Pinhole Cameras

The other assignment that was given to us was using pinhole cameras. Pinhole cameras are really interesting because they act like cameras however they don't function like one. To use the pinhole cameras, you simply place the "camera", which is basically a can with a very small hole on it, on a stable surface and leave it facing towards your subject for a few minutes. I was very familiar with pinhole cameras since we used them in my old school once therefore this wasn't such a difficult task for me.

An example of pinhole camera used.

The pinhole cameras are really easy to use however there are 2 things to keep in mind when using these; never have the pinhole facing towards the sun and the amount of time depends on how long you leave the camera out. When you have low light, you want to leave it out longer and vice versa however pinhole cameras don't normally take too long. Movement is also critical in using the pinhole cameras because if there is any movement, then it will turn out blurry. For example the turtles in my photo especially the one on the far right because before the turtle wasn't there but then halfway through, it moved into that position and stayed still which the pinhole caught. In the end, only the head of the turtle is shown because of how it moved.

Negative shot

Positive shot

The way that pinhole camera works it that light rays hits the subject and then reflects through the small hole, forming an inverted image on the film. Although, since the pinhole is very small, the film takes a longer time to be exposed. So why use one of these? Because they are made out of recycled cans, easy to make if you are handy with tools and almost similar to using an analog camera with similar rules applied.

Sources: How Stuff Works

More Prints from Composition Assignment

 

                            

                            

Composition

Composition is the basically the placing of all the things in viewfinder to emphasize the subject or to simply make it more pleasing to the eye and composition is not only for photography, but it can also be used in art or dance. There are several compositions that are used by many working photographers and they are fairly simple to use although some are more complicated and advanced than others.

During this assignment, I struggled on what my subject should be for each assignment. However, I knew exactly what must be done, I only had difficulty on what to take a photo of. It was also difficult to take photos of strangers because whenever I asked they would say no or if it were little kids, they would run away to their parents which made the assignment even more harder than it needs to be. Although, I was able take all 36 photos and had a few options for the print enlarger.

Contact sheet of composition assignment

1) Balance
For this assignment, the use of balance is having more than one subject to balance out the space of the photo. Instead of having one focus, there are several other subjects that the viewer can pay their attention to. With the use of balance, it shows the equality of the importance of the subjects in the photo

This photo has more than one focus in the photo therefore there is balance in the photo. For example, you can focus on the girl with the watch on the far left, or the two boys next to her. You could also focus on the boy that's on his phone and the girl that is not looking into the camera because of how both of their attentions are not on the camera. If I were to done this better next time, I would have tried to move around more so that the person that's a little bit in the shot, with the hair in the photo, cropped out. I took their photos because I noticed that the kids were bored while waiting for their parents so I asked if I could take their photo since they were patiently waiting.

2) Leading lines
Leading lines are basically lines that are leading up to your subject. The purpose of this is to pull the attention towards your subject. If there is a photo with great leading lines but doesn't lead to anything, it would be useless. However, leading lines can also be used that directs you all over the photo in a pattern or in random.

This photo has a clear leading line towards the family. The leading line is coming from the floor or the pavement leading to them and the trees sort of help direct the view into the family. I especially liked the baby is between the man and the woman which emphasized the motion of height between the four people. If I were to done this better next time, I would have made the subject further down the leading line so that the viewers will have a sense of adventure down the line and towards the subject instead of it being a large size subject on the photo. Initially, I wanted to have the baby as the subject and framed by the two adults however I didn't want to be really close to them to take their photo in fear that they will get mad. Therefore, I let them pass ahead of me in a few meters and quickly took the picture so that they wouldn't notice me.

3) Texture

With the use of texture, there is no focus in the photo at all. All that matters is how the subject looks. If you were to look at a well-done texture photo, you would be able to see or feel if the subject were smooth or rough by only looking at the photo.

This photo shows the texture of the roof and how there isn't a real focus on a subject. However, if I were to have done it better, then I would have tried to get closer to the roof top so that the texture of the textile is emphasized.

