{"id":25442,"date":"2025-06-06T14:43:12","date_gmt":"2025-06-06T13:43:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/fourtoes.co.uk\/iblog\/?p=25442"},"modified":"2025-06-06T14:43:14","modified_gmt":"2025-06-06T13:43:14","slug":"camera-obscura-at-leigh-spinners-mill","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fourtoes.co.uk\/iblog\/camera-obscura-at-leigh-spinners-mill\/","title":{"rendered":"Camera Obscura at Leigh Spinners Mill"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

For the Leigh Spinners Mill Centenary Open Day I have turned part of my studio into a large Camera Obscura<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Camera Obscura is a optical phenomenon in which the rays of light passing through a small hole into a dark space, form an image where they strike a surface, resulting in an inverted (upside down) and reversed (left to right) image of the view outside.

The human eye works much like a camera obscura<\/em>, with rays of light entering an opening (pupil), being focused through a convex lens and passing a dark chamber before forming an inverted image on a smooth surface (retina).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is not a mirror, its plain white paper in a picture frame.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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The earliest known written account of the camera obscura effect was provided by a Chinese philosopher called Mo-tzu (or Mozi<\/a>) in 400BC. He noted that light from an illuminated object that passed through a pinhole into a darkened room created an inverted image of the original object.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It wasn’t until the 11th century that a viewing screen was used to see the projected inverted image. Alhazen (or Ibn al-Haytham<\/a>) is said to have invented the camera obscura as we know it today, he carried out experiments with candles and described how the image is formed by rays of light travelling in straight lines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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During previous Spinners Mill Open Days I’ve often been asked why the image on the studio camera ground glass screen is upside down and back to front. Today visitors get to experience that by standing inside what is basically a giant camera. Lets hope it’s a sunny day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Friday the 6th June, perfect weather.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The effect is very much weather dependent and on the position of the sun. Also the smaller the aperture or hole the light passes through then the sharper (but darker) the image, and the larger the aperture, the brighter the image but much softer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n