Waves, Slit-scan, Head is Swimming

I’m finally starting in on another research thread of exploring “slow exposures” – slit-scan photography.  My head hurts trying to pre-visualize what something is going to look like in the end.  Instead of exposing the whole frame with a long exposure, you work by exposing small areas (slits in this case) that move across the frame over a long period of time. I thought I would put up some some test images just to see how it feels.

I feel a bit like this seagull, lost in what happens.

Over the last 6 months I hired a great programmer, Mark Jarzynski of the IRC (on his own time), to bring together a slew of aspects that many people have played with over the years.  With digital media, you can re-create the analogue effects of slit-scan photography and have many more options and control. He did a great job. It is open source, so if you are comfortable with terms like git-hub, sudo, python, command line programs, etc., check it out. It is Beta and I am out of funding for him to do much more, but it is working terrific for what I want. Here is a link to his GitHub page: https://github.com/markjarzynski/slitscan

I spend as much time in Premiere adjusting videos before sending them to his software for processing.  If you want to understand more fully what slit-scan is, google it.  It is almost as old as photography itself – really came into its own when “film” was invented.  This allowed the photo emulsion to be “scrolled” behind a stationary or moving lens. As opposed to glass and metal plates that didn’t move so well during exposure.

I might just start making paste or marbleised paper for book liners.

I imagine these will look much different in a week or so.

So as a reward to you for making it through this far, here is a test from last summer where I was trying to figure out what aspects of slit-scan would work for me.  In my dreams, I would like to animate the waves.