HISTORY OF PHOTOGRAPHY

BY

A.CHAYAPATHI

10020507

PHOTOGRAPHY DEFINITION

THE WORD PHOTOGRAPHY CAME FROM TWO GREEK

WORDS THAT MEAN "WRITING WITH LIGHT." THE FIRST TIME

THE WORD "PHOTOGRAPHY" WAS USED WAS IN 1839, THE

YEAR THE INVENTION OF THE PHOTOGRAPHIC PROCESS WAS

MADE PUBLIC, BY SIR JOHN HERSCHEL

CAMERA OBSCURA

GO IN THE A DARK ROOM ON A BRIGHT DAY, MAKE A HOLE IN THE

WINDOW COVER AND THE OUTSIDE IS PROJECTED INSIDE BUT ITS

UPSIDE DOWN THE PICTURE IS IN FULL COLOR. ITS EXPLAINED BY

SOME LAWS OF PHYSICS, LIGHT TRAVELS IN A STRAIGHT LINE WHEN

SOME OF THE RAYS REFLECTED FROM A BRIGHT SUBJECT PASS

THROUGH A SMALL HOLE IN THIN MATERIAL THEY DO NOT SCATTER

BUT CROSS AND REFORM AS AN UPSIDE DOWN IMAGE ON A FLAT

SURFACE HELD PARALLEL TO THE HOLE. THIS LAW OF OPTICS WAS

KNOWN IN ANCIENT TIMES.

CAMERA = LATIN FOR “ROOM”

OBSCURE = LATIN FOR “DARK”

4TH CENTURY

ABOUT 2,400 YEARS AGO (4TH CENTURY B.C.) THE

FAMOUS PHILOSOPHER ARISTOTLE TALKED ABOUT A PINHOLE

IMAGE FORMATION IN HIS WORK. HE WONDERED WHY

"WHEN LIGHT SHINES THROUGH A RECTANGULAR PEEP-HOLE,

IT APPEARS CIRCULAR IN THE FORM OF A CONE?" HE DIDN'TFIND AN ANSWER TO HIS QUESTION AND THE PROBLEM

WASN'T ANSWERED UNTIL ABOUT 2,000 YEARS LATER IN THE

1500S.

14TH CENTURY

THE EARLIEST MENTION OF THE CAMERA OBSCURA WAS IN 5TH

CENTURY BC BY A CHINESE PHILOSOPHER MO-TI. HE

RECORDED THIS CREATION OF AN INVERTED IMAGE FORMED BY

RAYS OF LIGHT PASSING THROUGH A PINHOLE VIN A DARK

ROOM HE CALLED THIS DARKEN ROOM A "COLLECTING PLACE"

OR THE "LOCKED TREASURE ROOM." IN 1490 LEONARDO DA

VINCI GAVE TWO DESCRIPTIONS OF THE CAMERA OBSCURA IN

HIS NOTEBOOKS. MANY OF THE FIRST CAMERA OBSCURAS

WERE LARGE ROOMS LIKE THAT ILLUSTRATED BY THE DUTCH

SCIENTIST REINERUS GEMMA-FRISIUS IN 1544 FOR USE IN

OBSERVING A SOLAR ECLIPSE.

18TH CENTURY

THIS IS THE FRENCH INVENTOR NICEPHORE NIEPCE WAS

BORN IN 1765, HE WAS FASCINATED BY LITHOGRAPHY BUT

UNSKILLED AT DRAWING. HE SOUGHT OUT AWAY TO TAKE

IMAGES OF NATURE, IN 1826-27 HE CAPTURED AN IMAGE

FROM HIS WORKROOM WINDOW USING LIGHT SENSITIVE

CHEMICALS ON A PIECE OF METAL THIS WAS THE FIRST

PERMANENT PHOTOGRAPH. HE KEPT HIS PROCESS A SECRET

UNTIL 1829, WHEN HE PARTNERED WITH LOUIS-JACQUES-

MANDÉ DAGUERRE.

