History of Photography
Development of the camera
Camera Obscura
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Camera= room
Obscura=darkened
One of the factors responsible for photography
Camera Obscura started as darkened room with
a hole in one wall with white screen opposite
hole. Upside down image projected upon
screen of what occurred outside room
• http://www.cameraobscura.co.uk/camera_obscura/camera_obscur
a.asp
Camera Obscura
• Some evidence suggests Aristotle knew of
camera obscura as early as 4th century BC
• Effect noted by Arabic scholars in the 10th
century AD
• Lenses added in middle of 16th century in
order to create brighter, higher clarity
images
• Required a focusing mechanism
Camera Obscura
• Developed into a more compact device
with glass plate supporting paper that
allowed the person to trace image
• Artists used the camera obscura in their
life drawing exercises
Evolution
• Hand tracing became tedious =Users
wanted a way to capture the image without
having to draw
• 1725 =Johann Heinrich Schulze
discovered that certain silver salts
darkened when exposed to light
• 75 years of scientific exploration into silver
salts properties ensued
Quest for Permanent Image
• 1800 = Thomas Wedgewood and Humphrey
Davy were the first to attempt to capture an
image using silver salts
• Used white leather treated with silver nitrate
• Could not use camera obscura because silver
nitrate not light sensitive enough: had to place
objects on top of glass over leather and expose
to sun
• Resulting image was outline
• Image was temporary
Quest for permanent image
• 1816= Joseph Nicephore Niepce was the
first to use camera to capture image in
form of paper negative
• Realized you could sandwich paper
negative with light sensitive treated paper
and produce a positive image
• Could not accomplish, however, because
he had no method for making the positive
image permanent
Quest for permanent image
• Niepce used pewter covered plates coated with bitumen of Judea
(asphaltic varnish) that hardens when exposed to light
• Exposed plates to sunlight through oil etching on paper
• Washed plates with substance such as lavender oil to remove
unhardened traces of bitumen of Judea
• Produced a positive image onto plate which could be etched into the
plate with acid, inked and then printed
• Process termed: Heliograph= greek for “sun writing”
• 1826-7= Niepce began putting plates into cameras. 8 hour
exposure time. However, the bitumen of Judea is not a silver salt
and therefore, not as sensitive. Could not etch into the plate to
create prints. Each Pewter plate became an original
Niepce: View from the Window at
Le Gras (1826)
• Credited as first photograph
Quest for Permanent Image
• Louis Jacques Mande Daguerre =painter experimenting with light
sensitive silver salts to capture camera image
• 1826 = Learned of Niepce’s innovations and contacted him
• Began sharing research in 1829
• 1837= Daguerre developed a process for capturing permanent
images from camera with light sensitive silver salts
• Process: Used copper plates sheeted with silver and fumed with
iodine vapor to create light sensitive silver iodine
• Plate inserted into camera and exposed
• After exposure, plate treated with fumes of heated mercury ,
creating a stronger image
• Dagguerre used salt water to “fix” the image permanently to the
plate
• The images called “Daguerreotypes”
• One of a kind
Daguerre: Boulevard du Temple, Paris, IIIe arrondissement. The first
picture of a person. The image shows a busy street, but because
exposure time was over ten minutes, the traffic was moving too much to
appear. The exception is the man at the bottom left, who stood still
getting his boots polished long enough to show.
Photographer unidentified. [Occupational portrait of a woman working at a
sewing machine] sixth plate daguerreotype, ca. 1853.
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Augustus Washington. [Urias A. McGill, half-length portrait, facing
front] sixth plate daguerreotype, between 1854 and 1860.
• John Plumbe. [United States Capitol,
Washington, D.C., east front elevation] half
plate daguerreotype, ca. 1846.
• Photographer unidentified. [Occupational portrait
of three railroad workers standing on hand
propelled railroad cart] sixth plate
daguerreotype, between 1850 and 1860