More Pin Holes

I had not yet published my blog. Some of it I had written while travelling in the bus. I finished it as soon as I reached campus. I let everyone know through a mail that my blog is finished. The mail was sent at eight minutes past ten. I met SB standing outside the class. She tells me rest of us were having a heated argument in the class. I go inside the class. HK does not have a blog at all. JJ didn’t write because he was busy with his own work. And MG expressed his disgust over it through the blog. The extended pre-lunch session was centered around three of us expressing their disgust. They felt violated, annihilated, and manhandled. The situation supposedly imposed by Mr. TA was taking away their right to free will. I am still trying to figure out, pondering over it all through the weekend, how three simple rules, which we ourselves agreed upon, could lead up to such a ruckus. Those three rules were just to put to test our punctuality, commitment and team spirit.

Mr. TA was standing at the coffee shop observing us all the while, without letting us know that we were being watched. Most of us mistook it as a lapse on his part. The few of us standing outside finishing their last breath of smoke rush in seeing Mr. TA strolling in towards the department. My eyes met his in greeting. His hands waved at me, stopping me on my way in. Mr. TA managed to stall SouB as well. He points out the last blog was published at 10.30. It was 10.30 in the morning. We start the session. HK kept quite for better part of the session. JJ expressed his anguish. He spoke of Mr. TA's methods getting to him. JJ spoke of how he has called up his mother and told her how life in campus is bugging him down. How this workshop is eating up his freedom. He got upset and drunk on it last night (although he drinks almost every day!!). JJ said he has a problem with authority. And he can't take the intrusions of a structure. Mr. TA raises his hand, "...stop." JJ was taken aback. He tries to resume. Mr. TA, "When I raise my hand like this, you stop. Can you respect that." Mr. TA pokes JJ, and talks about the big fat ego that is getting in the way. It is pretty difficult to recall the actual sequence of the conversation, but SD bursts out. Her questions are not being answered. Mr. TA enquires what questions are bothering her. SD, after a pause of surprise, puts her question in intelligent words, "If the eye has a variable focal length, how come the angle of view does not change?" Mr. TA keeps quite. MG calmly puts his points, "We are losing valuable time. Two days wasted just like that." I could not contain my urge to speak. "I believe this is important. More than the technicalities of the camera, it is about getting people to act together. Don't you guys see." I went on,"I want to be a practicing film maker. I want to practice it every day. This is an exercise, something that is going to make us grow fit. I want to be fit for shooting and editing every day." JJ engages himself to the completion of his blog, not trying to hide his displeasure over it. HK starts on his blog without any protest. Mr. TA and a few others go out.

SD's temper was oozing, even more so when it was met by the calm demeanour that Mr. TA maintained. K, SouB, MG, JJ, SD and me were still in class. SD, with her eyes reddening, lips pressing into each other, and voice trembling under the stress of the agitation, blamed us of cornering her. I found it useless to talk to her. MG started putting forth his calm calculations, "It has been two and a half days. What have we learned about camera at all?" I walk out of the class without answering. How does one quantify knowledge

The tired bodies showed melancholy, and trust evaporated in the madness, that was supposed to have some method in it. The session ends an hour later than the usual lunch break. The sourness was left unchecked. In the middle of all this, the office attendant brought in the attendance sheet. He was taken aback by the agitated crowd of 10. Mr. TA, calm as always, said in a firm voice, “They’ll all be here for the whole day. I’ll sign, just fill up the boxes.” I was shaken by his belief. But I had to see how he pulls it off. There was some more news. HK is going off to his home. His family has built a house. It’s his house warming party. How is it supposed to work then? Most of us express our unwillingness to let him go. JJ leaves it upon him to decide.

The post-lunch session starts. JJ does not show up. I express my interest in talking to him. He is my friend, and I want to listen to how he feels. Talk to him and make him feel good. Mr. Tanmay advices to just listen. And not say anything. I go out to look for him. Our campus is 42 acres. I am without my cellphone. I tried to remember how we would look out for heart-broken friends in school who would go into hiding just so that they be missed and seeked out for. I come out of the class and look around. I take hesitant steps towards the campus gates. He is not in the vicinity. I turn around and I see him walking towards the library. I catch up with him and sit beside him without saying anything. He starts pouring his heart out. He talks of how hard he is trying to shoot a short story on his own. How hard it is for him to focus on both of it at the same time. How important it is for him to make the most of the time he is spending in film school. I quietly sit through all he had to say. JJ continues, saying how he knows it is important what Mr. TA is trying to put to practice. But it just isn't a good time for him to waste days like this. I silently run in my head how right Mr. TA was to say that we are all too impatient. We are all behaving as if we are utterly short on time. And that we all want to reach some place that we don't have any idea about.

