Normal film holder for wet plate photography

Yesterday i bit the bullit and started working on a normal 8 x 10 " film holder.
I wanted to make it suitable for wet plate photography.
Alexey Alexeev showed mee some pictures of his plate holder.
To be honest, it is really very easy to do. The plate between the two slides was actually thicker than i expected. It was very stiff and about 1 1/2 mm thick.
The whole process only took about 30 minutes.

1. Put some tape to on the inside of the film holder and put on the glass which you want to use. Draw a line around the glass plate so you have the needed size
In my case it was 18 x 24 cm

For cutting i have used a small normal grinder which allows me to adjust the speed.
I have used a special thin cutting blade.

Because you can not reach the corners with the grinder i have used normal sawblade, which you use fur cutting alluminium or iron, for cutting the corners.
After that just use a small file for finishing.

For the corners i have used stainless steel wire of ,75mm thick or even better is pure silver wire.
I drilled the small holes with a small drill of 1 mm.
Make sure you cover the cuttings and holes with some transparent (nail)paint
Et voila, a plate holder suitable for wet plate photography

Workshop with Charley and Jaap

Today i had a workshop with Charley and Jaap.
Both enthousiastic photographers who wanted to learn the collodion process.
It was a long dag , but we had lots of funn
We made several nice plates with good results.
Hardly any collodion was spoiled !!

some results :

Dallmeyer 3b at 5.6

exposure time 5 sec

Clear glass

KCN fixer

Dallmeyer 3b at 5.6

exposure time 5 sec

Clear glass

KCN fixer

Dallmeyer 3b at 5.6

exposure time 5 sec

Clear glass

KCN fixer



Studio shoot at "MIJNSTUDIO"

Last week i was invited by Marc Vreenegoor, owner of a very beautifull professional studio in ter Aar ( near Amsterdam) to give a demonstration wet plate photography.

He invited a very beautifull, but also very patient model Marisa to make some plates.
The other photographer was Huibert van der Meer. A great and very creative photographer.
For the most of them it was the first time they ever saw wet plate photography.
It was a very long but also joyfull day.

Location : www.mijnstudio.nu

Marc Vreenegoor : http://www.m-xposure.com/

Huibert van der Meer : http://www.huibertvandermeer.nl/

some impressions :

picture made by Marc Vreenegoor

Dallmeyer 3b wide open

exposure time 10 sec

black glass

Dallmeyer 3b wide open

exposure time 6 sec

black glass

Dallmeyer 3b wide open

exposure time 10 sec

black glass

"George"

This evening my friend George came by.

He 73 years old and he's ALWAYS smiling.
George originaly comes from Ghana and this pictures was with his traditional clothes on.

noname petzval
aprox 350 mm 5.6
clear glass
"poorboy" collodion
KCN fixer
exposuretime 6 sec.

This was more difficult to get the light right.
Unfortunately not perfect sharp, but i think it is almost impossible to do, laughing for 6 seconds and keeping your head still.
 

My son Robin

I know, he  looks a bit angry. But thats the way he wanted it.
This looks cool on he internet was his answer......

 No name latern petzval lens

aprox 350 mm 5.6

clear glass

"poorboy" collodion

KCN fixer

exposuretime 5 sec.

A 7 page article in DIGIFOTO pro

A few months ago i got in contact with the Dutch magazine DIGIFOTO pro
Jorrit Dijkstra, there journalist, was very interested in the wetplate proces.
He recently visited my home and wrote a 7 page large article about wetplate photography.

So if you are interested in reading it, just buy there new magazine
http://www.digifotopro.nl/magazine
It's in Dutch. sorry

Although there are some minor miswritings in the article i am extremely happy with it.
Many thanks to Jorrit and there magazine.

DIGIFOTO pro