June 21 2018 Solargraph
The new solargraph is here! This is a 6 month exposure in my pinhole camera (an old beer can) attached to the basketball pole outside, pointed to the south. The whole idea here is: this is the path of the sun though the sky during different parts of the year. Winter is at the bottom when the sun is low, summer is at the top where the sun is high. This is my first full 6 month solargraph.
I added a drain to the can last December, after the last solargraph had a bad spot in it where the paper sat in the water. Water gets in the pinhole part when it rains. I made a small pinhole in the bottom, and added a second bottom of another can with another pinhole in the bottom of that. A baffle system to not let light into the can from the bottom. I painted this baffle all flat black to not let reflections into the can to the photo paper.
Basically, I just pull the B&W photo paper out, scan it (without preview), then in Photoshop, invert the colors, flip the image horizontally, and adjust the contrast. The images are a little artsy, this is a can with a hole in it, sitting out in the weather.
The sun streaks at the bottom are from last Dec 22, and the streaks at the top are from this morning June 21. Black streaks are cloudy day(s). Little black dashes here and there are clouds going over on a partly cloudy day. You can see some trees, and even the basketball net at the top of the image! Fun.
Here’s what the original paper looked like before I inverted the colors in Photoshop (contrast was adjusted in Photoshop though):
The paper I used: http://amzn.to/2zhgGJ8
Alternative paper: http://amzn.to/2CZNkRv
Or this paper: http://amzn.to/2D1AceN
Check out my previous article which explains how to build this: https://www.astrosteve.com/solargraph/