Captured the newest, most delightful addition to my photographic equipment arsenal, a groovy lil’ Kodak Duaflex camera, complete with vintage dust and scratches on its sweet baby lens (the more dust and scratches, the more character in the outcome!). I’ve experimented a little during the last week with TTV technique and I am really enjoying the results. I love the old school look of the images, complete with a halo effect around the subjects that adds a bit of motion, almost a 3D feel. I also dig that there is no need for adding any effects afterwards, as the images have plenty of built in “texture” and “movement” and the lighting is already warm and perfect! The only thing necessary to do edit-wise is you need to crop the image since your modern day lens is a good 8 inches or so away from the vintage lens. Therefore, you get to keep in a small portion of the dark frame around the edges (you decide how much), further enhancing that unique old fashioned flavor.

TTV, or through the viewfinder, is an exciting alternative to traditional photography. Basically, you take your digital high tech camera and place it above the lens of the antique camera, in my case a nifty Kodak Duaflex and start snapping. The Duaflex lens is located on the top in the form of a convex bubble. (So you are looking straight down to take pictures as opposed to straight ahead with it pressing against your eye.) To avoid the glare from light sources that might reflect off the vintage camera’s lens, it’s best to use a makeshift dark box that works like a tunnel between the new camera and old one. I just cut a long cardboard tube shape box in half and then I held it against the top of the old camera with my left hand then shot with my right hand. There are lots of contraptions that can be made that will fit onto the old camera so you do not need to hold it all the time, but I was so anxious to get started I just dove in. Soon I will build a more suitable system so I don’t have so much to juggle! Using a macro lens is optimum in this format.

This image was captured in natural light. Minor post editing, no cropping.

Some fledgeling results: