Pinhole photography is lensless photography. Basically, a pinhole camera is a box, with a tiny hole at one end and film or photographic paper at the other.
Pinhole images are softer-less sharp- than pictures made with a lens. The images have nearly infinite depth of field. Wide angle images remain absolutely rectilinear. Pinhole images, however, suffer from greater chromatic aberration than pictures made with a simple lens and tolerate little enlargement. Exposures are long, ranging from a half a second to several hours. Images are exposed on film or paper - negative or positive, black and white, or color.
Historically, the basic principles of the pinhole were first commented on in Chinese texts from the 5th century B.C. Chinese writers had discovered by experiment that light travels in straight lines. The philosopher, Mo Ti, was aware that objects reflect light in all directions, and that rays from the top of an object, when passing through a hole, will produce the lower part of an image.
By the 4th century in the western hemisphere, Aristotle commented on pinhole image formation in his work Problems. In book XV, 6, he poses the following question: Why is it that when the sun passes through quadrilaterals, as for instance in wickerwork, it does not produce a figure rectangular in shape but circular?" Aristotle found no satisfactory explanation to his observation so the problem remained unresolved until the 16th century.
In the Renaissance and later the pinhole was mainly used for scientific purposes in astronomy and, fitted with a lens, as a drawing aid for artists and amateur painters.
Leonardo da Vinci describes pinhole formation in his Codex Atlanticus and Manuscript D. These descriptions would, however, remain unknown until Venturi deciphered and published them in 1797.
The first published picture of a pinhole camera obscura is a drawing in Gemma Frisius' De Radio Astronomica et Geometrica (1545). Gemma Frisius, an astronomer, had used his pinhole in a darkened room to study the solar eclipse of 1544. The very term camera obscura ("dark room") was coined by Johannes Kepler who himself invented a portable camera obscura in the 1620's.
In the 1850's, Sir David Brewster, a Scottish scientist, was among the first to make pinhole photographs. He was the first to coin the term "pinhole" which he used in his book The Stereoscope, published in 1856. Other famous "pinholers" were Sir William Crookes, John Spiller, William de Wiveleslie Abney, and Flinders Petrie.
By the 1890's, pinhole photography had become very popular. Commercial pinhole cameras were sold in Europe, the United States and Japan. (Over 4000 pinhole cameras, called "Photomnibuses", were sold in London alone in 1892!)
Over the years, pinhole photography gave way to the mass production of cameras and what was called the "new realism". By the 1930's the technique was virtually forgotten or only used in teaching. Frederick Brehm, of what was to become the Rochester Institute of Technology, was possibly the first college professor to stress the educational value of the pinhole technique. He also designed the Kodak Pinhole Camera around 1940.
Over the next 20 years, interest in pinhole photography was sporadic at best but did see an increase in popularity in the 1970's. By the mid 1980's, Lauren Smith published The Visionary Pinhole, the first broad documentation of the diversity of pinhole photography. The first national exhibition of pinhole photography in the United States was organized by Willie Anne Wright, at the Institute of Contemporary Art of the Virginia Museum, in 1982. Eric Renner, in 1984, founded The Pinhole Resource, an international center and archive for pinhole photography.In 1988, the first international exhibition, "Through a Pinhole Darkly", was organized by the Fine Arts Museum of Long Island. For a thorough analysis of pinhole photography in the 1980's, one should read James Hugunin's essay "Notes Toward a Stenopaesthetic".
Pinhole Photography continued to be popular throughout the 1990's and into the new century as is evidenced by not only the increase in various pinhole photography publications and pinhole photography competitions but by the overwhelming popularity of the World Wide Web. Many companies, most notably, the Lenox Laser Corporation and its online distributor, Daystar Laser offer many products and professional assistance for the pinhole photographer.
Pinhole images are softer-less sharp- than pictures made with a lens. The images have nearly infinite depth of field. Wide angle images remain absolutely rectilinear. Pinhole images, however, suffer from greater chromatic aberration than pictures made with a simple lens and tolerate little enlargement. Exposures are long, ranging from a half a second to several hours. Images are exposed on film or paper - negative or positive, black and white, or color.
Historically, the basic principles of the pinhole were first commented on in Chinese texts from the 5th century B.C. Chinese writers had discovered by experiment that light travels in straight lines. The philosopher, Mo Ti, was aware that objects reflect light in all directions, and that rays from the top of an object, when passing through a hole, will produce the lower part of an image.
By the 4th century in the western hemisphere, Aristotle commented on pinhole image formation in his work Problems. In book XV, 6, he poses the following question: Why is it that when the sun passes through quadrilaterals, as for instance in wickerwork, it does not produce a figure rectangular in shape but circular?" Aristotle found no satisfactory explanation to his observation so the problem remained unresolved until the 16th century.
In the Renaissance and later the pinhole was mainly used for scientific purposes in astronomy and, fitted with a lens, as a drawing aid for artists and amateur painters.
Leonardo da Vinci describes pinhole formation in his Codex Atlanticus and Manuscript D. These descriptions would, however, remain unknown until Venturi deciphered and published them in 1797.
The first published picture of a pinhole camera obscura is a drawing in Gemma Frisius' De Radio Astronomica et Geometrica (1545). Gemma Frisius, an astronomer, had used his pinhole in a darkened room to study the solar eclipse of 1544. The very term camera obscura ("dark room") was coined by Johannes Kepler who himself invented a portable camera obscura in the 1620's.
In the 1850's, Sir David Brewster, a Scottish scientist, was among the first to make pinhole photographs. He was the first to coin the term "pinhole" which he used in his book The Stereoscope, published in 1856. Other famous "pinholers" were Sir William Crookes, John Spiller, William de Wiveleslie Abney, and Flinders Petrie.
By the 1890's, pinhole photography had become very popular. Commercial pinhole cameras were sold in Europe, the United States and Japan. (Over 4000 pinhole cameras, called "Photomnibuses", were sold in London alone in 1892!)
Over the years, pinhole photography gave way to the mass production of cameras and what was called the "new realism". By the 1930's the technique was virtually forgotten or only used in teaching. Frederick Brehm, of what was to become the Rochester Institute of Technology, was possibly the first college professor to stress the educational value of the pinhole technique. He also designed the Kodak Pinhole Camera around 1940.
Over the next 20 years, interest in pinhole photography was sporadic at best but did see an increase in popularity in the 1970's. By the mid 1980's, Lauren Smith published The Visionary Pinhole, the first broad documentation of the diversity of pinhole photography. The first national exhibition of pinhole photography in the United States was organized by Willie Anne Wright, at the Institute of Contemporary Art of the Virginia Museum, in 1982. Eric Renner, in 1984, founded The Pinhole Resource, an international center and archive for pinhole photography.In 1988, the first international exhibition, "Through a Pinhole Darkly", was organized by the Fine Arts Museum of Long Island. For a thorough analysis of pinhole photography in the 1980's, one should read James Hugunin's essay "Notes Toward a Stenopaesthetic".
Pinhole Photography continued to be popular throughout the 1990's and into the new century as is evidenced by not only the increase in various pinhole photography publications and pinhole photography competitions but by the overwhelming popularity of the World Wide Web. Many companies, most notably, the Lenox Laser Corporation and its online distributor, Daystar Laser offer many products and professional assistance for the pinhole photographer.
