Pinhole Photography FAQs

What is pinhole photography?
Pinhole photography involves using a light-tight container of some type for the camera, a light sensitive media (film or photographic paper) to receive the image, and a "pinhole" to act as a lens to allow light to enter and form the image on the light sensitive material. Pinhole cameras have taken almost every shape and size. Before the advent of light sensitive material, people as far back as the fifth century BC have understood and used the "pinhole" principles. Aristotle and da Vinci among others understood and used pinholes.

What is a silver gelatin print?
A silver gelatin print is the fancy name for a traditional black & white print. The light sensitive silver salts are suspended in a gelatin media on the paper support. Since black & white prints can now be achieved by ink or toner, paint or giclee printing, the term silver gelatin print is used to distinguish a photographic B&W process.

Why do these prints have a black border?
The black borders on these prints are from the clear film support of the negative. By printing the full negative (including the border) the resulting image is what the photographer actually captured in the camera. There has been no cropping to modify the composition of the image.

Why are these prints so small?
The reason these images are so small is because pinhole images do not lend themselves well to enlargement. These images are contact printed. This means the film was in direct contact with the print paper and then exposed to light. The resulting contact print is the same size as the original negative that was shot.

Why do some prints appear different than others?
In printing these images there were no machines involved. Each print is exposed and processed individually by hand. Because of this, sometimes slight variations can appear. Remember, we humans vary from time to time.

Why would you want to do pinhole photography?
With today's camera phones, computer enhanced digital capture auto-focus cameras, FTP to printer, and color images all around, I wanted to step back, interpret and compose the scene; taking time to feel, see and set a mood.

Think about it. These images were formed by capturing light on film that came through a pinhole! No lens, no auto exposure, no Photoshop or digital enhancement. Then they were contact printed (no lens) to produce the images in front of you. Magic! Light, shadow, composition. I love it.