American University of Ras Al Khaimah

Ras Al Khaimah, UAE

Photography and Communication [COMM-104]

Spring Semester – 2017

Name : Mohammed Chowdhury

Date: 26/01/17

Assignment #1- Camera Obscura

Name of Instructor: Saad Ullah Khan

 Camera Obscura
Have you ever thought for a second: how visual images - now called photographs, were taken
before cameras were invented?

The theory of what occurred around the year 1600 also known as the camera obscura, was
known in the fifth century before the Christian Era, when a Chinese philosopher observed light
processed through a pinhole displays an inverted image that is seen on the opposite wall of a
room when kept dark. Years later the Greek philosopher Aristotle made very comparable
observations. In the next century, the essential purpose of the theory was restricted to a set of
scientific experiments. In the year 1550, an additional biconvex lens was placed with a
diaphragm to regulate the size of the aperture and perfect the well-defined focus and depth of
field.

So how does a Camera obscura work? It’s simple. Light from the outer source enters the box
through a hole as a result an image is created which is inverted. The image is inverted from left
to right. For the capture of the image to occur and to be successful, the box has to be light-tight.
The requirement is complete and utter darkness, just like in the cinema where darkness is
required too. Thus the name camera obscura was created. The ability of light to focus an image
through a pinhole served as the basis of development for the camera obscura system later in the
future. As more lenses were discovered we have different modern types of cameras such digital
cameras, mobile cameras and DSLR .
Reference:

1. "Niépce And The Invention Of Photography - Nicephore Niepce House Photo Museum".
Nicephore Niepce House Photo Museum. N.p., 2017. Web. 26 Jan. 2017.
2. "Camera Obscura". Physics.kenyon.edu. N.p., 2017. Web. 26 Jan. 2017.
3. Pero, Michele and Michele Pero. "The Discovery Of The Camera Obscura – 2 | IN
Thedarkroom". Thedarkroom.it. N.p., 2017. Web. 26 Jan. 2017.