Shoesting holography

[FloggedSynapse]

^^ should be 'Shoestring holography'

I've been desirous of creating a hologram since childhood. Recently purchased a $120.00 kit from integraf.com and succeeded in finally creating a few holograms. It was not as difficult as I'd imagined - difficult part was developing the film.

I read about the theory of how these holograms are made - interfering wavefronts and all that - and the more I thought about it the less I comprehended However, holograms are beautiful and magic. When I saw the faint and delicate 'contact' (white light reflection ?) image etched into the high resolution film I was awed: (looks better under white light, however I wanted it seen under laser light)



To create the above hologram I simply rested the hologram emulsion (film) on top of some coins and exposed to uncollimated laser light for 1 second.

Creating these required the light from an unfocused laser diode and a film plate. That's it - no lenses or complicated apparatus required. Below is a picture of my hologram board top:


Above image is apparatus I used to create transmission holograms - objects being holo'd rest in front of the film plate. The laser is DIY - sony 16x DVD diode (125mA .. ~70-90mW), uncollimated. This yielded a 1 second exposure time.

The bubblewrap under the board reduces vibrations. I live on the 6th floor a high-rise apartment. I exposed the film at 3:00 am to avoid vibrations in the area. There are some vibration bands in the hologram, fortunately not enough to ruin it. I found the laser required 15 minutes to equilibrate, though every hologram attempt was a success.

Here's a video of the transmission hologram (marbles and glass trinkets):



Above holograms were created with Slavich 03M emulsions. Recently puchased some 01 film, which is better for transmission holograms - my primary interest.

I will be creating more of these magic images!

[Jem]

Congratulations!!

Well done you, that's an excellent first attempt at a transmission hologram, I wish my first attempts had been as successful as that.

I notice in the video there are what looks like a few horizontal band visible. This looks like it's from light entering the edge of the glass plate from the top edge and due to internal reflection the laser light bounces about inside the glass creating this effect. If you run a black felt tip pen along the top edge of the glass prior to exposure you'll cure this problem.

Holograms are wonderful and it's even more exciting when you've made them yourself. Keep up the good work and please keep posting your results.

Cheers

Jem

[White-Light]

Great hologram.

I still have one Jem did of an angel sat on my sideboard at home. My mum absolutely loves it and I often catch her holding it up to the light.

Holography is a wonderful hobby and I admire anyone with the patience to dabble in it.

I love the idea but technically creating them and the cost of doing so is something that's beyond me. I'm not patient at everything and I think holography is one of those hobbies where if I didn't get perfection quickly I'd lose interest. My biggest flaw is I'm an absolute perfectionist.

Take a look at this site, some of the holograms are fantastic:

http://www.rabbitholes.com/

The avatar one is wonderful.

Now if someone could show me how to do that in a shed, I doubt you'd see me for ages!

[FloggedSynapse]

Congratulations!!

Well done you, that's an excellent first attempt at a transmission hologram, I wish my first attempts had been as successful as that.

I notice in the video there are what looks like a few horizontal band visible. This looks like it's from light entering the edge of the glass plate from the top edge and due to internal reflection the laser light bounces about inside the glass creating this effect. If you run a black felt tip pen along the top edge of the glass prior to exposure you'll cure this problem.

Holograms are wonderful and it's even more exciting when you've made them yourself. Keep up the good work and please keep posting your results.

Cheers

Jem

Appreciate your advice on opaquing the top of the glass plate. More stuff to do in the dark - opening the film for the first time was a bit crazy, as it had to be done by feel in the dark

[FloggedSynapse]

Great hologram.

I still have one Jem did of an angel sat on my sideboard at home. My mum absolutely loves it and I often catch her holding it up to the light.

Holography is a wonderful hobby and I admire anyone with the patience to dabble in it.

I love the idea but technically creating them and the cost of doing so is something that's beyond me. I'm not patient at everything and I think holography is one of those hobbies where if I didn't get perfection quickly I'd lose interest. My biggest flaw is I'm an absolute perfectionist.

Take a look at this site, some of the holograms are fantastic:

http://www.rabbitholes.com/

The avatar one is wonderful.

Now if someone could show me how to do that in a shed, I doubt you'd see me for ages!

My point was (among other things) holograms are not expensive to create. Assuming you've got a laser < $100 spent on film and developer, and a little tedious work.. you've got a hologram

Those synthetic holograms (rabbitholes.com) are very very impressive. Considering they are a specialty/boutique item the cost does not surprise me. It's been possible for years to create an interference pattern from an abstract 3D model - or from a 2D image. Each of those holograms likely represent 100's of GBs of data, which must be calculated and transferred to film.