1. “Vision is the art of seeing things invisible.” Jonathan Swift1

2. The History of Photography
“The wish to capture evanescent reflections is not only impossible, as has been shown by thorough German investigation, but mere desire alone,…is blasphemy.”
This is the response a publisher made in 1839 in regards to news of an invention of a successful photographic process.
When do you think photography began? 2

3. If you said 4th century or the 1500’s you were correct
It is believed that the chinese figured it out in the 4th century but there is little facts
The basic design of the camera has been used since the 1500s. 3

4. The Beginning of the Photographic Evolution
The first stage of the photographic evolution was in Europe and was called the Camera Obscura (Latin meaning dark [obscura] chamber [camera])
The Camera Obscura was a room or small building with no windows. On one wall was a tiny hole fitted with a lens which projected images from outside the room onto the far wall inside.
The image was upside down and not generally very clear but worked as a tool for artist 4

5. Camera Obscura 5

6. Evolution continued….
By 1660s (Renaissance) portable versions had been created 6

7. The camera obscura was used as a drawing aid for artist during the Renaissance.7

8. The first use of Chemicals
The first recorded discovery that certain chemical turned black when exposed to light was made in 1725 by a German professor of anatomy.
Johann Heinrich Schulze attempted to produce a phosphorescent stone (glows in dark). He mixed the chalk with an acidic solution and it was affected by the light
He later went on to use stencils with the solution, the image would appear with the light but would soon disintegrate shortly after.
He never thought his discovery would have any application 8

9. The first photo……
The first permanent picture was made by Joseph Nicephore Niepce.
Niepce experimented with different chemicals but then turned to bitumen of Judea, a kind of asphalt that hardened when exposed to light.
He named the process heliography (from the Greek helios, “sun” and graphos, “drawing”) 9

10. Niepce continuted How heliography worked
First you would apply the bitumen in a solution and apply it to a sheet of pewter.
Second you would expose the pewter to light for at least 8 hours. The light would harden the bitumen in bright areas and would stay soft in dark areas.
Following that you would wash the pewter in lavender oil and it would remove parts of the bitumen leaving the image. 10

11. The first photograph 11

12. In 1829 Niepce and Daguerre become partners
News of Niepce’s work reached another Frenchman, Louis Jacques Mande Daguerre.
Daguerre had been using the camera obscura for sketching and had also become interested in preserving the images.
In 1829 Niepce and Daguerre become partners 12

13. The Daguerreotype
A few years after Niepce died Daguerre perfected a process that he considered different enough from Niepce’s to be announced to the world as the daguerreotype.
The exposure was now probably several minutes long and the results were fare superior – rich in detail and tonality 13

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15. The Daguerreotype process was announced to the French Academy of Sciences in 1839 and became a phenomenon.
By 1853 an estimated 3 million daguerreotypes per year were being produced in the United States alone 15

16. The importance of photography during this time
Photography was becoming a huge interest to the Western countries in the mid-19th century.
The rising middle class with money to spend wanted pictures, family portraits to be more precise.
Before photography only the rich could have a portrait and it had to be painted by an artist.
In addition to portraits people where interested in traveling and when they could not they would buy pictures and travel books 16

17. Louis Daguerre 17

18. The Downfall to the Daguerreotype
There were complaints about the difficulty viewing the image and could only be seen clearly from certain angles.
The mercury vapor used in the process was highly poisonous
The most serious drawback was that each plate was unique; there was no way of producing copies except by re-photographing the original.
The daguerreotype was replaced by a negative- positive process that allowed any number of positive images to be made from one single negative 18

19. The beginnings of the Calotype
During the same time Daguerre was creating his process another scientist with a different process
William Henry Fox Talbot appeared before the Royal Institution of Great Britain to announce that he too had invented a way to permanently fix the image of the camera obscura three weeks after Daguerre.
Talbot made his image on paper rather then a sheet of pewter 19

20. In June 1840 Talbot announced a technique that became the basis of modern photography
Sensitized paper was exposed only long enough to produce a latent image and was then chemically developed.
He named his process the Calotype (after the Greek Kalos, “beautiful,” and typos, “impression”) 20

21. Talbot realized that using paper rather then metal became a greater value due to the fact it could be reproduced.
The other difference between the two is that the use of paper in the calotype lacked the sharp detail of the daguerreotype. 21

