Wet plate photographer Markus Hofstaetter is always experimenting with his art in different ways-whether it`s capturing creepy halloween portraits, or this failed attempt to capture a fire and water wedding portrait on both digital and wet plate. His latest experiment, however, was a success.
He managed to do something he`s dreamed of for years: he was able to capture wet plate portraits handheld. In fact, he went one better; he shot handheld wet plate collodion double exposures.
One of the hand-held double exposures Markus captured with his newest setup.
The entire `journey`-from finding a hand-holdable wet plate camera, to fixing it up and making it ready to shoot, to the actual double exposure shots-is documented in the video above and on Hofstaetter`s blog, in which his tone seems to be `I`m glad I did this, but lord was it a pain in the butt.`
One of the biggest challenges facing Hofstaetter was getting enough light to capture the plates handheld. `Even though these are small plates, I had to use 6000-7000 Watts of Hensel strobe power to get enough light thru the grided softbox,` he writes. But in the end, it worked. And since he was mixing new tech and old technique, he decided that steampunk portraits would be appropriate.
Here`s some of what he captured:
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Whether or not you like the final images, you have to admire Hofstaetter`s determination and creativity. He found a camera that would work, 3D printed plate holders because they were missing, and then managed to do something we haven`t ever hear of before. Kudos are definitely in order.
Check out the video up top to see the full journey from purchase to plates, and the head over to Hofstaetter`s blog for more behind the scenes images and other cra ...
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