Extremely interesting project and very well done and your skill on the computer to bring out details previously unseen is amazing.. One thing that might be worth considering is to make an even better quality pinhole in some thick foil, similar to what small individual pies are sold in and attach it to the beer can camera. Years ago I made numerous pinhole cameras and various pinholes and found that the “sharpness” of the picture was highly depend on the quality of the pinhole. I would gently make a tiny hole in the thick foil and then repeatedly rub over the pinhole with the side of a pen to flatten any burr that has been created on the edge of the pinhole and gently twirl the tip of the needle in the hole with almost no pressure. Repeat the “flattening” and “twirling” a few times resulted in a high quality pinhole. I bought a magnifying loupe with a measuring scale and could accurately measure the diameter of the pinhole right down to 1/5 mm, but the optimum pinhole size for your “beercam” would probably be about 1/3mm. I did my pinhole photography when I was a young man and now I’m retired, videos like yours inspires me to get back into it.
Thanks for taking the time to watch and comment - I really appreciate it! And that's an awesome tip, I hope to try out one day. I am not all that experienced with pinhole photography apart from the solarcan-project, but I have always been fascinated by it. I was considering building small little pinhole cameras out of those small film canisters and I was wondering what a good way to build the aperture would be. So that advice really comes in handy - thanks!
Karin Majoka a “film canister” camera is an interesting concept and you would probably need the smallest pinhole of about 1/5 mm and I’m sure the results will be interesting. I have a Russian Zorki 35mm camera that I mounted a pinhole to and the results were not spectacular. What you are doing with your larger format “beercams” is the way to go, the larger the format, the better. When I get back into pinhole photography, I will probably go for 120 film, which is 2 1/4 X 2 1/4, in other words, the bigger the better. Years ago I built a 5X4 pinhole camera which produced very good images. You might not be all that experienced in pinhole photography, but I’ve sure learned a few things from you. I would have thought that a year long pinhole camera exposure would have yielded a picture so overexposed that it wouldn’t be viewable but you not only proved me wrong but with your additional knowledge of scanning and computers, you came up with some images that were absolutely amazing, especially when you adjusted the curves and the foreground house became visible. Best wishes with future pinhole projects.
@@KarinMajoka .. Karin, I want to try this. What paper exactly do I need to buy? (and where can I buy it)? An idea that I have, although it can be complicated to build, is to use 1/2 can cut vertically and put the pinhole in the plane part I would use to close the can. In this way all the points of the paper (at any given height) are at the same distance from the hole so 1 degree of the sun moving in the sky will be the same length in the paper at sunrise, noon, or sunset. Of course a spherical surface would be eve better but good luck finding a hollow sphere that can be cut in 1/2, and even better luck conforming a piece of flat paper into a sphere, and if you happen to manage to do it, good luck scanning the spherical paper!
@@adb012 maybe you could make the adjustments on the computer, like the opposite of how people take images reflected on round surfaces and straighten them back out.
Your neighbor yelling "Don't jump!" was great lol. These photos came out looking SO cool. I guess I didn't expect that the implied plane formed by all the sun lines combined would look so three-dimensionsl, and seeing it is unreal! It ended up looking like an absolutely galactic scale ribbon of some kind, just winding through space above the Earth. That's so incredibly awesome. I'm definitely going to have to try this out for myself. Thank you for taking the time to show this!
Thanks for your kind comment, I appreciate it a lot! :) I know, once I heard about solargraphs for the first time my mind was also blown! Feels a bit like magic even to see the path of the sun in such a way
What an awesome project. I've only ever seen pinhole cameras done in either cardboard or over the top fancy steampunk models in wood and brass. This loos like a great all weather solution.
Thanks for your comment, I appreciate it a lot! :) indeed, one of those pretty wooden pinhole cameras would not be suitable to hang on a roof for one year haha. However, the core idea is a bit different between both types of pinhole cameras: usually pinhole cameras have a flat film plane, with the beer can camera it’s round though, which makes for the wide, distorted field of view.
Nearly 40 years ago I saw an exhibition in Edinburgh by a pinhole photographer. He took pictures in quiet locations around the city on Sunday mornings. Exposure times varied between 10 and 20 minutes, leading to ghostly figures moving through the space with few personal details. He made his own cameras out of both square and round boxes and tins. As he experimented, he moved onto bigger containers as cameras - the wide tins of sweets from Christmas or catering sized soup tins. That led to a variety of shapes and sizes for both paper and pinhole. Pinholes could also be tiny slots. He stuck to vertical and horizontal but any angle could be used. The paper was developed and fixed in order to be displayed. That was possible by the shorter exposure time, and careful timing in the darkroom. Experiments will give you a lot of information that you can use to create a good picture. Risky and creative at every stage. As it is with my painting - it's only paper, poor mark making becomes useful practice.
As an installer of Photovoltaics this is absolutely the best way I have ever seen yearly solar energy availability displayed. Outstanding and beautiful work, well done indeed!
I love how in the scans you can see cloudy days/times in a day. You could even calculate what day it is and what time it was cloudy from those stripes. Super freaking cool. :D
I think it's important to point out that if you live in the southern hemisphere, you should point the cameras towards the north instead of the south. I know it sounds obvious, but some people might not think of it before doing it, which would lead to a one year long failed experiment.
Thanks for pointing that out, very important point! :) I recorded this video over two years ago and did not think it would reach so many people which is why I did not think about it at the time.
@@KarinMajoka I made one of these a few years ago (2014) I used a sqaure of tin foil instead of makng a pin hole directly in the can (make big hole and put foil over it). Plus, my mother died that year so I captured the day she died on it! I still have the scan I made. I used to be a fanatic photographer way back in the 90's and still had loads of equipment lurking about so made the solar can after seeing a TH-cam video about it, now I'm a fanatic in another spectrum--- audio! Binaural 3D audio, and make the microphones for a living.
Thank for posting this video. I think it is wonderful! I recommend trying it from the same location with 3 cans in parallel, and putting red, green and blue filters in front of each hole, so you can combine them afterwards into a color image. It might bring out the blue sky and maybe also some colors in the houses and trees.
