Pinhole Photography

Pinhole Photography

What is Pinhole photography?

 Pinhole photography may also be referred to as camera obscura; this is the earliest form of photography. It consists of an object which is light proof. It has a hole instead of lenses which generally has a light sensitive material inside to catch the images that have been exposed to light. We then develop the images in a dark room using the chemical process. The images which are produced appear as negatives and appear in black and white when they are fully developed. The images that the pinhole camera tends to produce are not in focus this is due to the camera not having a lens, as the lens on a camera is the main reason why our images are in focus.

How it’s done?
Pinhole photography can be produced from any object which is dark inside such as a cookie container, cans, boxes etc. It is said that someone once made a pinhole camera from an actual refrigerator. You then create a hole no bigger than the tip of a needle .from one side of the object; you then place a light sensitive material inside. Reflections of rays are reflected in different directions, in the hole, this only allows a certain amount of rays which produce a reverse image of the object. It is projected onto the light sensitive material. However the exposure times general vary depending on the light you subjected to. Sometimes longer exposure will help you achieve a powerful image more so shorter exposed may be equally successful; this is a trial and error system. Sometimes you can expose the image for a second or up to minutes, photographers in the past have exposed their pinhole images up to hours, and it generally depends on your surroundings and again the condition of light that you are working in.

This is the internal view of a pinhole camera

My attempt at Pinhole Photography

I then experimented by making my own pin hole images by using a an old beer can which was enclosed using black tape, a small hole no bigger than the tip of a needle was pierced on one side of the beer can. We then placed some light sensitive paper into the can whilst we were in the dark room to avoid the paper from being damaged due to the exposer of light. I then experimented with different effects and how movement affected the images. This is my attempt at Pinhole photography. I then arranged some of my class mate on a wall and then ask them to jump one at a time of a wall. By doing his I had hoped to demonstrate movement. My images are not very clear due to the type of photography that I am experimenting with, however you can make out figures of people and that fading which emerged when each person jumped off the wall. My images were not as successful as I would have hopped but this was my first ever attempt at pinhole photography. I would have liked to explore different lightings and movement effects. If I was to redo my pinhole experiment I would test out different exposure times in order to identify which best suited the environment I was in. For the image I produced I literally exposed my images for at least a second which was enough time as they were at an appropriate exposure.