Inspiration

Get Inspired – Week of June 29

We’re going to bring the shade of mood to the bright sunshine of June for this final featured photo post of the month. Have a look at the best we found in the last week.

/
[singlepic id=243 w=600]/, ©Alex Fedotov 2015[/singlepic]
Alex Fedotov is based in St. Petersburg, and has a Flickr photostream chock full of interesting work. He works a lot in diptychs and in capturing quiet but powerful scenes with people.

 

The Fox
[singlepic id=244 w=600]The Fox, ©Gordon Szeto 2015[/singlepic]
Gordon Szeto made this photo with his Zero Image 69. He typically shoots landscapes, but for this photo he had a go at working with a model. This image is part of his series, A Girl and Her Mask. You can find more of Gordon’s work on Flickr and his personal website.

 

MUSE
[singlepic id=245 w=600]MUSE, ©Michele Welponer 2015[/singlepic]
Michele Welponer made this striking image of MUSE, the Trento, Italy Museum of Science using his homemade 4×5 pinhole camera. We love this image for the way the perspective and vignetting shows off the geometry of the building. More of Michele’s work can be found on Flickr.

 

 

Artist Feature

Csaba Kovács – Out of the Fog

One of the earliest concepts that many of us photographers learn is the power of lines in a photograph. Most often, this concept is demonstrated with a shot looking straight down some train tracks or maybe rows of crops in a field. It’s a powerful effect, and easily reproducible. Therefore, if a photographer makes converging lines a significant portion of their body of work, they better be damn good at it.

Csaba Kovács is a Hungarian photographer who is damn good at converging lines. He’s based in Budapest, a city that has a firm grip on his heart, where he roams looking for interesting places with what he calls “pinhole eyes”. Csaba has a love for analogue photography, reveling in the “magical world” of the silver-based process. Like many pinhole and analog photographers, he’s attracted to the opportunity to get away from the precision of digital and focus on the unique aesthetic of pinhole photography. He’s been practicing pinhole photography since 2013, and uses a Zero Image 2000 primarily.

Many of the compositions below will feature multiple converging lines. In addition, you’ll note that Csaba likes to get out into the city in the early hours of the morning, when the fog is still thick. This blanketing provides, for many of his compositions, a transmuting background which allows for his subject to come forward with a simple clarity.

After enjoying the images below, we encourage you to check out more of his work at his personal website.

Business Center
[singlepic id=230 w=600]Business Center, ©Csaba Kovács 2015[/singlepic]

 

Elisabeth Bridge
[singlepic id=231 w=600]Elisabeth Bridge, ©Csaba Kovács 2015[/singlepic]

 

Foggy Liberty 1
[singlepic id=232 w=600]Foggy Liberty 1, ©Csaba Kovács 2015[/singlepic]

 

Foggy Liberty 2
[singlepic id=233 w=600]Foggy Liberty 2, ©Csaba Kovács 2015[/singlepic]

 

Megyeri Bridge
[singlepic id=234 w=600]Megyeri Bridge, ©Csaba Kovács 2015[/singlepic]

 

Paris 1
[singlepic id=235 w=600]Paris 1, ©Csaba Kovács 2015[/singlepic]

 

Paris 2
[singlepic id=236 w=600]Paris 2, ©Csaba Kovács 2015[/singlepic]

 

Secret
[singlepic id=237 w=600]Secret, ©Csaba Kovács 2015[/singlepic]

 

Up
[singlepic id=242 w=600]Up, ©Csaba Kovács 2015[/singlepic]

 

Triangles
[singlepic id=240 w=600]Triangles, ©Csaba Kovács 2015[/singlepic]

 

Simple Symmetry
[singlepic id=238 w=600]Simple Symmetry, ©Csaba Kovács 2015[/singlepic]

 

To The Nothing
[singlepic id=239 w=600]To The Nothing, ©Csaba Kovács 2015[/singlepic]

 

Under The Sky
[singlepic id=241 w=600]Under The Sky, ©Csaba Kovács 2015[/singlepic]

 

 

 

Aesthetic

Technique: Controlling Depth of Field in Pinhole Photos

1 Comment

In this article, I’m not going to show you anything new. Rather, my goal is to help us think of an existing technique in a new way.

