Bioplastic Filters: an analogue Photoshop
Encouraging photo experimentation in a tactile manner
Research Zine DaniÍl van Kesteren Minor: Maker’s Lab 25-06-2020
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Table of contents 2
Pag. Pag. Pag. Pag. Pag. Pag. Pag. Pag. Pag. Pag.
3 Teaser 4 Intro topic 5 Related fields & critique 6 Inspiration & best practices Summary and Outcome 7 Personal motivation & issues 8 Outcomes 14 Test subjects 15 Reframing sessions 16 How-to 17 Trail of evidence
Teaser For years now, professional and hobby photographers have relied on editing software like Adobe Photoshop to make their photos look as beautiful and unique as possible. Before this digital age of still imagery, however, people used analogue cameras that made use of actual filters to apply effects to a photograph. With my Bioplastic Filters, I want to bring us back to this earlier stage of photography. Making your own filters using cheap ingredients found in almost every household is a great and fun way to experiment with the infinite possibilities that the world of photography has to offer.
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Before digital cameras where a thing, filters where already being used. At this stage of photography, filters were mostly used for the reduction of reflection or the balancing of colour, not necessarily for the adding of an effect. Over the years, the use of filters has shifted mostly to an artistic purpose. Apps like Instagram and Snapchat offer a lot of filters to make photographs more appealing to the eye.
Intro topic
My project has been done in the field of Bioplastics. It concerns the making of Bioplastic Filters that can be mounted on a digital camera. Using basic ingredients that can be found in every single household, everyone can make these filters. They serve mainly to encourage people to experiment with camera effects. By applying these filters, you can give very unique effects to a photograph. The main idea of the filters is that every single filter is one of a kind. This means that your photographs will be one of a kind as well. Some filters will be less translucent, making them more useful for close-up photographs. Others will be more translucent, and thus more useful for pictures that are taken from a distance of the subject. The options are endless. A very cool tool for photographers!
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Also, I could bring up the fact that all ingredients and basically the way of making these filters is better for the enviornment, because the filters are biodegradable, but that wasn’t the motivation of my project. I wanted to give photographers a cool way to make photos.
Related fields & critique
I wouldn’t really be sure as to what fields to compare this to. I guess the field of photography has always been about exploration and experimentation. Using filters is not a new concept, I just thought of a way for people to do it themselves, with product from their households. I could be critiqued for not being very original or ground-breaking, but I still stand by my idea because it’s encourages people to experiment.
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Inspiration & best practices
Using books in my own home, I looked at a lot of black and white cinematography to get inspired.
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Photography is something that anyone can get into. Every single smartphone these days is equipped with a more than decent camera. When travelling, a lot of photographers would prefer to take their smartphone with them instead of all kinds of camera equipment, and still be able to take great photos. Editing photos is a big thing within the world of photography. Going the extra mile to give your photographs a personal touch to make sure it’s truly unique. While editting photos online is a lot of fun, the filters I create are supposed to bring us back to a time where what you saw was what you got. It’s not really about addressing any issues, but more about encouragement. I want to encourage people to get out their camera and start taking beautiful photographs.
Personal Motivation & Issues
Summary & outcome
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Outcomes
A lot of my time has been spent in the kitchen for this project. Using different recipes and adding my own ingredients has given me a lot of knowledge when it comes to making the perfect bioplastic filters. Some ingredients worked better than others. Corn starch for example was a big failure. I think that, after like five weeks, it still has not completely dried up.
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The gelatin sheets have really proved to be the best base ingredient for a bioplastic filter recipe. Using three sheets a lot of the times for my final filters, those filters have proved to be as durable and strong as a flexible filter can be. There is of course room for more research.
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To showcase the process of finding the best recipe, not all my final products use this recipe. I wanted to show a progression from the beginning to the end. The first four are not as perfect as the last four, but combined, the eight final filters show a great progression from start to finish.
The added ingredients used in these filters are red berry juice, lemongrass, cayenne pepper, chives and red cabbage. Most of them have gelatin sheets, but the first two filters use gelatin powder. I switched to sheets because of the yellow colour the powder added to the filters.
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It was really fun to experiment with bioplastic recipes to find the best recipe for my filters. Also, as an added bonus, I had to find a way to mount the filters on my camera. I’m glad I was able to find a good solution for that as well, while maintaining my low-cost mentality. Using poster putty to stick the filter onto the UV filter may look a bit primitive at first, but it actually works. It proves that it doesn’t need to be technically advanced to actually work.
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Of course the filters had to be tested as well. I took a lot of photos that can be seen online as well. Some give really cool effects, others give less enthusiastic results in some conditions. A close-up photo in some cases loses too much detail with certain filters.
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Although I was kinda on and off about coloured photographs, Marjolijn still encouraged me to experiment with that as well. I have to say I was pleasantly surprised by the results! The colours plus the filters really let the colours run wild! I was glad Marjolijn pushed me to look beyond what I initially thought would work.
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Of course, the most fun part of a project like this is testing it out in real life. I gave the filters (and my camera) to a friend of mine to play around with. He enjoyed my filters a lot and really liked taking pictures with it. “I think this is a great way to give photography a new and unique spin. You basically see the world differently through the lens. I do think some of the filters give a bit of the same effect, but you can use the filters in other ways to still take unique pictures.”
Test subjects
Of course, if you’re not really that into photography, it would be difficult to notice the small differences that sometimes occur in a photograph taken with two different lenses. They are still there, but easier to spot for those who are really passionate about photography.
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“The idea of making these filters by yourself is really exciting and proves you don’t have to be a genius to make cool stuff. I think these filters do a great job of proving that.
Also, I guess I could say I had a few reframing sessions by myself. Obviously, working on a big project like this during the Covid-19 pandemic is a difficult thing. I know myself well enough to tell I’m quickly tempted to do other things with my time. Sometimes I really needed to force myself to work on the project. One of the ways I did this was to go to my parents’ house, where there would be no distractions.
Reframing sessions
There were a couple of moments where I had to shift the focus of my project. These mainly occurred during the reframing sessions with Laura. First, I wanted to focus more on a platform where interested people could go to, to find recipes for my filters. Then, during one of the sessions with the whole class, I was advised to focus more on the making of the filers themselves. A platform could always be set up afterwards.
Making decisions within the project, like the analogue or digital camera question, were done with Marjolijn during the sessions with her. She has great knowledge when it comes to photography, so she knew what was best for each situation. She also encouraged me to experiment with coloured photos as well, and not just black and white. Although I first didn’t want to work with coloured images, because I’m a bigger fan of black and white, in the end I was very surprised with the results and actually liked them a lot more than I thought I would. 15
How-to
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Pour 60 ml of water into a glass. Use ingredients of your choice to mix with the water so that the water colours. Add 7 grams (5.5 ml) of glycerin to the pot Put 3 sheets of gelatin in water to soak for about 5 minutes. Wring out the sheets, cut them up and add the bits to the pot. Cook the liquid on medium heat for about 10 minutes, whilst stirring with a spoon. When the liquid is viscous, remove the froth and pour the liquid onto the glass plate Let dry for a couple of days. Use a pen and your UV filter to draw a circle on the bioplastic. Use a knife to cut out the circular shape.
Trail of evidence
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