The Wooden Box

It’s just a wooden box. At least that’s what it looks like. It’s really a box that can help you take better digital photos! No kidding.

Although I like to call it a wooden box most folks like to call it a pinhole camera.

A pinhole camera is the key to learning how to take photos. Here’s why.

First, a wooden pinhole camera has no batteries. It doesn’t even have a traditional lens. The “lens” in a pinhole camera is literally a pinhole. Simplicity.

Second, there are no controls. Unlike cameras that have a zoom lens, if you want to get in closer, you literally have to move the camera in closer.

Third, a wooden pinhole camera takes film, often film that is 4"x5". Unless you happen to have your own darkroom set up, you’ll have to send the film away to be developed. That days, days, actually weeks. Most photographers have the film scanned when it’s developed. There’s no quick looking at the photo. It’s a slow process.

So, how does all this help you learn to take better digital photos?

Digital shooters do things fast and expect results fast. Pinhole photographers learn to take time taking photos and analyzing them. Since you take one photo at a time and it can get expensive buying the film and developing it we tend to think before we shoot. I like to think of it as think-and-shoot photography.

Digital photographers often know little about the basics of photography. They don’t know what f/stops mean or how it is related to shutter speed. When you use a pinhole camera that has an f/stop of f/100 or greater things are a lot different than when your camera says it’s shooting at f/16.

If you learn how a pinhole camera works, you will learn how to take better digital photos. No kidding