The following three photos show a really stubborn problem I've been unsuccessfully trying to fix for the past three months. Turns out, I was causing this problem by introducing contamination into my collodion stock bottle.
Collodion Contamination 1Collodion Contamination Example 1
Collodion Contamination 2Collodion Contamination Example 2
Collodion Contamination 3Collodion Contamination Example 3
So, I've been struggling with a really frustrating problem with my plates. Not every time, but really frequently my plates would have a horrible "blotchiness" right where I start my collidion pours. My mentor called this problem "veiling," but the normal trick to fix veiling (very gently rubbing the plate after its fixed with a wet cotton ball) wasn't working. I've been banging my head against the wall trying to troubleshoot this problem, which was ruining something like 80% of the plates I made.
The biggest clue I had when troubleshooting was that the blotchiness always appeared on my plates right where I started my collodion pours. The blotchiness wasn't evident on the freshly-poured plates, and didn't show up until the development step. I experimented with my pouring technique -- I tried pouring more slowly, more quickly, more forcefully, and more gently. Nothing worked. I tried using different collodion recipes, but nothing would fix this issue.
Father & Daughter PortraitFather & Daughter
After two months of frustration, I *finally* figured out what the issue is: contamination in my collodion caused by draining my plates directly back into my collodion stock bottle, instead of into a waste bottle. This was causing partially-dried collodion contamination to end up back in my stock bottle, and the partially-dried collodion contamination ended up on the next plate I poured.
I am SO FREAKING RELIEVED that I've figured out this issue. I shot seven plates over the weekend, and didn't have this blotchy contamination problem in any of them!
Collodion Portrait
I've still got a long ways to go before I'll consider myself good at wet plate collodion. But this is a huge breakthrough, and now I can focus on the other issues plaguing my plates.
