Wood getting darker over time.

[Joe Hillmann]

I am trying to figure out what type of wood is the quickest to get darker when exposed to sunlight. I am playing with pinhole cameras and want to try using a piece of wood for the film (I know it will take years for the image to develop)

[Bill White]

Cherry will darken over time. Sunlight will hasten color change. Think that you'll need a tight grained wood for your purpose.
Bill

[Joe Hillmann]

I was thinking of something like poplar or pine because they are nice and white. I know that pine darkens pretty quick in direct sunlight. I don't know if poplar darkens much but I like the nice tight grain of it and it's whiteness. I will have to get a piece of cherry and set it in the window to see what happens.

I have successfully used nice new sheets of cardboard as film in a pinhole camera before it takes about 3 months in the summer for the image to be burned in enough to make out what it is.

Are there any stains that would are easily bleached out (get lighter) when exposed to direct sunlight?

I wonder what cheap fabric would do as film, they can be sunbleached in days if left on the line to long.

[Quinn McCarthy]

You can darken cherry quickly using easy off. Try it on a piece of scrap first.

Quinn

[Sam Murdoch]

Mahogany darkens up very fast too - like cherry. Pine, as you know darkens, but more slowly. ThasallIknow :D

[Terry Beadle]

Paudak changes color quite quickly IMO.

[Jim Andrew]

Mullberry darkens from orange to a dark red, hear it keeps darkening till it looks the color of walnut.

[Bill Edwards(2)]

I've seen Purple Heart turns almost black.

[Stephen Cherry]

I think that walnut lightens up.

[Todd Burch]

From my experience, Mahogany is the fastest to darken that I have seen.

After about 40 years, fir, with BLO on it, get's pretty dark too. What's your time frame? :D

[george wilson]

The thing is,AFTER you take the wood out of the camera,it will continue to darken ALL OVER due to light in the room.

[ed vitanovec]

I'm working with Cherry right now and I notice the wood getting darker days after sanding.

[Lex Boegen]

You could put a coating of photographic emulsion directly on the wood, and then expose and process it like film. I would seal the wood with a clear poly or epoxy finish first, to keep the chemicals from soaking into the wood.

[Joe Hillmann]

I did one test with a piece of cardboard that changed it's color dramatically in 3 days of direct sunlight. It took 6 months in the camera to begin to see the outline of my house which it was pointing at. Cherry might be what I will try. I want to nail it to an abandoned house near me and take a picture of the barn (it will take years for the image to be burned into the wood and the barn may not be standing by then) I am also hoping if this works I will be able to protect the final picture for further darkening by putting it under archival glass so I can display it proudly rather than keep it hidden away to protect it.

[Joe Hillmann]

You could put a coating of photographic emulsion directly on the wood, and then expose and process it like film. I would seal the wood with a clear poly or epoxy finish first, to keep the chemicals from soaking into the wood.

Lex, I had thought of that but this is more an experiment in "simplest possible photography"