Early Photographic Processes

Wet Collodion Process

1851-1880s

Discovery

Pioneers

Gustave le Gray, RJ Bingham and Frederick Scott Archer each considered creating a photographic plate by coating glass with collodion.

It was Archer  (1813-1857), after discovering the process in 1848, who published an account of it in 1851, and is generally credited with the discovery.  [PCH], [Charles A Long]

An article entitled The Early History of the Wet Collodion Process appeared in The  British Journal of Photography,  on 8 Jan 1875 [p.16]. 

This article includes reference to a paper by Archer published in The Chemist, March 1851.  Further letters and articles on the 'Archer v. Bingham' controversy appeared in the BJP during 1875.

Frederick Scott Archer

Seán MacKenna who lives and works in London is a practicing wet collodion photographer.  He describes himself as 'also poet and tragedian'. 

He has constructed a series of web pages to honour the memory of Frederick Scott Archer, including:

-   the complete text of Archer's first publication in 'The Chemist, 1851'

-   Archer's complete manual published in 1854, 'The Collodion Process on Glass'

Seán's web pages and links from these pages also include:

-  a photograph of Frederick Scott Archer.

-  an interesting short biography of Frederick Scott Archer.

-  a photograph of Archer's unmarked grave.

-  an example of Archer's photography, c.1857.

-  a modern photograph of the same location, 2001.

-  examples of Seán MacKenna's collodion photography.

-  details of cameras used by Seán for his collodion work.

-  a link to a collodion forum web site.

Gun Cotton and Ether

Collodion is a solution of gun cotton (nitrocellulose) in ethyl alcohol and ethyl ether. 

There are instances of explosions having occurred in wet collodion darkrooms, as a result of using open flames in a dense ether atmosphere.

[Ken Watson]

Widespread use of  Wet Collodion

The wet collodion process was not patented, and so made photography more widely available. 

In fact, Talbot claimed that this process, like the Calotype process was covered by his own patent, but this claim was not upheld.

The wet collodion process continued to be widely used until dry plates became widely available in the 1880s.

Some travelling photographers chose to use lighter, though less sensitive, paper negatives rather than glass.  [CM]

Scott Archer

Scott Archer allowed the process to be used free of copyright made no wealth from his discovery.

He received little recognition in his lifetime for his discovery, and attempts amongst photographers to obtain a pension for him in his ill health were unsuccessful.

He died in poverty at the age of 44, six years after publishing his discovery.

The Photographic Society of Scotland announced at its Meeting on 8 June 1857:

"A subscription has been opened among Members of the Society in aid of the Widow and Family of the late Mr Scott Archer, the introducer of the Collodion Process, who have been left completely destitute by his recent death.

It is important that the sum collected be forwarded to London immediately"

Ken Watson reports that Scott Archer's grave has been discovered, but is in a poor state of repair.

Process

The Black Art

The wet collodion plate had to be processed within minutes of exposed in the camera, and before its coating dried.

This required the photographer to bring along his darkroom if he was taking landscapes on location.  The process was messy and cumbersome.  Stains from the silver nitrate caused it to be known as the 'black art'.

The mixture used was also explosive, and was responsible for a number of accidents.

The steps in the collodion process were:

1. Dissolve gun-cotton ether to produce collodion.  Alcohol was also required at this stage.

2. Add bromides and iodides to the collodion mixture and coat one side of the glass plate, to achieve an even coating of collodion.

Some early reports describe the solution as sticky and having to be spread onto the glass plates.  

Ken Watson describes it as thinner than water, and says that it was poured onto the glass plate.

3. Sensitise the glass plate.  This was done by placing it  for two minutes in a "silver bath".  This was usually a light-tight container containing silver nitrate dissolved in water.

4. Transfer the plate, in a darkroom, under a red safelight, into a plate holder, then transfer the plate holder into the camera.

5. Take the photo while the coating just wet and very delicate.  An exposure of  several seconds would be required - perhaps 3 sec at f16.

6. Develop the wet negative.

Originally,  pyro-gallic acid was used as developer.

