Photography: the art or process of producing images by the action of

radiant energy and especially light on a sensitive surface

The word "photography" derives from the Greek and means, literally, “light writing”

Viewfinder: small window on a camera through which the scene is viewed.

LCD (Liquid Crystal Display): a low-power monitor often used on the top and/or rear of a digital camera to display settings or the photo itself.

Shutter: a camera mechanism that opens and closes to allow light to enter the camera for a specific amount of time in order to expose the film.

Shutter Speed: a measurement of how long a camera’s shutter remains open as the picture is taken. The slower the shutter speed, the longer the exposure time. The shutter speed and aperture together control the total amount of light reaching the sensor.

Lens: piece (or multiple pieces) of optical glass that is shaped to focus an image.

Memory card: storage device used in digital camera to record and save images.

Download/ing: process of moving computer data from one location to another. Though the term is normally used to describe the transfer, or downloading, of data from the Internet, it is also used to describe the transfer of photos from a camera memory card to the computer.

USB (Universal Serial Bus): a protocol for transferring data to and from digital devices. Many digital cameras and memory card readers connect to the USB port on a computer.

JPEG (JPG): standard for compressing image data developed by the Joint Photographic Experts Group, hence the name JPEG.

Focus: point where light converges to form a clear, sharp image.

Crop: to trim the edges of an image, often to improve the composition.

Thumbnail/Contact Sheet: small version of a photo. Image browsers commonly display thumbnails of photos several or even dozens at a time.

Megabyte (MB): measurement of data storage equal to 1024 kilobytes (KB).

Pixel: digital photographs are comprised of thousands or millions of them; they are the building blocks of a digital photo. The number of pixels or dots per inch (ppi or dpi) determine the images resolution.

DPI (Dots Per Inch): used in digital imaging to indicate an aspect of an image's measurable resolution. The higher the number, the greater the resolution.

Resolution: subjective valuation of the detail-recording ability of photographic materials. 72 dpi is a low resolution and 300 dpi is a high resolution. The higher the resolution the better the quality of the image.

Megabyte (MB): measurement of data storage equal to 1024 kilobytes (KB).

Camera Obscura Digital Single-Lens Reflex Camera

A Brief History of Photography

Camera ObscuraLatin for “darkroom”

• an optical device that projects an image of its surroundings • one of the inventions that led to photography • consists of a box or room with a hole in one side, light from an external

scene passes through the hole and strikes a surface inside where it is reproduced, upside-down.

1826: First Permanent Image

• French inventor Joseph Nicéphore Niépce uses a camera obscura to burn an image of the French countryside onto a chemical-coated pewter plate

• He names his technique "heliography," meaning "sun drawing" • The black-and-white exposure took eight hours and has faded significantly,

but an image is still visible on the plate today

1839: First Photo of a Person

• French painter and chemist Louis Daguerre photographs a Paris street scene using a camera obscura and his newly invented daguerreotype process

• The long exposure time (several minutes) means moving objects like pedestrians and carriages don't appear in the photo, but an unidentified man who stops for a shoeshine remains still long enough to unwittingly become the first person ever photographed

Daguerreotype

• early type of photograph, developed by Louis Daguerre• Image exposed onto a mirror-polished surface of silver with a coating of

silver halide particles on it• a negative image, but the mirrored surface of the metal plate reflects the

image and makes it appear positive in the proper light• daguerreotype is a direct photographic process – can not be duplicated

CalotypeGreek for “good impression”

• process introduced in 1841 by Henry Fox Talbot using paper coated with silver iodide

• when exposed to light, silver iodide decomposes to silver leaving iodine

• when silver iodide is washed away the resulting image is visible

Collodion

• 1851, Englishman Frederick Scott Archer discovered that collodion could be used on glass plates, reducing the exposure time when making the image

• process was very involved and included the following steps: clean the glass plate, flow the glass plate with Collodion, immerse the plate in a silver nitrate for 3-5 minutes, expose the plate, develop the plate, and fix the plate

• all done in minutes in a portable darkroom

Gelatin Emulsion

• Richard Leach Maddox, an English photographer, invented lightweight gelatin negative plates in 1871

• eventually Charles Bennett made the first gelatin dry plates

• before long the emulsion could be coated on celluloid roll film

• photographers could use dry plates off the shelf instead of having to prepare their own in a mobile darkroom

• now, for the first time, cameras could be made small enough to be hand-held

Kodak’s Brownie• extremely popular series of simple and

inexpensive cameras made by Eastman Kodak

• popularized low-cost photography and introduced the concept of the snapshot

• first Brownie, introduced in February, 1900, was basic cardboard box camera with a simple lens that took 2¼-inch square pictures on 117 roll film

• simple controls and initial price of $1, it was intended to be a camera that anyone could afford and use, leading to the popular slogan, "You push the button, we do the rest."

Going Digital• 1969 – Willard Boyle and George Smith at AT&T Bell Labs

invented a charge-coupled device (CCD), the essence of the design was the ability to transfer charge along the surface of a semiconductor

• 1975 – Bryce Bayer of Kodak develops the Bayer filter mosaic pattern for CCD color image sensors

• 1975 – Steven Sasson (engineer at Kodak) made the first recorded attempt at building a digital camera. The camera weighed 8 pounds, recorded B&W images to a cassette tape, had a resolution of 0.01 megapixels, and took 23 seconds to capture its first image.

The First Digital Cameras• 1988 – first true digital camera that recorded images as a

computerized file was the Fuji DS-1P, which recorded to a 16 MB internal memory card that used a battery to keep the data in memory

• 1990 –first commercially available digital camera was the Dycam Model 1, stored pictures digitally, and connected directly to a computer for download

• 1991 – Kodak brought to market the Kodak DCS-100, the beginning of a long line of professional digital cameras. It used a 1.3 megapixel sensor and was priced at $13,000

• 1997 – first megapixel cameras for consumers• 1999 – introduction of the Nikon D1, a 2.74 megapixel camera at a cost of under $6,000

Historic Photographers• Research Famous & Influential

Photographers• Find 10 whose work you like• In your sketchbook include:– Their name (properly spelled)– What type or style photographer they

are (i.e fashion, landscape, portrait, etc.)– What you like about their work