Yeah right! Like a pinhole can take a picture...

So I’ve made the camera, but how does it work?

The pinhole acts as the lens, the light being emitted outside the box is forced through the pinhole onto the photographic paper; which is able to record the image coming through the pinhole. However the image being recorded will project onto the paper as an inverted image (it will be upside down and back to front).

If you don’t understand here’s an illustration of the process

See the red lines are the light, because light only travels in a straight line the image becomes inverted.

Now whether the image is clear, detailed or comes through at all is to do with the exposure, i.e the amount of time you allow for light to enter the pinhole. The time will defer whether the image being recorded is inside or outside. 

Remember how the pinhole is the aperture, well that’s measured in increments called f-stops, that’s how you can work out how long you’ll need to lift the shutter to let the light travel through.

Here’s the calculation:

f-stop = distance from pinhole to paper (mm) 

        diameter of pinhole (mm)

So the distance from pinhole to paper, is exactly what it says; so you’re measuring (with the lid on if you have one) from the pinhole to where the photographic paper will lie.

Here’s my calculation:

f-stop = 104

             0.8

We then use the combination of f-stop (f-130), film speed (6 ASA) to calculate the shutter speed (exposure time in seconds/minutes)

Mine worked out to be 3 minutes outside, & 12 minutes outside originally. I say originally because original timings may change, to aid in the improvement of photographs.

Pinhole cameras? are not easy...

Quite basically this is going to be a blog about my college media work using a pinhole camera.

It sounds easy, looks impossible but believe me it is interesting. Think about it? A pin sized hole, is able to see enough to make a picture. Of course there's all that technical stuff, which you kind of need to know if you’re going to be able to create a camera and get a great picture.

Although I reckon anyone can try pin-holing, because even the most skilled pin-holer might get a blank photo. Nobody ever gets the perfect image-; they'll more than likely get one that they think is good. It’s not all about "practise makes perfect" it’s about taking your time and working at it.
The first time you might get lucky and be able to produce a half decent picture. Whilst most of the time you might not. But it’s all about trial and error.

I hope you'll enjoy reading my blog, and you perhaps find it helpful in making a pinhole camera or creating photos.