Leonardo Di Vinci: The Camera Obscura

A Camera Obscura is an optical device which can project an image of it's surroundings onto a screen. The Camera Obscura will have a hole in the side. Light from an external scene passes through the hole and makes contact with a surface inside where it is perfectly reproduced upside-down. An artist may use this image for tracing and drawing with more accuracy.
Some Camera Obscuras may use a lens instead of a hole because it allows a larger aperture, giving a usable brightness whilst maintaining focus.
This technology was later used for developing cameras that exist today.

It has been said that the artist (and inventor) Leonardo Di Vinci used a Camera Obscura for creating the famous Shroud of Turin. It was never 100 percent proven that this was the case, however it was thought that with all the chemicals and attributes at his disposal, this shroud could be one of the first photographs in history, which Di Vinci created.

Gerard Jackson