Stations-ID: A004

Instructions:

Light streams into the camera through a little opening in the door. Observe the projection on the screen. How does the image change, when the size of the opening is changed or a lense is placed in front of it? Enter the Camera and close the door. How long does it take before you can see something?

• Open and shut the aperture in the door slowely. What happens?
• How does the image change when you use the different pinholes?
• Open the door and examine the premises, then shut the door and examine the projection. is it mirrored or flipped?

The word camera comes from the latin phrase camera obscura, meaning “dark room”. The principle of the pinhole camera was known in Antiquity and was described exhaustively in the 10th centurz by Abu Ali al-Hasan ibn al-Haitham (956-1039/1040), latinized as Alhazen. The Arab mathematician rejected the then-prevelant idea of a beam of vision, which could explain reflection-based phenomena, but not what was observed in the camera obscura. 

Stations-ID: A008

Instruction:

Two people stand in the opposite corner of the room. The others watch from outside the house. Which of the two people inside the house seem taller?
• Examine the shape of the room. What angles and surfaces can you see?
• Which of the two people is standing closer to you? Which one looks bigger?
This construction is based on the work of the American optician Adelbert Ames who probably built on Hermann Helmholtz’s ideas. This optical illusion finds a very practical use in the film industry; In the ‘Lord of the Rings’ films, the scenes involving hobbits and humans where shot in trapeze-shaped, distorted sets to create the illusion of difference in size.

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