Monday, 7 March 2011

Collodion with David

For my recent collodion session I was joined by my friend and a great photographer David Monahan.

Unfortunately this was also a session when I experienced some chemistry problems for the first time. I  couldn’t figured out what happened. Images were dull, lacking of contrast, looking faded.


All the setting was as usual, same lamps, times of exposure, silver bath same and checked, but a while ago..

After examining the colour of the collodion I decided this is how the exhausted red/browny collodion has to look like. The images have a tint of red as well..
Looked like its sensitivity was much, much lower than usually and it surprised me, and instead of extending exposure times I extended the development...(here's the reason)

Anyway situation improved slightly with the outdoor setting and lighting.

David had tried one to, he managed it absolutely perfectly ! :

Well, the biggest knowledge of the collodion process lies actually in knowing how to proceed when something is going wrong, especially chemistry wise and being prepared for this. And the list of what can go wrong is veeery long....

3 comments:

  1. hey Monica! great plates! keep this going,you must be nearly ready to give your first workshop!!
    And like a true professional you make it all look so easy!!

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