Photographers:
Connections:

Wet-plate photography


 
LL/42721
 
The demanding alchemy of the collodion era. This process required the photographer to coat, sensitize, and develop the plate while still wet, resulting in images of stunning clarity that defined the era of the pioneer and the explorer.

Membership Access Required

Follow the Portable Darkroom.

Contents

Video resources
1The Collodion Process
Introduction
2The wet plate collodion process
3Wet-plate photography
4Panotypes / Pannotypes
Original publication
5Frederick Scott Archer: On The Use of Collodion in Photography (March 1851)
Supplies
6Collodion
7William Henry Jackson: Equipment required for wet-plate photography (1869)
Photographers at work
8Carleton E. Watkins (uncertain): #925 Spring Valley Water Works
9William Henry Jackson: Photographing in High Places
10Wet-plate photographers at work
11Mr James Mudd encounters a photographic van in Wales (1860)
Dark tents and dark boxes
12Dark tents and dark boxes
13Photographs of dark tents, dark boxes and photographers in the field
14Contemporary accounts of nineteenth century dark tents

Terms and conditions • Copyright • Privacy • Contact me
Contributors retain copyright over their submissions
In using this website you agree to the Terms and Conditions
© Alan Griffiths - Luminous-Lint 2026