How to Take a Pinhole Photograph

With a pinhole camera, you can take photos that look like no others. But first, you'll need to establish the optimum exposure time for the conditions you'll be working in.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Photo Printer
• Masking Tape
• Masking Tape
• Photographic Print Papers
• Camera Tripod
• Darkroom Chemicals
• Darkroom Equipment
• Darkroom Timers
• Paper Safes
• Safelights

Figuring the Exposure Time

1. Prepare to test the exposure time of your camera by taping a test strip of photographic paper to the inside of the camera - emulsion side facing the aperture - in the darkroom under safelight conditions.

2. Take the camera outside and place it in front of an object that's getting full sun.

3. Remove the tape "shutter" from the aperture and make an exposure for 10 seconds while being careful not to move the camera or object that you're photographing.

4. Return to the darkroom. Remove the paper, and process as you would any photographic print.

5. Assess the "negative" you've just made. If the paper has gone all black, the exposure is too long. If very little photographic information has appeared, the exposure is too short.

6. Retest in 5-second increments until your test strip shows a wide tonal range that describes the object in negative.

7. Note the time of day, light conditions and time of year. From this, you can extrapolate a relative exposure time for other times and weather conditions using the original time as a base exposure.

Taking the Photograph

8. Place a sheet of photographic paper into the camera under safelight conditions.

9. Make sure the emulsion side of the paper is facing the aperture.

10. Make sure the paper is centered in the camera.

11. Make sure the camera is stable and won't move.

12. Go outside and point the aperture at the object or scene you'd like to photograph.

13. Stabilize the camera, remove the tape shutter, and time the exposure according to your test.

14. Replace the tape shutter after the exposure is made.

15. Return to the darkroom and process the negative just as you would a normal black-and-white print.

16. Reshoot if you feel the base exposure time is off. Determine this by evaluating the negative in terms of its value scale - you need a good black, a good white, and a graded scale of grays.

Tips & Warnings

• If, for example, the base exposure is 15 seconds in full sun at noon in June, then at 2 p.m. in September, a shot in full sun will take longer than 15 seconds, so you would test beginning at 20 seconds and quickly arrive at an optimum exposure time.
• Dark spots indicate light leaks - the camera will need to be resealed before testing is resumed.
• Reflectionlike areas on the test strip or negative indicate that there is light bouncing off an interior part of the camera. Repaint the inside to fix this problem.
• Ragged image edges indicate that your pinhole is not perfectly round. Redo the aperture, making sure that you don't harpoon through the aluminum foil (see "How to Make a Pinhole Camera," under Related eHows).