Experimental Photography - Kaleidoscopic Prism

I have also looked in to kaleidoscopic images.

I had investigated kaleidoscopic images before learning that WeeGee had used them, but the fact that he had made my efforts feel more validated.

I had a look online at various kaleidoscopes but none were big enough to fit over my lens. It is possible to buy a kaleidoscopic filter, but prices start around £55. I looked at mirrored prisms, and decided to make my own. I used a tile cutter to some degree of success and cut three strips of mirror that subsequently broke! I stuck these on to card and folded them round to produce a triangle. This rough mock up proved that my idea would work, and so I went to get a bigger one made.
I went to a local glass shop and had three mirrors 115mm wide and 300mm long cut, when placed together they would create an equilateral triangle with a large enough space in which to fit a lens, this cost £20.95 a saving of at least £24.05! - The downside being that I have to carry a large glass prism instead of fitting a small filter to my lens.
Below is my design for the prism made on CAD program:

Here I am applying glue to the edges of the prism, and a photo down the prism of the cutting mat taken on my phone:

You can see that the prism works well, when it is ready I will take it out and shoot some images.

After searching online for prisms to see if anyone had actually used one, I came across photographer Lindsay Adler who used one in a fashion shoot. She admits it was her students’ idea and that her student also made the prism for her, but she has produced some great abstract fashion images: http://blog.lindsayadlerphotography.com/prismatic-fashion-editorial-zink-magazine

http://fstoppers.com/use-a-mirror-prism-to-create-abstract-images-in-camera

The black and white definitely helps with the separation of each cell, and adds to the abstract look. I will take my images in colour so that I have options as some images may suit colour more than black and white, I will also have better ability to edit them in Photoshop if the colours are present.


To go to the next post click here