A Room with A Special View 52

Like to see things big through a tiny hole? Why not transform your room in to a giant Camera Obscura!















For this, you’ll need the following:

Sticky tape, ideally black duct tape

Thick black garbage bags

Strong cardboard, ideally black

Scissors

And a room with a view (works best in a small but bright room with a single window, a well closing door and a plain white wall)

How to:

Double or triple layer the garbage bags, depending on how thick they are. Just make sure they’re thick enough not to let any light pass through.

Cut a hole with a 5 cm diameter into the middle of one bag.

Cut the cardboard into pieces large enough to cover the hole in the garbage bag and provide each piece with a different sized hole – Now you have some pinhole templates!

Stick the garbage bags to the window and seal them with black duct tape.

Cover the hole in the window cover with a pinhole template and try different templates to see which works best in your room. The larger the hole, the brighter the image, but it will be blurry. If you have decided which one you want to use, stick the template permanently to the hole.

Finally check if there are further small light sources (e.g. keyholes, …) and cover them. You can use some cloth to seal the door (as you might not want to use duct tape for that ;-))











Maybe you will see almost nothing in the first minutes but when your eyes get used to the dark, an upside down panorama will appear on your wall. Just enjoy the beautiful view or take some cool pictures with a tripod and a cable release.