Pinhole photography
What is a pinhole camera?
A pinhole camera, also known as camera obscura, or "dark chamber", is a simple imaging device in the shape of a closed box. In one of its sides is a small hole that the light comes through, creating an image of the outside space on the opposite side of the box.
What are the most unusual objects that have been used to make pinhole cameras over the years?
Pinhole cameras are small or large, improvised or designed with great care. Cameras have been made of sea shells, many have been made of cereal boxes, coke cans or cookie containers, at least one has been made of a discarded refrigerator. Cameras have been cast in plaster like a face mask, constructed from beautiful hardwoods, built of metal with bellows and a range of multiple pinholes
How does a pinhole camera work?
A pinhole camera is the simplest camera possible. The pinhole is simply an extremely small hole, like you would make with a very small pin, in a piece of thick aluminium foil. Imagine you are inside a large, dark, room-sized box containing a pinhole. Imagine that outside the room is a friend with a torch who shines the torch at different angles through the pinhole. When you look at the wall opposite the pinhole, what you will see is a small dot created by the flashlight shining through the pinhole. The small dot will move as your friend moves their torch.
What kind of images do pinhole cameras make?
Now imagine that you take your large, dark, pinhole room outside and you point it at a nice landscape scene. When you look at the wall opposite the pinhole, what you will see is an inverted and reversed image of the scene outside. Each point in the scene gives out light, and, just like the torch, the beam of light from that point goes through the pinhole and creates a point of light on the back wall. All of the points in the scene do that at the same time, so an entire image, in focus, is created on the back wall of the room. The image is very dim because the pinhole is so small, but you can see it if the room is very dark
A pinhole camera, also known as camera obscura, or "dark chamber", is a simple imaging device in the shape of a closed box. In one of its sides is a small hole that the light comes through, creating an image of the outside space on the opposite side of the box.
What are the most unusual objects that have been used to make pinhole cameras over the years?
Pinhole cameras are small or large, improvised or designed with great care. Cameras have been made of sea shells, many have been made of cereal boxes, coke cans or cookie containers, at least one has been made of a discarded refrigerator. Cameras have been cast in plaster like a face mask, constructed from beautiful hardwoods, built of metal with bellows and a range of multiple pinholes
How does a pinhole camera work?
A pinhole camera is the simplest camera possible. The pinhole is simply an extremely small hole, like you would make with a very small pin, in a piece of thick aluminium foil. Imagine you are inside a large, dark, room-sized box containing a pinhole. Imagine that outside the room is a friend with a torch who shines the torch at different angles through the pinhole. When you look at the wall opposite the pinhole, what you will see is a small dot created by the flashlight shining through the pinhole. The small dot will move as your friend moves their torch.
What kind of images do pinhole cameras make?
Now imagine that you take your large, dark, pinhole room outside and you point it at a nice landscape scene. When you look at the wall opposite the pinhole, what you will see is an inverted and reversed image of the scene outside. Each point in the scene gives out light, and, just like the torch, the beam of light from that point goes through the pinhole and creates a point of light on the back wall. All of the points in the scene do that at the same time, so an entire image, in focus, is created on the back wall of the room. The image is very dim because the pinhole is so small, but you can see it if the room is very dark
You will need-
-Box -Heavy Foil -Craft Knife -Black Spray paint -Black contact paper -No.16 Needle -Epoxy White Glue Cotton Swabs Electrial Tape Ruler Fine Sandpaper Photo emulsion paper Dark room |
Evaluation for pinholes.A pinhole camera is a good way of taking photos. It is an old-fashion way of taking photos. I can capture a picture only using photo sensitive paper and a box. I can take my time to leave the camera which is a box, to produce the photo. I used a wooden box which is actually a strange looking camera. It was a bit broken so I had to use some white glue and epoxy to fix it. Taking photos with a pinhole camera seems simple but it really is hard because I had to set it up in the right place and let the light go through the pinhole to create the image. It was quite difficult to get the time right; sometimes it was 3 minutes and sometimes less. Then I had to develop the photo in a dark room using different chemicals. Using the pinhole camera is a successful way of taking unique photos because its results are in different shades of black and white. The effects of the photos are sometimes spooky because the shapes can be translucent like shadows and people walking past are just silhouettes. A pinhole camera is a fun way of taking photos, however I had to be patient. I had to wait for the pinhole camera to create my photo, then go to the darkroom to wait for it to develop, look at the result and if it did not come out as I predicted, I had to repeat the whole process again changing the timing of exposure. I am happy with the photos I took but next time I could probably make it even better by getting the time perfect and try to get photos from different angles instead of just from the floor looking into distance. |
Pinhole Camera Example
The Binhole
We made a pinhole camera from a large black art bin by drilling a hole in the side. You can line the inside of the bin with photographic paper to create larger panoramic images.
Here are some examples of the separate images, the images reversed and then the final image stitched together in Photoshop.
Here are some examples of the separate images, the images reversed and then the final image stitched together in Photoshop.
Evaluation:
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Class Binhole- 13 dec 2013
How did Binhole camera work? |
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