History of PhotographyAlhazen was an Arab polymath born in the 10th century. He was a scientist, philosopher, mathematician astronomer, he wrote a book about the law of optics and he is also noted down in history for creating the first camera obscura which is significant in the history of photography. A camera obscura is simply a dark box with a small hole in it that emits light rays in and the light rays are then projected onto the opposite wall. This was the start of the long journey of the development of photography.
During the renaissance artists like Leonardo Di Vinci and Michelangelo used the camera obscura to help them copy 3D images on a 2D objects. another painter to use the camera obscura to aid his work was Dutch artist Johannes Vermeer who painted the girl with the pearl earring. It made it a lot simpler as they could just copy the image that was coming through the small hole and projecting on their canvas. however some people frowned upon the use of the camera obscura to help copy their surroundings as they deemed it as cheating. In 1724 Johann Henrich Schulze german professor of anatomy discovered that when silver dipped in nitrate acid and chalk put out in the sun darkened the image and the unexposed side remained white. He discovered that it was not the heat that caused this transformation to happen it was the light rays. To test his theory he carried out an experiment were he stencilled some words onto the bottom of a bottle filled with a mixture of silver, nitrate acid and chalk. He left it in the direct sunlight and eventually the words darkened, however it was only temporary he had not come up with a way to make it permanent. Henry Fox Talbot was born on the 11th of February 1800. He was first triggered to create a machine that could take photographs when he was not making much money with his sketching. His method was to use a photographic negative which many prints could be created from. The calotype, used shorter exposure and developing was also made quicker. Talbot used a method called fixing in which he dipped the picture in potassium iodine so that it wasn't effected by the sun. In 1838 Henry Talbot began writing his photographic experiments to present to the Royal Society. Then from France came a French man Louis Jacques Mandé Daguerre he invited the daguerreotype to get the photograph developed it took about 20 mins which was a massive improvement to the previous photo by Niépce of nature which needed an 8 hour exposure.. The daguerreotype is an image on a silvered copper plate. It's image was clear and accurate. Unlike the calotype which was affordable the daguerreotype was really expensive so was exclusive to the aristocracy. It was also very fragile and heavy. The daguerreotype could only make positive images so in order to copy it you had to take another one. Eventually the battle of the daguerrotype and the calotype ended and Daguerre had successfully built a form of permanent photography. 1854- George eastman- dry plate photographic process- plastic roll film (1889) and box brownie (1900) |
Girl with the pearl earring
|
Camera Obscura
A camera obscura is an ancient optical device and is the most basic form of a camera. In its simplest form it is a dark room with a small hole in the wall. On the opposite wall an image is projected of whatever is outside. This image is upside down.
How to make a Camera Obscura
How to make a Camera Obscura
- assemble a square cardboard box with tape
- Cut a small square (1cm^2) into on of the sides of the cardboard box
- Then you cut a big square 1cm away from the edge on the opposite side
- Cut a piece of tracing paper to cover the larger hole and hold it in place with masking tape
- Tape a magnifying glass to the small hole. To focus the image you have to change the distance of the magnifying glass to the camera obscura
- Then you can hold the camera to a light place and the image should project upside down on your tracing paper
Shutter Speed
Shutter speed is the period of time a camera's shutter opens and lets in light. This is usually only for a fraction of a second . Slow shutter speeds allow more light to enter the camera and is only really used at night or when there is low lighting, where as fast shutter speed freezes images in motion
To put your camera in shutter priority the best mode to put your camera in is S or Tv. Having shutter priority allows you to change the shutter speed.
To put your camera in shutter priority the best mode to put your camera in is S or Tv. Having shutter priority allows you to change the shutter speed.
Philippe Halsman
Philippe Halsman was born in Latvia in 1906 and died in 1979. He first began his photography career in paris, he worked for fashion magazines, like vogue and eventually became famous for his sharp and clear images. In 1934 Halsman set up a portrait studio in Montparnasse where he photographed famous artists and writers this included Le Corbusier, Marc Chagall and André Gide, however his time in paris did not last long as Philippe Halsman was jewish and Nazi's control on France grew. He was forced out of Europe and fled to america where Albert Einstein was able to help him get an emergency visa.