THE FIRST PHOTOGRAPH

ON A SUMMER DAY IN 1827, NICEPHORE NIEPCE MADE THE FIRST PHOTOGRAPHIC

IMAGE WITH A CAMERA OBSCURA. PRIOR TO NIEPCE PEOPLE JUST USED THE CAMERA

OBSCURA FOR VIEWING OR DRAWING PURPOSES NOT FOR MAKING PHOTOGRAPHS.

JOSEPH NICEPHORE NIEPCE'S HELIOGRAPHS OR SUN PRINTS AS THEY WERE CALLED WERE

THE PROTOTYPE FOR THE MODERN PHOTOGRAPH, BY LETTING LIGHT DRAW THE PICTURE.

NIEPCE PLACED AN ENGRAVING ONTO A METAL PLATE COATED IN BITUMEN, AND THEN

EXPOSED IT TO LIGHT. WHEN HE PLACED THE METAL PLATE IN A SOLVENT EVENTUALLY AN

IMAGE ,BEFORE THEN INVISIBLE, APPEARED. HOWEVER, HIS PHOTOGRAPH TOOK EIGHT

HOURS OF LIGHT EXPOSURE TO CREATE AND AFTER APPEARING WOULD SOON FADE

AWAY.

EXAMPLES OF CAMERA OBSCURAS

1834

HENRY TALBOT CREATES PERMANENT NEGATIVE IMAGE USING PAPER SOAKED IN SILVER

CHLORIDE AND FIXED WITH A SALT SOLUTION. TALBOT CREATED POSITIVE IMAGES BY

CONTACT PRINTING ONTO ANOTHER SHEET OF PAPER.

DAGUERREOTYPE

LOUIS DAGUERRE, A FRENCH ARTIST AND SCENIC PAINTER. DAGUERRE HAD BEGAN

EXPERIMENTING WITH WAYS OF FIXING THE IMAGES FORMED BY THE CAMERA OBSCURA

AROUND 1824, IN 1829 HE MADE A PARTNERSHIP WITH NIEPCE. AFTER THE DEATH OF HIS

PARTNER HE CONTINUED TO EXPERIMENT WITH COPPER PLATES COATED WITH SILVER

IODIDE TO PRODUCE DIRECT POSITIVE PICTURES. HE DISCOVERED THE LATENT IMAGE ON

AN EXPOSED PLATE COULD BE "DEVELOPED" WITH THE FUMES FROM WARMED MERCURY. THE USE OF MERCURY VAPOR MEANT THAT PHOTOGRAPHIC IMAGES COULD BE

PRODUCED IN TWENTY TO THIRTY MINUTES RATHER THAN HOURS. IN 1837, DAGUERRE

FOUND A WAY OF "FIXING" THE PHOTOGRAPHIC IMAGES WITH A SOLUTION OF COMMON

SALT. TWO YEARS LATER, HE GOT A SUGGESTION FROM SIR JOHN HERSCHEL AND USED

THIOSULPHATE OF SODA AS THE FIXING AGENT

1841

TALBOT PATENTS HIS PROCESS UNDER THE NAME CALOTYPE ALSO KNOWN AS TINTYPES

1846

ASSOCIATED PRESS:

1851

FREDRICK SCOTT ARCHER, A SCULPTOR IN LONDON, IMPROVES PHOTOGRAPHY

RESOLUTION BY SPREADING A MIXTURE OF COLLODION AND CHEMICALS ON SHEETS OF

GLASS. WET PLATE COLLODION PHOTOGRAPHY WAS MUCH CHEAPER THAN

DAGUERREOTYPES THE NEGATIVE/ POSITIVE PROCESS PERMITTED UNLIMITED

REPRODUCTIONS.

1855-57

DIRECT POSITIVE IMAGES ON GLASS

(AMBORTYPES) AND METAL (TINTYPES

OR FERROTYPES) WERE POPULAR IN THE

US 3 MILLION TINTYPES PRODUCED IN

THE MID 1800S.

1861

SCOTTISH PHYSICIST JAMES MAXWELL DEMONSTRATES A COLOR PHOTO SYSTEM WHICH

INCLUDED 3 BLACK AND WHITE PHOTOS EACH TAKEN THROUGH A GREEN, BLUE AND RED

FILTER. THE PHOTOS WERE TURNED INTO LANTERN SLIDES AND PROJECTED IN THE SAME

COLOR FILTER.

