Photography

Photography is the art, application, and practice of creating images by recording light, either electronically by means of an image sensor, or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film. It is used in many areas such as science, manufacturing (like photolithography), business, art, film, video production, hobbies, and mass communication. A person who uses a camera to take pictures is called a photographer, and the picture they capture is called a photograph.

Usually, a lens focuses the light from objects into a clear image on a special surface inside a camera during a timed exposure. With a digital camera, this creates tiny electric charges that are turned into a digital image file. With older film cameras, it creates an invisible image that is later turned into a visible picture by a chemical process. This picture can be a negative or a positive, depending on what is needed.

Before digital photography became common, pictures taken with film had to be turned into negatives or slides, and then printed as positive images, often making them larger. This was usually done in labs, but many hobby photographers and artists did the processing themselves.

Etymology

The word "photography" comes from two Greek words: φωτός (phōtós), meaning "light", and γραφή (graphé), meaning "drawing". Together, they mean "drawing with light".

Several people may have come up with this word around the same time. Hércules Florence, who lived in Brazil, used a French version of the word, photographie, in his private notes in 1834. The word first appeared in a public article in a German newspaper called Vossische Zeitung on 25 February 1839. Famous inventors like Nicéphore Niépce, Henry Fox Talbot, and Louis Daguerre used different names for their photography methods instead of the word "photography".

History

Main articles: History of photography and Timeline of photography technology

See also: History of the camera

Photography began with the discovery of the camera obscura, a dark room or box that projects an image of a scene through a small hole. Ancient Chinese, Greek, and Byzantine scholars described this idea centuries ago. Later, Arab scientist Ibn al-Haytham invented the pinhole camera and explained how it worked.

The birth of photography came when people found ways to capture and keep these images. Early attempts used chemicals like silver nitrate to darken paper when exposed to light. The first permanent photograph was created in 1826 by Nicéphore Niépce, showing a view from his window. This took many hours of sunlight to capture.

Over time, new methods made photography easier and faster. Louis Daguerre developed the daguerreotype in 1839, which needed only minutes of light instead of hours. This was a big step forward, and soon many people around the world were excited about this new way to capture images.

Today, most photographs are taken with digital cameras or phones, but the history of photography is full of amazing inventions that helped us see and remember the world in new ways.

Techniques

Photography uses many different ways to capture images. The main tool is the camera, which can be very small or very large. Cameras can capture still pictures or moving images, like in movies. There are special types of photography, such as stereoscopic (or 3-D) images, which use two pictures side by side to mimic how our eyes see the world.

Other techniques include dualphotography, where two pictures are taken at once from different sides, and full-spectrum photography, which uses ultraviolet or infrared light to create unique effects. Layering is a method where different parts of a scene are arranged to tell a story, and light field photography allows you to adjust the focus after the picture is taken. Besides cameras, some images can be made using photocopies, photograms (images made without a camera), or image scanners.

Main article: Camera

Main article: Stereoscopy

Main article: Dualphotography

Main article: Full spectrum photography

See also: Light-field camera

Types

Amateur

"Amateur photographer" redirects here. For the British photography magazine, see Amateur Photographer.

Amateur photographers take photos for personal use, as a hobby or out of casual interest, rather than as a business or job. The quality of amateur work can be comparable to that of many professionals. Amateurs can fill a gap in subjects or topics that might not otherwise be photographed if they are not commercially useful or salable. Amateur photography grew during the late 19th century due to the popularization of the hand-held camera. Twenty-first century social media and near-ubiquitous camera phones have made photographic and video recording pervasive in everyday life. In the mid-2010s smartphone cameras added numerous automatic assistance features like color management, autofocus face detection and image stabilization that significantly decreased skill and effort needed to take high quality images.

Commercial

Commercial photography is probably best defined as any photography for which the photographer is paid for images rather than works of art. In this light, money could be paid for the subject of the photograph or the photograph itself. The commercial photographic world could include:

• Advertising photography: There are photographs made to illustrate and usually sell a service or product. These images, such as packshots, are generally done with an advertising agency, design firm or with an in-house corporate design team.

• Architectural photography focuses on capturing photographs of buildings and architectural structures that are aesthetically pleasing and accurate in terms of representations of their subjects.

• Event photography focuses on photographing guests and occurrences at mostly social events.

• Fashion and glamour photography usually incorporates models and is a form of advertising photography. Fashion photography, like the work featured in Harper's Bazaar, emphasizes clothes and other products; glamour emphasizes the model and body form while glamour photography is popular in advertising and men's magazines.

• 360 product photography displays a series of photos to give the impression of a rotating object. This technique is commonly used by ecommerce websites to help shoppers visualise products.

• Concert photography focuses on capturing candid images of both the artist or band as well as the atmosphere (including the crowd). Many of these photographers work freelance and are contracted through an artist or their management to cover a specific show. Concert photographs are often used to promote the artist or band in addition to the venue.

• Still life photography usually depicts inanimate subject matter, typically commonplace objects which may be either natural or man-made. Still life is a broader category for food and some natural photography and can be used for advertising purposes.

• Real estate photography focuses on the production of photographs showcasing a property that is for sale, such photographs requires the use of wide-lens and extensive knowledge in high-dynamic-range imaging photography.

• Food photography can be used for editorial, packaging or advertising use. Food photography is similar to still life photography but requires some special skills.