I imagine the knee jerk response to the title of this article is a chorus of befuddled pinholers worldwide shouting in unison, “CONTROLLING DEPTH OF FIELD IN PINHOLE PHOTOS?!?!”

Yep, we’re diving in, with incredulous abandon. But rest easy, we’re not going to change the physics of light. Rather, we’re going to discuss how we can leverage composition to “shorten” the depth of field in a pinhole photograph. Got your attention? Read on…

[singlepic id=228 w=300 float=right] [/singlepic]First, what is “Depth of Field”? Wikipedia defines it as “the distance between the nearest and farthest objects in a scene that appear acceptably sharp in an image.” Note that in that definition, there’s not a single mention of bokeh, aperture, or even Circles of Confusion. That’s kind of liberating, no? So, we shall free ourselves of the technical aspects of the customary understanding of depth of field, and let’s focus on the aesthetic.

Let’s pick apart the definition of Depth of Field, from an aesthetic perspective, for just a moment. We have “the distance between the nearest and farthest objects in a scene” – that’s classic 2D art composition: a foreground, middle ground, background. And then there’s “appear acceptably sharp in an image” – well that’s just a matter of being able to distinguish what those objects are, right? So, Depth of Field is, at it’s simplest, choosing what objects, if any, will be distinguishable in the foreground, middle ground, and background.

How do we control which objects will be distinguishable in these planes of the finished pinhole photo? In a word: motion! In a few more words: the relative motion between the camera, the subject, and the background. The closer that background motion is to your subject, the shorter your depth of field. The further away, the deeper your depth of field. Got something in motion between the camera and your subject? Even better – you have a foreground depth of field effect.

Of course this isn’t something new, right? Any of us that have looked at pinhole photography long enough have seen sweeping clouds over landscapes, moving objects in the foreground, wisping trees to and fro. This is not a new effect. But, this is a change of mindset.

Portrait photographers have long since figured out that a portrait can be made *that* much more dynamic through careful use of depth of field. Want to take a great pinhole portrait? Consider a windy day with foliage in the background. Or you can get playful, the way Darren Constantino did his photo, Pinhole Seesaw.

Want a pinhole photo of an object that really pops? Put that object in motion and lock the camera to that motion, such as what James Guerin did in his Twilight Cycle diptych. Artūras Meškauskas also leveraged this technique very effectively in his photo, 1+4 (bottom of linked page).

Again, this isn’t a new technique, just a different mindset – something to keep in mind when you’re afield and are considering how to make a subject really stand out. How have you leveraged this technique? Tell us in the comments!

Self Portrait with Guitar
[singlepic id=229 w=600]Self Portrait with Guitar, ©Kier Selinsky 2015[/singlepic]

 

Inspiration

Get Inspired – Week of June 22

This week we bring you 6 photos representing some of the best that we’ve found on the web in the last week. Part of what we enjoy about curating these images from far and wide is that they truly are from the far and wide – from the Far East of Korea to the Baltic States region of Lithuania, and points in between.

So kick back and take in these scenes. Find something new in their work and open yourself to a new way of seeing!

 

beim “Opfermoor” (ohne Eiche)
[singlepic id=227 w=600]beim “Opfermoor” (ohne Eiche), ©Katja Fleig 2015[/singlepic]
Katja Fleig made this wonderful capture of a wispy bog scene in Germany using a Holga WPC loaded with EFKE Aura IR820 film. You can find more of Katia’s work on Flickr.

 

img058
[singlepic id=226 w=600]img058, ©Michele Welponer 2015[/singlepic]
Michele Welponer is an Italian photographer that captured this serene scene in Trentino, near Caldonazzo lake. Michele used EFKE 25 film in a handmade wooden camera. More of Michele’s work can be found on Flickr, Instagram, and Facebook.

 

Caution Tape
[singlepic id=225 w=600]Caution Tape, ©Ross Togashi 2015[/singlepic]
Ross Togashi wielded his self-made wooden pinhole camera and Kodak Ektar to make this sweeping photo, part of his series, “Pinholes at High-Tide”. He’s wonderfully conveyed the sense of the tide rushing out at your feet after the wave has receded. You can find more of his work on Flickr.

 

Biking Mangrove
[singlepic id=224 w=600]Biking Mangrove, ©Ross Togashi 2015[/singlepic]
This is the second photo today from Ross Togashi, this one from his series “Pinholes Makai”. You can feel the heat and humidity, and dream of how this bike arrived in this situation.

