Despite still being a young’un, I have always been relatively slow in keeping up with the rapid pace of technology and the way that it shapes our society. I didn’t get my first smart phone until I was 21, nearly 5 years after the original iPhone came out, and definitely lagged behind on social media trends. I reluctantly agreed to create an Instagram account to promote and share my photography and can just about get my head around that but I have no idea what a tik tok or a snap chat are and any attempt to do so leads only to frustration.
More experiments
in Digital Pinhole Photography(#3)
That being said, in the unique circumstances that the Corona Virus pandemic brings with it, if you aren’t connected digitally then you are truly isolated.
At the same time though, one of the guiding principles that has helped me to develop my photographic skills and artistic vision is the truly held belief that to master a skill, I must learn from those who came before me and when it comes to photography, there’s a lot to be learned. For the most part this involved going back to the very roots of the medium so that I can gain a deeper understanding of its mechanics that would refine my intuition.
This blog post will be a sort of half guide, half memoir on my approach to photography and how I found a way to ‘adapt’ to the new world order in the hopes that it might inspire you to think about your art and creativity in another way.
The Crazy Eighty8 - Kodak Tri-X 400
The Beginning – Discovering Film
In late 2018 I decided to finally go back to school to develop my skills in photography which had become a keen hobby of mine. I had always been vaguely interested in the subject but had never really been exposed to any real photographers and knew next to nothing about what a good photograph was. I came around to the hobby by accident through video work in launching a Youtube channel in 2016 and became familiar with DSLR’s that way as they were the best bang for your buck when getting into online video content creation.
The first three months of my Level 3 BTEC course blew my mind. Finally learning about composition, the formal elements, famous photographers (that I’d never heard of) and the various art movements meant that my creativity exploded. My eyes had finally been opened to the photographic art world and I wanted to try it all.
The first thing I noted was that all my new favourite photographers had used film (unsurprisingly as digital photography hadn’t been invented yet). I hadn’t really thought about it before as I had spent so much time in a digital photography world but the idea of not being able to immediately see a photograph that you’ve taken after you’ve taken it and only having as many shots as rolls of film you can carry instead of near unlimited storage with gigabytes of SD cards fascinated me. How do you set up a shot as perfectly as you can and walk away from it without really knowing whether or not you actually got it.
And so I bought a film camera. Well I cheated a little bit, I bought a very fancy and advanced film camera, the Canon EOS 5 which came with all the same bells and whistles as my digital camera as well as allowing me to use the same lenses in the EF range. As a poor student photographer however I ran into my first hurdle, the camera had only cost me £50 but the film and development was really expensive for me at the time. Especially when being inexperienced with film I was likely to waste several rolls of film before I got any good at it. What this did however was teach me to slow down, to take my time, like a hunter with a deer down the scope I needed to breathe and be sure before I pressed the trigger, I mean shutter.
Goose at Roath Lake - Canon Eos5, Ilford HP5
This is a photograph from one of my first rolls of film. It’s not an especially good photograph but it will always be a special one to me. As I didn’t want to pay for printing, just in case they were all terrible and ruined and I wasted my money, I opted for Dev only and borrowed an ancient negative scanner from my Grandad. And when I say ancient, I mean I had to install Windows XP on a virtual machine on my laptop in order to run it (I’m old fashioned not technically illiterate). The resolution is low, and the bitrate is tiny but this photograph showed me that there was something different about film, a certain quality, a texture, that just cannot be replicated digitally.
That being said I did not practice it nearly enough, the time and money involved in shooting film and getting it processed as well as not having access to a quality scanner meant that I was mostly unhappy with my results, or at least I had not found an easy enough way to get the kind of results that I wanted.
It did however teach me about care and consideration in my shots and helped me to shake the attitude of ‘I’ll just fix it in Lightroom’ so I would definitely recommend shooting on film to any budding photographer that hasn’t tried it before.
The Darkroom
When moving on from my Level 3 course to the Foundation Degree I am currently working my way through my college managed to procure a dedicated Arts Academy building that came with the one thing I had been dreaming of since I bought the film camera, a darkroom. Unfortunately, as had become a trend with my college, it was not ready when the course began.
