Evaluation of my Pinhole Project

Pinhole Project Evaluation.

In this blog I will be evaluating my pinhole project as a whole, from creating the camera to the research, to producing and inverting the photographs. Before this project I had no knowledge of how a camera produced photographs, digital or hard copy. Now I know the basics and I have experimented and invented ideas of what I could do in later projects.

First of all we learnt about how a camera is put together, obviously vital knowledge when it comes to photography so I can understand which parts will effect the picture in which way. For example I know now if I change the shutter speed onto a low speed then I camera I will get a lot of information in one shot and if it's moving then the images will be blurred, for example the image below of a firework explosion, the whole trail of the sparks exploding are shown in one frame.

We also learnt about genres before we began making our cameras and how each genre has it's own definitive features. For example in Landscape photography like the photograph below you can see a horizon, they are generally very wide shots.

On the other hand Paparazzi photographs are generally Long, medium to close up shots of famous people, taken by journalists or contract photographers. Such as the ones of Amy Winehouse looking a drunken state on the front of the Sun.

I really gained a lot of experience and knowledge just by experimenting with the pinhole pictures.

By the end I understood about exposure times and how they effected the outcome of the pictures. Before this project I had used a programme similar to photoshop so using that got me refreshed and reminded me of the effects you can use. The developing liquids where something new I learnt to because honestly I had no idea about them before. I can take all this knowledge into any future photography projects.

If I was to do this project again and we had much more time I would experiment with all different shapes and sizes of containers for the Pinhole photographs. Different shapes because they would be warped in a variety of ways, sizes would effect the time needed for exposure. I would also like to do the exact same shot, multiple times and get different times of exposures so I can see it brighten up and then eventually be completely white. If put into an animation then that would be very interesting to see the picture develop from under exposed the over exposed, if I ever develop my own dark room, that will be something I will attempt. It would be proof we do not need Photoshop to warp and manipulate our images.

Radio Advert 06/10/10

Radio advert outblast.mp3


Evaluation

Above is my Radio Advert for a Product I invented 'Outblast Speaker' (Speakers for the Outside of your car). I used this idea because then I did not have much time to go out and cast a few people to speak 25 seconds of debate about the softness of the new toilet paper or anything. So recording myself and adding music and effects underneath seemed the most efficient way of producing this in a short time.

On my piece I used three main effects that I think improved the overall quality and impact. On the first song 'Burn it to the Ground' by Nickleback I used the EQ filter to decreased the bass and treble to almost nothing with gave the effect it was being muffled. I also added the filter 'Fat EQ' onto the last song 'Magic' by B.O.B feat Rivers Cuomo to increase the Bass and make the quality sound better. I was advertising speakers so I would need to show a big difference between the first and second song so people

 think that they speakers are good quality and need to be brought. Also the song choices were relevant to, the first song is about 'Burning' subliminally suggests your speakers are not good enough they need to be burnt and the Song 'Magic' is very upbeat happy and taking about Magic and 'turning things to Gold' with gives the impression these speakers are just awesome.

The two sound effects I used were a car starting which was the introduction to the advert, immediately suggesting that the following is to do with a car, grabbing attention of Car users. The other was a rush of wind sound, I used this because it sounded like a miniature explosion, which I used to suggest that the time of these poor speakers are over. Blown Up!

I think including all of the things I have just mentioned about it, the Advert is very effective in making these new 'Outblast Speakers' very memorable and appealing. It uses a big change in Dynamics and Sound Quality to show a massive difference between the 'Before and After' and I used the sound effects to immediately engage drivers and to suggest the old speakers are gone. My dialogue over the top was also supposed to gain interest and think it did quite successfully, asking questions directly to audience firstly to grab there attention and then using the 'power of three' and rhyming near to end to tell them the products we offer. 'Subs, Tweeters and Six by Nine Speakers'.


Overall I think this is a successful radio advert, though with more time I should have given an URL for the website or location of a store. Plus, was I to pay for this to be advertised I would need to choose a specific one, ensuring drivers 17-25 listen to it regularly because they are most likely to be interested in such a loud and music related imaginary product.


From this short project I will take a good deal of new skills I have learnt using the Digital Audio Workstations and they will assist me greatly when I reach my six week Radio project where we will produce a radio programme.



Radio Jingles 04/10/10

In my first week of the ED1 course, my groups rotation was Radio Production.

