A BRIEF HISTORY OF

PHOTOGRAPHY

NAME: APORCARITI ANDREEA

LUNG ELENA-GABRIELA
GROUP: RE-A
Lung Elena Gabriela
Aporcăriți Andreea

• DEFINITION
• a skill or a process of taking photographs using a camera
• ETYMOLOGY (Greek origin)

phōtós graphê
photography
(light) (draw)
Aporcăriți Andreea

TIMELINE

• Predecessors
• Aristotle describes since antiquity, the process of
making an image in the darkroom;
• Leonardo da Vinci manages to describe and
perform the darkroom
Lung Elena Gabriela

LEONARDO DA VINCI’S
CAMERA OBSCURA
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• WHO IS THE FATHER OF PHOTOGRAPHY?

• In 1826, the French inventor Nicéphore Niépce
captured the first known fixed photograph;
• Frederick Scott Archer — the inventor of a
practical process of photography, namely: more
than one copy could be taken.
Lung Elena Gabriela
The camera obscura Nicéphore
Niépce used to take the first ever
photograph. — Image courtesy of
WikiMedia Commons

View from the Window at Le

Gras. The first fixed image
captured. — Image courtesy of
WikiMedia Commons
Andreea Aporcăriți
Aporcăriți Andreea

WHAT WAS THE FIRST COLOR PHOTO?

•It was made using the mehod of the

three colours, used by James C.
Maxwell (1851) and taken by
Thomas Sutton (1861).
Lung Elena Gabriela

The earliest color photograph was taken by

James Clerk Maxwell, using a tartar ribbon,
which was photographed three times. The
filters used were of a red, yellow and blue
colour. Then, the images were recombined,
forming a one color composite image.
Lung Elena Gabriela
Aporcăriți Andreea

PEOPLE DIDN’T SMILE IN OLD PICTURES. WHY?

• The long exposure times represent the period a

camera needs to take a picture. An explanaion
would be the fact that the picture must stay still.
Without them smiling, the picture wouldn’t look
blurred.
Lung Elena Gabriela
Aporcăriți Andreea

WHICH IS THE FIRST CAMERA IN THE WORLD?

• The first camera was invented by George

Eastman which he called the "Kodak”.
• Edison patented the 35 mm perforated film
in 1893, and Agfa launches the first color
negative on the market, Agfacolor, in 1916;
Aporcăriți Andreea
Aporcăriți Andreea

EVOLUTION
• In 1948 Edwin Lang managed to develop instant photography.
Aporcăriți Andreea

AGFA LAUNCHES FIRST FULLY AUTOMATIC CAMERA, CALLED OPTIMA, IN 1959

Aporcăriți Andreea

TEXAS INSTRUMENTS FILES THE FIRST PATENT FOR A CAMERA

WITHOUT FILM IN 1972;
KODAK INTRODUCED THE DCS 100 IN 1991, THE FIRST DIGITAL
CAMERA AVAILABLE TO THE GENERAL PUBLIC.
Lung Elena Gabriela
VOCABULARY
Lung Elena Gabriela

•Here are some definitions of the terms. According to source

[1],
•“A single-lens reflex camera (SLR) is a type of camera that
uses a mirror and prism system. It allows the photographer to
see what he is going to shoot.  
•A lens is a tool that brings light to a focal point.
•In photography a tripod is a three legged
device which holds the camera.
Lung Elena Gabriela

• A flash is a device used in photography producing a spark of

artificial light
• A digital camera is a camera that
captures photographs in digital memory.
• The instant camera uses self-developing film to create a ‘chemically
print shortly after taking the picture’.”
Lung Elena Gabriela

Brassai, The Transylvanian Eye

• Brassaï was a photographer, sculptor, painter
and draughtsman. His native city, Brașov, was
an inspiration for his pseudonym.
Brassaï is famous for his photographs which
focused on the world that illustrated the dark
side of Montparnasse, a district of Paris. His
works were published in Paris de nuit, a
successful collection of photographs, in 1933.
 Lung Elena Gabriela