I have already prepared a few other ones with i intend to install in december this year, (winter solstice), until June 2023. (Summer solstice). I remember when I hang mine on my balcony, my friends and neighbors were curious what it was. When I explained it's purpose and the work it took, (search for a red lightbulb, photosensitive paper and turn my bathroom into a darkroom, stuff like that), they were laughing at me. But as soon as i took the paper out, scanned it into my computer and shared it with them, they were impressed by the result. These are the little nerdy experiments I like to do every once-in-a-while. It doesn't cost much, and it only takes time. :)
I built a pile of cylindrical pinhole cameras (oatmeal boxes and 35mm film cans mostly) in photo class in school but haven't really even thought about them in the intervening 20 odd years, and never tried doing super long exposures. This is a fun project that makes me want to give it another go, and not having to develop anything is a bonus.
I have seen a couple of pinhole camera out of 35mm film cans - super interesting as well, I will definitely give it a try in the future, thanks for the inspiration :)
I would love to see what this would look like if you managed to mount it overlooking a major roadway. The sun would makes streaks in the sky during the day, and cars’ headlights/taillights would leave trails lower in frame, making the lower portion a lot less empty feeling.
@@inaoifeble the problem is you're competing with the sun, which is "on" 12 hours a day and very bright. a headlight and even a path of regular headlight activity is matte black in comparison
Thanks for your comment Earl, glad you enjoyed it! Of course it does not work with every type of photography to just skip the chemical process. But due to the long exposure time the images pretty much „burned“ into the paper so scanning is all that is needed. :)
In case of very short exposures (only seconds or minutes) you would still have to develop it. But with those types of ultra-long exposures of several months developing would destroy the image. Have fun trying it yourself! :)
The way the sun’s trail bends reminds me of a black hole’s secretion disc, it looks really cool. Also as a digital artist I envy your color balancing skills, you brought out as much detail as one possibly could from those photos, amazing work!
You've seen a black hole 🕳? What's it like? How close did you get? Did you bring back pictures? Which part of your pinhole camera shows the moon? I didn't see it.
You only need 6 months solstice to solstice if you just want to catch the sun traces from their highest to their lowest without doubling back. Inspired by this video, I'm excited to take down my Bavarian beer can pinhole cameras after sunset next Wednesday, on the summer solstice, June 21, 2023. 🤞 Thanks Karin Majoka for the great and inspiring video!
Very cool!!! I love that you did multiple cameras, so we can get an even better idea of what you can get out of it. Even more, I loved that you included photos of other ones from previous years ("wow, she really really loves to do this, I wonder if she has a 10yr one we don't know about?" haha). Awesome video Karin, always love seeing your videos.
Thanks for your comment, Jae! :) It's crazy to think that all those three cameras captured basically the same thing just from different angles. If you look closely you can see that the pattern of dotted and complete lines is the same in all images, pretty mind-blowing
I would love to see this composited with a daytime picture of the same landscapes to bring back some contrast and color information into the solar-graph scenes.
I think it will be almost impossible to align another pinhole camera in the exact same way to retract the information from that image. Other cameras won't have the 180° field of view.
@@KarinMajoka I think you could composite two pics and warp them to fit the pinhole. Kind of the opposite of taking the warp out of a GoPro image. Anyway, cool project Cheers from Venezuela
Fascinating! I love when I learn something completely new like this. I think I liked the second one (8:15) with the wavy lines best. Of course this is completely impossible for me, I can't even wait two days before I run to the lab with my film...
Thanks for your comment, Phil, glad you enjoyed it! :) It looks like it takes a lot of patience, but actually it's not too bad. You hang the cameras up, forget about them for a year and gladly remember once your calendar says its time to take them down haha
When I was in Jr. High, I made a shoebox camera. Basically the same ootical principle, but with 110 B/W film @ 30 second exposure. The three most important things to remember about that is the pinhole being clean, the camera being completely sealed with the shutter and film inserted all in a darkroom, and the camera remaining completely motionless during the exposure. The better these are performed the better the photo.
If only I had a Scanner and PhotoShop back in the 50's. I made my first wood box Pin-hole camera when I was Eight. Though they have darken some over the years, they are still some of my best and favorite Pics from over nearly 70-years of photography. I kept then in a gasket sealed lid Ammo can all these years and only take them out in my darkroom. I have had a darkroom in one place or another since I was eleven. My first was under the stairs to the basement which I had access to through a little bathroom, so that was convenient having access to a sink. Thanks to your post, I will now scan them and post process them. Should be interesting.
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This is incredible. I wish I had that level of patience. Congratulations Karin!
Thanks Alejandro! Once you hang the cameras up and make a cross in your calendar to remind you when you have to take it down, it does not feel like waiting anymore :)
Beautiful, so inspiring. I am now thinking about the possibilities with different shaped 'cameras' and different light sources. What about shooting in a wood where the growth and fall of leaves could be recorded? How about fixing the camera to a tidal pontoon to record the constantly changing position of the camera as the water level moves slowly up and down?
Wow, these are pretty inspiring ideas, thanks for sharing your thoughts! All these would be super interesting and for sure worth a try! Not sure though if photo paper is sensitive enough to capture something Iike falling leaves, but maybe it would work with a very low sensitive film in a pinhole camera. Keep me updated if you tried anything of these out, would love to see the results! :)
The tidal position would be fascinating. I live near the beach & right at the end of town we have a road that indicates when it’s a high king tide as the waves start to break onto one of the lanes of the road. I was amazed how clear the trees were. Thought they’d be more blurred.
Wonderful idea, so simple yet so effective! I would think, however, that half a year, from solstice to solstice, would be better- to avoid the sun-trails going twice over the same place on the paper. More discrete sun-trails. (Comparing June-Dec to Dec-June might be interesting.) Of course, the year-long exposure has a much better sound to it. Also, to avoid the infiltration of water, perhaps one could tape a piece of clear plastic over the hole, and putting a bag of silicon gel to absorb whatever humidity gets in? The plastic must be UV resistant, but it would not reduce the amount of light measurably, right? Meanwhile, if one is north or south of the tropics, one should put the angle of the beer cam accordingly= in order to get the full curve of the sun-trail onto the paper. The idea of a beer can is just brilliant! Already light-tight and the curved back (film-plane) boggles the mind. Thank you, I will watch your other videos now...