There was much more we were supposed to experiment with and produce however we had a running technical issue with getting onto the computers. Therefore we were only able to get in two mornings of practical work.

We did however learn many skills about using the Digital Audio Workstation programme Logic Pro. We learnt about the importance of saving at the beginning of the production, which enables all the files tracks and files you may use will be saved into the same folder. Otherwise if you try to move your work you may end up with empty tracks and gaps in the project. Also at the beginning we were asked to change a number of preset settings on the programme. Such as the 'snap' option needed to be changed from 'smart' which guessed where you wanted to click and most of the time was wrong to 'sample' which allowed you to choose perfectly.

We were able to experiment a good deal with different effects and getting used to cutting down the tracks to fit perfectly. We used the MIDI instruments to make a 4 bar 'cheesy tune'. I really enjoyed that part as I've all ways wanted to produce music but I am far too poor to afford a MAC + the necessary software.

This is an overview of the software we are using, you can see the different coloured tracks, in the bottom left is the volume control, where you can check if the audio is too loud and 'bleeding' into the red. On every single track you can put on many effects which change the sound when it is played, such as 'Echo', 'Phaser' and 'EQ' where you control the equaliser to your what frequencies you want most defined.

Had we been on the Mac's from the start then we should have produced a Show promotion, Station Indent and a News Jingle but we didn't have the time So our tutor gave us an audio recorder and we were given the task to produce a advert for a product of our imagination, a film coming out soon or Suffolk New College. On my other blog titled 'Radio Advert' you can listen to what I produced and see what you think, consider we only had 2 hours to make it however, please :)

Pinhole Photography Research 02/10/10

Pinhole Research and examples of Professional photographers work.

After attempting our own pinhole photography I researched other photographers to get a wider view of new ideas of  stretching the boundaries of this type of photography and how some artists have embraced the different varieties of their art.

I did not do this before I started my own (shown in my other post) because then I didn't have any idea of the professional standard, so in turn I didn't see my pictures as awful, set them alight and cry.

I first looked at the artist Justin Quinnell for his pinhole photos. We were shown examples of his work in our group and I wanted to know how he produced them. One of his projects was to put cameras at key scenery around Bristol and he left them for six months. The images when they were completed where very unique because you could see the suns height in the sky changing each day as the months went on.

Click the Link to see Justin Quinnells 'Slow Light' Project

He also has a wide range of photos and a main theme he constantly repeats to great effect is obscuring images to make them seem unreal and quite funny. A prime example is one from his 'colour gallery' where a toy appears to be drowning in his serial. Another of his projects was 'mouthpiece' where he put a camera inside his mouth to take pictures. Very unique again and sometimes quite disturbing but I will let you judge for yourself.

Justin Quinnells Full Collection (You need to click the small dot, a pin-hole if you will.)

Just for some fun (I lead a dismal life) I wanted to know the largest and most bizarre pinhole camera ever made. I expected it to be strange, but not aeroplane hangar strange. The guinness world record for largest successful pinhole camera goes to an aeroplane hangar.

The image below is the finished picture.

Picture from TwistedSun.net

To make this a reality they complete blacked out the hanger which took months and the 'photo paper' was fabric 11 stories wide and 3 high was fabric soaked in the chemicals needed for development. The same process was carried out too with a pinhole in the opposite wall and left open for 3 days.

The whole process of pinhole photography is very simple but has pioneered the way into the future for digital cameras and a great deal of what we see today.

Original Pinhole Photos and how they are produced.

Below are the original photos I took with my pringles tin. They are all taken of areas in and around suffolk new college. They are in the order.

In this post I will be explaining how the image your pinhole is pointed at ends up as a photo or a piece of white photographic paper...

Taking your photo.

When you point your camera at your desired image and remove you cover the light from the image enters through the pinhole and goes is relayed onto the photographic paper. As the light can only travel in a straight line, light coming from below will hit the top of the paper and left will hit the right and so forth. This is why your image will eventually come out inverted.

The photographic paper has a coating of chemicals mixed up in a gelatin layer. A mixture called 'Silver Halide', chloride, silver, bromide and iodide. Different concentrations of other elements can effect how sensitive the paper is. When light comes into contact with the silver halide crystals the surface changes. Depending on the amount of light that hits it will decide the shade when it is developed, which creates the image. The chemical bath it is in stops the photos developing instantly, otherwise the entire paper would just turn black.

After this process is complete then you can develop your photo.

