Help - problem developing pinhole paper negatives!

[JC1220]

10 to 15 seconds in the developer is really short, and it looks like over exposure as well. Adjust your exposure so you are more around 30 -60 seconds in your developer to allow for more even development.

Light leaks in the "camera" as well could cause fogging.

Could you have mixed the developer wrong? Maybe, what is it, dilution and how are you mixing it?

 

[theres126]

10 to 15 seconds in the developer is really short, and it looks like over exposure as well. Adjust your exposure so you are more around 30 -60 seconds in your developer to allow for more even development.

Light leaks in the "camera" as well could cause fogging.

Could you have mixed the developer wrong? Maybe, what is it, dilution and how are you mixing it?

It's the Ilford concentrated (liquid) developer. According to the bottle, we mixed it at 1pt developer to 14pt water. (this was the "economical" way to mix). For better photos, it was suggested a 1/9 mix.

My husband did the mixing, and I'm pretty sure he did it correctly.....

Our exposure ranged between 10 seconds and 20 seconds.

 

[Alpha]

Are you agitating? You should be moving the paper constantly in the developer.

You are dropping the paper into developer and not the other way around, right?

 

[theres126]

Yes, we are agitating, and dropping the paper into the developer. :meh: Do you think it could be the camera, itself?

Looks more like developing to me, but I'm new at this.....

 

[JC1220]

Here is the fact sheet on the developer you are using, multigrade version I think is what you have, they suggest up to 90 seconds for RC paper, not that it needs to be in there the full time, and pulling it out of the developer about 10 seconds prior to your max development to allow it to drain before stop:

http://www.ilfordphoto.com/Webfiles/20061302049381676.pdf

If you using 1+14 an easy expression of the mix should be something like 100ml developer to 1400ml water.

 

[theres126]

Thanks-

I think we're going to try it all again....

One thing my husband thought of, was that when they had him push the hole through a piece of metal, the inside of the "camera" still had that silver metal piece (not black), which is directly across from the paper. Could that reflect and mess with the image on the paper?

Someone else suggested to me that we are exposing it too long, and that because of that we aren't leaving it in the developer long enough to evenly coat the paper. Seems to make sense, though we are only exposing it for 10 seconds as it is. Does that seem normal?

Sorry about all the questions - I really appreciate the help you've given!

 

[Dissolution]

i still think its a fogging issue of some kind. the inside of the box should be completely black, with all the nooks and crannies taped up{use black electrical tape to make it}.

as for the person saying its not in the developer long enough, didn't she say that the 10-15 seconds it is in the "patterns" already showed up? therefor wouldn't they still be there even if she developed for an hour{yes its an exaggeration...}

theres, as for the actual exposing that will depend heavily on the location you live, and the weather for the day. in georgia on a sunny day, we expose pinholes for anywhere between 5 and 45 seconds

 

[JC1220]

as for the person saying its not in the developer long enough, didn't she say that the 10-15 seconds it is in the "patterns" already showed up? therefor wouldn't they still be there even if she developed for an hour{yes its an exaggeration...}

Fogging may very well be part of the problem. The patterns, to me, look like when you drop a print on top and the developer washes over you get similar patterns and if you pull it out as those appear and dump it in the stop, well thats what you get, uneven development at such short times.

 

[theres126]

Thanks for everyone's suggestions and ideas!

I think we got rid of the weird lines - we made sure everything was sealed (though I still wonder about the silver metal that the pinhole is through, and we made sure that the paper film was put all the way in the developer in one swoop.

After some trial and error, we got a couple of photos that actually look like photo negatives.

For some reason though, there's not a whole lot of contrast in the picture, unlike the pictures she took at camp last summer. Those were definitely dark and light, and you could see a lot of detail. Ours look good when just looking at the trees, but the foreground is kind of a washed out gray look. (she tried taking a volleyball in front of our woods - the woods look good, but you can hardly distinguish the volleyball) We tried one of a view up the road as well, and once again the trees look good, but the road is very washed out - you can't really tell it's a road.....

What can be done to try to increase contrast in the whole picture?

Thanks again!!

 

[Dissolution]

im pretty sure contrast is "controlled" by the pinhole.


when you say your worried about the metal the hole is in, what do you mean? like, you cut off a piece of silver{drink can etc} and drilled the hole through it, then attached that to the box? if so, i would probably just make sure the metal on the "back" is colored black. silver on the outside shouldn't effect anything.

i know you've put alot of work into this camera, but the easiest pinhole ive ever shot, was made out of a silver metal paint-can. the inside is already colored completely to block out unwanted light, then its completely light tight when you put the lid on. the only thing is you gotta carry around a flat head screwdriver or somethin you can pry the lid open with lol

 

[theres126]

You're exactly right - the hole and metal piece are just like you described. That's one thing we were wondering about, since the "inside" of the metal piece is still silver.

I like the paint can idea! (actually, my daughter told me that the one she used at her camp was about that side) What timing - we just threw out an old paint can this morning!! :blushing: What did you use to cover the pinhole?

Doesn't the silver inside of the paint can affect the outcome? It seems that it would make the light that is coming in, bounce around........ (kind of like the silver metal piece I was asking about)

I think we're going to try to seal the oatmeal box a bit more - especially around the lid. Hopefully that will help with the contrast. I've seen some that are covered in black - either paint or plastic. I wonder if that makes a difference????

 

[Dissolution]

as for the box, a couple kids in our class used them. and the teacher recommended painting the ENTIRE box{inside and out}. i think it was just a precaution though. but i would tape{with black electrical tape} around all the corners/edges.

for the paintcan, the inside isn't orange, its more of a creamy grey color, which does a good job at neutralizing the light. the only difference between it and a box, is that you dont have to "modify" it except with the actual hole. which in class we use a small piece of brass, and drill the hole through both the brass and the can, then attach the brass to the can. for a "shutter" we would use a black magnet, or a piece of black tape

buut...keep in mind...im tellin everything i know from 2 semesters of photography class...lol, before i took it in highschool{im a senior in highschool now and doing traditional black and white 35 and 120 film} i had no idea what a pinhole camera was lol

 

[JamesD]

The streaks in your original posted images are almost certainly uneven development caused by much too short a development time. The highlights of the image (darkest areas in the negative) tend to show up very quickly (almost instantly with my Ilford paper and Dektol dev), but the shadow areas take longer, usually a full minute or more. Don't be afraid to leave it in for the full development time. Also, agitate by rocking the tray a couple of times every fifteen seconds or so. If the images are overexposed, shorten your exposure time or use a smaller pinhole.

You can also try diluting the developer. For instance, the standard Dektol mix is 1:1 water/developer stock. I use 5:1 (more water) for paper negatives. Increasing the dilution also tends to soften contrast, however. If you have serious low-contrast problems and you're using variable contrast paper, you can try adding a high-contrast VC printing filter in front of or (preferrably) behind the pinhole. This will, of course, increase your exposure time. Note that with VC papers, you'll get some weird contrast effects depending on the colors present in your subject if you don't filter.

What's the distance between your pinhole and the paper you're using for film? Mine is usually about six inches (150mm), and I use a .5mm diameter pinhole, exposing for 45-60 seconds in bright sunlight. Also, at that distance, with a small pinhole, the silver reflection shouldn't be a problem, but it can't hurt to paint everything flat black. Also, taping off seams, edges, corners, and anywhere else light might leak in is a very good idea.