How Do Cameras Work?

Through this simple hands-on exercise, Teaching Artist Brian Buckley helps students understand the basic camera mechanics of light and refraction. The students work in small groups with simple materials: a magnifying glass, frosted plastic or tracing paper, and any nearby light source.

While one student stands in the light, another holds the lens between subject and viewfinder, moving it slowly back and forth to make subject’s image appear (upside down and backward) in focus in the viewfinder. The frosted material acts as the camera’s viewfinder and the magnifying glass acts as the camera’s lens. “This scientific experiment demonstrates Snell’s Law of Refraction, and gives the students a clear understanding of how light travels through optical glass onto a film/digital plane to mimic how cameras work,” Brian explains.