A picture is worth a thousand words, definitely pictures can express human thoughts, emotions and dreams that can never be uttered by the lips. Back then, people can record physical appearance and historical events through paintings. On the other hand, a Frenchman named Joseph Niepce took the first permanent photograph in 1827 (Madgwick, 28). Photography made it easier for people to record history without resorting to paint the entire scenery that they see. Rich men and women, especially those who belong to the aristocracy choose photography for their personal portraits; adding a touch of modernism to their noble countenance. In short, the camera became one of the most influential inventions ever made by people.
As a carte blanche, I would like to point out that the invention of the camera resulted in creating the photography. Photography is an art thoroughly enjoyed not only by the rich, but also the common people as well. The development of the camera became the start of newer technological innovations that will dominate the society. Additionally, this paper will also tackle not only the history and the timeline of photography, but also the science behind the successful invention of the camera. The following page of the paper will tackle the history and the definition of photography; the science of taking pictures, the types of cameras used in photography as well as the date of its invention. Furthermore, this paper will also list the famous firsts and the names of the people who excelled in the field of photography.
Photography: Writing using the Light
The word photography is actually a loan word derived from two Greek words: photos, which means ‘light’; whilst graphe means ‘to write or draw’ (Sanders, 229). Hence, photography is the scientific process of writing through the use of light. Before cameras were developed, people could only record images either by sketching or painting them. Photography was invented in the early 18th century (Madgwick, 28). Although many people consider cameras as a horrible contraption that traps their souls in each picture; still many citizens preferred the camera rather than sitting for an oil painting session. At first, taking pictures was indeed a slow and tiresome task. Early pictures were all black and white and are usually taken for as long as eight hours; that is why photographers provide their clients with backrests to help them sit still. Cameras and the human eyes have similarity to one another because they are both belong to the optic system. Optic systems use light to record an image or other type of information (Sanders, 211). Optics such as the eye and the camera needed a light source to see the images correctly. However, the difference is that the eyes can only see images but cannot record them physically. The camera functions as an eye, but it has the ability both to see and record images either on the film negatives or onto the paper.
Quantum mechanics is the field of physics that describes the nature of both the atom and the light. According to Sanders, light is a form of energy that is freely obtained from the Sun. Although light is everywhere, it is still impossible for most of the people to explain and understand its nature. Many physicists from the past centuries have been fascinated by the light and many of them argued its consistency (Sanders, 212). The Greeks thought that all things in the universe are made up of smaller, indestructible particles which they called atoms. An atom is the smallest unit of matter. Atoms appear as tiny solar systems; at the center of an atom is a nucleus surrounded by electrons whirling in different orbits. They may leap from one orbit to another. When an electron leaps, there is a change in the energy state. Meanwhile, photons occurs when an electron loses its energy. (Sanders, 212). The Brownian movement explains that the light is made up of wee particles. However, other physicists argued that light is a system of waves because light bends around the corners; similar to the waves. The invention of lasers and microchips are the result of further studies in quantum mechanics. Additionally, cameras equipped with lasers are also a product of quantum mechanics. Moving forward, a camera is also an eye. It uses lenses, an apparatus usually made of transparent material (usually glass or plastic) for the purpose of steadying the light. There are two types of lenses: concave lenses are thinner in the center and thicker at the edges whilst convex lenses are thicker in the center yet thinner at the edges, In photography, convex lenses cause light to come together whilst concave lenses has the ability to spread the light out. Usually, images can appear as distorted every time they pass through a sharply curved lenses. One good example of this is the wide-angle lens, commonly known as the fish-eye lens. This lens is used sparingly because it distorts the image quality. Photographers use them for creating special effects for their images. When concave and convex lenses are combined, they are now called compound lens which is the common component of a camera lens that equally produces high quality images (Sanders, 218). Comparing the camera and the eye, first the eye works when the retina receives the light rays carefully focused by the cornea and lens. The optic nerve that is just behind the retina transforms the light rays into electrical impulses which is then interpreted by the brain. The brain which is the major ruling organ in the body translates these impulses into the images that is seen by the eye. On the other hand, a camera is an electronic variation of the human eye, the light source is actually the subject being photographed. Light reflected from the scene enters an opening at the front of the camera, containing the lens just behind it. The lens focuses the light onto the film at the back of the camera. The majority of the camera are encased within a box to control the amount of lighting that can enter the apparatus.
