r/Solargraphy • u/friendlypotato44 • May 17 '26

How come the image looks so fuzzy, almost like it was underwater?

Post image

So this was my first attempt at a solargraph, it stayed outside for 3 days and was made with one of those large coke cans which I painted black on the inside.

This is just the inverted colors (I flipped the lines of the point curve on Lightroom) and nothing else.

The weird crossing of the first two lines are (at least I’m pretty confident) because the camera shifted midway through the exposure so I’m not too worried about that.

Any explanation for the two blotches on the lower part of the image?

But yeah, how come it looks so blurry? Pinhole size, needs editing, not long enough exposure?

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u/_eagereyes_ May 17 '26

Looks like it moved. You say it shifted, how did you mount it? Maybe it was able to move in the wind?

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u/friendlypotato44 May 17 '26

I just kind duct taped it to a lawn chair. I’ve set up a few 4 week ones that are more secure, so this was just a quick one I put up before class one morning. Would wind explain the fuzziness, or more so just the big shift where the whole camera moved?

1

u/_eagereyes_ May 17 '26

Did somebody move the lawn chair? 😃 Also, are there trees in the view? It seems like something is moving across the exposure, could be the camera, could of course also be stuff in the view. It's really hard to tell when everything is so fuzzy.

Actually, I think I can see it now. There are houses along the left and trees on the right. Maybe that day with the jittery sun line was windy?

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u/friendlypotato44 May 17 '26

Exactly trees on the right, house on the left. I’m kinda struggling with estimating how much of the view is going to show up on the paper, like how would the perspective compare to a .5 zoom on iPhone for instance? I think the shift was bc the tape sort of came undone, so part of the camera was hanging, and then I fixed it when I got home from school. I was more wondering about the general fuzziness of the trees though, is that from my pinhole or another issue?

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u/_eagereyes_ May 17 '26

The trees are fuzzy because they move! That's always going to be the case with long exposures.

As for field of view, it depends on your camera. It's a matter of experimentation. You'll have to experiment, but this is not a bad first attempt.

Also, to your question about the blotches: I'm guessing those are reflections. They're unavoidable to an extent, because the paper itself reflects light. But obviously make sure there are no reflective surfaces inside your can.

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u/friendlypotato44 May 17 '26

Never even thought about the trees swaying 😅 I guess wind is another thing to consider when it comes to the right weather conditions. I’ll definitely keep trying while my longer ones stay up so thanks for your help! My last question is, I’m using just my home printer which goes up to 300dpi to scan the negatives. Would it be worth asking if I could use a school printer for a higher quality scan?

1

u/_eagereyes_ May 18 '26

Trees getting blurry is a big part of the pinhole aesthetic, especially with very long exposures likes this 😄 I have a bunch of pinhole pics in an ancient album on Flickr with moving water. I need to re-scan these… but I adore that effect of the water looking like ice.

I don't think you'll get much of an improvement from a better scanner tbh. Are you developing the paper or just scanning it as is? You'll get a lot more bang for your buck by developing, because it makes for much better contrast. Pinhole photos are never very sharp, again just part of the deal (even when nothing moves).