Photos

Photos and photography are as much now a method of communication as the written word. News agencies vie for the best photographs of news events…

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Photos and photography are as much now a method of communication as the written word. News agencies vie for the best photographs of news events and unfolding dramas. We are used to seeing images through devices now as part of everyday life. The ability to see photographic images continues to change the world around us as high street shopping gives way to online e-commerce.  But have you ever given thought to who took the first photograph?

A Slow Start

Nicéphore Niépce was the first person to successfully produce a photograph, but in 1826 when he created it, the exposure of the camera was likely to have been 8 hours or more. These early efforts were a long way from the fast reacting cameras that even mobile phones are now equipped with. Though early progress in the photographic industry was quick to follow with developments made by Niépce’s colegue Louis Daguerre who went on to develop the first photographic system. In 1839 he successfully commercialised The Daguerreotype process that he had created and brought the possibility of a photographic record to the people. His process reduced the exposure time to a few minutes and produced accurate images. Early development was fast and in that same year a rival system that used a paper negative called a Calotype. The 1850s brought with it a new photographic process that produced a glass negative and required a much shorter exposure, but it wasn’t until the mid-20th century that access to color photography was available to amateurs.

Photos

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Digital Photography

With the 1990’s came the launch of the commercial age of digital photography. The traditional technology of film cameras was quickly overtaken by the many advantages that digital photography offered. Film cameras persist for hobby and art and in specialised industrial applications. With smartphones adopting the new digital camera technology access to a camera was greatly increased for many.

Digital photography offers the ability to take a photo on one side of the globe and make it internationally available to view, not many technologies have this much ability to sway opinions or viewpoints. We have much to thank the digital camera for as it continues to document our advances into the future.

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