The Art of Photography: Recording History through Cameras
The camera is a device invented to take images in just a snap of a finger. Most cameras of the past do not have this function and clients must wait for more than hours to take a successful picture. But compared to the normal painting, waiting for hours to take a picture is much tolerable than waiting months for a finished product. The very first camera developed was the view camera. This type of camera is closely related to its old ancestors, the daguerreotype camera (see figure 2) designed by Daguerre and manufactured by Giroux, circa 1839 (Stroebel, 3). View type cameras consists of adjustable, accordion-like called ‘bellows’ rumored to be made of keratol, a pre-war leather imitation made up of celluloid, linseed oils coated to a thick fabric which is rolled with an embossed design. This material is commonly seen as book covers. Bellows serve as a light resistant compartment designed to protect the film holder from the unwanted lights of the sun whilst taking photos (see figure 1). The film is extremely sensitive; any unwanted light that might pass through it might damage the image development. View cameras are considered the biggest of all camera inventions. Because of their size, these cameras are mounted on a tripod, three-legged stand. Tripods are pretty useful for view cameras and early box cameras in getting the accurate distance between the camera and the subject.
Figure 1: The Parts of the View camera Figure 2: The Early Box Daguerreotype Camera
The film is extremely sensitive; any unwanted light that might pass through it might damage the image development. View cameras are considered the biggest of all camera inventions. Because of their size, these cameras are mounted on a tripod, a three-legged stand. Tripods are pretty useful for view cameras in getting the accurate distance between the camera and the subject. Most importantly, the tripods also help view cameras to focus and with the help of the collapsible bellows, both the lens and the film back may be tilted to change the perspective of the photograph which gives the photographer a lot of power to manipulate the picture and the camera as well (Sanders, 232). Compared to the small cameras, the view cameras uses a large film whose sizes vary from 4 x 5 inches, or the much bigger ones measuring up to 8 x 10 inches; depending on the size of the view camera, film sizes also varies. Larger film rolls produce sharper images. If the photographer desires to enlarge the picture, he is also enlarging the film grain. This makes the photograph appear ‘grainy’ or fuzzy. However, since view camera films are pretty much larger to begin with, enlarging the images are not necessary and the advantage of this is that photographs taken from a view camera produces a fine detail.
The Handheld Camera
Figure 3: The 1925 Leica camera Figure 4: The 1914 Prototype Leica Camera
Barnack convinced his boss that in order to create sharper images, the lenses of the camera must be pretty sharp to capture the smallest details of the subject. Barnack constructed a camera that used the Zeiss Tessar lens but it was unfit to cover the 24 x 36 negative. Hence, Barnack resorted to the company’s own Leitz Summar lens which greatly fitted the Leica negative. Leica looks into future, this is the most apt way of describing the company. The invention of their handheld cameras made it easier for people to take pictures anywhere and anytime, regardless whether they are professional photographers or not. This is the camera for everyone. Moving forward, modern handheld cameras contains a flash and an autofocus feature. There are three types of handheld cameras, first is the rangefinder camera. This type of camera has two lenses wherein a photographer looks through the simple lens of the viewfinder to view the subject of the photograph (Sanders, 231). The subject is viewed through other lens whilst the picture is photographed using another lens, hence the resulting picture may not be what the photographer saw and this often happens when taking pictures at a close ranges.
The second type is the twin lens reflex camera and this type also uses double lenses; the other lens is used to view the subject whilst the other is used to focus the light onto the film sheet. The viewfinder is located at the top of the camera, wherein the photographer can view the subject but in reality the image produced in the viewfinder is the result of the ‘reflection’ of the image in the mirror which is built inside the camera. The light coming from the outside source enters through the lens, whilst the light from the subject enters the viewing lens whilst fixed mirror reflects image to ground glass. Compared the rangefinders, twin lens reflex cameras are quite larger and uses large sized film rolls. Hence, this type of camera is only used by professional photographers and serious amateurs (Sanders, 232).
