Post on 13-Dec-2015
Photography comes from the Greek words meaning, “light writing.”
• No one person is credited with inventing photography
• Photography took several hundred years to reach present state
• Camera Obscura was the first camera - 1500
• 1725 – Johann Schulze – discovered first light-sensitive material
• 1816 – Joseph Niepce – World’s first photograph
• 1835 – Louis Daguerre – Daguerreotypes – silver sheets exposed to iodine vapor – Latent image – metal plate – only one print could be made
• 1841 – William Fox Talbot – Invented Calotypes or Talbotypes – Used paper – This technique of making a positive print from a negative is the basis of modern photography. Not as detailed, Multiple prints made.
• 1851 – Frederick Scott Archer – Discovered Wet plate photography - Used collodion – a plastic-like substance to coat the plate. Had to be developed immediately, therefore photographers took darkrooms with them.
• 1871 – Richard Maddox – Invented dry plate photography – replaced wet collodion with gelatin and silver nitrate. Could be developed later. Changed photography forever. No longer had to take darkrooms along with them.
• 1861 – James Maxwell – Demonstrated the first color photographs
• 1888 – George Eastman – Introduced the 100-shot box camera
• 1900 – George Eastman – Introduced the first Kodak “Brownie” camera
• 1930s – Flashbulb was invented
• 1947 – Edwin Land – Invented the Polaroid Land Camera
• What has happened since?????
Camera Obscura
The camera obscura was a darkened room with a convex lens
inserted in one wall. (curved outward) The scene outside the all passed through the lens and was
projected on the opposite wall in full color. The image was smaller and turned upside down. Artist used it to trace the scene and paint. Later the camera obscura became a box like the one in this picture. In the box type, the image is reflected onto the top-mounted viewing
screen by an inclined mirror behind the lens. The artist puts a piece of tracing paper on top of the viewing
screen and traces the outline.
Wet Plate Dry Plate had to take along darkroom
used collodion to coat glass plate
used silver nitrate to sensitize to light
plates had to be developed immediately
Glass negative produced high quality prints
Frederick Scott Archer invented this
Used gelatin and silver nitrate
Plate retained its sensitivity to light for some time
Portable darkroom no longer needed
Plate could be developed anytime after exposure
Changed photography forever
Founded by Richard L. Maddox
George Eastman
Introduced 100-shot box camera – first to use flexible roll film
Introduced the Kodak Brownie camera in 1900
Founder of the Eastman/Kodak Company