How can we make a pinhole camera

Please be respectful of copyright. Unauthorized use is prohibited. Use the point of a sharp pencil to punch a hole in one of the shorter ends of the shoe box. Take the camera box to a dimly lit room and turn on a lamp. Stand about 5 feet from the lamp. Photography tips and tricks Color or black and white? Artsy or newsy? Doesn't matter: We love photography—and so do you! That's why all of our great photo stuff is in one easy-to-find place.

You can use any sort of photographic paper in your pinhole camera, and this is readily available from any retailer than sells photographic supplies. Photographic papers, being of low sensitivity, are ideal for long exposures and usually perform very well for solargraphs. No chemical processing is necessary after the exposure is completed; the paper negative is simply scanned into a computer using a flat-bed scanner. Once you have done this, you can use processing software to invert, flip or rotate the scanned image, or enhance the solargraph if desired.

You should also consider which direction you aim the camera. In the northern hemisphere, is best to avoid pointing the pinhole north, as it will see very little direct sunlight. Locations that are well-lit by sunlight, whether that be direct or reflected, will give the best results in terms of foreground detail.

That said, the results are usually more impressive when they are exposed for longer periods. A three-month exposure, say from an equinox to a solstice or vice versa, is a good duration. This will expose a lot of trails onto the solargraph. Insert the box into the film cartridge as shown. It should fit tightly.

When you hold the open end of the box up to your eye, you shouldn't see any light leaking in where the box fits into the cartridge. Line the inside of the front of the box with black paper or tape, leaving the hole open. Tape a 1-inch square of aluminum foil over the square hole, and make a small pinhole in the center of the foil. When you aren't taking a picture, you need to cover the pinhole with black paper. We made a shutter that slides into black paper guides.

To ensure that no light can leak in, tape the box to the front with black tape. Fasten the camera to the cartridge with rubber bands, as shown. Through the window in the back of the film cartridge, you'll see arrows. Use a coin as shown in the diagram, turning it clockwise to advance the film in the direction of the arrows. Eventually, you'll see the frame number 1 through the window, the first in a series of 1's. Stop advancing the film when the third and fourth 1 in the series are both visible through the window.