However, knowing my interest for all things old school, my incredible tutor Paul gave me the opportunity to take part in a Wet Plate Collodion photography workshop. You literally cannot get more old school than that.
Having My Portrait Taken at the Wet Plate Workshop
I have never felt more involved in the creation of the photograph as I have with Wet Plate photography. With a digital camera you look through the view finder, twist some dials, press a button, then some magic happens inside and a perfect photograph is presented to you. With this though we had to do everything ourselves, from cutting and polishing the plates to mixing and applying the chemicals. We even had to manually open the shutter by hand while someone triggered the 4000W flash (wet plates have an effective ISO of about 0.5) and then close it again when it was finished.
Most importantly though, this was the first time I got to see an image appear before my eyes out of nothing and that’s something you never forget as a photographer.
Self Portrait - Wet Plate Tine Type 5”x4”
This again was something different, and special. This photograph isn’t just a record of my image, there are parts of me ingrained into it. The imperfections and textures are a result of my shaky hands when I applied the chemicals and developed it, in the bottom left hand corner you can find my thumbprint where I checked to see if the emulsion had set and that’s without talking about the level of detail that a process like this captures.
Once again though comes the hindrance of price. Antique Large Format Cameras are very expensive and the chemicals used to make this kind of photography aren’t even available to the public with things like Ether being a controlled substance.
The Point of this Article – Pinhole Photography
In February of this year the Darkroom at my campus was finally up and running, ready to go. During what would normally be half term break, but for some reason doesn’t count for degree courses I got the chance to taste something close to Wet Plate photography, Pinhole photography. I got to make my own camera, by drilling a hole in a biscuit tin and taping a piece of aluminium from a coke can over it and a bit of electrical tape as a shutter. I cut a piece of photographic paper to the right size for the tin and taped it up to make sure everything was light tight and got to work. I started with an exposure time of 60 seconds to and managed to nail it first time!
Trade Street - Biscuit Tin Pinhole Camera, Ilford Photo Paper
Once again I had my eyes open to a new world of image capturing. The level of detail, the intense contrast, the super wide field of view and the hyperfocal difference meant that I had a completely new way to look at my surroundings. I had to think like a pinhole camera, look for strong lines, shapes, and forms, hunt for light and calculate from my best judgement what the exposure time needed to be.
Getting it right first time with 60 seconds was a lifesaver as I had a solid starting point from which to move from. The next thing I jumped to was of course taking a selfie.
Self Portrait - Biscuit Tin Pinhole Camera, Ilford Photo Paper
This one was a little harder as photo paper is very contrasty and so trying to nail down the exposure between the outside and the inside presented a challenge. Add that to the fact that to double the light you need to double the exposure time so from 60 seconds I went up to 6 minutes and that’s a really long time to sit completely still. They used to use rigs made out of iron bars to hold subjects still in Victorian times.
Proud of my Work, Credit: Paul Woffenden
One of the many benefits of the modern world as mentioned before is the amount of time that it saves meaning that within 4 hours I had taken my pinhole photographs, developed them, scanned them, printed them, framed them, and hung them proudly on the classroom wall.
Where it Belongs, Samsung S10
Finally, I had found a convenient way to explore and experiment in the old ways of photographic practice that I could use to hone my skills in Digital Photography that I could do myself without great expense. And then…
Coronavirus
Early in March the threat of the virus has started to grow. Italy was starting to see a rapid incline in cases and despite no official lockdown in the UK the government advice was that if you presented with one of two symptoms you should self isolate for 7 days. Well around about two weeks after a school trip to London I presented with both symptoms. During my 7 days the government advice changed so that if you live with someone that you should isolate for 14 days, which I do. By the end of the 14 days the country went into full lockdown and my school was officially closed. That meant no darkroom, no chemicals, no more pinhole photography. Or did it?
I had a lot of time to sit around and just think over the last month and I couldn’t really think of any reason why I couldn’t take pinhole photographs with a digital camera.
