introduction to pinhole photography

Introduction to Pinhole Photography

For World Pinhole Photography Day

Sunday, April 28, 2013

Mo Ti was one of the first people to use a camera obscura.  This was

estimated to have been around the fifth century B.C.

The camera obscura worked by light entering through a small pinhole

which hits the wall inside, forming a faint image which can be traced.

When the image is projected,, it appears upside down.

Arab Physicist, Alhazen discovered that the smaller the pin

hole the sharper the image came into focus.

Daniello Barbaro discovered that replacing the pinhole with

a glass lens gave the image a brighter and sharper focus.

In the 17th century scientists and artists developed portable camera obscuras.  Early versions of which were simply light-proof tents with

lenses sewn into the walls.

Camera obscura, from a manuscript of military designs.

17th century, possibly Italian.

Later versions were long wooden boxes that projected an

image onto a piece of frosted glass built into the lid.

4 drawings by Canaletto, representing Campo San Giovanni e Paolo in

Venice, obtained with a Camera obscura.

"View from the Window at Le Gras" (circa 1826Joseph Nicéphore Niépce. He called this process "heliography" or sun drawing the

exposure time was about 8 hours.

Louis Jacques Mande DAGUERRE (1787-1851)

Sir David Brewster (11 December 1781 – 10 February 1868)

Brewster Stereoscope

Pictorialists:Nearly all the greatest work is being, and has always been done, by those who

are following photography for the love of it, and not merely for financial reasons. -

Alfred Stieglitz, 1899 

Eric Renner

Grandma Becomes the Moonpinhole photograph, 1978

• According to Renner (1995: 117)• most formulas used today are of

the following general form:• r = pinhole radius

l = wavelength of lightc = a constant, usually a decimal fraction

• between 0.5 and 1f = focal length

Exposing paper

• In order to calculate an exposure time, it is important to know the f number of the pinhole camera. Compared with normal cameras, it does not change (the hole is the same size) and the calculation is simple: the distance from the light-sensitive material divided by the diameter of the hole. For example, the formula for a pinhole camera with a focal length of 100 mm and a pinhole 0.4 mm in diameter is: 100/0.4 = 250, hence the f number is 250.

Francesco Capponi

www.francescocapponi.it

http://caffenol.blogspot.com/

Caffenol Dedicated to the power of Caffenol and Caffenol-C film

developer made of:

instant coffee, washing soda and vitamin-C.

Competes with the best developers available

This developer deserves more attention.

Time for a cup of coffee....

Manfred Bucheit 1979

Pinhole Blenders

Rene Smets 360 panorama pinhole

Rene Smets

Jefrey Pelagio Jacob

Hanes Art Center at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. This was a collaborative project done in Professor elin o'Hara slavick's

Conceptual Photography class after reading David's Hockney's book SECRET KNOWLEDGE. There was originally a steep tin roof with a spinning turbine at the top, but UNC administrators demanded it be

changed.

Diane Martin PetersonWarped..pinhole on paper..rounded tin gives the warped appearance...

5 minutes in caffenol

Polaroid Pinhole Image

Solargraphy

World Pinhole Day

• Agenda:

• Program ends: break for lunch and/or Head to the Woods and start shooting there.

• Noonish: meet at the Homestead for shooting in and around the buildings