True, only putting it up for half a year might make even more sense! To be honest I hung mine up and forgot about them for some time, that's why it became a year I guess haha. Putting some plastic in might work, but I am not sure if this might increase the moisture and collection of condensation water inside of the can. Would be worth an experiment though.
@@KarinMajoka You could reuse the second half of the can to make a roof for the camera too. Cut off the mouthpiece from the top half, then trace the bottom half using the left over of the can walls and attach using hot glue or something similar along the edges.
@@franticpanic4036 An interesting idea making a roof for one of these beer can cameras. Though as these cameras have a super wide field of view, there's a chance that the roof could feature in the picture. One could crop it out of course. The other thing is that I plan to tilt my camera at an angle to record more of the sun trails (getting more sky coverage) and so a roof wouldn't really provide any protection in my case. It would certainly be more useful for a camera placed vertically. I think with my tilt, there's probably more chance that my camera's going to collect more moisture unfortunately.
This is an awesome idea and really cool video, I'm not sure if you still look at these comments but what kind of photo sensitive paper did you use? Its hard to wrap my head around the fact that you just opened the can up with no development or fixing
Back in the days without electronics, du trails were used to measure daily sun exposure. A piece of graduated paper would be placed behind a glass sphere, and direct sunlight would burn the paper. You would then convert burnt centimeters into daily sun exposure. Semi-cloudy days would have dotted lines just as yours do. Forgetting to change the paper everyday would make a second trace slightly above/below the previous one, just like yours! Great project, thanks for sharing :)
The results are so cool! That's even better than a night long exposure of the stars. Sadly, I can't do it at home since I'm in the middle of the city (the suntrail would be very short...) but I might try it at my parent's home. Now to the fun part : the beer cans!! Ps: you've got an amazing neighbour
I can see why it can be difficult to find a good spot for a solar can in the middle of the city! However, the length of the sun trails should not be connected to your location per se but to the season or duration of the sun being out. It's a lot of fun, would be interested to see your results in case you try it. :)
@@KarinMajoka Actually, it's more the sun trails being shortened by the surrounding buildings that concerns me...could be interesting if I use it right though (like Michael Wesely) ! I'll be sure to keep you posted if I give it a try =)
This is cool. I went back to start to see if you removed the shutter after installing, and yes you did. That was the only part I’ve got confused. This is a fun project to try. Thank you for sharing, I’m grateful 😊
Very nice video on solargraphy! I've done an experimental version (though, with a tall dessert tin, so it had a lid already!), but only did a 1-day exposure. It worked! Alas, I haven't yet been in any great spots to set up for a solstice-to-solstice (my ideal theory of what time frame I'd want to shoot) exposure. Hopefully I'll get to it, though. :) (And somehow, now I'm even dreaming of swapping the paper out periodically and making a time-lapse??!?? This might not be sane, but it could be cool. :D)
Thanks for your comment, your experiment sounds really interesting as well! :) Actually, solstice-to-solstice was also what I went for in my exposures. It's easy to remember when to take the cameras down that way and it covers all the days from the "shortest" to the "longest" days of the year light-wise.
Bloody interesting. I’m not fully comprehended, how did you ‘scan’ a ‘latent’ image since you didn’t develop or fix. And what kind of paper is this? Does it have an ISO rating?
Well, the main problem is that the paper would tun completely black when developed since it is fully exposed due to the sun. However, since the light of the sun is so strong the image almost "burns" into the paper which is visible by plain sight. That way it's possible to scan it immediately. You can use pretty much any photo paper, more contrasty paper is recommended though. In my case I used expired old Ilford black and white photo paper with a harder grade (must have been grade 4 or 5).
@@KarinMajoka I wonder what you would get if developed it with like 1/1000th dilution for just a few seconds. Just enough to pull more of the darker areas out.
This must have been one of the greatest compliments I have ever received in my life - thank you. In general I think the world need a video game for photographers where you can choose your „weapons“ aka camera and film 😍
Wow great video :) I have two questions about it: 1) What paper did you use? Bzw which ISO had it? 2) Do I understand it correctly that you have scanned the paper directly out of the can? If so, can you open the can in the light and how long can the image be exposed to normal daylight? Keep up the good work and greetings, Tobias.
Hey, thank you! 1) I don’t remember exactly but I think it was some old Ilford paper (grade 2 or 3). And darkroom paper has an iso value of approx 8 or 10. 2.) exactly, no developing, just scanning. But it makes sense to try to keep the paper away from light, because it will slowly fog. But getting it out in daylight to scan worked for me. Hope this helps? :)
@@KarinMajoka I have 1 or 2 photos stored somewhere for almost 20 years. I don't know what is the image. I don't know what kind of paper it is, but I guess it was a common one for photography back then. Do you think it is safe to scan it like you did and get an image out of it? I also have a roll film of a conventional camera with photos taken even older. Can I do the same with that film? Thanks.
Absolutely fascinating! Thanks for this I may give it a crack. Sanding the can before you empty it will be a lot easier, as long as you don’t go right through!
I remember in college using a coffee tin to do a similar thing. Bit easier to open and close but probably more troublesome to mount for these year long exposures. I’ve also used flowers/plants placed onto photo paper, exposed, and then scanned for interesting botanical studies.
I disagree with you about being a bad role model. I think you are an excellent role model with a lot of creativity and ingenuity. You are opening the minds of countless young people into photography, science and astronomy. As a professional filmmaker and photographer I am very impressed with you and your fertile imagination. Keep up the great work. I just subscribed to see other gems you create. Btw, what general location were your cameras located? I’d like to know the area of the sky you captured. All the best!!!
last time i heard pin hole cameras was in grad6 science chapter on light and all it had was a diagram of shoebox and a candle outside and its inverted image inside. and now i see this. candle became sun and shoebox became beer can! remarkably interesting video loved it! thanks!
Awesome! I want to try it for sure. I have done linocuts with the same curve to represent the path of the sun, but only for the Winter Solstice, but this captures the entire year of the sun's path. Wonderful.
Nice job! I used an oatmeal box, for its longer focal length, and intended to make a solstice-to-solstice exposure, since that's all you need to get the full vertical range of solar path, but the camera was blown awry by our strong West Texas wind, and I only got 4.5 months. It still was very satisfying. Rock on!
