Wednesday 12 October 2011

Charlene Soraia and a stunning video!


Just to finish off, i wanted to share with you a wonderful example of moving image and an artist i'm enjoying at the moment. give it a watch...

Pinhole Photography






Stunning examples of the variations you can produce literally just by the roughness of the hole cut out, or the exposure time (some seconds, some minutes.) The last image was entitled, 'mistake pinhole' on the blog that i found it on. Maybe its because i am a complete novice in photography but i think that the white shapes in the foreground adds something beautiful. For me it suggests the idea that we are looking through a key hole, which shows something hidden and secret.

How to make a pinhole camera




Here is mine, granted it isn't that neat but it all dose its purpose! After reading an article about pinhole photography in 'Oh Comley' magazine, i decided i wanted to give it a go over the summer. Apparently you can use pretty much anything to make one, but i wanted something that wouldn't just take one image then i had to go in the dark and change it over. So here are the instructions and i will add some cool examples!


Required Materials

  • A large piece of 5mm thick foam core board
  • A 2cm x 2cm flat piece of thin metal from a tin can
  • Three 35mm spools (ask your local developer for spent rolls that you can pull the spools out of)
  • A tubual, plastic, cheap ballpoint pen (the tube will be cut and used in the camera)
  • Black acrylic paint
  • A strong craft glue
  • A sharp knife for cutting the foam core board
  • A metric ruler
  • A needle
  • A fine-grit sandpaper
  • A flashlight or electric torch
  • A metal straight edge to aid in cutting
  • Constructing the Outer Shell
The camera, once completed, can be pulled apart into two main pieces. I’m going to call these pieces the pinhole side and the outer shell. Below are two images. The first is a not-to-scale pattern for all the pieces of the outer shell. The second images show the completed outer shell with all of the individual pieces labeled. All of the pieces of this project are connected with glue.


Constructing the Rewind Knob
This knob can be completely separated from the camera when the outer shell and pinhole side of the camera are separated. But the rewind knob slot, as shown in the construction of the outer shell keeps the rewind knob in while the outer shell and pinhole side are together.


Constructing the Pinhole Side

This is the most complex piece of the camera. The initial construction resembles the outer shell, but then the take-up spool, the pinhole itself, and the shutter. The images below show the not-to-scale pattern for the pieces needed for the initial construction, and the pieces assembled and labeled.

Installing the Take-up Spool
This is the trickest part of the entire construction. You have to glue two pieces together through a hole in the pinhole side of the camera. Use the glue sparingly, because you want the spool to be able to rotate freely in its hole. You don’t want to accidentally glue the take-up spool to the camera itself.

Making and Installing the Pinhole


Making and Installing the Shutter
In the 2cm x 2cm piece of metal, you’re going to need to use the needle to poke a small whole. You want this hole to be as small as possible. If you’re using a standard sewing needle, this means you just want to put just the very tip through the metal. Use a small hammer and be sure to place something underneath the metal to protect your work surface. Once you make the hole, sand both sides of it with the sandpaper. This not only evens out your hole, it makes the metal thinner, which also is good. After that, glue the metal on theinside of the pinhole side of the camera between the two spacers completely covering the square hole completely.
The first image below shows the not-to-scale pieces needed for the image. The two small, curved spacer pieces and the ring will be glued onto the camera. The shutter itself is not glued to anything. The shutter and the two spacers can be from a circular piece the same size as the ring, but remember to leave a tab on the edge for the handle. After gluing the edge pieces and the ring on, let the glue dry before sliding the shutter in. If the shutter is tight, feel free to trim it slightly, or squeeze it hard to make it thinner. The second image shows the shutter installed on the camera with the piece labeled.

Finishing the Camera

Take your flashlight or electric torch and your camera into a darkroom. Use the light to check all of the joints you glued together. Chances are light will shine through at least a few of them. Don’t worry though. Use the black paint to fill in cracks and cover light leaks. It make take several coats. For extra big cracks, use some of your glue to fill them in before painting them.

extra notes see:
http://photo.tutsplus.com/tutorials/the-ultimate-guide-to-create-your-own-35mm-pinhole-camera/





Friday 7 October 2011

Back to work!

Right. I just started my second year at Bath so its time for me to get back into posting things up here and stop being lazy, after a long summer! Firstly, I will be posting some things i have done over the the holidays, such as how to make a pin hole camera and some collage work I have completed. I then have plans to put up some typography work and perhaps some photography or illustration from my degree.

After this, i want to introduce some material to do with things that are happening today that inspire my work. So all useful and interesting stuff...!