Markus Hofstaetter's blog » collodion

Archive for the 'collodion' Category

Wednesday, November 10th, 2021

Visiting Leica and Silvergrain Classics in Germany + Portra 400 c-41 developing included

In todays video I travel to Germany to prepare my Silvergrain Academy MasterClass wet plate workshop (click here for the workshop). I did also an Interview for the Silvergrain Classics, visited the Leica Headquarters and documented development of my Portra 400 film in the Silvergrain Classics lab.

  • Get yourself a beautiful print here: http://prints.mhaustria.com

  • Find all the tools I use here : http://list.mhaustria.com

  • Looking for wet plate gear? http://gear.mhaustria.com

  • Buy me a tea: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/mhaustria

  • Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/mhaustria

  • Get cool analog shirts here http://shirts.mhaustria.com
  • Posted by Markus | Filed in analog, collodion, preparation, workshop | Comment now »

     

    Thursday, September 30th, 2021

    Wet Plate Portraits at the Salzburger Freilichtmuseum

    In todays video I show you some impressions of my on location wet plate shooting in Salzburg at the Salburher Freilichtmuseum. We had so much fun – it was great!

    Thanks for the photos to: https://instagram.com/arturmughrabi https://instagram.com/bilder_schmiede https://instagram.com/drea.koch https://www.facebook.com/dachsteindesign

  • Get yourself a beautiful print here: http://prints.mhaustria.com

  • Find all the tools I use here : http://list.mhaustria.com

  • Looking for wet plate gear? http://gear.mhaustria.com

  • Buy me a tea: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/mhaustria

  • Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/mhaustria

  • Get cool analog shirts here shirts.mhaustria.com

  • For online wet plate workshops, visit this http://online.mhaustria.com

  • For private wetplate workshops (Nassplattenworkshop contact me here: http://www.markus-hofstaetter.at/pages/kontakt/ (German and English available)

  • Get the latest news with my newsletter here: https://blog.markus-hofstaetter.at/newsletter-2/
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    Wednesday, September 22nd, 2021

    a 170 year old process and high end food photography

    everybody knows that I work exclusively on collodion wet plate portraits. So what’s the reason for food photography now? Let me try to explain. Many of you guys will remember that I bought a Cambo studio stand some while ago (https://blog.markus-hofstaetter.at/2021/02/my-new-150kg-studio-stand-that-is-from-1957-cambo-ast/ ). A little bit later I bought a used tray for it on Ebay. The seller was very friendly and somehow we started to talk about photography. Long story short, a month later we decided to do a project together. After months of planing, Hans Gerlach (a well known food photographer and columnist) drove over to my studio and brought his tools and some delicious food with him. Additional food for this shooting came from my garden, this way I could bring a bit more into the project besides my wet plate photography. During the planing period we discussed different dishes, their colours and how they would appear on a tintype (the wet collodion process only sees blue light and therefore red colours will turn black and blue white). We saw this come together as kind of a first test and wanted to see what what we could create. For me it was very interesting to have a chef working in my kitchen.

    I enjoyed it a lot to watch a chef doing his thing

    I suggested the 13x18cm format, because the camera is not too huge and can be easy mounted over head. We can get a bit more depth of field because of this smaller format. And I have a beautiful 250mm Zeiss Tessar lens that I can stop down to about F16 without having to long exposure times (two Hensel generators with 9000 w/s together helped to archive that and remember, its called wet plate, because the plate needs to be wet the whole time and can not dry). I mounted this beauty of a lens on my 13x18cm Mentor camera (check this article for my renovation of the beauty: https://blog.markus-hofstaetter.at/2021/08/shooting-wet-plate-portraits-with-an-affordable-large-format-bokeh-monster/ )

    Even I know the Cambo tripod and the Mentor camera is made for such operation, it still looks a bit scary

    Even this studio Mentor camera and the tripod are meant for that kind of work, it felt funny to see my tools in that position.

