Now thats a long exposure.

[nephilim]

https://www.nationalgeographic.co.uk/photography/2020/12/longest-known-exposure-taken-by-makeshift-camera-forgotten-inside-uk-telescope?fbclid=IwAR1-Y1zC2FFZl0cELssbu6O04-MoD-5V0lpH3k0ezbNaz66LsZs0yL-D3Bc

[wormix]

Weirdly I was browsing FLO the other day and saw that you could buy a camera of this sort;

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/other-science-gadgets-models-toys/solarcan-ready-to-use-solargraphy-camera.html

 

[tooth_dr]

Just spotted this on NG too.  Totally amazing. . 

[tooth_dr]

https://www-nationalgeographic-co-uk.cdn.ampproject.org/v/s/www.nationalgeographic.co.uk/photography/2020/12/longest-known-exposure-taken-by-makeshift-camera-forgotten-inside-uk-telescope/amp?usqp=mq331AQFKAGwASA%3D&amp_js_v=0.1#csi=1&referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com&amp_tf=From %1%24s&ampshare=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nationalgeographic.co.uk%2Fphotography%2F2020%2F12%2Flongest-known-exposure-taken-by-makeshift-camera-forgotten-inside-uk-telescope

[geeklee]

I received a Solar Can as gift last Christmas and had it up for 6 months or so from late winter onwards. 

When I took it down and scanned the image inside, I got this:

Once I'd brought it into Affinity Photo and had a play around with levels, curves, saturation, vibrancy etc, I settled on this:

No where near some of the perfect captures out there or very well placed on my part.  Just popped onto a drain pipe outside the house!

With some better imagination and good surrounding landscape, I imagine you could create a nice long project on the side👍

[wulfrun]

There's one kicking around on the net somewhere where it was overlooking the Clifton suspension bridge. Very impressive! The technique has been around for years, one photography area I've never explored but always been fascinated by.

[7170]

I’ve been taking solargraphs for many years so this was an interesting read.

Most surprising for me is that the photo paper hadn’t gone mouldy over all that time (I never expose for more than six months for this reason) and  it looks like it hadn’t moved a mm over so many years. 

[maw lod qan]

This is just so amazing!

This is why I like this forum so much. You give an old mind the chance to learn new things!

So if I'm on the right path with my thinking, photographic paper is just a type of film.

Do you put it all together in a dark room, then cover the pinhole till you have the can placed?

Does the paper require developing like regular film?

And my last question. Are they getting the Sun from rise to set because of the latitude?

Here in Fla. it would be difficult to get both being the Sun rises very high, close to 50°.

Did a quick google on the paper and got that info. 

The idea of getting the sun rise and set still has me scratching my head.

Edited December 13, 2020 by maw lod qan

[7170]

4 hours ago, maw lod qan said:

This is just so amazing!

This is why I like this forum so much. You give an old mind the chance to learn new things!

So if I'm on the right path with my thinking, photographic paper is just a type of film.

Do you put it all together in a dark room, then cover the pinhole till you have the can placed?

Does the paper require developing like regular film?

And my last question. Are they getting the Sun from rise to set because of the latitude?

Here in Fla. it would be difficult to get both being the Sun rises very high, close to 50°.

Did a quick google on the paper and got that info. 

The idea of getting the sun rise and set still has me scratching my head.

You need to use black and white enlarging paper which is much much less sensitive than camera film. Resin coated gloss is best I’ve found (Ilford RC V multigrade gloss).

Basically you have a container with a small  pinhole on one side and the photo paper on the other so the pinhole projects the light onto the paper. 
 

If you use a drinks can or round metal tin the back will be curved, and hence the photo paper too, that allows a very very wide angle photo to be taken where you can capture the rise and set of the sun throughout the year. You can also angle up the camera slightly to capture more but you run the risk of water getting inside the tin.

You don’t develop it, you take it quickly out of the can and put it on your scanner, and scan. The scanner gets the image but in the process it’s light also destroys it so you only have once chance to scan.

You can load and unload in a darkened room, or say a shed/ garage at night with the lights off. Covering the pinhole after it is loaded is a good idea but not essential. I just use some black tape. 
 

The hardest part is selecting the location and keeping the camera firmly fixed, oh and patiently waiting for it to be ready to scan....

 

 

 

Edited December 13, 2020 by 7170

[wulfrun]

18 minutes ago, 7170 said:

You don’t develop it, you take it quickly out of the can and put it on your scanner, and scan. The scanner gets the image but in the process it’s light also destroys it so you only have once chance to scan...

I recall reading about this some years ago. I might be mis-remembering but can you not drop it straight into fixer and hence keep it?

Edited December 13, 2020 by wulfrun

[Tiny Clanger]

8 minutes ago, wulfrun said:

I recall reading about this some years ago. I might be mis-remembering but can you not drop it straight into fixer and hence keep it?

Yes, briefly exposed photo paper (used 'properly' under an enlarger etc) has a latent image which needs bringing out with developer, but long exposed the same paper has a visible image, so just a tray of fixer will do.  Black & white photo paper is not very sensitive to red light as well, so you could use a dim red lamp to unload/load/process it.

[7170]

14 minutes ago, wulfrun said:

I recall reading about this some years ago. I might be mis-remembering but can you not drop it straight into fixer and hence keep it?

No you can’t fix it easily. The image is more like a brown stain on the surface of the paper. Putting it in normal fixer just bleaches the image out. It is possible to slightly develop it by using an alkaline solution to control the development process but it is not easy!

[Tiny Clanger]

I should say the image is not B/W though if you don't use dev., depending on the paper/fixer combo it is shades of violet or brown. I used to do  'shadow pictures' with a class of children, it meant I could get across the meaning of transparent/translucent/opaque in a memorable way and get some unusual bits of art to stick on the calendars my school insisted the sprogs made to take home at the end of this term, along with a home made card (which was usually shedding half a ton of glitter each ... )

[Tiny Clanger]

By coincidence, I've been sorting out some stuff to pass on to another teacher , one of the folders is photo related, and in it is my original  'here's 'one I made earlier' to give the small folk an idea of what they might get. This  test run 'sun picture' later featured in a display (hence the drawing pin holes in the corners of the blue card !) 

This was done with exposure to sunlight , objects laid on the paper , processed with just fixer, no dev. or stop bath , and washed under the tap. It's done OK as I reckon it is at least 20 years old ! Not a very good photo I'm afraid , lit by one lamp, and propped up against the laptop screen .