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PHO306 Creative Photography

Assignment: Digital Pinhole

Pinhole photography has long been a popular alternative to traditional photography. Instead of using an expensive mass-manufactured camera and glass lens, the pinhole enthusiast typically constructs her own camera out of wood or cardboard, and uses a simple pinhole in a piece of foil for an aperture. The images can be as rewarding as any taken by conventional methods.

Traditionally, pinhole cameras have used film or light sensitive paper to capture the image. But in an era of digital dominance, it's not surprising to learn that some clever folks have come up with methods of creating digital pinhole images. Of course, these still require a digital camera body, so they're not as lo-tech as their film/paper cousins; but they do dispense with the lenses.

Assignment

Construct a pinhole lens for your digital camera, then take some photos. Turn-in your best three for credit.

Procedure

  1. You'll need some supplies; I will provide most of these in class, but if you miss class that day you're responsible for getting these things on your own:
  2. Find a body cap that fits your camera.
  3. Drill a 3/8" hole in the center of the cap. Put the block of wood under the cap when you drill to protect the bit and your surface. Use an X-acto or similar blade to clean the hole and "deburr" it.
  4. Cut out a small, round piece of foil, about an inch in diameter—large enough to cover the hole you just drilled. A thin sheet of brass or circle of aluminum pop can can also be used—they have the advantage of being more durable so they tend to do a better job of holding the pinhole shape.
  5. To put a pinhole in the center of the foil circle you have some options. You could try poking a hole right through the foil with a very small needle. You'll want a very small (32 gauge) needle, and you must make sure you move the needle vertically; you don't want oblong holes. For heavier shims or sheets of metal (brass, pop cans), place the sheet on a piece of cardboard, foam core or cork and press a pin into the middle of the sheet. Don't puncture it however, you just want to raise a "dimple" on the other side. Turn the sheet over and carefully sand away the dimple with fine grain sandpaper. Go slowly and lightly; a tiny hole should appear.
  6. Use the loop to check your hole's roundness. The rounder the better. Also, sand away any extraneous bits of metal; ideally the sheet around the hole should be perfectly flat and smooth.
  7. Attach the foil circle to the inside of the body cap. You can use black electrical tape or epoxy, whatever you prefer. You'll want to get the hole as close to center as possible. Alternately, you could attach the foil first, then punch the hole to help center it.
  8. Set your camera to manual, set your shutter speed, and start taking photos!

Further Considerations

Okay, so what shutter speed should you use? Well it depends on the size of the hole. To calculate the f/stop, you must divide focal length by aperture width. Focal length is the tricky bit—it's the distance from the aperture to the film plane. One source I've read claim that for a Canon EOS, it's 50mm, so let's go with it for now. Aperture width can be tricky to measure too unless you have a very precise ruler. Let's say for example that our aperture is .2mm wide. 50 ÷ .2 = 250, or f/250.

There is a great Web site (http://mrpinhole.com/) that contains a series of pinhole calculators—from determining optimal pinhole size to proper shutter speed.

As with the previous assignments, the your subject matter is up to you (people, objects, landscapes, architecture, etc.), as long as the images meet the other requirements.

Submit your favorite three images.

* I will set up the assignment on the portal so that you should be able to upload the images there.

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