a brief history of photography

part 1: where did photography come from?

photography = light + writing drawing with light camera =

room, or chamber - an enclosed space

camera obscura =

an enclosed space that is dark

(China, c. 470 - c. 391 BCE)

Mo Di, or Mozi
earliest known mention of basic photography concepts:
Mozi discovered that while in a darkened room, a tiny opening in one wall projected an upside-down image of the scene outside onto the opposite wall. He referred to this as locked treasure room.

(China, c. 470 - c. 391 BCE)

Mo Di, or Mozi
earliest known mention of basic photography concepts:
Mozi discovered that while in a darkened room, a tiny opening in one wall projected an upside-down image of the scene outside onto the opposite wall. He referred to this as locked treasure room.

Aristotle

(Greece, 384 - 322 BCE)

was sitting under a tree during a solar eclipse, and noticed that each gap in the leaves projected a mini-eclipse onto the ground

a solar eclipse is when the moon passes between the Sun and the Earth - so that from the Earth, the moon looks like its covering up the sun

Aristotle

(Greece, 384 - 322 BCE)

was sitting under a tree during a solar eclipse, and noticed that each gap in the leaves projected a mini-eclipse onto the ground

a solar eclipse is when the moon passes between the Sun and the Earth - so that from the Earth, the moon looks like its covering up the sun

Aristotle

(Greece, 384 - 322 BCE)

was sitting under a tree during a solar eclipse, and noticed that each gap in the leaves projected a mini-eclipse onto the ground

a solar eclipse is when the moon passes between the Sun and the Earth - so that from the Earth, the moon looks like its covering up the sun

Aristotle

(Greece, 384 - 322 BCE)

afterwards, he experimented letting light shine through different shapes of holes, but noticed that it always projected the sun as a circle (like it is in real life)

just like how during a solar eclipse, even

circular holes will project eclipse-shaped light

Aristotle

(Greece, 384 - 322 BCE)

afterwards, he experimented letting light shine through different shapes of holes, but noticed that it always projected the sun as a circle (like it is in real life)

just like how during a solar eclipse, even

circular holes will project eclipse-shaped light

Aristotle

(Greece, 384 - 322 BCE)

afterwards, he experimented letting light shine through different shapes of holes, but noticed that it always projected the sun as a circle (like it is in real life)

just like how during a solar eclipse, even

circular holes will project eclipse-shaped light

Aristotle

(Greece, 384 - 322 BCE)

afterwards, he experimented letting light shine through different shapes of holes, but noticed that it always projected the sun as a circle (like it is in real life)

just like how during a solar eclipse, even

circular holes will project eclipse-shaped light

!"#$%*)' (' %*)' (' % ,-. /(

Alhazen

Abu Ali al-Hasan Ibn al-Haitham

(Iraq, 965 - c. 1040 CE)

extensively studied light & optics, built the rst (ofcial) camera obscura, & scientically proved that light travels in straight lines which is why projected images are

upside down

!"#$%*)' (' %*)' (' % ,-. /(

Alhazen

Abu Ali al-Hasan Ibn al-Haitham

(Iraq, 965 - c. 1040 CE)

extensively studied light & optics, built the rst (ofcial) camera obscura, & scientically proved that light travels in straight lines which is why projected images are

upside down

!"#$%*)' (' %*)' (' % ,-. /(

Alhazen

Abu Ali al-Hasan Ibn al-Haitham

(Iraq, 965 - c. 1040 CE)

extensively studied light & optics, built the rst (ofcial) camera obscura, & scientically proved that light travels in straight lines which is why projected images are

upside down

interestingly, Alhazen was also the rst to realize the modern understanding of vision: light (for example, from the sun) reects off of things, our eyes interpret that reected light, and thats how we are able to see them

before this, it was actually the accepted belief that the human eye sent out rays which scanned objects

Leonardo da Vinci

(Italy, 1452-1519)

regarded the camera obscura as an articial eye was the rst to realize that since the image seen in the camera obscura was upside-down, the HUMAN eye might see that way as well

da Vinci thought that maybe the human eye used le to ip our vision right side up

at this time, lenses (from the Latin word for lentil) were already being widely used as magniers and visioncorrecting spectacles

Leonardo da Vinci

(Italy, 1452-1519)

regarded the camera obscura as an articial eye was the rst to realize that since the image seen in the camera obscura was upside-down, the HUMAN eye might see that way as well

da Vinci thought that maybe the human eye used le to ip our vision right side up

at this time, lenses (from the Latin word for lentil) were already being widely used as magniers and visioncorrecting spectacles

