The Lost Art of Wet Plate Photography

Wet plate photography, also known as the collodion process, is one of the earliest forms of photography ever practiced. It produces stunningly detailed images on glass or metal plates coated in light-sensitive chemicals. For a brief time in the 19th century, it was the most popular type of photography worldwide.

Though complex and laborious compared to modern photography, the wet plate has been resent in recent years as intrepid photographers seek to revive this lost photographic art. Let’s delve into the fascinating history and process behind wet plate photography.

A Groundbreaking New Process

In the early days of photography, processes were slow, materials scarce, and results inconsistent. That all changed in 1851 when Frederick Scott Archer invented the collodion process. His technique used glass plates coated with a sticky solution called collodion that held light-sensitive silver salts.

The plates captured latent images with exquisite detail when exposed to the camera while still wet. The collodion soon dried, sealing the images for later processing. The resulting “wet plate” photos offered exposure times 16 times faster than previous processes.

For the first time, portraits with short exposure times were possible. It became easy to photograph moving subjects or work outdoors in changing lighting. Wet plate ushered in a revolution in photography.

The Height of Wet Plate Popularity

Wet plate reigned supreme through the 1860s and 1870s. Photographic studios opened worldwide, creating richly detailed portraits and landscape scenes. The optimistic early years of the wet plate coincided with the Victorian era’s enthusiasm for progress and invention.

The collodion process was more straightforward than older methods, requiring only a few readily available chemicals. Once exposed, the plates had to be developed quickly before the chemicals dried. This meant photographers had to haul darkrooms into the field. Wagons and tents transported the wet darkroom lab to the photographed scene.

The public was fascinated with the realism and fine detail wet plate images offered. The process opened up photography to new technical and artistic expression. More people took up photography as a hobby or profession.

Challenging Process, Stunning Results

While revolutionary, wet plate required great skill and patient effort. Each plate took 15-30 minutes of preparation in a darkroom tent. The glass plate was cleaned, coated in collodion, and “sensitized” in a silver nitrate bath. The plate had to be exposed and developed within 10-15 minutes before the chemicals dried.

The meticulous process challenged photographers’ technical abilities. But with care and expertise, they created photographs of extraordinary resolution, tonality, and presence. The wet plate “look” has a timeless beauty and immediacy that connects powerfully with viewers.

Many wet plate photographers took artistic pride in creating images that expressed their insight and vision. Each image’s hands-on creation and individuality appealed to their craft and creativity.

The Decline of Wet Plate

By the 1880s, wet plate photography was in decline. The process struggled to compete with more convenient and flexible dry plate processes that were less messy, didn’t require a portable darkroom, and allowed photographers greater freedom.

While it produced beautiful results in skilled hands, wet plates remained cumbersome for most users. By 1900, the process was obsolete except for historical re-enactors and hobbyists. They disappeared into the mists of photographic history.

Or so it seemed…

The Renaissance of Wet Plate Photography

Against all expectations, wet plate photography has experienced an artistic renaissance in the past 25 years. A new generation of photographers fell in love with the hands-on creation and stunning visual qualities of collodion images.

These photographers have revived and updated the process with new equipment and chemicals while preserving its engaging physicality. They find the process rewarding, challenging, and liberating from modern digital routines.

Interest grows as more photographers discover wet plates at workshops and online tutorials. The striking results speak for themselves. To understand why it still grips the imagination, let’s examine the wet plate process.

The Wet Plate Process Step-by-Step

While complex, each step of the wet plate process has logic and artistry:

1. Prepare the plate

Clean glass or metal plates are coated in collodion – a viscous pyroxylin (gun cotton) solution dissolved in ether and alcohol. This sticky coating will hold the light-sensitive chemicals.

2. Sensitize in silver bath

The collodion plate is carefully lowered into a bath of silver nitrate to absorb light-sensitive silver salts into the collodion layer. After sensitizing for 3-5 minutes, the plate is ready for exposure while still wet.

3. Expose the plate

The wet plate is loaded into a large view camera in a darkroom blind. Exposure times are typically 5-30 seconds in bright sun. The photographer must work swiftly before the plate dries.

4. Develop the image

The exposed plate is developed in a ferrous sulfate or pyrogallol solution, which brings out the latent image formed by light. This must be done within 10 minutes before the collodion dries.

5. Fix and rinse

The developed plate is “fixed” in a solution of potassium cyanide, which dissolves unexposed silver salts, stabilizing the image. Finally, the plate is rinsed in distilled water and dried.

