What causes this on my negatives?

po.bunyapamai · Jun 30, 2016

Hey everybody. I bought a Noon Pinhole camera off eBay about a month ago and have been making some really great shots on 4x5 film.

Then one weekend I took it to Yosemite and the negatives came out weird. The last image at the bottom is the last photo that came out alright. Each subsequent photo after that has this weird halo in the negative. I cannot figure out what's wrong. Can someone with pinhole experience please give me some advice?

Thanks!
Po

pdeeh · Jun 30, 2016

there's nothing wrong with your film.

welcome to the world of pinhole refraction

i think it's rather beautiful ... if you want to avoid it, though, don;'t point your camera towards the sun

po.bunyapamai · Jun 30, 2016

pdeeh said:
there's nothing wrong with your film.

welcome to the world of pinhole refraction

i think it's rather beautiful ... if you want to avoid it, though, don;'t point your camera towards the sun

I'm not sure about this because I'm new to pinhole photography, but I would assume pointing it towards the sun would just render a bright spot on the negative. That's how pinhole solargraphy is done: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencet...months-shot-using-pinhole-camera-tea-box.html

Maybe it is because my hole is not completely black? The paint might have flaked off a bit around my brass hole?
I will try to do some more shots on a cloudy day and will see what happens.

pdeeh · Jun 30, 2016

I love it when someone says they know nothing about a subject but then proceeds to make statements as if they do.

perhaps rather than ask "what is the problem with my negatives" you could say "I have seen this on my negatives and think it might be one of the following things ..." and then state your ideas.

good luck

po.bunyapamai · Jun 30, 2016

pdeeh said:
I love it when someone says they know nothing about a subject but then proceeds to make statements as if they do.

perhaps rather than ask "what is the problem with my negatives" you could say "I have seen this on my negatives and think it might be one of the following things ..." and then state your ideas.

good luck

Thanks, I'll phrase it better the next time I ask a question.

MrBrowning · Jun 30, 2016

pdeeh is right. It's from pointing the camera at the sun (or a bright light source).

TheToadMen · Jun 30, 2016

It is the sun. You can avoid it by keeping the sun in your back, put your camera in the shadows or make a shadow by holding your hand above and a bit in front of your camera, thus casting a shade on the pinhole itself. This I often do, but keep in mind the (often) wide angle of view of a pinhole camera. Just keep your hand high enough and you'll be fine.

mike c · Jun 30, 2016

A lens shade might help, as long as it does not block the the image area on the negative.

po.bunyapamai · Jun 30, 2016

Thanks everyone! I will definitely keep that in mind

kier · Jul 1, 2016

welcome to pinhole, po! as others have mentioned, there are ways to try and keep this from happening when shooting towards the sun. one more idea: put in some color film and aim it at the sun with the intent of this happening. with color, you can see the refraction separating the sunlight into ROYGBIV, which can yield a very interesting feel to certain photos. It can be fun to have the sun hidden behind a tree slightly and let the wind move the leaves enough that you get just a bit of sparkle. experiment a bit and you'll get some fun results!

Sirius Glass · Jul 1, 2016

pdeeh said:
there's nothing wrong with your film.

welcome to the world of pinhole refraction

i think it's rather beautiful ... if you want to avoid it, though, don;'t point your camera towards the sun

What he said.

Welcome to APUG

Joe VanCleave · Jul 2, 2016

Specifically, it's caused by the sunlight reflecting off the torus-shaped inner "wall" of the pinhole aperture. It varies from pinhole to pinhole depending on the material, its thickness and how uniformly the pinhole was made.

Some people claim to have luck in dampening this flare effect by "smoking" the pinhole aperture using a candle flame, which deposits a thin layer of carbon soot along this otherwise reflective surface.

~Joe

summicron1 · Jul 2, 2016

i've shot into the sun and never seen this effect -- I use ZeroImage pinholes, perhaps the size has something to do with it -- too small a hole can cause refraction where with a larger hole it is not seen as much.

One fun thing I did notice on one shot into the sun is an interesting effect I'd read about film, where it did solarize -- the light from the sun was so bright hitting the film that it pushed the spot where the sun was hitting all the way over the top of the exposure curve into positive territory -- true solarization. So I ended up, on the print, with a black pinpoint where the sun was.

TheToadMen · Jul 2, 2016

summicron1 said:
One fun thing I did notice on one shot into the sun is an interesting effect I'd read about film, where it did solarize -- the light from the sun was so bright hitting the film that it pushed the spot where the sun was hitting all the way over the top of the exposure curve into positive territory -- true solarization. So I ended up, on the print, with a black pinpoint where the sun was.

Nice! If you still have that image, could you please show it to us?

ced · Jul 4, 2016

I think too that it is internal scatter of light around the hole but could also be because the hole has some dust (& or oils from fingers touching the aperture).

grahamp · Jul 4, 2016

I have had this happen to me with my home-made pinhole. It seems to be where the sun can strike the pinhole but is outside or at the edge of the frame. Thicker material is probably more likely to exhibit it. Setting up a hood on a wideangle pinhole can be a challenge, though.

I have also done a reversed sun with my Zero Image by accident. I have not succeeded in doing intentionally, though.

BAK61 · Oct 24, 2016

It has to do with the moons gravitational pull on the Suns rays. Light rays are not straight, but curved due to the moos gravity. Point your camera away from the moon and you'll be fine.

ciniframe · Oct 24, 2016

BAK61 said:
It has to do with the moons gravitational pull on the Suns rays. Light rays are not straight, but curved due to the moos gravity. Point your camera away from the moon and you'll be fine.

That is not true. There is really no moon, it is all a conspiracy by the government to make us believe there really is a moon and that "they" landed on it.

Pardon me, I have to go get my aluminum hat.

Gerald C Koch · Oct 24, 2016

pdeeh said:
I love it when someone says they know nothing about a subject but then proceeds to make statements as if they do.

+10,000

What causes this on my negatives?

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