    While I prepared everything in my darkroom, Hans Gerlach did his magic in my kitchen. We were very excited to work on the first plate. And after we saw the result, we were even more excited, the outcome was gorgeous. So we worked very long on the first day (I think I went to bed at 4 am). But it was not all glory. We shot so many plates, that at some point my silver nitrate bath went bad. First I thought it was the collodion, the fixer and the developer, but after I changed all of that(I am always good prepared for important shootings and create everything twice or even three times) and still got funny looking plates, I know I need to change the silver nitrate bath.

    A lot of troubleshooting was involved to make this go away

    After I changed the bath, everything was fine again and we could go on with the shooting.

    sourdough bread with butter and welsh onion

    We shot many different styles of the sourdough bread until we were happy with the outcome. This is one of our favourites plates. To hold it in our hands after months of planing and all the work we put together was wonderful. If you are interested in a print of this plate or any other, check out this link: prints.mhaustria.com

    But this little setback should not be the only thing that kept me busy this day. After shooting many plates, my modified wet plate holder made my life a bit harder. Sometimes the plate won’t stay in place and the end result of that was a scratched plate….

    this is something every wet plate artist have to face from time to time

    I quickly solved the problem with a little redesign on the plate holder and from that on I was able to shoot without any problem. Before capturing every new dish, we were excited to see how it will turn out.
    And most of them turned out great, I really like the beans and the spoon with chocolate mousse. The sheer amount of detail and texture of these scans from the wet plates are just incredible. They will look amazing on a big print.

    green beans with whipped goat cheese and fennel flowers
    This will look great on a big canvas

    spoon with chocolate mousse grated chocolate

    To get as much done as possible, I scanned all 13x18cm (about 200mpix) and 18x24cm (about 300mpix, I decided later to do two bigger plates too) plates at night and also varnish them afterwards. So this night was quite short 🙂

    I shot the bigger plates with a 150 year old Dallmeyer 2b Petzval lens to mix the this delicious bread with the beautiful swirly bokeh from this old lens. I really like how this plate turned out and how the out of focus areas look like.

    sourdough bread with welsh onion and radishes
    It amazes me again and again how sharp these old lenses are

    After these intense shoots, we were always rewarded with great looking plates amazing tasting food.

    I am still dreaming f that desert

    Hans created also amazing tasting handmade pasta

    culurgiones – sardinian ravioli with wild herbs

    To give you guys a much better idea of this shooting, I tried to captures as much footage as possible to bring you behind the scenes with this video

    On thing is sure, we enjoyed our work together a lot and will do more like that in the future, but that needs again lots of planning. I am very happy that I met Hans and his work inspired me (yes there is also a inspired portrait coming up). I really look forward to our next shooting together (and yes, I also look forward to eat everything 🙂

    Because I get asked very often about the tools I use for the wet plate process, I created a shopping list here: list.mhaustria.com

  • Get yourself a beautiful print here: http://prints.mhaustria.com
  • Looking for wet plate gear? http://gear.mhaustria.com
  • Buy me a tea: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/mhaustria
  • Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/mhaustria
  • Get cool analog shirts here shirts.mhaustria.com
  • For online wet plate workshops, visit this http://online.mhaustria.com
  • For private wetplate workshops (Nassplattenworkshop contact me here: http://www.markus-hofstaetter.at/pages/kontakt/ (German and English available)
  • Get the latest news with my newsletter here: https://blog.markus-hofstaetter.at/newsletter-2/
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    Tuesday, September 7th, 2021

    Mobile Darkroom: Advanced Eskimo Quickfish 3 modification

    I did a darkroom tent review some time ago and I still like that one, but after using a quickfish3 at the camera obscura festival I fell in love with it, because it’s much easier to setup. I also enjoy the extra space I got in this tent.

