Celebrate Worldwide Pinhole Photography Day The Last Sunday in April
On the last Sunday in April we celebrate the simplest way to take a picture, with a pinhole camera.
That’s right, this little box with the tiny hole has its very own day: Worldwide Pinhole Photography Day.
It’s an international event, promoting pinhole photography. The day’s creators envisioned the day as bringing together people around the world through the simple act of creating an image.
What is Pinhole Photography
Pinhole photography is the simplest way of making a picture. Simple in terms of equipment that is. Not necessarily in terms of getting great results with little effort.
It actually takes a lot of effort to learn to do it well. Things like exposure time and the size of the pinhole make a big difference in the final image. And exposure time depends on whether you’re using film or light-sensitive paper.
The pinhole camera itself is just a light-tight box with a tiny hole in one side. Inside the box, on the side opposite the hole is the film or paper. That’s it.
There is no lens or any way to focus the image. So everything is “focused,” both near and far objects. And “focused” doesn’t mean sharp in this case. It’s more of a soft focus, giving the images a gauzy feel.
This way of creating images has actually been around for centuries. Now, before film or photosensitive paper existed it wasn’t used to make photos, of course. Instead things like a solar eclipse were projected through a window in one wall onto the opposite wall.
When smaller versions were made, people used them as drawing aides.
After the modern camera (film, not digital!) was invented pinhole photography was mostly forgotten for a while. But then some photographers got interested in using it for creating artistic images.
Today it’s gotten quite popular again. Although not for everyday use, of course. We have our phones for that!
Scroll down for some ideas on celebrating this creative unofficial holiday.
How to Celebrate Worldwide Pinhole Photography Day
The day’s organizers and the official website encourage photographers all over the world to shoot pinhole images and upload them to the site.
The idea is to escape the technology race for a little while and take time to appreciate the simplicity of pinhole photography.
And, of course, enjoy other photographer’s images.
The day has a Facebook page and Twitter stream, too.
If you’re new to pinhole photography you may just want to use this day to start getting familiar with this fun, somewhat addictive, form of photography.
You can build your own pinhole camera if you don’t already have one. You can find a number of website with instructions for slightly different styles of pinhole cameras:
- Matchbox Pinhole Camera
- Make a Pinhole Camera, from National Geographic Kids
- How to Make A Pinhole Camera, on Instructables
MrPinhole is a site that offers a variety of camera design calculators and wizards so you can make the perfect camera for you. It might be a bit (or a lot) confusing for beginners. It was for us.
At Pinhole.cz you can download a program that helps you do the calculations to design your camera. Calculations include optimal focal length, diameter of pinhole (this is actually very important), exposure times and more. There’s also pictures of various pinhole cameras the author has made. It’s fun to see all the different containers that can be turned into a camera!
There are also pinhole camera kits to make it easier.
If you want to learn more about pinhole cameras and pinhole photography, these two guides are straightforward and easy to understand:
- Pinhole Cameras: A DIY Guide, by Chris Keeney
- The Pinhole Camera: A Practical How-To Book for Making Pinhole Cameras and Images, by Brian J. Krummel
The Pinhole FAQ on the Pinhole Photography Day website also offers some good information about things like size of the pinhole and how to determine exposure time.
There’s lots more information free on the web, too. Just search “pinhole camera” or “pinhole photography.” And enjoy!