@@KarinMajoka I literally went to my local camera store today to buy some photographic paper and have been drinking a lot more beer to get a bunch of cans 😂
This was funny yet so weird too watch... "how do you make a can into a camera...."..... And with that premise.. I watched this three times to understand it. Honestly some beautiful pictures that were produced in the end. Thank you for the instructions as well. 👏🏿👏🏿👏🏿
Also vom Unterhaltungswert, der Kreativität und vom Prozess, und vom Überraschungseffekt war das doch ziemlich ein geiles Video. Und auch noch super sympathisch. Das Dosenpfand wars definitiv wert. xD
Would be awesome if you did a before & after picture using a normal camera as well, so you can see how much the trees & other fixtures have changed. Very cool! You have far more patience than I. Love the sun trail effect
Wow that's so fascinating. I love how you can kind of read the weather history, or just cloud cover history, of the year just by the pattern of sun rings, almost like the rings of a tree trunk.
I love the shot at 8:22! I have a lot of old RC paper laying around ... I should put that to use. Also, I thought I had my notifications turned on for your channel ... need to fix that.
00:31 Harvesting
03:18 Opening & scanning
04:53 Processing (Camera Raw)
08:02 Results
Building process:
08:51 Ingredients
10:05 Opening
10:20 Pinhole
11:56 Loading
12:28 Closing
13:04 Water cover
13:38 Shutter
13:59 Positioning
14:46 Final thoughts
Awesome, thank you! I will pin this comment :)
@@KarinMajoka Oh, I'm honoured! :)
Harvesting the pinhole camera's sounds so funny.
This is a great video! Had no idea.
A year long exposure photo, and TH-cam algorithm took 2 years to show me this awesome video.
It re-lit my interest on pinholes!
Just as with an ultra long pinhole exposure, TH-cam also demands patience haha. Thanks for your comment! :)
Lol, same :)
I am quite glad that TH-cam recommended this to me.
Same here. I subscribed almost instantly. I love this idea.
Same here
Beer cans - the gift that keeps giving
Is there a way to like this comment more than only one time? ⚡️✌🏼
🤣👍
And there is another secret! If you can say beer can in the most posh way possible, you are saying bacon in a Jamaican accent.
The sadness when they are empty…
@@voorhalven Yes we can!
Extremely interesting project and very well done and your skill on the computer to bring out details previously unseen is amazing.. One thing that might be worth considering is to make an even better quality pinhole in some thick foil, similar to what small individual pies are sold in and attach it to the beer can camera. Years ago I made numerous pinhole cameras and various pinholes and found that the “sharpness” of the picture was highly depend on the quality of the pinhole. I would gently make a tiny hole in the thick foil and then repeatedly rub over the pinhole with the side of a pen to flatten any burr that has been created on the edge of the pinhole and gently twirl the tip of the needle in the hole with almost no pressure. Repeat the “flattening” and “twirling” a few times resulted in a high quality pinhole. I bought a magnifying loupe with a measuring scale and could accurately measure the diameter of the pinhole right down to 1/5 mm, but the optimum pinhole size for your “beercam” would probably be about 1/3mm. I did my pinhole photography when I was a young man and now I’m retired, videos like yours inspires me to get back into it.
Thanks for taking the time to watch and comment - I really appreciate it! And that's an awesome tip, I hope to try out one day. I am not all that experienced with pinhole photography apart from the solarcan-project, but I have always been fascinated by it. I was considering building small little pinhole cameras out of those small film canisters and I was wondering what a good way to build the aperture would be. So that advice really comes in handy - thanks!
Karin Majoka a “film canister” camera is an interesting concept and you would probably need the smallest pinhole of about 1/5 mm and I’m sure the results will be interesting. I have a Russian Zorki 35mm camera that I mounted a pinhole to and the results were not spectacular. What you are doing with your larger format “beercams” is the way to go, the larger the format, the better. When I get back into pinhole photography, I will probably go for 120 film, which is 2 1/4 X 2 1/4, in other words, the bigger the better. Years ago I built a 5X4 pinhole camera which produced very good images. You might not be all that experienced in pinhole photography, but I’ve sure learned a few things from you. I would have thought that a year long pinhole camera exposure would have yielded a picture so overexposed that it wouldn’t be viewable but you not only proved me wrong but with your additional knowledge of scanning and computers, you came up with some images that were absolutely amazing, especially when you adjusted the curves and the foreground house became visible. Best wishes with future pinhole projects.
@@KarinMajoka .. Karin, I want to try this. What paper exactly do I need to buy? (and where can I buy it)?
An idea that I have, although it can be complicated to build, is to use 1/2 can cut vertically and put the pinhole in the plane part I would use to close the can. In this way all the points of the paper (at any given height) are at the same distance from the hole so 1 degree of the sun moving in the sky will be the same length in the paper at sunrise, noon, or sunset. Of course a spherical surface would be eve better but good luck finding a hollow sphere that can be cut in 1/2, and even better luck conforming a piece of flat paper into a sphere, and if you happen to manage to do it, good luck scanning the spherical paper!
@@adb012 maybe you could make the adjustments on the computer, like the opposite of how people take images reflected on round surfaces and straighten them back out.
@@adb012 I hope it's not too late but for beginner Foma is suggested :)
Your neighbor yelling "Don't jump!" was great lol.
These photos came out looking SO cool. I guess I didn't expect that the implied plane formed by all the sun lines combined would look so three-dimensionsl, and seeing it is unreal! It ended up looking like an absolutely galactic scale ribbon of some kind, just winding through space above the Earth. That's so incredibly awesome. I'm definitely going to have to try this out for myself. Thank you for taking the time to show this!
Thanks for your kind comment, I appreciate it a lot! :) I know, once I heard about solargraphs for the first time my mind was also blown! Feels a bit like magic even to see the path of the sun in such a way
That's so amazing to see the sun trails like that... Did not know about this!
When I heard about solargraphy for the first time my mind was blown as well!
What an awesome project. I've only ever seen pinhole cameras done in either cardboard or over the top fancy steampunk models in wood and brass. This loos like a great all weather solution.
Thanks for your comment, I appreciate it a lot! :) indeed, one of those pretty wooden pinhole cameras would not be suitable to hang on a roof for one year haha. However, the core idea is a bit different between both types of pinhole cameras: usually pinhole cameras have a flat film plane, with the beer can camera it’s round though, which makes for the wide, distorted field of view.
