Category: #comparison-slider

Kaleidoscope projections

I have been taking photos through a kaleidoscope but wanted to show them in a different manner. I decided on using ball-like projections, some of which looked quite interesting. What do you think?

I am showing these using a comparison slider so you can see the difference between the ‘standard’ look and the ‘ball projection’ – drag the slider to reveal the ‘standard look.

This first image was taken using a vintage 50mm enlarger lens to see into the Kaleidoscope:

Kaleidoscope image-1 standard look
Kaleidoscope image-1 ‘Ball projection’

These next 2 pairs were taken using a vintage 24mm Pentax 110 system lens which is tiny (see the setup photos at the end):

Kaleidoscope image-2 standard look
Kaleidoscope image-2 ‘Ball projection’

Kaleidoscope image-3 standard look
Kaleidoscope image-3 ‘Ball projection’

These next two pairs were taken with a mobile phone:

Kaleidoscope image-4 standard look
Kaleidoscope image-4 ‘Ball projection’

The ‘ball projection’ for this one also has the hues ‘shifted’:

Kaleidoscope image-5 standard look

Kaleidoscope image-5 ‘Ball projection’ with colour shift

The following 2 photos show the setup for taking the middle 2 image pairs using the vintage lenses from the Pentax 110 system (110 Instamatic cartridges). As you can see, these are taken very close up – a close-up filter on the front of the lens helped a lot:

View of the camera with the tiny lens peering into the kaleidoscope
View from behind the camera showing the setup

This ‘ball projection’ has, I feel, made the images more interesting – I shall try other methods…