Pinhole Photography 30/09/10

Pinhole Photography

Step by Step Guide - From production of the camera to developing the photos.

Creating the Camera

1- Take your chosen object which you want to make into a camera (As long as it's mobile it's use able) and cut a 1/2 to 3/4 inch square out of one of the sides. This will later act as your Pinholes' lens.

2- If you have any food container or anything which will leave debris behind clean it out with some tissue. Otherwise this will effect the next stage.

3-With Matt poster paint, paint the inside of your camera completely black. This prevents light bouncing around inside and ruining your photo.

4- Attach a piece of foil to the outside over where you created the hole in step 1. Secure it on with gaffer tape ( this will prevent any light getting in). This foil will act as your aperture (which controls the amount of light allowed in)

5- Put a piece of paper over the foil and create a flap which can cover and uncover the hole to start and stop exposure. 

6- Place a pin hole (using a compass or similar utensil) in the foil where your small square is. This is where light will pass through to create you image.

Your camera is now complete. Congratulations!

Taking and Developing your photos

1- Measure the distance between your pinhole and where your photographic paper will be placed (on the opposite side of the container.) Then use this equation to calculate the time you roughly need to expose your paper for (your f-stop).

F-Stop = 72 < The distance in mm's (mine was 72)

               0.8 < size of your pinhole (mm)

I was given the result - f-90 and I was told that that equalled, according to the fact it was an overcast day that I would need around 20 seconds of exposure time outside in daylight and 4 Minutes inside.

2- Take you Camera into a dark room, (an actual dark room, not just your bedroom with no lights on) take a piece of photographic paper cut it to the correct size and place it opposite your pinhole. I used a pringles tube so the paper stayed in the same place quite tightly, if not then i would recommend putting two pieces of rolled up gaffer tape where you want the paper to stick.

3- Ensure that the container is sealed tightly and take it to a photographic location of your choice.

4- Point your camera to the image you want. Remove the flap you created for the exposure times you have worked out and then place it back. Your photograph has been taken! You little photographer you.!

5- Take your camera back to the dark room. Remove the photo paper. DO NOT REMOVE YOUR PHOTO PAPER ANYWHERE ELSE, otherwise your photo will become overexposed and will come out completely black (not a brilliant image.)

6- Place your photo paper faced down in a liquid solution called the developer this will reveal your photo and you can see whether your image is a success. Remember your image will come out negative so do not judge your photo on colours, instead on whether you can actually see definition in the photo. Leave the photo in developer for 20-30 seconds.

7- Next place the photo in the 'Stop' solution for 20 seconds. This stops the developing process.

8- After place the photo into the last fluid, the 'Fix'. This ensures the picture stays on the paper and will be unaffected by any light or other stains.

9- Lastly place your picture in the 'Wash' or water as it's better known. Cleaning of any other solution.

10- Then dry your image and then you have your first Pinhole Picture! Congratulations!





My first Pinhole photo. Fantastic!









Scanning and Inverting

Obviously, if you're following these steps you may have noticed your photos are backwards and upside down and completely in negative which means the white parts are black and vice-versa. These are the steps you need to follow to create a much more normal image.

1) Scan the picture into your computer. At SNC with photography, we had to scan our card, select the format, select send to email and then as I pressed scan it sent to my email. Any scanner will do.

2) Once you have it open it up in on adobe photoshop or any similar program such as paint shop pro or coral.

3) To invert the colours in the image, click the small icon with an arrow pointing down next to a series of small lines. It will show a drop down menu, where there will be options such as Brightness/Contrast, levels and curves. Go further down and click invert.

Another way to get this same option click options at the top left>Adjustments>Invert

4) If you're image is still backwards or upside-down. You can click from the same menu image rotation and flip horizontally and vertically until it looks correct.

This is how your image will be taken in the pinhole camera.

5) If you are happy with your image on screen then go to file> save as> Choose the name of your picture. ENSURE YOUR FILE NAME IS FOLLOWED BY .JPG (example "my awesome picture.jpg"). Also set your file type/format to jpeg. Setting the save quality to maximum will ensure no quality will be lost from your image. The file size will be bigger and harder to send/upload but the quality will better.

If you've been following these steps with your newly constructed pinhole camera, then you will have a fantastic photo to make your chums jealous, put on your wall, burn or whatever you want.
CONGRATULATIONS Pinholer!

My complete collection of completed pinhole pictures.

In further posts I will be describing other pinhole photographers