Holographyforum.org / holowiki.org

Building a table is a good idea. But before that, try building a Michelson interferometer in a sandbox or even on the floor. This could give you an idea how much isolation you really need.
Green VRP-M plates by Slavich (distributed by Integraf in US) are OK. If you can afford them, try Ultimate from France, but I think they are too expensive for learning holography basics.

Yeah, I'd love to take a weekend to visit the guys in Miami, but Florida still has over 100 people dying a day from COVID19 and our Governor is essentially lifting all restrictions and opening the state up. So no field trips for the foreseeable future, I'm afraid.

I think I'm going to finish out the PFG-01 plates I have, then think about building a table so I don't have to shoot on my bathroom sink. That would give me some more space to shoot larger holograms, or use more complex setups. I have one of Dave's PL530 systems, so maybe I can look into getting some green-sensitive plates.

Here's my latest shot. On the first attempt I realized I forget to block the edge so I immediately shot another plate, then processed them together. Interestingly, a shell in the top left corner appears to have moved in the first shot.

[img]https://i.imgur.com/YhhrBqX.jpg[/img]
[img]https://i.imgur.com/UhJHHsP.jpg[/img]

[quote=maskedkoala post_id=71939 time=1600268230 user_id=7459]
Thanks! Any suggestions for the next incremental step?
[/quote]

That is the big question. It all depends on your intent with holography. If you are interested in making display holograms, try a setup where the plate does not touch the object. It will make you think about stability and ease of use. If you are interested in physical principles, try a transmission hologram. If you are interested in chemistry, try pre-swelling or other bleach. But maybe the best idea is as follows. Think how much time and money are you willing to spend on holography. If you come to conclusion that you really want to spend hundreds of hours and hundreds of dollars, then visit any experienced holographer and spend an afternoon in an equipped lab together.

Try and get away from the shiny metal and do something white , put a bunch of sparkly stuff in the background to give you good depth ....great job , keep going !

Thanks! Any suggestions for the next incremental step?

Congratulations! It seems you got over the very beginner's phase.
Now comes the hard part: to decide what to do next.

The card did the trick. The dry erase works well to block the edge for the replay.

And good call, jrburns47, I bought some chemicals off of Phogorapher's Formulary and made up some new developer.

[img]https://i.imgur.com/gRg4rv8.jpg[/img]

I like to use a card to cast a shadow to cover the edge of the plate during recording. Nothing to remove or clean off after the exposure.

For Denisyuk shooting, I like to use a piece of film that's much taller than necessary, to move the line cast by the top edge of the plate further up in the scene. Then, cut the excess material off the top and the scene won't have an unnecessary line across it. Waste a little film for a much better image, after you know everything is working well.

I second what Jody just said. A roll of black photographer's tape, paper based, will be waaaaay better than electrical tape, which has no place in a holography lab because it's constantly in motion, and the glue on it stays gooey. One can always cut the width they need from a 1" wide roll, which should last a long, long time. A small roll of black aluminum foil will also last a lifetime, but you'll find many uses for it (and it's just cool stuff).

Try 3M type 235 black photographer’s tape in 1/4” width of you can find it. Wider versions available on eBay & Amazon.