Camera obscura

“ There is often no motive whatever to be discovered in the apparition. A remarkable instance of this is recorded by Mr. Myers in an article in the Arena, where the analogy to a camera obscura is very close. The camera reflects everything that happens. Nothing is either great or small to its impartial lens. But if you do not happen to be in the right place, or if the room is not properly darkened, or if the white paper is taken off the table, you see nothing. We have not yet mastered the conditions of the astral camera. ”

“ The increasing importance of the camera obscura as a photographic instrument makes it desirable to bring together what is known of its early history, which is far more extensive than is usually recognized. In southern climes, where during the summer heat it is usual to close the rooms from the glare of the sunshine outside, we may often see depicted on the walls vivid inverted images of outside objects formed by the light reflected from them passing through chinks or small apertures in doors or window-shutters. ”

“ The portable camera obscura, represented by the diagram, has often yielded much pleasure in the domestic circle, while the larger ones, which are publicly exhibited, are highly interesting. No person, perhaps, has witnessed the neatness of outline, the precision of form, the truth of colouring, and the sweet gradations of tint, thus apparent, without regretting that an imagery so exquisite and faithful to nature could not be made to fix itself permanently on the tablet of the machine. ”

“ Five hundred years ago the owner of that camera would have been burned as a wizard; now he makes a comfortable living out of the threepennypieces of inquisitive visitors. Is it possible to account for the phenomena of clairvoyance other than by the supposition that there exists somewhere in Nature a gigantic camera obscura which reflects everything, and to which clairvoyants habitually, and other mortals occasionally, have access? ”

“ The mirror and lens at the top of the apparatus are made to revolve, so as to bring every part of the landscape into view in turn. A camera obscura in a position commanding a view of moving objects, such as ships sailing to and fro, or the busy streets of a populous town, is an unending source of amusement, and may be easily and cheaply constructed. ”

“ Now I will answer this question before going any further, because it has a bearing on the subject before us—the making of a handy and cheap camera obscura, which cannot fail to be a source of amusement and pleasure, especially when the sun shines.
The reason why the object on the photographer’s ground-glass plate is seen upside down is easily explained. Light, as I need hardly remind older boys, proceeds in straight lines from any illuminated object. It is thus thrown upon the photographer’s plate. A glance at the accompanying diagram (Fig. 1) will suffice to show what I mean. ”

“ Without any lenses even a modern camera would give only inferior results and motion pictures would not be practical. It is also said Barbaro introduced the diaphragm, which is very important as a means of controlling the light in the camera.
Giovanni Battista Benedetti, a patrician of Venice, 1530–90, published at Turin a book called Diversarum Speculationum Mathematicarum et Physicarum Liber, “A Book of Various Mathematical and Physical Speculations”, in which was included the first complete and clear description of the camera obscura equipped with a lens. ”

“ Further experience has shown that when certainty in working is desired, some kind of finder is an absolute necessity as part of the working mechanism. It usually takes the form of a small camera obscura, what is required being, that it should not be too small, should give a perfectly discernible image, and be so adjusted, that only so much of it is shown, as will be projected on to the sensitive plate, when the exposure is made. ”

“ And that seems proper for a man who was by profession a playwright with a hobby interest in secret things, especially those relating to natural phenomena.
During the three decades prior to 1589, important developments were made in the science of optics. Both Barbaro and Benedetti described camera obscura systems fitted with lenses to improve the images, and E. Danti, an editor and translator, explained in 1573 how an upright, instead of an upside down, image could be shown through the use of a lens-mirror system. ”

“ The Daguerreotype.—An important, and somewhat surprising discovery has lately been made, in relation to the picture formed by the Camera Obscura. It is found, that the images formed by this instrument are capable of being indelibly fixed on certain surfaces previously prepared for the purpose, so that the picture is rendered permanent. ”

“ If the board be then fixed to an axle, and made to revolve quickly, the colors will no longer appear separate and distinct, but becoming gradually less visible they will ultimately appear white, giving this appearance to the whole surface of the paper.
A NATURAL CAMERA OBSCURA.
The human eye is a camera obscura, for on the back of it on the retina every object in a landscape is beautifully depicted in miniature. ”

“ But if a plate is duly exposed with camera and lens, and unseen faces appear on development, the matter is not quite so simple. For it is well recognised that the camera may record what is invisible to the eye; invisible stars are detected by the photographic plate, and anyone who has examined a nebula or comet through a telescope, after seeing a photograph of the same object, realises this fact to his disappointment. Similarly a can of hot water may be photographed, by a long exposure, in a perfectly dark room ”

“ The human watcher sees merely the collapse of the human envelope; but many a phenomenon invisible to the human eye has been detected and depicted by that of the camera, as everybody knows who has the slightest acquaintance with the branch of physics known as ‘fluorescence.’ The invisible spirit of man surely falls within this category. To the crystal eye of science it is not so much invisible as elusive and intractable. Once it has fled this earth, the sovereign opportunity is gone; but photography may often intercept the actual flight of the soul. ”

“ If the statements of those who claim to have succeeded are reliable, it is evident that the ordinary form of camera may be abandoned, and any image be received directly from the lens upon plates or paper exposed to a diffused light. ”

“ You see, the lens had been uncapped all that while, so that the whole chancel had been, as it were, under observation. You all know something of my experiments in lightless photography, that is "lightless" so far as our human eyes are capable of appreciating light? It was X-ray work that started me in that direction, and now I had vague and indefinite hopes that, if anything immaterial had been moving in the chapel the camera might have recorded it. ”

