Physics

A Pinhole Camera is a special type of camera. It uses a special type of paper which reacts to the light from it's surrounding environment. The light form the sun reflects off of different things which then goes through the tiny pinhole at different angles. This makes the picture turn out upside down which isn't a big deal because you are able to just flip the picture around whatever way you want once it's taken out of the box. There are many things needed to get a good picture. You need a good amount of exposure time (which varies depending on if it's sunny or cloudy), a correct ratio between the diameter of the pinhole and the length to the paper, to be able to hold it steady so that the picture is clear, for your box to have accurate measurements, and to make sure that no light can get in except through the pinhole.

In the Dark Room, a variety of chemicals are used to help make the photo appear. There is the Developer, Stop Bath, Fixer, and (Soapy) Water. The Developer helps bring color (in our case, black and white and gray) to the photo by reacting to a special kind of paper. This chemical is Dektol Black and White and it reduces the silver halides into silver metal. It is mostly a neutral chemical, but it leans a little bit more towards a base. The Stop Bath stops the developing process so that the picture will not continue to develop and get really dark and look bad. Since this chemical is acetic acid, the acid stops the reaction (of the picture developing since the Developer is more of a base). The Fixer makes the picture last for a long time and not fade. This chemical is thiosulfate salt and it removes all of the unexposed silver halide (leaving the reduced metallic silver which helps form the picture). The Soapy Water rinses off all of the chemicals so that the picture is chemical-free. (The picture is then left to sit in non-Soapy Water for at least an hour to make sure it's totally clean. It's then hung up to dry.)