1871

AN ENGLISH DOCTOR, RICHARD MADDOX, PROPOSES THE USE OF EMULSION OF

GELATIN AND SILVER BROMIDE ON A GLASS PLATE (THE DRY PLATE)

1877

EDWARD MUYBRIDGE WHO WAS BORN IN ENGLAND THEN MOVED TO AMERICA. HE

BEGAN AS A LANDSCAPE PHOTOGRAPHER ACQUIRING A SUITABLE REPUTATION. HE WAS

THEN REQUESTED BY THE FORMER GOVERNOR OF CALIFORNIA HE BEGAN TO TAKE

PHOTOS OF HORSES TO SEE HOW THEY MOVED. HIS EARLY WORK REQUIRED FOR HIM TO

TAKE A PICTURE AT PRECISELY THE RIGHT TIME, HOWEVER IN 1878 HE CONDUCTED AN

EXPERIMENT TO TAKE A SEQUENCE OF IMAGES IN QUICK SUCCESSION .

KODAK

AN INSTANT CAMERA IS A TYPE OF CAMERA THAT GENERATES

A DEVELOPED FILM IMAGE. THE MOST POPULAR TYPES TO USE

SELF DEVELOPING FILM FORMERLY MADE BY POLAROID

CORPORATION.

THESE WERE INVENTED BY A LOT OF PEOPLE BUT THE CREDIT

GOES TO AN AMERICAN SCIENTIST EDWIN LAND, WHO

UNVEILED THE FIRST COMMERCIAL INSTANT CAMERA THE LAND

CAMERA. IN FEBRUARY 2008, POLAROID ANNOUNCED IT

WOULD DISCONTINUE PRODUCE OF FILM AND SHUT DOWN 3

FACTORIES.

EARLY 35MM CAMERAS

THE FIRST PATENT FOR ONE WAS GIVEN TO LEO, AUDOBARD AND BARDOT IN ENGLAND IN

1908. THE FIRST FULL SCALE PRODUCTION CAMERA WAS THE HOMES (A STEREO CAMERA)

PRODUCED BY JULES RICHARD IN 1903. IT TOOK STEREO PAIRS 18X24 WITH 2 TESSAR

LENSES IT WAS SOLD UNTIL 1920.

THE FIRST 35MM BIG SELLER WAS THE AMERICAN TOURIST MULTIPLE, ALSO APPEARING IN

1913, THIS CAMERA COST $175 IN 1913 (WHICH BY TODAYS STANDARDS IS THE EQUAL OF

$3000 LECIA)IT TOOK EITHER 800 HALF FRAME OR 400 FULL FRAME SHOTS ON 50FT ROLLS.

INSTANT CAMERA

AN INSTANT CAMERA IS A TYPE OF CAMERA THAT GENERATES A

DEVELOPED FILM IMAGE. THE MOST POPULAR TYPES TO USE SELF

DEVELOPING FILM FORMERLY MADE BY POLAROID

CORPORATION.

THESE WERE INVENTED BY A LOT OF PEOPLE BUT THE CREDIT

GOES TO AN AMERICAN SCIENTIST EDWIN LAND, WHO

UNVEILED THE FIRST COMMERCIAL INSTANT CAMERA THE LAND

CAMERA. IN FEBRUARY 2008, POLAROID ANNOUNCED IT

WOULD DISCONTINUE PRODUCE OF FILM AND SHUT DOWN 3

FACTORIES.

DIGITAL CAMERA

THE FIRST TRUE DIGITAL CAMERA THAT RECORDED IMAGES AS

A COMPUTERIZED FILE WAS MOST LIKELY THE FUJI DS-1P OF

1988 WHICH RECORDED TO A 16 MB MEMORY CARD THAT

USED A BATTERY TO KEEP THE DATA IN MEMORY.( THIS

CAMERA WAS NEVER MARKETED IN THE US AND HASN’T BEEN

CONFIRMED TO HAVE SHIPPED TO JAPAN.)

SLR AND DSLR

THANK YOU

• A.CHAYAPATHI

• 10020507