Paper Pinhole Adapter, Canon 5Dmkiv 24-70mm f2.8L
This is the first idea for an adapter that I came up with, a simple design using the things I had to hand. It is definitely a primitive design but if this kind of photography sounds like something you would like to try this is a really easy way to experiment for very low cost.
To make this adapter, all you need is:
A camera mount adapter, this is an M42 to Canon EF adapter that costs less than a tenner
Some black paper
PVA glue
And a sewing needle or safety pin
Glitter Glam, Paper Pinhole Adapter
As you can see from this photograph the image quality isn’t the best but I think it has a quirkiness to it that deserves merit and exploration. Everything is very soft, and very flat before running things through Lightroom. The most notable feature from this adapter is the shape of the Bokeh and the flair, because the hole isn’t perfectly circular and has rough edges you get this unusual flare that looks like the corona of a solar eclipse which are beautiful in their own way but I had to use a Flash to achieve this. This adapter can be greatly improved by cutting a bigger hole in the paper and covering it in a piece of aluminium from a beer or coke can. Who knew that a sharper pinhole makes a sharper image?
Well I do now but that’s what experimentation is all about. I was innovating.
Well as it happens if you take 5 seconds to google “Digital Pinhole Photography” there are tons of tutorials and guides on how to make your own adapter properly by drilling a bigger hole into a plastic body cap and taping a piece of aluminium from a coke can over that.
If you don’t have the power tools required then the first, paper, adapter will do more than a good enough job if you add the piece of aluminium as below.
Body Cap and Camden Hells Lager Pinhole Adapter, Canon 5Dmkiv 24-70mm f2.8L
So that’s what I did next.
Portrait of my Wife, Pinhole Adapter mkii
These photographs were much more interesting, they were still a soft and flat but with some post processing and shooting in black and white I think this created a really different look and feel to these photographs. Once again, I had to look at my surroundings with a new eye, looking for the things that would make strong photographs, namely a focus on line, form, light, and shadow.
Abstract Flowers, Pinhole Adapter mkii
With the incredibly soft focus blurring things out of recognition there was an almost hierarchal struggle for the strongest details to show up in the image creating some wonderfully abstract photographs.
One of the benefits of doing this digitally meant that I could really push my ISO to 32000 and above to avoid using a tripod for long exposures, which I felt flew in the face of social distancing guidelines rather than just snapping pictures while I was on my daily walks. It did mean a lot of grain but in black and white photography that can be an aesthetic of its own.
Cash, Pinhole Adapter mkii
One of the drawbacks of this kind of photography though is that you cannot see anything through the viewfinder. With the biscuit tin I knew the image circle had a wide enough field of view that I could just point it in the vague direction I wanted and I would be able to capture my subject. With a digital sensor however it is much, much, smaller meaning I was cropping that field of view down 5-10x. I also think this is why the photos are so much blurrier as I’m basically zooming in with ultra high resolution exposing the flaws that would be hidden by a larger format. With no view through the view finder though I had to basically point my camera at stuff and hope for the best, not ideal although I’m happy with the results. I even made a short film that I posted on my Instagram account.
Then disaster struck…
Screenshot of a Self Portrait Viewed 1:1
What I had failed to consider the entire time I had been experimenting with this adapter was that, while photographs and videos were being taken, there was NOTHING in between my camera sensor and the outside world. Dust could fly in through the tiny hole and be attracted to the sensor that’s statically charged while it’s running. On a film camera, to protect the film, the shutter curtain remains closed by default. Not so on a digital camera and so it turns out I was quickly ruining my camera the more I used It this way.
If you try out these methods on a DSLR then my advice would be to not use Live View or shoot video, I would also avoid long exposures and opt for increasing ISO instead, the grain does add it’s own aesthetic after all. When taking a picture normally, the sensor is only completely exposed and powered on for a fraction of a second which shouldn’t allow enough time for dust to be attracted. At the same time, sensor cleaning is a very important part of camera maintenance and if you haven’t invested in a cleaning kit then I would recommend you do so any way.
There is, however, a solution.
