#collodion process

[audreykempphoto]

Renee | August 19, 2019

[theamericanparlor]

Field Camera Lens , Civil War

The wet collodion process produced glass negatives that were used to print positive images on albumen paper (coated with a light-sensitive mixture including egg whites) or were placed against a dark background to produce ambrotypes, which appeared positive. Collodion could also be poured onto iron plates, used to produce tintypes-- positive images that required no printing. Itinerant photographers who turned out quick, inexpensive portraits for soldiers and civilians favored tintypes. Other photographers who visited camps and battlefields produced glass negatives, which they sent to studios for printing.

National Museum of American History

[audreykempphoto]

Renee | August 19, 2019

[thephoblographer]

Kurt Moser Transforms a Russian Military Truck Into a Camera and Darkroom

Kurt Moser is on a mindblowing mission aboard a Russian military truck turned camera + darkroom.

Ambrotype photographer Kurt Moser has big dreams for his craft. Literally and figuratively. As if taking on a very challenging traditional photography method called ambrotype wasn’t already a big undertaking, Italy-based photographer Kurt Moser decided to go even bigger. He had the mind-blowing idea to transform a URAL 375 into one of the biggest mobile cameras in the world. The mission? To…

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[glensfallsart]

(via Photographer Uses 19th Century Techniques To Create Striking Photos Of The Erie Canal)

[uroft-blog]

Photographer Uses 166-Year-Old Technique To Shoot Kids, And The Result Is Haunting

Photographer Uses 166-Year-Old Technique To Shoot Kids, And The Result Is Haunting

Spanish artist Jacqueline Roberts swims against the tide, reviving 19-th century photography in the digital era. Jacqueline’s work mostly revolves around the psychological and emotional transition from childhood to adolescence, and the technique she uses further intensifies the eerily change, making the images look like something you’d find in your nightmares.

Wet plate photography (also…

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[dslrlearning-blog]

Camera Club Project Collodion process / wet plate process

Collodion process / Wet plate process

 A Collodion process also known as a wet plate process is a personal favourite of mine. Invented in 1851 it requires the photographic material to be coated, sensitized, exposed and developed within the span of about fifteen minutes, necessitating a portable darkroom for use in the field. The collodion process produced a negative image on a transparent support (glass). We can achieve a similar version digital using Photoshop. I've used a picture I took in the studio a few years ago. I would advise taking a portrait of someone with interesting features, a more 'mature' looking person works well because of the contrast range in the wrinkles. 

1. Apply High Pass sharpening

Open your portrait image in Photoshop and press Ctrl+J to copy the Background to a new Layer. Next go to Filter>Other>High Pass and set the Radius to 10 Pixels for a head and shoulders shot, or 5 Pixels for a waist level portrait. Now go to the Layers panel and click on the Blending modes dropdown menu at the top that’s set to normal by default, and select Overlay from the list of options. 

2. Add Lens and Movement Blur

Hold down Ctrl+Shift+Alt+E to merge the visible Layers into a new Layer at the top of the stack. This will now be active. We need to do this because adding blur to the previous Layer will not show up. Next Go to Filter>Blur>Lens Blur on the main Photoshop menu and use all of the default settings except for Radius, which should be set to 60. Click OK. Go back to the menu and click on Filter>Blur>Motion Blur. When the dialogue box opens set the Angle to 10, Distance to 50 and hit OK. 

3. Mask out an area of blur

Click on the Layer mask icon at the bottom of the Layers panel to Add layer mask – it’s the icon showing a rectangle with a circle in the centre. Press D on the keyboard to set the foreground and background colours to black & white. If white appears in the foreground hit X to switch to black. Now press B on the keyboard and select a large soft edge brush (around 1500 px) to mask out blur over the central part of the face. If you make a mistake press X to bring white to the foreground and paint over the offending area. Take time when doing this because what you’re aiming for is a believable shallow depth-of-field effect. 

4. Convert to black & white with the Channel Mixer

Click on the adjustment layer icon at the bottom of the the Layers palette – it’s the half- black half-white circle. Select Channel Mixer from the list of options. Next check the Monochrome box to convert the image to black & white. Now it’s time to create the highly detailed skin effect, so as a starting point set Red to -100, Green to 0 and Blue to 200. Now move the red slider to the right until the image is as bright as you’d like it to be. If highlights are blowing out drag the Green slider to the left. My final settings for this portrait were Red -56, Green -22 and Blue 200. All images are different so you’ll have to experiment on an image by image basis. 

5. Lighten and dull the image

Go back to the adjustment layer icon and select Curves from the list of options. Left mouse click in the centre of the curve and drag up and to the left slightly to lighten the image a touch more. Hit OK when you’ve finished. Click on the adjustment layer icon again, and this time select Levels. Set Output to 10 for blacks and 220 for whites. This will dull the image slightly to give it a more authentic look. 

6. Select and Copy a texture

Now it’s time to mimic the smudged emulsion effect typical of the wet plate collodion process. Open your texture image and convert it to black & white if it isn’t already. Next hold down Ctrl+A to Select All, then Ctrl+C to Copy. Click on the tab for the portrait image and press Ctrl+V to paste the texture onto the image. Go to the Blending modes menu on the Layers panel and select Multiply from the list to add a degree of transparency to the Layer.

7. Duplicate the texture and change Blending modes

Hold down Ctrl+J to make a copy of the texture Layer, and then press Ctrl+I to invert it. Now go to the blending modes menu and select Screen from the list. Press V on the keyboard, then left mouse click and drag the layer so the two textures are skewed. Hold down Shift and left mouse click on the texture Layer below so both textures are now selected. Press Ctrl+G to group the Layers, and reduce Opacity to around 70%. You can do steps 6 and 7 multiple times with different textures. 

8. Sepia tone the image

Go to image / Adjustments / Photo Filter... When the dialogue box opens click on the dropdown menu that’s set to Warming filter (85) by default and select Sepia. Drag the Density slider to the right until it’s set to between 20 – 50% This will give the image a natural warm look. The wet plate collodion effect is now complete. You can now keep all the Layers intact or Flatten the image go to Layer / Flatten Image. 

9. Textures for you to experiment with.

[mrjacklowe]

All Holding On?

A 3 minute read for a 10 second moment. When you get to the end, there's a treat in store too: "All Holding On?"

On Saturday 24th October, I made my way to Cromer for the third time.

On this occasion, there was not a vintage camera in sight, no apron nor whiff of collodion. After two visits earlier in the year — one in January and the other in March — the time had come to fulfil a very special invitation from the station.

The next morning, I’d be heading down the slipway on exercise with the crew in their…

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