Pinhole camera Evaluation

For this task we had to make our own pinhole camera and take and develop our own shots. Before we started making the cameras we done some research on genres of photography, by doing this research I hoped that it would help me decide on what shots to take when it came to shooting. At the beginning of the task I hoped to find out how to make and work a pinhole camera, as I only had a small understanding about them, and I also hoped to gain more experience in the dark room, as just like the pinhole cameras, I didn’t have a huge understanding on how everything works inside there. When we first found out about our task I was feeling fairly unconfident as photography isn’t my strong point, I was worried about where I’d take my shots as I felt I couldn’t think of any interesting places, so I hoped that the research we done in class would help inspire me and build my confidence. More importantly I hoped to enjoy this task and produce some clear and interesting images to put onto my blog.

I enjoyed making our pinhole cameras as I never knew it was possible to make a camera using a Pringles tube. I learnt that we had to make sure the inside of the tube was all black so that no light would enter or reflect of the sides, because if light enters than the process won’t work as the exposure will be too high. After painting the inside we cut out a square shaped and taped a piece of tin foil over the top to produce the lens, which we then pierced a small hole into using a pin, we then had to make a shutter with a piece of card and make sure there were tabs on the side which could be taped so the light wouldn’t enter when the shutter was closed. I learnt that it’s defiantly a lot easier to make a pinhole camera than I thought, as all the equipment used was household items, but you couldn’t do this process at home unless you had a dark room. I also learnt that the time the shutter is open depends on the size of the focal length, if the focal length is short, than the time the shutter is open will be a lower time, but the time also varies depending on if you’re inside or outside.





When researching different genres of photography and different artists, it inspired me and gave me some ideas for shots I could take. I wanted my images to be as interesting as they could so I had to take in to consideration the angle of the shot, for example, 1 of my shots were looking diagonally at the roof.

I never knew how everything in the dark room worked, so before we went in individually and processed our shots we were taught how to use all the chemicals and all the names for them. Three of my shots didn’t process properly in the dark room as unfortunately I had too much exposure in my shot, which resorted in the shot being black.

I decided to try my last 2 shots inside to see if this would make a difference and it did, the shots were a lot clearer and you could see detail in the shot. After developing the images, I scanned them onto the computer and edited them on Photoshop; I inverted all the shots and really enjoyed doing this. I enjoy using Photoshop and love the way you can get a completely different feel of your pictures once they’ve been edited, for example my first image wasn’t to great as it was very dark, but once I inverted it into negative, it looked spooky and you could actually make out one of the objects, which was a tree.

Overall I know a lot more than what I started with, as I had a very low understanding on how pinhole cameras work. Photography has never been my favourite element of media production as I’ve never really had an understanding on it all works. But after the research we done and using the dark room, my views have changed as I really enjoyed the task. I preferred being in the dark room and developing the images rather than being out shooting the images, but I think this was because my camera wasn’t the greatest as wasn’t working to well. My favourite part of the whole task was definitely being able to use Photoshop and have a play around on there, as I enjoy editing and using the different computer software’s. If I were to do this task again I would definitely consider my shots more, I would take in the angle of my shots, for example, make sure the camera isn’t facing the sun, as I think this may be why not all my shots worked. I feel I could have done better with this task, but overall I enjoyed going out and taking the pictures as well as developing them in the dark room.

Pinhole camera

PROCESS   

The container I used to make my pinhole camera was a Pringles tube. Firstly, we had to draw a small square on the tube which we then cut out using a knife. After cutting out our square, I then painted the inside of my tube black, we had to paint the inside black so that there would be no light inside, because if there is light then the image will not show. After painting my tube and waiting for it to dry, I cut out a small piece of tin foil to tape over the outside of the square. Once the square was covered I pierced a small hole into the foil using a pin. Then we had to make a shutter using card. I taped one end of the card onto the tube and put a little piece of tape round the edges and end as tabs, so that when the shutter is closed no light will get into the tube and ruin the process. After making the pinhole camera, I went into the dark room to prepare the photographic paper; I cut the paper to the size I wanted then slid it into the tube, making sure that the shiny side of the paper was facing my pinhole. Once the paper was in, I placed the lid on my tube and put tape all over the top and around the side to make sure no light would get in, then I headed out to take my pictures. Once I had found the place I wanted to take my pictures, I placed the camera down on a surface that would be stable and not make the image shaky. As I was outside and my focal length wasn’t very large, I only had to leave the shutter open for 15 seconds. So I opened my shutter for 15 seconds before shutting it again, making sure it was securely shut. I then headed back inside to the dark room.

