{"id":142,"date":"2022-03-07T18:53:47","date_gmt":"2022-03-07T18:53:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/1hourphotography.com\/?p=142"},"modified":"2022-03-07T19:30:38","modified_gmt":"2022-03-07T19:30:38","slug":"history-of-photography","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/1hourphotography.com\/index.php\/2022\/03\/07\/history-of-photography\/","title":{"rendered":"When Was Photography Invented? A Complete History"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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What is Photography?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In 1839, British scientist Sir John Herschel first coined the word photography from the Greek words phos, meaning \u201clight\u201d, and graph\u00ea, meaning \u201cdrawing or writing\u201d. Photography literally means \u201cdrawing with light\u201d. In a technical sense, photography is projecting an image through a hole or lens onto a photosensitive surface for the purpose of making a permanent or \u201cfixed\u201d image.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Photography is also about depicting the world. A painter can paint anything they choose, only limited by the bounds of their imagination, a photographer makes an accurate representation of something in the real world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Camera Obscura<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

A camera obscura or pinhole box is a dark chamber or room with a hole in one wall that projects images of subjects outside the room on the wall opposite the hole. The projected image is upside down. The first record of the idea is from the Chinese in 4th<\/sup> Century B.C. Aristotle also spoke of the principles of the camera obscura in the 4th<\/sup> Century B.C.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1558, Italian scientist and writer Giambattista della Porta described its use as a drawing aid in detail in his popular books. He was the first to popularize the idea for widespread use.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Camera obscura<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

In the Renaissance artists used the camera obscura to create more accurate depictions of nature by tracing landscapes. The accuracy of the final image was based on the skill of the artist. Because of this, a more mechanical and automatic solution was desired.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Camera obscura for landscape painting<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Silver Salts<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In 1727, Johann Heinrich Schulze discovered that darkening of silver salts was caused by exposure to light. He showed this by using sunlight to form words in the salts. The resulting words were not permanent as the silver salts were still sensitive to light. What is now referred to as \u201cfixing\u201d the image was necessary. Fixing the image means to make the compound that is reactive to light no longer reactive so that the image will not change. Fixing an image was still a problem, but now that a means to project an image in a dark room with the camera obscura, and substances reactive to light were discovered, the first photograph would soon follow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Johann Heinrich Schulze<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The First Photograph<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Joseph Nic\u00e9phore Ni\u00e9pce was an inventor who lived near Chalon-sur-Sa\u00f4ne, France. He was fascinated by lithography, the process of copying drawings onto porous stone to be printed in ink. He did not have the artistic training to engrave the lithographic stone himself and invented what he called heliography (sun drawing) to have light engrave the stone instead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Joseph Nic\u00e9phore Ni\u00e9pce<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Ni\u00e9pce discovered that asphalt, like silver salts, was sensitive to light. It hardened instead of darkening, making it perfect for engraving and automatically fixed. To create a heliograph, Ni\u00e9pce oiled an engraving to make it transparent, placed it on a plate coated with a solution of bitumen of Judea (a type of asphalt) and lavender oil, and exposed the stone to sunlight. After some hours, the light areas of the engraving hardened, leaving the dark areas soft. The dark areas could then be washed away to leave a permanent and accurate copy of the original engraving. He used this process to copy engravings onto glass, zinc, and pewter plates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1826, the first photograph was created by Ni\u00e9pce using a portable camera obscura and one of his heliographic pewter plates. The photograph was of the courtyard on his country estate, Gras, taken from an upper window of the house. The exposure time was believed to be around 8 hours.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The first photograph by Ni\u00e9pce, 1826<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Improving Photography (The Daguerreotype)<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Louis-Jacques-Mand\u00e9 Daguerre was a scene painter for the Diorama in Paris, France. He and his partner Charles-Marie Bouton painted 45.5 by 71.5 feet paintings of famous places to be displayed with the use of backlighting in the Diorama. They also set up props, animals, and people in front of the painting and played music to make lively, entertaining scenes. He used the camera obscura for preliminary sketches of the scenes he painted but wished to produce more accurate depictions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Backlit Painting<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

To accomplish that end, he partnered with Ni\u00e9pce in 1829. His goal was to shorten the exposure time and increase the clarity and accuracy of the Heliograph. They worked together for 4 years until Ni\u00e9pce\u2019s death. That did not stop Daguerre\u2019s work and in 1835, he discovered that exposing iodized silver on a polished copper plate to light makes an invisible image that can be made visible by the addition of mercury vapor. The mercury vapor settles on the exposed parts of the iodized silver, making a detailed image. With this method, the exposure time necessary was reduced from 8 hours to 30 minutes. This method was not fixed, however. Daguerre found a way to permanently fix the image around 1837 by dissolving the unexposed silver iodide in a solution of table salt. Daguerre then signed an agreement with Ni\u00e9pce\u2019s son Isidore confirming the new method as Daguerre\u2019s and naming it the daguerreotype.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The first daguerreotype, 1837<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Daguerre and Isidore then sold the rights to the daguerreotype and heliograph to the French government in 1839 in exchange for annuities for life. Daguerre then wrote a booklet on his process, An Historical and Descriptive Account of the Various Processes of the Daguerreotype and the Diorama<\/em>. It was immediately a best seller. 29 editions and translations were printed by the end of 1839. The daguerreotype was officially the first commercially successful form of photography.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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https:\/\/youtu.be\/d932Q6jYRg8?t=65<\/a>