I was expecting this question even before JJ popped it out, "He sent you to get me in the class, isn't it?" I look away and smile. I see K coming in from a distance. Somehow I was not surprised. She joins in. JJ pops up the same question to her. She smiled the same embarrassing smile as me. MG comes in a little later. The conversation becomes lighter, and humorous. We walk to the coffee shop. A while later we see the whole class coming out. And JJ makes up his mood to join in the class.

In the last two hours we pick up the pin hole cameras we made for ourselves. And that too all 10 of us, as Mr. TA had foretold to the office attendant. What follows are our discovery of the pin  hole camera:

A pin hole camera with one single hole, gives an image which is both laterally and vertically inverted.

A Pin Hole Camera with a single opening
Aperture - f/2.8, Shutter - 1/50, ISO - 1600, 50mm on Cannon 600D

The source of light - Tungsten bulb
Aperture - f/9, Shutter - 1/200, ISO - 100, 79mm on Cannon 60D

The inverted image of the lit tungsten filament
Aperture - f/5.6, Shutter - 1/20, ISO - 1000, 106mm on Cannon 60D

This is also aptly demonstrated by the fact that as the camera moves to one direction, the image follows that very direction till it runs out. In case a photographic camera pans to the left, we see the objects in the image move to the right. It is as if one is moving in one direction as the objects around him go past him/her. But in case of an inverted image, e.g., images on mirror which are always inverted, the image moves right as the object in front of it also moves right. This is demonstrated in the video that follows.

As in the previous blog which was about the construction of the pin hole camera, we had put a hood at the viewing end of the camera.

The hood at the viewing end
Aperture - f/2.8, Shutter - 1/50, ISO - 1600, 41mm on Cannon 600D

The purpose of the hood is to let us see the image being formed with enough clarity. Removing the hood dims the image with all the ambient light in place.

Image on the eye piece without the hood
Aperture - f/5.6, Shutter - 1/80, ISO - 2000, 55mm on Cannon 1200D

When placing the hood over the eye piece, one has to be concerned with the length of the hood. The viewer should be at the minimum reading distance to be able to make out the image properly. Ideally the reading distance is considered to be around 25 cms. So placing our eyes too close to the eye piece makes it difficult for us to make out a clear image.

So, the light entering the camera through the pin hole is what forms the image. But all through our observation we have been able to only see the bright sources of light in the camera.

Image of only the brightest object is seen. Aperture - f/5.6, Shutter - 1/80, ISO - 2000, 55mm on Cannon 1200D

The intensity of the light from the other surfaces/objects, that finally reaches camera through pin hole is too low for the human eye to perceive. One sees only the surfaces/objects bright enough for the human eye.

For brighter images one needs to let more light into the camera. We tried to get more light into the camera, placing two pin holes.

Pin Hole Camera with two holes. Aperture - f/5.6, Shutter - 1/20, ISO - 1600, 41mm on Cannon 1000D

Two distinct images forming from the two pin holes. Aperture - f/5.6, Shutter - 1/13, ISO - 800, 55mm on Cannon 550D

Two distinct pin holes meant two distinct images. So the possibility is that if the holes are closer, the images will be closer. We tested it out with more pin holes in our camera, precisely two more near the central one.

Pin Hole Camera with multiple holes. Aperture - f/5.6, Shutter - 1/20, ISO - 500, 79mm on Cannon 60D

Multiple images each resulting from respective pin holes. Aperture - f/5.6, Shutter - 1/6, ISO - 3200, 55mm on Cannon 550D

The three pin holes, very close to each other forms three very closely placed images. The one distant pin hole paints another separate image. So in order to get one singular bright image the pin holes have to be as close to each other as possible, as if they act as a single hole. The next step to it would obviously be to see the effect of a wider pin hole on the image.

A wider pin hole in the camera. Aperture - f/4.5, Shutter - 1/60, ISO - 1600, 18mm on Sony SLT-A58

A blurred image owing to a wider pin hole. Aperture - f/4.5, Shutter - 1/60, ISO - 6400, 18mm on Sony SLT-A58

The result of a wider pin hole being that the subsequent image is much less sharp, although the image is brighter. So, the question remains, how do we achieve a brighter image without losing any sharpness? The obvious answer that comes to my mind is to use a lens that would converge the images from multiple holes into one whole. But something tells me this is not the answer Mr. TA will agree to. Let's see.

With the advantage of ten of us making a pin hole camera for each, we tried comparing how they compare amongst. We pair up two equally long pin hole cameras of different width/diameter, and two equally wide ones of different lengths.

