History and Evolution of PHOTOGRAPHY

History and Evolution ofPHOTOGRAPHY

A Lecture by

Amit Chawla

http://photo.net/learn/history/timeline

The Stone Age of Photography

The decade of 1830 – 1840 is most often believed to be the birth period of Photography as this was the period when photographic process became public.

But its roots can be traced back to 950 -1050 A.D. when the first camera obscura & Pin hole cameras were invented. It is said to be a brainchild of Alhazen.

The Stone Age of Photography

1100 - 1600 – Silver Halides discovered.

1568 - Daniel Barbaro describes a diaphragm (aperture).

1660’s – Composition of white light was discovered.

1694 - Wilhelm Homberg explained how light darkened some chemicals [photo-chemical effect].

1720s - Johann Heinrich Schulze discovered that silver nitrate darkened upon exposure to light.

1800-1900 The Stone Age of Photography

A strong confusion over invention of Photography remains among the scholars.

This was because Photography wasn’t a brainchild of any single person.

Different People were working on different lines, in order to Capture a real life image.


Joseph Nicéphore Niépce is most often considered as the father of photography.

This was because he achieved first photographic image with camera obscura in 1814.

But the image required eight hours of light exposure and later faded.


Joseph Nicéphore Niépce partnered with Louis Daguerre of France in 1829.

Daguerre, after death of Niépce in 1834 continued with his experiments & finally discovered process of making image on silver-plated copper which could be made permanent by fixing the exposed plate with some salts.

He patented this process in 1837 under the name daguerreotype.


Meanwhile, by 1834, Henry Fox Talbot also created a permanent (negative) image using paper soaked in silver chloride & fixed with a salt solution.

Talbot created positive images by contact printing onto another sheet of paper.

In 1841, Talbot patented his process under the name "calotype".

Biggest advantage – Possibility of making multiple copies of an image.


In 1851, Frederick Scott Archer, a sculptor in London, developed a process to improve photographic resolution, by spreading a mixture of collodion (nitrated cotton dissolved in ether & alcohol) & chemicals on sheets of glass. Wet plate collodion photography was much cheaper than daguerreotypes. Moreover, images required just 2-3 seconds of light exposure.

Archer coined it as Collodion process.


While most of the world was welcoming this new invention, not all people were excited by the invent of photography.

Some artists saw in photography a threat to their livelihood, and some even prophesied that painting would cease to exist.

But photography had its own aesthetics and advantages, which came into light when it started to be commonly used.


1850s and 1860s marked the birth and growth of stereoscopic era.

In this process Direct positive images on glass (ambrotypes) and metal (tintypes or ferrotypes) came to be popular in the US.

By end of 50s Oliver Wendell Holmes invented the stereoscope viewer.


In1871 Richard Leach Maddox an English doctor, proposed use of an emulsion of gelatin and silver bromide on glass plate. This was termed as "dry plate" process. Now negatives no longer had to be developed immediately.

By 1878, Dry plates started to be manufactured commercially and by 1880, George Eastman, set up Eastman Dry Plate Company in Rochester, New York.


In 1884 Eastman invents flexible, paper-based photographic film and by 1888, he patents Kodak roll-film camera. This camera, contained a 20-foot roll of paper.

1889: Improved Kodak camera with roll of film instead of paper was introduced.

1898: Reverend Hannibal Goodwin patents celluloid photographic film.

1900-1935 Second Generation of Photography

The First three decades of the Twentieth century saw the Second Generation of Photography.

This period saw the evolution of the first ever compact cameras as well as the Film Cameras.


1900: First mass-marketed camera - Kodak Brownie roll-film camera introduced.


In 1906, Screen aspect ratio of 1.33 : 1 i.e. 4:3 was established as an international viewing standard.

In the same year panchromatic black and white films became widely available & therefore high quality color separation in photography was seen.

These were widely marketed by Wratten and Wainright of England.


1907 saw the first commercial color film.

It was made of Autochrome plates, manufactured by Lumiere brothers in France.

The Multiple-reel films were being called feature.


In 1908, Hollywood was founded in the Los Angeles area.

Vitagraph produced the five-reel Film The Life of Moses in 1909.

By 1912, the first Vest Pocket Camera is introduced.


In 1917, Nippon Kogaku K.K., a company which will eventually become Nikon, was established in Tokyo.

By 1921, photograms ("rayographs") were being made by amateur photographers by placing objects on photographic paper & exposing the shadow cast by a distant light bulb.


