Pinhole Photography If you want to play with your intuitions and you're interested in a more mysterious image, pinhole photography might be what you want.

What is Pinhole Photography? Pinhole photography is a very simple concept. The camera is simply a light proof container with a small hole (often an actual pin hole) in it. Film or photographic paper is then inserted inside and when you remove the shutter blocking the small hole, light enters through and creates an inverted exposure on the film. The pinhole utilizes the fact that light travels in straight lines to create an image. Shooting a pinhole photography requires long exposures, but yield infinite depth-of-field. Everything in a pinhole image will be equally sharp/unsharp, but due to the long exposure and hole size/distance, there is often a soft, dream-like quality to the images. There is something about the photos that makes them special, which is why many photographers still choose to shoot them today.

Ruth Thorne-Thomsen Pinhole Photographer American, still working Inspired by surrealism Creates dream like worlds Reality vs. what’s created within the images.

Surrealism Surrealism is a cultural movement and artistic style that was founded in 1924 by André Breton. Surrealism style uses visual imagery from the subconscious mind to create art without the intention of logical comprehensibility.

Salvador Dali

What’s a Pinhole Camera? It’s a light proof container with a hole on one side. It can be made out of almost anything. Light from a scene passes though the pinhole and projects an inverted image on the opposite side of the container.

Camera Obscura: “dark room” Phenomenon where a pin hole in the wall of the darkened room projects an image on the opposite wall. It was observed and described as early as 322 BC by Aristotle Leonardo da Vinci was aware of the phenomenon as early as First published description in 1521 by Cesare Cesarriano, a student of Leonardo da Vinci.

To do pinhole photography, all you really need is a light-tight box. Almost anything can be turned into a camera. All kinds of light-sensitive materials (both black and white and color film and photo paper) will work. And it's easy to make a pinhole, or pinholes for multiple imaging.

Parts of a pinhole camera Camera Body: container painted black on the inside. Aperture/F:stop: Diameter of the lens opening through which light passes. (The size of the pinhole) Focal Length: Distance between the lens and the film inside the camera. Wide Angle: Produces a broad view of a scene and has a short focal length. Telephoto: Produces a close up view and has a long focal length. Shutter: A device that opens and closes to let light into the camera.