The Flip Side

The principles of the camera obscura (Latin for “dark chamber”) have been known since around the fifth century BCE. “Dark chambers” come in all sizes, from hand-held models to small buildings. The original versions evolved into still-film cameras in the eighteenth century and were predecessors of today’s digital cameras. It has been widely speculated that artists – such as Jan Vermeer – used a camera obscura to help guide the arrangement of objects and models in their paintings. During the late-nineteenth century, camera obscura buildings were constructed as a form of mass entertainment.

This camera obscura was made by combining four walls and a ceiling. One wall has a half-inch diameter hole that points to the outside and projects a picture on the inside walls.

What was going on inside the camera obscura?

Why did the image project the way it did?

What did you learn about light from the camera obscura?