CS 194-26 Project 2 - Kelly Hong (cs194-26-ack), Madeline Wu (cs194-26-aap), Michelle Chen (cs194-26-aas)

Overview

For this project, we try to take pictures using a pinhole camera, or "camera obscura". This project was to show that you can take pictures by making use of "pencil rays", which are all the light rays reflected off an object that pass through a single point. Our pinhole camera was created with a shoebox, black paper, and duct tape. On one end of the shoebox we attached a camera and a slot for various pinhole sizes. On the other end of the shoebox was a piece of white paper that acted like a screen to display the images on. We lined black paper on all other sides of the interior of the shoebox to ensure that no additional light could leak through and interfere with the pencil rays coming through the pinhole.

Camera obscura in action

Camera obscura up close

A 3mm aperture

Inside of the camera obscura

Photos using different pinhole sizes

We used pinhole sizes of 0.75mm, 3mm, and 5mm. We used an exposure time of 20-30 seconds.

Results

Photos at 0.75mm

Tree, very dark

SLC, barely visible

Photos at 3mm

Tree, barely visible

SLC, more saturated, but still dark

Photos at 5mm

Better Tree

Better SLC

Additional photos

After examining the different photos that we took using the 3 pinhole sizes, we believed that the 3mm pinhole took the best photos. Although the images taken are a little darker than those taken with the 5mm pinhole, it produced crisper images, whereas 5mm would cause the image to be blurry because it would let in more light rays in addition to the "pencil rays" that create the image.

Kelly and Michelle

Bikes near Dwinelle

Songwriting Club and Truck

Wheeler Hall