Figure 5: Beginning from left: Rangefinder camera, Twin Lens Reflex Camera and Single Lens Reflex Camera
Meanwhile, the SLR’s or the single lens reflex cameras uses 35 mm lens and became the personal favourite amongst professional and serious amateur photographers. This camera is widely used in landscape photography, photojournalism and many more because they are compact, and are easily carried and of course they are absolutely capable of producing high quality photographs (Sanders, 233). Unlike the first two cameras, the viewing and taking pictures are only done using a single lens. There is a fixed mirror located inside the camera which reflectes the image to a five-sided prism. The prism reflects the image to the viewfinder and the mirror flips out of the way when the shutter opens. What you see, is what you get is the appropriate phrase for this type of camera because what the photographer sees in the viewfinder is the same image that appears in the photograph.
Digital Cameras and the Age of ‘Selfies’
Sanders argue that digital photography is the latest evolution in the field of photography wherein everything is possible. Coloured photographs started with the cameras that are capable of reproducing coloured pictures. Digital cameras do not use rolls of film, instead it records pictures as small as blocks of light called pixels (Madgwick, 33) and the camera stores them as a digital code. The invention of the digital camera became so popular worldwide because it is easier to carry and inexpensive as well because they do not use films. This makes the film rolls a rather obsolete thing nowadays. In order to print pictures, digital cameras have a USB port and a USB connector or a Bluetooth installed within them so that users can print pictures anywhere and upload them via social networking sites such as Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.
The pictures or technically termed as ‘data’ can be downloaded direct from the camera to the computer’s hard drive for photo editing. With the evolution of digital photography, newer software programs such as the Adobe Photoshop are specifically designed to manipulate and edit digital photos and more devices such as scanners makes the photo editing software capable of editing pictures taken using the older version of camera. Like any camera, the digital camera also uses lens to capture and focus the light coming from the subject. The difference is that, compared to an analogue camera that uses film to produce images, digital cameras uses its lens to focus the incoming light onto the CCD or charge-coupled device which is coated with red, green and blue filters. These materials converts the incoming light into electrical signals divided into three colour groups (green, red and blue) which are the primary components of the original subject. Thus, the analogue electrical signals are then converted into digital data and compressed (Sanders, 236).
The advantage of using digital cameras is that these device compress the data into smaller files which allows the camera to store more images inside the hardware of the device. Users can also mount their memory cards for additional storage for pictures. Hence, digital cameras are very convenient because users do not need to print their pictures in order to view them. They can view the images using the back LCD screen and they also have the option to delete, edit and upload the image into their social accounts. Most digital cameras nowadays do not only have flash, and autofocus functions; instead some digital cameras like the Polaroid can also print images instantly after capturing it. In addition, digital cameras have automatic scene adjusting functions that allows the camera to automatically enable and disable the flash depending on the surroundings. Another feature of digital cameras are the smile and face detector in addition to beauty enhance that allows users to take beautiful pictures instantly.
Digital cameras are found in every device nowadays, from smartphones, webcams and laptops and even CCTV cameras. Indeed, the twentieth century is now the digital age; people are all in rage for taking pictures coined as ‘selfies’ a modernized equivalent for ‘self-portraits.’ However, because of the digital cameras, psychologists consider them as the trigger for inflating one’s ego, which eventually leads to narcissism, according to the American Psychological Association (Alloway, n.p.). Because taking pictures is a lot easier than now compared in the past, younger generations post any pictures including their naked selves via social media in order to gain public attention. The ‘selfie’ craze contributes to the narcissistic behavior because most digital cameras are handy and users can upload their pictures anywhere and anytime. The more likes they receive, their ego inflates and this makes them subject to the public scrutiny and controversy. To conclude, cameras are made to capture life’s beautiful moments; however, as responsible users, we should know the limits of these devices.
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