Summer Sundays – Gosford – July 2016

The first LoFi photowalk of the summer is almost here – Sunday 10th July.

Gosford Estate

gosford

Meet at 11am at the Gosford Bothy Farm Shop for coffee before we commence our walk.
Time and weather permitting we will continue to Longniddry Bents and somewhere for afternoon tea.

The 19th century façade is the perfect subject to capture with vintage cameras, but there are plenty of opportunities for landscape, waterscape and wildlife too.

Please see the photowalks event page for full details of the day.

Additional photowalks are also planned for the 2nd Sunday of August and September.

WPPD 2016 – Pinhole Day Gallery

The results of those from the group who have submitted to pinholeday.org can be found in the Edinburgh LoFi Gallery
Work must be submitted to them by 31st May to be included in the 2016 on-line exhibition. (Select Edinburgh LoFi in the gallery group option.)
Email images in for our website at any time, we all want to see the cameras made and how the images made turned out. DIY instructions, tips and tricks welcome.

Salt Prints and The Edinburgh Calotype Club

Edinburgh has a long history of Salt Prints. Ranging back to the late 1830’s Hill and Adamson used the technique to produce prints using Talbot’s process. One of their subjects was the fishing village of Newhaven.

newhaven2

Last summer Edinburgh LoFi had an Extraordinary Meeting of the Edinburgh Calotype Club at Newhaven, to pay homage to the first photographic society in the world.

newhaven1

Some of the negatives have now been made into Salt Prints and a Japanese bound album has been made to hold them.

japbind2a

WPPD 2016 – Pinhole Grid Group Shot

Lunch time group shot taken at the Orchard Bar with a grid pinhole camera.

The negative.
wwpdlunch
And a detail from the positive. (Need to work on propping angles!)

wwpd2016lunchdetail

To make a grid pinhole camera you will need

A shallow lightproof box made of an outer and inner tray that close one over the other – such as a 10×8 paper box (35mm deep).
Some card to make the grid.
Some black card to make a ‘shutter’.
Good quality tinfoil.
A hole punch or sharp knife.
A needle of suitable dimension to make the pinholes.
Masking/re-positionable tape.
B&W paper the size of the grid.

Do some simple pinhole maths –
Focal length of lens (the depth of box) = (diameter pinhole) X (diameter pinhole) X 750
√(35/750) = 0.21 (~ A size 14 beading needle was the closest size to hand.)

Decide how many holes to have in the grid (7×7 in the example at 25mm apart). Cut strips of card to the hight of the box and to either the length or width of the inner tray (6 of each for the example). Measure the centre, then mark where the card will intersect (every 25mm in this case – starting with 12.5mm on each side of the centre mark). Cut slots halfway up each intersection mark (like a wide toothed comb). Slot the card strips together to form the grid.
Put the grid into the inner tray and find the centre of each square – punch a hole 3-5mm in diameter in each. Keep the grid in place by taping the corners if it is loose.

Cover the outside of the inner tray with foil. Poke a hole in the foil in the centre of each punched hole using the needle.

Make a ‘shutter’ from a piece of card the same size as the tinfoil covered side of the box and use some tape to keep it closed.

Load the camera with paper in a dark bag or darkroom. Place the emulsion side of the paper against the grid and the outer tray of the box over.

gridexampleMake the exposure by propping the box on a steady surface and un-taping the shutter.

The camera pictured is f165, the paper for the group shot was Ilford IV RC (~ISO 100) and was exposed for 4 minutes 38 seconds.

wwpd lunch positive
The Positive