Camera Obscura

These digital photos are from a project I did where I turned my darkroom into a Camera Obscura. I poked a hole in the black foam board that blocks light in the window and added a piece of thin metal with a hole-punch in it. I set up my camera on a tripod facing the wall opposite the window.

panorama of three walls of the darkroom

I experimented with exposures in the beginning, using higher ISOs for shorter exposures, finally settling on ISOs of 1600 to 3200 and exposure times of one to three minutes. I used a Canon EOS RP and I think most of the final images were with the 24-105 kit lens, although I may have used my 50mm prime lens for some (who remembers). Images were shot in RAW format and processed using Adobe Lightroom Classic.

From the photos, you can tell that I have a swimming pool in my backyard which makes for some interesting affects.

Below are some of my original practice shots. They are much grainier as I was using a much higher ISO. The red light is from my light box. It took forever for me to figure out where it was coming from as it was not really visible unless there was an extended exposure.