    Maybe some of you may ask why I do a video about it. Let me explain: I talked with others how they modified their tent to make it light tight and got lots of great feedback. But I wanted to go for a more final solution, so I started digging. Lots of people use normal acrylic spray to close the little holes in the tent. Others use paint made for rims. To cover the zipper, people use a black reflector or a big towel to cover it. But this things are always in my way and I have to take them with me. After talking with professionals I figured that screen painting ink should be a final solution to cover holes, because it is designed to grab onto the structure of a fabric. A call with https://www.siebdruckladen.de was super helpful and brought me the final solution – thanks a lot for that. For the zippers, my girlfriend had the idea to get some kind of zipper cover, like you have it on your jeans. For that I went to a shop that sells tons of different fabric (https://textil-mueller.at) and got some stiff one. First I was thinking to sew it somehow to the tent, but then I went for glueing. There is so much different glue for fabric out there, most of must be ironed and that was something I did not like to do on my tent. So I called https://www.henkel.at and asked what glue would be the best. They forwarded my question to a technician. He called me back and explained in detail what to use and how I should use it. What a great support, thanks a lot guys! There is no sponsored content here, I just show you guys what worked well, so you guys don’t have to figure it out by yourself. Find all the links on the bottom of the post.
    Check the video for a more detailed explanation how I did everything.

  • Get yourself a beautiful print here: http://prints.mhaustria.com
  • Looking for wet plate gear? http://gear.mhaustria.com
  • Buy me a tea: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/mhaustria
  • Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/mhaustria
  • Get cool analog shirts here shirts.mhaustria.com
  • For online wet plate workshops, visit this http://online.mhaustria.com
  • For private wetplate workshops (Nassplattenworkshop contact me here: http://www.markus-hofstaetter.at/pages/kontakt/ (German and English available)
  • Get the latest news with my newsletter here: https://blog.markus-hofstaetter.at/newsletter-2/
  • Affiliate Links

    my old growtent lighthouse max
    My used one: http://gear.mhaustria.com
    On Amazon de: https://amzn.to/3DObCOJ

    Eskimo Quickfish 3
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    I ordered mine here they ship to Europe: http://www.moreoutdoor4u.com

    Peelable paint Abziehlack
    Similar Version worldwide: https://amzn.to/3DOWm4f
    Germany: https://amzn.to/3h5OpxY

    Screenprinting Paint – Siebdruckfarbe
    Shop in Germany:
    https://www.siebdruckladen.de/Aqua-tex-Schwarz.html
    https://www.siebdruckladen.de/Cold-Fix.html
    If you can’t order there, get similar items here:
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    Glue for the zip covers:
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    Germany: https://amzn.to/38IerCD

    I would not suggest to buy the fabric onlien, go to a local store and look for a stiff one.

    Pondliner – Teichfolie for the windows and the bottom of the tent
    International: https://amzn.to/3DOg4gphttps://amzn.to/3BMdcPu – this should be big enough for the tent and the windows.
    Germany: https://amzn.to/3zSfyvE this should be big enough for the tent and the windows

    Lee color filter 106 primary red – Red color gel – Rote Farbfolie
    International: https://amzn.to/38GktDX
    Germany https://amzn.to/3jNtAsQ
    Don’t get a cheap one, you will regret it.

    Velcro – Klettverschluß for the windows – calculate for 8 windows
    International: https://amzn.to/3n4BShZ
    Germany:https://amzn.to/3yN71ZA

    small foldable table – mine is made of wood and I can not recommend it anymore, thats the one I will get after mine is totally gone
    International: https://amzn.to/3n7Lo3G
    Germany: https://amzn.to/3h7fksV

    Water canister with
    International: https://amzn.to/38HusJd
    Germany: https://amzn.to/3kXwg6z
    I will get a foldable version soon too:
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    Rugged Erxplorer or pelican cases
    International: https://amzn.to/38K75yI
    Germany: https://amzn.to/3jMWZmP

    Traveling Tanks:
    https://www.lerouge-camera.fr/en/shop/dip-tanks-for-wet-plate-collodion-process/

    Coleman Extreme cooler – choose the size you like
    International: https://amzn.to/38KGQIk
    Germany: https://amzn.to/3kVHM25

    Lifetime Table 60kg:
    International: https://amzn.to/3n8lTQ2
    Germany: https://amzn.to/3h3KLog
    The more rugged version:
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    Jiga wireless powerbank:
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    Germany: https://amzn.to/3n3gJER