• Photojournalism can be considered a subset of editorial photography. Photographs made in this context are accepted as a documentation of a news story.

• Paparazzi is a form of photojournalism in which the photographer captures candid images of athletes, celebrities, politicians, and other prominent people.

• Portrait and wedding photography: Are photographs made and sold directly to the end user of the images.

• Landscape photography typically captures the presence of nature but can also focus on human-made features or disturbances of landscapes.

• Wildlife photography demonstrates the life of wild animals.

Art

Main article: Art photography

During the 20th century, both fine art photography and documentary photography became accepted by the English-speaking art world and the gallery system. In the United States, a handful of photographers, including Alfred Stieglitz, Edward Steichen, John Szarkowski, F. Holland Day, and Edward Weston, spent their lives advocating for photography as a fine art. At first, fine art photographers tried to imitate painting styles. This movement is called Pictorialism, often using soft focus for a dreamy, 'romantic' look. In reaction to that, Weston, Ansel Adams, and others formed the Group f/64 to advocate 'straight photography', the photograph as a (sharply focused) thing in itself and not an imitation of something else.

The aesthetics of photography is a matter that continues to be discussed regularly, especially in artistic circles. Many artists argued that photography was the mechanical reproduction of an image. If photography is authentically art, then photography in the context of art would need redefinition, such as determining what component of a photograph makes it beautiful to the viewer. The controversy began with the earliest images "written with light"; Nicéphore Niépce, Louis Daguerre, and others among the very earliest photographers were met with acclaim, but some questioned if their work met the definitions and purposes of art.

Clive Bell in his classic essay Art states that only "significant form" can distinguish art from what is not art.

On 7 February 2007, Sotheby's London sold the 2001 photograph 99 Cent II Diptychon for an unprecedented $3,346,456 to an anonymous bidder, making it the most expensive at the time.

Conceptual photography turns a concept or idea into a photograph. Even though what is depicted in the photographs are real objects, the subject is strictly abstract.

In parallel to this development, the then largely separate interface between painting and photography was closed in the second half of the 20th century with the chemigram of Pierre Cordier and the chemogram of Josef H. Neumann.

Photojournalism

Main article: Photojournalism

Photojournalism is a particular form of photography (the collecting, editing, and presenting of news material for publication or broadcast) that employs images in order to tell a news story. It is now usually understood to refer only to still images, but in some cases the term also refers to video used in broadcast journalism. Photojournalism is distinguished from other close branches of photography (e.g., documentary photography, social documentary photography, street photography or celebrity photography) by complying with a rigid ethical framework which demands that the work be both honest and impartial whilst telling the story in strictly journalistic terms. Photojournalists create pictures that contribute to the news media, and help communities connect with one other. Photojournalists must be well informed and knowledgeable about events happening right outside their door. They deliver news in a creative format that is not only informative, but also entertaining, including sports photography.

Science and forensics

Further information: Forensic photography

The camera has a long and distinguished history as a means of recording scientific phenomena from the first use by Daguerre and Fox-Talbot, such as astronomical events (eclipses for example), small creatures and plants when the camera was attached to the eyepiece of microscopes (in photomicroscopy) and for macro photography of larger specimens. The camera also proved useful in recording crime scenes and the scenes of accidents, such as the Wootton bridge collapse in 1861.

In 1845 Francis Ronalds, the Honorary Director of the Kew Observatory, invented the first successful camera to make continuous recordings of meteorological and geomagnetic parameters. Different machines produced 12- or 24-hour photographic traces of the minute-by-minute variations of atmospheric pressure, temperature, humidity, atmospheric electricity, and the three components of geomagnetic forces. The cameras were supplied to numerous observatories around the world and some remained in use until well into the 20th century. Charles Brooke a little later developed similar instruments for the Greenwich Observatory.

Science regularly uses image technology that has derived from the design of the pinhole camera to avoid distortions that can be caused by lenses. X-ray machines are similar in design to pinhole cameras, with high-grade filters and laser radiation. Photography has become universal in recording events and data in science and engineering, and at crime scenes or accident scenes. The method has been much extended by using other wavelengths, such as infrared photography and ultraviolet photography, as well as spectroscopy.

The first photographed atom was discovered in 2012 by physicists at Griffith University, Australia. They used an electric field to trap an "Ion" of the element, Ytterbium. The image was recorded on a CCD, an electronic photographic film.

Wildlife photography

Main article: Wildlife photography

Wildlife photography involves capturing images of various forms of wildlife. Unlike other forms of photography such as product or food photography, successful wildlife photography requires a photographer to choose the right place and right time when specific wildlife are present and active. It often requires great patience and considerable skill and command of the right photographic equipment.

Social and cultural implications

Photography raises many questions about how we see and understand the world. Some people believe that photographs are not completely objective, as photographers choose what to capture and how to frame it. These choices can reflect the time and place in which the photo is taken.

Modern photography, especially with digital tools, has led to concerns about how images can be changed after they are taken. Some photographers and journalists follow strict rules to keep their pictures honest. Photography can also affect how people think and feel, especially when it comes to powerful or upsetting images. It plays a role in how we see other cultures, sometimes shaping our views in ways that might not tell the whole story.

Law

Photography is both restricted and protected by the law in many places. Laws protect the photographs taken by giving rights to the photographer. In the United States, photography is protected as a right, and anyone can take pictures of things and people in public spaces. Different countries have different rules about what can and cannot be photographed.