How to Use a Pinhole Camera

Pinhole photography is not a very precise type of photography. When taking photos, you need to bracket your exposures which means taking a number of photos of the one subject with longer times each time. For example, your first exposure could be at 5 seconds, the second could be 10 seconds, and the third 20 seconds.

Before using the pinhole camera, cut a short strip of tape and place it over the pinhole. To take photos simply take off this strip and put it back on.

Exposure Starting Points

The exposure will vary depending on the size of the pinhole, and the amount of light. As a starting point here are some exposure times for different light conditions.

Sunny 2-4 seconds

Cloudy 3-6 seconds

Inside 12 seconds - 1 minute

Take notes with each exposure recording the light and exposure time in order to learn the right exposure times for your pinhole.