In Ellen Stern's history of photography class
at Lynn University, students experienced turning the classroom into a camera by
creating their own camera obscura.
"A camera obscura is a light-tight box
with a tiny hole on one side that projects an image from the opposite wall
upside-down and backwards," explained Alexandra Ojeda, senior.
To create a camera obscura, the room must be
completely dark and light-tight. A small hole is cut to create a lens and hung
up on one wall to let light through the window, which will project the
upside-down, backwards image on the wall across.
Students began by cutting and taping large,
black garbage bags to be used for covering the light coming through the window.
Then students used tin foil, black tape and black garbage bags to create the
lens for the camera obscura by cutting out a small hole for the light to come
through and project an image.
After two separate sessions of cutting the bags
to create the camera obscura, students were ready to set up the room. Students
hung the bags on the window and then shut off the lights to
observe the outcome of the experiment.
For a camera obscura to work, the room needs to
be completely protected from any light that might be able to come through. For
this experiment, light was coming through cracks in the windows and a small
crack under the door, and it did not turn out as
planned. However, a subtle image projected on the wall could be seen.
"It took us about two days to cut out the
garbage bags and we even put them on the windows and checked if any light was
leaking through," said Ojeda. "There was a hole in the ceiling,
around the door, there was a lot of light coming through."
"We would need heavy duty [garbage] bags
that did not let any light in and we also needed a really bright day which we
did not have," added Professor Stern. "Then we would have had a
really spectacular image that was upside-down and backwards."
The experiment was not as successful as
planned, but students enjoyed the experience.
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