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Photography
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Photography portal
Photography (IPA: [fә'tɒgrәfi] or IPA: [fә'tɑːgrәfi][1]) (from Greek ���� and ������) is the process, activity and art of creating still or moving pictures by recording radiation on a sensitive medium, such as a film, or an electronic sensor. Light patterns reflected or emitted from objects activate a sensitive chemical or electronic sensor during a timed exposure, usually through a photographic lens in a device known as a camera that also stores the resulting information chemically or electronically. Photography has many uses for business, science, art and pleasure.
Lens and mounting of a large-format camera.
A historic camera: the Contax S of 1949 � the first pentaprism SLR.
Nikon F of 1959 � the first 35mm film system camera.
Late Production Minox B camera with later style "honeycomb" selenium light meter
The word "photography" comes from the Greek ��� (phos) "light" + ������ (graphis) "stylus", "paintbrush" or ����� (graphê) "representation by means of lines" or "drawing", together meaning "drawing with light." Traditionally, the products of photography have been called negatives and photographs, commonly shortened to photos.
The discipline of making lighting and camera choices when recording photographic images for the cinema is dealt with under Cinematography
Contents
[hide]
* 1 Function and cameras
o 1.1 Exposure and rendering
* 2 Uses
* 3 History
* 4 Processes
o 4.1 Black-and-white
o 4.2 Color
o 4.3 Full-spectrum, ultraviolet and infrared
o 4.4 Digital
* 5 Modes of production
o 5.1 Amateur
o 5.2 Commercial
o 5.3 As an art form
o 5.4 Scientific and forensic
* 6 Other image forming techniques
* 7 Social and cultural implications
* 8 Photography and the law
* 9 See also
o 9.1 Technical principles
o 9.2 Forms
o 9.3 Techniques
o 9.4 Photographers and photographs
o 9.5 Historical
o 9.6 Cameras and related equipment
o 9.7 Basic concepts
* 10 References and additional reading
o 10.1 Cited references
o 10.2 General references
* 11 External links
[edit] Function and cameras
The camera or camera obscura is the image-forming device, and photographic film or a silicon electronic image sensor is the sensing medium. The respective recording medium can be the film itself, or a digital electronic or magnetic memory.
Photographers control the camera and lens to "expose" the light recording material (such as film) to the required amount of light to form a "latent image" (on film) or "raw file" (in digital cameras) which, after appropriate processing, is converted to a usable image. Digital cameras replace film with an electronic image sensor based on light-sensitive electronics such as charge-coupled device (CCD) or complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) technology. The resulting digital image is stored electronically, but can be reproduced on paper or film.
The movie camera is a type of photographic camera which takes a rapid sequence of photographs on strips of film. In contrast to a still camera, which captures a single snapshot at a time, the movie camera takes a series of images, each called a "frame". This is accomplished through an intermittent mechanism. The frames are later played back in a movie projector at a specific speed, called the "frame rate" (number of frames per second). While viewing, a person's eyes and brain merge the separate pictures together to create the illusion of motion.[2]
In all but certain specialized cameras, the process of obtaining a usable exposure must involve the use, manually or automatically, of a few controls to ensure the photograph is clear, sharp and well illuminated. The controls usually include but are not limited to the following:
* Focus - the adjustment to place the sharpest focus where it is desired on the subject.
* Aperture � adjustment of the iris, measured as f-number, which controls the amount of light passing through the lens. Aperture also has an effect on focus and depth of field, namely, the smaller the opening aperture, the less light but the greater the depth of field--that is, the greater the range within which objects appear to be sharply focused. The current focal length divided by the f-number gives the actual aperture size in millimeters.
* Shutter speed � adjustment of the speed (often expressed either as fractions of seconds or as an angle, with mechanical shutters) of the shutter to control the amount of time during which the imaging medium is exposed to light for each exposure. Shutter speed may be used to control the amount of light striking the image plane; 'faster' shutter speeds (that is, those of shorter duration) decrease both the amount of light and the amount of image blurring from motion of the subject and/or camera.
