Compositional Balance

Photography is no different than other fine art in that it uses the same elements and principles of design. Only the medium changes, you still need to work within the "rules" of art. 

When you created your "Found Object" Photogram, you  considered how your image is balanced. Is your design symmetrical, asymmetrical or radially balanced?

Show me you understand each type of balance by shooting an image that shows each type. Post to your blog.  Add information about the location or subject. These are examples I photographed during the last summer.

Symmetrical Balance, Mr. Ricci's 47 Chrysler Town Car
Mahopac High School, Summer 2016

Asymmetrical Balance - Sunflowers being raised to make oil,
Lagrange, New York

Radial Balance - Window at World of Wings Museum,

Teaneck, New Jersey

Sepia Toning

Sepia toning is a process that gives a photograph a warm brown tone and increases it's archival properties. (How long it will last) The image is first bleached to turn the metallic silver into a silver halide. The print is washed to remove the bleach then it is immersed in toner which converts the silver halide into silver sulfide.

You must Sepia Tone your "Close-up" or "Selfie" pinhole image and Mount it!!

Process:

1. Immerse the print in the Bleach Bath and agitate it for a out 6-8 minutes until most of the image has disappeared or turned yellow. I like to leave some areas black for contrast. (Wear Goggles and take care while using bleach! It can damage your eyes!!)
2. Rinse to remove bleach. (2 minutes)
3. Place the print in the Toner Bath and agitate until the image completely fills in with warm browns.(60 seconds)
4. Rinse thouroughly for 2 minutes.
5. Fix for two minutes.
6. Wash for 4 minutes.

Fall Color

If you haven't noticed the riot of fall colors this year, you're not paying attention to the world around you. Your assignment is to get outside and search for some of the wonderful yellow, orange and reds that dot the landscape. Don't just think about landscapes, get close to your subject. Think about the fall harvest as well.

Take a lot of photos. Taking more images improves your odds of getting that one great shot. Post your best 3 (minimum) and describe where you photographed them.

Here are some of my "Fall Colors".

Pumpkins at Rulf's

Maple Leaves

Vibrant Color

Beaver Pond


Fulton History

Pinhole Close-up

"The Debris of Life"

I took this photo of a pile of broken dolls as an example of what can be done with a pinhole camera. One of the greatest attributes of a pinhole camera is its almost indefinite "Depth of Field". Everything from close up to far in the distance appears to be somewhat in focus.

Assignment - Find some small objects that are meaningful to you in some way. Pose the objects in an interesting still life and photograph them with your pinhole camera.

Make a positive print and dry mount it. 

Debris of Life (Paper Negative), Manny Boccini

Debris of Life (Positive Print), Manny Boccini

Pinhole Selfie

Apparently "Selfie" was awarded the "2013 Word of the Year"  by Oxford Dictionaries".

We've all done it with our cell phone or a digital camera. There seems to be some kind of human urge to take one's own photograph. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that Photographers are often left out of the image. I know that I'm missing from many family photographs, because I was the person behind the camera.

Your assignment is to use your camera to take a self portrait. Here are a couple points to consider:

• This will be an exercise in self control. You must remain as still as possible, or your image will be blurry.
• You may ask a friend to open and close the shutter.
• Get close to the camera. Your Pinhole Camera is a super wide angle image maker. In my self portrait below, my hand is practically touching the camera.
• Stay in the sun, short exposures will give your clearer results.
• Scan your negative.
• Duplicate it in Photoshop. Invert the duplicate to make a positive. Adjust the image using Image/Adgustments/Brightness Contrast.
• Save both images as JPEGs and post on your blog.

Halloween Pinhole 2015

Negative

Mr. B 2013

Negative

Your Pinhole Camera

Friday, October 23, 2015

Making a Pinhole Camera

Most students are incredulous when I tell them they will be making their own camera. When they find out just how simple it is to do, they are even more surprised.

Every camera, from pinhole to the most sophisticated, has five basic parts. By working with a simple pinhole camera, we can better understand the Single Lens Reflex cameras we will use later in the year.

1. A light tight container
2. An aperture (opening)
3. A shutter
4. A viewfinder of some kind.
5. A film transport system.

This tutorial is similar to my demonstration.

How to make a pinhole camera.

Assignment: Build a working pinhole camera. When you are finished, follow these steps.

1. Is your camera light tight? _______________________________________________________
2. What is the aperture of your pinhole camera? Divide the focal length (distance from the pinhole to the negative plane) by the diameter of the pinhole (0.0010)  Your result should be somewhere around f500. ________________________________________________________________________
3. Using a 20 second exposure as a benchmark for a sunny day, make a series of test exposures to determine the best exposure time for your camera.
• If the initial exposure is too dark, half the exposure time.
• If it's too light double it. Us this sheet to record your test information.
• Every time you double or half the time, you have changed the exposure one stop.
• Make sure to weight your camera down with a book or other heavy object. Camera movement will blur your image.
• Remember to stay as still as possible. Movements during log exposure will create bury images. Your may ask a friend to open and close yhour shutter for you.
• Do not shoot into the sun. 

1st Test Strip (list conditions, time of exposure and result).

_____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

2nd Test Strip (list conditions, time of exposure and result)

_____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

3rd Test Strip (list conditions, time of exposure and result).

_____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

4. My best exposure time in bright sunshine is _______________________________________________
5. Shoot your self portrait and develop your negative.
6. Make a positive print from you negative.
7.Sepia tone your print.
8.Dry mount the print.

Personal Collage Photogram

Gabby C. 2013

This third photogram is really an example of "Copier Arts". 

Process:

Construct a Collage out of images that reflect you. Use magazine images or photos you've printed off the web. Paste it up on the 5x8" oak tag that is provided.

1. Scan the image and print it.
2. Cut it out to its edge. This will become your "paper" negative.
3. Use test strips to determine the correct exposure and make a print. The resulting image should be a negative one. (Whites are black, blacks are white)
4. Use your new image as the next "paper" negative. Your next image should be a positive.
5. Use dyes, markers or water color to "colorize" one of the images.
6. Dry mount the two images next to each other. If you wish you may also mount the original color print.