Pinhole Cameras!

Making the Pinhole Camera.

Firstly, we had to get a container of some sort, such as a box or tube, which had be light proof. The box I provided for myself was a long rectangle cardboard box, which was originally a marks and Spenser's food product packaging.

I then had to cut a small rectangular shape into the box with a craft knife, to create a hole for my pinhole and foil.

Then I had to paint the insides of my box with black poster paint, so there would be no light and reflections the box.

When the paint was dry, I covered up my hole I made earlier with a piece of foil and stuck it to the box with black Gaffa tape. I also covered the corners with the tape as light was coming through the small holes.

Next I had to pierce a pinhole, measuring at around 0.8 millimetres, into the centre of the foil. The pinhole would then act as a lens.

Then I had to make a flap for the camera to block the light out when not wanting to expose an image. I used a piece of cardboard, slightly bigger then the foil and stuck it over the foil with Gaffa tape.

Then the important part of the task was to find out want my F-Stops were, which is how long I had to expose the camera to light for, outside and inside. I did this by measuring the distance from the pinhole to the other side of the box, were my photographic paper would be, in millimetres, and then divide it by the diameter of the pinhole also in millimetres.


Distance from pinhole to paper(mm) / diameter of the pinhole(mm) 


In my case it was 91 millimetres divided by 0.8 millimetres which came to 113.75 millimetres. This meant the average time I had to expose my camera top light inside was 4.50 minutes and outside was 35 seconds. 

Then I had to go into the darkroom and cut some photographic paper to size and stick it against the side opposite the pinhole with some Gaffa tape, so it would stay in place. 

After, I closed then box up with the tape and went to take the picture.  

Taking the picture.

I took my picture by opening up the flap when in place and exposing it for the amount of time calculated earlier. As soon as the time had passed, I closed up the flap again, to make sure no other light could get in. If I was to leave my flap open too long the image would turn out very black, whereas if I was to leave the flap open for not enough time, the image would turn out very light.

Developing the image.

Then I went back up to the darkroom and developed my images. I developed them by; 
Firstly, holding the photographic paper with tongs and putting the paper into the developing chemical for 30 seconds-1 minute.
Secondly, I took the photo with the tongs and placed it into the second tray which contained water and was the stop process. I held it in this tray for around 10 seconds. 
Thirdly, I put my photographic paper in was the fix chemicals. I left it in this tray for 5 minutes. Lastly, I carried the image to the dryer in a tray and then dried the image.

Scanning images Using Photoshop.

The next process to do was inverting the images from negatives to positives by scanning them and using Photoshop.

I scanned my images by firstly logging in, and then opening up Photoshop. I then clicked on the import button on the dropdown bar at the top. I then retrieved my image from the scanner in the drop down menu and choose the right scanner my image was in. Then the preview screen popped up and then I selected the parts of the image I wanted to keep and cropped the image, which I could also do by clicking on the crop tool and selecting what part of the image you wanted and could then right click and select crop. As my image was upside down I had to then rotate it by clicking on the image button on the drop down menu and then clicked on rotate image-180 degrees.

Then i had to change my image into a positive image which there was different ways to do so. One way was, by clicking onto the layer button on the drop down bar and clicked on new adjustment layer and then invert. Another way was by, clicking onto the small arrow at the side bar on the right and then click invert. Finally there is an invert button at the top of the box when scanning.

I then clicked onto the scan button and then saved both of my final images in a JPG format onto my USB key.

Using A Photocopier as a scanner.

If I was to use a photocopier as a scanner I would; log onto the photocopier by swiping my student card and then click on send. Secondly, I would then select 'send to myself' and be sure to have the file format as a JPEG. I’d then clicks onto the green button on the photocopier on the dash board. Then to be sure it had transferred to my email, I would check my email and then use Photoshop to invert the images.

Open up email and find the images.

Right click on image and save it.

Open Photoshop and click open and click on image.

Comparison between scanning using photocopier and Photoshop.

Using the photocopier for scanning, includes many benefits. the photocopier sends the image straight to your email, ready to crop. This means that this process is very much simple and easy to achieve. The photocopier also scans the image at a fast rate, therefore is not very time consuming and quick. Where as, when using Photoshop to scan your images it takes a longer period of time to transfer. Although this process takes longer, the image is put onto Photoshop immediately. Scanning through Photoshop also has a major benefit as it scans the image onto the computer in a much higher quality then what the Photocopier does so. In conclusion, I think scanning through Photoshop is better and more beneficial than scanning through the Photocopier as Photoshop provides the image with a much higher quality.

My Photographs.

Negitives.                                                                              Positives.

My third Picture was my person best as it was the clearest image I go. the first image did not turn out well as my box was thin cardboard and therefore let light in. i overcame this by covering the box in Gaffa tape so no light could get in. also my second image was better than first yet slightly light. i overcame this by leaving the carema to expose for a longer period of time.