History Of Photography Essay Research Paper

History Of Photography Essay, Research Paper

Photography is a technological invention that has become the most universal means of communication and artistic expression that the world has known. It overcomes the differences of language. It can be specific and realistic, where music and related media can only be

abstracted or general. In the form of motion pictures it can be used for television and the movies. As a form of visual art, it has as wide a range of unique expressive capabilities as painting, sketching and any other hand art. As a scientific tool, the precision in making visual records is beyond the capability of the human senses. The history of photography is a matter of technological growth and of simultaneous communicative growth (Encyclopedia of Practical

Photography 1339-1340).The world first at large learned how to make photographs in 1839. In that year the Daguerreotype and the Collotype, general ways to make pictures were introduced to

the public. Both were able to make pictures quickly, easily and with no skill or training. The inventor of the Daguerreotype was a French man named Louis Jacques Mande Dqguerre. The Daguerreotypes were literally mirror images. A silvered copper plate was buffed to bring a polish an then put over the tope of a box containing a few participles of iodine. The fumes from the iodine reacted with the silver on the plate to form silver iodine, a light-sensitive chemical. The plate was exposed in a camera for about twenty minutes. Then the plate was put over mercury and heated to 167 F. an image slowly appeared as a whitish amalgen formed on the surface of the plate in proportion to the amount of light it was exposed to. Those who saw the process for the first time thought it to be magic.An English scientist and scholar, William Henry

Fox Talbot, invented the Collotype. The process was similar to Daguerre s and in 1840 Talbot improved it. Instead of leaving the paper in the camera until it darkened, he brought out the

latent image by development. This reduced exposer time to a matter of seconds compared to minutes. He named this new process talbotype (Newhall 173401737).In 1888 the first automatic camera was introduced to the public. It was produced by Kodak. It contained enough film or

one hundred exposures. It had a fixed shutter speed set at 1/25 of a second. It also had a fixed focus lenses that assured a clear picture up to eight feet.The Kodak camera became an American

icon. For $24 anyone could purchase the camera with a leather strap and a protective carrying case. This cost also paid for the first roll of film and development. When you were finished you sent the camera to Kodak where the film was developed. With $10 you could get a new roll of film which also included the cost of the new roll.Not until the 1920’s were photographers able to use a handy compacted instrument that could take pictures in dim light. The first of these candid cameras was the Ermanox marketed under the slogan of What you can see, you can photograph (Time-life 154. 164).The new technologies and affordable prices created a gateway to photography as an art. There were many great photographers but among them there were only a few exceptional ones. Among them were Frederick Henry Evans, Heinrich Kuhn of the Linked Ring. Alfred Stiegiltz the leader of the Photo-Secessionists, with the other members of Photo-

Secessionists: Gertrude Kasibier, Edward Steichen, Alvin Langdon Coburn, and Clarence H. White (Grolier 399).This style prizes the use of an unmanipulated use of the medium. It concentrates on letting the subject speak for its own terms. The emphasis is on those methods

and techniques are add of sense of reality and implication, the literal truth of the image(Practical Photograph 1346).During the first decades of the twentieth century, Stieglitz reversed

his position and claimed an expressive role of straightforward photography. At the same time the French photographer, Eugene Atget, acquired a similar point of view. His point of view was

the same as Stieglitz but was from an opposite direction. It represented that a picture was not identical to the subject but a way to look at the subject, an interpretation (Groiler 398).Filtration,

burning in which is extending the time on exposing the paper, and similar techniques are acceptable when used to clarify the actual appearance and qualities of the subject. Filters can change the color and the texture. Soft focus, the purpose slight blurring of the focus, and optical distortion, the use of different types of lenses such as fisheye or wide-angle lenses (Practical Photography 1346).Photography is not only for art it can also be a job. In the field of photography there are many chances to carve out a satisfying career. Some people make a living just by taking pictures. They are known as professional photographers. The pictures they take are used in the news, magazines and newspapers.The military also uses men and women as photographers. Their duties are from taking pictures to doing aerial shots. Aerial shots are used for reconnaissance. Reconnaissance is when experts study photographs to obtain information for defense reasons. The armed forces also create training and documentary films to present facts about the military services.There are many occupation in the photographical field. For exam