Pinhole photography is by far my favorite way of taking a photo. This tutorial will teach you how to do it, too!
*Each pinhole camera produces a different shape of exposed area on your photographic paper. They make it so each different pinhole camera you use will have a unique photo outline.
For how to make a pinhole camera, check out this tutorial from KODAK: http://www.kodak.com/ek/US/en/Pinhole_Camera.htm
Make your arrangement in your chosen environment. Exposure times are quick with outdoor, sunny setups, but very long in fluorescent indoor settings.
In a darkroom, load one sheet of variable contrast photographic paper into your pinhole camera.
Tightly seal the pinhole camera so that light doesn't penetrate any part of it.
Set your pinhole camera close to your arrangement. If you are using small toys and twigs like I did for my "Left Hanging" photo, stay within 1 foot of your setup or it could look like it's 20 feet away when you develop your photo.
Allow light into the pinhole. For sunny outdoor photos, expose for 4-5 seconds.
For indoor photos, expose for up to 45 minutes.
After you feel you've done a long enough exposure, close the pinhole or cover it so that no more light will come in.
Take your pinhole camera into your dark room. Open the camera and remove your sheet of VC paper.
Develop it in developer made for your paper. Develop for between 30 and 90 seconds. This development gives you the photo negative.
Rinse your photo negative in running water in the darkroom for 30 seconds.
Put it in fixer for 5 minutes.
After fixing, rinse your negative for 10 minutes in running water.
After your photo has been thoroughly rinsed, you can dry it on a drying rack or dry it against a flat surface using a hair dryer on low heat.
Admire your negative!
Now you're ready to print the positive!
Using a light projector like on a film enlarger, set the light to 8 or lower to achieve a decent brightness.
Exposure times will be faster with higher light levels and slower with lower light levels.
With the light off, place your negative face down on top of a face-up sheet of unused VC paper. Set a piece of glass on top of the papers.
Using a 5.8 light level, expose your blank sheet for 10-12 seconds. (Turn the light on for 10 seconds, then shut it off.)
Repeat the second half of step 5 all the way through step 8 to have a finished positive image.
Enjoy your totally unique pinhole photo!