🇺🇸 · Workshop 88 · D. Scott Williamson
I was inspired and guided by Karin Majoka ‘s excellent beer can solarigraphy video on YouTube (thank you algorithm!). Karin explains what solarigraphy is and walks step by step through what materials are needed, how to make the cameras, how you may install them, how to collect and scan the film, and how she digitally edits her images. I used actual German beer cans as she did, but chose to take a 6 month exposure from winter solstice to summer solstice, and did a extra planning to calculate the best orientation and pinhole location in my “ beercanmeras ” for 9 compositions around my property. Preparation Location plan I put a lot of thought into the location and orientation plan. I selected 9 locations and orientations including the direction the can would be facing, the tilt, and the necessary hole offset from center to place the sun beams on the photographic paper. Each of the 9 locations included a thumbnail sketch of what I expected the image to look like. This plan was needed to keep track of the color of the tape used on each can, the vertical location of the pinhole in each can, and the fabrication of several mounts to hold the cans. (Sorry about the image quality, the plan has been lost and this digital image was extracted from another photo) Sun angle SCAD I wrote an OpenSCAD script to model the projection of the sun’s path on the photo paper in the canmera at the summer and winter solstices at different can pitches so I could plan to offset the pinhole in the can to best compose the solar traces on the photographic paper. The source code is in the appendix at the end of this article. Pin hole locations Canmeras facing south tilted back at a 23 degrees matching the axis of the Earth could have the pinhole located in the center of the can between the top and bottom to center the span of the sun’s paths creating an eye shaped pattern over the 6 month exposure time. If the canmera was angled back away from the south, lying more flat, the hole would need to be displaced toward the bottom of the can so the sunlight traces did not leave the top of the photo paper. Conversely the more vertical the can stood, the pinhole would need to be moved closer to the top to prevent the sun’s rays from falling off the bottom of the photo paper. Can preparation I found that tall Bavarian beer cans were a good fit for 5″x7″ piece of photo paper. I also found that Diet Coke can bottoms when cut at an angle were a tight fit over the beer cans making a good light tight seal. I’d carefully rough cut the tops off all the cans with a long razor knife and then re-cut them with scissors for nice clean edges. Be careful of the sharp metal edges as well as the knife and scissors while cutting the cans. Finally, I rinsed and dried all the can halves for the following steps. After the can halves were dry I labeled each one with a number and indication where the hole should be. I poked the hole from the inside of the can by holding a needle in pliers (sorry, not pictured), then sanded the outside of each hole to give each pinhole a sharp edge to improve focus. I also circled the pinholes inside the can so I could find them more easily when loading them with the photo paper in the dim light. Film loading and sealing Under a dim red darkroom light I opened the light tight envelope of photo paper and taped a single 5″x7″ sheet into each can in landscape orientation. The paper was taped to keep the paper against the back of the can. In the future I may try to 3D print retaining rings for the top and bottom to spring load into the can to hold the paper more securely against the cylinder wall without adhesive on the film. A piece of black electrical tape was placed over the pinhole opening of each can as a reusable shutter. After placing the photographic paper I placed the Diet Coke can caps and sealed the cans in duct tape. I purchased brown and black duct tape to make the canmeras placed on the mailbox and backyard fence less conspicuous. Normal silver duct tape blended in pretty well with the light post those were attached to. Mounting I had to create several mounts to securely attach many of the canmeras at the correct angle for 6 months. This was done on the band saw and belt sander with pine and plywood scraps, all held together with my favorite fasteners, drywall screws and zip ties. The cans were taped to the mounts and labeled to prevent hysteria and tampering by curious neighbors. I was particularly worried the 3 duct taped cylinders attached to the street light would be mistaken for some sort of threat so I labeled the pole as well. Installation Here is all 9 canmeras locations after about 5 months of their overall 6 months. Others place the cameras for 12 months but I only saw the need to capture 6 months from winter to summer solstice (or vise versa) as the sun retraces similar paths twice in a year. They were mounted December 28th, 2022 just a few days after the winter solstice and collected after sunset on the following Summer Solstice, June 21, 2023. After each camera was mounted securely, I removed the electrical tape to open the shutter