 

A Feather
[singlepic id=222 w=600]A Feather, ©James Shin 2015[/singlepic]
James Shin made this photo in Ganggoo, Kyongsangbukdo, Korea just after sunset, with an exposure of about 2 minutes, wonderfully capturing the sense of soft darkness at sunset on the shore. You can find more of his work on Flickr, his personal website, or Facebook. He was also interviewed by Parallel Planets.

 

1+4
[singlepic id=221 w=600]1+4, ©Arturas Meskauskas 2015[/singlepic]
Artūras Meškauskas is a photographer based out of Panevezys, Lithuania, that we’ve featured before, and here again we find ourselves very impressed by his vision. He made this photo of his hand in January 2014 using a MO Pinhole 6×6 with Shanghai GP3 100 film.  You can find more of his work on Flickr and Facebook.

 

 

Artist Feature

Dikal – Space

One of the things that makes the pinhole camera special is the infinite depth of field it provides. Dikal uses that infinite depth of field to his advantage when working with symmetry and geometric shapes. There is something special in the way the shapes are drawn out as they fit into the frame view.

Using his Zero Image pinhole camera and Fuji Acros 100 film, Dikal creates incredibly dramatic scenes with great contrasts. Dikal found himself bored of the images that have become our norm these days, with “too perfect digital cameras”, and started poking around with many other types and styles of cameras. It was when he found his way to the pinholes, like so many of us, that his creativity blossomed and the, “Dreamlike atmosphere… Atypical framings… No viewfinder, lens free, no mechanism, just a hole and a film holder,” drew his curiosity and spirit. Dikal spent six years pushing his boundaries and finding his voice with his photos. And while he says, “I don’t pretend to take beautiful photos”, we disagree and we know that you will too.

Dikal, your photographs are a great respite for me. They transcend me from the chaotic space that I live in and deliver me to a place where space, contrast, texture and shapes make sense. I can breath a bit easier when I look upon your work and I am very grateful that you have decided to give yourself the space and freedom that comes with the unknown treasure hunt that your vision provides.

ZI Suffocating
[singlepic id=218 w=600] [/singlepic]

 

British Museum
[singlepic id=213 w=600] [/singlepic]

 

Solitude
[singlepic id=217 w=600] [/singlepic]

 

Come to Me
[singlepic id=214 w=600] [/singlepic]

 

Inner Vision
[singlepic id=215 w=600] [/singlepic]

 

m
[singlepic id=216 w=600] [/singlepic]

 

=^=
[singlepic id=219 w=600] [/singlepic]

 

_^_
[singlepic id=212 w=600] [/singlepic]

 

We encourage you to head over to Flickr to check out more of Dikal’s amazing pinhole photography

 

Technical

Smartphone Apps for Pinhole Photographers

11 Comments

Smartphones today – whether Android or Apple – are of course ubiquitous anymore. It’s hard to find a social setting where there’s not a solid portion of the group with their faces stuck in their phones. The change in social interaction can become tiresome and, in some cases, worrisome. But of course, there’s tremendous good that we get form our phones, and today we’re going to cover one such area.

For the modern pinhole photographer, your phone can be a true godsend. For today’s article, we’re going to cover a few areas where your smartphone can make your life in pinhole photography much much easier.

Exposure Meters

Pinhole Assist (iOS only $2.99)

[singlepic id=208 w=225 float=right] [/singlepic]The aptly named Pinhole Assist (available on the app store) is the first phone app light meter I ever tried for pinhole photography. When you first open the app, you’re presented with a display from your camera, along with exposure readings based on the input ISO and ƒ-number. The upfront operation is simple: once you set the ISO (film canister icon) and aperture (aperture icon), you compose your scene in the view and the app gives you the exposure time. Playing with the buttons and menus, you’ll quickly discover some great features to help you get the right exposure. Diving deeper though, there’s special sauce to this app.

After you get your camera ISO and aperture dialed in, hit the “hamburger menu” in the top left (the three lines) – in this menu, you can choose a film if you like, and you’ll see there’s options for dialing in an exact aperture in case yours wasn’t in the regular aperture menu. Now that you have your setup exactly right, hit the “Add Combo” button in the menu, and enter a name. You’ve now saved your camera preset – this feature is a lifesaver if you have multiple pinhole cameras to manage.

