Teaching Pinhole to 7th graders

Hi,
My wife has given me the opporitunity of teaching a class of gifted (meaning
'divergent thinkers' in teacher lingo) 7th graders to build and then
photograph with pinhole cameras. The proposed budjet is $50 to $75 and the
length would be 3 to 4 weeks. I have done this 3 times before with 3rd grade
classes. Each time we have had limited success.

Building the cameras with shoeboxes or storage boxes has never been a
problem. A pinvice and 600 grit is used for aperatures. Liberal use of tape
and flat black paint corrected most construction problems. Getting usable
negatives and controlling contrast has been our downfall. Previously we have
used Ilford Mult. (for both the negative and the final image) and Dektol as
the developer (along with other kodak products for stop and fix). The
results were mixed at best, the few exposures that did print were had
extreame contrast.

Does anyone have a recommendation for what paper and developer to use. I
have also noticed some people on the list are using Ortho Lith film, what
developers and ASA would you suggest?

If anyone has a fovorite site or a list of pinhole or howto sites, I sure
could use it (you never know what a 13-14 year old will find with a random
internet search using 'pinhole'). I have lost my book, "The Pinhole Thing",
so any refferances to aperature vs focal length, paper negatives, developers
(low contrast for paper or ortho lith), appropriate (for children)
portfoleos, camera ideas, etc. would be appreciated.

I appoligize for not keeping notes, sites, or prior discussions filed for
referance. I have a week or so to get everything together. Thanks in advance
for any help or suggestions!

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Received on Sat Mar 9 10:30:22 2002