and attached the tape to the can below the orange label for use when I again close the shutter half a year thereafter. Patience The canmeras endured sun, rain, hail, snow, heat, cold, and humidity over 6 months. I gently cleared the snow off them and shooed away many squirrels and birds. I love a long term project, it’s was exciting to monitor the condition of the canmeras, week after week not knowing if my calculations and preparation would yield decent results. Scanning On the summer solstice, just after sunset I replaced the tape shutter on each canmera, unmounted them, and collected them inside. Before opening them I had to cover a window and dim the computer monitor to a minimum. I even tinted the monitor to the longer wavelength red the photo paper is less sensitive to. The photo paper is not really very sensitive which makes it perfect for this type of project. It does not change quickly but still should not be exposed to bright light unnecessarily. It’s also nice that the photo paper does not strictly require developing, the negative image is clearly visible and can be scanned directly, though you could fix and develop the image on the paper if you wanted to. The moment of truth: opening the canmeras. Despite my best efforts to seal them against the weather, all the cans had water in them. I wonder if the water seeped in through the seam or through the pinhole, or if it condensed from the air inside the can. I don’t know, but I may try to incorporate a light tight drain and desiccant into future attempts. Those mounted vertically had a small pool in the bottom, those more reclined soaked the photographic paper causing extensive damage usually along the center of the image. Even though the damage was not anticipated, it added some interesting texture to some of the prints that somehow complimented the natural organic nature of the intended images. I carefully opened each camera, removed the photo paper, blotted it dry and scanned it in a flat bed scanner. I scanned each picture in both color and black and white at fairly high resolution. I had to clean the glass of the scanner between each scan to remove residual moisture. I made a darkened envelope by lining an envelope with black construction paper to store the original exposures. I numbered the back of each one and layered them with paper towels. When done I placed them all in the blackout envelope with some desiccant packets to dry them out. Several weeks later I re-scanned all the images but I think the originals are subjectively better. I brought each image into Gimp photo editing tool where I cropped and oriented image, then finally got creative with color curves to achieve the final aesthetic. Results This one was on the mailbox pitched up 15 degrees facing south. You can barely make out the boxy shadow of the house in the bottom of the image and can clearly see the trees in the foreground. I really like that in many of these photos the trees and bushes lack foliage in the winter time when the sun is low and as the sun climbs in the sky you can see the shadows of growing foliage over the spring season. Some water damage at the bottom and on the right edge compliment the presence of tape in the lower corners bringing the natural subject, the impact of the water, and the mechanical methods used to capture this print together. 2. Light pole flat facing west. These are all the sunsets looking down the street I live on. Again I like to look at the trees on the horizon and how the leaves fill in from left to right in the paths of sunlight. 3. Light pole flat facing east. Half a year of sunrises. Note the boxy shape of the street light on the pole at the top of the image I think is the shadow of the light on the bright sky. 4. Light pole facing south standing pitched back 22 degrees. Here you can clearly make out the houses at the bottom. The houses have better vertical resolution and seem blurry from left to right which I wonder is from the swaying of the pole in the breeze. There is some light leakage, maybe from the inside of the aluminum can. Maybe in the future I should paint the interior of the can flat black to prevent reflections of the bright sky off the aluminum interior of the can. 5. Back yard east fence facing south inclined 20 degrees. The water damage starts to have more of an impact giving burnt film and oil bubbles psychedelic vibes. The houses are very clear at the bottom, being mounted to a fence post appears to have been more rigid than the light pole. 6. Backyard south fence looking straight up (I think this is upside down, the sun arcs should be at the top of the picture). I really like the composition of this one with the trees radiating from both sides of the image having a nearly 180 degree view of the sky. This is one I would prefer not to have water damage on to be able to see more of the subject but I still find it artistically beautiful, and like the contrast of the glowing sun traces, the soft projection of the image, and the sharp very closeup effects of the water. 7. Backyard fence flat pointing west. The water really got into these flat cans in back on the fence. Here you can clearly see the shadow of an obelisk in the back yard in front of the neighbors house and the traces of 176 sunsets. I don’t understand how the light shadow of the obelisk to the right formed unless it was perhaps illuminated at night can there was a consistent thermal change in position. Interesting for sure and I would like to have been able to see more. 8. Backyard south fence, 20 degrees inclined facing due south. This one is obviously dominated by water damage and includes hairlike structures. 9 Backyard south fence, 20 degrees inclined turned west. The inclination and turning to face west moved the peaks of the solar traces left towards the east. I would have liked to seen this one with the pinhole moved further up to capture more of the foreground. The lack of focus suggest that this fence post had more wobble, perhaps due to it being on a north south fence when predominant winds are west to east. Final thoughts This was super fun. I like the results including the surprise water incursion. I think I’ll do it again some time, I kept all the cans and mounts and have plenty of photo paper and duct tape left. Here are some improvements: Spray paint the inside of the cans flat black to prevent light leakage Design and 3D print “C” shaped springy paper holders for inside the can to replace tape Create a drain hole in the bottom of the can and shield it from light Hot glue a desiccant packet in each canmera to try to control moisture Things I’d like to try: A box pinhole camera to see the different projection. Taking shorter exposures (minutes to hours) in pinhole cameras. Of particular interest is the infinite depth of field, and that moving objects will vanish in long exposures. Developing the film with Caffenol using coffee or maybe more appropriately Beerenol using beer! This is still a negative process so I’d have to do a contact print to get a 100% analog positive photo print. Maybe floating a pinhole camera in water for a day, or swinging on a heavy pendulum, or on a spinning windmill, to capture one days worth of chaotic solar traces, or maybe recording a day of caustics in a birdbath would illuminate statistical trends in the surface waves. Thanks for the inspiration Karin Majoka! Appendix: OpenSCAD program /* Beercan Pinhole camera inclination calculator D. Scott Williamson (c) 2022 All rights reserved */ lat=41.860985; // Observer latitude incl=23.5; // Earth inclination cand=65; // can diameter canh=165; // Can height paperw=178; // Ilford 5"x7" photo paper paperh=127; // Ilford 5"x7" photo paper holeoffset=40; // hole offset from center t1=.75;//abs($t*2-1); // ping pong animation time parameter t1=abs($t*2-1); // ping pong animation time parameter cana=-lat-t1*-90; // can pitch angle from vertical cana2=0; // rotation around hole lineh=14; // height of a line of text $fn=128; // facets in a cylinder // level horizon summer sun goes way off paper holeoffset=60; cana=90-lat-0; cana2=0; // horizon dips to bottom, summer sun arcs to top holeoffset=49; cana=90-lat-12; cana2=0; // Summer and winter extents, ground off bottom holeoffset=60; cana=90-lat-12; cana2=0; // horizon to summer extents with some margin holeoffset=30; cana=90-lat-22; cana2=0; // eye of zoron holeoffset=0; cana=90-lat-48; cana2=0; // eye of zoron horizon in view holeoffset=-20; cana=90-lat-48; cana2=0; // kind of cool extra rotation holeoffset=0; cana=90-lat-35; cana2=22; holeoffset=40; cana=90-lat-00; cana2=20; cana3=00; // can and paper rz(cana3) rx(90-lat-cana) ry(cana2) tz(-holeoffset) { color([1,1,1]) paper(); color([1,.5,0,.25]) tz(-canh/2) cylinder(d=cand+1,h=canh); } // summer //rz(90) { color([1,.7,0,.6]) rx(90-lat-cana) ty(cand/2) rx( incl+cana) s([1.4,7.7,1]) cylinder(d=cand,h=.21); // winter color([.4,.6,1,.6]) rx(90-lat-cana) ty(cand/2) rx(-incl+cana) s([1.4,5.7,1]) cylinder(d=cand,h=.2); // horizon color([.1,.1,.1,.6]) rx(90-lat-cana) ty(cand/2) rx(cana-90+lat) s([1.4,3.7,1]) cylinder(d=cand,h=.2); } // text color("white") tz(lineh*6) tx(cand) rz(90) rx(90) { ty(-lineh*0) text(str("Earth Inclination: ",incl,"°")); ty(-lineh*1) text(str("Latitude:",lat,"°")); ty(-lineh*2) text(str("Angle:",floor(90-lat-cana),"°")); } module paper() { canc=cand*PI; papera=360*paperw/canc; openinga=360-papera; t=.1; tz(-paperh/2) difference() { cylinder(d=cand,h=paperh); tz(-1) { cylinder(d=cand-t*2,h=paperh+2); rz(90)hull() { rz(-openinga/2)cube([cand,1,paperh+2]); rz(openinga/2)ty(-1)cube([cand,1,paperh+2]); } } } } module t(t) {translate(t) children();} module tx(t) {translate([t,0,0]) children();} module ty(t) {translate([0,t,0]) children();} module tz(t) {translate([0,0,t]) children();} module r(r) {rotate(r) children();} module rx(r) {rotate([r,0,0]) children();} module ry(r) {rotate([0,r,0]) children();} module rz(r) {rotate([0,0,r]) children();} module s(t) {scale(t) children();} module sx(t) {scale([t,1,1]) children();} module sy(t) {scale([1,t,1]) children();} module sz(t) {scale([1,1,t]) children();} module c(c) {color(c) children();} The post Staring at the sun with beer can Solarigraphy first appeared on Workshop88 .
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