Next, when you’re framing your scene in the app’s viewfinder, it’s using a general evaluative metering mode. Want to meter on something specific? Tap an area in the scene, and note the square – that’s a weighted meter now! Not quite a 1º spot, but it’ll do!

Pocket Light Meter (iOS Free, Android $0.99)

[singlepic id=209 h=200 float=left] [/singlepic]The Pocket Light Meter app is available for both iOS (app store) and Android (Google Play) and offers a solid alternative from the Pinhole Assist. This app lacks some features of Pinhole Assist – notably the ability to save camera profiles, set custom aperture values, and auto calculate reciprocity failure. But what it lacks in complexity, it makes up for in zen simplicity: dial in your ISO and aperture, and it starts measuring.

If you only have one pinhole camera, or you’re just testing the waters, Pocket Light Meter is a good option. The square in the middle acts as a center weighted average meter, and you can tap around the viewfinder to adjust this metering target. The larger viewfinder makes it helpful when double checking to make sure you’ve metered the exact area you need.

Reciprocity Management

Reciprocity Timer (iOS only $1.99)

[singlepic id=211 h=200 float=right] [/singlepic]One thing that we pinholers often run into is reciprocity compensation and management – so often that you may as well be sure you’re managing it correctly. Reciprocity Timer is available on the app store for $1.99, and was originally built for large format photographers. Over the years the app has built quite the reputation for having very exacting reciprocity tables – an advantage that can be crucial for color film such as Ektar.

But Reciprocity Timer doesn’t stop there. It has built in compensation for filters and includes a stopwatch function. Pinhole Assist also has a stopwatch built in, but for the shooter that uses films susceptible to reciprocity, it’s a very helpful app to finish your workflow in.

In the Darkroom

Massive Dev Chart (iOS $8.99, Android $8.99)

[singlepic id=210 h=200 float=left] [/singlepic]Many pinholers are processing their own film, and if you’re processing your own film, you need the Massive Dev Chart, available for Android on the Google Play Store and iOS on the App Store. The Massive Dev Chart is a compilation of a HUGE amount of film and development time combinations. In addition it has great features such as red and green light displays for use in the darkroom and multi-stage timers. For an app, it’s a bit steep in price – but to have every bit of data and timing tools you need at hand, it’s simply awesome.

What We Want

These apps are all great, and I encourage you to try them all. Having all the data that you need right in your pocket can be a huge boon to your process in the field and the darkroom. So what would you want added? What would make these apps perfect for you?

For me, it would be zone masking. I’d love to have options where a blinking mask covers everything in a specified zone, such as Zone V, III, or VII. Put your requests in the comments, and we’ll use our soapbox to reach out to app developers!

 

Inspiration

Get Inspired – Week of June 15

Today’s post represents the first in our new format change. In case you missed the announcement and the reasons why, you can catch up here. Every week, we at ƒ/D are going to strive to bring you the best we’ve found in the world of pinhole photography. We scour the archives of Flickr, 500px, Behance, personal submissions, and other sources to find great work being done.

This week we feature some great photos from all corners of the world. The photos below represent some great examples of the fun, the fantastical, and of paradise. Enjoy!

Islands and Islets
[singlepic id=203 w=600]Islands and Islets, Holga-120 WPC, Kodak Ektar, ©Peter de Graaff 2015[/singlepic]
Peter de Graaff made the capture for Islands and islets during winter 2014 at North Head in the Murramurrang National Park near Batemans Bay, on the south coast of New South Wales. The Tollgate Islands are visible in the distance and some islets nearby. The sand on the beach here is incredibly orange and was mostly deserted except for a few kangaroo tracks.

More of Peter’s work can be seen on Flickr and he’s a regular contributor on 52 Rolls. Peter can also be found discussing photography on Twitter.

 

Austria
[singlepic id=204 w=600]Austria, ©Csaba Kovacs 2015[/singlepic]
Csaba Kovacs is a talented Hungarian photographer that we’ll be doing a more in depth feature on in the near future. He has a wonderful eye for pattern and shape. Csaba can be found on Flickr and on his personal website.