6. Varnish for protection

The finished plate is coated with an alcohol-based varnish to protect the surface. The dark varnish also enhances contrast, giving wet plate images their signature look.

This entire process must be completed before the plate dries. But it offers photographers a direct connection to crafting an image with their own hands.

Equipment for Wet Plate Photography

While modern wet plate uses some new equipment, much remains unchanged since the 19th century:

• View Camera – Large format with flexible bellows for control over perspective and focus. It can tilt and shift the lens or film plane.
• Lens – Antique lenses or modern large-format lenses with pleasing softness and tonality. Brass or chrome lenses give different looks.
• Plate holder – Holds the prepared plate in a lightproof darkroom changing bag. Slides into camera rear.
• Chemicals – Pyroxylin, ether, alcohol, silver nitrate, developer and fixer solutions. Distilled water.
• Darkroom – This can be a lightproof shed, changing bag, or tent for loading plates. Safelights provide dim lighting.
• Processing trays – Glass or plastic trays hold developer and fixer solutions. Trays rock back and forth to agitate the chemicals.
• Film vise – A clamp with a weighted base to hold the plate inclined in the solution tray.

The simplicity of wet plate gear belies the complex expertise required. But it remains photography in its most direct form.

Tips for Learning Wet Plate Photography

Here are some tips to get started in wet plate photography:

• Take a workshop to get hands-on guidance from experts before trying on your own. Safety is critical when handling chemicals.
• Read guides and watch video tutorials to master the conceptual and practical aspects. Take copious notes.
• Expect a steep learning curve. Be patient and embrace each small success in your practice. Perfection comes slowly.
• Start with inexpensive aluminum plates to limit waste as you learn. Glass plates offer ultimate quality once your process is dialed in.
• Follow safety precautions precisely when handling chemicals. The collodion process requires flammable and toxic chemicals.
• Work methodically and calmly. Meticulous care, order, and cleanliness are essential to avoiding mistakes and accidents.
• Accept that some batches of plates will fail due to variables in materials and environment. It’s part of the process.
• Find a community of wet plate artists to connect with locally or online. Share tips and encouragement.
• Most of all, enjoy the hands-on craft and beautiful creative process. Let it relax your mind.

Wet plate teaches patience, awareness, and living in the moment. You engage deeply with the materials at each step. Mastery comes only through experience.

Common Problems and Their Solutions in Wet Plate Photography

Even experienced wet plate photographers run into problems. Here are some common issues and how to resolve them:

Fogging/veiling – A gray haze over the negative from light leaks or poor chemical ratios. Check the darkroom for leaks. Mix fresh chemicals in proper order.

Plates are drying too fast. Try a newer collodion recipe with less ether/alcohol. Add a wetting agent. Be swift and decisive to shorten exposure-to-fix time.

Spots/crystals on negatives – Filter or distill water to remove minerals. Clean plates meticulously. Filter chemicals. Avoid cross-contamination between trays.

Low contrast – Increase exposure time slightly. Use fresh developer at full strength. Be sure the fixer removes all unexposed silver. Overfixed highlights resist redevelopment.

Dark spots/pinholes – Plates weren’t fully sensitized. Immerse plates longer in a silver bath. Use fresh silver nitrate. Clean plate edges so collodion adheres evenly.

Uneven density – The plate wasn’t level in the developer. Use a plate holder or film vise to keep the plate inclined at the proper angle. Rock the tray gently to agitate chemicals over the plate evenly.

Yellow or brown discoloration – Developer exhausted or contaminated. Mix fresh developer solution and pour into a clean tray. Never return used developer to stock bottle. Properly dispose of outdated chemistry.

Ether/alcohol contamination – Solvents remained in highlights, inhibiting development. Extend fixing time to fully clear solvents. Rinse thoroughly after selecting.

Plates too opaque/dark – Shorten silver bath time to 2-3 minutes. Use new collodion with less silver iodide.

Edges and scratches were visible. Dust and dirt on the plate weren’t removed before coating. Clean plates meticulously with lint-free cloth before each use. Handle plates with gloved fingertips only.

Dessicated collodion – Fresh collodion is best. Refrigerate pyroxylin and store collodion in sealed containers. Use within 3-4 weeks for best results. Add a wetting agent to humidify old collodion.

Chemical stains/residues – Fixer carryover can leave yellow-brown silver residue. Developer carryover stains blue-black. Keep trays and tongs dedicated to each solution. Rinse thoroughly between steps.

