Dry Plate Gallery

dwross · Sep 2, 2015

Hi All,

The Light Farm has a new contributor -- Pierre Van de Vliert. Pierre is among a small (but growing fast) group of photographers using dry plates to create beautiful art. Wet plate is no longer the only handmade negative game in town!

http://www.thelightfarm.com/cgi-bin/htmltutgen.py?content=PierreVandeVliert

removed account4 · Sep 2, 2015

THANK YOU !

beautiful work !

john

gone · Sep 2, 2015

Dry plate photography dates from the middle to late 1800's, so wet plate photography has never quite been the only game in town for handmade negs. Dry looks more convenient that wet plate. Might be safer to use this process as well. Here's a little info, and a neat looking neg.

http://support.eastmanhouse.org/eastmanhouse/topics/how_and_why_to_distinquish_wet_and_dry_plates

Wayne · Sep 2, 2015

I've been doing it for years. I've also not been doing it for years. I need to do it again. I wonder if that 10 year old liquid light I have in film cans is still a liquid, or if it's now Dry Hard Plugs of Light?

DannL. · Sep 2, 2015

Thanks for posting. Pierre seems to have a good handle on the process.

I am "finally" at a point where I can get back in the saddle. This was a very bad year for home & property repairs. Now that I am caught up, I can play again. Yipeee!

bvy · Sep 8, 2015

These are nice, very inspiring -- but something tells me he's not using the ubiquitous Rockland kit/chemistry to make these.

dwross · Sep 9, 2015

You got it. Pierre is making his own emulsion. Actually, quite a few people have "discovered" that home brew is easier than the bottled stuff, and a whole lot cheaper.

New folks to APUG may not realize that this is the place where handmade emulsions got their launch (at least in the last 100 years!). Never have figured out why it died off so badly here when it's taking off so fast elsewhere, but hope springs eternal that this remains the place to discuss, learn, and share images. I continue to believe in the cooperative learning philosophy, as opposed to "one shall lead them all." If we started discussing the medium here again, I think we'd see some amazing stuff.

seanjmc · Oct 27, 2015

Who is going to crack the reversal developer secret recipe? That's what i want to know!

hoffy · Oct 28, 2015

Thanks for posting! They are some mighty fine images and possibly some of the better dry plates I have seen. I have been toying with getting a Rockland kit for ages and giving it a try.....but now I am curious about the home brew. Me thinks I need to do some research.

dwross · Oct 28, 2015

seanjmc said:
Who is going to crack the reversal developer secret recipe? That's what i want to know!

I swear there must be some synchronicity to the Universe . Reversal is my current project (as a subset of a bigger project). Doesn't look like it's a problem, though the devilish detail is making it beautiful.
d

dwross · Oct 28, 2015

hoffy said:
Thanks for posting! They are some mighty fine images and possibly some of the better dry plates I have seen. I have been toying with getting a Rockland kit for ages and giving it a try.....but now I am curious about the home brew. Me thinks I need to do some research.

Hope you give it a try! The "research" you need to do is a lot less than it was ten years ago. There is an abundance of resources available today that can get you going, including recipes. Making your own involves only a a couple of steps more than buying a bottle. You will be able to get a lot of help here if you decide to go for it.
d

removed account4 · Oct 28, 2015

dwross said:
I swear there must be some synchronicity to the Universe . Reversal is my current project (as a subset of a bigger project). Doesn't look like it's a problem, though the devilish detail is making it beautiful.
d

z

me too!!

I'm almost there .. and trying to keep caffenol part of the recipe

hoffy · Oct 28, 2015

dwross said:
Hope you give it a try! The "research" you need to do is a lot less than it was ten years ago. There is an abundance of resources available today that can get you going, including recipes. Making your own involves only a a couple of steps more than buying a bottle. You will be able to get a lot of help here if you decide to go for it.
d

Thanks DW. I think I will, though, start with the Rockland kit, just as a taste of it and then see how I go.

dwross · Apr 6, 2018

Seems like the perfect time to resurrect this thread. Great dry plate work going on right now. I think it's finally going to catch on! I hope Herzeleid, Jason, and everyone making emulsions or using J. Lane Dry Plates will post pics! Maybe Mark Osterman can convince a few of GEM's students to post (can't hurt workshop sales to do a bit of promotion).

Show pictures of your cameras, too. I finally have some time to get back to work refurbishing a Vaageswari banquet camera. When the rain and wind finally quit here, I'm going to be running some of Jason's plates through it. Can hardly wait!

mjork · Apr 6, 2018

I participated in the Eastman Museum dry plate workshop in Letchworth state park last year. Looks like it's scheduled again this year. Sign up if there is still room!
Here is one of my results (slightly cropped):

dwross · Apr 6, 2018

Gorgeous!

Herzeleid · Apr 6, 2018

Gorgeous, really.

I should have started dry plates years ago, instead I go with wet collodion negatives. Now I have more than a liter of contaminated silver nitrate to recover for future dry plate work.
I will post images of my home-made camera and some good plates soon I hope. Now, I have to attempt at cooking some erythrosine and S-Au sensitized emulsion.

Best regards

Nodda Duma · Apr 6, 2018

Looks great, mjork!

Peter Schrager · Apr 6, 2018

mjork said:
I participated in the Eastman Museum dry plate workshop in Letchworth state park last year. Looks like it's scheduled again this year. Sign up if there is still room!
Here is one of my results (slightly cropped):

That is astoundingly good ..very impressed

dwross · Apr 7, 2018

Herzeleid said:
Gorgeous, really.

I should have started dry plates years ago, instead I go with wet collodion negatives. Now I have more than a liter of contaminated silver nitrate to recover for future dry plate work.
I will post images of my home-made camera and some good plates soon I hope. Now, I have to attempt at cooking some erythrosine and S-Au sensitized emulsion.

Best regards

Better late than never! I think you're on your way to being a great emulsion chef.

mjork · May 24, 2018

Shot some Jason Lane dry plates recently. Here are two of my results:

Nodda Duma · May 24, 2018

Those came out really nice. Your daughter (I'm assuming) did great! How long was the exposure?

I also really like the tones in the flower pic.

mjork · May 24, 2018

Nodda Duma said:
Those came out really nice. Your daughter (I'm assuming) did great! How long was the exposure?

I also really like the tones in the flower pic.

Thanks! Exposure time for my daughter was 0.5s, so I had to ask her to stand still. That worked out better than I thought it would.
I think I made a mistake in my exposure calculation. My light meter ISO setting goes down to ISO 3 and you estimate the plate sensitivity as ISO 2.
My plan was to measure the exposure time for ISO 4 and adjust by one stop. I believe I forgot that last step and essentially metered for ISO 4.
So far it seems to me that rating the plates as ISO 4 gives good results.

Developing the plates in HC-110 dilution B for 5min seems to produce a lot of density, so I think I'll need to adjust that. But I don't really have a good feel yet for when to stop development. This whole development by inspection thing is new to me.

removedacct1 · Jun 12, 2018

New work using the J. Lane Dry Plates: Nepenthes Briggsiana pitchers. 4x5 plate shot with the Intrepid + 1930s Kodak Anastigmat lens.

Nodda Duma · Jun 12, 2018

Very nice, Paul. How did the negative look (thin, dense, etc)?

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