The early years
Camera obscura
The Camera Obscura in its most basic form it is a dark room with a small hole in one wall. On the wall opposite the hole, an image is formed of whatever is outside. This image is upside-down (inverted) and back to front (laterally transposed).
The size of the hole has a great effect on the picture that is being projected. A small hole produces a sharp image, which is dim, while a larger hole produces a brighter picture which is less well focused. They can also be made as small boxes where the mage will be projected upside down on the opposite wall.
The Camera Obscura in its most basic form it is a dark room with a small hole in one wall. On the wall opposite the hole, an image is formed of whatever is outside. This image is upside-down (inverted) and back to front (laterally transposed).
The size of the hole has a great effect on the picture that is being projected. A small hole produces a sharp image, which is dim, while a larger hole produces a brighter picture which is less well focused. They can also be made as small boxes where the mage will be projected upside down on the opposite wall.
The Daguerreotype and Calotype
However, there was a difference between the two photographic processes. A Calotype had one advantage over the daguerreotype which was that it had the ability to be reproduced as a negative as opposed to being a single, non-replicable image like the daguerreotype.
- The daguerreotype was introduced by Louis Jacques Daguerre.
- The Calotype was introduced by William Henry Fox Talbot.
However, there was a difference between the two photographic processes. A Calotype had one advantage over the daguerreotype which was that it had the ability to be reproduced as a negative as opposed to being a single, non-replicable image like the daguerreotype.
History of photography - timeline
Leonardo Da Vinci was very well known for his anatomical drawings and found interest in the contemporary advances in science therefore further exploring it. |
- Camera Obscura ( 1604 )
- Joseph Shultz
- Louis Jacques Daguerre ( 1839 )
To make an image the polished a sheet of silver- plated copper till it looked like a mirror. It was then treated with fumes that made the surface light sensitive. Once slotted inside the camera it was exposed to light. Though chemical treatment, rinsed and dried this gave you your final image. Because it is on a mirror like surface the image will either appear positive or negative depending on the angel of light that you view it from.
- William Henry Fox Talbot ( 1841 )
In order for this to work he used paper coated with silver iodide. The paper texture will effect the way the photo come out. The calotype process produced a translucent negative image and from this multiple positives could could be made from contact printing. This gave it an advantage to the daguerreotype as it was able to produce multiple images with only one camera.
Well done, a good overview. You are only missing the wider context of the Industrial Revolution and why the camera was the best media to capture what was going on.
Early photography movements
pictorialism
Pictorialism emerged in Europe and North America in the 1880s in opposition to the industrialisation of photography. Its exponents made photographs that imitated the symbolic functions of art, developing techniques such as platinotype or photogravure which suppressed detail and enabled the expressive intervention of the photographer.
This era of photography was focused around transforming photography into an art form as before that time, photography wasn't seen as a form of art as it was simply a mechanical process however, pictorialism was a movement that developed photography as a form of fine art, and challenged that by emphasising the beauty of the subject and all the different variations of multiple different tones., the aesthetic rather than the realism.
Critics at the time thought the medium lacked creativity as it was mainly seen as a mechanical process however Pictorialists set to change this mindset by treating the process as a painting as they were aiming to incorporate a range of emotions into their photographs. They did this by attempting a variety of techniques in order to ensure their photographs had as much emotion and feeling as paintings or other artwork. These techniques included the use of the darkroom by scratching and disrupting negatives in some way, to experiment with chemicals as brush strokes on their images and finally soft focus.
This era of photography was focused around transforming photography into an art form as before that time, photography wasn't seen as a form of art as it was simply a mechanical process however, pictorialism was a movement that developed photography as a form of fine art, and challenged that by emphasising the beauty of the subject and all the different variations of multiple different tones., the aesthetic rather than the realism.
Critics at the time thought the medium lacked creativity as it was mainly seen as a mechanical process however Pictorialists set to change this mindset by treating the process as a painting as they were aiming to incorporate a range of emotions into their photographs. They did this by attempting a variety of techniques in order to ensure their photographs had as much emotion and feeling as paintings or other artwork. These techniques included the use of the darkroom by scratching and disrupting negatives in some way, to experiment with chemicals as brush strokes on their images and finally soft focus.
photo succession
herbert bayer
- Lonely metropolitan -
Herbert Bayer was a well known photographer who was born in Austria and a student of the famous Bauhaus program in Germany. He first joined the Bauhaus as a student however he stayed on to become one of the most important members. He proceeded to leave in 1928 and moved to Berlin where he opened a graphic design film whose clients included vogue. Bayer was most well knows for his colleagues made in 1932, one was a self portrait where the viewer looks over his shoulders as he stands before a mirror.
The other 'The lonely metropolitan' this shows two hands with human eyes staring directly at the views from the palms.
Both these images project extremely powerful ideas or surrealism and blurred-like realities.
The other 'The lonely metropolitan' this shows two hands with human eyes staring directly at the views from the palms.
Both these images project extremely powerful ideas or surrealism and blurred-like realities.