    Led strips with remote and blutooth control:
    International: https://amzn.to/3h8WPo5 or https://amzn.to/2WZwdyT
    Germany: https://amzn.to/3BOrm2f

    Clips to mount the led strip on the tent:
    International: https://amzn.to/3h6sK8I
    Germany: https://amzn.to/3DJKyQC

     

    Tuesday, August 24th, 2021

    How to remove Scratches from Tintypes varnished with Sandarac

    There is nothing more annoying as scratches in your sandarac varnish. In todays video I show you how to make many of the go away. For that you let the varnished plate breath alcohol in a closed container . after about 15 minutes (you will smell it), the varnish will get sticky again and because of that small scratches will disappear. After you are happy with the result, you heat the plate to cure the varnish again. always cover the plate as good as possible with a tray or something else, to avoid dust on it. See the full explanation in my video


    Affiliate links to used products



    Posted by Markus | Filed in alumitype, analog, collodion, sandarac, tutorial | Comment now »

     

    Wednesday, August 11th, 2021

    Inspired – Borut Peterlin – photographer and wet plate artist

    Borut’s work is very inspiring, he works with so much passion on his beautiful artworks. His documentations on his Youtube Channel are artworks by themselves. No wonder he was on my list for the inspired project. And most people don’t know, he has Ninja reflexes too – he bought my 3B lens mid air when it was on its way down to the ground. Thanks a lot for that Borut! His blog: https://borutpeterlin.wordpress.com and YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCjjZ-Qc43dF7xHBC92MAuA

    Get yourself a beautiful print here: http://prints.mhaustria.com

    Looking for wet plate gear? http://gear.mhaustria.com

    Buy me a tea: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/mhaustria

    Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/mhaustria

    Get cool analog shirts here shirts.mhaustria.com

    For online wet plate workshops, visit this http://online.mhaustria.com

    For private wetplate workshops (Nassplattenworkshop contact me here: http://www.markus-hofstaetter.at/pages/kontakt/ (German and English available)

    Get the latest news with my newsletter here: https://blog.markus-hofstaetter.at/newsletter-2/

     

    Wednesday, August 4th, 2021

    Shooting Wet Plate Portraits with an affordable Large Format Bokeh Monster

    I should stop calling these “Short Projects” short projects. It didn’t take that long, but still longer as expected.
    After I bought it at the Camera Obscura Festival
    But I still think if you are looking for a affordable large format wet plate camera, you should have a look at the Mentor camera brand. Most of them are build like a tank (Remember, I got another Mentor too, where I did double exposures with: https://youtu.be/y0ccDnXw9xE) and easy to repair. The cool thing of this camera is the curtain shutter and strobe connector. It has also all movements you can imagine, great for architecture, product (or food) photography.
    For the wet plate process, you want to look for a fast lens, but these are mostly pretty expensive. Thats why projection lenses are a good options, but most of them are triplet designs – but there are others too, like the Leitz Hektor 200mm F 2.5 that covers 13x18cm plates in portrait distance easily and has 4 glass elements instead of the classic triplets. be aware that the depth of field is razor thin on that lens. I have a second one for sale here http://gear.mhaustria.com with other camera gear I only use very rarely. So I would be happy if this finds someone who uses it again. I just collected to much gear….
    In the video, I show you how I repair all the little blemishes of the camera and add two Lenses to it. I even build two lens plateadapters. One to mount lenses from my Century camera to the Mentor and one to mount Linhof Lenses to the Century camera. Check my Thingverse too, I will post some of them there if I am happy with them. . The more I get comfortable with my 3D printer the more I use it, that reflects also in this project. Even some prints take pretty long (my longest one was 16 hours), it saves me lots of time, because I can do different things in-between. And some of the designs would have been much harder to create with traditional wood/metal working.
    I really like how the camera, lens plates and wet plate holder turned out. This will be used on many during my workshops (for English ones contact me here)in the future And I am also very happy that Tanja of https://www.unikat.pictures/ helped me out to model for me. Thanks a lot!
    If you liked this kind of projects and want to support my upcoming ones, you ca do that here

