The History of Photography and the Camera

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Photography has come a long way from the first camera all the way until today. In this essay I’ll begin by explaining how the first aspect called the Camera Obscura started. The Camera Obscura was first developed and explained in ancient times during the 4th and 5th centuries B.C. It was first developed by the Chinese and Greeks and also later studied by other philosophers in Ancient Times. It is used to create images that are transmitted through a pinhole camera on a wall that is in a darkened room. People such as Aristotle studied the Camera Obscura as well as the Pinhole Camera.

In 1814 Joseph Nicéphore Niépce took the Camera Obscura and developed a special type of paper which the images could be printed on. These photographs that Joseph printed didn’t last long and faded away after some time. But it wasn’t until 1826 when he invented permanent images/photographs. His photographs were made on a polished pewter plate covered with petroleum derivative which would then harden with the exposure to light. The unhardened parts would be washed away and the metal plate could be polished, which would then make a negative image and then that negative image could be printed on a piece of paper or other material. Later on other inks and types of chemicals that could be used to print pictures more efficiently were developed. Later on Cameras became more popular as people started to want self-portraits of themselves or family portraits. It became a major business and would become a great success. But one of the biggest changes came when Kodak invented the first “Point and Shoot Cameras”, which allowed people to take a picture immediately and have it published later on. This gave photographers a greater opportunity to take better pictures as...

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Works Cited

"Digital photography." Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Web. 22 May 2010. .

"History of photography." Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Web. 22 May 2010. .

"History of the camera." Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Web. 22 May 2010. .

Greenspun, Philip. "History of Photography Timeline." Online posting. photo.net. Web. 24 May 2010. .

Karim, Nice. "How Digital Cameras Work ." Blog. howstuffworks?. Web. 27 May 2010. .

Mary, Bellis. "History of Photography." Blog. about.com. Web. 27 May 2010. .

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