18/11/13
Firstly – ‘Photography’ is a combination of two Latin words. “Photo” is derived from the word “photos” which means “light”, and “graphis” which means “mark maker”. So photography does not necessarily mean an image we create with film, but can also mean marks made with light.
History of photography Timeline:
Pre 16th century: “Camera obscuras” were used to project live imagery onto walls to trace from. This was done by having a completely darkened/black room with only a pinhole of light coming through. This would act as a lens re-creating the imagery of what was on the other side of the pinhole, and projecting it onto the black wall. Due to there being no mirror system in the ‘camera obscura’ system, the image would be upside down. Artists over came this obstacle by turning their artworks upside down/the right way round.
16th – 17th century : The camera obscuras were improved by enlarging the pinhole and inserting telescoping lenses. They were in frequent use by many artists up until the 17th century. Although these were not photographs as we see them, the obscura gave many renaissance artists the ability to trace more accurately for their amazing pieces of art.
1727: Professor J. Schulze (1687 – 1744) mixed chalk, nitric acid and silver salts (chloride and nitrate) and noticed that it would darken under light. This created a photo-sensitive compound, creating the first accidental photograph.
1800: Thomas Wedgwood (1771-1805) “Sun pictures”. Wedgwood adapted Schulze’s findings and began capturing images on leather coated with the silver salt chemicals with flowers/leaves placed on top. This only created silhouettes.
1816: Nicephore Niepce combined the camera obscura with photosensitive paper silversalts had created. He then continued to create a permanent image 10 years later.
1834: Henry Fox Tablot, British (1800- 1877), fixes the images onto the paper by using a salt solution. He created the positive part of the image by printing onto another sheet on paper.
Photographers to research:
William Fox Talbert, British (1800- 1877),
Lois Mande, French (1787 – 1851),
Lewis Carroll, English (1832 -1898),
Edward Muybridge, English (1830 – 1904),
Etienne-Jules Marey,
Roger Fenton,
Fedrik H Evans,
Many Ray,
Lee Miller,
Robert Capa.
Nikon Settings & how a camera works:
Rowan Borthwick 