Camera Obscura

Camera obscura is an optical photographic device also used for both drawing and entertainment purposes. It was a leading instrument in the development of photography and the concept of the camera obscura has been said to be thought of by thinkers early as Aristotle. It was in 1300s that inventer Rogar Bacon used this device. In the 10th Century an Arabian Scholar, Hassan ibn Hassan, also known as Ibn al Haitam, talked about the camera obscura theory in his writings. (ref. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camera_obscura)

It was also recorded that Leonardo Da Vinci mention the theory in his writing.

"Close all shutters and doors until no light enters the camera except through the lens, and opposite hold a piece of paper, which you move forward and backward until the scene appears in the sharpest detail. There on the paper you will see the whole view as it really is, with its distances, its colours and shadows and motion, the clouds, the water twinkling, the birds flying. By holding the paper steady you can trace the whole perspective with a pen, shade it and delicately colour it from nature."
Leonardo Da Vinci

The concept of the camera obscura consists of a box with a hole on one side, the box can also vary in size ranging from the size of a room to the size of a pinhole camera. If the hole is small enough an image is inverted onto the opposite side of the box, which then stikes a surface and is then projected onto paper. The latin word for camera obscura is darkroom. (ref. http://www.rleggat.com/photohistory/history/cameraob.htm)









Left: example of a camera obscura box (image ref. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Camera_obscura_box.jpg)