Much appreciated! Oh yes, I'm always careful with my bottles. My wetplate manual by Quinn Jacobson suggests using glass, and it's fairly common to use, but I agree, it would be costly and dangerous to drop a glass bottle. I decided against using KCN and ether, but other dangers I can live with :)
Hello I am a subscriber to South Korea. There is no information about collodion wet plate in South Korea. So I want to ask you some questions. I am using a poeboy collodion (Cadmium bromide is not available in South Korea ) The picture is still blurry or the contrast is poor. I'm not sure if it's a silver nitrate issue or a developer issue. Collodion was definitely well made. The developer made it well by adding iron sulfate, acetic acid and ethanol. But the picture is blurry. I am doing an ambro type. Is it a problem with silver nitrate? Specific gravity is exactly 1.07. If the pH of silver nitrate is about 5~6, can the picture be blurry or the contrast is weak?
great tutorial thanks a million. just one question though. do u add one letter of water exactly to the silver or do you make it up to 1 litre. the silver taking up some of the volume when dissolved. I see differing approached for cyanotype solutions for example.
+Christian Hogue I add 1 litre of water exactly. This amount should take the solution up to the correct Specific Gravity. If the Specific Gravity is too low, add more silver nitrate. If it's too high, add more water. The exact litre value is just a starting point.
Thanks for the great video! Just wondering about the bottle, should it be stored in an amber bottle to reduce the light reacting to the solution? With that said, I've accidentally left my dip tank open when firing off my strobes. Do you know how much light it take to ruin my silver bath? Thanks again for sharing.
Sorry for the late reply. Silver nitrate can be safely stored in a clear bottle. It only becomes light sensitive when mixed with the collodion solution, so no amount of light can ruin your silver nitrate by itself. Hope that helps!
+Josh Reardon Differences in ph or sg can cause unwanted, or unpredictable, results. But if you can find a level for both that works, and you can keep them consistent, they don't need to exactly match those in the video. However, best results are obtained with the values you see.
The meter is one used in the wine industry. There are different meters for different scales of liquid measurement (specific gravity) so you'll need one that covers the area around 0.07sg. You are correct about the overnight "charging" of the silver nitrate with a salted collodion plate. This prevents the silver nitrate from stealing halogen salts out of your collodion while you're shooting.
Could you please give me a name of your digital Ph meter? I have one but mine didn't work with silver nitrate, the number was not stable, it kept raising up. Thanks
+Duy Vo Lap I'm not sure of the name. The box has the words 'Analytical Instruments' on it, but I don't know if that is a brand name or some generic text. Hope that helps!
Sir I just bought 10gm of AgNo3 for silver gelatin printing. Frankly that's all I could afford right now for test prints. can you help me by telling the mixing proportion ? Nearby store offered a .2906 % of silver nitrate for 125ml is that enough for making contact prints because that solution is much cheaper to buy.!
The store solution seems a little weak. I doubt you would get a good image. The best method is to mix your own from crystals. You could add 9gm of AgNO3 to 100ml of water for a good solution.
Beautiful video! Just be careful storing that Silver Nitrate in a glass bottle like that, I have mine in plastic, just in case something unfortunate happens, it will avoid a costly and potentially dangerous accident!
Much appreciated!
Oh yes, I'm always careful with my bottles. My wetplate manual by Quinn Jacobson suggests using glass, and it's fairly common to use, but I agree, it would be costly and dangerous to drop a glass bottle. I decided against using KCN and ether, but other dangers I can live with :)
My pleasure! New video on mixing collodion is up! :)
Where do you get your distilled water? Every brand I’ve bought clouds up.
Hello I am a subscriber to South Korea.
There is no information about collodion wet plate in South Korea. So I want to ask you some questions.
I am using a poeboy collodion (Cadmium bromide is not available in South Korea )
The picture is still blurry or the contrast is poor. I'm not sure if it's a silver nitrate issue or a developer issue. Collodion was definitely well made. The developer made it well by adding iron sulfate, acetic acid and ethanol. But the picture is blurry. I am doing an ambro type. Is it a problem with silver nitrate? Specific gravity is exactly 1.07. If the pH of silver nitrate is about 5~6, can the picture be blurry or the contrast is weak?
What ph meter are you using?
Wow,you just mixed over a hundred pounds worth of silver nitrate to make this video.
great tutorial thanks a million. just one question though. do u add one letter of water exactly to the silver or do you make it up to 1 litre. the silver taking up some of the volume when dissolved. I see differing approached for cyanotype solutions for example.
+Christian Hogue I add 1 litre of water exactly. This amount should take the solution up to the correct Specific Gravity. If the Specific Gravity is too low, add more silver nitrate. If it's too high, add more water. The exact litre value is just a starting point.
Thanks for the great video! Just wondering about the bottle, should it be stored in an amber bottle to reduce the light reacting to the solution? With that said, I've accidentally left my dip tank open when firing off my strobes. Do you know how much light it take to ruin my silver bath? Thanks again for sharing.
Sorry for the late reply. Silver nitrate can be safely stored in a clear bottle. It only becomes light sensitive when mixed with the collodion solution, so no amount of light can ruin your silver nitrate by itself. Hope that helps!
definitely helps! thanks again!
Thanks a bunch, very well done! Where do you recommend buying your silver nitrate?
+Birchblaze If you're in the US, you could take a look at either Bostick & Sullivan or Chemsavers.
Maybe a stupid question, but what if the ph or gravity measurements are off (as in not the same as those featured here)
+Josh Reardon Differences in ph or sg can cause unwanted, or unpredictable, results. But if you can find a level for both that works, and you can keep them consistent, they don't need to exactly match those in the video. However, best results are obtained with the values you see.
what kind of hydro meter do you use? and also I read some where about stabilizing the solution.....by leaving a collodion plate overnight?
The meter is one used in the wine industry. There are different meters for different scales of liquid measurement (specific gravity) so you'll need one that covers the area around 0.07sg. You are correct about the overnight "charging" of the silver nitrate with a salted collodion plate. This prevents the silver nitrate from stealing halogen salts out of your collodion while you're shooting.
Could you please give me a name of your digital Ph meter? I have one but mine didn't work with silver nitrate, the number was not stable, it kept raising up. Thanks
+Duy Vo Lap I'm not sure of the name. The box has the words 'Analytical Instruments' on it, but I don't know if that is a brand name or some generic text. Hope that helps!
+GPV Photography Thanks a lot. That helps.
Thank you!
Sir I just bought 10gm of AgNo3 for silver gelatin printing. Frankly that's all I could afford right now for test prints. can you help me by telling the mixing proportion ? Nearby store offered a .2906 % of silver nitrate for 125ml is that enough for making contact prints because that solution is much cheaper to buy.!
The store solution seems a little weak. I doubt you would get a good image. The best method is to mix your own from crystals. You could add 9gm of AgNO3 to 100ml of water for a good solution.
Thank you Sir 😊
Thank you for this :)
Beautiful video! Just be careful storing that Silver Nitrate in a glass bottle like that, I have mine in plastic, just in case something unfortunate happens, it will avoid a costly and potentially dangerous accident!
5 *****'s