Leonardo da Vinci

(Italy, 1452-1519)

regarded the camera obscura as an articial eye was the rst to realize that since the image seen in the camera obscura was upside-down, the HUMAN eye might see that way as well

lens lentils

da Vinci thought that maybe the human eye used le to ip our vision right side up

at this time, lenses (from the Latin word for lentil) were already being widely used as magniers and visioncorrecting spectacles

from 1550 through 1569, other Italian scientists followed da Vincis lead, adding lenses - as well as mirrors - to both FOCUS the image, and CORRECT the image (make it right-side up)

Johannes Kepler

(Germany, 1571-1630)

came up with the name camera obscura and also was the rst to invent one that was portable and could be taken from place to place (also, he was the rst to guess that it was the BRAIN that ipped our vision right-side up - rather than lenses/ mirrors that are used in a camera or camera obscura)

from 1550 through 1569, other Italian scientists followed da Vincis lead, adding lenses - as well as mirrors - to both FOCUS the image, and CORRECT the image (make it right-side up)

Johannes Kepler

(Germany, 1571-1630)

came up with the name camera obscura and also was the rst to invent one that was portable and could be taken from place to place (also, he was the rst to guess that it was the BRAIN that ipped our vision right-side up - rather than lenses/ this is Kepler (a crater on the mirrors that are used in a camera or camera obscura)

moon) which was named after him

so at this point, what are people using this camera obscura thing FOR?

so at this point, what are people using this camera obscura thing FOR?

a brief history of photography

part 2: how did we get images to STAY?

but so far all of this is just light - how did people start getting the images to STAY?

discovery of photosensitive chemicals by the Middle Ages, alchemists knew that silver salts turn black when exposed to light in 1802, Thomas Wedgwood & Humphry Davy were able to temporarily capture images - but they wouldnt stay

Joseph-Nicphore Nipce (France, 1765 - 1833)

He took the rst permanent PHOTOGRAPH in 1826 or 1827, he called it heliography - sun writing After much experimentation, he had found a working combination of materials:

polished pewter covered in bitumen of Judea (related to asphalt; hardens and BLEACHES when exposed to light) afterwards, rinsed the plate with oil of lavender & white petroleum

he set up his camera obscura, put the asphaltcovered pewter plate inside, pointed it so it was looking out his window, and opened the shutter

EIGHT HOURS LATER...

in 1829, Nipce partnered with

Louis Jacques Mand Daguerre (France, 1787 - 1851)

Nipce passed away in 1833, but Daguerre continued their work on a new process, which he nished in 1837 and named daguerreotype:

he discovered the latent image (an image that is invisible until you develop it) accidentally left an exposed plate in a dark space which also had a broken thermometer in it - he realized that the mercury vapors (from the broken thermometer) had caused a chemical reaction which developed the image this process shortened exposure time from over 8 hours down to 20 30 minutes

His process:

highly polished copper plate exposed to iodine vapors (this makes silver iodide) - has to be used within an hour expose to light (about 10 - 20 minutes) develop the plate over mercury heated to about 170F (heating creates vapors) x the image in warm salt water rinse with hot distilled water

10 - 15 minutes of exposure

10 - 15 minutes of exposure

10 - 15 minutes of exposure

Daguerre gave the rights to the daguerrotype process to the French government in 1839 in exchange for a life-long pension for himself and Nipces son. France published instructions for the process in 1839 and made them available free to the world, in the spirit of the 50th anniversary of the French Revolution. the fact that the process was free from copyright meant that it spread quickly, causing Daguerreotypomania

The price of a daguerreotype, at the height of its popularity in the early 1850's, ranged from 25 cents for a sixteenth plate (of 1 5/8 inches by 1 3/8 inches) to 50 cents for a low-quality "picture factory" likeness to $2 for a medium-sized portrait at Matthew Brady's Broadway studio.

1850 {

25 50 $2.00

= $10.64 = $21.28 = $85.12

} 2011

drawbacks of the daguerreotype:

dangerous (poisonous) still pretty long exposure times still pretty expensive fragile - had to be kept in sealed cases left-right reversed (unless you had a fancy camera)

maybe most importantly:

no negative is produced - its is a direct positive - and therefore no way to make more than one

William Henry Fox Talbot

(England, 1800 - 1877) invention of the calotype / talbottype he named it calotype from the Greek word kalos (meaning beautiful) rst negative/positive photographic process got the exposure time down to SECONDS his materials:

paper coated with silver iodide developed in gallic acid, silver nitrate, and acetic acid xed in hyposulte of soda