Through the Viewfinder (TtV) photography is a photographic or videographic technique in which a

photograph A photograph (also known as a photo, or more generically referred to as an ''image'' or ''picture'') is an image created by light falling on a photosensitivity, photosensitive surface, usually photographic film or an electronic image sensor. Th ...

video Video is an Electronics, electronic medium for the recording, copying, playback, broadcasting, and display of moving picture, moving image, visual Media (communication), media. Video was first developed for mechanical television systems, whi ...

motion picture film Film stock is an analog device, analog medium that is used for recording film, motion pictures or animation. It is recorded on by a movie camera, film developing, developed, film editing, edited, and projected onto a screen using a movie proj ...

is shot with one

camera A camera is an instrument used to capture and store images and videos, either digitally via an electronic image sensor, or chemically via a light-sensitive material such as photographic film. As a pivotal technology in the fields of photograp ...

through the

viewfinder In photography, a viewfinder is a device on a camera that a photographer uses to determine exactly where the camera is pointed, and approximately how much of that view will be photographed. A viewfinder can be mechanical (indicating only direct ...

of a second camera. The viewfinder thus acts as a kind of lens filter."Mirroring Medusa: counterveillance in ShootingBack", Proceedings of the IEEE International Conference on Information Visualization, Jieun Rhee Dept. of Art History, Boston Univ., MA, pp408-412, 1999Steve Mann, “ShootingBack.” The Art of Detection: Surveillance in Society. Ed. Jennifer Riddell. Exhibition catalogue at MIT List Visual Art Center. Cambridge: 1997. The most popular method involves using a

digital camera A digital camera, also called a digicam, is a camera that captures photographs in Digital data storage, digital memory. Most cameras produced today are digital, largely replacing those that capture images on photographic film or film stock. Dig ...

as the image taking camera and an intact

twin-lens reflex camera A twin-lens reflex camera (TLR) is a type of camera with two objective Photographic lens, lenses of the same focal length. One of the lenses is the photographic objective or "taking lens" (the lens that takes the picture), while the other is use ...

(TLR) or pseudo-TLR as the "viewfinder" camera.Shutterbug, TtV Photography
(accessed July 29, 2010) TLRs typically have square waist-level viewfinders, with the viewfinder plane at 90 degrees to the image plane. The image in a TLR viewfinder is laterally reversed, i.e. it is a mirror image. Most photographers use a cardboard tube or other apparatus connecting the two cameras in order to eliminate stray light and prevent reflections from appearing on the viewfinder glass or on the lens of the imaging camera. Depending on the model of TLR, the resulting image may have an old-fashioned feel to it, often with

vignetting In photography and optics, vignetting ( ) is a reduction of an image's brightness or saturation toward the periphery compared to the image center. The word '' vignette'', from the same root as ''vine'', originally referred to a decorative b ...

, blurred edges, distortion and dust. TLR models popular among TtV photographers have a brilliant type ('bubble glass') viewfinder. They include the Ansco Anscoflex, Argus 75, Kodak Duaflex and

Kodak Brownie The Brownie was a series of camera models made by Eastman Kodak and first released in 1900. It introduced the snapshot to the masses by addressing the cost factor which had meant that amateur photography remained beyond the means of many people ...

History

While waist-level viewfinders have been common in box cameras since the beginning of the 20th century, large viewfinders of the sort that are suitable for TtV photography became popular in the late 1920s and 1930s with

medium format Medium format has traditionally referred to a film format in photography and the related cameras and equipment that use film. Nowadays, the term applies to film and digital cameras that record images on media larger than the used in 35&n ...

TLR and pseudo TLR cameras such as the

Rolleiflex Rolleiflex is a long-running and diverse line of high-end cameras originally made by the German company Franke & Heidecke, and later Rollei-Werke. History The "Rolleiflex" name is most commonly used to refer to Rollei's premier line of med ...

and the

Voigtländer Brillant The Voigtländer Brillant is a range of pseudo- TLR cameras, and later true TLR cameras, taking 6 × 6 cm exposures on 120 film, made by Voigtländer from 1932. Famed Hungarian-Dutch photographer Eva Besnyö used a Brillant for her ...

