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Showing posts with label pinhole. Show all posts
Showing posts with label pinhole. Show all posts

26.3.11

Tooronga Falls...


Well it's taken a little longer than I expected and I certainly haven't kept my New Years resolution but I've done it. I've added a pinhole image that was taken in the first week of 2011 at Toorongo Falls, near Noojee in Gippsland.

This image was about a 7 minute exposure on Ilford FP4+ 120 roll film. It's a little overexposed but I'm not sure yet whether that is because of the exposure or the developer. I used the Caffenol-L developer and all of the images I took are just that little bit contrasty so I'll have to work out some experiments.

22.12.10

Framing with a pinhole camera...

One of the joys/frustrations of pinhole photography is that you are never 100% sure of what you will and won't get in the frame because a pinhole camera usually doesn't have a viewfinder at all. If it does have a viewfinder it will be a very basic framing guide that may, or may not be anywhere near accurate. With landscape images it's important to get a straight horizon, use a spirit level and make sure your tripod is steady. The following image was taken at Brighton marina in Melbourne (with Melbourne in the distance), Victoria in early 2010. From memory it was a 40 second exposure at 75mm focal length on Ilford FP4+ film. Scanned at full resolution the TIFF file is 352MB... Click on the images below for a larger view.

The image above is very slightly cropped from the original scan of a 5x4 negative. 5x4 is in inches in case you weren't sure. Each negative is 13 times larger than a 35mm negative and as the following images will show there is an awesome amount of detail in  a negative of this size. Click on the image and you will get a bigger view. Note that the image hasn't had the dust spots or marks cleaned up nor any adjustments made to the contrast/levels.

The image above has been cropped from the first image and cleaned of spots, dust and marks from the negative. It has also had the contrast and levels adjusted so that there is more detail visible in the clouds.
The image above is a different crop from the original with the same adjustments. This crop is a 6x17 ratio panorama and looks nice printed up large.

This is a 6x12 format crop from the centre of the image. Notice how at this size the film grain is visible and the details are very soft. I love the image like this as it looks very "dreamy" and has a certain old fashioned mood...
Next: What to photograph?



21.12.10

Exposure calculations...The art of working it all out...

One of the things that I believe will help anyone with their photography is to understand the basics. In this day and age cameras will work it all out for us and give correct exposures. Just set to automatic mode and press the shutter button and a correctly exposed image will just happen. Trouble is that this doesn't allow the creative juices to flow.

Where I can see detail in the dark/shadow areas and details in the bright/highlight areas my camera may not have the dynamic range to collect all of that data. A standard light meter will average all of the light in the image field and will give a correctly exposed image but the shadows will be muddy and the whites will tend to be a little grey.

Understanding this and how to make the adjustments properly is relatively simple but people never seem to learn it. Oh well, if mediocrity is what you are trying to achieve...

Pinhole imaging takes these basics to a whole new level...

First you need a light meter to collect an "average" for the image (ISO, aperture, shutter speed). Then you need to work out what size the aperture (pinhole) is for the focal length you are using. Then you need to  work out what shutter speed is required for that aperture relative to the light meter reading. Then you need to understand "reciprocity failure" (the longer film is exposed to light the less sensitive it becomes) and factor that in.

Here's an example: I'm using a film with an ISO/ASA rating of 125 (Ilford FP4+) so I set my meter to 125 and get a reading of 1/60th of a second at f/8. I then find that my aperture for the 75mm pinhole is f/216 so I have to then use a scale to see what shutter speed is required (I could work it out in my head if I had a better brain). The scale shows that I need an exposure of (about) 10 seconds. A 10 second exposure means that I need to factor in reciprocity failure and I need to multiply the 10 second exposure time x 10 = 100 seconds which means I need a tripod and a cable release.

My very first attempt at a pinhole image was taken in my kitchen and it's a photo of some seed pods on a black background. The exposure I calculated needed a 90 minute shutter speed. I actually went shopping and came back to close the shutter... The image is here. I was amazed at how good this image was (technically) and just how much detail was available in the negative. It remains one of my favourite images.

Next: Some images - stay tuned...

20.12.10

Pinhole gear...

There are a number of commercially made pinhole cameras available throughout the world...


Are just two but there are many more, just do a search. As much as I dream of being creative with my hands and making stuff from scratch I went with buying a new camera for my first attempts.

I chose the (beautifully built) Zero Image - Zero 45 Deluxe as it has a well designed shutter and three box sections that offer focal lengths (35mm equivalent) of 25mm, 50mm and 75mm with an adjustable dial that has various pinhole aperture sizes and zone plates for each focal length. This was the first camera I had owned in 4x5 and learning to use double darkslides, sheet film and dark bags was all part of the fun.

Being the tech nut that I am I bought a Fuji PA45 instant film back, a few double darkslides and a Horseman 6x9 roll film back for it as well. My logic was that if I was going to shoot 4x5 then I wanted to get a view camera as well eventually (it came sooner than expected) so I should get the film options I wanted for both cameras.

Then came the developing tanks for black and white film. I already had a light meter and the Zero Image camera came with an exposure calculator to make adjustments for the tiny apertures needed for (relatively) sharp pinhole images.

One day I'll make my and use my own pinhole camera... I may even design one myself as there are lots of resources out there to make pretty much any type of pinhole camera you could desire...

Next time: Exposure calculations...The art of working it all out...