02 Mar
Uncategorized

The Hidden Alchemy of Film / Plate Photography

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At first glance, black-and-white photography feels simple. Light enters a camera, a plate or film is exposed, and in the darkroom an image slowly appears. But beneath that simplicity lies one of the most refined chemical systems ever developed, a process in which light quite literally rearranges atoms of metal. Every traditional black-and-white photographic plate, sheet film, roll film, and darkroom paper begins with the same essential structure: microscopic crystals of silver halide suspended in gelatin. These crystals are compounds formed between silver and halogen elements, most commonly bromine, sometimes chlorine or iodine. The result is silver bromide, silver chloride, or...
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09 Feb
Uncategorized

Retouching Glass Plate Negatives & Dry Plate Lecture at University of Udine

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Why Sharing Dry Plate Knowledge Matters Not long ago, I was invited by the Fotonomia Association to visit the University of Udine and give a class on making dry plates. It felt especially meaningful, because in the past few years I have been deeply immersed in building the business and rarely had the chance to travel and share dry plate photography through in person classes. Most of my energy went into private workshops in Slovenia, creating videos, writing blogs, developing user manuals, and refining the tools themselves. For me, dry plate photography is not just a technique. It is a responsibility to...
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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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3
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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01 Dec
KICKSTARTER, Uncategorized, Zebra Dry Plates

November Update: Zebra Daylight Processing Tanks – Shipping is about to start

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November Update: Shipping Timeline, Production Status and Important Info for U.S. Backers We are still aiming to start shipping the tanks in early December, which is actually a few weeks ahead of the original estimate. Over the past weeks, we have been preparing all the small details needed to make sure that when your tank arrives, your experience is smooth and intuitive from the moment you open the box. It is not only the physical product. It is the brochures, user manuals, packaging, and all the small things that matter to us. Finalizing these takes time and a lot of effort, but...
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25 Nov
DARKROOM BUILD, EMULSION, Uncategorized, Zebra Dry Plates

After Half a Century, Machine Coated Dry Plates Are Back

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2
First Machine Coated Dry Plates After More Than 50 Years Dry plates once stood at the heart of photography, coated in massive industrial facilities operated by companies like Ilford and Kodak. But in the 1970s, as the world shifted fully to flexible film, the last machine coated dry plates rolled off those production lines. The machines were shut down, dismantled, and never built again. From that moment on, the survival of the Dry Plate process depended entirely on the few photographers and craftsmen who continued to coat plates by hand.I eventually became one of them. Over the last seven years, I have hand...
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09 Nov
AUTOCHROME, OTHER, Zebra Dry Plates

Through the Mosaic Screen: Discovering the Magic of Early Colour Photography

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13
My Love Affair with the Autochrome It all began with a plate shimmering in the light.The first time I placed an Autochrome on a lightbox, I felt as if I were staring through time itself, into a moment made of color and silver, air and dust. The way those tiny dyed grains of potato starch came alive under magnification, forming a tapestry of living color, was absolutely hypnotic. As a maker and experimenter in photographic chemistry, I could not resist going deeper. What were these colors made of? How did the Lumière brothers manage such brilliance with nothing more than starch, dye,...
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02 Nov
DARKROOM CHEMISTRY, EMULSION, Zebra Dry Plates

 A New and Probably the Cheapest Way to Make Silver Gelatin Emulsion: Elio’s Story and Full Step-by-Step Tutorial

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8
Every once in a while, a story finds its way into my inbox and quietly reminds me why I fell in love with photography in the first place. It happened again when a young photographer named Elio reached out to share an idea he had been working on. He had discovered a way to make silver halides using only materials found at home. There was no silver nitrate involved, no specialized equipment, only the wish to understand photography at its most fundamental level and to bring the process within reach for anyone who shares the same fascination. As we exchanged messages,...
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21 Oct
DARKROOM BUILD, EQUIPMENT, KICKSTARTER, OTHER, Zebra Dry Plates

From a Small Darkroom Dream to a Worldwide Community – Celebrating 4 Years of Zebra 🎉

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1
When I think about Zebra turning four today, my mind goes all the way back to my days as a student at the School of Arts. Back then, I spent endless hours in my container darkroom working on my bachelor’s degree, studying and recreating Autochrome Lumière. I can still remember the smell of chemicals, the quiet hum of the ventilation, and the feeling of carefully holding a fragile glass plate in my hands. Seeing that first faint image appear on glass felt like magic. It was a moment that changed everything. I fell completely in love with the process, the slowness,...
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01 Oct
EQUIPMENT, KICKSTARTER, ON THE FIELD, Zebra Dry Plates

Design Finalised – Zebra Daylight Processing Tanks Enter Production

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10
Since wrapping up our 1100% funded Kickstarter campaign in early July, things at the Zebra workshop have been moving quickly. Instead of pausing to celebrate, we’ve taken all the energy and excitement and poured it directly into finalising the design of the Zebra Daylight Processing Tanks. I’m thrilled to share that the final prototype is now complete, and we have over 600 tanks currently in production. Our goal from the very beginning was simple: to build a processing system that is not only easy and fast to use, but also safe, reliable, and durable enough to last a lifetime. If you’ve been...
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