These days, photography is something that can be done by almost everyone, because cameras are pretty much everywhere. This is why people, both amateurs and professionals, can do everything from simple point and shoot photography, all the way to specialty skills like product, architectural, and commercial photography. But before this was possible, photography had to undergo over 200 years of development, using the ideas and experiments done by the ancient minds from over thousands of years ago.
Long before the dawn of chemical photography, our ancient ancestors have already begun experimenting on the fundamentals and concepts that will make photography possible. Ancient philosopher Mo Ti, and almost at the same time, Greek mathematicians Euclid and Aristotle, have toyed with what is called a pinhole camera, from as far back as the 5th and 4th centuries BC. But it wasn't just the ancient Greeks and Chinese that experimented, because during this time, Byzantine mathematicians have also been using their form of a camera obscura for multiple experiments.
Those were only the principles behind photography, however, and it wouldn't be until 1826, when the first permanent photo was made, that photography would officially be born. Joseph Nicephore Niepce, who used a polish pewter plate and some bitumen of Judea, a substance that hardens upon exposure to light, created the very first photograph. This is caused by the plate, on which the bitumen leaves behind a negative image, covered with ink, and pressed on paper to create a print.
From that point onward, very similar processes would be developed, each one taking one step further. The next big step would be made by Fox Talbot in 1840, when he invented the calotype process, which used paper sheets coated with silver chloride to create an intermediate negative image that can then be used to reproduce positive prints. This silver chloride covered paper was a precursor of the modern chemical film.
With all these emerging technologies came developments in the way photographs would be taken, because at first, all photos relied on simple lighting, and were done either outside, or at the most well lit room possible. In 1849 however, a Russian photographer named Count Sergei Lvovich Levitsky, who also designed a bellows camera that improved focusing, started the idea of artificially lighting subjects in a studio. The results of his efforts yielded him numerous awards, and since then studio photography began to take off.
The history of photography is filled with milestones that allowed us to enjoy modern cameras, lenses, and more. And with digital photography slowly taking over, photography as an industry and art is ready to take even more strides in the future. With these strides, perhaps even more people will be able to enjoy photography, both as an art, and as a profession.
Long before the dawn of chemical photography, our ancient ancestors have already begun experimenting on the fundamentals and concepts that will make photography possible. Ancient philosopher Mo Ti, and almost at the same time, Greek mathematicians Euclid and Aristotle, have toyed with what is called a pinhole camera, from as far back as the 5th and 4th centuries BC. But it wasn't just the ancient Greeks and Chinese that experimented, because during this time, Byzantine mathematicians have also been using their form of a camera obscura for multiple experiments.
Those were only the principles behind photography, however, and it wouldn't be until 1826, when the first permanent photo was made, that photography would officially be born. Joseph Nicephore Niepce, who used a polish pewter plate and some bitumen of Judea, a substance that hardens upon exposure to light, created the very first photograph. This is caused by the plate, on which the bitumen leaves behind a negative image, covered with ink, and pressed on paper to create a print.
From that point onward, very similar processes would be developed, each one taking one step further. The next big step would be made by Fox Talbot in 1840, when he invented the calotype process, which used paper sheets coated with silver chloride to create an intermediate negative image that can then be used to reproduce positive prints. This silver chloride covered paper was a precursor of the modern chemical film.
With all these emerging technologies came developments in the way photographs would be taken, because at first, all photos relied on simple lighting, and were done either outside, or at the most well lit room possible. In 1849 however, a Russian photographer named Count Sergei Lvovich Levitsky, who also designed a bellows camera that improved focusing, started the idea of artificially lighting subjects in a studio. The results of his efforts yielded him numerous awards, and since then studio photography began to take off.
The history of photography is filled with milestones that allowed us to enjoy modern cameras, lenses, and more. And with digital photography slowly taking over, photography as an industry and art is ready to take even more strides in the future. With these strides, perhaps even more people will be able to enjoy photography, both as an art, and as a profession.
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Custom and stock commercial photography: San Diego Commercial Photography and San Diego Photography.
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