Camera Obscura
The elements are simple: a lens and a dark box. Humans have observed images projected through pinholes for millennia. The science hasn’t changed, but form factors evolved as artists employed the projected image for making accurate drawings and paintings from life.
This assembly, made in one day while traveling, is a simple camera obscura made from a magnifying glass, some thick paper, a white board, and a repurposed gooseneck clamp.
A simple magnifying glass lens will project an image (backwards and upside down) in sharp focus if you hold the lens at the precise focal distance.
Folded camera obscura is only two centimeters thick. Easy to take anywhere!
When unfolded, the orange cardstock cone creates a dark interior where the projected image appears. The cone depth matches the lens focal distance. The flap next to the lens (with black tape hinge) opens to accommodate a camera phone lens to capture the projected image. Place anywhere to view a projected image of a bright, sunny scene.
Camera Obscura at La Sagrada Familia, Barcelona, Spain.
Hagia Sofia, Istanbul, Turkey
Torre Agbar, Barcelona, Spain