Later, in the 1860s, the developer used was ferrous sulphate (15gm), acetic acid (14ml), alcohol (14ml), water (400ml)

7. Fix in hypo or a cyanide solution, rinse and dry.

8. Coat with a gum sandarac varnish to help to protect the collodion layer.

9. Lay the negative over albumen paper, and expose to light.

10. Treat with gold chloride to prevent fading.

Acknowledgement:  I would like, particularly, to thank Ken Watson for several corrections he made to my original text on the wet collodion process. 

The comments from Ken are based on his own interest in the wet collodion process, and his practical experience in using this process.

The Wet Collodion Process

as described by Thomas Rodger in 1854

Thomas Rodger Jun. of St Andrews read a paper  to a Meeting of the Royal Scottish Society of Arts in Edinburgh, in February 1854, giving his method of using the wet collodion process.

The details given in his paper, and some of his background observations are informative.  Please click below for fuller details.

Chemicals for the Collodion Processes

Below is a list of chemicals for the Collodion and Albumen glass processes, taken from the catalogue of Bland & Long  published in 1856.  Please click on the list below for further details.

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Result

Albumen Prints from Wet Collodion Negatives

As for the earlier calotype process, it was possible to produce multiple prints from a single negative. 

The wet collodion process:

-  produced prints with the tonal richness of a daguerreotype.

-  produced crisp, grainless prints that retained more detail than the calotype,  but lacked the calotype's texture.

Albumen-coated paper was normally used to print wet collodion negatives. 

Alternatively, instead of making a print, the negatives could be used directly to produce Ambrotypes.

Landscapes by GW Wilson

Princes Street

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This view by GW Wilson, looks from Waverley, along Princes Street, towards the Scott Monument.  Wilson's horse-drawn van in which he processed his negatives can be seen parked beside the pavement in Princes Street

Despite the difficulties associated with the wet collodion process, this process and its freedom from copyright throughout Britain brought photography to the masses.  Small carte de visite portraits rapidly became both popular and very affordable.

In Edinburgh 

Cartes de Visite

In Edinburgh, as elsewhere in Britain, the introduction of the wet collodion process resulted in the opening of many photographic studios from the 1850s onwards.

CARTE DE VISITE

    ©

Sir David Brewster
 by John Moffat

From the 1850s, cartes de visite became popular.  These were small photographs 3.5 x 2.25 ins, mounted on trade cards measuring about 4 x 2.5 ins.  These were sold at affordable prices.

From around 1865 onwards, a larger format also became popular - cabinet prints.  

Cabinet prints consisted of photos about 5.5 x 4 ins, mounted on trade cards measuring about 6.5 x 4.5 ins.

Charles Piazzi Smyth

The Edinburgh photographer professor Charles Piazzi Smyth, Astronomer Royal for Scotland  travelled to Egypt to photograph the pyramids.  He used  a miniature camera with wet collodion plates only 1 inch square.

He gave lectures to Edinburgh Photogrpahic Society on this subject in 1869 and 1872.

The camera he used to take these photos was displayed in Edinburgh during the EPS International Photographic Exhibition of 1876

EPS Lectures

Edinburgh Photographic Society debated the wet collodion process, and the relative advantages of the wet and dry processes at many of its Meetings from the Society's inception in 1861 onwards.

Lecture titles included 

Please click here to see the dates of these lectures and other titles.

Early Landscape Photography

P T Mackintosh, in his EPS President's Opening Address in 1919 looked back on wet collodion photography in the 1860s.  He said:

"Behold now our photographer setting forth on his travels.  In his left hand, he carried an immense camera with an inflexible stand, and in his right a large carpet bag containing his glass plates in racks, his various chemicals and other paraphernalia.

Slung over his shoulder might be a carboy of distilled water, and, if the supply was likely to run out he might add to his impedimenta, a still and worm, which, if occasion served, might possibly be applied to other purposes detrimental to the revenue of the Crown.  If, like Mr Drummond, he carried his tent with him, that, I suppose was fastened around his neck."

Today

The wet collodion process is still being practiced today by Mark Osterman and France Scully Osterman.

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They work from this skylight studio at their home.

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Click here for further details of Mark and France and their early experiments, publications, exhibitions and workshops.

Click here to see Mark's collodion web site.