Once in the dark room I took all the tape off my lid and took out the paper. I placed my paper the shiny side down into the first tray which was the developer, I left it in the tray for 30 seconds before taking the paper out using tongs and placing it into the second tray which is called the stop, I only left the image in there for 10 seconds before moving it over into the third tray, the fixer. I left the image in that tray for the same time as the first before taking the image out and leaving the dark room so I could get a better look at the image. Once I was happy with the image I had to take it back into the dark room and put it back in the fixer for a further 5 minutes, just to make sure it stopped developing. While the image was in that tray, I set my camera up so I could go out and take another picture.After 5 minutes, I took the picture out of the fixer tray and placed it in the wash, which is just a tray of water which washes all the chemicals off. Once the image had been washed I headed out the dark room with my camera all set up and my image. To dry the image off, I placed the image into a machine which takes the image through and dries it off. I done this process 3 times, as after every picture you take you have to go back and re-set everything up.

After making a Gmail account and my own blog, I then had to scan my images onto my account and send them to my emails. I firstly had to scan my student card over the scanner so that it would log into my account, I then placed my images on the bed and started my scan, before I sent the images to myself I changed the format to JPEG. I then scanned my card again logging me out and headed over to my pc. Once on my PC I opened my emails to get the pictures before saving them into my documents, making sure they are still a jpeg file. I then opened up adobe Photoshop, I went up to the file drop down list at the top and clicked ‘open’, once the box popped up I then found my image and selected it. As I scanned all my images together they were all in one file, so I had to crop and paste the image. I used the select tool and dragged the area I wanted to cut out, once I selected the area I went up to the edit drop down list and selected ‘Copy’. As I wanted to save this as a new file I had to open a new page, once the new page was open I pasted the image I had copied onto it, before editing I saved the image so that I would have an original copy. Once the copy had saved I clicked new adjustment layer before then clicking the invert button on the right side, switching the image from positive into negative. I then saved the image so I had two copies, One positive and another negative. I did the same process another 2 times so I would have two copies, one negative and one positive, of all my images. I had to make sure all the images were saved as a JPEG file.

Analyse

I had a few problems with my images. I took the camera out 5 times but only 3 of my images actually processed and worked properly. On each picture I took I had to adjust the time the shutter was open. The first time I left the shutter open for 30 seconds but unfortunately the exposure was too high so my images just turned out black.



My first attempt

This happened another 2 times, but with my third image I changed the shutter open time to only 15 seconds, this time the image appeared but only faintly.

My second attempt.

On my 4^th attempt I decided to change where I shot the image and took an image from inside. As I was inside and the exposure was lower I had to leave the image for longer, so I left it for roughly 2 minutes. This time the camera captured the image well and once I developed the image I was happy with what came out, the camera moved slightly during the time the shutter was open so there was a slight blur in the image.

My fourth attempt.

As the image was blurred slightly, I decided to go and take the same image again. So I headed up to the second floor and left my camera with the shutter open for another 2 minutes. This time the image worked better as there was no blur.

My fifth attempt.

I preferred one of my images better once it had been inverted on Photoshop, as the negative gave the image a haunted and scary look, which I like. You can also see the image more clearer than if it was positive. I inverted all my pictures I took, I really like the outcome as there alot darker and you can see more detail.



Edited copy of my first attempt.

4th attempt inverted.

5th attempt inverted.

Research and Development.

In time technology has developed drastically, For example the pinhole process takes quite a long time, as you have to develop each image and also you need a dark room to use this process, but now days lots more people are using digital camera, as there quick and easy. Digital cameras don’t use photographic paper, also the camera has sensors so the shutter opens and closes itself and also controls the amount of light taken in. The digital camera has a memory and can hold more than one image at a time.

As more people are using digital cameras, which capture in colour, there have been more editing software’s created, which enabled people to edit there coloured images further, for example, add effects to the image. Through time the mega pixels and size of the lens have changed, for example, digital cameras generally only have a small lens, whereas, expensive professional cameras have a large lens.

In time there have been many techniques of photography, for example in the ancient times they just used a static pinhole, but in the 17^th century artists made the pinhole portable in the form of sedan chairs. In 1861 a Scottish physicist James Clerkwell demonstrated a colour photography system, involving 3 black and white photo’s through a red, green or blue filter, which then lead onto Kodak bringing out the first camera containing a roll of film in 1889.