About UsCamera obscura (Latib for dark room), sometimes referred to as pinhole image,is the natural phenomenon that occurs when an image of a scene at the other side of a screen (or for instance a wall) is projected through a small hole in that screen as an inverted image (left to right and upside down) on a surface opposite to the opening.
The term camera obscura also refers to constructions or devices that make use of the principle within a box, tent or a room. |
Physical explanation
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Rays of light travel in straight lines and change when they are reflected and partly absorbed by an object, retaining information about the color and brightness of the surface of that object. Lit objects reflect rays of light in all directions. A small enough opening in a screen only lets through rays that travel directly from different points in the scene on the other side and together form an image of that scene when they are reflected on a surface into the eye of an observer. The human eye itself works much like a camera obscura with an opening (pupil), a biconvex lens and a surface where the image is formed (retina}).
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Role in the modern age
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While the technical principles of the camera obscura have been known since antiquity, the broad use of the technical concept in producing images with a linear perspective in paintings, maps, theatre setups and architectural and later photographic images and movies started in the Western Renaissance and the scientific revolution
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