ABSTRACT
The word photography means drawing (or writing) with light. It’s a good descriptionbecause every time you take a photograph you are really allowing light from the subject todraw its own picture on the sensor or film. But just how does this ‘automatic drawing’ take place? Have you ever been lying in bed in the morning watching patterns formed on walls
or ceiling by sunlight coming through gaps in the curtains? Sometimes the shadowy shapes of
trees and buildings can be made out, especially if the curtains are dark with only one narrow
space between them. If you can use a room with a window small enough, cover the window
completely with black paper or opaque kitchen foil. Pierce a small clean hole through the
blackout with a ball-point pen. Provided the daylight is bright and sunny you should be able to
see the dim outlines of the scene outside projected on a piece of thin paper held about 30 cm
(1 ft) from the hole (Figure 7.1). Various shapes should be visible although everything will be
upside down.
