Turning a Room into a Camera Obscura

Materials

• Camera Information (PDF 116KB)
• Camera Obscura Experiment Worksheet (PDF 40KB)
• Room with a window facing a bright outdoor scene
• Heavy black plastic sheet to cover windows, doorways, skylights, etc. (available in hardware stores)
• Duct tape
• Scissors
• Pencils
• Glossary terms: aperture, automatic camera, camera obscura, digital camera, disposable camera, emulsion, F-Stop, film, negative, photography, Polaroid camera, positive, shutter speed, SLR camera

Images

Teachers Preparation

• Read the Camera Information (PDF 116KB) to have a better understanding about how cameras work.
• Print the above images onto overhead transparencies.
• If possible, before you teach this lesson, allow your students to look at the Web sites listed below to learn more about camera obscuras and the images created with these special types of cameras.

Procedures

1. Begin a discussion with the students about photography: How do cameras work? How do you think a camera records your pictures? How is an automatic camera or disposable camera different than your digital camera?

2. Look at the images listed above and use the following questions to guide the discussion: What is going on in this picture? What do you see that makes you say that? What more can you find? Why do you think the image is upside-down?

3. Explain the objectives of this activity: To create a camera obscura in the classroom and experience how images are affected by this type of camera. Ask the students the following questions: How do you think we can create a camera with only the four walls of the classroom, black plastic sheets, duct tape, and scissors? What do you think the steps will be in this experiment? Do you think we will be able to see an image on one of the classroom walls? Why or why not? How do you think a camera obscura is similar to a real camera? How do you think it is different?

4. Make the room pitch black by closing all doors and completely covering all windows, doorways, skylights, etc. with the heavy, black plastic. Check for light leaks by turning off the light.

5. Hand out the Camera Obscura Experiment Worksheet (PDF 40KB) and a pencil to each student. On this worksheet, the students will document their predictions and results of the experiment.

6. Cut a small hole about three feet off the floor (approximately 2” diameter) in the plastic sheet where it covers a window to let in a stream of light. This hole is the aperture for your camera obscura. Look at the image that is projected onto the wall opposite the hole. It will be upside down, backwards, and in full color. If possible, have someone walk by the hole on the outside of the room; you will be able to see movement.

7. Next, ask the students to predict what will happen if the hole was smaller. Make the hole smaller by adding a piece of tape. Look at the projected image. It should appear dimmer, but in sharper focus. Ask the students to document the results and compare this image to the first image with the larger hole. Try different sizes for the aperture.

8. Ask the students to predict what will happen if the hole is higher than 3 feet above the ground. Make a second hole that is higher than the first and cover up the first hole. Look at the projected image and compare it to the one created by the first hole.

9. Try different holes for the aperture and discuss the results.

10. Use the following questions to guide a debriefing discussion: What did you see while you were inside the camera obscura? How is this camera obscura similar to the inside of a camera? How is it different? Why was the image upside-down? How did the image change when the aperture was made smaller and larger? How did the image change when the position of the aperture was changed?

Extensions
Science: To focus the projected image, try holding up different objects like a white bed sheet or a large white sheet of paper at different distances (focal lengths) between the hole and the opposite wall. Have the students predict and document the results.

Visual Arts: Students can draw the images they saw inside the camera obscura, focusing on tints and shading.

Standards

CA Content Standards

Fourth Grade Visual Arts
1.5 Describe and analyze the elements of art (e.g., color, shape/form, line, texture, space, value), emphasizing form, as they are used in works of art and found in the environment.

2.1 Use shading (value) to transform a two-dimensional shape into what appears to be a three-dimensional form (e.g., circle to sphere).

2.7 Use contrast (light and dark) expressively in an original work of art.

4.3 Discuss how the subject and selection of media relate to the meaning or purpose of a work of art.

Fifth Grade Visual Arts
1.3 Use their knowledge of all the elements of art to describe similarities and differences in works of art and in the environment.

2.2 Create gesture and contour observational drawings.

Sixth Grade Visual Arts
1.1 Identify and describe all the elements of art found in selected works of art (e.g., color, shape/form, line, texture, space, value).

1.2 Discuss works of art as to theme, genre, style, idea, and differences in media.

2.1 Use various observational drawing skills to depict a variety of subject matter.

2.3 Create a drawing, using varying tints, shades, and intensities.

Fourth Grade Science
6 Scientific progress is made by asking meaningful questions and conducting careful investigations. As a basis for understanding this concept and addressing the content in the other three strands, students should develop their own questions and perform investigations.

Fifth Grade Science
6 Scientific progress is made by asking meaningful questions and conducting careful investigations. As a basis for understanding this concept and addressing the content in the other three strands, students should develop their own questions and perform investigations.

Sixth Grade Science
7 Scientific progress is made by asking meaningful questions and conducting careful investigations. As a basis for understanding this concept and addressing the content in the other three strands, students should develop their own questions and perform investigations.

Bibliography/Webography

Teachers

Sandler, Martin A. Photography, An Illustrated History, (Oxford Illustrated History.) New York, Oxford University Press, Inc, 2002.

Abelardo Morell: Photographs
Photographer Abelardo Morell’s Web site, which includes several camera obscura images, as well as other types of photographs, current exhibition schedules, and a short biography.

The Magic Mirror of Life: An Appreciation of the Camera Obscura
A concise history of the camera obscura.

Charles Schwartz: Camera Obscura Photographs
A history of the camera obscura and photographs taken by photographer, Charles Schwartz.

A History of the Camera Obscura
This Web site explains the history of the camera obscura and provides many drawings of the invention throughout history.

Students

Buckingham, Alan. Photography, DK Eyewitness Books. New York: Dorling Kindersley, 2004.

Holland, Gini. Photography. New York: Benchmark Books, c.1996.

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