Two Pin hole Cameras of similar length, but different diameters. Aperture - f/4.5, Shutter - 1/60, ISO - 1600, 18mm on Sony SLT-A58

Image in Pin Hole Camera with greater width/diameter. Aperture - f/4.5, Shutter - 1/60, ISO - 1600, 18mm on Sony SLT-A58

Image in Pin Hole Camera with smaller width/diameter. Aperture - f/4.5, Shutter - 1/60, ISO - 1600, 18mm on Sony SLT-A58

The image size for the object remains same for both the wider and narrower cameras. But the image obtained in a narrower pin hole camera would be cropped as the area on which image being formed is smaller.

Two Pin hole Cameras of similar diameter, but different lengths. Aperture - f/5.6, Shutter - 1/100, ISO - 1600, 55mm on Cannon 1000D

Image in the shorter Pin Hole Camera. Aperture - f/5.6, Shutter - 1/100, ISO - 1600, 55mm on Cannon 1000D

Image in the longer Pin Hole Camera. Aperture - f/5.6, Shutter - 1/100, ISO - 1600, 55mm on Cannon 1000D

The image in the shorter pin hole camera is much smaller compared to the one in the longer pin hole camera. So the image size increases with the length of the pin hole camera.

The next thing we lay our hands on are the magnifying glasses which mysteriously lay there on Mr. TA's desk, fanning our curiosity what purpose would these serve. Some of us pick it up and explore te possibilities of macro photography.

The Pin Hole Camera without the magnifying glass in place. Aperture - f/3.5, Shutter - 1/30, ISO - 3200, 18mm on Cannon 550D

The Pin Hole Camera with the magnifying glass in place. Aperture - f/3.5, Shutter - 1/30, ISO - 3200, 18mm on Cannon 550D

Macro photography enables us to take pictures of greater magnifications. A simple magnifying glass in combination with the lenses in our cameras is good enough to serve the purpose of macro photography.

The day ended with a small discussion over two physical phenomenons of light. While travelling from one medium to another light tends to bend its path. This is attributed to the fact that light travels at different speeds in different mediums. Refraction is what makes the bottom of a water filled bucket look a little shallower. Similarly, a stick half immersed in water would look like as if it is bent at the water level. The property of refraction finds use in photography, in the fact that light entering the camera has to travel through a glass lens so that the light rays bend to converge on the image capturing medium, giving sharpness. The discussion led to the discussion over another physical property of light called diffraction. Light being a wave, behaves in certain ways when it encounters obstacles. It tends to form patterns of bright and dark patches/streaks when it has to pass through a fine slit.

Looking at the light through the pin hole!!!

The Construction of the Pin Hole Camera & the pin point problem

The second day ended with each one of us making a pin hole camera for ourselves. The steps were simple. The materials used were:

1. Black paper - This will be used for the body of the camera, so the thicker the better.

2. A piece of Gateway - To be used as the screen on which the image is to be seen.

3. Cello Tape

4. Scissors

5. Pencils

6. A pin

Steps:

1. Cut out a rectangular piece of the black paper. It is supposed to be rolled into a cylinder. The length of it should be something that you are comfortable with. Mine was about a feet long. The diameter was around two inches. One can use any readily available cylinder of similar dimensions.

2. Cover one end of the cylinder with a piece of the black paper, so that it completely seals off one end. Hold the sealed end against any bright background and see into the cylinder. You'll be able to see any light leaking in once you let your eyes adjust to the darkness.

3. Cover the other end with a piece of the gateway. Make sure that the surface stays as smooth and flat as possible.

4. On the gateway end of it, wrap another piece of the black paper. Place it in a conical manner. This will act as the eye piece.

Feel free to make it as fancy as you want.

The answers found and the questions raised were that the human eye, the lens in it to be more precise, when completely relaxed it can focus on objects 15 feet away, or more. Hmm. That is what my eyes can't do. I am near sighted. For objects closer than that, the curvature of the lens, controlled by tiny muscles around it changes. With some help from the brain, the images are accommodated on the retina. Retina is the screen at the back of the eye that catches the images and sends it to the brain.

So, if the eye has a variable focal length, how come the angle of view does not change, just as it does in case of lenses for the camera?

Whenever one goes through a corrective surgery for the eye, as in case of cataracts, the lens is replaced. But the person needs to continue wearing glasses. Because the difficulty in vision is due to the weak muscles that cannot change the curvature of the lens.

A lot of food for thought. But the day did not really start as good. The one down with fever came in  late. Just a minute after Mr. Tanmay Agarwal. The deterrent was the cancellation of the first session of the class. The second half started with the pent up grudges lurking in most of us. The one with fever has let us down more than once.

Mr. Tanmay pointed out its our fault.

