Pinhole camera

Process

Making my camera

For my pinhole camera I brought in a shoe box. I then marked out an outline of a square on one side for the lens. I cut the square with a knife to mark an opening. I then painted the inside black to make sure no light enters my pinhole camera.

To cover the hole I put foil paper over the hole and used duck tape to hold it in place. I then had to use duck tape to tape the sides back together as they had ripped apart. I needed to tape them to ensure no light can get out.

I then had to make a shutter to cover the lens so no light can get in until I want it to. I use card with duck tape keeping it in place.

The lengthy of my aperture is 290/ 0.8 = 362.5mm so I had to film outside of 2:30mins and inside 16mins.

Loading the camera

To load my camera I had to take it in the darkroom so the photographic paper wouldn’t get damage. I had to cut the paper to the right size so it would fit in perfectly.

Taking the photos

After sealing the box I took it out side to shot my first photo. It left the shutter open for 2 minutes t let the light in. After sealing the shutter I took the box back to the darkroom to develop my photo.

Developing my photos

To start the process I needed to put my picture face down into the developer chemical for 30 seconds. I then put it stop for 10 seconds to stop it developing too much. To keep the image I had to put it in the fixer for 30 seconds, see if the image has come through then put back in for 5 more minutes. After the picture had set I had to wash the chemicals by putting it in water. Then I put it in the printer dryer so I could put it in my book.

 I then refilled the box and repeated the same process 4 more times. I had to leave the shutter open for anther 30 seconds to give the picture more time to get more detail.

 

Scanning photos

To scan my pictures I had to swipe my card to make shore the picture would scan and then send to my e-mail. To scan a picture I lifted the top of the photo copier and place in my photo in the right hand corner. I then pressed send to me and changed the film format to JPEG, then pressed go. I repeated this process 4 more time until all my photos had be sent.  

Analyse

First photo

My first photo went really well, however I didn’t have it at the right angle so most of the photo is of the sky. As the picture is in negative the sky is black which most of the picture is. Because I only opened the shutter for 2 minutes, there wasn’t anther time to let the light cast the shadows so there ant a lot of detail on the trees.

Second photo

My second photo went good and the negativity makes it look like an x-ray, the blurriness gives it a better effect but I didn’t mean to. It was because I was holding the box so the box moves a bit.

Third photo

My third photo is ok, with that the shadows give it a good effect, although because it’s blurry you can’t see what the picture is exactly, but some parts look quiet good.

Fourth photo

My fourth photo came out great with the detail on the fence and there is grass at the front of the camera blending it in to look like you’re in the grass. Expect I had to re-do the photo because when putting it through the print dryer it got crumpled up.

Fifth photo

My fifth photo was my fourth photo re-done; it has good detail, with grass in front to give it the effect of looking like you’re behind the grass.

Research and Development

Pinhole started photography off and by learning how to take a scene in front of you and turning it into a fixed image on paper. As technology developed over time, the camera changed from wood to metal or plastic. Because technology advanced, lenses are made from glass or plastic. They even made a shutter that shuts automatically when it needs to. Now with digital cameras a picture can be taken in 5 seconds than 30 seconds or more. There is now a flash on the camera, developing the idea that there needs to be light from the pinhole camera. If there was never a pinhole camera there would have never been the idea of film, which has now developed into something that everyone use’s everyday like, DVD’s so anyone can watch it when they want as well as TV. Video games would also not have been made if pinhole weren’t discovered. The idea of making image for something you can play could not have been made if they didn’t know how to get images in the first place. They even have cameras on phones, which are about the same as a good camera. Cameras are used every day now, for pleasure, work or fun.

Evaluation

If I were to re-shot my first shot again  I wouldn’t have my camera to far up on a angle because as you can see  from the shot most of it is of the sky, and that isn’t what I wanted. However, you can see that the top of the houses which are in the photo look good. Although the trees do not have any real shading and that could be because I only left the shutter open for 2 minutes when maybe if I left it open for longer I might have got more detail.

Shot 2 that i took, could have been better if a haden’t been holding it, if i had it on a solid surface it may come out detailed because the photo of the building is a bit blurry. However, if this particular photo has a kind of x-ray look when its in negative so if gives the photo something different and unique. When i changed the photo from negative to positive, the photo has more of a gohstly feel, so if i didnt give it so much light  it might look even more goshtly.

My third shot was kind of like my second shot, but worse, because I was holding the camera while shooting; my hands were shaken shot the photo like weird. On the other hand , it gives the photo a good effect in that the rim of the bikes are moves to look like there was more than one.  If I re-done this I would have the camera on a solid base and maybe leave the shutter open for longer to give it more time to process more detail of the bike shed.

Doing the pinhole camera process, I have learnt how photography was started, and how an image actually goes from being a scene in front of you onto photographic paper with an image on it. I also learnt about that different size shutters can change how much of the scene is taken.  I mostly learnt that to make an image in the first place, is that light is needed and if too much light gets to the photographic paper the paper is destroyed.

I think pinhole camera is link to the course very much because pinhole started everything to do with film or photography. You cannot make a film, film a scene, or take a photo if pinhole was not discovered. To film or take photos you need light and this activity shows that you need light for the most basic of photos even if you cannot see what you defiantly taking a picture of.