4) Natural frame
The using of nature or other objects forms a frame around the subject. The most common used natural frame in photography is using arcs and having the subject in the middle. The use of natural frame is similar to leading lines because of how the frame brings the attention straight towards the subject since it is placed in a frame.

This photo has a little girl which is the subject and is framed by the shape of the ride in the park. The girls body is sort of blocked by the ride and you can only see her head because of how her body is framed. I also think that the shape of the ride constrains you to only pay attention to the girl since she is framed and boxed in. Initially, this girl was with, who I am assuming, was her brother but as I approached them, the boy quickly ran away. When I asked the girl if I could take her photo, she was silent so I took the photo anyways.

Being in the Darkroom and First Print/Contact Sheet

The darkroom

After we finished taking pictures, we have to extract the film from the packet and it must be done in a very dark room so that the film does not get exposed hence the name, "The darkroom". It was pitch black and nothing but darkness although you could touch things and hear people's voices. I struggled when I was in the dark room for the first time. While in the dark room, we had to take out the film and roll it. Since I was a newbie, I had no idea how I was going to do it while being in the darkroom. However, other people were doing just fine and they were all ahead of me. When they are already done with rolling their film, I was still struggling to get the film out of the packet. I was really frustrated and felt bad because I was slowing the group since they were basically waiting for me to finish. A classmate ended up rolling the film up for me since I was too slow. From this experience, I learn that I need to practice more on rolling the film when I have free time by using the practice film provided. This was a really frustrating experience for me although I'm going to have to do it again sooner for my other assignments so I should just keep practicing.

My first contact sheet

After the film was developed (explained how in the previous post), we then had to make our first contact sheet and our first print. An example of a contact sheet is the image above. Making the contact sheet and first print is done differently than developing the film because of how an enlarger is used. The enlarger is fairly easy when making prints and the steps are;

An example of the enlarger used in class

1.  Set the easel on the desired size.
2. Place the negative of image you want to print on the negative carrier.
3. Turn the enlarger on and make sure the image is focused by using the focus nob and the elevation nob.
4. Use the grain enlarger to be sure the image is focused. 
5. Use test strips first.
6. Decide how long you want to expose the paper to light and start the timer.
7. Place the test strip in the developer for 2-3 minutes with agitation, the stop bath for 30 seconds, the fixer and upper rinse for 5 minutes.  
8. Repeat step 6 & 7 with the actual print paper and do some adjustments on the f-stop lens if needed. 

My first print from the first assignment.

With the steps mention above, I was able to create the prints for my composition assignment which I will explain further more in the next post. I decided to use this image as my first print because it was under Mr. Ubl's recommendation and I liked how the image is composed. Before I took the shot, I tried to apply what I already knew about photography which was the rule of thirds and back/foreground. The tree was the background while the graves were the foreground. I also liked how the tree contrast with the white sky which emphasized the outlines of the tree. I also liked the major contrast between the tree and the chinese graves.

First Photo-Taking Assignment

For our first assignment, we were allowed to take any photos that we wanted however there were some rules (in my opinion) when taking photos;

1. Never take a photo towards where the sun is.
2. Make sure you have enough light before taking the picture.
3. Keep in mind the amount of film you have left.
4. Make sure every corner of your camera view looks good.

When it comes to taking photos, I've always had a trouble in what the picture should look like or what my subject should be. I just have trouble being creative at times because I either can't think of anything or I am just not in the mood of doing it. It wasn't that much of a trouble when I used a digital camera because I could have taken as minimal or as much photos as I wished. With the film camera however, it takes me forever to take one photo because I want to sure that everything is perfect and that the subject is interesting since it's limited. Like I said before, I also have trouble trying to think of what photo I want to take so it takes up double of my time to take one photo.

On the day of our first assignment where we went to shoot photos during class, I've only taken 15 photos and there was a total of 37 films in one role. It was almost the end of our photo taking session and at that moment I realized that I had to finish our role of film before it get back into the classroom because if we don't finish up the role, then it would be a waste. I started to freak out so bad because I still had a lot of pictures to take and took random pictures to finish up the role. 

