Collodion Dry Plate Negative & Print

The Bausch & Lomb Tessar and Collodion Dry Plate Negative

I took the Bausch & Lomb Tessar out today and made a collodion dry plate negative. It’s absolutely beautiful. It was made February 24, 1903. It’s an 8” x 10” lens (12” x 10” when using smaller f/stops). It covers my Whole Plate (6.5” x 8.5”) wonderfully.

Two things l love about it; 1) it’s speed. It’s an f/4.5 lens. 2) The coverage. I wanted something that I can use for landscapes and easily cover the plate. This does that with room to spare. I love the speed, too. I made this negative at f/4.5 for a 6 minute exposure at 1000 hrs (morning). The sun was hidden behind some soft, wispy clouds - beautiful light. If you look close, you can see the rim light on the top of the trunk. The light is coming from the east and my camera was facing south.

Next on the agenda is to make a Platinum Palladium print and an Oil Print from this negative. Really exciting stuff for me. I absolutely love it!

Digital snap of the scene as the exposure was being made.

Digital snap inverted, unfortunately this gets compressed by some algorithm - The detail is spectacular! I’ll post the prints when I get them.

Getting Closer the The "Look & Feel" I Want

First things first, in that order.

I want to make a body of work that has a certain aesthetic or “look and feel”. In order to do that, I need to know what kind of negatives I need for the printing processes that this work will be made on. It’s a long journey, in some ways. It even comes down to the optics. Of course, the biggest factor is LIGHT! We tend to forget that equipment or gear will only go so far. You do need the correct equipment/gear to make the work, but the LIGHT is the biggest factor. We bow to it and everything we do is in service of it.

My goal with these two images was to expose them in the early morning light. Having the light act as almost a backlit scenario or front-lit scenario. I wanted an “otherworldly” look. Something that is foreign and beautiful. Words that come to mind are soft, delicate, beautiful (in a new way), and alien.

I’m getting closer with every negative I make and every print I produce. A great journey! I’m trying to stay focused and think, think, think. Execute, execute, execute. Stay tuned!

Take a look at this video. He makes some really good points about Pictorialism.

Sorting Out Oil Printing Equipment & Gelatinizing Paper

If you want to make Rawlins Oil Prints, you’ve got to sort out the equipment and find a strategy that works. Like all historic photographic processes, you need to find your own way of doing things. The cleaner and the more organized you are will give you better results.

Part of the printing process involves preparing the paper. Here, I’m using Arches Oil paper (300 gsm or 140 lbs.). It’s a great paper for oil printing. I also like Hahnemühle Platinum Rag and Revere Platinum. All great papers for this process.

The process of getting gelatin on the paper can be accomplished in a couple of different ways. I prefer this method. You can use a cookie sheet and submerge the paper let it dry and submerge again. I don’t care for that for several reasons, the biggest is getting gelatin on the back of the paper. Also, I like a “thick” concentrated layer to work with.

You also need to figure out how to prevent the paper from curling up into a tube when it’s dried. I made the wooden cut-out frames and clamp the corners. I’ve developed a new way of doing this that I will show in another blog. I’m waiting on some materials to make it happen. This is a big deal. The paper is impossible to sensitize if you can’t lay it flat.

My ultimate goal is to be able to prepare 10 sheets of paper at a time. That would give me enough to work with for about 2 weeks. I’m trying to make 15 - 20 prints per month. I will edit the images at the end of the year. I’m planning two years’ worth of work. Big goals! Let’s see what happens!

These are wonderful magnets. It took me three years to finally find ones that really work well. These do!

Freshly poured gelatin setting up on the pouring table.

You can see how thick the gelatin is - even and clean!

It will take some practice to get this right. A lot of it has to do with your workflow and equipment.

Two sheets of gelatinized paper drying. They will be ready to sensitize tomorrow.

Vinculum

Sally Mann is a wonderful human being, a great artist, and a powerful intellect. If you haven’t seen her video called, “Vinculum”? Do yourself a favor and watch it.

She inspires me. She makes me think. I am motivated when I read her writings, watch her films, and look at her work. I owe a lot to her. In “Vinculum” she ties the process she’s working in, the type of film and printing, to the concepts and ideas she’s interested in exploring. I think this is the most important thing an artist can do. If work is missing this, I don’t think it can be very successful. It can be pretty, it can be cool, it can be technical, and it can even be sophisticated. But it can’t be a story. Sally ties these ideas and concepts together so well that you can almost feel the ideas. And that is what vinculum means, “a unifying bond”.

My goal has always been to tie a strong narrative to my work. I’m not talking about photojournalism, but personal concerns, questions, ideas, etcetera. I’m trying to make work with this project that does what Sally talks about in her video. I want to bind the people today (us) to the people of the past and present. And I want to do that through the land and making landscape pictures that feel a certain way. I feel like I’m getting a handle on what I want to do, but it will take some time.

