Anybody doing round images?

JensH · Oct 30, 2017

Hi,

does any of you like to do them?
Maybe with optics made for smaller formats or just cropping sqare photos...
Do you find it more difficult to get a satisfying composition?

I like to take round images with my 1930s microscope camera.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/136145166@N02/albums/72157686135321996
It was designed to give round images only, as it was common in the early days of photomicrography.

Best
Jens

AgX · Oct 30, 2017

With the rage on fishe-eye perspective 50-40 years ago there was an interlude of circular photographs.
Also there is a history of oval (well, not round) framing or matting.

I thought about doing circular photographs (of whatever perspective), but I did not dare it in the end.

JPJackson · Oct 30, 2017

Do you know the work of Sam Wang?

Sirius Glass · Oct 30, 2017

Why? Hasselblad advertised for years that square is the perfect format.

JensH · Oct 30, 2017

Sirius Glass said:
Why? Hasselblad advertised for years that square is the perfect format.

Well, my Rolleiflexes would agree... ;-)

JensH · Oct 30, 2017

JPJackson said:
Do you know the work of Sam Wang?

Hi,
not yet, just did a search, some great images, others were better non circular...
Yours
Jens

Rick A · Oct 31, 2017

Haven't done it in years, but way back when, we used round and oval masks when printing. There used to be a product that allowed variable vignetting, to set your own shapes.

jim10219 · Oct 31, 2017

About a year ago I did a series of round photos using a microscope and my iPhone's camera. I photographed various substances with dyes, filters, etc, and tried to make them all look like planets in the dark. I gave each one a bio and posted them to my Instagram feed that I have since deleted. I don't know if that counts as round photos, since there was black around the boarders, and clearly it didn't make the composition any more difficult (since they were supposed to mimic planets), but that's about as close as I've come.

I've done a few round paintings, but stretching the canvas on a circular frame is hard to get right, and finding a round frame to go over it is even more difficult. I couldn't even imagine cutting a round sheet of glass to go over it. All in all, I find that with the right subject, composition isn't nearly as difficult as the technicalities of displaying the final piece. To me, a round photo in a square frame always seems like a waste of space, and gives the image a claustrophobic feel. Once again, I suppose it could work for some subjects, but it's not my thing.

Another question is, why we don't see more triangular compositions, or other non-quadrilateral shapes. Triangles would be easy to set up, and easy to display.

Bob Carnie · Oct 31, 2017

Thomas Brasch in Toronto works with circular images.

removed account4 · Oct 31, 2017

Ive done a few but not nearly as many as I would like
Love your work jens!

john

locutus · Oct 31, 2017

I've played a bit with circular images on 8x10" (read: use lenses with not enough coverage), but i cant say i really found it to add anything..... In the end i just cropped the contact prints to the maximum the lens covered.

AgX · Oct 31, 2017

jim10219 said:
I did a series of round photos using a microscope... I don't know if that counts as round photos, since there was black around the boarders, ..

That is exactly what the OP did, thus it should count.

Another question is, why we don't see more triangular compositions, or other non-quadrilateral shapes. Triangles would be easy to set up, and easy to display.

More triangular photos? I do not even remember seeing a single one,

JensH · Oct 31, 2017

Bob Carnie said:
Thomas Brasch in Toronto works with circular images.

Thank you, Bob,
interesting work and presentation on his homepage.

Best
Jens

Anon Ymous · Oct 31, 2017

Round images are a splendid idea, no more skewed horizons.

JensH · Oct 31, 2017

jim10219 said:
All in all, I find that with the right subject, composition isn't nearly as difficult as the technicalities of displaying the final piece. To me, a round photo in a square frame always seems like a waste of space, and gives the image a claustrophobic feel.

Hi Jim, thank you for the reply,

how to display the photographs is an interesting question...
Thomas Brasch puts them into square frames with white borders, looks good here.
I thought about rectangular frames, portrait orientation and an upright
rectangular passepartout window.

Best
Jens

Sirius Glass · Oct 31, 2017

Jens Hallfeldt said:
Well, my Rolleiflexes would agree... ;-)

Of course they would.

