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wet plate

Shooting high end food photography on wet plate large format looks amazing

Sep 23, 2021 by Markus Hofstätter Add Comment
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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. 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 planning, Hans Gerlach (a well-known food photographer and columnist) drove over to my studio and brought his tools and some delicious food with him.

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Is wet plate photography dangerous? Well, yes, it is

May 3, 2021 by John Aldred Add Comment
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Wet plate photography’s one of those mythical analogue photography processes to most of us. All we know is that some liquid gets poured onto a piece of metal or glass, it goes into a camera, the shutter is fired, magic happens and we get a photo at the end of it. But one person who definitely understands the wet plate process is Markus Hofstätter.

Markus has made it not only his passion but he also shoots wet plate photography for a living. He knows all the ins and outs of it and has made some pretty remarkable images with it. But in this video, he takes some of that fantasy away and shares the reality of working with wet plate and how dangerous it can sometimes be, particularly when it comes to the chemicals used.

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How I shot a portrait of two people 7,000km apart on a single wet plate photograph

Nov 16, 2020 by Markus Hofstätter 2 Comments
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This is not about a technical perfect wet plate. This is about building connections from thousand miles away. Overcoming obstacles and being there for each other.

This 5-minute exposure captured more than just an image, it’s a short movie where the plate captured our thoughts and movements. Thanks to Shane Balkowitsch to be a part of it.

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How I shot this wet plate portrait of a sword-wielding medieval knight

Jul 13, 2020 by Markus Hofstätter 3 Comments
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The task was clear – an original portrait of a Medieval Knight Sword Fighter (national champion).

So I planned to do a collodion wet plate of a knight with his armour and sword. My first thought was, that an original armor has no “color” so to say. You just see the reflections of the environment. That was the reason I wanted to shoot the first portrait in my garden. Unfortunately, the weather gods were against us and just after when we started a thunderstorm was on its way.

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This photographer converted a Lomo Instant camera to shoot mini wet plates

May 20, 2020 by Dunja Djudjic 1 Comment
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Cabinet cards were all the rage in the late 19th century. Photographer Ursula Ferrara decided to bring them back in a modern version, and she made her own camera for it. She modified a Lomo’Instant Wide so that now, instead of using Instax Wide film, she can shoot tiny wet plate collodion photos.

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This “long-distance wet plate portrait” was taken in isolation thanks to video chat

Apr 7, 2020 by Dunja Djudjic 1 Comment
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To keep themselves busy and creative in isolation, some photographers are turning to alternative shooting methods such as video chat. Shane Balkowitsch is one of them, and he did something that I find pretty extraordinary. He didn’t only conduct a portrait shoot online via video chat, which is amazing on its own. He created a wet plate portrait from his US home, photographing his friend in the UK via Zoom video call.

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Photographer creates coronavirus stop motion animation using large format wet plate photography

Mar 14, 2020 by John Aldred Add Comment
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There is no doubt that the current coronavirus situation is affecting the lives of much of the world’s population. Events are being cancelled, schools closed, people are “self-isolating” and entire countries have been locked down. It seems like nobody can escape its effects anywhere. How we respond to those effects, though, is often quite personal.

For wet plate photographer, Markus Hofstätter, the response is to make art. It’s how he responds a lot of things that bother him or affect his life in a meaningful way. Naturally, his preferred medium is wet plate photography. But Markus went a little further than normal with this shooting seven separate images, which he turned into the stop motion animation you see above.

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Photographer transforms symphony hall into the world’s largest darkroom

Oct 7, 2019 by Dunja Djudjic Add Comment
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During this year’s STORY conference in Nashville, TN, photographer Blake Wylie turned one “half-crazy” idea into reality. He transformed Schermerhorn Symphony Center into a massive darkroom and created a tintype live, on stage, in front of 1,400 people. It was challenging, but he did it – and he kindly shared the details of this fascinating project with DIYP.

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This photographer put a portable wet plate darkroom on a tricycle

Jul 30, 2019 by Dunja Djudjic Add Comment
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In the digital era, I always find it impressive when I see photographers who still use wet plate collodion process. And it’s especially impressive to see all the fun projects and DIY stuff they make. Photographer Michaël Tirat has built his own DIY portable wet plate darkroom and he put it on a tricycle. It contains everything he needs so he can cycle around Bordeaux, France with it, take photos and develop them on the spot. We’ve chatted with Michaël a bit about his interesting project. He kindly shared some details about his build, the challenges he faced, as well as some photos.

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How to modify an 8×10 sheet film holder for shooting wet plate collodion

Jul 27, 2019 by John Aldred 2 Comments
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While it was once the only way you could really shoot a photo, wet plate photography went off almost into the realm of complete non-existence just a few years ago. Lately, though, it seems to be making something of a comeback. Much of the hardware isn’t as easy to get as it once was, although it seems to be more popular again now than it has been for a very long time.

One problem to be overcome with wet plate, though, is actually loading the plates into a large format camera. You typically can’t just use a regular sheet film holder. At least, not without alteration. In this video, photographer Markus Hofstätter shows us how he modifies his 8×10 film holders for the wet plate process.

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Udi Tirosh: from diyphotography.netUdi Tirosh is an entrepreneur, photography inventor, journalist, educator, and writer based in Israel. With over 25 years of experience in the photo-video industry, Udi has built and sold several photography-related brands. Udi has a double degree in mass media communications and computer science.

Alex Baker: from diyphotography.netAlex Baker is a portrait and lifestyle driven photographer based in Valencia, Spain. She works on a range of projects from commercial to fine art and has had work featured in publications such as The Daily Mail, Conde Nast Traveller and El Mundo, and has exhibited work across Europe

David Williams: from diyphotography.netDave Williams is an accomplished travel photographer, writer, and best-selling author from the UK. He is also a photography educator and published Aurora expert. Dave has traveled extensively in recent years, capturing stunning images from around the world in a modified van. His work has been featured in various publications and he has worked with notable brands such as Skoda, EE, Boeing, Huawei, Microsoft, BMW, Conde Nast, Electronic Arts, Discovery, BBC, The Guardian, ESPN, NBC, and many others.

John Aldred: from diyphotography.netJohn Aldred is a photographer with over 20 years of experience in the portrait and commercial worlds. He is based in Scotland and has been an early adopter - and occasional beta tester - of almost every digital imaging technology in that time. As well as his creative visual work, John uses 3D printing, electronics and programming to create his own photography and filmmaking tools and consults for a number of brands across the industry.

Dunja Djudjic: from diyphotography.netDunja Djudjic is a multi-talented artist based in Novi Sad, Serbia. With 15 years of experience as a photographer, she specializes in capturing the beauty of nature, travel, and fine art. In addition to her photography, Dunja also expresses her creativity through writing, embroidery, and jewelry making.

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