Pinholelens

This is a question I’m often asked, by fellow photographers and complete strangers alike. Using a beautiful wooden Ondu camera, I began exploring the world of slow photography about five years ago. The moment I saw my first developed negatives I knew I’d found a glimpse of photographic heaven. This started my obsession with this ancient form of imaging. As you’ll see, my love of this medium has many facets – the creative possibilities, the look and even the image making process itself.

Pinhole images may lack absolute sharpness. However, it never fails to amaze me just how much detail can be captured using such a simple technique. They have a dreamy feel which uses the light in a unique way. Areas of over-exposure take on an ethereal glow and shooting into the light sometimes results in extraordinary fields of flare.

And it can be: use a fast lens, ideally on the longer end of the spectrum, wide-open, reasonable distance between subject and background. Bum. Bokeh-galore.

But it shouldn’t be. That approach often results in a shallow depth of field that represents meaningless showing-off, the danger of the wonderful gift physics hands photographers. A shallow depth of field just because we can is never giving you meaningful results.

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Throwing the foreground out of focus can easily be distracting. When I reached the canal the second morning, I found a scene where I wanted to play with it.

Ultimately I hope my photos speak for themselves and the process used to create them becomes secondary. If their dreamy, otherworldly look brings pleasure to others and myself I’ll happily continue my exploration of slow photography, bringing this ancient medium to a wider audience in the process.

That’s why I rarely use my 35mm lens with apertures larger than 2.8. The resulting depth of field would be too short to render multiple subjects — whether it’s people or other objects — reasonably sharp unless they’re all the same (or similar) distance from the camera. Too little depth of field changes the image and might rob you of the point you’re trying to make.

For the first two, I moved as close to the tree as I could to acquire focus. Notice that not even the entire trunk is in-focus. Also, note: I would have never clicked those frames had it not been for this post.

Helen Hooker is a musician and photographer based in the east of England. A switch to digital photography in 2004 reinvigorated a dormant interest in photography, providing an immersive hobby and a distraction from the demands of life as a busy professional musician. A ten year long 365 project followed and towards the end of this period Helen began exploring the possibilities of film photography once again.

I have a busy working life as a freelance musician, travelling all over the country for rehearsals, workshops and concerts. There’s always a camera in my bag and I love documenting the sights I see around me. The process of pinhole photography is by its nature leisurely. This enforced slowness is a great antidote to the stress of travel and performing. Spending time with my camera takes me to a quiet zone where I can observe the world and take pleasure in looking for images. The process of experimenting and learning perpetually inspires me to try new things.

Helen Hooker is a musician and photographer based in the east of England. A switch to digital photography in 2004 reinvigorated a dormant interest in photography, providing an immersive hobby and a distraction from the demands of life as a busy professional musician. A ten year long 365 project followed and towards the end of this period Helen began exploring the possibilities of film photography once again. Life on the road as a musician offers endless photographic opportunities and a camera of one type or another can always be found in Helen’s luggage. Helen is a photographic omnivore, but has a particular passion for architecture, a genre she regularly combines with her current obsession – pinhole photography. Over the last five years Helen has taken a deep dive into the pinhole world, exploring ways to get the most from one of the oldest photographic techniques. Pinhole images have gradually become the main focus of Helen’s photographic output and she shares photos from her travels with her wooden Ondu camera daily on Instagram. Website www.helenhookerphotography.co.uk Instagram @hhpinhole

I hope you enjoyed today’s Fun With Cameras. I’ll share an athletic update tomorrow. Next week, I’ll have new reading recommendations and updates from A Journalist’s Diary.

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Life on the road as a musician offers endless photographic opportunities and a camera of one type or another can always be found in Helen’s luggage. Helen is a photographic omnivore, but has a particular passion for architecture, a genre she regularly combines with her current obsession – pinhole photography. Over the last five years Helen has taken a deep dive into the pinhole world, exploring ways to get the most from one of the oldest photographic techniques. Pinhole images have gradually become the main focus of Helen’s photographic output and she shares photos from her travels with her wooden Ondu camera daily on Instagram.

I made that photograph because I was fascinated by the colorful sparkle I saw in the corner of my left eye when I worked on the gas tower picture with the cyclist passing on the path below.

People aren’t an obvious subject for a slow medium like pinhole. When exploring cities, I often include a human element in my frame to bring a sense of movement to the scene. Long exposure portraits become very ethereal, but the motion just serves as a reminder of the passage of time.

I had an idea for the round prompt with those pipes. But with the space available to me, I couldn’t make it work. The image above came the closest, but I couldn’t shake that one green crane in the background. And not the shallowest depth of field is beautifying that green blob. I could remove it in post-processing, of course, but that’s beside the point of what photography means to me.

I have a few more pictures that I’m conflicted about, at best. But deciding the depth of field for an image, in general, should add subtle touches that help emphasize the core of a picture and build integral parts of a composition.

