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As the Earth moves through its orbit each year, the planet’s tilt changes our view of the Sun. Over time, its path increases the height of the sky until the summer solstice, then lowers the sky until the winter solstice.
we experience This change throughout the seasons. But we rarely, if ever, really do that. look It happens in our daily life.
However, there is a way to use a special format of photos known as “. solar photography.
This solar graph was taken from the Weather Network rooftop between June 21 and December 21, 2023. Credit: Bret Culp
To learn more about this, we spoke to Brett Culp, a fine art photographer and visual effects supervisor who has worked in the television and film industry for over 30 years. Have you watched the popular sci-fi series on Amazon Prime? spread Or a horror series on Netflix Fall of the House of UsherYou have already seen some of his professional work.
Culp is also an avid photographer who seeks to capture the impermanence of the natural world. His photographs have been featured in international art shows and galleries, and he has received over a dozen awards for his work.
For at least the past decade, Culp has been installing solar graph cameras, primarily in the Toronto area and along the coast of Georgian Bay, to capture the sun’s daily path across the sky.
Solargraph cameras are the most basic type of camera available. Black and white photographic paper is enclosed inside the cylinder opposite the small pin hole drilled into the side. The camera is then left in a safe, undisturbed location for days, weeks, or even months at a time.
Now, the length of time the camera is left to record is entirely up to the photographer (solar photographer?). He can only record one day. It would be so cool to be able to record during a solar eclipse. While it’s great to leave your camera alone for an entire season, Culp says mid-summer to summer solstice is really the ideal time period.
These three SolarGraph cameras were installed on the roof of the Weather Network in Oakville, Ontario from June 21 to December 21, 2023. Painted black inside and out to reduce reflections, these cameras were positioned facing south to capture the sun as it moved across the sky. Please note that due to their appearance, these cameras can be photographed or destroyed if left in public places. Choose your location wisely!Credit: Scott Sutherland
As long as the camera is in place and the sun is shining, sunlight will focus through the pinhole and burn bright exposure lines onto the photographic paper. The motion of the Earth along its orbit causes the Sun’s orbit to change by about 1 degree each day. Therefore, a clear line of exposure is traced across the image for each day the camera records, and this line is only broken by clouds covering the sky. A completely cloudy day will not show up at all, but a partially cloudy day will produce a dashed exposure line.
Thus, while recording the sun’s passage across the sky each day, it also captures changes in the sun’s angle caused by the tilt of the Earth’s axis. As an added bonus, the images also include a record of the basic sky conditions that occurred over the camera’s location each day.
That’s why each solar graph has an added flare of color resulting from the extreme overexposure of the chemical photo paper, weather conditions (heat, humidity, precipitation), and the effects of the camera’s natural environment, creating a unique combination of art and science. It becomes. Contains dirt, mold, and insects.
“I like to say solargraphy is ‘part art, part science, and part chaos,'” Culp said.
This solar graph’s sun path reveals sky conditions in Oakville, Ontario during the summer and winter solstice of 2023. The varying colors are the result of the photographic paper being overexposed to bright light, reflected light from the rooftop environment, and weather conditions. occurred during that time.Credit: Brett Culp
As for how the final image is processed, solar graphs cannot be developed using normal photographic methods.
“This is a severe overexposure, so if you don’t develop it, the image will be completely black,” Culp said. Instead, light-sensitive photo paper is removed from the cylinder and immediately scanned into a computer using a high-quality flatbed scanner.
Culp explained that the scanner’s bright light completely overexposes the entire surface of the photo paper, so “scanning it destroys it.” “So, that’s one shot.”
This image shows only three stages of solar graph processing from the initial scan to the final image.Credit: Brett Culp
As shown above, due to the functionality of the pinhole camera, the scan result shows an inverted negative image of the camera’s field of view.
From there, you can use image processing software to flip the image vertically. The colors are then reversed from negative to positive, allowing the photographer to change brightness and contrast, reduce “noise” in the image, and even soften color differences introduced by the chemical reactions in the photo paper. .
This results in a final photo that is unique based not only on the time the camera took the photo, the sky conditions that occurred during that time, and the colors, but also on the photographer’s personal preferences.
For more examples of Culp’s solarography, check out his website.
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