Nearly 40 years ago I saw an exhibition in Edinburgh by a pinhole photographer. He took pictures in quiet locations around the city on Sunday mornings. Exposure times varied between 10 and 20 minutes, leading to ghostly figures moving through the space with few personal details. He made his own cameras out of both square and round boxes and tins. As he experimented, he moved onto bigger containers as cameras - the wide tins of sweets from Christmas or catering sized soup tins. That led to a variety of shapes and sizes for both paper and pinhole. Pinholes could also be tiny slots. He stuck to vertical and horizontal but any angle could be used. The paper was developed and fixed in order to be displayed. That was possible by the shorter exposure time, and careful timing in the darkroom. Experiments will give you a lot of information that you can use to create a good picture. Risky and creative at every stage. As it is with my painting - it's only paper, poor mark making becomes useful practice.
@@michellebyrom6551 Remarkable. Thanks for the info. Amazing what people get up to.
As an installer of Photovoltaics this is absolutely the best way I have ever seen yearly solar energy availability displayed. Outstanding and beautiful work, well done indeed!
What an interesting job! And thanks for your kind comment. It's true, so much energy simply wasted...
I love how in the scans you can see cloudy days/times in a day. You could even calculate what day it is and what time it was cloudy from those stripes. Super freaking cool. :D
Exactly! Almost works like data. Thanks for your comment :)
But I'm slightly surprised - given it was up a whole year each stripe should be in fact two days of sun path, not one.
I think it's important to point out that if you live in the southern hemisphere, you should point the cameras towards the north instead of the south.
I know it sounds obvious, but some people might not think of it before doing it, which would lead to a one year long failed experiment.
Thanks for pointing that out, very important point! :) I recorded this video over two years ago and did not think it would reach so many people which is why I did not think about it at the time.
Paused the video to come and leave the exact same notice 😅 The aussies won't of been happy when they realise they wasted a year :')
@@fractiousfauxpas1368 i was abt to point mine south until i saw this
Santiago de Chile, weon.
Why?
30 seconds in, and this is delightful. Love that you leave your mistakes and bloopers in. Makes you feel human. Great work presenting on camera!
That's an entire history of a year in one photo. 😵💫😍
Incredible, right? :) This is what fascinates me about this type of photography!
@@KarinMajoka I made one of these a few years ago (2014) I used a sqaure of tin foil instead of makng a pin hole directly in the can (make big hole and put foil over it). Plus, my mother died that year so I captured the day she died on it! I still have the scan I made. I used to be a fanatic photographer way back in the 90's and still had loads of equipment lurking about so made the solar can after seeing a TH-cam video about it, now I'm a fanatic in another spectrum--- audio! Binaural 3D audio, and make the microphones for a living.
Thank for posting this video. I think it is wonderful!
I recommend trying it from the same location with 3 cans in parallel, and putting red, green and blue filters in front of each hole, so you can combine them afterwards into a color image. It might bring out the blue sky and maybe also some colors in the houses and trees.
thats an awesome idea
Made one myself, and took an exposure from mid summer to mid winter. It came out beautiful!
Awesome! 6 months is actually a perfect time frame. Some of the other solargraphs I made early were also made from solstice to solstice
I have already prepared a few other ones with i intend to install in december this year, (winter solstice), until June 2023. (Summer solstice).
I remember when I hang mine on my balcony, my friends and neighbors were curious what it was. When I explained it's purpose and the work it took, (search for a red lightbulb, photosensitive paper and turn my bathroom into a darkroom, stuff like that), they were laughing at me.
But as soon as i took the paper out, scanned it into my computer and shared it with them, they were impressed by the result.
These are the little nerdy experiments I like to do every once-in-a-while. It doesn't cost much, and it only takes time. :)
The most wondrous things are revealed with the simplest of equipment. I enjoyed this experiment! Thanks!
I built a pile of cylindrical pinhole cameras (oatmeal boxes and 35mm film cans mostly) in photo class in school but haven't really even thought about them in the intervening 20 odd years, and never tried doing super long exposures. This is a fun project that makes me want to give it another go, and not having to develop anything is a bonus.
I have seen a couple of pinhole camera out of 35mm film cans - super interesting as well, I will definitely give it a try in the future, thanks for the inspiration :)
These are so beautiful. Congratulations on a wonderful concept and execution.
Thanks for your comment! :)
I would love to see what this would look like if you managed to mount it overlooking a major roadway. The sun would makes streaks in the sky during the day, and cars’ headlights/taillights would leave trails lower in frame, making the lower portion a lot less empty feeling.
You should give it a try! :) I have no experience how artificial light from cars will turn out with this type of camera.
Car headlights would not leave trails. If it was busy enough all night it may look brighter but no trails
@@philrichardson8974 i think you might end up with trails for each lane, no?
there is one way to check i guess
@@inaoifeble the problem is you're competing with the sun, which is "on" 12 hours a day and very bright. a headlight and even a path of regular headlight activity is matte black in comparison
This is the best video on how to improve the negative that I have seen.
I had no idea that an image could be scanned from the photo paper without developing the paper first. Thanks, so much, for posting this video.
Thanks for your comment Earl, glad you enjoyed it! Of course it does not work with every type of photography to just skip the chemical process. But due to the long exposure time the images pretty much „burned“ into the paper so scanning is all that is needed. :)
This is by far the DOPEST thing I've seen all year. Holy Scheiße, this blew my mind.
Thanks for your comment! :)
Wow thank you. I’ve never thought of scanning the paper without dev. Excellent tutorial something I am definitely going to try.
In case of very short exposures (only seconds or minutes) you would still have to develop it. But with those types of ultra-long exposures of several months developing would destroy the image. Have fun trying it yourself! :)
Is the paper put on a scanning bed before developing? What kind of paper, what kind of developer? are you using a dark room?
@@jedgould5531 We must know!
8:36 I set this as my desktop background. The story behind it fascinates me a lot. Awesome work.
Awesome, thanks so much for your comment! :)
The way the sun’s trail bends reminds me of a black hole’s secretion disc, it looks really cool. Also as a digital artist I envy your color balancing skills, you brought out as much detail as one possibly could from those photos, amazing work!
