Happy Worldwide Pinhole Day!

Nautica

Today, April 25, is Worldwide Pinhole Day. I had grand plans of attempting an infrared pinhole landscape, but the ensuing rain ended all that. So I decided on an indoor still life instead.


My father, who passed away in 1999, collected nautical antiques, some of which I inherited. This still life is a tribute to him.

I bracketed the ISO with a 30 second exposure (since that’s the longest shutter speed setting), and chose the middle of the three even though I preferred the darker image, because I felt it would read better on the web.

The final image was 30 seconds at f/177, ISO 640, about 80mm focal length. This image is direct from the camera; no processing, except sizing, was performed to this image.

An infrared pinhole would have taken much longer, at least 4 minutes in strong sunlight. For that I would have used the bulb setting with an external timer. That’s a project for another day.

Interestingly, the technique I used is one that cannot be duplicated using film. I used the longest exposure allowed by the camera, and varied the ISO to achieve the proper exposure. The ISO can be set in 1/3-stop increments, just like the shutter and aperture, and just as easily.

The resulting grain (digital noise) from requiring the camera to use a higher ISO contributes to the aesthetic of the digital pinhole. The added texture prevents the image from just looking out of focus.

The pinhole used was the Lensbaby Pinhole/Zone Plate optic. It was actually one of my reasons for considering the Lensbaby in the first place. I’ve ordered a spare Nikon body cap, and plan to make my own pinhole optic, which will be considerably smaller, and possibly a tad wider.

While I was at it, I also took a zone plate photo...

“Nautica” as a Zone Plate image

The image is actually sharper, but veiled in a kind of “glow”, quite different from the pinhole. It’s handy that you can switch between the two optics by sliding the pinhole/zone plate optic in the front of the lens, as you can use the zone plate to compose the picture since it lets in just enough light to use the viewfinder.

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You can learn more about Worldwide Pinhole Photography Day by visiting their website.