Make a Cardboard Camera Obscura

Build a camera obscura using items you have around the home, and develop engineering and craftsmanship skills. The camera consists of two open-ended boxes, one with a magnifying lens and the other with tracing paper on the end. One fits inside the other. You move the boxes to focus the image on the paper. The image looks like a live, upside-down movie projector. The camera does not by itself record the image. In the old days, artists would trace the image using art materials. Nowadays, a digital camera records the image using a light-sensitive electronic sensor. The companion website gives complete, step-by-step instructions for building this camera, including detailed plans that you can print out.