attachments_06-04-2012_23-41-26 / 4 The History of Photography

IV

The History of Photography

Photography goes back to the 1820-s. The first photograph was an image produced in 1826 by the French inventor Nicephore Niepce, However, the picture took eight hours to expose, so he went about trying to find a new process. Working in conjunction with Louis Daguerre, they experimented with silver compounds based on a Johann Heinrich Schultz (discovery in 1724 that a silver and chalk mixture darkens when exposed to light). William Fox Talbot had earlier discovered another means to fix a silver process image but had kept it a secret. After reading about Daguerre's invention, Talbot refined his process so that it might be fast enough to take photographs of the people. By 1840, Talbot had invented the process, which creates negative images. John Herschel made many contributions to the new methods. He was the first to use the terms «photography», «negative» and «positive» and made the first glass negative in late 1839. Many advances in photographic glass platen and printing were made in through the nineteenth century. In 1884. George Eastman developed the technology of film to replace photographic plates, leading to the technology used by film camera today. All photography was originally monochrome, or black-and-white. Even after colour film was readily available, black-and-white photography continued to dominate for decades, due to its lower cost and its «classic» photographic look. In modern times, black-and-white has mostly become a minority art form, and most photography has become colour. Photography gained the interest of many scientists and artists, military men, police, and security forces. Commercial advertising relies heavily on photography and has contributed greatly to its development. Photography is used to preserve memories of favourite times to capture special moments, to tell stories, to send messages, and as a source of entertainment. There are many types of photography, for instance: advertising photography, fashion and glamour photography, still life and landscape photography, portrait and wedding photography, fine art photography, documentary photography and other.

1. On what quality of silver compounds is photography based?

2. Why people became attracted by invention of photography?

3. What types of photography can you name?