COM 343: HISTORY OF PHOTOGRAPHY

1. COM 343: HISTORY OF PHOTOGRAPHY Lesson4: LIGHT AND PHOTO MACHINES Metin Ersoy Faculty of Communication and Media Studies

2. Lesson4: LIGHT AND PHOTO MACHINES • LIGHTING • In the early days of photography the only source of light was, of course, the sun, so most photography depended upon long days and good weather. • The nearer to the birth of photography, the greater the amount of lighting needed, as the first chemical emulsions were very insensitive.

3. Lesson4: LIGHT AND PHOTO MACHINES • The importance of light • Without light, photography would not exist. In fact, the word photography comes from the word photo, a Greek word meaning "light". Before you can understand photography, you must first understand light. Even if you have the most sophisticated of cameras, and the most expensive and sharpest of lenses, without light your photographs would be impossible, and your cameras and lenses would be useless.

4. Lesson4: LIGHT AND PHOTO MACHINES • Light and the photograph • To understand why light is important to a photograph, you must understand how an image is captured onto your film. • The film you place in your camera is something called a photosensitivematerial, which means "a material that is sensitive to light". • Film is basically material that reacts in a way that when light rays hit it, an image forms (However, to actually see the image you must first process, or develop the film).

5. Lesson4: LIGHT AND PHOTO MACHINES • Light comes in a variety of flavors, here I explain a few of them. • Sunlight-This is an example of natural light, or light that is not created by people. This light comes from no other than our own sun. While the sun gives surely enough light for film to be exposed at, you must still do some serious thinking before taking the picture. For one thing, the time of day will affect the quality of your photo.

6. Lesson4: LIGHT AND PHOTO MACHINES • Overcast skylight- Though related to sunlight, this type of light is different in many ways. For one thing, you will not get the harsh shadows that appear in direct sun. Because clouds are blocking the sun, light is diffused, or scattered, thus softening shadows. Also, clouds can give a dramatic touch to your photos.

7. Lesson4: LIGHT AND PHOTO MACHINES • Indoor(artificial) light- This is about the toughest type of light to get a good, bright picture, in my opinion. Unless you have incredibly bright searchlights as the main room lighting you will need a reasonably fast lens and perhaps a tripod to get a good exposure.

8. Lesson4: LIGHT AND PHOTO MACHINES • The first artificial light photography dates back as far as 1839, when L. Ibbetson used oxy-hydrogen light (also known as limelight) when photographing microscopic objects; he made a daguerreotype in five minutes which, he claimed, would have taken twenty-five minutes in normal daylight.

9. Lesson4: LIGHT AND PHOTO MACHINES • Other possibilities were explored. Nadar, for example, photographed the sewers in Paris, using battery-operated lighting. Later arc-lamps were introduced, but it was not until 1877 that the first studio lit by electric light was opened by Van der Weyde, who had a studio in Regent Street. • Powered by a gas-driven dynamo, the light was sufficient to permit exposures of some 2 to 3 seconds for a carte-de-visite.

10. Lesson4: LIGHT AND PHOTO MACHINES • That same year (1859) Professor Robert Bunsen (of Bunsen burner fame) was also advocating the use of magnesium. • The first portrait using magnesium was taken by Alfred Brothers of Manchester (22 February 1864); some of the results of his experiments may be found in the Manchester Museum of Science and Technology.

11. Lesson4: LIGHT AND PHOTO MACHINES • It was however very expensive at that time and did not come into general use until there was a dramatic fall in the cost of magnesium a decade later. • This, coupled with the introduction of dry plates in the 80s soon led to the introduction of magnesium flashlamps. They all used the same principle: a small amount of this powder would be blown, using a small rubber pump, through a spirit flame, producing a bright flash lasting about 1/15s. It also produced much smoke and ash!

12. Lesson4: LIGHT AND PHOTO MACHINES • Then in the late 1880s it was discovered that magnesium powder, if mixed with an oxidising agent such as potassium chlorate, would ignite with very little persuasion. This led to the introduction of flash powder. • However the explosive flashpowder could be quite dangerous if misused. This was not really superseded until the invention of the flashbulb in the late 1920s.

13. Lesson4: LIGHT AND PHOTO MACHINES • Early flash photography was not synchronised. This meant that one had to put a camera on a tripod, open the shutter, trigger the flash, and close the shutter again - a technique known as open flash.

14. Lesson4: LIGHT AND PHOTO MACHINES • In fact, the "open flash" technique, with flash powder, was still being used by some photographers until the 1950s. • This was particularly so when, for example, a large building was being photographed; with someone operating the shutter for multiple exposures, it was possible to use the flash at different places, to provide more even illumination.

15. Lesson4: LIGHT AND PHOTO MACHINES • There is a huge variety of cameras to choose from. • CAMERA HISTORY