Dulce Photography

Things I’ve done recently:

Just now- almost burnt some pasta.

This morning- did my laundry, complete with folding and putting away.

Yesterday- edited some pictures, which I will be blogging soon.

A few days ago- watched The Devil Wears Prada for the first time. By myself. And I enjoyed it.

Last week- MADE my own camera. Out of a BOX.

Yes folks. Last week, I made what is known as a pinhole camera. Technically, you aren’t limited to creating a pinhole camera out of a box. You could make it out of almost anything that can close off light. For instance, this guy made a pinhole camera out of a Volkswagen van. Are you kidding me?! Doesn’t get much cooler than that! Unfortunately, my box is not that cool. But still, I’ve actually grown quite fond of the little guy. If you want to make your own pinhole camera, it’s easy-peasy. There are lots of websites that give great instructions. Seriously, just Google it. I’m pretty sure you can even order a pinhole camera kit from Amazon. (But I wouldn’t recommend it. I mean, that’s slightly cheating. Plus, creating the camera from scratch is half the fun!) I’ll just give some really basic guidelines.

First, you need some sort of container that has a lid, so that it can close off light. Cut a hole into one side of it, trying to make it as centered as possible. Next, take a piece of tinfoil, part of a soda can, or any other type of thin metal, and gently poke a needle through it, making it as small of a hole is you can. Or use a pin. (Hence the name pinhole. Ha.) Then glue, tape, or otherwise adhere the metal inside of your container, trying to center the pinhole in the center of the hole you cut out of the container. Once you’ve got that in place, make a shutter, which can be as simple as a flap of tape that you lift up and close over the hole. Get some pins to load the film (basically just pin the film into the side opposite the pinhole, and, of course, load in complete darkness), and start experimenting!

Like I said, that was super general, and there are many, many ways to make pinhole cameras crazily high-tech and efficient.  I just wanted to share the simplicity of the process because it fascinates me that box with a hole in it can create a picture! Isn’t that seriously awesome?? Well, I think it is… so humor me and my nerdiness, just this once. Thanks :)

Here is Mr. Pinhole. (Yes, I named him Mr. Pinhole. I’m so original.)

I added black felt around the inside, to help block out any light leaks, and I put a wall halfway into the box to load the film onto, because I didn’t want it to be extremely panoramic. (The farther the film is from the whole, the wider the image you will get.)

Here is my collection of pins for loading the film. (There are other ways than pinning the film, too. That is probably just the quickest solution.)

The pinhole, from the inside. If you tape it, make sure you use black tape to prevent light leaks.

And from the front. You can see the pencil marks I drew from the corners of the box to make sure the hole was in the center.

Last but not least, the shutter. I got a box that had a handy little frame around the hole, so that I could just slide my shutter up an down accordingly. I made it out of card stock with some black tape around it. Simple, but it works.

And there your have it! That’s my pinhole camera. I went out and shot with it two different days. The first day, it was really sunny, so the pictures were very contrasty. The second day, it was snowing and really bleak, which made for some slightly dull images. But I’m still satisfied with how it came out.

Here are the successes of my two-day attempts.

Day #1:

Day #2:

Unfortunately, I was under a bit of a time crunch and I wasn’t able to spend the amount of hours I would have liked to on this project, but I fully plan on doing more experimenting, and I’ll be sure to post the images when I do :)

One last thing… Thank you to everyone who has entered the Valentine’s Day contest so far!! I’ve listened to each and every song you guys picked, and I’ve been loving it. You guys are awesome!! Stay tuned for the winner. And if you haven’t entered yet, it’s not too late! It’s open for 4 more days, so be sure and leave a comment :) Happy Wednesday!!