Paris by night, captured by Brassai

Grand Central Station, NY, 1957, captured by

Brassai
 “I was seeking the
poetry of the fog
which transforms
people, the poetry
of the night which
transforms the city,
the poetry of time
which transforms
all beings.”
- Brassai
Not all heroes wear capes.
Lung Elena Gabriela

Samoilă Mârza - Great Union's Photographer

•

Since Arthur Bach, the photographer paid to immortalize the moment of the signing
of Alba-Iulia's resolution, didn't show up, the only pictures that remained since that
period are captured by Samoilă Mârza. Unfortunately, he was not accredited so he
was not allowed in the hall where the act of union was signed. Despite the historical
importance of his work, photographer Samoilă Mârza has always lived close to
poverty, proof of that being the fact he used the same old camera for almost 60 years,
the same one he used to immortalize the events of the 1st December 1918. Samoilă
Mârza had immortalized many historical events, but due to the fact that he had
problems with money, he was forced to sell many clichés for the special glass they
were made of. With the money received from the museum, the photographer bought
a modern camera, that he wanted to use in 1968 at the commemorative events of the
Great Union, but unfortunately he passed away in 1967.
Lung Elena Gabriela

TYPES OF PHOTOGRAPHY:

• 1. Landscape photography;
• 2. Architectural photography;
• 3. Travel photography;
• 4. Photojournalism;
• 5. Portrait photography;
• 6. Fashion photography;
• 7. Black and white photography.
8. MOBILE PHOTOGRAPHY
Lung Elena Gabriela

• Although the photographic technique has advanced a lot, and the cameras
were changed, the way of creating an image remained the same: the light
enters the room through the lens and exposes a light-sensitive surface (film
or digital sensor), thus forming the image.
• Beyond these technical aspects, however, that can be learned without
problems, photography means composition, vision, visual harmony and
aesthetic sense. Without the latter, the images would remain simple
engineering achievements without an artistic value.
Lung Elena Gabriela

MOBILE PHOTOGRAPHY TIPS YOU SHOULD KNOW

1. Clean the lenses for clear photos

2.Use HDR for pictures with marvelous detail
3. Set the focus to be sure that the photo is still
4. Adjust exposure to have bright and dark tones
5. To create stunning backgrounds, use the portrait mode
Lung Elena Gabriela

Vocabulary
• Darkroom = “a darkroom is used to process photographic film,
to make prints and to carry out other associated tasks. It is a
room that can be made completely dark to allow the
processing of the light-sensitive photographic materials,
including film and photographic paper”;
• Camera obscura = “a camera obscura  is a darkened room with
a small hole or lens at one side through which an image is
projected onto the wall opposite the hole”;
Lung Elena Gabriela

• Tartan ribbon = “the Tartan Ribbon is an important symbol for

our work across Scotland. At that time, the ribbon was created
by him as a way of showing support to anyone affected by HIV
in Scotland and is a variation on the red AIDS ribbon”;
• Color composite = “a natural or true color composite is an
image displaying a combination of the visible red, green and
blue bands to the corresponding red, green and blue channels
on the computer display”;
Lung Elena Gabriela

• Visual harmony = “A pleasing array of visual elements in a

landscape, usually as a result of a sense of visual order,
compatibility, and completeness between and among the land
forms, water forms, vegetation, or structures visible in the
landscape.”

• To look blurry = “(of an image) not clear, crisp, or focused;

having fuzzy edges”;
Lung Elena Gabriela

Exercises
• Fill in the blanks with the appropriate preposition.
• To retire ... a job
• ... example
• To be interested ... sth
• Deal ... sth
• To have experience ... sth
• To be experienced ... sth
• Skilled ... noun/ing
• To be suitable ...
• Good ... sth
Lung Elena Gabriela

Answer the following questions:

• What is your favourite leisure activity?

• Explain what does the word ”photography” mean to you.
• Do you think photography influences our lives? Why?
Lung Elena Gabriela
Choose the correct answer.

1. The ... of a camera forms images.

a. tripod;
b. digital camera;
c. lens.
 
2. The camera is mounted on a ...
a. tripod;
b. lens;
c. lens cap.
 
3. The charge from the camera’s  ... would trigger the explosion.
a. instant camera;
b. flash unit;
c. zoom lens.
Lung Elena Gabriela

Answers
• 1–c
• 2–a
• 3-b
 Lung Elena Gabriela

Complete each sentence with a word formed from the word in capitals.

• “As a means of visual 1.______________________ (COMMUNICATE) and

2.______________ (EXPRESS), photography has distinct aesthetic capabilities.
In order to understand them, one must first understand the characteristics of
the process itself. One of the most important characteristics is immediacy.
Usually, but not necessarily, the image that is recorded is formed by a lens in a
camera. Upon exposure to the light forming the image, the sensitive material
undergoes changes in its structure, a latent (but reversed) image usually called
a negative is formed, and the image becomes visible by development and
permanent by fixing with sodium thiosulfate, called “hypo.” With modern
materials, the processing may take place 3.____________ (IMMEDIATE) or
may be delayed for weeks or months.
 Lung Elena Gabriela

• The essential elements of the image are usually established immediately at the time of exposure. This
characteristic is unique to photography and sets it apart from other ways of picture making. The
4.______________ (SEEM) automatic recording of an image by photography has given the process a sense of
authenticity shared by no other picture-making technique. The photograph possesses, in the popular mind,
such apparent accuracy that the adage “the camera does not lie” has become an accepted, if erroneous,
cliché.
• This understanding of photography’s supposed 5. __________ (OBJECTIVE) has dominated 6.____________
(EVALUATE) of its role in the arts. In the early part of its history, photography was sometimes belittled as a
mechanical art because of its 7.____________ (DEPEND) on technology. In truth, however, photography is
not the automatic process that is implied by the use of a camera. Although the camera usually limits the
photographer to depicting existing objects rather than imaginary or interpretive views, the skilled
8._____________ (PHOTOGRAPH) can introduce 9.____________ (CREATE) into the mechanical
10.______________ (REPRODUCE) process. The image can be modified by different lenses and filters. The
type of sensitive material used to record the image is a further control, and the contrast between highlight
and shadow can be changed by variations in 11.________________ (DEVELOP). In printing the negative, the
photographer has a wide choice in the physical surface of the paper, the 12._______ (TONE) contrast, and the
image colour. The photographer also may set up a completely artificial scene to photograph.”
•  
• (source: https://www.britannica.com/technology/photography)
 Lung Elena Gabriela

Answers
• 1. communication
• 2. expression
• 3. immediately
• 4. unseemingly
• 5. objectivity
• 6. evaluations
• 7. dependence
• 8. photographer
• 9. creativity
• 10. reproduction
• 11. development
• 12. tonal
Lung Elena Gabriela
Questionnaire (
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B
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E
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G
Lung Elena Gabriela

Answers:
• A – Greek
• B – Aristotle
• C – Kodak
• D – camera
• E – lens
• F – a tripod
• G – Brașov
THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION!
BIBLIOGRAPHY:

• 1. https://www.masterclass.com/articles/basic-photography-101-understanding-camera-lenses#what-is-a-camera-lens – last ac
cessed: the 22nd of March, 2021
• 2. https://en.islcollective.com/english-esl-worksheets/vocabulary/hobbies/talking-about-hobby-bokeh-photography/31574 -
last accessed: the 22nd of March, 2021
• 3. https://7esl.com/photography-vocabulary/ - last accessed: the 22nd of March, 2021
• 5. https://www.stocksy.com/blog/types-of-photography/ - last accessed: the 22nd of March, 2021
• 6. file:///C:/Users/USER/Downloads/Initiere_in_fotografie_ac1e9e70641b00cb5.pdf - last accessed: the 22nd of March, 2021
• 7. https://www.historyofinformation.com/detail.php?id=3666 – last accessed: the 22nd of March, 2021
• 8. https://iphonephotographyschool.com/mobile-photography-tips/ - last accessed: the 22nd of March, 2021
• 9. https://www.britannica.com/technology/photography - last accessed: the 22nd of March, 2021