Wet-collodion
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Wet-Collodion is a negative-positive photographic process using potassium iodide dissolved with gun-cotton in ether. The solution is spread onto glass plates, where the ether evaporates. Before the ether completely evaporates, the plates sensitized in a bath of silver nitrate solution. Plates had to be exposed whilst still wet, so the plate preparation had to be done immediately before use; this meant that outside the studio, photographers would carry a small tent with a supply of plates, sensitization bath and bottles of the solutions.
The process was invented in 1850, and published in 1851 by Frederick Scott Archer, although a Frenchman, Gustave Le Gray may have discovered the process at around the same time.
