Collodion Chat #3: Wet Plate Portrait With Strobes, Beginning to End

[@bernadettegarner5827]

I watched Sally Mann's documentary and at one point she does self portraits. She taped a piece of cardboard that flapped over her lense. Once she pulled the dark slide and sat down in position she used a stick to flip the cardboard up and down after exposure. Just a clever idea I thought.

[@andrew_nayes]

Amazing results!

[@LScott97]

Another great informative video. Much appreciated!👍👍👍

[@steverileypictures5724]

Thanks Robert.

[@Gmagnet313]

Great video - exactly what I was looking for! Have you ever taken the Speedotron 4803 on-location? I’m interested in going to events that may not have electric available. Have you ever powered this setup with a generator? Any tips?

[@tehbieber]

I haven't. I've heard of some folks doing it with a sufficiently powerful generator though

[@baudworxitsolution9677]

Hi robert have tried candle as you light source for a portrait head shot

[@tehbieber]

You'd have to expose for a very, very long time. Wet plate has very low sensitivity compared to film or digital, and candle light in particular won't generate much in the blue end of the spectrum where collodion is most sensitive

[@baudworxitsolution9677]

@@tehbieber ok maybe 30 min minimum?

[@tehbieber]

I couldn't even begin to quantify it. It would completely depend on the amount of light. A single candle would probably never give you a visible exposure before the plate dried out (keep in mind that you get around 15-20 minutes after pulling the plate from the silver bath). An entire rack of them, maybe? I don't know if it's been tried

[@jpcgordon]

Great video, very informative. I'm about to get started with studio-based wet plate photography but only have an old Profoto 6 2400ws generator. Do you think I'll have enough output?

[@joelferguson4089]

id like to know the same thing!

[@peter2712]

I'm missing something. The trigger pops the strobe but what activates the camera shutter?

[@tehbieber]

This is a barrel lens with no shutter. Modern lenses with shutters will usually have an x sync connector you can use to trigger the flash

[@peter2712]

@@tehbieber thanks, I'm a long way from worrying about strobes. Your videos are excellent.

[@andrewmiller6672]

How many amps do these 2403 and 4803s draw when on slow charge? Does anyone know roughly? I only have 15Amp breakers.

[@tehbieber]

They have a slow recycle mode that in theory should work on a lower amperage circuit. In practice, you might have to go flip a breaker every now and then

[@baudworxitsolution9677]

do you think accrylic glass will work at wetplate?

[@tehbieber]

People use it, but it probably won't hold up in the long run

[@KevinRusso]

Are running a full 4800 ws to 1 head or is it 2400 WS?

[@tehbieber]

I use a head that can take the full 4800, but for a headshot like this with a beauty dish I'm probably dialed down below half power

[@KevinRusso]

@@tehbieber Thank you for the response it is greatly appreciated. I just started to make Tintypes. I'm still very much in the learning phase.

[@Tom-mq6ie]

Still trying to buy a used 206 😅

[@tehbieber]

Lol, gotta get those eBay alerts going

[@filipwaeytens4017]

really useful! Unfortunately, in the EU, there's not much speedotron stuff available. I looked around and found some Broncolor and Profoto , but that's pretty expensive. What do you think of www.paulcbuff.com/Flash-Units/white-lightning-flash-unit.html? . It doesn't come with a power pack however.

[@tehbieber]

The more powerful white lightning units will work, as long as you get familiar with their limitations and don't push things too much on light distance/modifier size. Another option you might want to look into is Hensel. I don't know much about them, but I've seen some EU wet platers using them