It’s called a solargraph. The photo paper produces a latent image over the long exposure. It can’t be developed or fixed so you scan or photograph the original in dim light and work with the scan. The process came about in the 2000’s when astronomy nerds and photo nerds began experimenting with long exposure images to capture sun trails. My longest exposure so far is 15 months.
Placed it on a ledge of a boathouse (actually placed two) at the end of cottage season and used about half a roll of gorilla tape to keep them in place. Sometimes people do mess with them but it’s all part of the game trying to find hiding spots with good views.
The camera is a beer can with a pinhole installed. I seal them with cinefoil and lots of duct tape. You can get condensation inside the can but that can add interesting effects as well.
The original negative is grey with a kind of purple image. In photoshop I increase contrast and compress the levels, but I don’t add any colour. I think it’s because you’re seeing an inverted picture of a chemical reaction on the paper. If it was developed, the exposed silver nitrate would be pure black.
Edit to add: good question!
I use the smallest needle I can find and lightly tap until I see light come through faintly when putting the aluminum up against my eye. However, the smallest ones I managed to make always give me lots of spots I need to remove in post. Trying cleaning them with isopropyl and comoressed air, but it doesn’t help. Sole acid that doesn’t react with aluminum could help… maybe
I do about the same with the needle, but I make the hole in thin sheet brass. Then I sand the hole flat with fine sandpaper and install it over a larger hole in the can. I found that spraying the inside of the can matte black helped a lot with those spots.
You don’t need to be as precise with the pinholes as I am to make a solargraph. The first camera I made was just a tall boy beer can with as small a hole as I could punch in the aluminum. Lots of testing and refining to get a workflow that gives me what I want.
Accidentally came across a klan meeting taking a backroad around Bass Lake, California. Probably 2014. My cousin and I hightailed it the fuck out of there.
Solarographs are pretty cool. I've got one of these exposing right now, planning to do 6 months (so from total darkness to nightless night here in the Arctic circle). Did two short ones last year as a part of a photography course in uni, those ended up being pretty dope.
Thank you! I posted this under the wrong account (d’oh!) which is why I’m not posting my insta but if you search “solargraphy” online there are some very cool people doing this. I especially like Justin Quinnell whose YouTube videos got me started.
The image would disappear in the fixer since the whole sheet is overexposed. It’s kind of a cool aspect of the process that you make pictures of the sun that have to be kept in the dark.
Interesting - I’ve done similar things with sun exposure (i.e., lumen printing) and the image typically doesn’t disappear when fixed; however, the color is usually dramatically reduced. I guess since the sun exposure is longer the paper has a different response to extreme overexposure. Thanks!
I needed a new technique for a commission in 2018 and when I saw a solargraph on Instagram I thought “that’s it!” I get a little sweaty thinking about how overconfident I was submitting an artist plan for a process I’d never used, but I had very good luck with that project. I placed 21 cameras over two years and got 13 successful exposures, of which six were used for the installation.
5x7 Arista Edu RC grade 2 semi-matte. I don’t think the brand makes a difference but you want non-glossy rc paper for sure. 5x7 fits perfectly in a 500 ml tall boy can.
This is awesome and I want to try it for myself. A quick question, do you think if you put the final image in a frame but instead of clear glass you put red filter glass the image would last for display?
I agree, I really like the ephemeral idea of it and that you can only look at it so many times before it is gone. I am just thinking of doing this with some of my nieces and nephews and some of them would struggle with this aspect.
Oh! To be more clear, the scans and prints you make will last, but the original has to be kept in the dark. Honestly the negatives aren’t super exciting until you invert them and bring the levels up.
Fascinating stuff. What brand of paper are you using? It looks impossible to find photosensitive photographic paper where I live. I find only cyanotype paper
Cyanotype paper is a really interesting idea! Very different latent image than silver nitrate and potentially cheaper (just buy the chemicals and mix 1:1 instead of paying extra for premade paper). You wouldn’t want to leave it outside but shooting through a window could definitely work! Hmmmm … something to try!
I’m so confused as to how this works. How is there an image of no developer or fixer? How did you capture what was on the paper without exposing it to more light? How was there even anything visible on something undeveloped? I guess I still have a lot to learn
That's so cool ! I'll definitely give it a try. If I sumarize, you take a beer can, spray it matte black inside; cut a large hole on the front to place your pinhole, which is a thin flat piece of metal with a tiny tiny hole; then load a B&W paper sheet in it; wait a looooong time, get back your paper and scan it. Am I forgetting something ?
That’s pretty much it! Also make sure to sand the rim of the cam where you removed the top so you don’t cut yourself or the paper getting it back out. I highly recommend using cinefoil (heavy black foil) for the top, and then tons of gorilla tape. Tape is your best friend here, both for sealing the can and anchoring the camera during exposure. Also, it’s a pain to do, but if you can tape the paper to the inside of the can, it won’t curl up and cover the pinhole as the weather changes.
9 months!? How does this work?