I Didn’t Mean to Get a White One, Canon 5Dmkiv 24-70mmf2.8L
Another new technology that I’ve been resistant to is the mirrorless camera. I’ve read all the raving reviews from those who have them about how the electronic viewfinder is the best thing since sliced bread, but something has always felt wrong about it. That being said, an electronic viewfinder with Exposure simulation is exactly the kind of thing that was made for digital pinhole photography. The camera can boost the image signal through the view finder and illuminate my view of the world allowing me to actually compose my shots properly and capture what I want to capture.
Viltrox Ef - EOS M 0.71x Speedbooster, Canon 5Dmkiv 24-70mm f2.8L
Not only that but for crop sensor mirrorless cameras you can get a relatively cheap adapter known as a speed booster that uses a secondary lens to shrink the image circle of full frame lenses down to the crop sensor size. That means that there would indeed be a piece of glass acting as a barrier between the outside world and my shiny new mirrorless.
Now that the weather is so nice thanks to the lack of pollution from human activity it meant that on my daily walks I could shoot at a shutter speed of 1/50th of a second and a relatively low ISO of 1000-1600 which meant less noise and I could experiment a bit more in colour and well, frankly I’ve been blown away by the results.
Open For Business, Digital Pinhole Adapter mkiii
The blurriness is still there with my third, smaller and cleaner pinhole but I really like it as an aesthetic style. It creates a more minimalist look to the photographs, stripping away the unnecessary details and leaving behind a pure simplicity that Modernist photographers like Laszlo Moholy-Nagy talked about in his essay The New Vision.
Abbey Road, Digital Pinhole Adapter mkiii
I really expected the colours to be flat with the low contrast I had been experiencing before but no, the photographs were vibrant with strong tones. I have absolutely taken the creative liberty of tinkering with them to get this peculiar stylised vintage look but that’s only because the originals inspired me to do so.
45 Degree Rule, Digital Pinhole Adapter mkiii
When you think about it this is what the world really looks like. Our eyes contain lenses that we use to focus the light into a usable form but that is a manipulation of our surroundings, it is not what things actually look like. The light reflected off of that wall and the cherry blossoms is diffracted and chaotic, a disorganised mess. We designed the camera in our own image and that with that we imbued it with the same manipulation so that it could recreate how we see the world but that’s not how the world is.
A Man and his Horse Breaking Social Distancing Guidelines, Digital Pinhole Adapter mkiii
I’ll be honest you get a lot of strange looks going around with a bit of coca cola can taped to the front of your camera but these are strange times and there are always strange people about. It’s never been a better time to let out your inner weirdo, just don’t be like this guy.
Helter Skelter, Digital Pinhole Adapter mkiii
I definitely found that leaning towards a more abstract and expressionist style works well with this kind of photography. It can be a little frustrating finding the right light conditions as well as the fact that if you even remotely point towards the sun the lens(?) flare will completely ruin the photograph but when you get it right it works so well and gives you a unique kind of photograph unlike anything else.
A Seal Catching a Fish, Digital Pinhole Adapter mkiii
And the best part of all of this is you can make it yourself! Why spend a deposit on a small house on pro glass when you can make your own much more interesting lens out of a plastic body cap and a piece of aluminium? I meant it when I said that you can’t master a skill if you don’t learn from those before you, and you can’t go much further back than this, with the earliest mentions of pinhole cameras going back to 400 B.C. in China
Forget about sharpness and resolution, all that does is make things look clearer, this is a much more creative way of photographing the world and you don’t need a Darkroom! You can do this completely in house.
While it loses the magic of watching an image appear from nowhere on a piece of paper floating in a bath of chemicals this is a really fun way to explore alternative photographic methods if like me you’ve lost access to any kind of analogue photography equipment by marrying one of the oldest and newest photographic technologies together.
You can find a tutorial on how to make your own adapter here
Below is a slideshow of my experiments so far with this adapter for Inspiration but I will also be posting my experiments as they happen on my Instagram under the hashtag #pinholegallery If you decide to make your own adapter after reading this I would love to see your experiments posted there
Stay Safe and Best of Luck
Rx
