Light Work

In the first unit of my new class "Light, Sound and Time" (LST) we spent most of our time looking at light and waves though again, we are still in quarantine so some things were a bit complicated to communicate. First we took a look at the class as a whole, talking about light, how fast it is/ its "unique" properties(wave particle duality), the visible spectrum and the electromagnetic spectrum as a whole. Then throughout the class started answering questions. "Why do we see things with certain colors?" Well white light is shined onto objects and the color we see is the one that said object reflects the most. "Would you see your reflection if you were traveling at the speed of light?" Even though there are plenty of theories, this question proposed by Albert Einstein can not be answered yet. "What are reflection and refraction?" Reflection is light bouncing back in a direction based on the angle of the shined light; and refraction is the change of light as it goes through objects. Somewhere along the line everything got linked and our research descended onto cameras. We looked at three different cameras for this AP, the pinhole camera, camera obscura, and the room size camera. I worked on the pinhole and that is what I will be presenting.

Inside Pinhole #2, CDH, 2021

Pinhole, CDH, 2021

Inside Pinhole, CDH, 2021

The pictures above show the camera I made! I know this just looks like a shoe box with duck tape but you haven't heard about the magic part! So let me explain how it works. White light is reflected off objects through a tiny hole to “burn” an image into a piece of paper. I use quotes because it doesn’t actually burn but causes a chemical reaction to mark in black where light is. The magic is that all it took was a shoe box and some things you find in your house to make your own camera and once you know how to use it, it's simple.

On that note let me show you how to use it. First you need to make the camera, to do so you need: a box, black paint, tin foil/ aluminum, a needle and tape. Open your box and paint the whole inside black, if there are extra holes cover them with tape. Next make a hole in the side of the box about the size of a quarter and cover it with tin foil. Once the tin foil is taped on, poke a hole in it with the needle. Badda bing badda boom, you have a camera! Now to set it up you will need a few measurements. 

Similar Triangles, CDH, 2021

 Above are the basic measurements of my camera. It was three inches tall and thirteen point five inches across. My object I was trying to take a picture of was a six inch tall cup of ping pong balls. The measurement you need to find is how far your object needs to be from your camera to get the whole thing. Mine was easy because it was just a multiple of two but what you need to do is divide the height of your object by the height of your cameras pinhole. Then take that number and multiply it by how long your camera is across. Depending on your unit that is how far your object should be.

Basic inputs for reference: 
Height of object: 6in
Height of pinhole: 3in
Length of camera: 13.5in
Volume of camera: 324cin

Once you have all that done you need a special kind of paper taped to the back of the box with the pinhole covered. There must be no light touching it until your ready. You need to set up the camera facing the object in a well lit place. Then open up the hole to the light and keep it open for about ten minutes if it's really well lit only five minutes. This action of opening it for the amount of time is called shutter speed and it's what regulates how much light will get through. When you have taken the picture block the hole and don't let light get in until you bring it into a dark room to be developed. I was able to have a picture taken and developed of my cup of ping pong balls but my shutter speed was too short; meaning not enough light got through. Most of the image is white but at the very bottom you will see a sliver of black where the light was in the right place long enough.

Pinhole Picture, CDH, 2021

Final comments and conclusion:

Overall, this was a very stressful term and unit but I tried to make the most of the experience I had to display in this action project. I stated in the beginning that we are still in quarantine do to the 
COVID-19 pandemic and it didn't help the class or my life in the slightest but being able to see the new space in person to work on my camera and take/ develop pictures did help. I hope to be working with my peers in person soon and I hope you learned or remembered something with the work I did in this unit. 

-CDH