Thought for the Week

"A hug is a perfect gift - one size fits all and nobody minds if you give it back."
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Tin Cans and Sticky Tape

Laney, you are right, I am VERY busy and yes it has been a while since I checked in here. In view of your comments, here is the first instalment of the pinhole camera exercise, that I had written already. I was going to post it after Thursday, when I have had a chance to take my 'negatives' into college and process them to see if I even have an image there. Who knows? Also, I had photographed (with a proper camera) the making of the pinhole camera, but as those photo's are at home, and I am not, you will have to wait to see the visual masterpiece!!!!

So, how did my new little camera work out?

Well, I couldn't find a circular tin with a well fitting lid, but my Mum kindly donated an old hexagonal tin she had that came complete with an hexagonal lid (lucky that really, a square one just wouldn't have fitted the same)!

It was the tin she used to keep lots of colouring pencils in when our kids were all small. She knew that at some point in the first half hour of a visit, usually the first 5 minutes, her grandchildren would want to get out the paper and the pencils and draw some pretty pictures for Nanny to stick on the fridge or the kitchen cupboards to remind her how special she was to them.

Now that they are all grown up, she no longer has a need for them. Mind you, her first great grandchild will want to start her own collection of scribble pictures in the not too distant future. Maybe Mum will treat her to a shiny new pencil box.

So, tin in hand, I smiled sweetly at G and asked him to drill a hole in the side for me about ¼" across. He disappeared into the garage, and emerged about half an hour later. Not only had he drilled the hole for me, but he had lovingly filed the edges of it so they weren't too sharp and had also neatly covered the entire tin in duc...(hmm**) duck tape and the lid too, creating a very tight seal when fitted to the tin.

**At this point, unsure of whether the silver stick-like-s**t- to-a-blanket-tape was actually called DUCK tape or DUCT tape, and wanting to avoid obvious errors like COY and KOI!! I decided to Google it...

I got my answer in the first sentence, but somehow got drawn into the entire page contents... was strangely interesting... or maybe I'm just a little strange... check it out and see for yourself... DUCK or DUCT that is the question?

Anyway, the next stage was to paint the inside of the tin black. I had bought my matt black spray paint the previous weekend, in readiness for producing this masterpiece! The purpose of the matt black is to cut our all light reflection when the tin (sorry, the camera) is in use. I gave the inside of the tin and the lid a generous coating and put them in the cupboard with the boiler to dry. I then repeated this spraying, just to be sure I had covered it properly.

Next item needed is a piece of tin foil. Preferably not the type you wrap your chicken in before roasting as this is a little fragile, but the foil case from a individual apple pie or such like, nice and thick. Cut a piece about 2" square and use the end of a very find needle to make a hole in the very middle. This is where care is needed, the precision and size of the hole made now will affect the overall crispness and clarity of the images taken. This is then stuck to the outside of the tin with the pinhole centrally over the large drilled hole and the foil is held in place with more black electrical tape.

The final part of construction is to make a 'flap' or a lens cover. Just a simple, small piece of square card, thick enough to prevent light travelling through it, is stuck with yet another piece of electrical tape. The tape has to be long enough to go from an inch or so above to an inch or so below the cardboard lens cap so that when taking a photograph you can unpeel the upper part and allow the cover to flop down, exposing the pinhole.

Next installment - Adventures with my pinhole camera - and the question I REALLY want answered - did I produce a photograph with it???

PS - Laney, thx for your email honey, I understand why you deliberated over it, but you shouldn't have, honest. It is heart warming to know there are people out there who would do what he is doing, and more understanding of any subject which affects people deeply can only ever be a good thing. I will defo drop him an email. Thank you. x

4 comments:

Elaine Denning said...

The things you make me do!!

I googled it, and discovered that Duct tape is the correct name for it, but Duck tape is a brand name, so either would have been correct.But I didn't stop there. My sad lttle brain wanted to know what Gaffa tape was. And then I discovered it was also called Gaffer. Of course, I needed to find out where the name came from, so checked that out too. Then I thought about sellotape, which is in fact a brand name.

I blame you entirely for this.

Aneeeway. A question for you. Why does the camera have to be made out of a tin box? What about plastic? Surely if the inside is sprayed black, it doesn't matter what it's made from, does it? Or does it? Just curious!

Can't wait to see the results....

I'm so glad I sent you that email now. It's a wonderful thing he is doing, isn't it? My heart goes out to all who have been affected by it. You especially, sweetie. xx

Ali said...

Miss ~ HaHaHa... I did the Gaffa/Gaffer thing too, just didn't like to admit it!!! Can't say I went as far as the sellotape though..hmmm!

As far as the camera from a tin is concerned, I don't think it really matters, as long as you are certain that it is 100% light resistant, and I guess that tin is a safe bet. The black paint is more to reduce light reflection/bounce inside the 'camera' when you open the pinhole to make an exposure than to seal the light out in general.. does that make any sense or did I just ramble?? lol

Get to develop my exposures tonight... I'm sooooooooo excited!! Probably turn out to be completely white still!!! lolol

Mike said...

Oh wowwww, I can't wait to see the results! I seem to remember making a pinhole camera at school many centuries ago. I also seem to remember some fairly awful results. Hope you have more success than I did.

I don't know if you've mentioned anywhere in your blog which digital SLR you bought? I bought an EOS300D when they first came out. I love it to bits but I'm getting the urge for more pixels now.

Ali said...

Mike ~ I'm sure it wasn't THAT many centuries ago that you were at school. Quite a few people have said they made one at school, if only that's where I was now, people wouldn't look at me funny when I jump up and down and get excited about what might or might not come out!!!! Still a girl at heart me.

I did mention my camera when I bought it, it's the younger brother of yours Mike, the EOS400D, with a whooping 10.1 megapixels... and I love it to bits too.

If my plan of making a living from photography takes off I will eventually upgrade I guess, but it will definitely be another Canon.

Results of my experiment are in... coming soon!