Go vintage with a Wet Plate effect

Sean McCormack shows you how to give your images a unique look by emulating the historic wet plate effect

- Sean McCormack

Colour plays an important role in our photography, of course. That may be even truer for movies, where famous directors such as Wes Anderson use simple palettes to create striking scenes. But for much of its history, there was no colour at all in photography.

We may currently be seeing a resurgence in film photography as those brought up with digital cameras seek new ways of creating unique images. But even processing film is easy compared with what came before. It was during the American Civil War that photographers travelled in wagons that also served as a darkroom. To create an image, they had to pour volatile collodion liquid over a glass or tin plate. They would then soak this in a silver solution to make it light sensitive, then you’d have roughly five minutes to take the photograph and develop it – all in all, a fascinating process.