Pinhole Wedding?

Bitter Jeweler · Mar 1, 2011

I will be second shooting a wedding, and I am thinking of trying something a little different.
On my second body, I am thinking of either using a tilt shift lens, which I have seen some cool wedding pictures done with, or going with my pinhole lens which I have seen no examples of used in a wedding.

I have been given free creative license, so I am free to experiment.

My thought is the pinhole will produce soft vignetted pictures which are often desired in wedding pictures. The only downside, may be longish exposure times. But I will use it mostly for the outdoor pictures, so exposure time won't be that long.

What do you think, neat idea or am I too far out there? :lol:

bigtwinky · Mar 1, 2011

Totally a cool idea.

Not something I would do if I was main shooting, but if you are second shooting AND have creative liscence to have fun, then hell, experiement. Just as long as the main photog is aware of what you are doing.

I did read about a guy in a similar situation who second shot an entire wedding with a lensbaby. The results were pretty damn cool, need to find a link to that.

I've read about people trying tilt shift. Actually, I second shot for JerryPh on a wedding where he used a tilt shift a few times. But not a whole wedding.

I'm very interesting in seeing your results with the pinhole!

SrBiscuit · Mar 1, 2011

i think it's def out there! but COOL!

personally i would go with the tilt shift since, like you, ive seen some neat wedding stuff done that way.

however...youve been given creative freedom!

2 bodies. 1 ts. 1 ph.

please post results!

mhk1058 · Mar 1, 2011

Sounds like it's worth a try to me. Another idea would be to put the tilt shift on the camera and buy one of the increasingly popular reproduction Diana style cameras so you can try two ideas at once. This creates a similar effect to the pin hole and is very popular, esp with younger people and gives a real retro feel - due mainly to the fact it has a plastic lens and leaks light, but hey, you did mention soft focus vignetted pictures.

tirediron · Mar 1, 2011

Looking forward to seeing the results... I say go for both!

Forkie · Mar 1, 2011

I love the pinhole idea. It would give some of the posed shots a very Victorian wooden-box camera feel! Make sure you post the results!

altitude604 · Mar 1, 2011

sounds like it'd be a pretty cool thing to do!

give'r and post here if you can.

Bitter Jeweler · Mar 1, 2011

You both kinda touch on where I am torn with this. I could do both, and put the pinhole on the higher ISO cabable full frame cam, and the TS on the crop body, which is good because it's a kinda wide lens for 90mm. I'd have flash for both, too. So I could totally go at it as a whack job and produce something potentially cool and very different, and miss the experience of doing straight up wedding photography, or get a little of both worlds.

This is my sisters wedding. My dad volunteered me to be their photographer. :lol:

Cuz, you know, I have a fancy camera. :roll: My sister would rather I enjoy myself at the wedding, so she left the decision up to me. So, I hired a pro friend.

Of course I will share the pictures here! Nothing excites me more than being able to start a "My First Wedding" thread. :lmao:

Here is my Pinhole lens:

Here is a test shot:

Hmm...it doesn't vignette like when I did it with just a hole in a body cap. But thats fine.

I'm going to have to test this out on people, and see how flash will work with it.

Forkie · Mar 1, 2011

Pardon my ignorance, but is that just a body cap with a whole through it? What's the raised gold bit?

Bitter Jeweler · Mar 1, 2011

Yup! The gold (brass) bit was made to move the aperture farther out to fill a full frame sensor. Just putting a hole in the body cap gave a small circular image.
I think this is a 60mm pinhole lens. :lol:

enzodm · Mar 1, 2011

Good resolution. Eventually my pinhole is larger than yours (...), because it seems like I obtain slightly less defined images. I use macro rings to change focal length

.

Forkie · Mar 1, 2011

I like! I wanna make one! :bounce:

Bitter Jeweler · Mar 1, 2011

Yeah, my first was a hole drilled directly into the body cap. the size of the hole and the thickness of the material effect the softness (difraction?), as well as the shape of the hole.
Pinholes can actually be complicated, depending on the desired effect you want. The size of the hole needs to change with it's distance from the sensor, if you are aiming for perfection.

Here is a pic from my first body cap pin hole:

It's neat, but a little too soft.

Forkie said:
I like! I wanna make one! :bounce:

Do it! It's easy, cheap, and fun!
Post your results!

Derrel · Mar 1, 2011

Good Lord, a pinhole second wedding shooter!!! How about something more practical, like a Lensbaby second shooter setup? Or a Lomo? Or a Holga? You know, something with an aperture a bit wider than f/128....