JensH · Oct 31, 2017

Rick A said:
Haven't done it in years, but way back when, we used round and oval masks when printing.

Yes, I have some of them... oval masks were quite common for portraits it seems.

Best
Jens

mrosenlof · Oct 31, 2017

Emmet Gowin did a series of round pictures. He used an 8x10 camera and a lens that didn't cover the entire format. Poke around the interwebs, you'll find some of them.

Vaughn · Oct 31, 2017

Check this out: https://www.flysfo.com/museum/exhibitions/geir-jordahl-circle-life

I went backpacking with Geir up Redwood Creek -- me with my 4x5 w/ 150mm, and Geir with a Nikon film camera and a 6mm lens (infrared film). We made very different images!

JensH · Oct 31, 2017

Vaughn said:
Check this out: https://www.flysfo.com/museum/exhibitions/geir-jordahl-circle-life

I went backpacking with Geir up Redwood Creek -- me with my 4x5 w/ 150mm, and Geir with a Nikon film camera and a 6mm lens (infrared film). We made very different images!

Hej Vaughn,

Geir made some great pictures this way, thanks for that.
It's the circular fisheye by Nikon, I guess... saw it in a F3 prospect...

Best
Jens

Vaughn · Nov 1, 2017

Yes, Nikon glass, 6mm. With the demise of Kodak's IR film, he has moved to Digital -- same lens on a full-frame sensor Nikon that has been adapted to IR photography. He use to use a Widelux and he is quite comfortable thinking outside (or inside) the rectangle.

Geir's approach is quite different than using a view camera. -- the Nikon 6mm/5.6 sees greater than 180 degrees...is there an equivilent in a 4x5 LF lens? There might be some that come close (I remember something about an old lens design with an air-driven neutral-density 'filter'). Circles are wonderful...and it would be fun with the 11x14 camera...perhaps my Cartar II-N 150/5.6? It would be challenging -- the image circle size changes with where one focuses in the scene and with what f/stop is used.

Another way to go about it would be a pinhole camera that has an internal mask to make round images on whatever size film one has loaded. One could really play with a wide-angle view.

etn · Nov 1, 2017

Sirius Glass said:
Why? Hasselblad advertised for years that square is the perfect format.

Even Instagram moved away from it. Everything’s going to the dogs.

JensH · Nov 1, 2017

Vaughn said:
Yes, Nikon glass, 6mm. With the demise of Kodak's IR film, he has moved to Digital -- same lens on a full-frame sensor Nikon that has been adapted to IR photography. He use to use a Widelux and he is quite comfortable thinking outside (or inside) the rectangle.

Geir's approach is quite different than using a view camera. -- the Nikon 6mm/5.6 sees greater than 180 degrees...is there an equivilent in a 4x5 LF lens? There might be some that come close (I remember something about an old lens design with an air-driven neutral-density 'filter'). Circles are wonderful...and it would be fun with the 11x14 camera...perhaps my Cartar II-N 150/5.6? It would be challenging -- the image circle size changes with where one focuses in the scene and with what f/stop is used.

Another way to go about it would be a pinhole camera that has an internal mask to make round images on whatever size film one has loaded. One could really play with a wide-angle view.

Hi Vaughn,

if I remember it right, the 6mm has 220° viewing angle.
Faszinating indeed. Something similar with LF? Putting a 30mm fisheye (made for 6x6) on a 4"x5" camera...

With your Cartar II-N 150/5.6 the round image would be 220 to 240 mm diameter at lower f-stops like 22 (assuming it is identical to the Apo-Sironar-N 150mm), so 11"x14" is needed as you said.

I have an Apo-Grandagon 4.5/55mm that should work if I had an 8"x10" camera...

Have a nice day
Jens

JensH · Nov 1, 2017

jnanian said:
Ive done a few but not nearly as many as I would like
Love your work jens!

john

Thanks a lot, John
Where can I see some of them?

Have a nice day
Jens

Sirius Glass · Nov 1, 2017

I am not and never was a fan of fisheye lenses and that includes Hasselblad and Nikon. When I tried them I ended up with photographs that showed the tops of my shoes!

Anybody doing round images?

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