Hello jetsun~
1839 is generally the date given for the ?birth? of photography;
however, cameras (the "camera obscura;" for more information, please
see ?What is the camera obscura?? at Bright Bytes:
http://brightbytes.com/cosite/what.html ) had been used from the 16th
century forward to view solar eclipses. These, however, were viewing
cameras; they did not produce images on glass, paper, or any other
medium.
In addition, there were devices that had been used since the 17th
century, which projected images onto paper so they could be traced by
artists. In 1827, a Frenchman named Joseph-Nicephore Niepce used such
a camera to produce the first real photographic image. The photograph
was made by exposing a coated pewter plate to an image seen through a
camera obscura; the vapors from heated iodine crystals darkened the
silver and heightened contrast. (For more information, please see
?Joseph Nicephore Niépce (1765-1833)? at
http://pollux.geog.ucsb.edu/~jeff/115a/history/niepce.html and ?First
Tries? at Photographer Joseph Nicephore Niepce:
http://www.niepce.com/pagus/pagus-inv.html )
In 1829, Niepce partnered with Louis-Jacques-Mande Daguerre; the two
worked together until Neipce died in 1833; Daguerre perfected the
first practical photographic process--something called the
daguerreotype. Daguerre chose silver-coated copper plate for this
process; the plate was put in an acid wash to remove impurities, then
set in a closed box, where it was exposed to iodine vapors. Finally,
the plate was ?exposed? to a picture in a camera. Exposures could take
as long as thirty minutes, and no less than five minutes. After
exposure, the plate was put in another box and exposed to heated
mercury fumes, which brought out the image. Finally, the plate was
bathed in hyposulfate of soda to ?seal? the photograph.
Excitement about daguerreotypes quickly spread throughout France--and
the world. Photographs were then taken of the world?s great buildings
and locations, and for the very *first* time, a person who could not
afford to travel could actually see them, not through an artists eyes,
but as if they were there in person. (For more information, please see
?DAGUERRE, Louis Jacques Mande? at:
http://www.rleggat.com/photohistory/history/daguerr.htm and
?Daguerreotype Cameras? at http://www.fi.edu/pieces/myers/ ) One can
only imagine the awe and wonder these early images must have inspired.
Another Frenchman, Antoine Claudet, learned to expedite the exposure
process by introducing the image to chlorine; this shortened exposure
time made portraiture possible. (Please see ?Adventures in Cybersound?
at http://www.acmi.net.au/AIC/CLAUDET_BIO.html ) Portraits of the
famous soon became widely popular, and the wealthy, instead of sitting
hours for a painting, sat for minutes for a daguerreotype. By the mid
1840s, every major city in the United States had several photographers
making daguerreotypes. It was a booming business.
Ambrotypes appeared in 1854, and were patented by American James
Cutting. Ambrotypes were made by coating a piece of glass with
collodion (guncotton, alcohol, and ether) and then exposing this to an
image. It was then placed in a tray of silver nitrate; the glass had
to be exposed as quickly as possible. The image ended up on the back
of the glass, and another sheet of glass was laid upon it, to protect
the image. The back of the glass was coated with black varnish. The
advantage of ambrotypes was that they were less expensive; therefore,
it was no longer just the wealthy who had their photograph taken. In
addition, because they were less reflective, ambrotypes were easier on
the eyes?easier to view. Indeed, by 1857, the production of ambrotypes
had superseded that of daguerreotypes. (For more information, see
?Ambrotype? at http://www.knaw.nl/ecpa/photo/proces08.htm and
?Ambrotype Process? at
http://www.rleggat.com/photohistory/history/ambrotyp.htm )
While experimenting with ambrotypes in 1854, American Hamilton Smith
attempted to use blackened sheet iron, instead of glass. This type of
photograph came to be called tintypes, and was so inexpensive, even
the poor might be able to scrape up enough money to have one taken.
(See ?Tintypes,? at http://www.edinphoto.org.uk/1_early/1_early_photography_-_processes_-_tintype.htm
) The tintype became especially important in America when the Civil
War began. Young soldiers of every means had their photograph taken so
that mom and dad, wife or sweetheart could carry their image with
them. During the Presidential campaign of 1860, tintypes also played
a role. About three hundred thousand campaign buttons were made with
tintypes, portraying Abraham Lincoln.
The first photos on paper were called Calotypes, and were invented by
English scientist William Henry Fox Talbot. Calotypes required long
exposure times, making them most suitable for landscapes, not
portraiture. Calotypes were the first photographs to be directly
reproduced in books; the paper photos were ?tipped? directly into the
books (inserted between pages and glued in place). Talbot?s first
calotype was made in 1833, but he dramatically improved the process by
the 1850s. Talbot used ordinary writing paper, which he placed in salt
water, and then in a solution of silver nitrate. By 1841, exposure was
made by uncapping the lens of the camera for a certain length of time
and then developing the image in pyrogallic acid. (For more
information, see ?William Henry Fox Talbot? at
http://www.r-cube.co.uk/fox-talbot/history.html and ?TALBOT, William
Henry Fox? at http://www.rleggat.com/photohistory/history/talbot.htm )
In 1850, Frenchman Louis-Desire Blanquart-Evrard created a process to
coat paper with egg whites that made?at last?a photograph on paper
that would not fade quickly. These were called albumen prints. In the
1850s, these paper photographs boomed in popularity. They could be
made into almost any size, and the process was well suited to
traveling photographers. This made it easier for the ?wild west? and
other remote areas to be recorded and shared with others around the
world. (For more information, see ?Louis-Desire Blanquart-Evrard? at
http://wwar.com/masters/b/blanquart-evrard-louis-desire.html ) It was
albumen prints that were turned into ?cartes de visite,? or
business-card sized images that were favored both for personal
portraits and for commercial portraits of the famous. The
entertainment industry, in particular, used cartes de visite to market
actors, singers, and circus performers. In 1863, larger versions,
called cabinet cards, were introduced. These were mounted onto
cardboard and quickly became the most popular type of photography.
From cabinet cards, came stereographs. (Although stereographs were
made in almost every type of photography before this time, it wasn?t
until they were made with albumen prints that they really caught on.)
These were strictly made for entertainment purposes, and had two
versions of the very same image glued onto one piece of cardboard.
They were designed to be viewed through a stereoview, which gave a 3-D
like impression. British inventor Sir Charles Brewster is credited
with inventing the first practical stereoview. (For more information,
see ?Stereoscopes? at this Google cache:
://www.google.com/search?q=cache:Zay_FBcpyR4J:physics.kenyon.edu/EarlyApparatus/Optical_Recreations/Stereoscopes/Stereoscopes.html+stereo+cards+%22invention+of%22&hl=en&ie=UTF-8
and ?stereoscopic Photography? at
http://www.rleggat.com/photohistory/history/stereosc.htm )
Stereographs of this nature were introduced in 1851. The general
public now had an unprecedented look at locations all over the world.
The next major movement came in 1871, when English physician Dr.
Richard Maddox found a way of using newly discovered gelatin, instead
of glass, for the photographic plate. This led to the development of
the dry plate process by Charles Bennett in 1878. This process meant
portable darkrooms were no longer necessary and faster shutter speeds
could be used. (For more information about this process, please see
?Dry Plate Revolution? at About.com:
http://photography.about.com/library/weekly/aa012604a.htm )
While celluloid had been invented by Alexander Parks in 1856, it had
never successfully been used in the photographic process. In the
meantime, the Eastman Company had developed a nitro-cellulose
roll-film and introduced it in 1884. In 1888, George Eastman
introduced a simple to use box camera?a revolution because it was
marked to, and could easily be used by, the masses. For the first
time, people could take candid photographs of their friends, their
family, their pets, their homes?whatever they desired, with no special
photographic training. (For more information, see ?George Eastman and
his Development of Kodak Equipment ? at
http://www.history.rochester.edu/class/kodak/kodak.htm )
Modern photography was born.
The next great achievement in still photography was the digital
camera. But digital camera could not have been invented without film
and video taping technology.
?In 1951, the first video tape recorder captured live images from
television cameras by converting the information into electrical
impulses (digital) and saving the information onto magnetic tape. Bing
Crosby laboratories?created the first early VTR and by 1956, VTR
technology was perfected?Texas Instruments patented a film-less
electronic camera in 1972?In August, 1981, Sony released the Sony
Mavica electronic still camera, the camera which was the first
commercial electronic camera. Images were recorded onto a mini disc
and then put into a video reader that was connected to a television
monitor or color printer. However, the early Mavica cannot be
considered a true digital camera even though it started the digital
camera revolution. It was a video camera that took video
freeze-frames.? (?History of the Digital Camera? at About.com:
http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/bldigitalcamera.htm )
Kodak is credited with inventing image sensors that "converted light
to digital pictures.? In 1986, Kodak invented the first megapixel
sensor. In 1991, Kodak released the first professional digital camera
system, and the first consumer digital cameras was the Apple QuickTake
100 camera, released in 1994. (For more on the history of the digital
camera, see ?History of the Digital Camera? at About.com:
http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/bldigitalcamera.htm and
?History of the Digital Camera? at
http://www-users.mat.uni.torun.pl/~olka/historia.html
For the first time, anyone could take a photo instantly--without
having to wait for development, and without having to pay for either
development or film. Images could be manipulated by computer, and
images could be printed in nearly any size.
