Silver Nitrate Bath for Wet Plate Photography (Part One)

[@ronmayfield8703]

series is incredibly informative... thank you!

[@BillSchwab]

Thank you!

[@jaceleroy402]

Fantastic video. Straight forward, well explained and no fluff. Thanks you!

[@BillSchwab]

Thank you for watching and saying so!

[@loncle.bonkle]

This series is super informative. I am starting wetplates next year and this is super valuable info. Thanks!

[@BillSchwab]

Thank you for saying so! I appreciate it. I hope it helps when you get going on your own. Good luck!

[@robertfiss976]

FANTASTIC

[@thomasbarker6912]

Great stuff, Bill.

[@BillSchwab]

Thank you, Jasper!

[@dorothykloss5303]

Love watching this during my morning coffee! btw, what's the lens you're using at the end of the video? I think if I watch this enough I might actually be able to do it ;)

[@BillSchwab]

That is a Jamin Cone lens. Pretty sweet.

[@phillykiki7320]

Hi. Thank you for the vid. I’m starting my tin type business too

[@BillSchwab]

Excellent! Keep us posted.

[@akkashb625]

Thank you for such a informative demonstration, what are the number of times we can use the silver bath and when we should change the batch and is there any way we can save the silver nitrate salt from the solution after use?

[@BillSchwab]

Thank you and great questions. You can usually tell if the silver bath is starting to weaken when the images start to get somewhat faint. You can always add a little bit more silver nitrate to the bath to reinvigorate it. If you want to reclaim the silver crystals from the bath after use, you can do what is called sunning the bath. That would mean putting it into a bath of some sort that you can evaporate off the water. Cover it to protect it from other things falling in. Once all of the water is evaporated off, what remains will be the silver salt, and you can scrape it up and use it however, you wish.

[@akkashb625]

Thank you so much, this is such a great help!!!

[@RandyMoe]

Excellent

[@erikwinkler]

What is the ph is not 4 anymore, do you put NaOH in it if it is to acidic and oxalic acid if it is to alkaline?

[@keithhollyfieldphotography]

I am starting out in 4x5 format how much silver nitrate do i need to mix to start out.

[@BillSchwab]

@@keithhollyfieldphotography depending on the container that you’re going to be sensitizing in, you will need enough to cover that plate in a vertical position position. Try measuring out enough water to cover a plate as a test and then pour it back into the beaker to measure how much and that will be the amount you will need to mix of silver nitrate.

[@fotolookconde]

@North Light Photographic W... My silver bath has been with a few problems. I measured it and the hydrometer reads 43 (I think yours were reading 70). Should I add more silver nitrate or water? Thanks.

[@melsaltimages]

Yes, I had a similar problem. Mine was reading 60 and I added a touch more of the silver nitrate and got it to 70. Also, there is a 9 percentage marker on the same line as the 70, it took me a second to figure that out because the measurements are hard to read haha

[@jin9311]

Good morning. I am a Korean subscriber. Made about 320 ml of silver nitrate solution. 0.23 g of potassium iodide was added to the silver bath to iodize the silver bath. Diluted well, but a yellow suspension was formed and filtered. I did this during the day and didn't work in a dark dark room. By the way, this iodine-treated silver bath was exposed to the sun for about 5 minutes, Will the iodine-treated silver bath work?

[@backtotheroots1409]

How do you clean the containers that had the chemicals in them?

[@black-and-light]

Great!! Thank you

[@BillSchwab]

Hoping it helped! Thank you for watching!

[@black-and-light]

@@BillSchwab This is the best video on the collodion process I have found. And I have been looking for a while. By far the best. Excellent explanation. The whole series. Thank you Bill.

[@BillSchwab]

@@black-and-light Wow! Thank you!

[@dorothykloss5303]

Hi Bill, great stuff here and food for thought! I inherited two hydrometers from a commercial photographer here in town and they don't have percentage markings on them. they only have one scale. Is there a formula or video you can recommend on learning to do the math/science of reading this with out the percentage scale? Thanks! Dorothy

[@BillSchwab]

Great Question, Dorothy. My recommendation is to mix your solution at 9% and then take a reading with your Hydrometer and carefully mark where it reads. Then you will have your target for keeping your solution healthy.

[@dorothykloss5303]

@@BillSchwab that's a great solution and much easier than math! :) thanks!

[@backtotheroots1409]

How often do you have to replenish your bath?

[@BillSchwab]

Great question. It depends upon how many plates you put through there. I figure if I’m doing 8 x 10 plates in a day and I do maybe 10 of them, I might add a gram of silver nitrate to my mix. You can tell when things start looking a little anemic. Unlike a new mixture of silver nitrate, you don’t have to “season” the mix.

[@briansegarra9312]

Nice video , got some questions what about if the chemestry I'd higher than 4 just add citric acid ?? Also is the hygrometer needed or optional if I have a digital scale ?

[@BillSchwab]

Thank you, Brian. To acidify your silver bath to get it to the right level, I would use nitric acid over using citric acid. Just a few drops will start lowering the pH.

[@BillSchwab]

Also, Brian. The hydrometer is needed throughout the life of your silver bath to keep it maintained. Your scale is enough to mix the proper solution at the start, but you’ll definitely need a hydrometer to keep it maintained. They are very inexpensive and you can get them at any brewers supply store.

[@peterrenn6341]

Be very cautious about adding acid to the silver nitrate. See if it works first and if it makes nice clean plates, just let it alone and don't obsess too much about getting the pH exact. IF you have problems with the bath then very cautiously add a few drops of nitric acid as Bill says and try the bath again. .

[@plus8685]

请问bill先生，ph值高，要如何调解呢，ph值低，要如何调解呢

[@lostinspacestudio]

No acid added?

[@BillSchwab]

Not to your Silver Nitrate bath!

[@lostinspacestudio]

@@BillSchwab oh yeah got confused with the developer recipe sorry!