History of Photography
"The First Photo" (Heliograph by Niepce)
"Photography" is derived from the Greek words photos ("light") and graphein ("to draw"). It is a method of recording images by the action of light, or related radiation, on a sensitive material.
1826 - Joseph Nicephore Niepce produces the first photographic image with a camera obscura, a tool that had previously only been used for viewing or drawing purposes. These "photos" were known as heliographs or sunprints, and like modern photographs, they relied on light to draw a picture.
To take this picture, Niepce placed an engraving onto a metal plate coated in bitumen and then exposed it to sunlight. The shadowy areas of the engraving blocked the light, but the whiter areas permitted a reaction between the light and the chemicals on the plate. This plate was then placed in a solvent to create an image. This process was not very efficient - it required 8 hours of light exposure and would fade away soon after appearing.
1837 - Louis Daguerre, a frenchmen, after many years was able to refine this process to an exposure less than 30 minutes & an image that would stay after appearing. He is considered the inventor of the first practical photography process, known as the daguerreotype. This process involved fixing images onto a sheet of silver-plated copper coated with iodine to create a light-sensitive surface. After exposed to light, the plate is put into a solution of silver chloride to create a lasting image.
1826 - Joseph Nicephore Niepce produces the first photographic image with a camera obscura, a tool that had previously only been used for viewing or drawing purposes. These "photos" were known as heliographs or sunprints, and like modern photographs, they relied on light to draw a picture.
To take this picture, Niepce placed an engraving onto a metal plate coated in bitumen and then exposed it to sunlight. The shadowy areas of the engraving blocked the light, but the whiter areas permitted a reaction between the light and the chemicals on the plate. This plate was then placed in a solvent to create an image. This process was not very efficient - it required 8 hours of light exposure and would fade away soon after appearing.
1837 - Louis Daguerre, a frenchmen, after many years was able to refine this process to an exposure less than 30 minutes & an image that would stay after appearing. He is considered the inventor of the first practical photography process, known as the daguerreotype. This process involved fixing images onto a sheet of silver-plated copper coated with iodine to create a light-sensitive surface. After exposed to light, the plate is put into a solution of silver chloride to create a lasting image.
Calotype Image
Dauguerre sold the rights to his process to the French government in 1839.
By 1850, the daguerreotype had become an accepted and commonplace technology. Daguerreotype shops open up worldwide.
1841 - Henry Talbot patents the "calotype", paving the way for modern photography. This developing process includes the use of the first negatives, enables multiple positive prints to be made. A silver salt solution is on paper, and the paper is the exposed to light, to develop the prints.
1851 - Frederick Scott Archer invents the Collodion process, or wet plate negative. It requires only a few seconds of light exposure. Because this process relied on glass, not paper, for "film" the resulting negative was more detailed and the print was clearer and more stable.
Although this process was much cheaper than daguerreotypes, and the negatives allowed for unlimited positive prints to be made, the process was at times unpractical because the negatives needed to be developed almost immediately. As a result, large amounts of developing equipment needed to be in the same location.
By 1850, the daguerreotype had become an accepted and commonplace technology. Daguerreotype shops open up worldwide.
1841 - Henry Talbot patents the "calotype", paving the way for modern photography. This developing process includes the use of the first negatives, enables multiple positive prints to be made. A silver salt solution is on paper, and the paper is the exposed to light, to develop the prints.
1851 - Frederick Scott Archer invents the Collodion process, or wet plate negative. It requires only a few seconds of light exposure. Because this process relied on glass, not paper, for "film" the resulting negative was more detailed and the print was clearer and more stable.
Although this process was much cheaper than daguerreotypes, and the negatives allowed for unlimited positive prints to be made, the process was at times unpractical because the negatives needed to be developed almost immediately. As a result, large amounts of developing equipment needed to be in the same location.
First Color Photograph "Tartan Ribbon"
1861 - James Clerk-Maxwell creates the first color photography system. This is done using black and white photographs with red, green and blue filters.
1871 - A variation of Archer's process, the dry plate, is invented. It uses a glass negative plate with a dried gelatin emulsion as opposed to a wet emulsion. These plates could be stored for a relatively long period of time. Because dry processes absorbed light very rapidly, the hand-held camera was now possible. Also in 1871, Richard Maddox discovers that gelatin could be used instead of glass for photographic plates. This paved the way for mass-produced film and a faster development process.
1884 - George Eastman invents a flexible film that can be rolled. Emulsions are coated on the cellulose nitrate film base. In 1888, he introduces the box camera, which was made available to the general public. This type of camera was light and portable.
1907 - The first commercial color films are made available. In France, the Lumiere brothers market the Autochrome Lumière, an early color photography process they had patented in 1903.
1936 - Kodachrome is developed.
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1871 - A variation of Archer's process, the dry plate, is invented. It uses a glass negative plate with a dried gelatin emulsion as opposed to a wet emulsion. These plates could be stored for a relatively long period of time. Because dry processes absorbed light very rapidly, the hand-held camera was now possible. Also in 1871, Richard Maddox discovers that gelatin could be used instead of glass for photographic plates. This paved the way for mass-produced film and a faster development process.
1884 - George Eastman invents a flexible film that can be rolled. Emulsions are coated on the cellulose nitrate film base. In 1888, he introduces the box camera, which was made available to the general public. This type of camera was light and portable.
1907 - The first commercial color films are made available. In France, the Lumiere brothers market the Autochrome Lumière, an early color photography process they had patented in 1903.
1936 - Kodachrome is developed.
...