Few Examples of Photograms:


1924: Leitz introduces "Leica", the first high quality 35mm camera.

G.E. invented first modern flash bulb in 1927 opening gateways to indoor photography.

1928: Rollei introduces Rolleiflex twin-lens reflex producing a 6x6 cm image on rollfilm.

Following this first light meter with photoelectric cells introduced in 1932.


1932 is remembered as a very important year in the history of photography. In this year, Technicolor, a three-color system, is introduced in which, three black and white negatives were made in the same camera under different filters

In the same year, George Eastman, aged 77, writes suicide note-"My work is done. Why wait?"--and shoots himself.


1934: Fuji Photo Film founded. And By 1938, Fuji is making cameras and lenses in addition to film.

1935-1960 Third Generation of Photography

In 1936, Kodachrome, the first color multi-layered color film; was developed by Exakta, pioneering 35mm single-lens reflex (SLR) camera.

Then in 1938, Chester Carlson invents Xerography (electric photography). Also, the Super Kodak Six an Autoexposure film is developed in this year.


By 1941, Eastman Kodak introduced Kodacolor negative film.

Then for almost 5-7 years no substantial development in the field of photography took place. This was because more concentration was being focused upon the motion picture rather than Still Photography.


Then in the year 1948, Pentax a Japanese company introduced the first automatic diaphragm (apperture).

In the same year, Nikon also introduced its first 35mm camera.


By 1950; Kodak introduced a new multilayered film stock in which emulsions sensitive to red, green, and blue are bonded together on a single roll. It was patented as Eastmancolor. What we use today is an upgraded form of this.

Eastman Kodak also introduced high speed black-and-white Tri-X film in 1954, in the field of professional black and white Photography.


By late 1950s photography exhibitions started taking place at a very large level.

The Family of Man (1955) was one of the most popular exhibitions of photographs ever presented.


1954 - Asahiflex II, world's first SLR with an instant return mirror.

1957 - Asahi Pentax, world's SLR with a penta prism thus allowing eye-level viewing with correct perspective

By end of the third generation, Nikon now one of the leading names in photography industry introduced the F-Series.

1960-1980 Fourth Generation of Photography

1960s saw the extensive household use of photographic cameras despite its high prices. Also the precision and the quality of the captured image was drastically improved during this period, by using light meters and apperture with shutter.

The German Mec 16 SB subminiature became the first camera to place the light meter behind the lens for more accurate metering.


Not only did this era see the growth of domestic photography but commercial as well as defense photography.

In 1960, EG&G develops extreme depth underwater camera for U.S. Navy.

In the same year the Polaroid Land 120 instant camera (Manufactured by Yashica Co. under contract with Polaroid Corp) is introduced. It was the first Japanese built instant camera.


In 1963, Kodak Instamatic Cameras were introduced with easy-loading film cartridges. They brought photography into the hands of many more amateurs, kids and adults.

In what was considered as a huge step in the history of photography, the very first photograph of earth from the moon was taken in 1968.


In early 70s, Canon developed the F-1 camera with high-speed motor drive, shooting at 8 to 10 fps for photographers covering events like The Olympics etc.

Then in 1977, with Canon AE-1 the apparent shift of cameras from manual models to electronic ones was observed.

A year later in 1978, the market saw the Canon A-1 which controlled everything electronically.


In 1980, the Nikon F3 camera was introduced, with liquid crystal display in the viewfinder and an electronic shutter.

Also the Pentax LX professional SLR camera system was introduced.

In 1980 only, Sony came up with its first with its ever consumer camcorder; opening gateways for modern digital photography.

1980s till dateFifth Generation of Photography

In 1980s Sony unveiled the first consumer camera to use a CCD(Charge-Coupled Device ) for imaging, and which required no film -- the Sony Mavika

1983: Kodak introduces disk camera, using an 8x11mm frame (the same as in the Minox spy camera)

1985: Minolta markets the world's first autofocus SLR system (called "Maxxum" in the US)


1985: Pixar introduces digital imaging processor.

1986 - Kodak scientists invent the world's first megapixel sensor.

In 1990, Kodak unveiled the DCS100, the first commercially available digital camera.

1992: Kodak introduces PhotoCD


Lately, a Combination of Digital and SLR camera has been evolved, which is spearheading the camera market world over.

History and Evolution of PHOTOGRAPHY

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