* White balance � on digital cameras, electronic compensation for the color temperature associated with a given set of lighting conditions, ensuring that white light is registered as such on the imaging chip and therefore that the colors in the frame will appear natural. On mechanical, film-based cameras, this function is served by the operator's choice of film stock or with color correction filters. In addition to using white balance to register natural coloration of the image, photographers may employ white balance to aesthetic end, for example white balancing to a blue object in order to obtain a warm color temperature.
* Metering � measurement of exposure so that highlights and shadows are exposed according to the photographer's wishes. Many modern cameras meter and set exposure automatically. Before automatic exposure, correct exposure was accomplished with the use of a separate light metering device or by the photographer's knowledge and experience of gauging correct settings. To translate the amount of light into a usable aperture and shutter speed, the meter needs to adjust for the sensitivity of the film or sensor to light. This is done by setting the "film speed" or ISO sensitivity into the meter.
* ISO speed � traditionally used to "tell the camera" the film speed of the selected film on film cameras, ISO speeds are employed on modern digital cameras as an indication of the system's gain from light to numerical output and to control the automatic exposure system. A correct combination of ISO speed, aperture, and shutter speed leads to an image that is neither too dark nor too light.
* Auto-focus point � on some cameras, the selection of a point in the imaging frame upon which the auto-focus system will attempt to focus. Many Single-lens reflex cameras (SLR) feature multiple auto-focus points in the viewfinder.
Many other elements of the imaging device itself may have a pronounced effect on the quality and/or aesthetic effect of a given photograph; among them are:
* Focal length and type of lens (telephoto or "long" lens, macro, wide angle, fisheye, or zoom)
* Filters placed between the subject and the light recording material, either in front of or behind the lens
* Inherent sensitivity of the medium to light intensity and color/wavelengths.
* The nature of the light recording material, for example its resolution as measured in pixels or grains of silver halide.
[edit] Uses
Photography gained the interest of many scientists and artists from its inception. Scientists have used photography to record and study movements, such as Eadweard Muybridge's study of human and animal locomotion in 1887. Artists are equally interested by these aspects but also try to explore avenues other than the photo-mechanical representation of reality, such as the pictorialist movement. Military, police, and security forces use photography for surveillance, recognition and data storage. Photography is used by amateurs to preserve memories of favorite times, to capture special moments, to tell stories, to send messages, and as a source of entertainment. Many mobile phones now contain cameras to facilitate such use.
Commercial advertising relies heavily on photography and has contributed greatly to its development.
[edit] History
Main article: History of photography
First known photograph, taken by Joseph Nicéphore Niépce in 1825 by the heliograph process. The image is of a 17th Century Flemish engraving showing a man leading a horse.
Photography is the result of combining several technical discoveries. Long before the first photographs were made, Chinese philosopher Mo Ti described a pinhole camera in the 5th century B.C.E,[3] Ibn al-Haytham (Alhazen) (965�1040) studied the camera obscura and pinhole camera,[4][3] Albertus Magnus (1193�1280) discovered silver nitrate, and Georges Fabricius (1516�1571) discovered silver chloride.[citation needed] Daniel Barbaro described a diaphragm in 1568.[citation needed] Wilhelm Homberg described how light darkened some chemicals (photochemical effect) in 1694.[citation needed] The fiction book Giphantie, by French author Tiphaigne de la Roche, described what can be interpreted as photography.[citation needed]
Photography as a usable process goes back to the 1820s with the development of chemical photography. The first permanent photograph was an image produced in 1825 by the French inventor Nicéphore Niépce. However, because his photographs took so long to expose, he sought to find a new process. Working in conjunction with Louis Daguerre, they experimented with silver compounds based on a Johann Heinrich Schultz discovery in 1724 that a silver and chalk mixture darkens when exposed to light. Niépce died in 1833, but Daguerre continued the work, eventually culminating with the development of the daguerreotype in 1837. Daguerre took the first ever photo of a person in 1839 when, while taking a daguerreotype of a Paris street, a pedestrian stopped for a shoe shine, long enough to be captured by the long exposure (several minutes). Eventually, France agreed to pay Daguerre a pension for his formula, in exchange for his promise to announce his discovery to the world as the gift of France, which he did in 1839.
