![Access Art Bird [logo]](/images/bird.gif)
Making a Pinhole Camera and Developing a Pinhole Image
Making a Pinhole Camera was created as part of Photograph - online learning and teaching photography resources. This text accompanies the Making a Pinhole Camera Online Resource and the Developing a Pinhole Image Online Resource - What is a pinhole camera? In an age of digital, the Photograph online resources concentrate upon elemental and experimental ways of making images with light. While many of the ideas can be used just as easily with digital cameras (such as snapshot and narrative), other modules focus on lower tech methods which remind us of the origins of photography (such as making sun pictures and building a camera obscura. These resources concern themselves with making black and white images, and with tone, contrast, shadow and light. Resources in this series: Introduction to the AccessArt Photograph Resource A pinhole camera is a small, light-tight box with a black interior and a tiny hole in the centre of one end. A piece of photographic paper is placed inside the box, at the opposite end of the box to the hole. Light is prevented from entering the box through the pinhole by a small cover, so that you can control when and for how long the paper is exposed. A lot of different objects can be converted into pinhole cameras: tins, boxes, tubes, handbags, even washing machines have been used! Your mouth could become an aperture, and your throat could form the camera... if you wanted! To make a simple but effective pinhole camera try the following steps: Start with a ready made shoe box. Or, if you prefer, construct a box from cardboard made to your preferred shape and size. An average size undamaged shoe box works well. Paint the interior of the box and lid with matt black gouache or spray paint suitable for paper. If you use spray, do so in a well ventilated area. Allow to dry. Create a pinhole with a large size sewing needle (size 10 or thereabouts) or very fine bradawl. The pinhole should be made on the side of the box opposite where you intend to load your photographic paper once your camera is ready. For an average depth of shoe box (about 15 cm) you should not need a hole larger than a genuine pin-hole. You can always increase size of hole if it appears ineffective - it is more difficult to make the hole small again! If you use a sewing needle to create the hole, rotate gently to even the edges whilst drilling the hole. Use tape to seal all the sides of the box on the outside where light might get in. Black electrical insulation tape works well. Create a temporary shutter over your pinhole with another piece of black tape. To load your pinhole camera with photographic paper you will need a darkroom. This need not be a professional darkroom - instead you can create your own: see “Making a darkroom”. Or you could even go under the bed covers - making sure no light enters by having someone layer many covers over you. Once in your safe lighted darkroom - blacked out so you only operate with a safe red light. Open your photographic paper supply and take one sheet out - reseal paper and bag tightly. Place the paper - glossy/shiny emulsion side facing you - in your pinhole and tape down the edges or sides so the paper cannot move. Place the lid back on the pinhole camera. Seal around the sides of the lid with black tape. Make sure no light can come through. Check that pinhole is taped over. It should now be OK to take your camera outside into daylight. Taking a photograph with a pinhole camera Place the shoe box on an even surface somewhere outside. The object you want to photograph should be about 150 cm away to avoid too much distortion (N.B. this varies according to size of box and distance of pinhole to paper – however, you should experiment with these things once you feel more confident). Either weigh down the box with a stone or tape the box to an object if windy. The camera must not shake (else the results will be very blurry!). Exposure times can be very long. Depending on what time of the day it is, on average if the day is sunny and bright you will need to expose your paper (film) for about half to one minute. If the day is cloudy, overcast or it is the evening the exposure time might need to be extended to eight or ten minutes. You might have to adjust these times after you’ve developed your first negative depending on the outcome. Alternatively you might want to increase the hole if images come out very underexposed. Make notes with each photograph you take so that you can learn from each image. When you are ready to take the photograph, carefully peel off the black tape from your pinhole camera (open the shutter!). Tape up the pinhole carefully when you think you have exposed the paper long enough to image and light. Be careful not to nudge your camera as you do this. Take the box back to the darkroom. Use only a red/safe light now. Developing a pinhole camera negative See the online resource of Developing a pinhole image
Set up your developing tray, stop bath, fixer and water prior to this so that everything is ready. Open the pinhole camera and carefully take out the paper - avoid touching the emulsion side. Drop the paper into the developer, shiny side facing you. You can use tongs (from photo shop supplier) or adapt kitchen tools, but make sure you have use different tongs for each tray. The developer should expose your negative within a minute - if the photo becomes black really fast (i.e. within seconds) you have overexposed your image. You might as well stop now and start all over again placing a fresh paper in your camera and retaking another photo with less exposure. Restrict your exposure times - perhaps half the time: if you have used a minute exposure previously, try 30 seconds now. If your image does not appear at all or is only very faint you have underexposed it. Start again at this point, and place a fresh paper in the box, increase size of pinhole or expose for much longer. A good negative should show some contrast and should develop within a minute. Remove the negative from developer and drop in the stop bath. 30 seconds to one minute should be sufficient, but check with the instructions on your chemicals: these times vary considerable depending on supplier of chemicals! Using clean tongs (don't contaminate liquid in trays!) remove from stop bath to third tray: fix. Fix for 30 seconds to one minute. Remove from Fix tray with clean tongs and drop your negative into a bucket of water. Ideally this bucket should have a supply of running water, i.e. a tap feeding a dribble of fresh water into it, and overflow possibilities (bath or sink), but it is possible to rinse negatives and positives in a bucket of still water - just change water frequently if you have a lot of images going in. Average rinsing time will be four to eight minutes per photo or negative, but if you leave it in the water for much longer no harm will be done. Your image may not stay stable if you do not rinse it long enough. Once sufficiently rinsed, hang the negative up to dry - you can use a washing line and wash pegs or other arrangements - use your imagination. At this point you can expose your photo safely to day light.
Other resources in this series: Introduction to the AccessArt Photograph Resource |
| ||
|
|
|||
 |
|||
