How to Make a Microdot: Vintage Spy Photography

If we ever regress to an analog age through some computer-busting apocalyptic event, then those who control the film supply will monopolize clandestine communications.
Did you catch all 5 Bond movie references hidden throughout the video?
I've wanted to try this out since coming across this thread by @hexadecim8 here: hexadecim8/status/1277725141825400833
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00:00 - Intro
01:57 - Materials
03:17 - How to Shoot A Microdot
05:22 - Deciphering the Dot
07:00 - Conclusion

[@terminusest9179]

I'm late to this but I solved the 2 microdots you gave! 1st. 7 letter box: THIS MICRO MESSAGE WILL SELF DESTRUCT IN FORTY TWO SECONDS 2nd. 4 letter box: SHAKEN NOT STIRRED

[@videomichel]

I stumbled across the technique of microdots in a report I was reading and wanted to know more. I found your video and I am impressed with the work that obviously was put into it. Well explained, and well delivered. Thank you!

[@ImitativePhotography]

Thank you for watching!

[@vegafem]

I just read "The Testaments" and wanted to learn more about microdots. Your video DELIVERED; I didn't expect to realize I was capable of creating them myself! I really, really appreciate the time you spent researching, writing, and filming this. Your talent and passion shines.

[@ImitativePhotography]

Interesting, I didn't know they were in that series of novels. Thank you for watching!

[@emmab5424]

Yep I came here from that as well. This was so cool! I love that I can connect reading to real life.

[@NineZeroHero]

“The Testaments” are you referring to the novel by Margaret Atwood ? I haven’t read it but I searched for it after reading your comment above.. 💭

[@Zyaxsor]

love your style, Great vid and quick to the point

[@pain.6177]

Man, I don’t know why this video has low numbers, it’s genuinely interesting and actually made sit through a KZbin video, rooting for you account to grow. Keep up the good content!

[@ImitativePhotography]

Thanks for your support! I can now say Pain is what keeps me going 😁

[@bank8489]

This is incredible. Great video, well-edited, well thought out, genuinely good content. Keep it up, man.

[@ImitativePhotography]

Thanks man!

[@lambchvps]

This was really well researched, edited, narrated, and even had a Metal Gear reference. Bro... how have I not come across this channel before

[@ImitativePhotography]

Thanks man, I appreciate you!

[@tmanF4]

This video was awesome! I saw a video about microdots, and thought I'd look up if anyone had made one. You were one of the first videos that popped up and I'm so happy it did! Keep them coming.

[@ImitativePhotography]

Thank you, very happy to hear this vid helped you. There's more to come!

[@mireel]

Great work man keep that quality consistently you will reach to millions.

[@ImitativePhotography]

Thanks for the inspiration!

[@joshhyyym]

This is lots of fun. I really enjoyed the video. Thanks for putting it together. This is the most straightforward guide to actually making microdots that I've seen.

[@dr.florence]

This was fun to watch and well made! 🙏🏽👏🏽

[@shellygoins]

Fantastic video! I visited the Spy Museum in Washington D.C. and wanted to learn more about microdots. Thank you for sharing your passion, talents, and research with us!

[@ImitativePhotography]

Awesome, I'll have to check out that museum one day.

[@sewlatido4373]

Same. Great museum. Is there a recommended distance you should be from the second photo? I noticed the microdots were different sizes.

[@merangreen]

Just stumbled across your video and wanted to add that I found it very entertaining and quite well done! I'd always wondered about microdots: thank you for the video!

[@ImitativePhotography]

Thanks!

[@HellaSmokinGMA]

Cracked them both, and thanks to you, now my house is gone.

[@ImitativePhotography]

😂

[@daniellestoll1879]

Amazing video! Just read a suspense book that described this technique but I wasn’t able to understand how a a photo can be in a microdot. This video is very didactique ❤

[@ImitativePhotography]

Interesting, seems many people find this video after reading fiction. Thanks for watching!

[@azioprism3635]

*very old method but still funny to see people learn about it decades later ;)*

[@CoalRose0]

Another great video! This is your CIA application, right? 😋 [SPOILER] I figured out the hidden messages. The bonus one is "Shaken, not stirred" and the main one is "This micro-message will self-destruct in forty-two seco💥

[@ImitativePhotography]

Well done! Now I know who to contact if I ever need to "put together a team". 😂

[@drnizamb4451]

Excellent work, you're the man! I really enjoyed that. Bravo!

[@h7opolo]

mind blown: a photograph of a photograph renders nanoscale text and graphics!!!

[@janvertetic2677]

Your video was just amazing ! Liked subscribed, keep up the good work, man. Looking forward your next video.

[@ImitativePhotography]

Thanks Jan!

[@joshloock3542]

This is extremely cool. I've been into film photography for years but I have never heard of this!! I will definitely be trying .

[@ImitativePhotography]

Nice, let me know how it goes!

[@OTOss8]

Really good stuff man. I'm impressed.

