Which Side of the Photo Paper Must Face the Pinhole

Questions that will form the basis for a Photo II quiz on pinhole photography

- Which side of the photo paper must face the pinhole? What is the proper photo-technical term to describe this side?

- Describe what you think your pinhole negative will look like if you accidentally place it in the camera with the wrong side facing the pinhole. Explain.

- What's likely to happen if you place your hand on your pinhole camera during the exposure in order to steady the camera? Why? What should you do instead of this?

- Will a pinhole negative be lighter or darker in an area where less light hit it? Explain with reference to the following question: What does light do to photo paper?

- What is photographic "exposure"? What factors affect the exposure of your pinhole negative?

- Identify two elements that most cameras do have that our pinhole cameras do not have, and explain how the absence of those features affects how you use the camera. (There are more than two good possible answers. Just choose and explain two.)

- Explain the basic concept and procedure involved with making a "ghost" image with a pinhole camera. What are the essentials in terms of the set-up and how you go about making the exposure?

- Explain key considerations involved in making an effective pinhole photo showing a dramatic near-far contrast.

- Identify the major consideration in setting up a composition such that, when you place your pinhole negative next to the positive (print) that you make from it, you create a strong symmetry effect. That is, what has to be true of your composition?

- Describe the difference(s?) between a pinhole camera ghost image and a pinhole camera double exposure in terms of both procedure and visual effect.

- Exposure/metering/etc.: There will be a question set up as a problem to solve, as if you were using one of our 35mm camera's light meters to read the intensity of light reflecting back from the scene you're planning to shoot with a pinhole camera. I'll give you a set of exposure data that would work at a given ISO and shutter speed and aperture combination on the camera. Your job will be to figure out how to make the necessary adjustments given a very different actual ISO and aperture with the pinhole camera. I'll provide a full sequences of both ISO numbers (e.g., 400, 200, 100, 50, 25, 12.5, etc.) and f-stop numbers (e.g., f1, 1.4, 2, 4, 5.6, 8 11, 16, 22, 32, 45, 64, 90, 128, etc.).

For instance: Aiming the camera at the scene you're going to photograph, and with the camera's aperture at f22 and its ISO set to 25 (the slowest setting on our cameras), you get a green dot when your shutter speed is set at 1/4 of a second. What exposure time will you need with the pinhole camera, given that you're using photo paper of ISO 4 in the camera, and given that the camera's aperture is f285?