Pinhole

Years ago an artist friend of mine introduced me to pinhole (lensless) photography. After seeing some of his photos, I was instantly enamored with this photographic process. How simple the camera was with very few knobs and dials to operate. All you really need is a container that’s black inside that you can make light tight, a tiny pinhole aperture, some 35mm or 120 roll film or photographic paper and a shutter. The possibilities of what you can make a camera out of is only limited to your imagination. People have made pinhole cameras out of cars, eggs, cigar boxes, Altoid mint tins, oatmeal cans, shoeboxes, matchbooks, SPAM cans (SPAMera), business cards, old rusty cans, coffee cans, tea tins, the list goes on and on.

Soon I was making my own homemade cameras and experimenting with what kind of images I could produce with them. Since there isn’t a viewfinder you have to imagine in your mind’s eye what the image will look like before you take it. Keeping in mind that pinhole photographs have a very small aperture (like f/200) compared to most conventional camera that only go down to f/22. This enables you to get subject matter in focus really close and far from the camera in focus. And since the aperture is so small this requires the photographer to keep the shutter open for longer periods of time to properly expose the film or paper. Long exposures create motion blur which gives the image a dreamlike look and feel, which I think adds to the aesthetic of the image. I enjoyed making cameras that didn’t have lenses so much, I wrote a book about it called Pinhole Cameras; a Do-It-Yourself Guide, published by Princeton Architectural Press in 2011.

Date

September 14, 2020

Category

Experimental, Pinhole, Portraits, Travel

Tags

120, 35mm, 6x12, 6x6, Camera-Obscura, Cigar Box Pinhole Camera, DIY, Do-It-Yourself, Experimental, Explore, Homemade, Lensless, Make-Your-Own-Camera, Medium-Format, MintyCam, Photographic-Paper-Negative, Photography, Pinhole, PinHolga, Plastic-fantastic, SPAMera, Tea Tin Pinhole Camera, without-a-lens, Zero Image

