Pictures Last Forever

What is light?
I never took time to think about this complicated question until my class, “Light, Sound, and Time”, challenged me to answer it. First, we studied the different parts of the human eye and what they do to process images. We compared that process to a camera, which showed that the two have similar procedures! Then, the class and I delved into the science of light. Light is electromagnetic radiation, which can appear as either waves or particles. The range in frequency of the light waves is categorized in the Electromagnetic spectrum. Our eyes can only see the “visible light” portion of the EM spectrum, which are the colors of the rainbow. Other living things, such as the helmet gecko lizard or mantis shrimp, can see different light waves that humans can’t because of how their eye is formed. The science of diverse eyes amazes me, and it makes me wonder what certain colors I see differently than other organisms.

This unit was very interesting to me because it made me realize the science of my everyday life. It felt personal and important to know how my eyes receive light mathematically and scientifically.

For this Action Project, I built a pinhole camera that could successfully take a picture. It was a very tedious procedure. My pinhole camera was constructed from an empty oatmeal container, aluminum, and black paint. I made my lens by poking a pin through the aluminum. Then, I cut a quarter-sized hole into the container for a space for the lens. I made a shutter for the lens too so I can control how long the film gets exposed to light. I painted the inside of the camera black because that color absorbs stray light that doesn’t hit the film. If it was painted white, any other colors, or not painted at all, the photons of light coming from the pinhole would scatter around and overexpose the image.

JMP, Pinhole Camera (2019)

JMP, Lens, (2019)

The Latin School of Chicago generously gave our class a 90 minute photography lesson on how to take pictures with our pinhole cameras and how to develop the film. A red dinosaur was the main focus of my intended photo. I took off the shutter for three minutes and thirty seconds to let the light photons shine only through the pinhole and imprint an image onto the film in the back of my camera.

Hiu To, Untitled, (2019)

The light bounced off the top of the dinosaur and hit the paper in a straight line toward the bottom of the film. The light that bounced off the bottom of the dinosaur hit the top of the paper. This projected the image upside down on the film inside the camera.

JMP,  Pinhole Image, (2019)

Here is the image that my pinhole camera took. About 75% of the image appears to be underexposed because there isn’t a figure on it. The other 25% has the checkerboard backdrop and the back of the dinosaur. I think only part of the image was successful because my pinhole was too small and the film was not correctly aligned with the pinhole. I am still proud that I was able to get an image of something.

JMP, Projection of Dinosaur, (2019)

My camera does not use reflection or refraction to produce an image; as it is an example of light
behaving like a particle because the paper absorbs the light photons. If the light was behaving like a wave, the waves would reflect off the film and would not produce an image. Since the photons stay in air and not another medium while it hits the film, it does not use refraction. It uses visible light from the electromagnetic spectrum in order to produce the image.

Here are my calculations that show the interactions between the light rays, the camera, and the dinosaur.

JMP. Calculations, (2019)

This STEAM Action Project is now my favorite I have done at GCE. I loved my experience in a dark room in my freshman year at another school, and I always wished to use a dark room again. It felt very accomplishing to create a working camera and get an image. The project felt very connected to the math I calculated. The process was very tedious, but I just spent more time to make sure my work is precise.