Photographic Historical Pioneers Who Started It All

The Evolution of Photography: from camera obscura to camera phone

What Is Photography? Photography is the art, science, and practice of creating pictures by recording radiation on a radiation-sensitive medium, such as a photographic film, or electronic image sensors Term coined by Sir John Herschel – English mathematician, astronomer, chemist and inventor Derived from Greek “photo” (“light” ) and “graphein” (“to draw”)

Nicephore Niepce Inventor of Early Photography First successful photo developed in 1827 – Took eight hours to expose Used heliography – Taken from an etching – The process used Bitumen of Judea, a naturally occurring asphalt, as a coating. It hardened in proportion to its exposure to light. When the plate was washed with oil of lavender, only the hardened areas remained.

First photo taken from nature, by Niepce in 1826First photo taken from nature, by Niepce in It took eight hours! Look at the sunlight on both sides of the buildings

Louis Daguerre Inventor of Early Photography Image made on a light-sensitive silver-coated metallic plate Exposure time – Between 10 and 20 minutes People had to sit REALLY still

If you didn’t sit still, you might end up like this guy…

The first Daguerrotype, taken in 1837

The first photo ever taken of a person was a Daguerrotype, in 1838 in Paris

James Clerk Maxwell Inventor of Early Photography Color pioneer – Took three exposures – Red, green and blue filters – Projected with three different filters – Worked, but was a pain to use

Lumiere Brothers Inventor of Early Photography First color process that worked Autochrome plate introduced in 1907 Photos used to be hand-colored

George Eastman Inventor of Early Photography Patented roll film – Helped motion picture industry – Did not invent it! Perfected Kodak camera Founder of Eastman Kodak