“ A trick slide may be employed, in which the shutter contains a positive transparency of the desired extra, held in such a manner that it can either be withdrawn with the shutter, or left in position in front of the plate when required; i.e., during the exposure, which will have to be somewhat longer than usual.
2. A similar transparency may be inserted in the camera, close to the plate, and between it and the lens, during the focussing operations. The black focussing-cloth makes an admirable screen for such manipulations, while the sitter is of necessity immobilised a few feet from the camera. ”

“ And while the great majority of the attempts to get them prove failures, the photographer—usually an amateur-needs only to provide an avenue in front of his lens a short distance, that is free from falling flakes by the use of a shelter such as a tree or porch. The slow snapshot necessary in cloudy weather will not stop the motion of the flakes nearest the camera and these passing through greater angles of space in equal length of time than those farther away, will blur on the negative. ”

“ Many things are capable of being photographed which to the physical eye are utterly invisible. Why, for that matter, a room (visually dark) may be full of the ultra-violet rays of the spectrum, and a photograph may be taken in that dark light. Objects in a room so lighted would be plainly visible to the lens of the camera—at any rate, they could be reproduced on the sensitive plate, while, at the same time, not an atom of luminousness could be perceived in [16] the room by any person possessing ordinary or normal vision. ”

“ Still less did I foresee that the tiny little black box contained the germ of 4 an indefinable impulse, which, expanding and growing more powerful year by year, was to lead me into fields which I had never dreamed of exploring, into habits of observation never before a part of my nature, and into a knowledge of countless places of historic and literary interest as well as natural beauty and grandeur, which would never have been mine but for the lure of the camera. ”

“ When the result was repeated a few days later, the camera quickly came under suspicion, and was found to have developed a minute pinhole in the bellows. This was sealed up, and the rainbow did not reappear. Many unexplained markings on plates are certainly caused in this or similar ways; but only under very favourable circumstances could an extra face on the plate be so produced. Sometimes unexpected results are caused by an accidental second exposure; but the nature of such a photograph will quickly be apparent. ”

“ If we were to enlarge the hole we should get a brighter image, but it would have less sharp outlines, because a number of rays from every point of the candle would reach the screen and be jumbled up with the rays of neighbouring pencils. Now, though a good, sharp photograph may be taken through a pinhole, the time required is so long that photography of this sort has little practical value. What we want is a large hole for the light to enter the camera by, and yet to secure a distinct image. If we place a lens in the hole we can fulfil our wish. Fig. ”

“ We have all marvelled at the magician who causes bottles, eggs, birds, and animals to appear and disappear mysteriously before our very eyes. We know that it is trickery, pure and simple: that the eye is being deceived. The camera is a far more perfect trickster than the most accomplished illusionist that has ever lived, and moving pictures are the most cunning illusion that has ever been devised. ”

“ The prism was busily gathering together all color and converting it into pure white light, while lastly, the complementary filter replaced the color of flesh to the image, and finally to the photograph. You see the possibilities, of course. By replacing the normal lens of one fine camera with his invention, Nathanial Evergood was now equipped to photograph in rich, natural color the female form-divine, unfettered by any or all clothing. ”

“ I might explain, briefly, that moving pictures are taken not by pressing a switch, or a rubber bulb, such as that which works a camera shutter, but by the continuous action of a crank, or handle, attached to the camera. Pressing a bulb does well enough for taking a single picture, but when a series, on a long celluloid strip, are needed, as in the case for the "movies," an entirely different arrangement becomes absolutely necessary.
The sensitive celluloid film must move continuously, in a somewhat jerky fashion, inside the dark light-tight camera, and behind the lens. ”

“ Scottie McFadden, a veteran photographer of the Press, was discovered to be entrenched in his favorite dark room.
“Can’t come out for another quarter hour,” his voice sounded out through the walls. “These fight pictures must be out for the early edition. What have you got?”
“One of Jimmie’s candid camera shots,” John Nightingale winked at his friends as he shouted through the dark room walls.
“Candid camera!” came roaring out from the dark room, “You may as well all go home. Nothing big will ever come from a picture the size of a postage stamp.” ”

“ Well, the same thing—I mean the extraordinary quietness—may help to explain these a bit. They may have been some usual enough sound that would never have been noticed under ordinary conditions, or they may have been only fancy. It is just impossible to say. They were disgustingly real to me. As for the slithery noise, I am pretty sure that one of the tripod legs of my camera must have slipped a few inches: if it did so, it may easily have jolted the lens cap off the baseboard, which would account for that queer little tap which I heard directly after. ”

“ In support of this may be urged the fact that the interposition of glass prevents the making of dark pictures. But on the other hand it must be remembered that celluloid and sheet-gelatine, also air-tight substances, are able to store up light and to give it out again. It is well known among photographers that to allow sunlight to fall on the inside of a camera is apt to have a “fogging” effect on a plate that is exposed in the camera afterwards, though the greatest care be taken to keep all external light from the plate. ”

“ We know that the camera can detect, or rather that the photographic plate is sensitive to, ether waves which produce no effect on the retina of the human eye, and it seems, on the whole, less improbable that “spirits,” if they exist, should produce subtle and relatively minor etheric disturbances of this kind than that they should be responsible for the movements of gross material objects in the way which is often claimed for them. ”