ABSTRACT

164 Frederick Scott Archer, an English sculptor, introduced the wet plate collodion process for making glass negatives in 1851. Its sensitivity to light was 20 times greater than previous methods, and paper prints could be made from the glass plates, allowing many copies to be made from one original. The drawback was that the photographer had to sensitize the plate, expose it, and develop it before the plate dried. This meant that photographers had to carry all required chemicals, the glass, and a darkroom with them wherever they were photographing, not exactly the easiest task!

This chapter covers wet plate collodion ambrotypes (positives on clear glass or colored glass), positives on aluminum or tin (usually called tintypes), and negatives on clear glass.

Today photographers are making darkrooms out of vans, shipping containers, cardboard boxes, and wood. Even old army darkroom tents have been scarfed up by photographers, along with ice fishing tents. Enfield explains how to safely and correctly mix the chemistry, store it and how to travel with all of the supplies, giving examples of working in different countries with make-shift darkrooms and where to find chemistry once abroad. Enfield also discusses using an enlarger to make prints out of digital images as well as contact prints.