. Similar large, clear square viewfinders were popular in TLRs and pseudo TLRs until the mid-1960s. These medium format cameras became less popular with the advent of 35mm SLRs and compact cameras in the 1960s and 1970s. The idea of photographing an image through the viewfinder of such a camera is relatively new, and TtV photography and filmography has come into use with the advent of digital cameras and

EyeTap An EyeTap is a concept for a wearable computer, wearable computing device that is worn in front of the human eye, eye that acts as a camera to record the scene available to the eye as well as a display to superimpose computer-generated imagery o ...

devices. Before the advent of digital photography it was necessary to use extension tubes to photograph a close-up object such as a viewfinder, and it was difficult to judge focusing precisely. Both compact digital cameras and digital SLRs are able to focus on close objects without the need for extension tubes, and their autofocus function and digital viewing screen make it easy to focus and judge framing and exposure. Moreover, the EyeTap device captures exactly what the eye sees, and therefore can capture video recordings of anything that the human eye can look into. It is thus much better suited to this type of photography/videography than most previously known cameras. U.S. Patent 6614408 (S. Mann, 1999), entitled "Eye-tap for electronic newsgathering, documentary video, photojournalism, and personal safety", describes this method of using 2 cameras, the first of which is a wearable camera, and the second camera is handheld, so as to record the experience of one camera looking through a second camera: (emphasis added) In addition, the popularity of digital photography and of on-line auction sites has led to a big increase in the number lot of older medium format TLRs and pseudo TLRs on the second hand market. Many people find it more convenient to use these cameras for TtV photography than to use them with film.

TtV video

Videos shot using TtV are known as "Meta Documentaries", an example of which was ShootingBack, by S. Mann, in which a covert EyeTap wearable camera was used to shoot through the viewfinder of various standard hand-held video and motion picture film cameras. In some situations both of the two cameras record, and the resulting "Meta Documentary" is edited down from both camera feeds (the camera being looked into, as well as the camera that's looking into its viewfinder). In other cases, the second camera is just a "dummy" camera that does not actually record, and its purpose is only to be looked through.

Equipment and practicalities

The following equipment is required: # A "bottom camera" through the viewfinder of which the photograph will be taken. Typically this is a medium format TLR or pseudo TLR. # A "top camera" which will be used to take the photograph. Typically this is a digital SLR or digital compact camera with a macro lens or macro function. # A "contraption" to link the two cameras and block out any excess light. The contraption may be a simple cardboard tube, or an open ended box that fits around the bottom camera.

Post-processing

Post-processing can be done with image editing software. This normally involves cropping the image to a square and straightening it. The cropping is necessary because in most cases the (normally square) viewfinder image covers only about 25- 50% of the area of the (normally rectangular) digital picture. Additionally some photographers prefer to 'flip' the TtV image so that it is no longer a mirror image, especially if the image contains lettering. Color and saturation adjustments depend on the taste of the photographer, some photographers prefer to keep such adjustments to a minimum while others prefer more radical adjustments, such as the "Urban Acid" action for the image editing programs

Adobe Photoshop Adobe Photoshop is a raster graphics editor developed and published by Adobe Inc., Adobe for Microsoft Windows, Windows and macOS. It was created in 1987 by Thomas Knoll, Thomas and John Knoll. It is the most used tool for professional digital ...

GIMP Gimp or GIMP may refer to: Clothing * Bondage suit, also called a gimp suit, a type of suit used in BDSM * Bondage mask, also called a gimp mask, often worn in conjunction with a gimp suit Embroidery and crafts * Gimp (thread), an ornamental tr ...

References

External links