holga: resolution
DESCRIPTION
A catalog about holga photography--the history, basic set up, and how to achieve specific techniques.TRANSCRIPT
HOLGA RESOLUTION
Written content and design © 2012 Design by amr
sam abell
2WELCOME TO THE WORLD OF HOLGA!So you’ve opened the box and now you’re wondering what the heck
this contraption is and if you’ve just wasted twenty bucks. It seems so
. . . plastic. Well, congratulations! You just got yourself a cheap, plastic
camera! Before you decide to chuck it under your bed, take a minute to
flip through this catalog to see some of the surprisingly beautiful images
holgas are capable of producing.
According to the official holga manual (online at www.freestylephoto.
biz/pdf/holga-manual.pdf ) The holga was born in China in the early 1980s
“as an inexpensive medium format camera.” Unfortunately, it was pushed
aside due to the rise of limelight-stealing 35mm film. Only in the last
decade, have holgas suddenly increased in popularity. Just think, you are
the soon-to-be-proud owner of a historic camera and part of a growing
photographic movement. And you were going to throw it under your bed.
Shooting with a holga is all about resolution. In the most literal sense,
yes, you must consider resolution, or picture quality, when handling
anything of photographic nature. But resolution is also about express-
ing an opinion. Because of the character that is uniquely holga, a holga
photograph can convey powerful opinions—think in terms of framing via
vignetting, and taking advantage of the plastic lens which makes cer-
tain things fall out of focus. The term “resolution” also refers to making
something simpler or being separated into the most basic parts. Likewise,
holgas allow photographers to return to the essence of photography with
minimal controls and simply focus on what makes a photograph amazing.
“As I have practiced it, photography produces pleasure by simplicity. I see something special and show it to the camera. A picture is produced. The moment is held until someone sees it. Then it is theirs.
3Hold your holgas! Before holgaing around and shooting your first roll of
film, you need to understand the basics of holgaism. Holgas are technical-
ly classified as plastic or toy cameras, but they still have several switches.
Have no fear—you’ll soon know what they all are, and you probably won’t
even use all of them anyway. (If you ever forget what something is or where
in the holga it is located, please refer to the handy diagram to the right.)
There are only two ingredients that make up a photograph—light and
time—(and you thought photography was complicated, didn’t you?) so
there are only two things to keep in mind: aperture and shutter speed.
Aperture deals with light and shutter speed primarily deals with time.
Aperture (also called an f-stop) is the opening in the camera that lets
light in to expose the film. The larger the opening, the more light that is
allowed in. Each aperture size is identified by a specific number written out
like this: f/20 or f/13. The tricky thing to remember is that the smaller the
number, the bigger the hole. So f/13 is a bigger opening than f/20.
Your holga has only two apertures. The little switch above the lens lets
you switch between the two settings. For really bright scenes, shoot on
the sunny setting (about f/11), and for cloudy days or not-as-bright scenes
shoot on the cloudy setting ( about f/8).
Shutter speed refers to how long the film is exposed to light. When
you take a picture, a little plastic flap, or shutter, inside lifts open for a
fraction of a second and then quickly closes. Holgas have a shutter speed
of about 1/100th of a second which is fast enough for hand-held shooting.
Now that you know some photography lingo and your way around your
holga, it’s time to prep it for use, and then get the film rolling!
1. Begin by flocking the interior of your camera, including the two
boxy inserts, by painting it with matte black paint. This gets rid of
reflective surfaces and prevents light leaks. Once it’s dry, snap in the
square insert and load your film (Ilford 120 works well).
2. On the back of your holga is an image counter (the little red win-
“I always thought good photos were like good jokes. If you have to explain it, it just isn’t that good.
anonymous
Film advance
Hot shoe
Viewfinder
Camera back
keeper-onner clip
Stra
p m
ount
Aperture
adjustment
Shutter button
Focus ring
On the bottom: Tripod socket & shutter speed adjustment
4
5dow) that tells you what picture you’re on. Point the arrow at the 12, and
then wind, wind, wind the film advance until you see the upside-down
1. (Confused? The square insert produces 12 square pictures per roll of
film so you set it to 12. The other insert allows for 16 photos per roll.)
3. Even though the metal clips should keep the camera back in place,
the backs are infamous for ejecting themselves (sans warning) from
the camera body prematurely exposing your film. To prevent this, tape
your holga together. Yes, tape it together. Do it. Tape along the crevic-
es where the back snaps in place, over the clips, and put a little piece
over the image counter (remove this piece when you advance the film
though). Not only will your camera stay together, but by sealing off the
cracks, you can ward off serious light leaks that would otherwise thwart
a perfect exposure.
4. Now you’re ready to take a photograph! Adjust your shutter speed
and aperture, focus the camera by turning the focus ring (pages 11–13
explain how to focus), and you’re all set up! But before you press the
shutter button, keep in mind that what the viewfinder sees and what
the lens sees are different. Make sure to point the lens at what you
want to shoot instead of relying on the viewfinder. (To prove this point,
try this little test: while looking through the viewfinder put your finger
in front of the lens and then in front of the viewfinder. When do you see
your finger? I thought so.)
