My Little Camera

For the first Action Project of my STEAM Winter course "Light, Sound, & Time," my peers and I had to create a bunch of pinhole cameras! The materials for a pin hole camera consist of: a box, aluminum can piece, black tape, scissors/knife, and black paint or paper. Throughout the unit, we discussed plenty mathematical and scientific terms and theories that we were required to bring up in our Action Project, such as: electromagnetic spectrum, particle vs wave, similar triangles, sohcahtoa, etc. We were required to go to a dark room to develop our photos with chemical-based liquid. This did not turn out as planned, but was still, of course, an unforgettable experience. 

DR "My Pin Hole Camera," Photo. 02/11/16

The pinhole camera is very unique and takes quite a lot of steps to develop a picture. The creation of the camera itself was very fun. To create the camera, I needed the following materials: a box, aluminum can piece, black tape, scissors/knife, and black paint or paper. All these materials came together to create a light proof, homemade camera, believe it or not. The camera works by using the light exposed to the camera from the hole in the lens, located in the middle of the camera. That same light then projects the object across from the lens. In my case, I attempted to develop the image of one of my favorite things in the world! Air Jordans! 

DR "Air Jordan 1s," Photo. 02/09/16

Then the black flap on the camera comes in handy. The flap allows you to easily cover up the hole when you don't want light passing through the lens. After I left my camera at the developing station for about 4 minutes, I proceeded to the dark room. On my way to the dark room, I had to make sure absolutely no light passed through the hole in my camera so that it wouldn't affect the quality of the photo. The dark room allows you to remove your film from inside your camera and use the special sink with special liquid chemicals to "clean" and reveal the photo that your camera developed! The idea of refraction is not presented in this project because refraction can only occur when light moves from one medium to another, such as glass and water (more specifically a glass of water). The "shutter speed" required for my photo to develop was around four minutes, even though it didn't come out too well. The part I messed up on, was the concealing my film from light part and that's ultimately why the figure didn't really show.

DR "Developed/Failed Film" Photo. 02/10/16

My camera uses the science concept of the "Electro-magnetic Spectrum," which says that, since the inside of the camera is painted black, it absorbs more sun and light energy. There was also some math terms used to represent the light rays using similar triangles! The height of my camera is 6.25 inches tall. The length of the circular top of my camera is 4 inches wide. From the pinhole to the bottom of my camera, it is 3.25 inches in height.

DR "Calculations" Google Drawings. 02/12/16