HISTORY OF PHOTOGRAPHY(PART 1)

PHOTO/GRAPHY: LIGHT/DRAWING or Drawing with Light

• Derived from Greek: • ‘photos’ for Light • ‘graphos’ for Drawing

3 Basic Elements of Photography

• Camera Obscura (meaning: Darkened Chamber or room)

• Aperture (Opening that light goes through)

• Light Sensitive Material (upon which the image is recorded)

The Dark Box Concept

• Dating back to ancient China and Greece• Dark room with small hole• Light comes in through small opening• Inverted image transferred onto wall inside

dark box• No one thought to record these images-

at the time there was no demand

CAMERA OBSCURA(the original dark box art tool)

• Optical device that projects an image of its surroundings on a screen

• Artists modified the concept to fit their needs-traced realistic image quickly

• Added lens to box (focus image)

• Sped up artistic process• Sharpened reality

LIGHT-SENSITIVE MATERIAL

• Johann Schultz-discovered light-sensitive nature of SILVER NITRATE (early 17th century)

• Silver Nitrate turns black when exposed to sunlight

• Problem-How do you stop it from turning all black (how do you‘fix’the image)?

Thomas Wedgwood

• Experimented with silver nitrate prints

• Put object on paper coated with silver nitrate

• Exposed prints to sun• Created Silhouttes-

Photograms

Photogram

Cyanotype

Joseph Niépce(1765-1833)

• Frenchman who invented the first “PHOTO”• PROCESS: Coated a metal plate w/ BITUMEN (asphalt-

like substance that hardens in proportion to its exposure to light) then washed in lavender oil (only hardened areas remained)

– Put plate into camera– Exposed to sun (8 hours)– Wash plate w/ oil (removed unused areas)– Result - First “picture” called the HELIOGRAPH

(SUN/DRAWING)

NIÉPCE’S FIRST HELIOGRAPH

View from the Window at Le Gras (1826 or 1827) the earliest surviving photograph of a real-world scene, made using a camera obscura.

Louis-Jacques-Mandé Daguerre(1787-1851)

• French artist and physicist• Known as one of the fathers

of photography• Looking for a way to

reproduce realistic scenes for his dioramas

• Produced his version of photography

• Worked with Niépce. When Niépce died, Daguerre continued experimenting, evolving the process into what would be called the ‘Daguerreotype’

• Introduces photography at world science exhibition in France.

Social Conditions(that made invention of photography possible)

• INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION - Increase in production, goods, and services

• Rising Middle Class - More people with expendable income

• New demand for portrait images (previously only for the rich – ie. paintings)

• Emphasis on REALISM

The Daguerreotype Process• Light-tight plate holder

designed to hold a copper plate faced with a thin layer of silver

• Plate was made light-sensitive by fumes from iodine crystals in a wooden box

• Plate is exposed to Image• Exposed to Mercury fumes

in protected area which developed the image

• Fixed in a solution of common salt

• Plate would be toned in gold chloride

The Daguerreotype

• ADVANTAGES:– Sharp, crisp, high

quality image– Reduced exposure

time (7-10 minutes)– QUALITY– Process becomes

FRANCHISED (makes Daguerre rich)

– Easily accessible

Fine, detailed quality

Mirror like reflective look

The Daguerreotype

• DISADVANTAGES– Small Size– Easily damaged– One of a kind-NOT

REPRODUCIBLE– Poisonous process– Exposure time -??

(questionable)

1st Photographed person- Street scene in Paris (exposure time - 10 minutes)

Henry Fox Talbot(1835)

• British inventor, mathematician

• Invented photography simultaneously (in England)

• Establishes modern photographic system -the CALOTYPE

The CALOTYPE System

• Developed positive image from negative

• Printed REPRODUCIBLE Photos on paper

Negative

Positive

CALOTYPES

• ADVANTAGES– Reproducible (can

make many copies from original negatives)

– Quicker exposure times (1-3 minutes)

CALOTYPES

• DISADVANTAGES:– Hazy, artistic

quality (people wanted razor- sharp quality)

– Process was never Mass-marketed or popularized