Meanwhile, Hercules Florence had already created a very similar process in 1832, naming it Photographie, and William Fox Talbot had earlier discovered another means to fix a silver process image but had kept it secret. After reading about Daguerre's invention, Talbot refined his process so that portraits were made readily available to the masses. By 1840, Talbot had invented the calotype process, which creates negative images. John Herschel made many contributions to the new methods. He invented the cyanotype process, now familiar as the "blueprint". He was the first to use the terms "photography", "negative" and "positive". He discovered sodium thiosulphate solution to be a solvent of silver halides in 1819, and informed Talbot and Daguerre of his discovery in 1839 that it could be used to "fix" pictures and make them permanent. He made the first glass negative in late 1839.
In March 1851, Frederick Scott Archer published his findings in "The Chemist" on the wet plate collodion process. This became the most widely used process between 1852 and the late 1880s when the dry plate was introduced. There are three subsets to the Collodion process; the Ambrotype (positive image on glass), the Ferrotype or Tintype (positive image on metal) and the negative which was printed on Albumen or Salt paper.
Many advances in photographic glass plates and printing were made in through the nineteenth century. In 1884, George Eastman developed the technology of film to replace photographic plates, leading to the technology used by film cameras today.
In 1908 Gabriel Lippmann won the Nobel Laureate in Physics for his method of reproducing colours photographically based on the phenomenon of interference, also known as the Lippmann plate.
[edit] Processes
A filter may be used to enhance or diminish the rendering of certain light wavelengths. For this photograph, a wratten #25 was used.
[edit] Black-and-white
See also: Monochrome photography
All photography was originally monochrome, most of these photographs were black-and-white. Even after color film was readily available, black-and-white photography continued to dominate for decades, due to its lower cost and its "classic" photographic look. It is important to note that some monochromatic pictures are not always pure blacks and whites, but also contain other hues depending on the process. The Cyanotype process produces an image of blue and white for example. The albumen process which was used more than 150 years ago had brown tones.
Many photographers continue to produce some monochrome images. Some full color digital images are processed using a variety of techniques to create black and whites, and some cameras have even been produced to exclusively shoot monochrome.
[edit] Color
Main article: Color photography
Color photography was explored beginning in the mid 1800s. Early experiments in color could not fix the photograph and prevent the color from fading. The first permanent color photo was taken in 1861 by the physicist James Clerk Maxwell.
Early color photograph taken by Prokudin-Gorskii (1915).
One of the early methods of taking color photos was to use three cameras. Each camera would have a color filter in front of the lens. This technique provides the photographer with the three basic channels required to recreate a color image in a darkroom or processing plant. Russian photographer Sergei Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorskii developed another technique, with three color plates taken in quick succession.
Practical application of the technique was held back by the very limited color response of early film; however, in the early 1900s, following the work of photo-chemists such as H. W. Vogel, emulsions with adequate sensitivity to green and red light at last became available.
The first color plate, Autochrome, invented by the French Lumière brothers, reached the market in 1907. It was based on a 'screen-plate' filter made of dyed dots of potato starch, and was the only color film on the market until German Agfa introduced the similar Agfacolor in 1932. In 1935, American Kodak introduced the first modern ('integrated tri-pack') color film, Kodachrome, based on three colored emulsions. This was followed in 1936 by Agfa's Agfacolor Neue. Unlike the Kodachrome tri-pack process, the color couplers in Agfacolor Neue were integral with the emulsion layers, which greatly simplified the film processing. Most modern color films, except Kodachrome, are based on the Agfacolor Neue technology. Instant color film was introduced by Polaroid in 1963.
Color photography may form images as a positive transparency, intended for use in a slide projector, or as color negatives intended for use in creating positive color enlargements on specially coated paper. The latter is now the most common form of film (non-digital) color photography owing to the introduction of automated photoprinting equipment.
[edit] Full-spectrum, ultraviolet and infrared
Main article: Full spectrum photography
Ultraviolet and infrared films have been available for many decades and employed in a variety of photographic avenues since the 1960s. New technological trends in digital photography have opened a new direction in full spectrum photography, where careful filtering choices across the ultraviolet, visible and infrared lead to new artistic visions.