[@kashmirha]

Great jokes man! :D Like the James Bond / Mission impossible theme. Oh, and the procedure and the historical bacground is intersting. I newer thought they used it in the 19th century.

[@twarkmain]

the same scene from MI3 made me curious, thanks for the video and the code. Don't want to spoil the answer.

[@tbirch55]

Was doing research for a film script idea I have about sending chemical formulas in secret. Found this immediately! Excellent. I think techniques like this must still be in use since you cannot trust sending information, even encrypted, over the Internet.

[@ImitativePhotography]

Wow, sounds like a pretty cool idea!

[@billymoretti8437]

Very Cool!!! And I like your sense of humor....Very well done! Can i use a spy camera like a Minox B?

[@ImitativePhotography]

Thanks! I've never tried the Minox B but it looks like it could do the job.

[@alphablender]

THANK YOU MAN THIS IS AMAZING GREAT STYLE AND I LOVED THE GOLDEN EYE JOKE...THANKSSSS!!

[@TheMuser]

I just read the book 'Everyone in my family has killed someone ' and here I am

[@laurengrondman]

Was just watching a video about the CIA and they mentioned a micro dot and this video helped it all make sense! Thank you 😊

[@TheRSfactor]

That's brilliant! Thank you for the welcome humour, and the amazing technique.

[@vichenzadoorian7551]

This micro message will self destruct in forty two seconds

[@aleksterziev]

Dude that was awesome! :D Love the puns!

[@ImitativePhotography]

Thanks, I worked all night on them 😁

[@miller2675]

You got my like as soon as you said "dye another day." 😊

[@diplomatic.haircut]

Came for the microdot lesson; stayed for the Bond references.

[@thethirdman225]

Very good explanation. Enjoyed the puns too. Well done.

[@vitkomusic6624]

2,5k views? This video is underrated...

[@BeingQuiShawn]

This is incredibly made, a fun idea, and so interesting!🎉

[@TheOnlyDamien]

I love this video and most of all you, thanks for making this so entertaining you're the absolute best.

[@ImitativePhotography]

Thanks for watching!

[@flufo]

SO good dude so much respect for what you do

[@Agoose1296]

This micro message will self descruct in forty two seconds

[@andyallen893]

hi just found your video on making microdots, epic!! i'm working on a project for my end of year masters degree in fine art and this is excately what I was looking for! I am looking to make microdot maps. question: when you photographed it the second time was the distance to the image the same? how big does the original have to be? would it possible to use a relatively small image from the internet ie 600 px? thanks again for a very informative video

[@ImitativePhotography]

Hey Andy, glad you found my video! The original document was a full letter-size page, and the first picture was taken at a distance where the page filled the viewfinder. Since I used a 50 mm lens, the camera was about half a meter away from the page. You can definitely use a smaller image, just make sure that if you plan on filling the entire viewfinder the minimum focus distance of your lens is appropriate for the shorter distance. In the second photograph, the board filled the entire viewfinder so it was shot further back (just over 1 m away). I also did some test shots a bit further back (2 and 3 m away) and I still got legible results although it’s trickier to focus on it with the microscope because the dot is naturally smaller. My advice is to be prepared to go through an entire roll with several test shots until you get the results you want, since maps will have finer details than my blocky letters.

[@lilblkcloud]

Beautifully done. My short story will be all the better for having watched this. 😎

[@don_miko]

It's been 5 hours and the message still hasn't destructed😜

[@ImitativePhotography]

Try shaking it a bit 😁

[@VLif3]

Great video and editing. Thank you for sharing

[@wailingalen]

Very cool spy soundtrack!!!!

[@jacobblomquist5288]

Decoded: THIS MICROMESSAGE WILL SELF DESTRUCT IN FOURTY TWO SECONDS Extra: SHAKEN NOT STIRRED

[@ImitativePhotography]

Well done!

[@joshridhar]

Great work man!! Very nicely made! I was wondering if we can produce a colour photograph using same technique?

[@ImitativePhotography]

It will probably be more difficult to get accurate colors because it's not as simple as just inverting the negative as it is with black and white.

[@urbanskisv]

In 1972, I was in 10th grade, we lived Near Mt. Baldy Sun Valley Idaho Ski Resort, me and an older fellow Used my dad's season ski pass card as a pattern and made 3 fake season passes and skied free for 3 months until the season ended. Then we moved to near Seattle, Washington, and in January of 1974, me and 3 of my high school ski buddy friends made the same kind of fake season passes for Crystal Mountain ski area, and we all skied free the rest of that season!! Them sure were the good 'ol days, A??

[@philipphortnagl2486]

Great video

[@ULTRA5364]

You're the man!

[@TekCroach]

I could learn something wonderful. thanks.

[@marcelopinto8713]

Really very interesting, thank you very much!

[@mcb187]

I wonder how far you could take this with film like MZ-3, ultra-fine grain film made for microfiche. Fill a 35mm frame with documents, then take a photo, then shrink that down again. Bet you could fit a good 12 pages of text in there.

