Lights, Camera's, Action Project!

This is my first action project for my winter term STEAM class, Light, Sound, and Time. During the first unit I learned about the fundamentals of light. I also did review trigonometry from my first term class, Design and Engineering. We also talked about science principles like if light is a wave or particle. A short answer would be light has the capabilities to be both but in the process of my action project, light acted as a wave because there was no metal involved and reflected light through the camera. Me and my classmates had the opportunity to go to a darkroom, this is where we tried out our cameras. This had to be my favorite Field Experience yet.

For this action project, my classmates and I made a pinhole camera. In order to make one, we had to take a container and make it into a light proof box. In order for it to be light proof, we had to paint the inside black so that no light can reflect through the box, if it was white it would be too bright on the inside. Then we had to tape off any corner that light can pass through to ensure it’s completely light proof. Then we use an aluminum can and cut it into a small square, that will act as a lens. We also had to make a lens cap to make sure no light goes through the pinhole when walking back and forth from the darkroom. When we put a piece of film paper inside of it and expose the pinhole to light, it will project the image onto the paper backwards. When I went to the darkroom, we were able to use the camera to put it to the test. First I had to set up my scene in front of a backdrop. This included what I wanted the picture to be. I chose a clock for the first one but for the second one I decided to choose some figurines. After the scene is set up, I had to open the “lens cap”. This is when I time the shutter speed. Shutter speed is just how long you want the light to hit the inside of your camera. To get a good image, we had to have a shutter speed of 3.5-5 minutes. I chose to do 5 minute because I wanted a really clear image. However, because my shutter speed was so long, I had to be sure not to have any movement in my image, it’ll not turn out right.

MW, First attempt, 2019

MW, 2nd jpg, 2019

In my first image, my lens cap flew down for a few seconds without me noticing. You can see that really affected the image by the way it’s flipped. In my second image, I liked the way that it turned out. What I did differently was taped the lens cap up so I can ensure it wouldn't flop down. I also set the subjects on books to be higher so I know that they'll be in frame. We also had a chance to do a photo-gram, the process of that was setting up a scene and capturing it with light. 

MW,Leg wars, 2019 

Here are my calculations:

MW, Calculations, 2019

MW, Light rays inside camera, 2019

In class, we also talked about refection and refraction. Refraction is when light enters through a different medium and changes direction. Reflection is when light bounces off of a surface. My camera doesn't demonstrate neither reflection or refraction because it does neither of those things.