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One of my ongoing projects is a series of photos where I include myself in the frame. I love exploring ancient churches and the extended exposure times allow me an opportunity to be part of the image, albeit often in a ghostly form.

Pinholeoptics

I enjoy the first. I’m not quite sure about the second. I’m pleased with how I used the light and how I placed the leaves. The green out-of-focus background looks smooth but competes a bit too strongly with the main subject.

A 35mm lens is not a bokeh monster or cream machine, as some fast portrait lenses (think 85mm f 1.2 or 105mm 1.4 or 135mm 1.8) are sometimes called.

Nevertheless, it doesn’t work for me. There’s no meaning for the soft gas tower in the background. There’s not enough river in the frame to inform us about the relevance of the sign (a compositional glitch, but still). Just because it can be done doesn’t mean one should blur the background without thought.

The same holds for the final two images that show raindrops on grass leaves. The first is a bit too busy, and the background competes with the areas that are in focus. And while the second sample still has very similar colors for the fore- and background, I can live with how I used depth of field to let everything behind the drop slowly fade out of focus.

It’s a compositional tool that can emphasize the point of a picture. It can tame a wild location. But that is not a given.

Pinholecamera model

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I started with the 35mm lens and moved to the 105mm later. The longer lens helped me create the balance I was looking for: the out-of-focus hedge in the front, the in-focus pipe installation (something to do with water, I think) in the middle layer, and the slightly soft canal in the background.

I have a different image from the trailer handle sequence in last week’s post. I loved the light. But the background that the light dictated didn’t do it for me. Certainly not at f 8, but even f 1.8 doesn’t make it much better. Shallow depth of field is no magic wand.

Depth of field can be calculated. With those parameters, the result is 0.16 cm or 1.6 mm (that’s 0.06 inches if that helps). In less mathematical terms: next to nothing.

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Control over depth of field is just as important as composition, light, or moment. Used effectively, it can isolate and beautify the important elements of a scene.

A combination of light and depth of field tames the location in the third picture (sort of). But it’s more the light than anything else that drew me to that trailer-locking device.

In the final image, the wide aperture and close distance to the fence and other foreground clutter reduced its impact without eliminating it as context. Sometimes, that’s all you can do.

The act of taking photos with a pinhole camera elicits a wide range of reactions. My beautiful wooden cameras are a perpetual talking point and are often the starter for conversations with total strangers who are fascinated as to what I’m doing. Some already understand the principles of pinhole photography, often as a result of science lessons at school, while others are just plain curious. Security guards are regularly perplexed by my activities. I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve seen one staring at me. I see their recognition of my tripod (often forbidden on private property), usually followed by confusion as to the nature of the wooden box which sits atop it. Is it a camera, or not? Almost always they decide against moving me on – I suspect for fear of looking foolish!

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A late resurgence of winter temperatures handed me bonus motifs. I approached the scenes carefully. And the pictures I chose show the thin margins between making transitions into out-of-focus areas work and creating a difficult-to-read mess.

Pinholetest

Besides, experiments are the lifeblood of photographers. They don’t only provide a source of fascinating joy. They pave the path of education we’re all walking. Therefore, allowing yourself to make mistakes and analyze what didn’t work and why it didn’t work is a valuable part of the photographic experience.

My favourite film has to be ILFORD FP4+. I just love the quality it brings to my photos and I’m patient enough to wait several minutes if that’s what the exposure demands. Sometimes waiting just isn’t an option though. My patience can wear thin if I’m going to be stuck somewhere minding my camera for a couple of hours while it takes a photo! On these occasions Delta 3200 is a godsend. The first time I used it I was prepared for a grainy mess, but the results defied my expectations. In dark churches it brings a magic to my photos and makes dramatic architectural images possible, like this one. Like this one of the beautiful font and reflections at Salisbury Cathedral.

I do quite enjoy the third picture, though, for which I “approached the tree” as square on as I could. You could still argue, however, that more depth of field would be better.

I use a selection of Ondu pinhole cameras, lovingly crafted from ash and walnut in Slovenia by Elvis Halilovic. The tactile experience of working with a wooden camera is a joy and the clever engineering and design work put into them makes winding the film and opening the shutter seamlessly easy. With pinhole photography the size of your negative directly affects the detail and (relative) sharpness of the finished images so I prefer to use the larger 120 and 4x5 film formats.

Shooting with an aperture of f125 allows me to capture chunks of time on film rather than fleeting moments. You might assume static subjects would be best suited to this medium, but I often seek to include motion in my photos. Moving water is a perennial favourite, but I look for images in less obvious places too, such as historic motor racing events.

I picked up my cameras for the last Fun With Cameras posts with simple but effective guidance that made me think about the quality of light, how I felt about a location at a specific hour of the day, and about how to capture all things round.

I don’t remember how close I was and if it was truly wide open. But to the best of my knowledge: what you see here is a macro lens (105 mm f 2.8), wide open (f 4.5 because macro lenses “slow down” as they get close to 1:1 magnification), close to its minimum focusing distance.

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