Lately, I’ve tried to limit the technical support and social media stuff, so I can concentrate and give this work what it needs to be successful. I like sharing what I’m doing, but I don’t want to wear the badge of “technical support” much anymore. It’s time-consuming and mind-consuming. I do support people who support me. That will never change.

I wanted to share another image I’m working on in the Rawlins Oil Printing process as well as a “new” lens I’m going to be taking out for a test drive soon. Once again, I apologize for the less-than-quality iPhone snaps, but you can get the idea.

Garden of the Gods - Colorado Springs, Colorado - Rawlins Oil print (1903) from a collodion dry plate negative.

Trying to she the relief - Garden of the Gods - Colorado Springs, Colorado - Rawlins Oil print (1903) from a collodion dry plate negative.

Trying to she the relief - Garden of the Gods - Colorado Springs, Colorado - Rawlins Oil print (1903) from a collodion dry plate negative.

We built a 4’ x 6’ work table for the studio. It’s very nice to do oil prints on!

A “new” lens that I’m taking out next time to make some negatives with. It was made on February 24, 1903, at the height of Pictorialism. It’s a Bausch & Lomb Tessar lens. It covers 12 x 10 at a distance and has an aperture range of f/4.5 to f/32.

I use gaffer’s tape to cover any “joints” or connections on old lenses. I’m always conscious of light leaks, especially outdoors up here!

Rawlins Oil Print From A Collodion Dry Plate Negative

I find the Rawlins Oil Printing process one of the most beautiful and most pleasurable to execute. It’s been a couple of years since I made any prints. I finally got set up again and am very excited to marry and refine the Collodion Dry Plate process and the Rawlins Oil Printing process.

My hope is that by the end of the summer, I’ll have these working together so well, I’ll feel very confident about the technical portion of my project. The other printing processes I may use don’t require the technical and creative prowess that this does. It’s true there’s always a “fine-tuning” to making any print, but this process goes beyond that.

The collodion dry plate negative registered as a density of 1.8. I used a 10% potassium dichromate cut by 60% with acetone. I’m playing with contrast using different dilutions of sensitizer. I used .60ml per sq inch and dried the gelatin/dichromate to “bone dry.” The exposure was 1.5 minutes in direct afternoon sun. It printed out very well and very fast.

I swelled the matrix in 30C/86F water for 20 minutes. I used 1903 Dark Brown ink (my favorite). I applied the first couple of coats with a roller and then “hopped” and “dabbed” with a brush. The print is beautiful in hand. Please excuse the iPhone snaps, best that I could do.

The matrix fresh out of the swell water.

I used Revere Platinum paper for this print. It worked well.

The obligatory “relief” shot. It is very cool how the process works. The swelled gelatin resists the ink and the midtones/shadows accept it.

I’m still working on my “Ponderosa Tree” image. I added some black with the dark brown. It gives it nice contrast.

Pictorialism

A BRIEF OVERVIEW & SOME HISTORY

Over the past several years, I’ve been very interested in pictorialism. After nearly 40 years of making mostly “straight” photographs, I’ve grown tired and bored of working like that. It doesn’t speak to me anymore. I’m not excited to look at “straight” photographs anymore. I suppose I’m looking for more expression. More of the “hand” in the work. More poetry. More something! I understand why this movement came about.

In undergraduate school, I was pushed to get out of my comfort zone photographically, and it was very good for me. I learned a lot about making pictures. It happened in graduate school as well but in a different way. I loved it. But I couldn’t make a living working that way. It’s the old cliche of “starving artist”. I always fell back into the “commercial” mode. How to pay my bills and feed my family was always a concern and influenced the majority of what I did. What would sell? What would get me into galleries? What jobs are available? What does the market want? Etcetera, etcetera… a tough world to live in. I will say that I feel like a lot of my portraiture work was not conventional and pushed against the tide of capitalism at least a little bit. It was a very bright spot in all of my work and didn’t feel so “commercial”. Although, in the end, it was.

I worked as a photojournalist for many years and eventually spent 20 years working as a photographer for the U.S. Government. I took early retirement in order to pursue my passion full-time. I enjoyed my career. I traveled the world and made pictures. It was good, no regrets. Between that and my personal work, exhibitions, teaching, and publishing books, it’s provided what I have now. Jeanne and I live on 12 acres in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado. The solitude is priceless. I have no words to describe how much gratitude I have for my life - I’m living my dream. And I couldn’t have done any of it without my wife, Jeanne. We’ve been married 31 years this August.

