Topic: six month pinhole solargraph

[astrobeck]

for the past four years I've been setting out pinhole cameras with photo paper loaded in them to capture the track of the Sun.

I usually set them out at the soltices and then let them expose the track of the Sun for six months until the next solstice.

The attached was made from this year's Summer to Winter Solstice.
Enjoy!

[Nigel]

Becky - that's a great shot, I love the colour graduations, it almost looks like an oil painting. Really great !

[Nigel]

This is what it reminded me of, you're in good company! (just don't go cutting your ear off!)

(image courtesy Wiki-commons)

[Paul Mitchell]

Great result Becky! Solargraphs are definitely on my 'things to try' list. I've heard that those black 35mm canisters make good pinhole cameras?

Paul

[Phil Bebbington]

Becky, you blow me away every time I see one of your solargraphs. This one is particularly fine.

[original_ann]

I'm with Phil... I'm just completely blown away!

[hookstrapped]

Fantastic


I don't think I quite understand, or see evidence, of the solar tracking... is the distortion in the image, the bend, the result of solar tracking?

[astrobeck]

Thank you all! 
The bend is the result of directional aiming of the little camera.
Depending on the direction you aim, east, south, or west, you get different arcs.

I do use black 35mm film containers, and have the local one hour lab save them for me.

Below is my "stash" of cameras I made for the current winter to summer solstice 2011.
I send them out to friends and give them to kids that want to try it.

They are easy to make and a lot of fun to see what you get after waiting 6 months.  I have lost a few to "vandals"  some animals are very curious and chew them to bits!   

[Francois]

And as usual, B&W paper which simply gets thrown in the fixer (no development) or was the recipe changed this time?

[Alan]

that is well cool Becky, I love it.

the colours are great!

[Photo_Utopia]

That is a thing of real beauty-you can be proud.
Regards
Mark

[astrobeck]

Same recipe Francois.
Just a good fixer soak and it's done!  That's the easy part.   
The difficult part is waiting for six months!!!!!
 

And as usual, B&W paper which simply gets thrown in the fixer (no development) or was the recipe changed this time?

[Francois]

Well, I would feel just as bad about the waiting part. I just have to wait for Xmas and I'm already counting the number of nights before the big day like kids do

[LT]

Looks great from where I'm standing becky.

[Blaxton]

Becky,

To me, this a great image, no matter how it was made.  Maybe it's even more impressive because of the method.  Thanks for showing it here.

You wrote that the processing is mostly waiting with only a fixer bath at the end.  Are the colors artifacts of the process or has the image been manipulated, post-production, as it were?  I ask because I'm thinking of giving it a try.  I've been making wine for several years now.  Waiting six months for something good is familiar.

Matt

[Francois]

No, no post processing in photoshop is required!

I think the color related to the degradation of the silver crystals.
To see a quick demo of what it does, take an unexposed scrap of photo paper, and in full daylight, take an electronic flash, put it in contact with the paper and fire away. You should see the pattern of the flash head in glorious vivid pink (at least that's the color for old Ilford MG4 RC.

[astrobeck]

Francois is correct.  Fixing is all that is needed.

However, I do invert it, then flip it and occasionally tweak the contrast a bit to make it more representational of the setting and scenery.

I have noticed that different papers react in their own unique ways, as most of you that print your own photos have experienced.  
The Ilford satin RC paper I use shifts toward a more golden/copper/brown, while the current pack of expired Kodak polycontrast gloss RC paper I am using is quite blue biased.

The results are always interesting!

I would highly recommend anyone give this a go.  It's a cheap thrill at the very least, and also a test of patience.

There is a great gallery and complete instructions at my mentor Tarja Trygg's site.

I'm also happy to help anyone that wishes to try it out.  I've made every boo-boo a person can doing this. 
http://www.solargraphy.com/

[Nigel]

There was a really interesting article in this months BJP about Chris McCaw who makes his own cameras to make, as he calls them, sunburn pictures.

http://www.chrismccaw.com/Home.html

[LT]

Thanks for that link Nigel - those pics are amazing. 

[formica]

very cool beck. how long are you fixing them for? the one's i've done i've just scanned directly not bothering with any fix. i've been using gekko mitsubisihi paper lately and the scans go red instead of blue. i think i prefer the blue though. i'm not sure i have the patience to do such a long exposure like yours though.

               william

[astrobeck]

usually I leave them in fixer for about 10 minutes or so. 

This has worked well for me so far.

Really hope others give it a go and post the results.

BTW- The minimum amount of time I've ever exposed one of these has been three hours.  The latent image was very faint, but it was there.  If you get antsy, you can just let one expose for a few days to get the hang of it, and then go for the long haul.

It does get easier to leave them alone after a while, but I still get antsy the last week of exposure when I let them go for six months, especially when they are miles and miles away and I haven't checked on them and don't even know if they are still in position. 

[Mojave]

This is just amazing!!! I've seen a lot posted on the inet about creating these and I've seen quite a few shots but this is truly the most beautiful I've seen.