31 Aug
DARKROOM CHEMISTRY, EMULSION, Zebra Dry Plates

How Direct Positive Photography Works – Why Silver Can Look Black or Bright

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One of the most fascinating things about silver-based photography is that the material forming the image is, chemically speaking, surprisingly simple. Whether we are looking at the dense black areas of a conventional negative or the brilliant highlights of certain direct-positive processes, much of what we see is ultimately metallic silver. Yet the same element can appear deep black in one photograph and almost white or silvery in another. Understanding why brings us into a particularly interesting part of photographic chemistry, where chemistry, particle growth and optics all begin to overlap. Why is silver black in the first place? A photographic emulsion...
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04 Aug
EQUIPMENT, Uncategorized, WET PLATE PHOTOGRAPHY, Zebra Dry Plates

How We Built a Giant 24×35″ Wet Plate Collodion Equipment

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Every Project Starts with an Idea Over the years, we have built just about everything in the Zebra workshop. From tiny custom camera accessories and plate holders to some of the largest wet plate equipment currently being used by photographers around the world, every project has presented its own set of challenges. Most of them begin with a simple question from a customer, but every now and then someone comes along with an idea that immediately makes us stop, look at each other and think, this is going to be fun. A few months ago we received an email from Richard, who...
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15 Jun
DARKROOM BUILD, DARKROOM CHEMISTRY, EQUIPMENT, KICKSTARTER, Zebra Dry Plates

Zebra Daylight Processing Tank: Reinventing Daylight Processing for Film, Plates & Paper

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5
There is a certain irony in large format photography. Many of us are drawn to it precisely because it slows us down. We enjoy the deliberate pace of setting up a camera, carefully composing an image on a ground glass, loading holders by hand, and making every exposure count. In a world where everything seems to move faster each year, large format photography encourages the exact opposite. It rewards patience, observation, and craftsmanship. Yet when the time comes to develop those negatives, the experience is often far less enjoyable. Anyone who has spent an evening standing in complete darkness, carefully shuffling sheets of...
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24 May
EMULSION, ON THE FIELD, PRINTING PROCESSES, Zebra Dry Plates

The Revenge of Analog: Why I Trade a 30 FPS for Hand-Poured Glass Plates?

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Shadows Captured in Silver: The Creative Awakening of a Modern Glass Plate Photographer What if the most radical step forward in your photography meant looking back a hundred years? In a world where digital cameras fire off thirty pristine frames a second, every image risks becoming disposable. Algorithmic perfection has stripped away the soul of the craft, leaving many of us feeling like operators of a machine rather than creators of an art form. If you are craving a deeper, more tactile connection to your imagery where every single exposure demands your full presence, intellect, and heart, the answer isn’t a newer...
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20 May
AUTOCHROME, EMULSION, EQUIPMENT, ON THE FIELD, PRINTING PROCESSES, Uncategorized, WET PLATE PHOTOGRAPHY, Zebra Dry Plates

Why ProFilm Meter May Be the Most Complete Light Metering App for Film & Plate Photography?

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39
The Exposure System Built for Film, Dry Plate, Wet Plate, and Alternative Photography! Today, after months of development, field testing, and beta testing together with photographers from the analog community (a huge thank you to all the testers who helped shape the app along the way), we are incredibly excited to officially launch ProFilm Meter on both the Apple App Store and Google Play Store. This is not just another light meter app. ProFilm Meter was built specifically for photographers working with film, dry plates, wet plate collodion, cyanotype, infrared materials, RA4 and alternative photographic processes the kinds of materials most modern...
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12 May
AUTOCHROME, EMULSION, Zebra Dry Plates

First Reverse Processed Zebra Autochromes – A Small Step Closer to Magical Colour Photography

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Over the last few weeks we have been quietly experimenting with something that has completely captivated us: reverse processed Autochrome plates. And finally… we have our first successful results. The images were taken during a recent trip through the Czech Republic, and seeing those tiny glowing colors appear for the very first time on glass has honestly been a magical experience. Even in these early stages, the plates already possess that unmistakable Autochrome atmosphere soft light, luminous color, and a depth that feels almost impossible to reproduce digitally. What makes them especially exciting is that these are not scans or digitally inverted negatives....
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05 May
DARKROOM CHEMISTRY, KICKSTARTER, Uncategorized, Zebra Dry Plates

The Zebra Daylight Developing Tanks Are Almost Here

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From Kickstarter Success to Full Release Not long ago, the Zebra Daylight Developing Tank existed only as an idea. A simple but ambitious goal: to create a system that would make large format film and plate processing easier, more flexible, and accessible without the need for a traditional darkroom setup. When we launched the project on Kickstarter, we didn’t fully know what to expect. What followed exceeded everything we imagined. The campaign quickly gained momentum, reaching its goal and continuing far beyond it. What mattered even more than the numbers, though, was the response from the community. Photographers, alternative process enthusiasts, and large format users...
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22 Apr
DARKROOM CHEMISTRY, Zebra Dry Plates

Brighter Whites & Balanced Tones – A New Chapter for Direct Dry Plate Positives!

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2
There’s something incredibly satisfying about finally seeing clean, neutral and bright positives appear on the plate in fixer exactly the way you imagined them. If you’ve worked with direct dry plate positives for any length of time, you’ll know that this has always been one of the most elusive parts of the process. Not sharpness, not contrast, but white balance  that delicate, silvery neutrality that gives a tintype its unmistakable presence. And this is exactly where things have just taken a big step forward. Tested Where It Matters In Real Workshops Over the past months, I’ve had the chance to test a new complexing agent not just...
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27 Jan
DARKROOM BUILD, EMULSION, Uncategorized, Zebra Dry Plates

Making History: The New Chapter of Dry Plate Photography

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For over a century, dry plate photography has lived in a space between science and craft , between chemistry, light, patience, and human hands. It has always been a medium shaped by care, slowness, and deep technical knowledge, preserved by small communities and individual makers who refused to let it disappear. Zebra Dry Plates was born from that same tradition: hand-mixed emulsions, manual coating, slow production, and a deep respect for historical photographic processes. For years, every plate we produced was hand coated, one by one, following techniques that connect directly back to 19th‑century photographic practice. Tradition is not something that...
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18 Jan
DARKROOM CHEMISTRY, EMULSION, PRINTING PROCESSES, Zebra Dry Plates

Beautiful glass Ambrotypes without a camera?! A complete Guide to Contact Printing positives on glass (VIDEO)

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This project started with a simple but meaningful intention: to create deeply personal Christmas gifts from photographs that already existed. Instead of making new images with a camera, we chose to translate old family photographs onto glass, creating ambrotype-style positives using Zebra glass dry plates. What makes this process special is that no camera is used at any stage. The image is recreated entirely through scanning, tonal preparation, contact printing, chemistry, and optics. It is a slow, deliberate process rooted in 19th-century photographic principles, adapted carefully for modern materials. Below is the full, exact workflow we used.   What You need to Get Started Source...
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