I poured a few plates (using trophy engravers plate) yesterday, with some collodion I made up according to John Coffer's recipe in his guide. Collodion is about 3 weeks old, looks good, but on a few of the plates, when I put them into the silver batch, it looks like a corner just slipped off the plate. Well, I thought I had either not poured off well, or too soon. The ones that didn't goop up and slip on me just didn't seem to take silver well. Images all seemed generally dark. Developed well, and clear nicely, just kind of contrasty, and as I said, generally dark. I was shooting on a slightly overcast, generally clear day, in mixed shade in mid afternoon. I started with about 5 seconds exposure, and had no luck with either shorter or longer times.

A little disheartening. Any thoughts anyone might offer on my issues would be welcomed. Thanks,
Frank

dont get discouraged!! i have had a bit of the same lately. i was shooting with new collodion last week 2:30 on a bright sunny day. however i am in philly and not sure where you were but the november sun just isnt as bright as june or july so that could have something to do with it. consider longer than the usual 3 minutes in the silver.

AS it gets colder out.....strange things happen. What was the temperature of your bath, collodion and plates?

I'm in North Central Alabama, and the temp yesterday Saturday was in the upper 60's to lower 70's. However, my darkroom is in a building that is insulated, but not heated, so the chemicals may have been cooler than that. I noticed when I opened up Saturday that it was cooler inside than out.

Frank

Those temperatures are within the normal range. expect problems when the chemistry goes below 40 degrees.

Try your image on a sheet of clear glass, and see how that looks. Often black plates can be difficult to troubleshoot.

Ray,
I'll have a go tomorrow and see what happens.
Frank

Frank Brower
Monocle Photography
Bangor, Al.

dont forget the troubleshooters main tool....substitution. change your collodion for a shot, change your silver bath for a shot, change your developer for a shot....youll soon find where your problems are.