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Ian Bramham's Photoblog
My daughter Anna made a film pinhole camera for a school Design Technology project so we tried it out at the weekend.
The first few photos didn't work at all which I expected as I knew it would take a bit of trial and error to get the exposure correct.
No prizes for composition but, even so, we were both really pleased with this photo.
Exposure details: 2 minutes exposure in clear bright mid-afternoon light.
Photographed on Ilford Multigrade Photo Paper cut to about 5" x 4" to fit the camera. Developed as a negative with Ilford chemicals in our kitchen utility room converted into a darkroom.
We then converted the negative into positive images using a contact print method but this degraded the image too much so I photographed the negative and inverted and mirrored it in Photoshop which gave a much better result with far more detail.
There's some photos of the camera itself here and here
She designed and made it herself out of wood with brass edgings. The sides of the camera are decorated with applied marquetry timber veneer.
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I've decided to enter the 'Cool Photoblogs' annual competition again this year. I'd really appreciate a vote from any of you who like my blog and who feel up to going through the registration process that is required in order to be able to vote: 2009 Photoblog Awards
Like what you see here and are interested in photographic composition?.....the blog section of my website now has a complete set of 5 articles covering my personal approach to the subject: Ian Bramham Photography - Blog
For purchasing high quality archival prints of any of these photos you can send me an email by clicking here or by going to my website Ian Bramham - Fine Art Photography where prices are listed in the gallery sections under each individual photo.
@Ana Lúcia: Thanks Ana!
@Mirko Herzner: Thanks Mirko...it's a large seashell
@Mike: Mike, this is really my daughter's photo as she did everything. As well as actually designing and making the camera she also cut the photo paper to size and developed it in the darkroom. All I did was suggest an exposure time (2 minutes in this case). I'm not sure I'm that keen to carry on experimenting with pinhole cameras as, with this type of design at least, you are limited to one shot at a time before you need to go back in the darkroom to reload the camera and develop the photo you've just taken. Holgas have always fascinated me - I'd like to try that at some time. I'd also love to give medium format (or even large format for the tilt-shift) with velvia a try at some point. Now I know how easy it is to manipulate a negative into a positive using photoshop you wouldn't even need prints developing by a lab - just the negatives so they could be scanned.
@Laurie: Hi Laurie...sorry about the link. Does this one work?: http://www.flickr.com/photos/ianbramham/3538591749/
Ian
Pinhole
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