    Get yourself a beautiful print here: http://prints.mhaustria.com

    Get cool analog shirts here shirts.mhaustria.com

     

    Wednesday, July 21st, 2021

    How to create Waterhouse stops for antique lenses

    Large format photographers who work with antique Petzval lenses know the hassle. You get a pretty new brass lens, but there are no Waterhouse stops included. “Hey I don’t care, I shoot anyways wide open all the time” some might say. With some, I also include me. But then you find yourself on a very sunny day and struggle with doing a very quick exposure, like here https://youtu.be/nStEK3zV5tA?t=438 (and you will end up anyways with an overexposed image, even with the not so light sensitive wet plate process). Oh yes, and there is also the creative point of stopping down your lens – but wait, who really does that if you can have a dreamy, swirly Petzval bokeh, right? 🙂 Just kidding, I would have needed these Waterhouse stop more often than I thought of. That’s why I finally 3D printed them (there is also another option) and did a tutorial for you guys, so you can make them too without having to much trouble. At the end I also decided to make carrying case for them, to have them in a safe place. If you don’t want to make them by yourself, check out http://gear.mhaustria.com – where I will make them for you (Dallmeyer 2B and 3b Waterhouse stops are available right now, but you can contact me here https://www.markus-hofstaetter.at/pages/kontakt/ and we will figure something out for your lens).

    Highend Waterhouse stops: https://camera-obscura.photography/ (you need to ask for it)
    Thingverse: https://www.thingiverse.com/mhaustria/designs
    Another Waterhouse stop Project on Thingverse: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4731495
    Affinity Photo and Designer: https://affinity.serif.com/ Image
    Vectorizer: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/image-vectorizer/id789656124?mt=12
    Free online image Vectorizer: https://www.autotracer.org/
    Morphi App: https://www.morphiapp.com/ Ideamaker: https://www.raise3d.com/ideamaker/

    PETG Filament I used: https://www.extrudr.com

    Get yourself a beautiful print here: http://prints.mhaustria.com

    Get cool analog shirts here shirts.mhaustria.com

    For online wet plate workshops, visit this http://online.mhaustria.com

    For private wetplate workshops (Nassplattenworkshop contact me here: http://www.markus-hofstaetter.at/pages/kontakt/ (German and English available)

     

    Thursday, July 15th, 2021

    The First Analog Photography Festival After The Pandemic

    This was such a great experience! It was not only great to meet people again at the Camera Obscura Festival, but it was also awesome to meet artists that are interested in an analog workflow. Another great thing is, that this festival is not an exclusive “wet plate event” it is also for people who work with the analog medium in any way. That was so cool, with this option you will experience things you may not have seen before. Like Large Format Cameras build from Legos. It was so nice to meet all of you guys finally in person another big thanks to Stefan, Christian and Denis for organising this great event! If you want to be notified for the next Camera Obscura Festival, register here: http://cof.mhaustria.com

    Get yourself a beautiful print here: http://prints.mhaustria.com

    Get cool analog shirts here shirts.mhaustria.com

    For online wet plate workshops, visit this http://online.mhaustria.com

    For private wetplate workshops contact me here: http://www.markus-hofstaetter.at/pages/kontakt/

     

    Wednesday, April 28th, 2021

    Is the wet plate collodion process dangerous?

    Not a question that is easy answered, but I try to do my best in my latest video. Depending what chemicals you use, there is much more you have to take care of. I will do sometimes a second video with more info. Before you start with this process inform yourself with a good book or a workshop from a person who knows about the danger of the chemicals.

    get cool analog shirts here shirts.mhaustria.com

    for online wet plate workshops, visit this http://online.mhaustria.com

    For private wetplate workshops contact me here: http://www.markus-hofstaetter.at/pages/kontakt/

    Or book other ones here http://www.markus-hofstaetter.at/pages/workshops/

    Don’t forget to subscribe to my Newsletter: https://blog.markus-hofstaetter.at/Newsletter/