I took a break from the flora photographs and took some collodion dry plates out and made some negatives. These are very reliable and convenient in so many ways. The exposure time can be a problem if you have wind or bad weather, other than that, they are wonderful to work with. In my studio, I use all wet collodion negatives. My darkroom and studio is super nice for the flora work or any still life work - and maybe one day again, portraits.
I made three negatives the other day. I printed one yesterday and these are the other two. I really like the color I can get with toned Kallitypes. The only thing I don’t like is that they use silver - a big archival concern. If your workflow is solid, they will outlast you, no doubt. I like the non-silver prints for that reason. The toned Kallitypes are beautiful though.
I used a Hahnemühle Baryta paper and made a platinum palladium print.
A gold/platinum/palladium toned Kallitype print from a collodion dry plate negative.
A gold/platinum/palladium toned Kallitype print from a collodion dry plate negative.
If you look in the top left corner of this image, you can see Tava. I wanted to show the texture of the giant granite pad. The volcanos here are hundreds of thousands of years old and created all of these.
The mats always help to “finish” these prints.