When was Photography Invented and By Whom?

Photography has become a popular career choice among the youth nowadays. With the development of technology, the photography experience has only improved. In fact, the DSLR cameras have gained a widespread popularity with its finest of quality and the most astonishing of features.

However, it is nearly two centuries of history that goes into photography. Here is a brief history of photography and some insight on the photography invention.

The Basic Principle

The underlying principle behind photography was camera obscura, which involved a dark room with a hole or a lens in a wall. The hole, later replaced by a lens, was used to project the images from outside on the opposite wall. It was with this principle that the ancient scientists and researchers looked forward to tracing the image and creating a permanent photographic record of the projected image.

Pinhole cameras, one of the initial cameras, introduced in the history of photography that made a similar use of pinhole in a tent to cover the images from the outside. It was only later in the 17th century that portable and smaller cameras were invented.

When Was Photography Invented And By Whom?

It was in the 1830s that the first-ever images were actually recorded by Joseph Nicéphore Niépce. While the initial forms of photography only worked to project the images, Niépce’s method paved the way for a permanent record of the images. It was from here that the history of photography as we see it today actually began.

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Development After The Invention Of Photography

#1. The Plates

Soon after, Louis Daguerre came up with the concept of the daguerreotype, which made the use of a copper plate to record the images by exposing it to light. These copper plates were later substituted by emulsion plates in the 1850s and dry plate in 1870s. These advancements lead to a remarkable reduction in the exposure time to just a few seconds.

#2. Kodak

It was in the 1880s that George Eastman began a company named Kodak and left a remarkable imprint on the history of photography. Kodak brought a revolution in the history of photography by completely doing away with the idea of plates and replacing them with a compact film roll instead. All the photographers had to do now was to click as many pictures as they want and get the images printed later.

#3.35mm Cameras

The 1940s saw another shift in the history of photography when 35 mm cameras were brought to the market. The cameras were an instant hit with its colored picture quality. These were mainly put to use by journalists to capture the effects of the Second World War.

#4. The Polaroid

Contemporaneous with the 35 mm camera, the Model 95, introduced by the Polaroid, came as a surprise to the photographers around the world. The most astonishing and unique feature of this camera was its ability to develop and produce images instantly. By the next decade, Polaroid cameras became a household thing with its reasonable prices and advanced quality.

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#5. Single Lens Reflex

Another advancement which only enriched the history of photography was the single lens reflex or the SLR camera. These were brought to the market by Nikon and Asahi. The SLR camera models included many lucrative features like the interchangeable lens and handy accessories for a better photography experience.

#6. Point And Shoot

Gaining widespread popularity in the late 1980s, point and shoot cameras ensured a better photo composition with its advanced features which automatically controlled factors like aperture, focus, and shutter speed.

#7. DSLR

As the domain of digital photography grew, digital single lens reflex or the DSLR cameras have become popular nowadays. With DSLR, photographers around the world are capturing photographs with a quality that the history of photography has never witnessed before.

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