History of Photography
September 12, 2008 – 11:35 pm
What is Photograph?
Word photograph is a compound one. Photo comes from Greek and it means light. Graph is a Latin word meaning leaving trace. Photograph means leaving trace via light. The most important element for photograph is light. Light makes objects visible. It also helps to the formation of photograph.
Basically, photograph is the production of a series of chemical processes. The objects and their shapes are replaced on special film and paper with the help of light. With the development of photography, it is accepted as a form of art.
History of Photography
The exact date of photography is not known. It is not only the history of getting image in dark box, but also the history of printing the image with chemical ways. There are great steps developing photography field. In 8th century, Ibni Hayyam found that nitrate of silver gets dark with sunlight. After that, in 15th century, Leonardo da Vinci created a hole in a dark room and this hole mirrored the image of the outer world. In renaissance period, the dark box was found by artists. The image entering from a hole of this dark box was reflected on the other side. In 18th century, the box was improved. A lens and opal glass was replaced on the sides of it. With this system, the image could be seen from the outside of the box.
Light has an impact on chemical material and salt of silver is used for photography. Before the first photo was taken, people tried to form image on paper. In 18th century, lime and silver nitrate were applied to a paper. An object was put on that paper and it was observed that the shape of the object appears on the paper. This brought new studies with paper. Paper was put into silver nitrate solution and the first negatives were obtained. One of the greatest steps for photography is processing paper with varnish and transferring image to tin board. The parts of this board became white when it saw sunlight.
18th century is the rising age of photography. A new method was found for photography. Copper was mixed with silver and from this mixture a board was made. The board was wiped with sponge powder and olive oil. After that, it was heat with water and nitric acid mixture. Then, the board is put into nitric acid and iodine. The board was ready after all these processes. The board is replaced into the machine. Posing for 5 or 40 minutes was necessary according to the light situation. The board was put into quicksilver and the image was there.
Posing was quite a long time. Because lens was not developed enough to pass light many times. A new lens type was developed in 18th century. It passed light 16 times more and this reduces posing time. New steps were necessary for photography field. However, this means more money and more working. The equipment was hard to find. It was also fragile. But people continued to work more and more.
Photography paper was used with egg white. This made the paper smooth. However, this method was unable to show the details of photograph. Egg white was used because it was ionized. Negatives were transferred into positives. This is also a turning point for photography. The saved image appeared on the negatives.
The first cameras were very huge. Carrying and using them were difficult. After taking photo with these cameras, the negatives were sent to factory. Transferring the film, a new film was replaced into the camera. After 1870s, new film types were found. With new lenses, films and cameras, after 20th century, photography became the field that we know today. Every day, photography keeps on developing itself with new methods, fields, techniques, cameras and technology.