CAMERAOBSCURA

INSTRUCTIONS

INTRODUCTIONThe camera obscura is the ancestor of all cameras. A very large camera obscura projects an image from the outside onto a screen in a dark room. A small camera obscura projects an image onto a screen in a hand held box. In a real camera, the light is projected onto a film instead of a screen. Before film (and photography) was invented, camera obscuras were used as scientific toys and as aids for drawing.

Strange but true...

The modern artist David Hockney believes that many famous artists from the past used room-size camera obscuras to help them paint. The most famous example is the Dutch artist Vermeer.

CONTENTS

HOW DOES IT WORK?If you let rays of light into a dark space through a very small hole they cross over and form an image on a screen of what is outside. This image appears upside down. A lens instead of a small hole lets in more light but the picture is still upside down.

Strange but true...

There are still giant camera obscuras in several places - e.g. Bournemouth and Edinburgh. You stand in a dark room and watch everything going on outside projected onto a flat table.

MAKING YOUR CAMERA OBSCURA

1. Using a few small dabs of glue, stick the lense to the front plate (the front plate is the one with the smaller hole), ensuring the glue does not cover the lense at all. Ensure the lens is as central as possible. Hold in place for a minute and make sure that when putting down; making sure the lense is not pushed out by touching the surface first.

2. Assemble the outer box, using a little of the glue to hold it together. Remember to slot the front plate in as you glue the outer box together. Wipe off any excess glue with a damp cloth.

3. Stick the screen to the viewing plate. The viewing plate has a large round hole in it.

4. Assemble the inner box, using a little of the glue to hold it together. Remember to slot the viewing plate in as you glue the inner box together. Wipe off any excess glue with a damp cloth.

5. Allow a few hours for the glue to dry.

6. Carefully slot the inner box into the outer box - with the viewing screen towards the front of the camera obscura.

USING YOUR CAMERA OBSCURAYour camera obscura will work best in a bright environment. Try pointing it out of a window then look at the viewing screen from the back. If you carefully slide the the inner box within the outer box you should be able to focus the image on the viewing screen.

What you see when you look through your camera obscura is a similar image that someone over 200 years ago would have seen. People then thought it was a miraculous device.

To see a better picture you could try draping a dark cloth over your head and over the back of your camera obscura - just like the first photographers used to do. Do not use plastic sheeting because this is dangerous.

Strange but true...

Early photographic cameras were focused just like your camera obscura. The image was first focused onto a screen and this was then replaced with a photographic plate (the film).

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