The Camera Obscure
Watch here on youtube!
The video on the right shows a groups of people attempting make a camera obscura in an office inspired by the work of Abelardo Morell. They make the room entirely light safe (completely dark) by taping black sheets to the windows. They then cut a small hole to let in a stream of bright light and an upside down image appears on the opposite wall. The reason this happens is because light travels in straight lines. |
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History of Camera Obscura
The name 'camera obscura' comes from the Latin words meaning 'darkened room'. The first record of the camera obscura principle goes back to Ancient Greece, when Aristotle noticed how light passing through a small hole into a darkened room produces an image on the wall opposite, during a partial eclipse of the sun. However, it may be much older than that. Stone age man may have used the principle of the camera obscura to produce the world's first art in cave drawings.
Later on, in the 10th Century, the Arabian scholar Al Hassan used the camera obscura to demonstrate how light travels in straight lines. In the 13th Century, the camera obscura was used by astronomers to view the sun.
In the 16th Century, camera obscuras became an invaluable aid to artists who used them to create drawings with perfect perspective and accurate detail. Portable camera obscuras were made for this purpose. In Victorian times, much larger public camera obscuras became popular seaside attractions, where spying on courting couples became a popular pastime. Today, we spy on visitors and locals alike as they make their way around our city.
Later on, in the 10th Century, the Arabian scholar Al Hassan used the camera obscura to demonstrate how light travels in straight lines. In the 13th Century, the camera obscura was used by astronomers to view the sun.
In the 16th Century, camera obscuras became an invaluable aid to artists who used them to create drawings with perfect perspective and accurate detail. Portable camera obscuras were made for this purpose. In Victorian times, much larger public camera obscuras became popular seaside attractions, where spying on courting couples became a popular pastime. Today, we spy on visitors and locals alike as they make their way around our city.
Old Camera Obscura
The Greek philosopher Aristotle noticed the principle of the camera obscura in about 330 BCE, when he observed the image of the eclipsed sun projected on the ground among apertures in tree branches; he also noted that the smaller the aperture, the sharper the image of the sun. The earliest version of the camera obscura consisted of a small room that admitted light only through a tiny hole, as in the top-left drawing, which was made by Athanasius Kircher in 1646. Later models were portable, like the tent version (top right) designed by the German astronomer Johannes Kepler in 1620. More elaborate models, like the one on the bottom left, were popular among scientists and artists in the 16th and 17th centuries, when the apparatus was also a feature of traveling magic shows. The rendering on the bottom right was often reprinted in the mid-19th century. Typically, the subject posed between the light source and the lens, which is labeled B in the bottom-right drawing, and an angled mirror (M) righted images that entered the chamber upside down. The artist then traced the reflected image on a piece of paper attached to a flat surface.