Label for Genuine Photographs

[Ray Rogers]

Hey, your argument is with the Editorial Board
of the OED, not with me... There is no foundation in usage or logic for
arbitrarily freezing and confining the definition of
"photograph" to Jason's definition.

Jee, I thought I deleted that post so eye could get some sleep-
You are faster than the speed of light!

Yes language is alive! Unless you are French, might as well give up trying to Freeze Frame it.

[Joe VanCleave]

I've worked with pinhole cameras for the last 15 years, and at times I've actually had to "focus" the camera. The formulae for optimal pinhole size vs projection length assumes the subject is at photographic infinity** (i.e. the light rays are parallel). However if I choose to photograph a diorama or other still-life setting that's close to the pinhole, then the image will be noticably softer. This effect can begin to be noticed with the subject as close as 1*f in front of the pinhole, at which point the blurr effect at the film plane is 2*x what it is with a subject at photographic infinity.

The method I use to compensate for this geometrical softening effect is to use a pinhole of 1/2 the recommended diameter. I call it a "close-up pinhole". Yes, it increases the diffraction effects; but at close-in shooting distances the image-softening effects of geometric projection overwhelm any diffraction. When I chose to capture images of far-away subjects, I revert back to the recommended pinhole size.

~Joe

**I've always been amused when people say that they're focusing on subjects at infinity. Due to the inverse-square law, light rays at infinity will be attenuated to nothing. Not to mention the red shift, and all kinds of other cosmological implications.

[Q.G.]

But if you asked them they would probably tell you that everything seems to be in "better focus".

Yes, yes. That's exactly it. I use(d) that trick myself often.
It works the same as how stopping down a lens increases the depth of field.

That doesn't say anything about how pinholes work, and how it is different from a lens, though.