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Pinhole Photography

Pinhole Photography is a simple camera without a lens but with a tiny aperture. It’s basically a light-proof box with a small pinhole in one side.


How does it work?


The light passes through the small pinhole onto photographic paper and then stains the paper behind to form the photo.

In the early days the Chinese discovered that light travels in a straight line. An early philosopher Mo Ti was first to record the formation of inverted images with a pinhole.


How is a Pinhole image made?


A pinhole image is made by light shining through the pinhole and then staining the photographic paper. It makes an inverted image.


How is a Pinhole camera made?


You need a light tight box with a pinhole at one end of it, with a piece of photographic paper at the other end, a flap of cardboard can be used as the shutter. You also need a lid at the top to have access to the internal workings such as the photographic paper.


Independent Pinhole Workshop



Putting the Pinhole camera somewhere where there is plenty of light is mostly key because the camera doesn’t work properly without the light to stain the image. The idea to put it on the floor was so it can pick up more light then facing it more to the floor.




While experimenting with this one, I thought that the light would travel that far inside to pick up a good enough picture. To my astonishment it works but you have to look very closely to make out anything out while it is an inverted image.




In my group i was experimenting different lighting techniques to see if it will generate an image from where the pinhole camera was put, inside the college building in the corridor.



I put this one on the table outside under the shelter, and we thought we could move around to see if it made a ghost effect which it did. The camera cover fell down a couple times during this take, as well as being touched by accident when moving it.


Behind the Scenes:





Summary

In this workshop we learned about how pinhole photography works and how to actually create a pinhole camera. The best part I think was when you’re in the pinhole photograph and you move around to make a ghostly like image.

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