I learned that when you're taking photos with film, you have to be quicker and just take the photo even if the subject does not look as interesting. There would be at least one or two good photos out of the whole role so it would be impossible for someone to be a total failure. I felt that I was kind of unsuccessful because of how it was really rushed and I didn't know what photo to take.

Working in an Analog Photography Class

The camera we use
to take photos for
our assignments

On this post I will explain the process of developing film and what it's like to be in an analog photography class. As mentioned before, the photography class uses an analog film cameras instead of digital. The picture to the left shows the camera that is used whenever we have assignments. Every time I hold the camera, it's like I'm holding a baby because the camera can easily break. It's also very expensive therefore I need to try to be as gentle with the camera as possible because I don't want to pay over $300. 

I love the sound the camera makes whenever I take a photo because it's very soft and short. It just sounds very appealing for some reason and it makes me feel like I'm a professional photographer. I also love the gentle press when taking a photo and thinking about how the picture would look like after taking it. Once you take a picture, you won't know if the picture turned out like how you would want it to be. You will know if your picture was well-executed only after you develop the film. It's not like a digital camera where you can just use the screen provided to look at the pictures because if you open the case where the film is, it will expose all of your pictures and the film will get ruined. 

A digital picture of the setup when
the film is taken out from the case

When you are finished with a role, you then move into the dark room where, you can guess, is a very
dark with no light. AT ALL. In my opinion, this is the most difficult and frustrating part of the photography class because it's just darkness so I had no idea what I was doing and since I am new to this whole experience, it made the situation even more frustrating. The film is then quickly rolled and sealed in the container, shown on the picture to the right, along with other films since it is a class. The only frustrating part of the class is probably trying to get the film out of the packet and rolled onto the roller thing.

Main chemicals used when processing
film

When the pictures are ready to be developed, they are mixed in with these chemicals on the picture to the left. This process is very crucial and has to be done properly because it will depend on how the photos will look. Again, if the film is exposed to light, then the whole role is wasted. The time and the way of processing the film is different for each type of chemical. The chemicals that will be used are the film developer, the stop bath, the fixer and the hydro clear. However, the chemicals are very hazardous therefore safety is very important whenever you are using the chemicals.

There are a lot of things to remember and to be in mind of when processing film although I will try to keep it as simple. The steps for processing the film are as follow;

1. Pre-soak: 1- 3 minutes.
2. Film developer: 20 - 40 minutes, agitate every 5 minutes.
3. Stop bath: 1 minute.
4. Fixer: 5 minute.
5. Hydro clear: 2 minutes.

It is fairly important that the chemicals don't get mixed with one and another because they won't work properly therefore wasting the whole chemicals. After going through all of that fairly long process, the films are hung in the closet using clips to make sure that are parts of the film are exposed to air so that they will dry quickly. Overall, the whole process of developing the film is quite fun as there isn't really much to do although it can be quite serious with all the ways and times that comes with developing the films.

Intro to Analog Photography

As a 21st century kid and living in a generation where everything is digital, I feel very lucky to be in this photography class where most of it is using analog film because to take photos with film and the process to develop that film takes a lot of thought process. It's also very critical when using analog film because of how every picture that you take has to be well-executed since there is only a limited amount of film per role. Unlike analog cameras, digital cameras enables you to take over 300 photos and the pictures are easily stored into one small USB card. It is also fairly simple when working with a digital camera because of how you can access your pictures through your computer with the plug of the USB card. Working in an analog photography class is different because of all the process that comes with it such as developing the films, making contact sheet and prints which will be explained in later posts.

In my old school, I also attended a digital photography class so I thought I would be able to handle the work of being in a photo class. However, on the first day of photography class, I was told that the class would be using film which surprised me very much because of how digital and analog film are two very different things. I was worried if I was able to handle that much work and stress since there is a lot to do for analog photography. Although, I promised myself that I would try my hardest to accomplish every assignment the best that I could and try to have fun because this learning experience is not the same as any other. Other than that, I am also very excited to be in the class as it is something that I have never done before anything in my life and probably never will again.