5. The last step is to decide if you want to A.) look like you know what
you’re doing or B.) look like a tourist. For option A, use the tripod sock-
et on the bottom of the camera and mount it to a tripod. For option B,
put the strap around your neck. While looking this way no one will take
you seriously, allowing you to more discreetly take incredible pictures.
Please double check that you removed the lens cap, and you’ll be on a
roll! (As long as you’ve advanced the roll of film.)
“Photography, as a powerful medium of expression and communication, offers an infinite variety of perception, interpretation and execution.
ansel adams
6
7 NORMAL SHUTTER SPEEDTwo shutter speed settings are found on the bottom of the camera. When
shooting on “N” (“N” is for normal, that’s good enough for me), the shut-
ter speed is always about 1/100th of a second. Even if you hold the shutter
button down until your finger falls off, the shutter speed will still only be
1/100th of a second. That is great news if there is no tripod handy and you
have to hand-hold.
For borderline obsessive exposure pherds (that’s a really cool mash-up
of the words “photo” and “nerds”), you can shoot at about 2:00 in the af-
ternoon (that lighting is ideal for holga photography), bracket your shots,
and shoot with the help of a hand-held light meter (or the light meter in
your digital camera) to get perfect exposures. (A meter tells you what
aperture and shutter speed are appropriate for the scene to be photo-
graphed.) For everyone else who is not borderline obsessive, just ensure
you shoot with adequate lighting and follow basic exposure guidelines
(refer to the aperture explanation on page 3).
If 1/100th of a second isn’t sufficient, you have three options: mount
a flash on the hot shoe, shoot on Bulb (explained on the next page), or
get clever. For the last option, mount your holga on a tripod and click the
shutter button multiple times without advancing the film. Each click will
expose the film a little more. Two clicks, for example, is the equivalent of
1/50th of a second (1/100 x 2 = 2/100 which reduces to 1/50). Make a chart
for on-the-go referral.
Take three pictures of the same subject and alter the exposure on each photograph. Use the metered exposure as well as an over- and underexposure. This technique better ensures at least one photograph will turn out well for those shots you can’t afford to reshoot.
bracketing
Jaime. Austin Gillins. 2011Photograph courtesy of Austin Gillins
9 BULB SHUTTER SPEEDBulb: For when Normal just isn’t good enough. When shooting on “B” (for
Bulb) a tripod is a must. Setting your holga to the “B” setting allows the
shutter to stay open as long as you hold down the shutter button.
Use Bulb for fireworks, motion blur, light streaks (pictured), to make
running water look soft, and simply to avoid seemingly complex mathe-
matical computations. How many clicks at 1/100th of a second equals a 5
second exposure? Forget it. You’re a photographer, not a mathematician.
It’s a lot easier, and a lot less tiring, to just hold the shutter button down
for 5 seconds than to click 500 times.“Photography takes an instant out of time, altering life by holding it still.
dorothea lange
Ferris Wheel. Kent Barney. 2011Photograph courtesy of Kent Barney
11 FOCUSING FAR AWAYIf you want everything in your photograph to be in focus and you want a
large depth of field (DOF), set your focus ring to the mountain setting,
which will focus for infinity. DOF refers to how much of the plane is in
focus. A photograph with a large DOF, such as Nye (to the right), means
that the things close to the camera, far from the camera, and everything in
between are in focus.
DISCLAIMER: “If you want everything. . .to be in focus.” The term
“everything” is to be thought of loosely. Holgas cannot focus closer than a
few feet away from the lens, and due to nature of the holga and the unpre-
dictability of a plastic lens, something will inevitably go wrong, throwing
something, probably around the edges, out of focus.
“Black and white are the colors of photography. To me they symbolize the alternatives of hope and despair to which mankind is forever subjected.
robert frank
Nye. Robert Curl. 2011Photograph courtesy of Robert Curl
13 FOCUSING A LITTLE CLOSER UPPERFor photographs a little closer to home, set the focus ring to one of the
friendly people settings. Even though the seven-people/polygamist- family setting shows 7 people, this setting is not to be used exclusively
for shooting groups of 7 people. Choose this focus setting to throw things
into focus about 18 feet from your camera lens. The family-of-three set-
ting will focus objects about 6 feet away, and the one-person setting will
focus from about 3 feet away.3 feet
6 feet
18 feet
focus ring icons
Santa Fe 1. Austin Gillins. 2011Photograph courtesy of Austin Gillins
15 HOLGA MODIFICATIONSJust because the camera came the way it did, doesn’t mean you have
to be satisfied with it. Make a resolution to modify your camera! Many
holga-ers modify their cameras, not only the outer appearance (take
another gander at the cameras on page 6), but also the way the appa-
ratus behaves. Popular modifications include altering the aperture size,
focal length, creating custom inserts to go inside the camera, and cutting
shapes out of the lens cap. By going inside and repositioning one dinky
little piece of plastic you can allow your holga to focus at the minimum
distance, which is about 2 feet (maybe closer if you cross your fingers and
hold your breath). Keep in mind that the closer you try to focus, the more
the edges of your photograph will fall out of focus. Woohoo for identifying
a holga paradox!