Perception Perspective Perspiration

I have a fear of heights. Not that I have vertigo. I am scared of falling off from a great height and hurting myself bad. Even more scared than being run over by speeding cars on a busy Kolkata road. Though a little less, but I feel the same way for my cellphone, especially when it is stacked up precariously on a wobbly table top. That is what each one of us had to photograph, first up in the camera workshop for lighting & lensing. I am a film school student, at SRFTI, here in Kolkata. Mr. Tanmay Agarwal had come all the way from Pune for this and ended up breaking his Macbook.

We had to switch off our cellphones and stack it up in the middle of the class. What each one of us wants was the next question. He asks each one us, demanding an individual answer. I could so easily escape answering these uncomfortable questions all through my school and college. Those were the classes of about 50. I am sitting in a film school, in a class of 10. One was down with fever. 9 in class. No escape for me now. "Pursuit of happiness", they all agreed. I have always managed to make a fool out of myself every time I have pursued happiness. "But I have learned more from the sorrows. I would rather pursue knowledge", I spurted out a little revolt. The discussion dissolved into the pursuit of whatever makes each one of us happy. The oldest two of the lot smiled a smile of wisdom. The rest smiled a smile of victory. I am still trying to figure out whom they conquered?

Now that we agree that each one of us is pursuing happiness, we have to set out on this journey together. Together!!! Sir, Mr. Tanmay Agarwal, did you say together!!??

Together - with or in proximity to another person or people.

Sir, you had no idea how terribly we have failed to be together time and again. Some of us, especially me, at times find it so hard to just be. And you ask us to be, that too together? We have failed to be together in the past, both prehistoric and recent. I see no hope of that happening in the future, both distant and near. Because we are not pursuing the same thing. It is easy to say each one of us is here to pursue happiness. But to each one of us happiness means something else. I disagree that we pursue happiness itself. We pursue the different things that happiness means to each one of us. I don't know if film-making means happiness to each one of us. I can only speak for myself.

We had to set ground rules for ourselves. So that we stick with each other in this pursuit. One of the old wise ones came up with the idea of a punishment.

Punishment - the infliction or imposition of a penalty as retribution for an offense.

Dear old wise one, I hate punishments. Because it scares the shit out of me. It stops me from trying out new ways, sailing into uncharted territory. And makes me feel guilty once I make mistakes, which I invariably do. We move out of the class to get a cane, each one of us. As I break off a slender branch and get rid of the leaves I remember my grandfather's anecdote. The thinner the cane, the more the pain.

Mr. Tanmay rejects the idea of punishments. He asks us to decide on the deterrent that would make us stick together.

Deterrent - a thing that discourages or is intended to discourage someone from doing something.

At the beginning of every session, each one of us has to switch off our cellphones and stack it up on his desk. All of us has to be there 15 minutes before the session starts, or the class gets dismissed right there. And the session does not continue if even one of us has to leave before the session is supposed to end.

Sounds simple. But it is dangerous to the principles on which we have been functioning all these months. Each one for himself. But I was interested to see how the tide turns to Unity in spite of Diversity. Mind you, an emotional diversity. The one down with fever joins us for the class.

Ground rules set. Workshop starts. Photograph the stack of phones. Find the position you would place your camera. The fear of my cellphone falling off the table. 9 of them start moving all around. I keep standing where I am. No matter where I move, I am afraid of it falling. Everyone settles down, almost all of them on there knees, pretty close to the stack each one of them. Almost ready to catch it as it falls. We all take pictures of them prettily stacked. Half of those pictures seem alike. The first half ends.

The second half starts. Phones are all back in the stack. The one down with fever is again late. Half of us trying to get hold of a camera. Rest half in class, listening to Mr. Tanmay. He is visibly, and understandably, put off. Take a pretty picture of a bridge. My campus is quite picturesque. There is greenery almost every where. A big pond, and several connecting foot bridges over them. Just make it look pretty.

I am trying to go back to all the photography classes I have ever been to. All that I have ever been told about composition. I take a shot and come back to where Mr. Tanmay was standing. He asks me to get to where the huddles of the rest of us were with the camera, and get the bridge photographed.

We all come back to class and get to see what each one of us has done. I am trying to recollect my camera configurations for each of the shots. Again, half of our photos look the same. "Mentally & physically lazy." That is what he made of us. An out of focus photograph of one of us was better than the rest.

The whole session, more than once, had broken into smaller conversations among us. Each trying to put forth ones understanding of the camera. The discussion comes down to the focal length of a lens. It has always been a question I have had found difficult to answer. I came up with several answers, reading up and listening to various people talk about it. And I take the focal length of a lens as the distance between the center of the lens and the sensor on which the image forms, when the object is very very far away. And as the object comes closer, the focusing system of the lens comes into play. This helps in forming the sharpest possible image on the sensor.

I am eager to see what he has to say about this....