Camera Obscura
The video on the right shows a group of people attempting make a camera obscura in an office inspired by the work of Abelardo Morell. They make the room entirely light safe (completely dark) by taping black sheets to the windows. They then cut a small hole to let in a stream of bright light and an upside down image appears on the opposite wall. The reason this happens is because light travels in straight lines.
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ABELARDO MORELL
I made my first picture using camera obscura techniques in my darkened living room in 1991. In setting up a room to make this kind of photograph, I cover all windows with black plastic in order to achieve total darkness. Then, I cut a small hole in the material I use to cover the windows. This allows an inverted image of the view outside to flood onto the walls of the room. I would focus my large-format camera on the incoming image on the wall and expose the film. In the beginning, exposures took five to ten hours.
Over time, this project has taken me from my living room to all sorts of interiors around the world. One of the satisfactions I get from making this imagery comes from my seeing the weird and yet natural marriage of the inside and outside.
Over time, this project has taken me from my living room to all sorts of interiors around the world. One of the satisfactions I get from making this imagery comes from my seeing the weird and yet natural marriage of the inside and outside.
history of camera obscura
The name 'camera obscura' comes from the Latin words meaning 'darkened room'. The first record of the camera obscura principle goes back to Ancient Greece, when Aristotle noticed how light passing through a small hole into a darkened room produces an image on the wall opposite, during a partial eclipse of the sun. However, it may be much older than that. Stone age man may have used the principle of the camera obscura to produce the world's first art in cave drawings.
Here is an example of a portable wooden camera obscura from the 19th century. This uses a mirror system inside and a screen so that the image appears the right way round for the artists to trace.
Abelardo Morell Here are some images created by Abelardo Morell. They are made inside camera obscura using an SLR on a tripod with a very long exposure. It is important to use a tripod when the camera shutter is open for a long period because this ensures that the image stays still: This image illustrates the principle of the camera obscura with the light bulb appearing upside down inside the box. This is how a basic camera works. |
My Camera obscura
I decided to try to create two different kinds of camera obscura (fixed lens and telephoto lens) using the following materials:
- sections of cardboard tube
- tape
- tinfoil
- greaseproof paper