Ms. Stark’s Photography 1 class at Treasure Coast High School is learning how the camera was invented. Students learned about the humble beginnings of the camera by building their personal camera obscura (Latin for dark room) and turning their classroom into a giant camera obscura. Through this, they learned how light travels in a straight line causing the image to project inverted, and how the size of the aperture affects the projected image. By learning about the camera obscura, the students have an understanding of what happens inside their cameras.
In the class, students covered the windows with black plastic. In one window covering, a hole (aperture) was cut (4 inches) and additional cardboard cut-outs were placed on top of that with different size apertures to see the difference between images.
In the photos, students pose in front of the projected image from outside the classroom.
