Solargraphy is an alternative pinhole photography process that records the sun’s movement across the sky over extremely long exposures – from a single day to several years. Heather Palecek, artist and author of Intro to Solargraphy shares the method. The result is a striking record of time passing: glowing arcs of sunlight combined with only those elements that remained still throughout the exposure.
“Solargraphy is a very playful process and the results are always a bit of a surprise.“
What is Solargraphy?
Solargraphy is an alternative pinhole photography technique that allows you to capture the sun in the sky through an extremely long exposure time. It is a unique blend of science and art, offering unique insights into the passage of time and the movement of celestial bodies.
During the exposure, the image is visibly “imprinted” onto light-sensitive photographic paper inside the pinhole camera, essentially creating a lumen print inside the camera. Because of how the paper reacts during extreme overexposure, there is no need for the artist to use darkroom processing. Instead, the paper is digitally scanned and edited to reveal the final solargraph image.
Depending on a few factors, an artist can create a solargraph with an exposure time of one day to many years and anything in between. Along with the sun’s arc, only subjects that are present and still throughout the duration of the exposure appear in the composition.
How to make a solargraph
1. Gather your materials
- Vessel to use as a camera
- Drill or punch with ¼” drill bit
- Metal file or deburring tool
- Matte black spray paint
- 1” square of aluminium (cut from a drink can)
- Needle or pin
- Sandpaper or emery board
- Black electrical tape
- Scissor
- Black and white darkroom photo paper
- Masking tape
2. Start by making your pinhole camera.
You need to find a vessel that is made of a light-proof and weather-proof material, such as an aluminium drink can, a black plastic film canister, or an old tin container like a mint or cookie tin. Drill a ¼” hole into the centre of the side of the container. If the drill bit created a sharp burr, you’ll need to use a metal file or deburring tool to remove it. Lastly, spray paint the inside of the container black.
3. Now make and attach your pinhole.
To do this, poke the tiniest and most circular hole into a piece of aluminium with either a needle or a pin. I recommend placing the aluminium on top of a piece of foam core board or a softcover book as a backing material for the needle to push into. Don’t push the needle or pin all the way through the aluminium – try hard to make a very tiny hole. This can be difficult, so be cautious. When done, use sandpaper or an emery board to remove the sharp burr on the back of the aluminium. Hold the aluminium pinhole up to a light source and inspect it. The tinier and more perfectly circular your pinhole is, the sharper your solargraph image will be. Use black electrical tape to attach the pinhole centred in front of the drilled hole. You want to tape it on all 4 sides so that it is secure and light/weather can’t seep in from the sides.
4. Make a shutter
Make a simple shutter to cover your pinhole by cutting a piece of black electrical tape into a 2” long section, and folding it back on itself so that there is a small sticky section with a flap. Place the sticky section over the hole, and the flap will act as a handle to easily remove the shutter when you’re ready to make your exposure.
5. Load your camera
Load your camera with black and white darkroom photo paper. For this process, you can use any brand of darkroom photo paper. If you need a suggestion, Ilford Multigrade RC Deluxe Paper, Pearl is a basic, normal paper that will work well for this process. Darkroom photo paper is sensitive to ‘white’ light and should be used in a red safelight environment. You can bend that rule a little bit and do this process in a dimly lit room away from windows if you don’t have a darkroom – just know that you will not be able to use the rest of the paper in the box for traditional darkroom printing because it will be fogged with a little bit of light. In that case, use a marker to label the box “fogged” or “for solargraphy”, and you’ll know that your paper has been opened in the light.
You want the paper placed on the opposite side of the vessel from the pinhole, with the paper facing the shiny side towards the hole. Use a ruler to measure what size paper you need to cut. (A drink can usually hold a 5×7 size paper in it. A small mint tin will need to be cut down to about 2”x3”. A black film canister can hold a 2”x2” paper.) Go into the darkroom or a very dimly lit room and pull one sheet of paper from the box. You need to be quick now… cut it down to a size that will fit inside your pinhole camera and place the paper inside the camera correctly. (Shiny-side facing the hole, on the opposite wall from the pinhole.) Put the lid on the camera. Seal the lid on with black electrical tape.
6. Now it’s time to hang your camera!
You need to put some effort into finding a good location. If you want to capture the sun, you need to point the camera towards the equator. In the USA, where I live, that means I’m facing my cameras East, South, or West. If I faced one north, away from the equator, it would still create an image, but there wouldn’t be any sun streaks. There are a few other factors to consider, too: Your camera will need to be attached to a sturdy, non-moving object such as a pole, tree, etc., and you want to place your camera in a bright area that gets a lot of light to get good results.
Once you have a location in mind, you need to securely attach your camera. You can either tape or glue the camera to its location. I have always used electrical tape and tightly secured my cameras by taping around the camera and the tree (or pole) multiple times. There are many solargraphy artists that use silicon glue instead. The substrate you use needs to be weather-resistant and waterproof. I don’t suggest using anything other than silicone glue or electrical tape.
7. Remove the shutter and allow the camera to start the exposure!
Allow it to expose for at least one day, but you can leave it up for a week, a month, a year, etc. The longer you leave it up, the more sun streaks you will have, and the more details will appear in your shadows. I suggest at least 3 weeks of exposure, if you have the patience!
8. Stop exposure
When you’re ready to stop the exposure, go back to your camera and close up the hole with another electrical tape shutter. Cut the camera down. Throw away any garbage. Bring it home to process.
How to Process a Solargraph
- In a dimly lit room, remove the paper negative from the camera. If it’s wet, blow-dry it on cool to fully dry it OR leave it in a pitch-black room/closet to air dry for a few hours.
- Make a high-quality scan on a flatbed scanner (approx 600-900dpi) OR digitally photograph your paper negative. When scanning, the light will more fully expose the paper negative and darken it, so you only have one chance to make a scan – be careful.
- Open the digital file of your paper negative in either Adobe Lightroom or Adobe Photoshop. (Or an app on your phone if you don’t have these programs.)
- Edit your file in the following ways:
a. Invert from Negative to Positive
b. Flip Horizontally
c. Crop and rotate as needed
d. Brighten it up with Exposure as needed
e. Increase contrast as needed and play with highlights/shadows
f. Play with colors as desired
Embrace the element of chance and have fun experimenting with a variety of cameras, exposure times, and editing styles.
If you’re interested in learning more about this process, understanding more of the why behind some of the directions above, getting troubleshooting tips, and even deeper step-by-step directions, please consider purchasing my book, Intro to Solargraphy from my website.
This book is a fully detailed introduction to the process of solargraphy with 48 full-colour pages filled with example solargraphs, instructional photographs and drawings, step-by-step instructions, tips, and more!
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