Jodi: TtV — Through the Viewfinder — Love

I have found a new love! It’s called TtV (through the viewfinder) and I was hooked the minute I saw this post from Julie Bergmann, one of my FB friends and an incredibly creative spirit.

Her link intrigued me — especially with my collection of vintage cams — the main reason I started collecting them was my weird love of the way the pictures look in camera. I love the noise, the light leaks, the vintage feel and the dust! I went to her flickr stream and fell in love!

I searched flickr and found a group with 6600+ members. The pictures were absolutely breathtaking — like I’d stepped into a magical world! So, when I realized that I already had the cameras that would allow me to do this type of photography — my Brownie Hawkeye, my Kodak Duaflex and my Argus 75 — I couldn’t wait to get started!

I needed a bit more technical information about the process so I went to one of my favorite photography sites, JPG, and found this article. It really helped to make sense of it all. Another very informative and goofy site is Photojojo. Their article on TtV really simplifies the process for anyone who’s itching to try it out.

The one thing that I honestly haven’t done yet is to make the contraption that they talk about — the one that joins the 2 cameras together for added stability and so that no light is able to get in. So far, I’ve not been disappointed with any of my shots but, I do plan on rigging up something in the summer, once I can get outside and shoot for extended periods of time. I want the full TtV experience!

The first picture is what the process actually looks like. I’m aiming into the viewfinder of my Brownie Hawkeye and taking a picture of what is in the viewfinder.

The neat thing is that there is no film involved! I use my Canon 7D DSLR and my 100 mm macro lens — this gives me a nice, crisp shot of what is in the viewfinder of my Hawkeye. Here is a SOOC (straight out of camera) shot of what is downloaded from my 7D and before any editing.


The viewfinder of the Hawkeye.


I really like that there is not alot of editing involved. I crop out everything but the thick black border — the hallmark of TtV, regardless of the vintage camera that you use — and depending on how I’m feeling, I may saturate, de-saturate or run a vintage action on it.

The final TtV image. I left this one unedited to show you the dreamy, noisy feel to the image.

My boys through the viewfinder.

I edited this one of my toddler more true to TtV. Darker, blurrier, and noisy!

Another characteristic to TtV shots is that they are reversed. I took this picture of an old telephone with my 7D and my Kodak Duaflex IV. You’ll see the letters and numbers are reversed. Some photographers choose to flip the image while editing so that it is visually correct — I don’t. I like the quirky look.


An old Northern Electric phone done in TtV and sepia-toned. This image was my very first sale in my Etsy shop! It’s my favorite!

Winter in Timmins, ON. All I did to edit this one was slide the saturation up a notch. The sky was beautiful that day!

My husband. Edited to have a 70s feel.

Me. My daughter took this extreme closeup. Boo!

That’s my new love, TtV, in a nutshell. It’s definitely not for everyone — if you like clean, sharp pictures, you probably never made it to the end of this article! Ha! If you’re a lover of noise, speckles and something different — like I am — go and get yourself a Duaflex or an Argus and get shooting!