History of Photography

History of Photography by Minna Reinikainen Topics • The major events in the history of photography • different stages of photography • Goal is to tell you about the development during the last 150 years, and maybe you will learn something new What is it ? • Drawing with light • Comes from two latin words: photo for light and graph for drawing • Today it is a tool for communication and a way of visual expression, also a way of storeing memories and history. Prehistory of photography • The idea of photography was known, noone just new how to capture the image so it will be fixed to media. • Camera obscura ”dark room” Early photography • First photo by Joseph Nicéphore Niepce • experimented with lithography (printing method) • developed a process to permanently capture the image of camera obscura  first photo from 1827. View from Niepce’s window in France. Recuired an exposure time of eight hours in bright sunlight. Early photography • Niepce’s technique was not good  partners with Louis Daguerre in 1829. • Daguerreotype process (1837): • a silver-coated sheet of copper was made sensitive to light by treatment with iodine vapor, forming silver iodide. • developed in hot mercury fumes • image was fixed when washed in hypo. • only positive images • exposure time from 15-30 minutes, later reduced to 2 minutes • public in 1839  popular with portraiture. Daguerreotype Early photography • First paper negative by William Henry Talbot in 1835 • Calotype process: • paper impregnated with silver nitrate or silver chloride • made permanent by fixing with hypo. • positive image produced when negative placed over sensitized paper was exposed to bright light. • several copies could be made • poor quality in sharpness Early photography • In 1851 F. Scott Archer improves photographic resolution • Wet-collodion process: • glass plate coated with collodion as a base for light-sensitive silver halides • light sensitive only when wet • produces negatives • sharper images than earlier • exposure time under one second Wet-plate Mid 19th century • photography as artistic medium •did not gain much popularity • naked body • imitating paintings • Reportage process began • used to record the happening during a period of history New era in photography • Richard Maddox discovered the way of using gelatin in 1871 • Dry plate process: • glass coated with a gelatin emulsion containing light sensitive silver salts • exposure time reduced, again, to a fraction of second • not only for profesionals anymore Dry plate Capturing movement • Faster shutter speeds  ability to ”stop” motion • ”Do a galloping horse’s four legs ever leave the ground at once” • Eadweard Muybrigde proved it in 1878 Color photography • Earliest color photo by Ducos du Hauron from 1877 • James Clerk Maxwell proved the theory of using RGB in 1861 • First commercial color film in 1907 by Lumiere brothers •autochrome glass plate • •Development of Kodachrome in 1936 • Year 1963 came the color Polaroid Land camera Forrunner of modern photography • in 1884 George Eastman invents a roll film •paper roll coated with gelatin • The first transparent plastic film was produced in 1889 • era of mass-market photography begun  everyone taking snapshots • profesionals exploring the new medium Forrunner of modern photography • (end of the century) arguments of photographic’s purpose • is it for recording, may it be manipulated • can it be a form of art • Documentary photography started • used to convince and persuade people to take certain action Turn of the century •Pictorialism •rise of art photography •artists manipulated the image •used a process called Gum Bichromate •less detail and more of an artistic image •usually colored with oil paints Émile Joachim Constant Puyo The Straw Hat, ca. 1905-1910 Oil pigment print New generation •Straight photography began around 1920’s •away from pictorial style •more sharp and unmanipulated approach Paul Strand, Wall Street, 1915 •”let photographs look like photographs” Straight photography Edward Weston, Pepper No.30, 1930 Tina Modotti, Hands of a Puppet Player, 1926 Glamour and fashion • photography started in the 1920’s • new mass media Horst P. Horst, Mainboucher Corset, 1939 Man Ray, Glass Tears (Larmes),1930 New objective • in 1925 ”new vision” started • experimenting with new angles of view •sharp upward angle shots •undershots •detail •contrast Noel Griggs, Chimney, 1934 different styles •portraying life began around 1930’s •after II WW grew an interest to cultures, lifestyles and characters of other people • 1960’s pop art and erotic photography • in 1980’s photographs were no longer concerned with reality Jeff Wall, Milk, 1984 Alfred Eisenstaedt, V-Day, 1945 Conclusion • photography begun in 1839 • medium has changed a lot • black and white  color ( pixels) • plates  paper  film  digital • still the same principal idea • two vital elements: optical and chemical • non verbal means of communication • photography as art Thank you for your attencion! • any questions? Sources: • Literature: • Baatz, Willfried: Photography a Concise History (Laurence King Publishing, 1999) • Busselle, Michael: Valokuvauksen Maailma (Amer-yhtymä Oy, 1979) • Hedgecoe, John: Suuri Valokuvauskirja (WSOY, 1977) • Internet: • http://www.photo.net/history/timeline • http://www.rleggat.com/photohistory • http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wpdyn?pagename=article&contentId=A56532002Jun30¬Found=true • http://www.scphoto.com/html/history.html • http://www.scphoto.com/handouts/History_Info_sheet.doc • http://www.ted.photographer.org.uk/photoscience_digital.htm • http://photography.about.com/od/photographicprocesses