Having said that, the commercial pursuit is not an issue for me anymore. At 58 years old, I’m all about making work that moves me, that speaks to me whether the masses like it or not. Don’t misunderstand me, I will sell prints and books, and I do, but it doesn’t drive the work as it did before. The work I make now is not connected to any commercial endeavor like before. What freedom! I truly feel like I’ll make my best work over the coming years because of that. A huge weight and obligation have been lifted and I’m very grateful for that.

WHERE DOES PICTORIALISM FIT?

First, what is pictorialism? Pictorialism is an international style and aesthetic movement that dominated photography during the later 19th and early 20th centuries (1885 - 1915). There is no standard definition of the term, but in general, it refers to a style in which the photographer has somehow manipulated what would otherwise be a “straight” photograph as a means of "creating" an image rather than simply recording it. I like what photographer Sandy King said, “Only images which show the personality of the maker, generally through hand manipulation, can be considered works of art.

- An interest in the effect and patterns of natural lighting in the outdoor landscape

- An impressionistic rendering of the scene, in which overall effect is more important than detail

- The use of symbolism or allegory to reveal a message

- The use of alternative printing processes: carbon and carbro, gum bichromate, oil and bromoil, direct carbon, and platinum.

A review of the techniques Pictorialists used to convert the camera into something closer to a paintbrush is also enlightening.  These included darkroom manipulation; the combining of multiple negatives; the use of artisan emulsions; alternative printing methods using gum bichromate and gum bromoil; the use of paintbrushes and handmade paper.  In addition to giving the pictures their unique look, these techniques also ensured that no two prints looked identical, even if they came from the same negative.”

I would add to this quote “narrative”. I think it’s very important for art to tell a story of some kind. Pretty pictures are great, but they are so much more powerful when context and intention are present - a narrative. Also, the processes listed are not all of them that can achieve this aesthectic. There are many more that will answer to pictorialism. The Kallitype (below) is an example of that.

I agree that oil printing is probably one of the best printing processes to use for pictorialism. I’ll be making a few of them with my new collodion dry plate negatives over the next few days. Let’s see if they have the “pictorialist” aesthetic. I have high hopes and will work until I achieve want I want.

A platinum toned Kallitype on Revere Platinum paper. This is from a collodion dry plate negative.

Oil Prints From Collodion Dry Plate Negatives

PIGMENT PRINTS
Over the past couple of years, I’ve talked a lot about making Rawlins Oil Prints. And specifically, Oil Prints on glass. You can visit my YouTube channel and watch me make both paper prints and glass prints. And now that I have a couple of good collodion dry plate negatives, I’m getting set up to run some Oil Prints.

My interest is two-fold; first, I want to have some ability to manipulate the image. Not only color but what you want to emphasize or not. This process allows you to do that. Secondly, I have the ability to create “color” images. I don’t mean RGB color images, I mean I can apply different colors of ink to the print. I prefer Senefelder's Crayon Black (1803) and Black lithographic ink.

This is how it works: Apply an 8% solution of gelatin onto a good paper. I use Photo Bloom 250, but you can use regular Knox plain gelatin from the grocery store. I like several papers; Hahnemühle Platinum Rag, Arches Platine, and Revere Platinum. I’ve also used Yupo paper. It’s a “plastic” paper that works well and clears fast, but I’m not a big fan of plastic photographs.

After the gelatin is dry, apply a 10% dichromate/acetone (or alcohol) mixture. This is what sensitizes the gelatin. Allow the sensitizer to dry and the paper is ready for the negative and for the exposure. What happens is when the strong UV light hits the gelatin where the shadow areas are, it hardens the gelatin. The highlights are basically unexposed and the gelatin remains.

After exposure, wash the dichromate from the gelatin. This takes about 20 minutes. The gelatin will clear and it will swell, too. This is called a matrix. The swollen gelatin refers to the highlights in the image and the non-swollen, or hardened gelatin refers to the shadow areas.

Time to “ink-up” the print. With the matrix swollen, use any lithographic ink and slowly apply it to the print. It will ink the shadow areas and the swollen gelatin in the highlights will resist the ink. This is where it gets its name, “Oil Printing” like oil and water - resistance. The highlights stay “paperwhite” and the shadows are full of ink.

There are a lot more subtleties to inking up and it takes practice and time. The ability to make really fine, exquisite prints is very achievable. They are very painterly and would fall into the category of Pictorialism. This is an aesthetic that I’m very interested in applying to this work. Stay tuned!

My Testing Is Finished - The Collodion Dry Plate Processes

IT’S A WRAP!
I’ve come to the end of my technical explorations for making negatives. It’s been over a year of reading, writing, doing my YouTube shows, and testing Collodion Dry Plate processes. So what’s next? Keep reading, I’ll get to that.

