Never Stop Learning: Learning Wet Plate Photography

We've recently been working on learning wet plate collodion photography. After we ran a few tests at home, it was time to try a test in the field. This meant building a field darkroom and making all our supplies easy to transport.

The Portable Darkroom

I built a folding table years ago for use on camping trips. Rather than start from scratch, I decided to repurpose the old table. I removed the legs and added black felt to the inside. Also cut a hole in one of the sides and added a square piece of glass that I had painted red. This will act as the safelight. The collodion emulsion can not see red, so you can work safely inside with red light.

I also added a shelf and some small drawers.

Here's how everything looked once it was painted and finished. Next step was to add the "tent" portion to make it light proof.

I soldered some copper pipe to make elbows and got oak dowels for the tent poles. I made sure it was large enough that I could stand inside of it.

We then made a tent out of period correct linen to block out the light.

Inside of the tent.

Transporting Supplies

We also wanted a nice way to be able to carry all the chemicals. We thought about using a plastic milk crate or tub, but wanted something more period correct. I was able to get a wood caddy at Micheal's craft store and create wood compartments inside. I then lined it with Felt.

I then added some wood trim to the outside to give it an appearance of period luggage.

Added a nice coat of period correct Shellac (never polyurethane) to give it a little more of a finish.

Here's how the caddy looks with the bottles in it.

We were then ready for the road!! Brandon like's wearing a frock coat and a bowler hat when doing photography.

Fort Tejon Dragoon Days

We headed up to Fort Tejon for their Dragoon Days event. This is a neat event to visit if you've never been there. We set up the Darkroom and the chemicals.

Pouring a plate in the field was especially challenging with wind, bugs, dust, and distractions.

Though, we were able to make an image.

Once we had proof of concept, we started taking photos of people.

Here is Kevin with his portrait after it fully dried.

Scratched this one while processing. :(

Got a nice group photo. This exposure was in the afternoon so the exposure time was 4 Seconds! It's still a little bit light, but came out OK.

Overall, our success rate is about 50%. Clearly we need more practice before we are ready for the major leagues. Though, we felt we had enough success in the field to try in the classroom. Brandon brought the entire setup to school. He's teaching the 8th grade class how to do wet plate so they can run a photo booth at the Annual SCVi 8th grade living history event. / Civil War Reenactment.