Homemade pinhole 620 film camera vertical multiple photo Zero Image 6x6 camera photo of young boy standing on hood of old rusty truck Homemade coffee tin camera using photographic paper negative pinhole photo color pinhole photograph of two excavators digging out dirt for the foundation of the new court house in San Diego, California Homemade pinhole photograph of goat and young boy at San Diego Zoo Homemade coffee can pinhole camera photography of buildings in downtown San Diego Black and white Pinholga pinhole photo of a girl playing in a fountain at Harvard University in Massachusetts Zeroimage 6x12 pinhole black and white photography Anza Borrego Experimenting with developer and photographic paper in the darkroom Black and white photo of an old office building in downtown San Diego created with a coffee can pinhole camera using laser drilled pinhole made by Lenox Laser. Black and white 6x6 Zeroimage pinhole of girl in pool at La Quinta Montana pinhole photography Anza Borrego State Park pinhole photography Homemade cigar box paper negative pinhole photograph of a shade canopy and wooden bench in Anza Borrego Desert State Park campsite Anza Borrego State Park pinhole photography black and white 6x6 black and white pinhole photograph of a silhouette of a young girl holding her Boogie board on the beach with the clouds and ocean in the background. ANSCO 620 Flash homemade black and white pinhole photograph of two children playing on the beach at La Jolla Shore San Diego California La Jolla Shore San Diego black and white 620 pinhole vintage camera photography San Diego Petco Park Western Metal Supply coffee can pinhole camera photograph black and white abstract image of a black figure moving in front of the camera. This figure happens to be a goat black and white 6x6 pinhole photograph of Max sitting on the curb in Mission Hills San Diego California Altoids Candy tin MintCam 35mm film pinhole photograph of Chris Keeney next to US Navy jet on the Midway 35mm film pinhole image of the fountain and building at the San Diego Santa Fe Depot Black and white film canister pinhole camera self portrait photograph of Chris Keeney pinhole black and white photo of a woman holding onto a curved bar used for locking your bicycle Color image of the front of a vintage classic car photographed with a Thrift store camera that I converted into a 35mm film pinhole camera black and white pinhole photograph of San Diego author and photographer Chris Keeney created with a home made pinhole camera made from an antique tin. black and white pinhole photograph of a large agave Agavaceae plant with a boulder on one side and a tree on the other. A two story mission style house in the background black and white coffee can pinhole photo of the Marriot hotel in downtown San Diego with palm trees and pool chairs in the foreground black and white photograph of the Meadowood Hotel in Napa valley. You can see a large lawn in front of a large English style architecture building Black and white sepia toned photograph of a forest in the Sierra mountains in California Hawaii pinhole photograph of Chris Keeney Zeromimage 6x12 Pinhole Double Exposure Photograph Coronado Beach Black and white pinhole photo of Chris Keeney and an anonymous student photographed by a fourth grader at the Loma Portal Elementary School In San Diego Black and white photo of a fourth grade student wearing a baseball cap and sunglasses with the campus behind him at the Loma Portal Elementary School in Point Loma San Diego California Coffee can 5x7 photographic paper negative pinhole photograph black and white pinhole photograph of the Manchester Grand Hyatt hotel in San Diego, California. You can see a number of tall palm trees in front of the hotel pinhole self portrait of San Diego photographer Chris Keeney photographed while hiking in Kauai Hawaii Lavazza espresso coffee can black and white pinhole photograph of my daughter and I on the beach in Torrey Pines black and white pinhole photograph of a goat at San Diego Zoo Coffee Can Pinhole Camera photograph of Guadalupe in Oldtown 5x7 photographic paper negative pinhole camera photograph roadside shrine with Guadalupe candles 5x7 Coffee can pinhole photograph of Sierra Juárez mountain range in Baja Mexico Altoids mint tin pinhole camera (MintyCam) oil pump photograph Heritage County Park & Victorian Village pinhole photograph Multiple exposure black and white image created with a five pinhole lunch box camera Black and white MexiCanon pinhole camera photograph of Chris Keeney in front of large boulder and the silhouette of a bush. The image is high contrast but has some grayscale tonality Five pinhole lunchbox camera photo of Chris and his wide during happy hour at their house 5x7 inch photographic paper negative black and white pinhole test photograph of Chris Keeney created with five pinhole lunchbox camera Black and white MexiCanon pinhole photograph of three people sitting on a wooden bench in front of a log cabin surrounded by pines trees black and white image of a pinyon pine tree nestled into an opening in a large granite rock with a black border A black and white view looking up at the Omni hotel in downtown San Diego California created with a homemade 5x7 photographic paper negative pinhole cigar box camera Black and white square photograph of a glass table stacked with different types of wooden cigar boxes image created with cigar box pinhole camera black and white pinhole photograph of a young girl wearing a Paul Frank bucket hat, white turtleneck sweater, blue jeans and tall socks with hearts on them at the La Quinta resort in Palm Desert California Black and white cigar box pinhole photograph of a small dog sitting on a wooden deck. His head is blurred because he moved it while the shutter of the camera was open. Black and white photograph of a man and a young boy smiling at the camera. Photo created with a Quaker Oats oatmeal pinhole camera. A person standing in front of the Star of India which is an iron-hulled sailing ship, built in 1863 Black and white square format paper negative cigar box camera pinhole photograph of people standing and sitting on ATV's next to a log cabin in Montana Zero Image 6x12 vertical pinhole photograph of girl hanging upside down from playground swing Black and white photograph of children standing on the blacktop at Grant Elementary school in Mission Hills San Color pinhole photograph of a boy standing in front of the First Universalist Church, Middle Street, Gloucester, Essex County, Massachusetts Photo of my friend Bram Meehan photographed with the SPAMera pinhole camera made out of a SPAM can. Matchbox pinhole photograph a a man watching the red San Diego trolley pass by A Zero Image black and white 120 film pinhole photograph of two young boys jumping on the sand at Coronado beach in San Diego Black and white PinHolga pinhole photo of a fountain with a whale in the middle of it. Point Loma, San Diego black and white Zero Image 6x12 pinhole photograph of two young children sitting on a hiking trail covered with tree roots Cover art of the book Pinhole Cameras a Do-It-Yourself Guide by Chris Keeney black and white 5x7 inch pinhole photograph of the Marriott hotel with a number of palm trees growing at the base. You can see finger prints on the edge of the print and vignetting on the corners. There's a bit of distortion of the building because of the point of view and angle of the camera. black and white photo of a person holding a Twinings English breakfast tea tin with the lid off showing the inside that has some homemade black paper brackets that hold a square piece of photo paper inside of the homemade pinhole camera. The brackets hold the paper in place and allow for easy removal from the camera. Two young children nestled in the roots of the Kalalau Trail on the North shore of Kauai Hawaii black and white MexiCanon pinhole photograph of young boy sitting in a wooden chair on a lawn in front of a large log cabin in Montana holding a AK-47 rifle in his hands looking at the camera Black and white MexiCanon pinhole camera photograph of a grove of palm trees in Palm Desert California. The size of the print is the same size as a standard business card black and white photograph of a man wearing light colored shorts a long sleeve white shirt with a dark colored t-shirt on top. This person is standing next to a large granite rocks with two trees growing next to it. You can see a bit of the sky on top of the rocks. You can also see the edges of the photograph with are white.