Awesome work! I would love to hear about your paper negative process and see results! I just finished a handmade 11x14 camera and I am also shooting paper negatives (But hoping to save up for a box of HP5). I have found great luck with using an ilford multigrade 00 filter installed in my lens and metering around iso 2-3. I just finished a video of my camera and a section in it on my paper negative tests and results, I'd love to hear your thoughts on it and exchange notes!
One of the most interesting and unexpected aspects of portraiture using old, slow processes for me was the experience of being photographed. keeping still and 'projecting' oneself onto the plate/paper is a meditative act. You've taken it to a logical conclusion. Bravo!
Ty so much! Been trying to figure out how to "silver strike" with Krohn solution for my botanical electroform jewelry instead of just silver dipping. This is everything I need to know to do it correctly!! Same power supply and everything!! ❤🎉😊
Oh definitely! Initially I’m only interested in the long focal length and the center of the image but after seeing its coverage I’m thinking an obscura room will be in the works for sure!
sliding table tracks ! Really helpful thanks. I have an old process camera, looks similar to the one you showed, but mine doesn't have a base / focus systemand I've been wondering how I fix that. You just gave me a bunch of ideas. Thanks again.
When I do this, once the surfacing and polishing of the copper is done, I just wipe them and prepare them for electroplating. If I'm going to do the electroplating myself, they'll go through a series of cleaning and degreasing steps which can involve an acetone wipe or bath among other things. These days, I more typically send them out for plating which reduces my workload. In those cases, I just wipe the surface with a clean microfiber and apply a static cling type protective film before sending to the plater who will then run them through chemical cleaning and degreasing baths as a preliminary step in their plating process.
There is no full version as the talks weren't filmed in full. The excepts were snippets captured by my wife and folks in the audience and then shared with me which I compiled. I've gotten tons of requests for a video covering the full range of topics covered in the talk so I'm thinking about putting something like that together which might be a fun video project.
There is an authentic 1850 period sliding box camera on the table which was loaned to us. All other cameras and camera obscuras in the talk/ display were made be me for these demos. They all work.
How is the silver deposited onto the plate before it is polished - is that electroplated? If not, how was it done in the 1840’s? Is that historically accurate as they used to use copper plates with a silver surface.
I use both clad plates and electroplated plates. Two different methods for silvering. I mainly use copper plates as is most common traditionally but have experimented with other metal bases. In cladding, the two metals are bonded together under great pressure that causes them to fuse. The only place to get clad plates today is Century Darkroom. They are excellent and have a lot of silver on them so I like to use them when working on something where I may need to iterate and use a plate numerous times. In other cases when I know I'll get the image in one or two tries, I use electroplated plates which I have either plated for me or I plate them myself. Those have about half the silver on them. Both methods and a combination of the two are historically accurate. Copper and brass were used in the 19th century, copper being most common. Initially clad plates were most common because electroplating technology had not yet been perfected. After various advancements in generators were made, electroplating become more common. There was also a period where the preference was for using clad plates that had a final silver layer added by electroplating so the combination of the two.
We'll I've taken the camera apart and plan to rebuild it at some point but I have considered loading it with a ton of rolls all lined up. Some interesting work has been done like that. Overall though, I don't use film and 20x24 roll film is definitely not a thing!
Yea, truly. I honestly didn't know what to expect with this. I had to extrapolate exposure information from examples in collodion from past eclipses and then basically guess on exposure. Mine have solarized here but in a sweet spot that still works well for the images. I'm bummed that I'll have to wait 22 years to get a good go at trying this again but very happy that these actually worked!
Good work. Next time you can prepare to do multiple images at different times on one plate. There is a very early 19thC example like this. They all go in a line up the center of the plate, small little slivers showing the progression of coverage.
Yea, those are achieved a few different ways. I have a device from the 19th century that allows divisions for multiple exposures per plate but I haven't gotten around to repairing it yet. I'll be working on that soon and plan to do a lot with the concept.
I attempted at a becquerel daguerreotype of the eclipse using just a 4x5 view camera and while yes I did get an image, it was so incredibly small and hard to see that I really don’t know that I’m even going to keep it. Anyways I really enjoyed seeing how yours came out!