Paint can Pinhole

I originally wanted to wait for this post so that I had a larger set of examples to share of what this “camera” can do, but after an interesting test at COS today, I think it’s too cool to wait.

As discussed earlier this week, you can make a pinhole camera out of just about anything that is light tight and can hold film/paper/etc – like I did with the body cap to my DSLR.  One of the most widely used versions of this is putting a pinhole into a paint can.  Most of them are matte gray or black on the inside, light tight, and the curved back provides interesting wide angles and distortion.

To make a paint can pinhole, simple drill a hole into the side of the can, tape in a brass shim pinhole and make a shutter out of something (I used the black plastic that holds darkroom printing paper and duct tape).  Simply load the camera with film or paper in an appropriate light free or safety lit environment and shoot.  The results will be a negative image that is upside down and backwards.

 

Here’s an example of a negative print and it’s corresponding positive:

 

However, another classmate and I played with putting color printing film into our paint cans and ended up with really amazing negatives (which I converted digitally to a positive because I was curious).

Negative

Positive

  

The sky should be blue and the trees green, but instead the camera created this interested color scheme.  I love it and plan to do a lot more in the future.  Look for updates!