Topic: Camera Obscura

[astrobeck]

Was looking for some instructions/hints on making my own camera obscura at my house and came across this....

http://www.abelardomorell.net/photography/cameraobsc_01/cameraobsc_01.html


Check out the cool ones from Havana in the series and also a uber cool one of a Sunrise over the Atlantic in the second set of images.  Whoa!

[Karl]

he's great isn't he!

[hookstrapped]

I really need to try that.  Great stuff.

[Thom Stone]

Amazing results, never seen anything that good before! would be awesome to see the exact technique hes using

edit: just read the description :-P damn my laziness

[gary m]

I definately recommend Abes book Camera Obscura!

[jojonas~]

nice page! I'm quite fond of the tent camera shots. nifty idea! http://www.abelardomorell.net/photography/tentcamera_01/tentcamera_01.html

[Paul Mitchell]

Probably not as cool as Manhattan or Cuba but here's a good friend of mine's take on Windsor. http://www.derekreayphotography.co.uk/Pages/gallery-camera-obscura.html

Paul

[harragan]

I've had an idea for a while about building a box size camera obscura that people can sit in.  I'd then want to take their picture remotely triggering a camera set inside the box.  I actually know very little about the science behind this and was surprised at the length of his exposures!  Wow.  I might have to go back to the drawing board on that one.

[Francois]

When you think of it, you quickly realize that exposure gets longer very fast.

The best way I have to put it is using the cream cheese example. If you have a tablespoon of cheese and you spread it on a cracker, you get a lot of cheese on it. But if you take the same tablespoon of cheese and you spread it on toast, you have a lot less because you have a greater surface to cover. It's the same thing with light. If you expose a 1 cm square of film, you have a lot of light hitting it. but if you expose a 2cm square, you have 4 times less... and so on. 3cm drops to 9 times less... exposure decreases according to surface and is exponential.

[astrobeck]

Francois that is just brilliant!

From now on I can explain this to others with your "cream cheese factor"

Brilliant, brilliant!
 

[Francois]

It also works with peanut butter, cheese wizz, butter, jam...

[Ed Wenn]

This is a very timely post. I have a new attic room, which we're painting this weekend. No furniture in it at present, just some very pale walls. The view out of the window is probably the one thing keeping us from greatness in this enterprise (just some houses and a big tree), but it'll be worth doing for sure. If we can make this happen I think the kids would freak. Stay tuned.

Francois: I like an explanation/analogy which can be regionalised and also changed according to taste. Perfect!