Pinhole Photography

Review
Photography, like most modern day endeavors, has it’s own vernacular like SLR’s, TTL’s f-stops etc. These terms represent a jargon that abounds in the field of photography. But really the basis of image making is quite simple, take light sensitive material and place it in a light tight box and then expose it to light through a ‘pinhole’ and you can make an image! We call this ‘pinhole’ photography and every camera ever made uses this simple principle to produce pictures.
Jim Shull, an Associate Professor at Mt. Angle College in Oregon, has taken this principle one or two steps forward in his new book "The Beginner’s Guide To Pinhole Photography". It’s been over 40 years sense I made my first and only ‘pinhole’ camera and it was quite crude in comparison with the ones in Jim’s book. He has turned this aspect of photography into almost it’s own art form. There is the basic ‘box camera’ the ‘cylinder camera’ (For wide angle images) and the ‘half cylinder camera’ (For the very wide angle images). He shows you all the materials you will need to make and use these ‘fun’ simple cameras. Then he takes you into the darkroom, step by step, showing you how to develop your negative or print materials. In the Exposure section you will find detailed information on the factors that control exposure. Throughout the book there are fascinating B&W pictures of Jim’s pinhole fotography that help support and illustrate his text. There is even a detailed plan for building your own pinhole camera.
This book is well thought out, well organized and well illustrated. If you teach photography, are an artists or just want to experiment with this simple, but fascinating, aspect of photography don’t miss this book!

Brian Ratty
Photo-Seminars.com