With care and persistence, diagnosing issues becomes an engaging creative puzzle – one intrinsically rewarding to solve with each new plate.

The Beauty and Allure of Wet Plate Photography

What draws people to revive a cumbersome, obsolete technology? The answer lies in wet plate’s beauty, craft, and connection to photography’s origins.

The handmade, imperfect quality resonates with our longing for imperfection amid modern digital perfection. We’re attracted to the tangible, physical craft of creating an image ourselves from start to finish.

Beyond mere nostalgia or novelty, wet plate retains a power and presence impossible to replicate digitally. The luminous highlights and glassy shadows imprint a sense of living history on each unique image.

There is beauty in the vulnerability and temporary nature of the process. It lives vividly in the moment, capturing restless energy and motion other media miss. This urgent sense of life resonates through time.

The past perhaps touches us most deeply through photographs. Wet plate retains this link to photography’s formative years in beautiful authenticity. But as those who practice it know, the real magic is living wholly in the present experience of making each plate. Here, silver and light join with craft and chemistry to preserve a sliver of the world in a fragile instant.

The Future of Wet Plate Photography

Against the dominance of digital photography, the labor-intensive wet plate remains a niche process. Yet interest and community continue to grow as more artists discover it. Photographers increasingly see it as a rehumanizing antidote to disengaged digital routines. The past promises hope for photography’s future.

Accessibility is improving as online guides make instruction widely available. A small number of suppliers provide equipment and chemicals tailored for contemporary practice. Workshops and mentorships help new practitioners master the many nuances of technique.

While still demanding, wet plate now offers more paths to entry than ever. This raises hope that knowledge and craft can persist into a new generation. Perhaps wet plate will remain a simple lightbox at the core of photography, keeping its origins alive.

The collodion process need not remain frozen in the 19th century either. Innovations in materials and methods are adapting wet plates for new creative directions, from nudes to food photography and surrealist imagery. The process continues to evolve.

Yet there’s also value in preserving heritage photographic processes unchanged. Wet plate retains an irreplaceable power and beauty on its terms that can’t be “improved.” Perhaps simply sustaining the craft is progress enough.

By following in the footsteps of photographic pioneers, wet plate practitioners uphold a singular tradition alive with possibilities. This rare process still has much to teach us today if only we remain willing students.

The future, like silver, is unexposed until illuminated in the present moment.

Conclusion

Reviving a historical process like wet plate collodion connects us to photography’s past while bringing new life to a threatened art form. Instead of fading into obscurity, wet plate persists as a dynamic, evolving craft that teaches patience, mindfulness, and the beauty of imperfection.

Its striking visual style imprints living history into each unique plate. The vulnerable, ephemeral process compels photographers to work with decisiveness, purpose, and presence. By fully engaging the mind, body, and materials, it offers an antidote to disengaged digital routines.

Practiced patiently, wet plates can attune us to a slower, more mindful experience of the present moment, yet one linked through light to past generations. Workshops, online resources, and a growing community make this historic process accessible to new generations. Wet plate still has much to teach us in our restless, pixel-saturated era.

Perhaps we, too, can sustain and evolve the knowledge entrusted to us, just as those pioneering photographers did over a century ago. Their passion still lives through surviving images and now through those who rediscover the joy and meaning of crafting light, truth, and beauty with their own hands—a fragile, living gift reaching out through time.

We only have to receive, open, and carry it forward into the unexposed future.

FAQs

What are the main benefits of wet plate photography?

A wet plate produces images with gorgeous tonality, presence, and highly high detail resolution. The process connects you deeply with crafting the image yourself. Each plate is a unique original artifact when complete.

What subjects and scenes work best?

Portraiture was common historically, but landscapes, still-lifes, and artwork reproduction also excelled with the wet plate’s detail and tonality. The luminous highlights and glassy shadows suit subjects with high contrast.

How accessible is learning wet plate today?

It is far more accessible than ever, thanks to online tutorials, suppliers, workshops, and an active community sharing info. It remains very challenging, but the learning path is more straightforward.

What does a primary starter wet plate kit contain?

Start with a camera, lens, plate holders, processing trays, chemicals, plate cleaning, and coating supplies. A changing bag or tent serves as a darkroom. Expect to spend around $2000-$3000 to begin.

Is wet plate photography safe?

It requires handling hazardous chemicals and breaking glass plates. With proper safety gear and strict procedural care, the risks are manageable. Never compromise on safety. Take a workshop to learn safe handling.

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