Introduction
Photography, despite it not being quite as known, is still a very new technology. It is the method of recording a visual image of nature into a still-life picture. It is a visual perspective of communication and expression. The modern method is a visual image that is recorded through the glass lens of the structure that causes the exposure of light to produce an copy image. The word, "photography," originates from the Greek words, "photo," meaning "light," and "graphein," meaning "to draw." The first known use of photography was only in the 1830's. However, before photography was innovated, a lesser version was in use. Before the camera, there was the camera obscura, the design was a dark chamber with a hole in the wall. Through the hole in the wall, images of objects outside the room were projected upon the opposite wall. This technology was likely established from Chinese and Ancient Greeks from over two thousand years ago.
Later in the 1500's, Giambattista della Porta, an Italian scientist and writer had shown the use and purpose of the camera obscura. However, with his method, he demonstrated with a lens. With the new technology of the lens, artists were capable to reproduce the image projected, but were limited to tracing the image based on their own artistic ability. Scientists struggled to find a solution to this issue, where images could be reproduced to hold the projection mechanically and constantly. Due to this complication, photography was not a true invention until the early nineteenth century.
Later in the 1500's, Giambattista della Porta, an Italian scientist and writer had shown the use and purpose of the camera obscura. However, with his method, he demonstrated with a lens. With the new technology of the lens, artists were capable to reproduce the image projected, but were limited to tracing the image based on their own artistic ability. Scientists struggled to find a solution to this issue, where images could be reproduced to hold the projection mechanically and constantly. Due to this complication, photography was not a true invention until the early nineteenth century.
Camera Obscura
The camera obscura was developed in the fifth century B.C. The name translates literally to "dark chamber" due to the fact that the technology used dark rooms and enclosed boxes to produce the light source needed for the process. It was known by Aristotle and Chinese philosopher, Mozi, however, the technology was not described in a full explanation until the eleventh century by Arab scholar Alhazen. The process became popular during the Renaissance and the Middle Ages when inventors decided to use biconvex lenses with the purpose of brightening their images.
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Photochemistry
Photochemistry, developed in the the 18th and 19th centuries, was a method made for permanently preserving pictures using certain chemicals. The biggest breakthrough took place in 1725. It included a German professor Johann Heinrich Schulze discovering that silver salts darken when they are exposed to light.
Heliography
An amateur inventor in Paris, named Nicephore Niepce, discovered the photographic process called heliography. It is known as the earliest form of lasting photography from nature. He was interested in lithography. Lithography is process in which drawings are copied or traced onto a lithographic stone by hand. Then, it is printed in ink. Niepce formed a method in which light produced the images for him. Firstly, he oiled an engraving to make it transparent. secondly, he placed it on a plate that is covered with a light sensitive solution. This solution was made of bitumen of Judea (asphalt) and lavender oil. next, it is exposed to sunlight, and after a couple hours, the solution under the areas which were lighter in the engraving were hardened and those parts that were darker stayed soft, which then could be washed away. Lastly, this process left a permanent and accurate representation copy of the engraving.
In 1827, Niepce created the successful photograph from nature. The photograph was a view of the courtyard of his country estate, Le Gras. It was from an upper window of the house. The exposure lasted eight hours, while the sun traveled from the east to the west. |
Daguerreotype
Daguerreotype, a technique developed in 1837, was invented by Louis Daguerre, who was a French artist and inventor. He discovered that exposing iodized silver plates to light forms a faint image that will develop from the mercury fumes. This technology helped produce a sharper image and cut down the exposure time for every individual picture. Daguerre christened it in 1839 and named in "Daguerreotype." He then made the process public in exchange for a pension from the French government. Daguerre also shortened the exposure process to less than a minute. Because of this, his creation spread across the world and caused a drastic rise in portrait industry, especially in the United States.
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Calotype
Calotype, a photographic invention created in 1841, was revealed to the public by the British inventor William Henry Fox Talbot. His process was displayed to the world around the time "daguerreotypomania" was taking a hold to the public. Talbot's process was named "calotype." In comparison to its predecessor, the calotype process switched the metal plates of the Daguerreotype process for thin sheets of high quality photosensitive paper. When this paper was exposed to light, the paper produced an image that was formed and preserved by rinsing it with hyposulphite. Despite the final image coming out fuzzier than the Daguerreotype process's final product, the technique of the photography makes producing photographs a much easier process of reproduction. This new form of reproduction provided the opportunity for photographers to create an unlimited number of copies.
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Wet Collodion Process
The wet collodion process was the next invention in the events of history that lead to current day photography. Processes before this were considered obsolete after the wet collodion process was reveled. A sculptor, Frederick Scott Archer, formed a new method of photography that shared both clear images and negatives. Additionally, this process allowed photographs to be easily copied. For this invention to be successful, Archer used the chemical, collodion, which provided a chemical coating for the light sensitive solutions onto glass plates. As the wet plates made exposure time last only a couple seconds. However, the process required to successfully create the photographs was difficult to accomplish.
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Dry Plates |
The dry plate process was invented in 1878. Before this form, photography was very difficult to perform correctly for anyone who wasn't a chemist. This struggle changed when Robert L. Maddox and others created a photographic plate that preserved silver salt in gelatin because this way, the plates retained their light sensitivity for long periods of time.
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