Coming Soon: Building a Camera Obscura

The Camera Obscura

The reconstruction of a seventh-century camera obscura that Dutch artist Johannes Vermeer (1632 – 1675) may have used for paintings produced from 1657 – 1675

Here is a teaser for the two camera obscura I built over the summer. This view is from a dark closet looking into my bedroom.  The placement of the chest on the left and chair on the right shows how the proper perspective can be achieved using a camera obscura. The image went through the lens, reflected on a 45 degree mirror, through a glass plate and onto tracing paper.

I like the soft focus projected onto the tracing paper. Brighter lighting or more transparent tracing paper would produce a sharper image. More photos and construction details will follow soon. Stay tuned!