This whole mobile phone photography revolution is wonderful. We can make quality images with predefined aesthetics while on the go. The basic rules of photographic quality still apply here though – a good photographer can make a great photo out of poor equipment and a bad photographer still makes bad photos even with great gear and presets – but it has brought at least moderately interesting image creation to the masses.
This photo was created using an app called Hipstamatic that I use for most of my photography on my iPhone 4. The app has many “lens” and “film” choices, each of which is essentially a predefined color palette or effect. The lens I chose here gives a vignette of these white swirls, drawing your eye to the center. In a nutshell, this lens gives the effect of a pinhole camera. I worked with these for several weeks during my studies at UNF, which the results are detailed in the linked post.
Its important to know your roots. This photographic retro throwback has been a great refresh on photography and image creation, making new tools and making them simpler to use. But it’s also very near and interesting to know where some of these looks had originated.
A pinhole camera is the most simple and basic “camera” contraption to control light. It has no lens either. The most simple of pinhole cameras is a box with a hole the size of a pinhead (you know, a pinhole). The light passes through the small opening and shines to the back of the box where your film should be placed. Usually, one would use some sort of sheet film, as opposed to film on a roll like common 35mm, but roll film can still be used (like how this guy made a pinhole camera out of an Altoids tin and a roll of 35mm film). Now, all cameras do that same basic thing as a pinhole, but with greater control (with variable aperture lenses, mechanical shutters, and motor-driven roll film), and with better optics with amazing modern lenses.
So why use such a primitive camera? Sometimes, it’s nice to not have so much control over the shot and to not have as many options with your settings, lights and lenses. These cameras have characteristics that should be embraced, such as the odd, streaky reflective vignetting. My thesis in my personal photography is that the most important thing in a photograph is what’s happening in front of the lens (or hole in the box), which is then accented or enhanced through technology, technique, and process. Without something interesting happening or being staged, your end result will still seem like a novelty, and not an interesting piece of art.
Tags: hipstamatic, pinhole