His big break in America came when he was in a modelling agency and came across a photograph of a young girl. He says in his autobiography "For me it symbolized everything that I liked in America: the youth, the beauty, and the strength of this new country." The girl in this photograph was called Connie Ford. Connie agreed to pose for Halsman's portraits in return for the photographs taken of her. He created a photograph of Connie Ford called 'the american profile'. This picture was shown to Elizabeth Arden and she wanted 'The american profile' to advertise her new line of lipstick called 'Victory Red'. This photograph won the Art director's club medal and resulted in lots of jobs opening up to him.
His pictures featured in many magazines but he says won of his biggest accomplishments was covering 101 LIFE magazines.
Overall his passion was portrait photography as people's moods, expressions and thoughts changed and he liked capturing this in his work.
His big break in America came when he was in a modelling agency and came across a photograph of a young girl. He says in his autobiography "For me it symbolized everything that I liked in America: the youth, the beauty, and the strength of this new country." The girl in this photograph was called Connie Ford. Connie agreed to pose for Halsman's portraits in return for the photographs taken of her. He created a photograph of Connie Ford called 'the american profile'. This picture was shown to Elizabeth Arden and she wanted 'The american profile' to advertise her new line of lipstick called 'Victory Red'. This photograph won the Art director's club medal and resulted in lots of jobs opening up to him.
His pictures featured in many magazines but he says won of his biggest accomplishments was covering 101 LIFE magazines.
Overall his passion was portrait photography as people's moods, expressions and thoughts changed and he liked capturing this in his work.
Philipe Halsman Jump Photos
At the end of each session with his clients Philippe Halsman would ask them to jump while he photographed it, his reason for this was because "In a jump, the subject, in a sudden burst of energy, overcomes gravity. He cannot simultaneously control his expressions, his facial and his limb muscles. The mask falls. The real self becomes visible. One has only to snap it with the camera,” - Philippe Halsman.This technique was called Jumpology and in 1959 he published a book on this called the jump book.
I chose to analyse the jump of the Duke and Duchess of Windsor because it was such an unusual photograph to be taken of Royals. Instead of looking prim and proper the Duke and Duchess look Playful and happy. It makes you wonder how much trust they must have had in Philippe Halsman to show that side of them. I particularly like this photo because it shows that under that mask there is a side to them that people rarely see and you get an insight into their personalities. To recreate this unique style you would have to have the camera set on the right shutter speed to capture the pictures in motion.
Aperture
WWW: I have focused on the subject of my picture
EBI: There were less gaps inbetween the subjects. Also there isn't a clear difference in photos because the people in the background aren't in focus.
Aperture is a hole in the camera lens through which it allows light into the camera. Aperture affects the exposure and depth of field. Depth of field is the amount of your photo that is clear and sharp from the front to back. The higher the aperture the bigger proportion of the background is out of focus
My photos aren't very good examples of the effects of the different apertures but having it on the aperture F22 should make everything in background come into focus, F11/8 the subjects in the background should be a bit blurry and in F3.5 you should only be able to see the subject and the background should be blurred out.
I think the second depth of field photos are an improvement to the first ones because the focal point is in the middle of the photo and the people in the background aren't as far apart
EBI: There were less gaps inbetween the subjects. Also there isn't a clear difference in photos because the people in the background aren't in focus.
Aperture is a hole in the camera lens through which it allows light into the camera. Aperture affects the exposure and depth of field. Depth of field is the amount of your photo that is clear and sharp from the front to back. The higher the aperture the bigger proportion of the background is out of focus
My photos aren't very good examples of the effects of the different apertures but having it on the aperture F22 should make everything in background come into focus, F11/8 the subjects in the background should be a bit blurry and in F3.5 you should only be able to see the subject and the background should be blurred out.
I think the second depth of field photos are an improvement to the first ones because the focal point is in the middle of the photo and the people in the background aren't as far apart