Monday, 23 December 2013

Camera obscura

The camera obscura (Latin; camera for "vaulted chamber/room", obscura for "dark", together "darkened chamber/room"; plural: camera obscuras or camerae obscurae) is an optical device that projects an image of its surroundings on a screen.

It is used in drawing and for entertainment, and was one of the inventions that led to photography and the camera.

The device consists of a box or room with a hole in one side.

Light from an external scene passes through the hole and strikes a surface inside, where it is reproduced, upside-down, but with color and perspective preserved.

The image can be projected onto paper, and can then be traced to produce a highly accurate representation.

The largest camera obscura in the world is on Constitution Hill in Aberystwyth, Wales.

From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camera_obscura

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