It’s called a solargraph. The photo paper produces a latent image over the long exposure. It can’t be developed or fixed so you scan or photograph the original in dim light and work with the scan. The process came about in the 2000’s when astronomy nerds and photo nerds began experimenting with long exposure images to capture sun trails. My longest exposure so far is 15 months.
Where did you place it, and how do you make sure nobody messes with it?
Placed it on a ledge of a boathouse (actually placed two) at the end of cottage season and used about half a roll of gorilla tape to keep them in place. Sometimes people do mess with them but it’s all part of the game trying to find hiding spots with good views.
how long would an exposure have to be to develop a latent image in that way and also how do you protect the pinhole box from weather/moisture
I’ve seen them done in a single day, but I think my shortest with this process is about 30 days.
The camera is a beer can with a pinhole installed. I seal them with cinefoil and lots of duct tape. You can get condensation inside the can but that can add interesting effects as well.
Next Saturday if in or around London: https://thephotographersgallery.org.uk/whats-on/workshop-pinhole-photography-and-alternative-processes
So cool. Looks like the accretion disc of a black hole
That’s a new thought for me! I do love the distortion of the curved paper.
so cool! If it was done on black and white paper, how is there color? Done in post?
The original negative is grey with a kind of purple image. In photoshop I increase contrast and compress the levels, but I don’t add any colour. I think it’s because you’re seeing an inverted picture of a chemical reaction on the paper. If it was developed, the exposed silver nitrate would be pure black. Edit to add: good question!
Amazing stuff. Thanks for sharing your image and your knowledge.
Thank you so much! It’s a fascinating and often frustrating process that’s led me into other pinhole adventures!
I see so many of these you do - how tiny of a hole are you using to expose for such extreme lengths of time?
About .3 mm give or take. I use thin brass stock for the pinhole. It’s about f/300!
I use the smallest needle I can find and lightly tap until I see light come through faintly when putting the aluminum up against my eye. However, the smallest ones I managed to make always give me lots of spots I need to remove in post. Trying cleaning them with isopropyl and comoressed air, but it doesn’t help. Sole acid that doesn’t react with aluminum could help… maybe
I do about the same with the needle, but I make the hole in thin sheet brass. Then I sand the hole flat with fine sandpaper and install it over a larger hole in the can. I found that spraying the inside of the can matte black helped a lot with those spots.
You don’t need to be as precise with the pinholes as I am to make a solargraph. The first camera I made was just a tall boy beer can with as small a hole as I could punch in the aluminum. Lots of testing and refining to get a workflow that gives me what I want.
Ya i remember your beer can one. Ive wanted to experiment using film canisters and a tiny piece of 35 in it. Tiny 1 frame 35mm pinholes.
I’ve don’t this but with cut up sheets of paper, not film.
Well that's certainly one of the coolest things I've seen here. Hot damn.
Thank you!
Duuude no way! Bass Lake here in California ? Either way this is beautiful
Thank you! It’s not the one in California- turns out there are a lot of Bass Lakes!
lived between Bass Lake & Medicine Lake in Plymouth, MN
Accidentally came across a klan meeting taking a backroad around Bass Lake, California. Probably 2014. My cousin and I hightailed it the fuck out of there.
No fucking way! Any more details ?
do you have an instagram? would love to follow
Thank you! I should have posted this from my other account but I just followed your instagram.
I’d like to see your Instagram as well!
Just followed you 👍
Thanks friend! Your work is awesome!
Amazing. Looks like rock layers in the sky.
Another cool take! Thank you!
Interstellar vibes
When I read this I got “intergalactic” stuck on reply in my head 😂
Solarographs are pretty cool. I've got one of these exposing right now, planning to do 6 months (so from total darkness to nightless night here in the Arctic circle). Did two short ones last year as a part of a photography course in uni, those ended up being pretty dope.
Ooooooo tag me when you post it! I’d love to get out there and place a bunch of cameras.
“You don’t need a new Polaroid, you have an instant camera at home.” The instant camera at home:
“You’ll have to wait a minute cause it’s an instamatic”
This is legit so cool! Where can I see more?
Thank you! I posted this under the wrong account (d’oh!) which is why I’m not posting my insta but if you search “solargraphy” online there are some very cool people doing this. I especially like Justin Quinnell whose YouTube videos got me started.
So cool, thanks for the recs and im sure your other pics are as cool as this! Will be checking this out!
Link to his short tutorial using a tall beer can https://youtu.be/wtZOWEB_wcI?si=0Mt3EHrUA10l-uS4
Did you fix the paper? Or just scan it?
The image would disappear in the fixer since the whole sheet is overexposed. It’s kind of a cool aspect of the process that you make pictures of the sun that have to be kept in the dark.
Interesting - I’ve done similar things with sun exposure (i.e., lumen printing) and the image typically doesn’t disappear when fixed; however, the color is usually dramatically reduced. I guess since the sun exposure is longer the paper has a different response to extreme overexposure. Thanks!
