I broke out my pinhole camera lens for my dSLR over the weekend and walked the house looking for fun things to photograph with it. Luckily I had some inspiration from 
This Nepalese mask is hanging on the wall by my desk. It was a gift from a Nepalese friend who I once hired (and is now working as a java developer). His wife brought it when he was finally able to bring her over from Nepal, and I really like it.
Also hanging on my wall, right above the mask, is a 3D puzzle that my son and I once put together.
The pinhole 'lens' that I use is a tiny hole with essentially a focussed magnifying lens over it (it was once part of a VR headset that I ripped apart to put over the pinhole). This plastic lens may be cheating the pinhole, but it really does do a good job of making the image a little more crisp and sharp. The biggest issue it has is one of light. The aperture is tiny, and needs either a lot of light (sunlight is good) or a long exposure time. This dude apparently got tired of waiting for the long exposure time needed for his picture.
I have a small statuette of a red dragon that is a particular favourite of mine. It often serves as a photography subject or prop, and I felt it was perfect for this particular pinhole experiment.
What I really enjoy with this pinhole lens (and with my other "crappy cameras" that I so love to use) is to use them to make actually good photos. I do believe that any camera, and any lens, can be used to make a good photograph in the hands of a patient and willing photographer. With that in mind I opted to set up the red dragon with some treasure and in a setting more suited to dark and "ready to burn your face off".
You can see the lightsource emanating from behind the dragon; there is either the cave opening back there, with the dragon having just come home with some new treasure, or there is an adventurer back there with a torch who is about to be on the receiving end of a whomping. Don't believe me? Let's take a closer look. This dragon is unimpressed.
I attached my macro extension tubes to the camera and lens. Essentially, this acts as a "zoom" by increasing the length between the lens and the sensor. This let me get close to the dragon's face without moving the camera itself any closer.
Yep, he looks ticked.
One last picture. Several years ago I started whittling, or carving small wood things. I made these two awhile back without really knowing what I wanted to do with them. I'm thinking I might make them wine-bottle-stoppers or put them on top of some walking sticks I've also begun. I'm not sure quite yet.
I should have put a light source behind these two to reduce the shadow, but it was getting late last night and I was ready for bed. The key lesson is that pinhole photography requires a lot of light or a very long exposure time.
(c) All images and photographs, unless otherwise specified, are created and owned by me.
(c) Victor Wiebe
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