Expert: Lawrence Marshall - 7/13/2009

Question
I find this quite bizarre and not sure if this is what it is called.
Our house in France has window shutters and in the back upstairs room when the shutters are shut but windows open to the inside we get a reflection from the sun which projects an image of the patio below and the table and chairs that are placed around it including the bushes that climb up the surrounding iron wrought fence that perimeter the patio. At the bottom of the shutter when it is closed is a  small hole and the reflection projects onto the ceiling when the room is dark to an incredible picture. I have kept an eye on it and it changes as the sun falls.
Would it be possible to set up a camera and take a photo as I feel it would be an interesting project.
Also have you heard of this happening anywhere?

Many Thanks

Rod  

Answer
Hi Rod,

Thanks for your question. What you have described sounds interesting.It sounds almost like your room is acting like a pinhole camera!

You could take pictures of the reflection by Photographing the surface on which the image is formed. The question will be how much light is available, and if it changes as the sun goes down, then you'll need to make longer exposures. You will probably need a tripod or some other device to secure the camera, and make exposures manually. You may need a cable shutter release.

Alternatively, you could try making exposures in the Automatic mode and increase the ISO rating. I don't think you shold go beyond 800 Iso, as the details in the image will break up significantly.

Its hard to make predictions about the result without being able to measure the light, so it seems like a 'trial and error' situation.

For other points about Photography, see my website http://lawrencemarshall34.googlepages.com/tipsonbetterphotography

regards,

Lawrence Marshall