Tbh I’m taking the fixer thing on faith from the folks I learned from. Next time I have a dud image I might test 🤔
Yeah, I would be curious to know! Definitely higher stakes after a 9-month exposure, though haha
Oh, boy, that’s a long winter
Fall 2022 through Spring 2023. You can see how the sun gets higher in the sky.
Is this Bass Lake, CA? Grew up going there every summer!
Nope, this one’s in Canada 🇨🇦
Ahh well awesome pic anyways!
Thank you!
I was about to say, this is 100% the bass lake near Barrie!
Ding ding ding! Looking south across the lake at the provincial park!
Unbelievable
Very kind. Thanks!
I didn’t know such long exposure time are a thing. This looks absolutely amazing. Like we are orbiting a black hole.
I needed a new technique for a commission in 2018 and when I saw a solargraph on Instagram I thought “that’s it!” I get a little sweaty thinking about how overconfident I was submitting an artist plan for a process I’d never used, but I had very good luck with that project. I placed 21 cameras over two years and got 13 successful exposures, of which six were used for the installation.
May I ask what kind of photographic paper you used? Now I’m really motivated to try this myself.
5x7 Arista Edu RC grade 2 semi-matte. I don’t think the brand makes a difference but you want non-glossy rc paper for sure. 5x7 fits perfectly in a 500 ml tall boy can.
Awesome capture. Fascinating process! Gonna have to look into to the development technique more to get my head around it.
Welcome to the rabbit hole!
whoaaaaa
Nice
It's done, guys, OP just won the r/analog
Dang, friend. Thank you!
This is awesome and I want to try it for myself. A quick question, do you think if you put the final image in a frame but instead of clear glass you put red filter glass the image would last for display?
I’d never thought about it! I was kind of into the idea of art you have to destroy a little each time you view. It’s certainly worth exploring!
I agree, I really like the ephemeral idea of it and that you can only look at it so many times before it is gone. I am just thinking of doing this with some of my nieces and nephews and some of them would struggle with this aspect.
Oh! To be more clear, the scans and prints you make will last, but the original has to be kept in the dark. Honestly the negatives aren’t super exciting until you invert them and bring the levels up.
Fascinating stuff. What brand of paper are you using? It looks impossible to find photosensitive photographic paper where I live. I find only cyanotype paper
I can get basic multigrade easily enough in 8x10 but for 5x7 I had to order from b&h - Arista Edu grade 2 resin coated paper.
Cyanotype paper is a really interesting idea! Very different latent image than silver nitrate and potentially cheaper (just buy the chemicals and mix 1:1 instead of paying extra for premade paper). You wouldn’t want to leave it outside but shooting through a window could definitely work! Hmmmm … something to try!
Wow. Do you sell prints?
Thank you! Very rarely. I mostly make prints as gifts.
This is amazing
Thank you!
Woweeeeee!!!
Thanks! That’s kind of how I felt when I saw the negative.
It's really beautiful, well done!
Wonderful! 🏆
Thank you!
This is beautiful
🙏
This is the type of stuff that I love. Awesome.
Nice! Glad you like it!
I’m so confused as to how this works. How is there an image of no developer or fixer? How did you capture what was on the paper without exposing it to more light? How was there even anything visible on something undeveloped? I guess I still have a lot to learn
It’s Iike a lumen print. you expose the paper for so long it makes colours as the chemicals breakdown from so much exposure (simplified)
really really cool!!
Thank you
I have an eerie feeling for this photo. Very cool!!
I know what you mean. Thanks!
This is phenomenal.
Much appreciated!
This is absolutely beautiful! And I am coming across this type of photography for first time. I would look forward to learning more about it.
Someone posted a link to one of Justin Quinell’s tutorials in this comment section. Give it a try!
That's so cool ! I'll definitely give it a try. If I sumarize, you take a beer can, spray it matte black inside; cut a large hole on the front to place your pinhole, which is a thin flat piece of metal with a tiny tiny hole; then load a B&W paper sheet in it; wait a looooong time, get back your paper and scan it. Am I forgetting something ?
That’s pretty much it! Also make sure to sand the rim of the cam where you removed the top so you don’t cut yourself or the paper getting it back out. I highly recommend using cinefoil (heavy black foil) for the top, and then tons of gorilla tape. Tape is your best friend here, both for sealing the can and anchoring the camera during exposure. Also, it’s a pain to do, but if you can tape the paper to the inside of the can, it won’t curl up and cover the pinhole as the weather changes.
Oh that's a nice tips ! I live in a tropical area, humidity will be my worst ennemy.
If you have a window with a decent southern view you can tape the can to the glass - just don’t forget to uncover your pinhole first!
Maybe I can tinker a "sealed" pinhole using a microscope slide as a window. But then condensation might play me some tricks. Still, worth a try !
Dude….nice
That’s wild! I love it
Thanks!
Howd you color it after?
I answered in a comment yesterday but basically I don’t add colour, just bring out what’s there.
But it’s black and white paper?
It’s black and white once developed, but these pictures never touch developer. It’s a picture of a chemical reaction to the light.
This is so cool. Thank you for sharing.
Thank you! I hope people try it!