[@gurkanucar]

Nice example

[@DEATHxNVK3]

Micro dot is always fun

[@pepn]

Great video !

[@camdynkellett6782]

That was really cool!

[@143jaia]

THIS MICRO MESSAGE WILL SELF DESTRUCT IN FORTY TWO SECONDS

[@pianobyjs]

Hey, I wonder why did you shoot 2 times, cant you just get a really small image or shoot the paper from very far away so that you have a microdot on the first try

[@ImitativePhotography]

The first time you shoot it the negative inverts the tones so it becomes white text on black background, and then the second time it's inverted again and becomes black text on white background, just like the original document. This might not seem like a big deal for text but for more complex documents with diagrams it would just make it easier to read under a regular microscope as it more closely resembles the original document. If you don't mind the reversal then you could probably do the things you mentioned, but also remember one of the original goals of microdots was to shrink regular sized documents down so photographing an already small image would be kind of redundant.

[@DJ-hy8wf]

This micro message will self destruct in forty two seconds!... That was fun thanks (7*7= 49)

[@ImitativePhotography]

That's right!

[@jokercrabb2366]

what lens and camera was used?

[@ImitativePhotography]

Pentax K1000 and 50mm lens.

[@EricPham-gr8pg]

Just like DNA is very small but contain so much earth and human habitat information since beginning of time

[@aminarahman2429]

Thanks a lot for the video!!

[@ImitativePhotography]

Thanks for watching!

[@c.baldez4140]

Thats really Nice!!! May I ask you if it is possible do the same with photos?

[@ImitativePhotography]

Yep, anything that can be photographed can be shrunk down to microdot size.

[@c.baldez4140]

@@ImitativePhotography do you know any machine that is possible to Transfer Digital Photos into microfilm?

[@ImitativePhotography]

@@c.baldez4140 hmm I'm not familiar with any. Would be a great product though.

[@wallaguest1]

cool

[@kathleenrobertpogue6818]

I want to do something similar. But I want to use a high DPI laser printer. From what I understand it's not unreasonable to get 180kb of data into a 1x1 inch square. Maybe more I'm really not sure. Just thought about it. That's why I'm here.

[@wv_]

I believe the film you are looking for is Adox CMS 20 not Tmax if detail is what you want 😘

[@ImitativePhotography]

Thanks!

[@Somersbysnoreband]

Nice things!

[@vibhoranand1171]

Spoiler Alert- THIS MICRO-MESSAGE WILL SELF DESTRUCT IN FORTY TWO SECONDS 2. SHAKEN NOT STIRRED

[@ImitativePhotography]

You got it!

[@catpeterson4577]

Wonderful! Mahalo!

[@pablocesar9697]

estaba viendo un documental de los nazis en México y llegué aquí buscando información, bien ahí 👏👏

[@szabkrisz512]

So it's basically a real life WinRAR 😃

[@Tejvir7]

Nice

[@sanjayramcharan6088]

Can it be done in colour?

[@ImitativePhotography]

I've never done it in color but I don't see why not. It will be trickier though because you'll probably need some software like Negative Lab to get accurate colours when you invert the negatives.

[@aethrya]

"Dye another day" 😏

[@hasanbond2392]

Hell yeah, it’s worked but each 7wordz left2r8 respectively 4the 1st microdot & 4wordz for the 2nd one😈 Shaken not stirred indeed😈

[@jonnmostovoy2406]

Dye another day. Holy smokes. :clap:

[@marrrkyeeet4954]

I cracked it

[@vibhoranand1171]

What's the answer?

[@cowgoesmoo2]

The youtube algo really trampling on this video lol

[@ImitativePhotography]

😂😂😂

[@alextorres1038]

Skip directly to minute 4

[@kandd2591]

Ima do some fun stuff with this if my lazy ass finds the confidence to do it

[@ImitativePhotography]

I believe in you George Washington

[@kandd2591]

@@ImitativePhotography well now I have to do it. I will try to remember this comment and I will see how it goes

[@lucaraimondo5967]

anyone got the message? I guess I'm slow

[@mexicanlawconsultant]

I don’t buy it, the camera lense would not be able to focus on the film on the dark cardboard , it’d be all blurry!

[@ImitativePhotography]

Zone focus for the piece of cardboard.

[@John_Gillman]

Now i can finally spy on the USSR

[@joenemeth9606]

Very cool - from an actual intelligence analyst

[@ImitativePhotography]

Nice!

[@redfullpack]

if the microdot message is also encrypted then it still makes sense imagine the above sentence becomes xcfdfgagghigrtyu[9876543vghlmmdgdddwecbig

[@I_leave_mean_comments]

Jesus Christ just get to the point... like HALF of the whole video is just the goofy introduction. I just want to know how to do it.

[@ImitativePhotography]

Haha I couldn't resist doing the bond intro, but that's what the chapters are for!

[@I_leave_mean_comments]

@@ImitativePhotography Don't take it personally... I leave mean comments. That's just what I do.