Welding Tips and Tricks

I am a photographer by trade but have also been employed as a welder over the years on short term projects. I like to work in Metal as well as other mediums.

I have a friend who shoots Wet Plate photographs and I volunteered to make him a head rest/stabilizer for his long exposures.

That's brilliant, and a history lesson...

Many people wonder why no one smiles in old Daguerrotypes and such...

It wasn't "snap" and done; You had to sit perfectly still for many seconds to prevent blurring. My wife and I had two wedding pictures done in "tintype", which also required more than a "snap"... A consistent smile is a challenge for more than a few seconds.

Steve S

I asked him if he wanted ball bearings or pikes.

You can see what he requested. (I thought it would be much more interesting the other way.)

Looks great! So I will play the dummy here...this is to hold someones head still for the camera exposure? I think I like our digital cameras better
-Jonathan

Superiorwelding wrote:Looks great! So I will play the dummy here...this is to hold someones head still for the camera exposure? I think I like our digital cameras better
-Jonathan

I might be with you on this one. But who am I to keep someone from being artistic?

roberthall wrote:I asked him if he wanted ball bearings or pikes.

You can see what he requested. (I thought it would be much more interesting the other way.)

Pikes would have been more effective, for sure!

I'm a photographer as well (hardcore amateur... um, rephrasing... very serious amateur ), and I can appreciate folks who still use film (particularly in medium and large format, where digital costs are insane). But wet plate... someone doing that is for love of the process, like period re-enactors. That's just a painful means to the end for sure!

Cheers,
Richard