That's true, really interesting similarity. And thanks for your kind comment, I appreciate it a lot :)
You've seen a black hole 🕳? What's it like? How close did you get? Did you bring back pictures? Which part of your pinhole camera shows the moon? I didn't see it.
*accretion disc*
Secretion disc would be something rather different.
My only complaint is to the TH-cam Algorithms on why it took 2 years to recommend this channel, well done!
You only need 6 months solstice to solstice if you just want to catch the sun traces from their highest to their lowest without doubling back. Inspired by this video, I'm excited to take down my Bavarian beer can pinhole cameras after sunset next Wednesday, on the summer solstice, June 21, 2023. 🤞 Thanks Karin Majoka for the great and inspiring video!
This is very cool. Ive never seen any image of sun trails. Well done 🤟🏽
Thank you! My mind was blown the first time I heard about it as well.
You made my day, I can not stress enough how much joyful this video is for me, thanks so so so much! Bests regards from a Venezuelan viewer!
Thanks so much for your comment, I appreciate it a lot! :)
Very cool!!! I love that you did multiple cameras, so we can get an even better idea of what you can get out of it. Even more, I loved that you included photos of other ones from previous years ("wow, she really really loves to do this, I wonder if she has a 10yr one we don't know about?" haha). Awesome video Karin, always love seeing your videos.
Thanks for your comment, Jae! :) It's crazy to think that all those three cameras captured basically the same thing just from different angles. If you look closely you can see that the pattern of dotted and complete lines is the same in all images, pretty mind-blowing
I would love to see this composited with a daytime picture of the same landscapes to bring back some contrast and color information into the solar-graph scenes.
I think it will be almost impossible to align another pinhole camera in the exact same way to retract the information from that image. Other cameras won't have the 180° field of view.
@@KarinMajoka I think you could composite two pics and warp them to fit the pinhole. Kind of the opposite of taking the warp out of a GoPro image. Anyway, cool project Cheers from Venezuela
That's amazing! Almost like a chart of light. It's beautiful at the same time.
It's fascinating, right? Thanks for your comment! :)
Fascinating! I love when I learn something completely new like this.
I think I liked the second one (8:15) with the wavy lines best.
Of course this is completely impossible for me, I can't even wait two days before I run to the lab with my film...
Thanks for your comment, Phil, glad you enjoyed it! :) It looks like it takes a lot of patience, but actually it's not too bad. You hang the cameras up, forget about them for a year and gladly remember once your calendar says its time to take them down haha
@@KarinMajoka Ahaha that is reassuring - I am very good at forgetting things!
Lol. I’m not patient enough either. I’d want to check after a day and then forget for a couple of years until it rusted out
Got recommended, totally not disappointed to watch this... That's a lot of time, such a dedication and worth the result!
thanks for watching, I appreciate it! :)
When I was in Jr. High, I made a shoebox camera. Basically the same ootical principle, but with 110 B/W film @ 30 second exposure. The three most important things to remember about that is the pinhole being clean, the camera being completely sealed with the shutter and film inserted all in a darkroom, and the camera remaining completely motionless during the exposure. The better these are performed the better the photo.
Exactly! With shorter exposure times of seconds and when using film instead of paper these variables might be oven more important
Thank you for this video. I have never seen a pinhole camera like this and did not know that long exposed film could be scanned. This is just amazing.
Thanks for your comment, I appreciate it a lot :)
So incredible! Will definitely be on the list of projects I have to do! Thanks for sharing
Awesome! Have fun trying it out :)
If only I had a Scanner and PhotoShop back in the 50's.
I made my first wood box Pin-hole camera when I was Eight. Though they have darken some over the years, they are still some of my best and favorite Pics from over nearly 70-years of photography.
I kept then in a gasket sealed lid Ammo can all these years and only take them out in my darkroom. I have had a darkroom in one place or another since I was eleven. My first was under the stairs to the basement which I had access to through a little bathroom, so that was convenient having access to a sink.
Thanks to your post, I will now scan them and post process them. Should be interesting.
This is incredible. I wish I had that level of patience. Congratulations Karin!
Thanks Alejandro! Once you hang the cameras up and make a cross in your calendar to remind you when you have to take it down, it does not feel like waiting anymore :)
Beautiful, so inspiring. I am now thinking about the possibilities with different shaped 'cameras' and different light sources. What about shooting in a wood where the growth and fall of leaves could be recorded? How about fixing the camera to a tidal pontoon to record the constantly changing position of the camera as the water level moves slowly up and down?
Wow, these are pretty inspiring ideas, thanks for sharing your thoughts! All these would be super interesting and for sure worth a try! Not sure though if photo paper is sensitive enough to capture something Iike falling leaves, but maybe it would work with a very low sensitive film in a pinhole camera. Keep me updated if you tried anything of these out, would love to see the results! :)
The tidal position would be fascinating. I live near the beach & right at the end of town we have a road that indicates when it’s a high king tide as the waves start to break onto one of the lanes of the road. I was amazed how clear the trees were. Thought they’d be more blurred.
This is blowing my mind... I've got a million questions buzzing in my head already but WOW!
Just let me know if you have any questions you want to share. :)
Lol "ist doch Scheisse" is the story of my life. Thanks for another excellent video.
It became the story of my life as well after I realized the world is too full of sounds to record TH-cam videos haha. Thanks!
So painterly. Gorgeous, I love all the textures and colours you draw out of these in post. Subbed
Wonderful idea, so simple yet so effective! I would think, however, that half a year, from solstice to solstice, would be better- to avoid the sun-trails going twice over the same place on the paper. More discrete sun-trails. (Comparing June-Dec to Dec-June might be interesting.) Of course, the year-long exposure has a much better sound to it. Also, to avoid the infiltration of water, perhaps one could tape a piece of clear plastic over the hole, and putting a bag of silicon gel to absorb whatever humidity gets in? The plastic must be UV resistant, but it would not reduce the amount of light measurably, right? Meanwhile, if one is north or south of the tropics, one should put the angle of the beer cam accordingly= in order to get the full curve of the sun-trail onto the paper. The idea of a beer can is just brilliant! Already light-tight and the curved back (film-plane) boggles the mind. Thank you, I will watch your other videos now...
