Some VW shots

[indian101scout]

So, continuing my tests with collodion pinhole I learned two things today. Whatever is being shot has to be well lit in very direct sun, too much shadow and I seem lose it all but the brightest highlights. And for this area, at this temp, at this time of year, viable shooting time for a plate is about 6 minutes... after that you start to dry at the top. As evidenced in images 2 and 3, which both had exposures around 8 minutes, since some clouds wrecked my bright sun. Image one was 5 minutes. They are my VW's. A 1973 Thing and a 1970 Camper. I'll probably drag my old Indian out again and pinhole the engine, I've done it with film and it looks cool! I like shooting old vehicles in pinhole collodion, and think I may just do a series on it. I know several people with cool old junk.

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[indian101scout]

Thing interior with Bus in background. I tried to line up the mirror to see more, but it wasn't quite right... the fading at the bottom is from the collodion drying (I believe).

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[indian101scout]

Corner of Bus. Again, I believe fading is due to drying collodion, but still - 8 minutes!

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[antbiker]

Dave, I really admire the work you produce, pushing forward with old techniques. I especially like the last picture.
Very well done, super pictures.

[seoirse]

Superb images.

I love them all.

[indian101scout]

Thank you very much! It made my morning seeing your messages. Very motivational to continue, which I plan on doing. I really love the combination of pinhole and collodion.
Thanks!

[dwerg85]

As someone actually trying to get into collodion but having his life made difficult by location i'm so jealous of you right now.
I keep thinking these are lensed images btw. Is your camera this sharp with paper / film too? Or is the sharpness enhanced by the collodion?

[indian101scout]

Hmm... good question. I mean, my pinhole is fairly sharp, but looking at these I think you may be on to something, it makes sense to me that these would be a bit sharper for being collodion. It is not quite this sharp with film.

I have decent weather for another 2 months at best, then it will be too cold for the season.

Thanks!

[earlj]

. . . I keep thinking these are lensed images btw. Is your camera this sharp with paper / film too? Or is the sharpness enhanced by the collodion?

This makes me think - collodion is ortho-chromatic (blue sensitive), is it not? Could it be that the narrower range of wavelengths striking the film reduces the diffraction-induced softness in pinhole images? Has anyone noticed the same phenomenon using ortho litho film? Has anyone ever shot daguerreotypes with pinholes?

When we do an optimal pinhole diameter calculation, most of us choose a wavelength in the middle of the visible spectrum, meaning that the pinhole will be theoretically too small for half the wavelengths that potentially can make their way into the camera (the longer wavelength light in the yellow and red end of the spectrum). With only the shorter wavelengths triggering the latent image, the diffraction patterns of the longer green and red wavelengths are not recorded by the blue-sensitive emulsion.

A way to test this could be to shoot the same scene with orthochromatic film and with IR film with the same pinhole and camera, and compare sharpness. It might be hard to get exposure and contrast to be similar, though.

These are the musings of a pinhole photographer, not those of a theoretical physicist, however . . .

[indian101scout]

Wow Earl.... I hadn't thought of any of that. I was just thinking that the silver particles themselves would be finer than any grain in the film that I have ever used for pinhole. That's why I thought it might be a bit sharper. I'm sure the physics of it all is a good line of reasoning as well! I may have to read into that... might be good knowledge to have!