 

Encounters
[singlepic id=205 w=600]Encounters, ©Phil Chapman 2015[/singlepic]
Phil Chapman’s image was inspired by the indie game limbo, and his goal was to make something that had that atmosphere and feel. He constructed the scene out of black card ( the robot ) and ripped black sugar paper ( the trees) with layers of tracing paper creating the fog and distance. The toy figure is from resident evil 2 and is another video game reference.
Phil’s camera is also homemade and the exposure times were roughly 2 minutes per shot. More of Phil’s work can be found on Flickr.

 

Pinhole 60
[singlepic id=206 w=600]Pinhole 60, Zero 2000, ©Katharina Korn-Sippel 2015[/singlepic]
Katharina Korn-Sippel’s still life of fruit has that perfectly peaceful feeling that has attracted many eyeballs to still lifes over the years. More of Katharina’s work can be found on Flickr.

 

Synchronized Swinging
[singlepic id=207 w=600]Synchronized Swinging, Diana Pinhole, TMY, ©Kyle Wilcox 2015[/singlepic]
Kyle Wilcox made this stunning capture with a 2 or 3 second exposure on TMY using a Lomo Diana Pinhole camera. While he sat on a swing next to his son and tried to match his speed while he braced the camera on the chain and opened the shutter. More of Kyle’s work can be found on Flickr.

 

Inspiration

Get Inspired – Pinholeshot

Today’s featured pinhole photo paints a scene of mystery with light.

Pinholeshot
[singlepic id=202 w=600]Pinholeshot, ©Larissa Honsek 2015[/singlepic]

Larissa Honsek used her pinhole camera in conjunction with light painting to create this enigmatic forest scene. We love the way she performed this 3-dimensionally, wrapping the light trails around the tree.

You can find more of Larissa’s work on Flickr, Tumblr, Instagram, and Facebook. In addition, she was part of the team that published the book OBSCURA – a beautiful dedication to the art of pinhole photography.

 

Site News

Publishing Update

1 Comment

Dearest Readers,
It’s been just over 2 months since ƒ/D was launched, and what a fun 2 months it’s been! In the time since we started, we’ve been able to cover some great topics, feature awesome artists, and conduct some great interviews. I’m very proud of the work that we’ve done to date. Most importantly, the overwhelming support from you, our readers, has been just tremendous. When I started this site, I expected a couple hundred visitors every month – you rank in the thousands!

Unfortunately, it’s come at a cost. My energy for pursuing my own pinhole photography has taken a hit. My cameras are sad, and my film is begging to be exposed. Mainly, it’s the dailies. The Featured Photos. The energy to go seek, curate, and summarize great pinhole photography, while tremendously rewarding and enlightening, takes a ton of time. I knew this schedule was going to be somewhat aggressive when I started, and the time’s come to dial it back, but just a tad.

In the past couple months, you’ve come to expect daily featured photos; technique articles every Wednesday; and an artist feature or interview on Fridays. Going forward, we’re going to replace the daily featured photos with a curation piece every Monday. Rather than a daily dose, we’ll give you a heap on Mondays, consisting of a number of featured photos that we’ve selected. So in summary, our new publishing schedule will be:

  • Mondays: Curated photo post of a handful of great pinhole photos
  • Wednesdays: technique articles
  • Fridays: artist feature or interview

I have a suspicion that this might help you, our readers, as well because it will give you more mental space to consider the featured photos and their significance.

As always, your feedback is greatly appreciated, whether in the comments, through Facebook, or Twitter. I hope that this will be seen as a positive step and, if it turns out it wasn’t, I’ll take every action I can to course correct.

Yours in Friendship,
Kier Selinsky
Founder/Editor, ƒ/D

Inspiration

Get Inspired – O

Today we abstract the view for our featured pinhole photo.

O
[singlepic id=201 w=600]O, Multipinhole Operator, ©Marcus Mailov 2015[/singlepic]

Marcus Mailoy made this wonderful abstract photo by using just one of the pinhole apertures in his Lomography Multipinhole Operator. This is a fantastic execution of an abstract photo of an abstract subject. The photo was taken from the inside of the Forum Building in Barcelona, where there are skylights that have a kaleidoscopic affect through the geometry and materials used.

You can find more of Marcus’s work on Flickr, Tumblr, and his personal website.

 

Exploring the Art of Pinhole Photography