True, only putting it up for half a year might make even more sense! To be honest I hung mine up and forgot about them for some time, that's why it became a year I guess haha. Putting some plastic in might work, but I am not sure if this might increase the moisture and collection of condensation water inside of the can. Would be worth an experiment though.
so if I'm at latitude 34 (north), what should it point at (relative to the horizont)? 34 degrees BELOW the horizont?
@@KarinMajoka You could reuse the second half of the can to make a roof for the camera too.
Cut off the mouthpiece from the top half, then trace the bottom half using the left over of the can walls and attach using hot glue or something similar along the edges.
@@franticpanic4036 An interesting idea making a roof for one of these beer can cameras. Though as these cameras have a super wide field of view, there's a chance that the roof could feature in the picture. One could crop it out of course. The other thing is that I plan to tilt my camera at an angle to record more of the sun trails (getting more sky coverage) and so a roof wouldn't really provide any protection in my case. It would certainly be more useful for a camera placed vertically. I think with my tilt, there's probably more chance that my camera's going to collect more moisture unfortunately.
Wow I looove the sun pathways, what a beautiful result! Your experiment was indeed a bright idea ❤💡!
This is an awesome idea and really cool video, I'm not sure if you still look at these comments but what kind of photo sensitive paper did you use? Its hard to wrap my head around the fact that you just opened the can up with no development or fixing
Amazing, one bonus insight is the fact you could use the sun "graph" for track sunny vs cloudy days.
Exactly, a solargraph has a surprising amount of information in it actually :)
As a Canadian, this feels like something “Red Green” would’ve done. That’s a lot of duct-tape 😂 love it
Just need Bill falling out the window a few times!
Back in the days without electronics, du trails were used to measure daily sun exposure. A piece of graduated paper would be placed behind a glass sphere, and direct sunlight would burn the paper. You would then convert burnt centimeters into daily sun exposure. Semi-cloudy days would have dotted lines just as yours do. Forgetting to change the paper everyday would make a second trace slightly above/below the previous one, just like yours!
Great project, thanks for sharing :)
This is such an interesting concept. Omg the video edit is so good and I was worried for your safety girl! You crazy like me 😂👌🏽😂😂
Adventures, life would be boring without climbing roofs! But stay safe out there and don’t be like me haha
awesome thank you for this, i made a pinhole camera at primary school out of a milk carton in the late 80s so cool to see it used like this.
Awesome, that sounds like such a fun childhood memory, thanks for sharing :)
The results are so cool! That's even better than a night long exposure of the stars.
Sadly, I can't do it at home since I'm in the middle of the city (the suntrail would be very short...) but I might try it at my parent's home. Now to the fun part : the beer cans!!
Ps: you've got an amazing neighbour
I can see why it can be difficult to find a good spot for a solar can in the middle of the city! However, the length of the sun trails should not be connected to your location per se but to the season or duration of the sun being out. It's a lot of fun, would be interested to see your results in case you try it. :)
@@KarinMajoka Actually, it's more the sun trails being shortened by the surrounding buildings that concerns me...could be interesting if I use it right though (like Michael Wesely) ! I'll be sure to keep you posted if I give it a try =)
This is cool. I went back to start to see if you removed the shutter after installing, and yes you did. That was the only part I’ve got confused. This is a fun project to try. Thank you for sharing, I’m grateful 😊
Very nice video on solargraphy! I've done an experimental version (though, with a tall dessert tin, so it had a lid already!), but only did a 1-day exposure. It worked! Alas, I haven't yet been in any great spots to set up for a solstice-to-solstice (my ideal theory of what time frame I'd want to shoot) exposure. Hopefully I'll get to it, though. :) (And somehow, now I'm even dreaming of swapping the paper out periodically and making a time-lapse??!?? This might not be sane, but it could be cool. :D)
Thanks for your comment, your experiment sounds really interesting as well! :) Actually, solstice-to-solstice was also what I went for in my exposures. It's easy to remember when to take the cameras down that way and it covers all the days from the "shortest" to the "longest" days of the year light-wise.
@@KarinMajoka exactly!
And cool. I'll try to somehow remember to look this video up and let you know if I ever run the experiment. :)
I love how much you actually worry about your viewers
Bloody interesting. I’m not fully comprehended, how did you ‘scan’ a ‘latent’ image since you didn’t develop or fix. And what kind of paper is this? Does it have an ISO rating?
Well, the main problem is that the paper would tun completely black when developed since it is fully exposed due to the sun. However, since the light of the sun is so strong the image almost "burns" into the paper which is visible by plain sight. That way it's possible to scan it immediately. You can use pretty much any photo paper, more contrasty paper is recommended though. In my case I used expired old Ilford black and white photo paper with a harder grade (must have been grade 4 or 5).
@@KarinMajoka I wonder what you would get if developed it with like 1/1000th dilution for just a few seconds. Just enough to pull more of the darker areas out.
@@AIM54A Would be worth a try! In case you make that experiment, I would be interested to hear about your results :)
paper varies between 6-12 iso
Great project 😄👏. Saved it to do it later with my son. Thank you! 👍❤️
Awesome, have fun! :)
Someone should write a children's book with you as the protagonist. Or a video game!
This must have been one of the greatest compliments I have ever received in my life - thank you. In general I think the world need a video game for photographers where you can choose your „weapons“ aka camera and film 😍
@@KarinMajoka Wildly there is a very cool looking one right now - Umurangi Generation. store.steampowered.com/app/1223500/Umurangi_Generation/
That looks awesome, I will check it out for sure, thanks! :)
Your voice is so relaxing
Thank you, I appreciate it :)
Wow great video :)
I have two questions about it:
1) What paper did you use? Bzw which ISO had it?
2) Do I understand it correctly that you have scanned the paper directly out of the can? If so, can you open the can in the light and how long can the image be exposed to normal daylight?
Keep up the good work and greetings,
Tobias.
Hey, thank you!
1) I don’t remember exactly but I think it was some old Ilford paper (grade 2 or 3). And darkroom paper has an iso value of approx 8 or 10.
2.) exactly, no developing, just scanning. But it makes sense to try to keep the paper away from light, because it will slowly fog. But getting it out in daylight to scan worked for me.
Hope this helps? :)
@@KarinMajoka Yes, thank you.
I'll see if my friends have 1-2 leaves over.
@@KarinMajoka I have 1 or 2 photos stored somewhere for almost 20 years. I don't know what is the image. I don't know what kind of paper it is, but I guess it was a common one for photography back then.
