Pinhole camera

How to make a pinhole camera
In our first week of this Media course we began by making, using and taking pictures with pinhole cameras. Firstly we had to make a pinhole camera; we did this by using an old container which would represent the camera shell.
Then we drilled a hole in the side of the tin which would let the light through inside when needed, however the photograph paper only needed a certain amount of light to work, to much and the photo wouldn’t work. So to make sure that the photo wasn’t going to get damaged by to much light we stuck a piece of tinfoil in front of the hole, but to make sure we got enough light we pierced a pin hole in the tinfoil which would let the tiniest piece of light through when needed to take a picture.
After this we painted the inside of the tin black to prevent the light reflecting of the metal which would then hurt the outcome of the picture. After the black paint had dried we then went into the darkroom and fitted a piece of photograph paper by sticking it on the opposite side as the pinhole, because then when the light was let into the tin it would project directly onto the paper and create an image.
After the paper was fitted we sealed the tin and put a flap made out of cardboard over the pinhole to make sure that no light was let in until it was needed. After we did this we had to work out how long we should leave the flap open for as too much light and too little light and the photo wouldn’t come out. So to work out how to get the correct amount of light in we had to do this equation: F-stop= 225 divided by 0.8 = f-281.25- this then works out that it should be left open for 15 minutes inside and 3 minutes outside. These figures meant that when I went and opened the flap on the pinhole then this should be the time that I leave it open before shutting it again.
To take a photo with a pinhole camera, you had to find a flat spot where you would sit the camera and find an area with not much movement and open the flap for the designated time and close it again. After this is done you would go back into the darkroom and open the tin, then you would put the photograph paper into the first set of chemicals for 30 seconds, then remove the paper with tongs and then put it into the middle tray, this was water which would rinse the last set of chemicals off to prevent the two sets of chemicals mixing and possibly damage the photo.
After washing the paper i put it in the final set of the chemicals and the paper can stay in there for at least a minute which would then prevent the photo from fading. After the final tray I once again put it in a tray of water to rinse of the chemicals before putting the paper through the dryer which would then result in a finished pinhole camera photo.
Finally we had to scan the photos into Photoshop so that we can edit them to make them look better as when they came out in there original format they were a negative image (black was white etc). To change this we had to scan the pictures, we did this by going into Photoshop and clicking file then scrolling down onto import after this there was a few different options but to scan the photos we had to click on import to scanner. But before clicking this we had to put the photos underneath the flat bed scanner and then click on import to scanner, then after about a minute the pictures had finished being scanned. To completely finish the photos we had to change the image from negative to positive, to do this we had to go on edit and invert the photo, after i did this, these were the final finished photos.

The purpose of a pinhole camera

The reason why I decided to make my own pinhole camera was to see how the first cameras would have been like when they were first invented because this was the way that the first photographers used and how modern technology can combine with old technology to create a picture which looks good. Also I did this to see how easy and cheap it can be to make a photo without buying a digital camera for a lot of money you can use a old container and it can still look pretty good.

The things that went wrong
The main thing that went wrong was that in my first outside photo it was of people and for a clear image in a pinhole camera is not to have any movement at all, however to stay still for 3 minutes isn’t easy so there was never going to be a completely clear photo so that one is slightly blurry.
 Another problem that occurred was that one my first inside photo (no image) i didn’t leave the flap open long enough so when i went into the darkroom and put the paper in the chemicals the image didn’t come out at all so the next photo i did i left the flap (shutter) open a lot longer and the image came out a lot clearer.

How a pinhole camera works (in images)

The picture come out upside down because the light crosses over when it enters the pinhole because the light at the bottom of the object goes up diagonally and projects to the top of the paper and the top of the image goes diagonally downwards and projects at the bottom of the paper.



Evaluation

Overall I believe that this task was a success as all of the pictures looked good considering it was from a home made camera, my first picture came out a little blurry because it had people in it. If I were going to do this again i would choose against having people in my picture as it is really hard to stay still and it will never be perfect, because of that I would do a static view if I were to do it again.

Another thing I would change to make it easier and quicker would be to use a smaller container as not only is it easier to carry around but it also quicker to take photos because the smaller the container the less time it takes to take a photo because the light has less distance to travel onto the photograph paper and my container was quite large which meant in the inside shots took nearly 15 minutes to process.

However I think that this task went well as the photos came out pretty clearly, but these changes are just to make the process easier nothing to do with the final image because the photos came out well.

led