I started this journey because I needed to find a collodion dry plate process for my new project. A project dealing with the land that I live on and was once occupied by the Ute Indian Tribe. Sacred places, objects, fauna, trees, etc.

The obvious reason for using a dry plate process is that you don’t need to pack a darkroom, chemicals, etc. Just the plates, camera, lens, tripod, loupe, and timer. It’s wonderful. It’s liberating. I really love it. There’s freedom with it to photograph things and places that have never been photographed this way. Some of the places I will photograph require a 45- minute hike to get to them, one way. There’s no way wet collodion can be used in this way.

I’ve settled on Thomas Sutton’s version of Major Russell’s Tannin Dry Plate process. You can find it in his book, “The Collodion Processes: Wet & Dry” London, 1862. I’ve modified a bit for my workflow and my environment (in the mountains at high elevation). Why did I select this? To me, it gives the best negative for printing Platinum Palladium and Kallitypes. I can get a 1.5 - 2.0 negative every time. Consistency is key. Collodio-Albumen is wonderful, but I want to work faster than that process allows; both in preparation and exposure. I still have a lot to figure out for the exact details of the project; they will reveal themselves as I make the work. I’m sure of it.

POETIC LICENSE
I do know that I want something “more” for this work. I’m bored by the look of a straight photograph. I originally wanted to do “f/64” type of landscape images. I know that’s not who I am and it really leaves me wanting and unexcited. I’m a portrait photographer by profession (30+ years), and, as an artist, desire that aesthetic show in this work. I’m not talking about creating artifacts or embracing technical flaws, I’m talking about an aesthetic that shows compassion, creativity, and beauty in the work. Like you’re reading a great piece of poetry or looking at a powerful portrait. I’ve often said that I’m a frustrated painter. It’s true, I’ve always attempted to show emotion in my work; subtle or bold, I’m always after something that moves me visually. The “straight” photograph doesn’t move me. It bores me for the most part, I’ve seen them so many times, they all look the same, and they do nothing for me. If you’re after a technical assignment or a commissioned work, employ that. It’s what the masses want to see. I don’t. So I’m approaching this project in my own way, taking poetic license.

Platinum Palladium Print. Ute Indians believe that the Ponderosa Pine tree brings specific medicine, food, and carries a sacred spark of the Great Spirit. If you look closely, on the center-right, you can see a “face” (profile) of a Native American looking across the image in the background. Amazing gift! My wife, Jeanne found this studying the print.

Collodion Dry Plate Negative. April 8, 2022 - Rocky Mountains, Colorado.

The print dried down. 4 minute exposure in the Colorado sun!

Looks really amazing with a matte over it. I absolutely love this print. The light up here is amazing and it shows here. Very other-worldly!

Collodion Dry Plate Exposures; My Approach

Please keep in mind, that this is not gospel. It’s based on an increase of 10 times the exposure at ISO 3. That seems to be a fair estimate for the dry collodion process. You may find that it’s more like 8 times or 6 times (as the old literature says), but it only takes a plate or two and you’ll know.

When developing the plate, you should see the highlights within about 3-5 minutes (the sky, bright objects, etc.). The entire plate should be fully out within 10 minutes. If the highlights appear in 1 minute, you are overexposed. If they don’t appear for 5 minutes, you are underexposed. Simple.

To begin with, you need to determine what preservative you’re using. I’m testing T. Sutton’s “Rapid Dry Plate” process right now. That takes a “special” collodion and gum arabic as the preservative. Sutton claims these are as fast (exposure) as wet collodion negatives. We’re going to find out in the next couple of days.

For this question, I’ll address how I figure out exposure for Sutton’s Collodion Dry Plate using tannic acid. It would be nice to know what the ISO/ASA is, but it’s so slow (10x slower than wet collodion) not really feasible to approach exposure from that angle. Here’s what I do.

First, download the “Pinhole Assist” app. I’ve been using this app since 2010. A workshop student in Paris developed it and turned us all on to it during the workshop. He incorporated more wet collodion features in it after the workshop to include super low ISO/ASA and a really good/accurate calculation for exposure. The pinhole features were already there and help with what we do. Now, the collodion dry plate needs some help. Here’s what I do: Meter the scene at ISO/ASA 3.2 and set your f/stop. I have screenshots here showing the scene and the numbers. If the app says 1/2 second (.5) times that by 1024 = 512/60= 8.53 minutes for exposure. It’s a 10-stop increase from ISO 3.2. Easy, quick, and simple.

ISO/ASA 3.2 with f/16 and .5 seconds. Translated for Collodion Dry Plate: .5 seconds times 1024 = 512/60= 8.53 minutes for a Tannin Dry Plate. Notice where I am metering the scene - very important to expose for the shadows/midtones.