How to make a long exposure pinhole of coloured incandescent light

Danae · Jan 2, 2014

Hi all,

I am extremely new to pinhole photography, and wanted to speak to people with more experience about a project I am working on.

The basic idea is to take a long exposure pinhole photo (up to 25 mins) onto a colour negative. The images will include around 80+ coloured 40 watt incandescent lights, in a darkened room (of about 12 metres x 6 metres). Each light will flash intermittently, some more than others.

I'm wondering on what might be a good camera/film to use for this project, and also if any of you think it could be possible. Will I need to use a very slow-speed film? are there specific types of lenses that might work best for the project. Can you change aperture in a pinhole?

I'd be super appreciative of any advice anyone could pass on. I'm really excited about learning a bit more about primitive forms of photography.

Hope to hear from someone!

Thanks so much and Happy New Year.

Danae

aoresteen · Jan 2, 2014

I'd first try to do it with a DIGITAL camera first. Check eBay or B&H Photo:

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/search?Ntt=pinhole&N=0&InitialSearch=yes&sts=ma&Top+Nav-Search=

Danae · Jan 2, 2014

Hey Tony,

Thanks for your advice. I'll look into getting one of those lenses to mount to my DSLR.

I've heard it's quite simple to make a pinhole camera by drilling a a hole in a body cap.

Do you have any thoughts on the speed of film or a good method to get this project started, considering the time frame I need to shoot within, i.e. 25 mins.

Thanks Tony!

SMBooth · Jan 2, 2014

Assuming a EV of around 4 (based on Fred Parkers Ultimate exposure calculator) ISO 100 film at f32 would need 1 minute, so a pinhole camera with a f stop of f256 would need approx 65 minutes,, to 240 min for f 500. That would be my starting point anyway.

John Koehrer · Jan 2, 2014

Is the idea to make an exposure OF the room or of the lights?
If it's just the lights the exposure will be shorter than for the room. Think fireworks but if lights are repetitive they will overexpose.

Danae · Jan 2, 2014

Hey John,

Thanks for responding. I am hoping to make a portrait of the lights in particular, but no doubt the room will also be reflected in the image.

I guess what I'd like to play around with, is what kind of settings/cameras/lenses might be best so that the lights don't overexpose the whole image. I've heard that there are formulas etc that may be useful when I am putting it together, like time and lens diameter or something.

Still interested to hear what you all have to say, and thanks for your input John.

D

Jim Jones · Jan 2, 2014

Danae said:
. . . I've heard it's quite simple to make a pinhole camera by drilling a a hole in a body cap. . . .

It's not quite that simple. The pinhole should be drilled in very thin material, and then mounted in a larger hole in the body cap.

Danae · Jan 2, 2014

Hey John,

Thanks for responding. I am hoping to make a portrait of the lights in particular, but no doubt the room will also be reflected in the image.

I guess what I'd like to play around with, is what kind of settings/cameras/lenses might be best so that the lights don't overexpose the whole image. I've heard that there are formulas etc that may be useful when I am putting it together, like time and lens diameter or something.

Still interested to hear what you all have to say, and thanks for your input John.

D

Danae · Jan 2, 2014

Hi Shane,

Just saw your post. Thanks for the starting point, it's definitely some information I would like to start experimenting with. I'm going to continue on with my research so I can make a little bit more sense of how to change f stops using pinhole, but it seems like Fred Parker's Ultimate exposure calculator could be a useful tool for this project.

John- yes, I have heard that a thin sheath of tin or copper (or similar) is used to "drill" a pinhole through, then mounted to the back of the body cap, and blacked out.

Basically each exposure that I make is directly related to the length of a musical piece, (the songs/music will vary) so I suppose what I will need to do is experiment with the aperture mostly, so it can be exposed at the specific length of each song.

Thanks so much for your help- I really appreciate everyone's advice. I realise I'm such a newbie, and it's so nice of you to take some time to show me the ropes.

D

Danae · Jan 2, 2014

PS- Shane, I saw some of your pinhole photos on flickr- they look great.
The boat in Mornington has some awesome colouring. I'm originally from around that way so it was nice to see the place pop up in someone's photostream!

D

How to make a long exposure pinhole of coloured incandescent light

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