The history of the optical darkroom, equipped with a small hole creating a picture on a surface  opposite to the hole, is longer then the history of photography. Camera obscura history dates back as early as the civilisation of the Ancient Egypt. The camera obscura is a closed box or room, where the lights gets only through the small round hole. Its name came from Latin. The picture inside the camera obscura come into being because of the intersection of  light rays running from the object and creating upside down picture on light sensitive material.

Yet in 1970's pinhole cameras used to fly in the universe. Experiments with camera obscura, which became part of the research on light features, helped to establish modern calendar and observe solar eclipses. While equipped with lenses, they turned out to be prototypes of modern photographic cameras. In the history of photography it is impossible to omit discovery of light sensitivity. Without it, it would never be possible to record camera obscura picture in any other way then by drawing.

Pinhole photos are easy to make. If in a place where normally lenses are situated, a thin aluminium plate with a small diameter hole will be put, similar picture to the one made by lens camera will appear. The picture will be very dark as only small amount of light can get through the hole, and its sharpness will depend on quality of the hole (the more round hole the better picture).

Camera obscura - zasada działania

Źródło: http://www.imaginabilis.com.br/artcult/pinhole00.htm

Pinhole photos are easy to identify: they are soft, and depth of focus is similar on all range of distance. Edges of objects are devoid of well-defined contours and all photos give impression of being made in fog.

Źródło: http://www.abelardomorell.net/

Pinhole photography develops ingenuity, imagination and encourage creative work. The project is addressed to everybody and everybody can take part in it - this is the idea of Akademia Pstryk.

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