Do you think it is safe to scan it like you did and get an image out of it?
I also have a roll film of a conventional camera with photos taken even older. Can I do the same with that film?
Thanks.
Absolutely fascinating! Thanks for this I may give it a crack. Sanding the can before you empty it will be a lot easier, as long as you don’t go right through!
I remember in college using a coffee tin to do a similar thing. Bit easier to open and close but probably more troublesome to mount for these year long exposures. I’ve also used flowers/plants placed onto photo paper, exposed, and then scanned for interesting botanical studies.
I disagree with you about being a bad role model. I think you are an excellent role model with a lot of creativity and ingenuity. You are opening the minds of countless young people into photography, science and astronomy.
As a professional filmmaker and photographer I am very impressed with you and your fertile imagination.
Keep up the great work. I just subscribed to see other gems you create.
Btw, what general location were your cameras located? I’d like to know the area of the sky you captured. All the best!!!
You have strong mom energy, good on you
This deserve a place in a museum
last time i heard pin hole cameras was in grad6 science chapter on light and all it had was a diagram of shoebox and a candle outside and its inverted image inside. and now i see this. candle became sun and shoebox became beer can!
remarkably interesting video loved it! thanks!
What a lovely comment, thanks so much - I appreciate it a lot! :)
I had no idea I could justify my drinking with being an excentric photographer. Great video!
Haha, that's also one way to frame it!
@@KarinMajoka "I can't clean up. It's a long exposure!"
Awesome! I want to try it for sure. I have done linocuts with the same curve to represent the path of the sun, but only for the Winter Solstice, but this captures the entire year of the sun's path. Wonderful.
That linocut project sounds really interesting as well. Thanks for your kind comment :)
Very cool indeed, fascinating to see the sun's path mapped pit throughout the year like that. Nicely done.
This took way more work than I thought it would. Thanks for sharing.
Sun tracks throught the year are marvelous!
I agree! ✌🏻
Nice job! I used an oatmeal box, for its longer focal length, and intended to make a solstice-to-solstice exposure, since that's all you need to get the full vertical range of solar path, but the camera was blown awry by our strong West Texas wind, and I only got 4.5 months. It still was very satisfying. Rock on!
Such a cool idea, thanks for sharing! Unfortunate to hear that it did not survive as long as planned but I am glad you got an image nonetheless :)
Thank you for sharing this extremely creative and fascinating process!
I can’t wait to try, I deeply appreciate the inspiration you have given 🙏🏻
One of the best photo vid I ever spotted on YT 🙂
Only just found this video - this is an absolutely fantastic project. I'm absolutely gonna be trying this!!
Thanks for tuning in! :)
@@KarinMajoka I literally went to my local camera store today to buy some photographic paper and have been drinking a lot more beer to get a bunch of cans 😂
This was amazing. This would make a great project to do with the kids.
It's a fun family project for sure! :)
I love the perfect curves of the sun. Thank you!
Thanks for your comment!
THANK YOU TH-cam RECOMMENDATION!
Love this!
Also ur voice is calming 🙂
Thank you so much :)
I like the little ghost shadows that form around the trees.
Haha, well it always happens that suddenly there are a lot of noises once I decide to record something
When I was a kid I made a pinhole camera at school, I sure wish I had those pictures now :)
Thanks for sharing!
Thank you for your comment, I appreciate it :) Sometimes the things we learn at school can even be useful haha
Wow what a cool project! Very helpful diy for the can camera.
Thanks for your comment :)
Thank you mysterious youtube algorithm for recommending me this cool video lol. I'll set up my own beer can camera!
This was funny yet so weird too watch...
"how do you make a can into a camera...."..... And with that premise.. I watched this three times to understand it. Honestly some beautiful pictures that were produced in the end.
Thank you for the instructions as well. 👏🏿👏🏿👏🏿
Incredible photos. Drinking and (nearly) falling of the roof: legend status.
Thank you! :)
Also vom Unterhaltungswert, der Kreativität und vom Prozess, und vom Überraschungseffekt war das doch ziemlich ein geiles Video. Und auch noch super sympathisch.
Das Dosenpfand wars definitiv wert. xD
Haha, gut investierte 25 Cent :D Danke für deinen Kommentar! :)
The sun path curves are super interesting.
immediately cool as hell. looking at the sun trails like rings in a tree is excellent
Thanks for your comment! :)
@@KarinMajoka anytime! i recommend you check out my dog he is excellent
nothing to do with photography i just like him
What a pleasant find on TH-cam. Thanks for sharing the project. (You must have a lot of patience :)
Would be awesome if you did a before & after picture using a normal camera as well, so you can see how much the trees & other fixtures have changed. Very cool! You have far more patience than I. Love the sun trail effect
You can do a stop motion, camera pan/swivel animation, using many of them in a row. Fantastic results.
What a gem of an idea! Thank you so much!
Thanks for your comment! :)
I had no idea this sort of thing even existed. I've learned something new.
Glad you learned something new! :)
That was really cool to see, I don't know if I could wait a whole year, I might try a 1 month version.
Wow that's so fascinating. I love how you can kind of read the weather history, or just cloud cover history, of the year just by the pattern of sun rings, almost like the rings of a tree trunk.
That's a really nice comparison with the tree trunks! :) Thanks for your comment ✌🏻
I love the shot at 8:22! I have a lot of old RC paper laying around ... I should put that to use. Also, I thought I had my notifications turned on for your channel ... need to fix that.
experimental approach to photography! epic results!
Thanks, I appreciate your comment! :)
An excuse to buy tall beer.... I'm in. Great easy fun stuff. I subbed. Awesome video.
Many cameras to build, many beers to buy! Thanks for your comment :)
They remind me of the rings in a tree, just at a different time scale. What a great project!
True, I love this comparison! Thanks :)
Very cool images. I'm afraid after a year I would forget it was there.
I became a Professional Photographer while I was stationed in Bitburg.
Haha, actually this happened to me! It was planned as a 6-months project, but I forgot about it and left them up for 12 months instead
@@KarinMajoka HAHAHAHAHA! That is awesome. BTW, the Images were really cool, too!
I love the shadows around the trees
Thank you! :)
This is very cool, I'm just about to order some paper to try it myself. And the video is great and so funny 😂