, I’ve made a secondary school for carpentry and now I’m getting in touch with my inner carpenter. I’m planning to make my own frames, silver and fixer baths, copying frames,…
every Colodion Bastard need a good table saw!
