Worldwide Pinhole Photography Day

Tomorrow (April 29th) is Worldwide Pinhole Photography Day, which celebrates and promotes the art of pinhole photography.

There are loads of events being held throughout the world to promote and encourage people to use pinhole photography and there is a workshop happening on Cockburn Street in Edinburgh between 12 and 4 pm. there, you can create pinhole images using a traditional dark room. Definitely worth a visit!

Or, why not see our pinhole photography exhibit here at Camera Obscura! We have lots of examples of pinhole cameras (and how the photos turn out when you use them) and even a massive pinhole camera which you can walk into so you can see how it all works!

For more information on Worldwide Pinhole Photography Day can be found here.

The information on the event at Cockburn Street can be found here

Why is this man upside down? Go to the event on Cockburn Street or here at Camera Obscura to find out!

Magic – Piff the Magic Dragon

We love magic here at Camera Obscura, and “Piff the Magic Dragon” is one of our favourite performers (closely followed by “Mr. Piffles”!).

We also love the legends that are Penn and Teller, so this clip taken from Pen and Teller’s “Fool Us” is an absolute treat…

What’s more, Piff will also be appearing at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival this August. We can’t wait to see the show!

Is there any magic acts that you are looking forward to during the Fringe festival this year? Let us know in the comments (or let us know of any we don’t know about through Facebook and Twitter)…

Using photo apps at Camera Obscura

Here at Camera Obscura, we always encourage everyone to take lots of photos, and we especially enjoy trying to make them a bit different and unique.

Which is why we have been experimenting with a couple of apps you can get for your phone.

The first one we tried out was Cartoon Camera, which gave us some great shots like these…

The other app we used was one called Pixlr-O-Matic which we used to get shots like these…

What do you think? We used a Samsung Galaxy SII phone to get these shots.

But, please do try these apps (and any others) out for yourselves whenever you are at Camera Obscura!

Pixlr-O-Matic is available for both the Apple App Store and on the Google Play Store

Cartoon Camera however is only available on the Google Play Store however we’re sure there’ll be something similar in the Apple Store! Both are available free of charge as well.

Of course, please do share your photos with us as well, whether it be on Facebook, Twitter and of course Flickr!

We’ve had 600 Trip Advisor reviews!

Wow! 600 of you have reviewed us! There have been loads of lovely comments and really useful feedback on how we can improve the experience. We would like to offer a big thank you to anyone who has reviewed us on Trip Advisor. It’s nice to know you enjoy the Camera Obscura & World of Illusions!

 

Here’s a selection of some of the things you’ve all said:

 

“What a gem! Went in to shelter from high winds and rain and were absolutely amazed, lots of different puzzles and interactive things to do for all ages and the view from the camera at the top of the building is worth waiting for.”

 

“I have been here before but quite a few years ago. Really fun things to do and look at and the Camera Obscura presentation is great to see across the whole of Edinburgh. Would definitely recommend a visit.”

 

“I must say that this experience was one of the best couple of hours I have had in a long time. Brings out the big kid in you!”

 

“Absolutely amazing and worth every penny of the entrance fee. So many interesting and funny things to do and great fun for all the family – a must see if in Edinburgh”

 

“Really great place to visit, this is an unusual Scottish visitors attraction, but very worthwhile!”

 

Again, a MASSIVE thank you everyone!

25 Incredible Optical Illusions

This site has quite a few cool optical illusions, some of which we even have in our exhibitions! Which one is your favourite? http://su.pr/9YyarR

12 Amazing Things In Less Than A Minute

Never been to Camera Obscura & World of Illusions before? Not exactly sure on what we have to offer? Have you always thought “I know about the place and meaning to go but I haven’t gotten round to it yet”? Well this video should give you a quick idea of what we have to offer for you. We did this for the Science Festival last year and features Richard Wiseman and one of our guides playing around with all the exhibits we have!

Our New Blog Site!

Hello everyone!

 

Welcome to our shiny new blog page where we will be posting any interesting news about Camera Obscura!

 

To be honest we are fairly new to this whole “blogging” thing but give us time and I’m sure we’ll make this as interesting as we can for all of you to read.

 

Basically any news about Camera Obscura (i.e. events, new exhibits etc) we’ll post on here, along with any other news we find interesting. Don’t be afraid to give us some inspiration and give us stories of your own, we’d love to hear from you all!

 

In the meantime, here’s a nice picture from one of our favourite graphic artists, M.C. Escher (naturally)…

Hope to hear from you soon!