Cameras and the use of photography is one of the most important aspects of the modern media, it can be seen in everying ranging from every magazing/publication you have ever brought, to the picture on your windowsill of your family. Concidering it is such an important part of every day life, its suprising that more people dont know alot more about its origins, as well as its history. So, i’ll start from the begining.
In 1814 a frenchman called Joseph Nicephore Niepce obtained the first ever Photographic image with his invention of the ”Camera Obscura”. This managed to take an image after around 8 hours of sunlight exposure, however the image only stayed for a short while, as it faded shortly after being taken.
Camera Obscura (the first camera)
Following this in 1837 another frenchman, Louis Jaques Mande Daguerre tooke the first ever fixed image on his creation of the Daguerreotype. This is the first image not to fade, and took less that 30 minutes of sun exposure.
Daguerreotype
This can create image like the one below:
The image most belive to be the first non faded image
Shortly after this there was William Henry Talbot’s patented process of Calotyping. This process involves the first use of negative to posotive printing. Making it possible to make multiple copies of a single image. This happened in 1841. This is an example of what this process looks like:
A Negative Image Of A Street Owerview
Another on of the major events to do with cameras was the first use of an photograph being used in a publicised advert. This happened in Philidelphia in 1843, and only became possible due to the process of Calotyping.
Shoetly after this in 1851 the Colodion process was invented by Frederic Scott Archer. This process ment that to take a photograph you now only needed around two or three seconds of sunlight exposure for the image to be captured. This alowed photographs to be alot more acesable to a larger audiance.
In 1871 a man called Richard Leach Maddox invented a gelatin dry plate silver bromide process. This means that negatives are no longer needed to be developed immediately, and cane be stored for when they need developing.
Richard Leach Maddox
1884, Film is invented by a company called ‘Eastman’. and shortly after this there is an extreamly important invention called the ‘Kodak’ film camera. This is a hige step forward as it allowed cameras to become alot more acessable to a much larger audiance, and truly globalized it.
The Kodak Film Camera
Moving on to 1927 there was the invention of the flash bulb by the company general electric. This allowed photos to be taken in alomost any place you want, as you can now have lighting to effect an image.
Following this was the first ever film that was sold in shops, so anyone could acsess it and use it. This was called the Kodachrome film. This was in 1935.
And shortly after in 1941 there was the introduction of Kodacolour. This was a massive step forward as it ment that colour images could now be taken!
The first ever colour photograph
The image above is the first ever image of a colour photo. and is a tartan ribon.
1973. The invention of the polaroid camera. This ment that photos could be taken alot easier. As they could be developed instantly.
Finaly going ahead alot further in 1990 Photos were first able to be stored on a CD.
So, with that brief introduction to what cameras have done over the years, it is crazy to think what they can do now. With everything ranging from phones to computers being able to capture an almost perfect image and the digitaly produce it within seconds!
So next time you take a picture with your phone, concider how it use to be!
Thanks!
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