I hope that this answers your question thoroughly, but if you have any
questions, or need clarification, please don't hesitate to ask for it
before rating this Answer. Thank you.
Kind regards,
kriswrite
KEYWORDS USED:
?camera obscura?
?Joseph-Nicephore Niepce?
?Louis-Jacques-Mande Daguerre?
?Antoine Claudet?
ambrotypes
?Hamilton Smith? tintypes
Calotype "William Henry Fox Talbot"
?Louis-Desire Blanquart-Evrard?
stereo cards "invention of"
"dry plate process"
?John Carbutt? celluloid
?George Eastman? |
Clarification of Answer by
kriswrite-ga
on
07 Sep 2004 10:22 PDT
It was Eadweard Muybridge who proposed to Thomas Edison that they
combine the moving pictures with the Edison phonograph. Muybridge is
known as the father of the motion picture, even though he did not use
motion picture film as we do today. Instead, he used a series of
quickly taken still photos to produce images that appeared to move
when flipped through. (For more about Muybridge, please see ?Eadweard
Muybridge? at About.com:
http://inventors.about.com/od/mstartinventors/a/Muybridge.htm )
Edison did not take Muybridge up on his offer, but he was deeply
interested in creating moving pictures. William Kennedy Laurie
Dickson, Edison?s assistant, began working on the project. The
resulting invention was called the Kinetograph; small photos were
adhered to a cylinder; when the cylinder revolved, the still images
seemed to move.
When Edison met French physiologist Étienne-Jules Marey, who used a
continuous roll of film in his Chronophotographe to produce something
more like a modern film, he felt this was a better path toward motion
picture success. When John Carbutt developed celluloid film sheets,
Edison used them in his experiments. The Eastman Company later made
celluloid film, and Dickson bought it in large quantities. By 1890,
Edison and his assistants were creating a machine that exposed a strip
of film in a horizontal-feed mechanism. The film ran through two
spools and a quick shutter made exposures. The first modern motion
picture was born. (For more on this early film and camera, see
?Kinetograph? at About.com:
http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/bledison_kinetoscope2.htm
)The idea that film could capture *motion* was exciting to most
people, and Americans flocked to houses that began showing these
short, stilted films. Live theatre slowly began to suffer losses.
Movies became *the* form of entertainment. No longer did audiences
have to "work with" live performers (by applauding, cheering, or
booing); they could just sit back and watch a film.
In 1926, Warner Brothers and Western Electric introduced the first
sound pictures. Sound effects and music were recorded onto an Edison
record, which was--in theory--synchronized with the film projector.
Warner Brothers? ?Don Juan? was the first movie to use this sound
system. Many movie studios resisted adding sound to movies, but when
?The Jazz Singer? was released in 1927, it?s popularity proved that
sound was the wave of the future. (For more information, please see
?Talking Motion Pictures? at
http://xroads.virginia.edu/~UG00/3on1/movies/talkies.html )Movie
musicals suddenly became the biggest money makers for Hollywood
studios.
Nonetheless, it was difficult to synchronize the sound with the film.
In 1926, Lee De Forest, William Fox, and Theodore W. Case produced the
first film that had sound electrically recorded on the side of a
motion picture film. (For much more about sound and movies, check out
?Sound Stage? at The American Widescreen Museum:
http://www.widescreenmuseum.com/sound/sound03.htm )
Color was the next barrier to overcome. Technicolor was introduced in
1934, and used strips in three colors (red, blue, and yellow), to
create all colors. The Technicolor Corp. was formed by Herbert Kalmus,
Daniel Comstock, and W. Burton Wescott, and was founded in 1915. For a
site that explains Technicolor in great detail, please see
?Technicolor? at Widescreen Museum:
http://www.widescreenmuseum.com/oldcolor/technicolor1.htm Color was
not used for all films; only larger-budget dramas (like Gone with the
Wind) and musicals.
Does this answer your question more fully?
Kind regards,
Kriswrite
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