“You don’t take a photograph, you make it.
ansel adams
Molting. Ashley Ruff. 2011Photograph courtesy of Ashley Ruff
17 VIGNETTINGResolution is about making decisions, so here’s a decision for you to make:
being able to focus closer or having less dramatic vignetting—you can
only choose one. (Vignetting refers to the dark corners and edges in a
photograph, usually in a circular shape. You’ve probably seen this is older
photos, botch Photoshop jobs, and almost every photograph in this cata-
log.) The closer you focus, the more vignetting you get.
Keep in mind that not all holgas are created equal. While some will
create perfect vignetting, some produce uneven or extremely dramatic
vignetting. When it is extremely dramatic, the pictures tend to be circular
and it mimics the illusion of looking through though a pinhole, which will
either cut your subject out of the photograph or really draw your eyes to it.
“The way these images are—. . . sharp in the center and . . . vignette[d] in the corners—is more how we really see. When you’re looking at the world, you’re not seeing a scene that is sharp all the way to the edges and bright all the way to the edges . . . You’re seeing something sharp in the center and then the rest of it is all kind of blurring out.
michelle bates
Untitled. Kent Barney. 2011Photograph courtesy of Kent Barney
19 CHANGING FOCUSThe effect pictured here was achieved by turning the focus ring mid
photograph. To try this technique yourself, set your holga to shoot on Bulb
and mount it on a tripod. Turn the focus ring all the way to the right (so it’s
set to focus up close). Meter your scene to determine how long to leave
the shutter open.
Now it’s time to take the picture. Let’s say that the meter told you the
ideal shutter speed is 3 seconds. With your finger holding the shutter
button down, take the entire 3 seconds to turn the focus ring, in one fluid
movement, all the way to the left. Be careful not to cover up the lens as
you do this. Here’s another example. If your shutter speed is 5 seconds,
take the entire 5 seconds to turn the focus ring. Ten seconds? Take 10
seconds. It’s easy. Get the picture?
“Photography alone of the arts, seems perfected to serve the desire humans have for a moment—this very moment—to stay.
sam abell
Britney. Ashley Ruff. 2011Photograph courtesy of Ashley Ruff
21 MULTIPLE EXPOSURESNo Photoshop was used in the making of this photograph. Seriously. If you
understand the science of multiple exposures it’s relatively easy to achieve
incredible in-camera effects.
A multiple exposure is simply overlapping photographs. Even while
haphazardly shooting without any regard to exposure or composition, you
can still get some cool multiple exposures, but the coolest effects require
a little bit of planning.
When you shoot any photograph, the amount of reflected light from
your subject determines how the film is exposed. Most basically, every-
thing in a photograph that is white has been completely exposed and
everything that is black has not been exposed. If you can keep in mind—
or even control—what is black and what is white in a photograph then you
can compose another photograph on top of the first one and fill in the
black (or unexposed) parts of the photograph.
Two Faced: Joe is a double exposure, meaning it is two photographs.
To get this effect, set up your holga (on a tripod) in a completely dark
room. Light half of the subject’s face and snap a picture, but do not
advance the film. Move the light source and light the other half of the
subject’s face and snap a picture. This technique is a little bit difficult to
master, but is great fun after some practice and trial and error.
“There is one thing the photograph must contain: the humanity of the moment. This kind of photography is realism. But realism is not enough. There has to be vision, and the two together can make a good photograph.
robert frank
Two Faced: Joe. Ashley Ruff. 2011Photograph courtesy of Ashley Ruff
23 PARTIALLY ADVANCING THE FILMOkay, yes, this is technically a multiple exposure, but the effect is slightly
different than the last one. For this technique you simply do not make
a full rotation of the film advance wheel. This allows the edges of your pho-
tographs to be overlapping, essentially creating one long photograph.
To be precise you can mark the halfway point on the film advance
wheel to wind the film the same amount each time. To get a little more
variation, such as in Trees, you can take a more freestyle approach and
advance the film different amounts for each shot.
This photograph was shot using a tripod in order to keep the horizon
line consistent throughout the picture. As the film was advanced, the cam-
era moved slightly in order to show a panoramic view.
Try this technique for the entire roll of film to get one epic 5’ long pho-
tograph. Kudos to you if you can figure out how to print it.
“Photography helps people to see.
berenice abbott
Trees. Ashley Ruff. 2011Photograph courtesy of Ashley Ruff
25 SPECIAL THANKSA great big thank you to Ashley Ruff, Austin Gillins, Cherisa Chappell,
Kent Barney, and Robert Curl for allowing their photographs to be used in
this publication. Thanks also to Ashley, Austin, and Kent for allowing their
customized holgas to be featured.
Now, fellow photographers, pherds, holga-ers (whoever the holga you
are) go out and get your holga on!
For more information on holgas and holga photography please visit microsites.lomography.com/
holga/
resources
Untitled. Cherisa Chappell. 2011Photograph courtesy of Cherisa Chappell