22. Calotype photograph 22

23. Collodion wet-plate
The collodion wet-plate process had the best feature of the daguerreotype-sharpness-and the best of the calotype-reproducibility.
It was more light sensitive than either of them, with exposures as short as five seconds
The disadvantage of the collodion was that the plate had to be exposed and processed while it was still wet and was not as convenient. The photographer would have to have a complete darkroom. 23

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25. History of Photography
By the 1860s the world had millions of photographic images; 25 years earlier there had been none.
Photographs were now used for everything, portraits, documenting the war, exploring places, etc.
Photography often achieved a high degree of aesthetic quality- a high degree of art. There primary purposes, however, were practical: to promote social reform, record historical events and aid scientific investigations. 25

26. BUT IS IT ART?
Is photography an art at all? If so, how should it be used? What should “art photography” look like?
By the 1850s, two opposing factions of artist- photographers had been established. 26

27. The Pictorialsit Faction
The Pictorialist, led by Oscar Rejlander and Henry Peach Robinson.
They believed that a photograph should look as much like a painting as possible. Their idea of what a painting should look like was heavily influenced by the romanticist painters.
The Pictorialist believed than an artist should improve upon nature by using it to express noble ideas. Both favored elaborate illustrations of scenes from ancient mythology. 27

28. The Naturalist Faction
The naturalist were led by Peter Henry Emerson and George Davison.
The Naturalist believed that a photography should capture nature’s own truth. They preferred the Barbizon painters, who took their easels out to the forests, field and streams, and painted them directly
The Naturalist photographers did the same with their cameras, specializing in peaceful scenes of country life. They were also increasing fond of using soft focus 28

29. The art behind it
Despite the differences they both believed that a work of art out to express a “correct sentiment” and that it ought to be decorative-pretty.
This was what most set them apart form the “practical” photographers that showed the hard edges of reality, with all its flaws. 29

30. History continued…
Until the 1880s, few photographs were made by the general public. Many people were in the photos but the process, skill, and cost restricted it to only professionals.
By the 1880s the perfection of two techniqes not only made possible a fast, dry plate but also eliminated the need for the clumsy, fragile glass plate itself.
The first development was a gelatin emulsion (as compared to liquid). It retained its speed when dry and could be applied on the other invention-film in rolls.
Roll film revolutionized photography by making it simple enough for anyone to enjoy 30

31. Then there was Kodak
George Eastman (who is credited for popularizing photography) built his Eastman Kodak company.
Eastman was the first to market roll film commercially.
He invented the equipment to mass produce film and the result was Eastman’s American Film, a roll of paper coated with a thin gelatin emulsion that would make prints when exposed to light and would be sent back to the company for processing. 31

32. “You push the button, we do the rest.”
Roll film made possible a new kind of camera, inexpensive, light and simple to operate
Eastman produced the Kodak camera in 1888, it came loaded with enough film for 100 pictures and when the film was used up the owner returned the camera with the exposed film still in it
The film was developed and printed and the camera was reloaded with film then returned to the owner
Kodak became an overnight sensation and was only pushed further by the invention of film made of plastic by Hannibal Goodwin. 32

33. “There is nothing else to be desired, but the presentation of these children of light to the astonished eye in the full splendor of their colors.
In 1861 British Physicist James Clerk Maxwell had created one of the first color photos by creating three negatives of a ribbon in different filters (red, green, and blue)
The first commercially successful color was an additive process in 1907 by Antoine and Louis Lumiere known as the Autochrome process 33

34. Autochrome process
A glass plate was covered with tiny grains of potato starch dyed red-orange, green, and violet, in a layer only one starch grain thick. Then a light sensitive emulsion was added. Light struck the emulsion after passing through he colored grains. The emulsion behind the grain was exposed only b y light from the scene that was the same color as that grain. 34

35. Autochrome photo by Arnold genthe35

36. Kodachrome
Kodachrome was a subtractive process which made color photography more practical.
It was perfected by Leopold Mannes and Leopold Godowsky, musicians and amateur photographic researchers.
These two joined Eastman's Kodak research scientist and led to Kodachrome in 1935.
A single sheet of film coated wit three layers of emulsion, each sensitive to one primary color (red, green, or blue).
In the 1940s Kodak introduced Ektachrome, which allowed photographers and small labs to process slides and Kodacolor, the first color negative film. 36

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