There are a few things that need to be resolved with the plate preparation for the Collodio-Albumen Dry Plate process (CADP).
First, the collodion I used this time is ALL IODIDE collodion, it contains NO BROMIDES. That’s not a problem, I just wonder if I’m going to get the mid-tones as well without bromides. It makes me nervous, but we’ll find out.
Secondly, it’s very difficult to see the Iodized Albumen as you pour it on the plate. The Half Plate was no problem, it’s small and you can cover it like water and catch all of the runoff. The Whole Plate is a bit of a challenge. It would be great if I could figure out a dye to add to the Iodized Albumen that shows well in red light. Also, I made 500 ml of Iodized Albumen and used 100 ml to cover four (4) Whole Plates - about 25 ml per plate. Not too bad. 40 Whole Plates per liter. You would actually get a lot more reusing it. But this is in a “one use” scenario. I can live with that. I know I probably overkilled it, but I wanted to be sure I covered the plate (twice). I do have a little system with a “B” Bottle to catch the runoff. It can be reused until it’s gone. I’m happy about that or I’d be cracking eggs once a week!
Here you can see Saddleback Mountain (peak in the distance - objects appear farther away in the picture than in real life). And my studio and darkroom building is to the left. You can see the pure ACTINIC light I get up here - 8,500 feet above sea level. This is looking west.
And lastly, I’m going to have to set up a system in my darkroom where I can prepare about 20 - 30 plates at a time. There will be about a 10% loss, but 30 plates ready to use will get me going. It will take some thought of how best to do this - I would like to set up two silver baths, which would cut my time in half. So 30 plates might take 3 hours - 10 plates per hour. I’ll get better as I go!
Tomorrow, March 2, 2022, I’m going to expose at least one of the four plates I prepped today. I want a well-lighted scene. I wandered around the property and found this - a granite rock and tree scene. DIverse in color and texture. I’ll set up between 1200 and 1300 hours - the sun is highest at that point right now. I’ll start with a 3-minute exposure with my Dallmeyer 290mm lens stopped down to f/11. That’s probably too much, but we’ll find out. If I’m successful, that means my exposure times in June and July will be around 1 minute. I can live with that.
If I make a horizontal plate, it will look something like this. Well lighted, texture, color, perfect for a test.
If I make a vertical plate, it will look something like this. Well lighted, texture, color, perfect for a test. I might like this composition better. What do you think?
These turned out really nice. My iPhone couldn’t handle the red light.
Four plates drying and ready for tomorrow! Exciting stuff for me!