Commercial Photography History

Commercial photography is an integral part of the design and advertising world today—whether it is product photography, commercial portraiture, or any number of other types of commercial work. Before the rise of photography, advertisers and designers used elements like hand-drawn illustrations to show what they were trying to market, sell, or communicate to the viewer (Green). This is primarily because the first permanent color photograph was not taken until 1861 and there were still a vast amount of technical advancements that had to be made in color photography before it could be used commercially (Lipkin). With the drastic improvements to photographic technology that occurred throughout the entire 20th century (including the introduction

After all, an advertisement is more visually interesting and attention-grabbing, it is much more likely that the intended audience will take the time to look at it and digest what is being communicated by the design. These early methods of creating commercial imagery dictated the original parameters for photography to function in before it was a possibility for it to be commercially used. As early as the 1700s, very simplistic elements of design began to be integrated into announcements or advertisements (Green). Figure 1 shows a posting about two slaves for sale from the year 1760. Although it does not contain any images, [USE ONE WITH AN IMAGE] the person who created the flyer clearly put thought into what words or phrases were meant to jump out at the reader—“TO BE SOLD” and “SLAVES” are both large, bolded, and in all capital letters. These early attempts at using visual elements of design to communicate something to a commercial audience are what led to breakthroughs in the consumer visual world, including the eventual use of photographic images within such

It was made on a polished sheet of pewter and coated with light-sensitive bitumen dissolved in lavender oil (Hirsch, “Seizing the Light: A History of Photography”). Being able to permanently fix a photographic image was a big leap for the field of photography, but it was still not practical for commercial or consumer use; the exposure for Niepce’s image is believed to have took anywhere from eight hours to several days—a staggering amount of time to create just one image (Hirsch). When Niepce died suddenly in 1833, he left his notes to his partner Louis Daguerre who continued to make technological advancements in photography after Niepce’s death. Daguerre further experimented with silver-based processes and was able to cut the exposure time of an image down from multiple hours to mere minutes in optimum conditions (Ward). Images crafted in this manner were officially dubbed “Daguerreotypes.” Figure 4 shows a Daguerreotype made by Daguerre himself; it is believed to be the first photographic image containing living people. The process discovered by Daguerre was the first photographic process to be commercially introduced to the public in 1839, and this year is now considered the birth of practical photography