Make your own pinhole camera
It is possible to take photographs without purchasing expensive equipment. A pinhole camera can be constructed out of everyday items found around the home. The way such a camera works is light is let in through a pinhole, creating pictures with blurred but soft pictures. A little practice and you will be taking sharp pictures.
A pinhole camera is made with an enclosed box with photographic paper or film on one side and a pinhole on the other. This activity is to make a camera without film which allows you to just see the image and not photograph it. The theory of the pinhole camera can be tested with grease paper.
Items needed for this activity:
- Two card board boxes, small, but the same size
- Black paint
- Sharp pin
- Aluminum foil
- Greaseproof paper
- Electrical tape, black
- Sharp scissors
To execute the project:
- Apply black paint to the insides of both boxes.
- After the paint is dry, trim out a square in the center side of box number one.
- With a sharp pin, pierce a hole in the foil and attach the foil to the side of the box with the pinhole in the center. Tape the foil in place. Trim off the other end of the box and install greaseproof paper over it.
- Trim out a small square in one end of box number two, making the hole just big enough to view through it. Tape the open end of box number two to the greaseproof paper of box number one.
- Peak through the view hole at the greaseproof paper and use tape to cover any holes allowing light into the box.
- If you take the camera out of doors and look through the pinhole, the world will appear upside down. If nothing is visible make the pin hole a little larger until an image is visible. Experimenting with different size holes will allow you to find the hole that gives the best picture.
- The pinhole is the aperture. The larger the aperture, the brighter the image will become. The picture will lose focus as it gets larger.
Projected light will travel in a straight line unless it hits an object and diverts. Light will travel through the pinhole and strike the surface that is opposite the hole. The image appears upside down.
Pinhole cameras have been used for generations after people began to notice sun beneath the trees. When the leaves of a tree overlap and leave pinholes, the light passes through the holes to form a circle of the sun. Multiple pinhole optics is utilized today to take photos of gamma and high energy xrays.
It can become costly to use photographic paper or process film. It will be worth making a pinhole camera.
If using photograph paper, make sure it is not exposed to the sun prematurely.