Lumen pinhole

Pinhole photography is a method of camera-less photography where light sensitive paper is placed in a light sealed container with a roughly 0.332 mm hole pierced in it however the hole is covered with tape until exposure of the paper is desired.

Materials:

• 35mm card disc (use compass to get correct size on all card circles when cutting them out)
• 60mm card disc
• 70mm card disc
• 70mm felt disc (use the 70mm card disc as a template to cut the felt) (this felt must be black or inpenitrable by light)
• Scissors to cut circles of card and felt
• compass and ruler to cut and measure the 3 circles before cutting them out of the card.
• Acupuncture needle
• duct tape (black/solid colour that is not opaque or transparent)
• stapler
• 500ml can (clean and dry)
• Can opener
• sand paper
• hot glue gun

We created our own pinhole cameras by using our can opener to remove the top of the can leaving a cup shape we then pt duct tape around the tip to preventing sharp edges from cutting us. Next we pierced a small hole in the side of a 500ml can using a acupuncture needle leaving a 0.332mm hole (this is the aperture of the camera meaning it controls how much light comes in and out iff the aperture was significantly larger then our light sensitive paper would become exposed far more quickly because more light can reach it in the same space of time) now take your sand paper and sand the back of the hole on the inside of the can because there will be a ridge from piercing the can which must be flattened or it will affect the light flow into the can. we then covered the hole with a piece of black tape to keep light out, Having done this we then took our compass and ruler and measured and drew 3 circles onto a piece of card sizes 35mm 60mm and 70mm Which we then cut out with scissors.

After cutting out the card circles we then took our 70mm card circle and used it as a template to trace onto the felt and then cut out the 70mm felt circle using scissors, we did this 2 times too create a second 70mm felt circle. I next took my 35mm circle and stapled it into the centre of one of my 70mm felt discs, I then put a dab of hot glue onto the 35mm card disc and pushed it glue side down and felt side up into the bottom of the can. Now to create my light  tight plug for the top I took my 60mm card disc and stapled it to the centre of the other felt disc. Now make a room as minimally lit as possible and place your A5 light sensitive paper inside the can, make sure your can is standing up and put the paper in landscape so it wraps around the inside of the can shiny side facing inward, now make sure that your paper is inline so that the paper leaves a gap where the hole is. Next you need to attach the light tight plug, to do this you need to push the felt inside the can leaving the 60mm  card disc on top creating a seal, now you need to go over this with duct tape to cover up any cracks in the seal.

When you are ready to take your picture simply make sure your can is secured in the place you want ,unable to be moved or distracted in any way, and that the hole is facing what you want to take a photo of, next simply peel back the tape that is on the hole and leave the camera to expose for a given amount of time in my case 3 months.