This week’s camera challenge involved the Diana Instant Camera! Yes, INSTANT CAMERA. The challenge was to take portrait photos of an artist in her studio. I wasn’t sure what to expect - would this be insanely easy OR really hard?! I’d taken snapshots on an instant camera before, but never tried to capture professional looking images on a TOY CAMERA.
When using the Diana Instant Camera, there are alot of variables. There is no light meter, so you have to really guess at your exposures. You have 4 aperture settings you can choose from depending on your lighting situation. You also have to set your distance from your subject on the lens. The measurements are done in meters, so if you're American like me, you have to do a little mental conversion. 1 meter equals about 3 feet - commit that to memory when shooting with the Diana Instant Camera!
For this shoot, I photographed artist Jessica Camilli in her studio on Fujifilm Instax Square Monochrome Film. There was a lot of natural light, which was great except for the fact that it was partly cloudy out so the light varied dramatically during the shoot. I was continuously having to change my camera settings and guess what the proper exposure would be. This was challenging because I only had 24 shots total for this shoot and I needed to nail as many as possible.
I loved being able to physically hold the photos in my hand immediately after taking them. The slower process of waiting to see how the photo turned out before shooting the next one allowed for a very relaxed photoshoot and some great conversation. When I did nail an exposure, I loved the dramatic results the Diana Instant Square Camera produced with the black and white Fujifilm Instax Square Monochrome Film I was using.
After the shoot, David scanned all the photos I took using a flatbed scanner to digitize them. Overall, this camera was challenging to use for a portrait shoot but I am pretty pleased with the results!
I also had a couple shots of some random color film that was left in the camera too!
Model: Jessica Camilli @rapid.eyes
Equipment & Material Used:
Diana Instant Square Camera: https://shop.lomography.com/us/diana-instant-square-deluxe-kit-classic-edition
Fujifilm Instax Square Monochrome Film: https://amzn.to/3HbgSzB
