The History of Photography: Pinholes and Polaroids to Digital Images
The History of Photography: Pinholes and Polaroids to Digital Images
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Photography as a medium is less than 200 years old. But in that brief span of history, it has evolved from a crude process using caustic chemicals and cumbersome cameras to a simple yet sophisticated means of creating and sharing images instantly. Discover how photography has changed over time and what cameras look like today.
Before Photography
The first "cameras" were used not to create images but to study optics.
The Arab scholar Ibn Al-Haytham (945–1040), also known as Alhazen, is generally credited as being the first person to study how we see. He invented the camera obscura , the precursor to the pinhole camera, to demonstrate how light can be used to project an image onto a flat surface. Earlier references to the camera obscura have been found in Chinese texts dating to about 400 B.C. and in the writings of Aristotle around 330 B.C.
By the mid-1600s, with the invention of finely crafted lenses, artists began using the camera obscura to help them draw and paint elaborate real-world images. Magic lanterns, the forerunner of the modern projector, also began to appear at this time. Using the same optical principles as the camera obscura, the magic lantern allowed people to project images, usually painted on glass slides, onto large surfaces. They soon became a popular form of mass entertainment.
German scientist Johann Heinrich Schulze conducted the first experiments with photo-sensitive chemicals in 1727, proving that silver salts were sensitive to light.
But Schulze didn't experiment with producing a permanent image using his discovery. That would have to wait until the next century.
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Great article Buzz.
Such advancements in so short a period. Even I can take a decent photo today with a phone/camera.
The Dutch painter, Vermeer, is believed to have used a camera obscura in the production of his art.
The principle of camera obscura, for those who don't know, is illustrated by this diagram: