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• 1 media/IMG_6283 2.jpg 2021-02-15T23:00:46+00:00 Pinhole Camera 12 By Trinity Hall plain 2021-03-15T17:47:52+00:00

  For this assignment, I decided to create my own pinhole camera. A pinhole camera is a camera without a lens but with a pinhole. The light goes through the pinhole and inverts the image you are looking at and projects it onto the transparent screen. When using the Pringles lid as I did, it projected onto the lid that I had with wax paper on it to create a screen for the image to be projected onto.  The camera was fairly easy to construct once you had all of the materials. Here is a little breakdown of all the steps I went through in order to construct my pinhole camera. The main material that you needed was a Pringles can which acted as your vessel, as well as tape, and aluminum foil, just to name some of the more important materials. You had to cut the can into two pieces with the shorter piece about two inches. In between the two pieces you put the lid as a form of a divider between the two pieces of the Pringles can. Since I had a clear Pringles can, I had to put a piece of wax paper to form a transparent screen. Once all of the pieces were assembled, I tapped all of my pieces together with electrical tape. I used electrical tape instead of masking tape to help ensure that no light would be coming through the taped areas. After the cans were taped together, I taped aluminum foil around the vessel, which was also to make sure that the vessel was dark enough, and that light would not get in. Here is a video of the basic steps I went through, so you can see what I am describing to you. 

  Based on my experience, this was a fun and easy project to complete. However, I did come across a few problems while constructing this pinhole camera. The first problem that I encountered was the transparent screen that I needed to apply to the lid. I struggled with sizing the wax paper to the correct size to fit into the lid. I originally outlined the lid itself to get a rough estimate, then I kept trimming the circle down until the wax paper fit into the lid. The next problem I faced was getting the wax paper to stay in the lid, I solved that by gluing the wax paper to the lid. After those two hurdles were solved, it was smooth sailing in finishing the pinhole camera from there. 

  Once the camera was assembled, it was time to go outside and see how it works. I looked around my backyard to find the sunniest part. Once I had figured out where I wanted to look I looked through the pinhole. Since I wanted it to be as dark as possible I cupped my hands around the top of the pinhole to prevent any light from coming in. Before looking through the pinhole, I knew the picture would be upside down. However, when I looked through the pinhole camera, I was both surprised and happy that the picture was upside down. Since the picture was upside down, it meant that I had assembled the camera correctly. I found it fascinating how the light goes through the pinhole, which is how the picture is presented upside down on the screen, which in this case is the lid of the Pringles container. The first time I looked through the pinhole, the colors were not that vibrant. This was an additional setback I faced. In order to make my picture more vibrant, I got a flannel from my closet and put that over my head. Since the surroundings of the pinhole camera were even darling, the picture in the pinhole was more vibrant. 
  

  The final challenge was taking a photograph of what I was seeing through the pinhole camera that I had created. Since the Pringles container is circular, I struggled to take the photo with my phone. This was because when I put my camera through the circle of the Pringles opening, there was still light coming in. To solve this problem, I took the Pringles seal and took an Exacto knife to cut a circle into it. I used the Pringles seal because I already knew it would fit since it is used to seal the container before the customer opens it. Once I had a cutout, I attached that piece to the pinhole camera’s top or opening. This ensured while I was taking the picture, no extra light was coming into the pinhole camera. Once I solved this problem, I took a photo using the pinhole camera and captured my phone camera image. When I first looked through the pinhole camera, the colors were faded, but once I used the flannel to create a darker surrendering for the camera, the images produced were brighter. I used the same technique with the flannel while taking pictures from my phone. 

  Overall, this experience of creating a pinhole camera was very interesting. There were some hurdles that I had to overcome through the process, but overall it was a very good experience. I have also included an image of what the outside of my pinhole camera looks like. If I were to do this again, I would tamper with the directions in little ways to see if that would drastically affect the image, like the lid, which was the screen, be further away from the pinhole. In the directions, it says to have it to inches away from the pinhole, but I would like to try it maybe 3 inches away from the pinhole to see how it affects the image. However, when recreating the pinhole camera, I would still implement taping the seal to the opening with a hole in the Pringles seal, so you are looking through a smaller hole. Having a flannel or dark sheet for my head and top of the pinhole camera, to result in the darkest surroundings. This was a great experience and I am happy that I decided to create a pinhole. It is one thing to hear and see representations of how the pinhole camera works. But looking through a pinhole camera that you made yourself gives you a completely different perspective of how it worlds completely and gives you a greater appreciation for this type of camera.