What to photograph?

Photography as art is one of those subjective things. It doesn't really matter what I like if I like it. So what I like to photograph may not be your cup of tea. However there are some things that should make taking pinhole images more interesting.

I need to explain a theory I have: There is a difference between "art" & "craft". Craft is the part where you know what you need to know to make art. It's knowing which lens to use, it's knowing how light will affect the image, it's getting a correct exposure it's framing the image properly it's knowing whether black & white or colour would suit better. Art is the end result of the vision and the craftsman's skill. Only the boffins look at the Mona Lisa and ask "I wonder what type of brush Leonardo used for the eyes?" That's the craft question...

It's interesting when you hear someone make the following statement; "That's a really nice image, I really like it. What brand camera did you use? The expectation is that if they went out and got that brand of camera they, also, would be able to take that image... Just because Henri Carteir-Bresson used a Leica doesn't mean that you will be able to capture the "decisive moment"...

There are some technical considerations that need to be considered when "crafting" a pinhole image.

• Pinhole imaging is a slow process, the shutterspeeds are measured in tens of seconds or minutes (and in some cases months).
• Pinhole images are inherently "soft", there is no glass make fine focus happen.
• Pinhole images have an infinite depth of field. An object will be as sharp in the foreground as the same object in the distance. The limiting factor will be the film grain size relative to the size of the object. See the photo of the boat masts with Melbourne in the background in the previous post.
• Pinhole images are slightly more difficult to frame.
• Wide angle (short focal lengths) images will have distortions and vignetting.

So how can I use these technical considerations to craft an image? Personally I think that the easiest thing to experiment with is time... What can I have "move" in an image that will look good?

Think;

• Waterfalls
• Waves
• Clouds
• Stars
• Heads, eyes, arms, legs

I took an image of a still life setting once and during the 11 minute exposure my wife walked through the background. I was expecting to see a ghostly image (of a beautiful female ghost) but there was no record of her being there at all. So we took another image and we stood in the background for a couple of minutes and guess what? We still didn't show up in the image! So my technical brain has decided that there must be a "percentage" of exposure time required for a subject to be collected on film... I'm yet to experiment with this but it is definitely on my list and you'll get to see the results here when I'm done...

So, back to the original question, "What to photograph?" I'm going to start wherever I start and see where it leads...

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...