Wednesday, November 23, 2011

World's first camera!

Hey guys! So I found this picture. I don't know if it's really the first camera or not, but it is an example of a pin-hole camera. I thought it was pretty cool next to the modern day camera. These cameras let in light to basically stain a piece of photo-reactive paper with the picture. How cool is that? Have you guys ever seen one of these? Or, whats the oldest camera your family owns? Let me know!

Tuesday, November 22, 2011

Evolution!

     Before hand held cameras, photography was really for the wealthy. It required lots of expensive equpiment and many hours of labor and patience were needed to produce the image. But, in 1879 the dry plate was invented. It was a glass plate, negatively charged, with dried emulsion on it. The camera could now contain the film by itself and be stored for longer periods of time. The dry process also absorbed light rapidly so the picture no longer took minutes to take.
     Just two years after that, George Eastman invented flexible film. The film could now roll up inside the camera and, with the help of the dry plates, stay inside for an extended period of time. Developing pictures was no longer expensive or lengthy so more and more less-wealthy people could get their hands on a camera.
     How cool is that? In two years a camera goes from being expensive and bulky to inexpensive and hand held. The things people invent! What do you think would have happened if this hadn't happened? Would photography have evolved later, or not at all?

Composition

I found a video I thought you all might like. It's about the composition of a good photo. Yes, I know, it's from National Geographic, how boring; but the video can teach you some tips you can use to make your photogrpahy to look a lot more professional!  Tell me what you guys think of it!

The Basics

     Photography started before the 16th century. The first actual camera was invented close to 1000 AD by Alhazen. It is whats called a pinhole camera, letting light through a small hole to create a sungraph. The images appeared upside down and dark on the paper it was "printed" on. Now, cameras are in the hands of everyone from small children to the elderly. They can be small, big, easy to use, professional, blue, black and even in funny shapes. How can it be that such an invention could make such a big difference on the world? Commercial photography, pictures of newly weds or babies, pictures of family get togethers, we see these every day but we overlook them.
     How did such an invention come to be what it is now? How did it become a household object? Well, that's what we're here to explore. Through history, commercialism and advertising turned something that used to be for the rich and famous into a product in everyone's hands.