Modified digital cameras can detect some ultraviolet, all of the visible and much of the near infrared spectrum, as most digital imaging sensors are sensitive from about 350nm to 1000nm. An off-the-shelf digital camera contains an infrared hot mirror filter that blocks most of the infrared and a bit of the ultraviolet that would otherwise be detected by the sensor, narrowing the accepted range from about 400nm to 700nm[5]. Replacing a hot mirror or infrared blocking filter with an infrared pass or a wide spectrally transmitting filter allows the camera to detect the wider spectrum light at greater sensitivity. Without the hot-mirror, the red, green and blue (or cyan, yellow and magenta) colored micro-filters placed over the sensor elements pass varying amounts of ultraviolet (blue window) and infrared (primarily red, and somewhat lesser the green and blue micro-filters).
Uses of full spectrum photography are for fine art photography, geology, forensics & law enforcement, and even some claimed use in ghost hunting.
[edit] Digital
A handheld digital camera, Canon Ixus class.
The Nikon D1, the first DSLR to truly compete with, and begin to replace, film cameras in the professional photojournalism and sports photography fields.
Nikon DSLR and scanner, which converts film images to digital
Sony Ericsson K800i camera phone.
Main article: Digital photography
See also: Digital versus film photography
Traditional photography burdened photographers working at remote locations without easy access to processing facilities, and competition from television pressured photographers to deliver images to newspapers with greater speed. Photo journalists at remote locations often carried miniature photo labs and a means of transmitting images through telephone lines. In 1981, Sony unveiled the first consumer camera to use a charge-coupled device for imaging, eliminating the need for film: the Sony Mavica. While the Mavica saved images to disk, the images were displayed on television, and the camera was not fully digital. In 1990, Kodak unveiled the DCS 100, the first commercially available digital camera. Although its high cost precluded uses other than photojournalism and professional photography, commercial digital photography was born.
Digital imaging uses an electronic image sensor to record the image as a set of electronic data rather than as chemical changes on film. The primary difference between digital and chemical photography is that chemical photography resists manipulation because it involves film and photographic paper, while digital imaging is a highly manipulative medium. This difference allows for a degree of image post-processing that is comparatively difficult in film-based photography and permits different communicative potentials and applications.
Digital point-and-shoot cameras have become widespread consumer products, outselling film cameras, and including new features such as video and audio recording. Kodak announced in January 2004 that it would no longer sell reloadable 35 mm cameras in western Europe, Canada and the United States after the end of that year. Kodak was at that time a minor player in the reloadable film cameras market. In January 2006, Nikon followed suit and announced that they will stop the production of all but two models of their film cameras: the low-end Nikon FM10, and the high-end Nikon F6. On May 25, 2006, Canon announced they will stop developing new film SLR cameras.[6] Though most new camera designs are now digital, a new 6x6cm/6x7cm medium format film camera was introduced in 2008 in a cooperation between Fuji and Voigtländer.[7][8]
According to a survey made by Kodak in 2007, 75 percent of professional photographers say they will continue to use film, even though some embrace digital.[9]
According to the U.S. survey results, more than two-thirds (68 percent) of professional photographers prefer the results of film to those of digital for certain applications including:
* film�s superiority in capturing more information on medium and large format films (48 percent);
* creating a traditional photographic look (48 percent);
* capturing shadow and highlighting details (45 percent);
* the wide exposure latitude of film (42 percent); and
* archival storage (38 percent)
Digital imaging has raised many ethical concerns because of the ease of manipulating digital photographs in post processing. Many photojournalists have declared they will not crop their pictures, or are forbidden from combining elements of multiple photos to make "illustrations," passing them as real photographs. Today's technology has made picture editing relatively simple for even the novice photographer. However, recent changes of in-camera processing allows digital fingerprinting of RAW photos to verify against tampering of digital photos for forensics use.
Camera phones, combined with sites like flickr, have lead to a new kind of social photography.
[edit] Modes of production
[edit] Amateur
An amateur photographer is one who practices photography as a hobby and not for profit. The quality of some amateur work is comparable or superior to that of many professionals and may be highly specialised or eclectic in its choice of subjects. Amateur photography is often pre-eminent in photographic subjects which have little prospect of commercial use or reward.
[edit] Commercial
Manual shutter control and exposure settings can achieve unusual results.
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. Wholesale, retail, and professional uses of photography would fall under this definition. The commercial photographic world could include:
* Advertising photography: photographs made to illustrate and usually sell a service or product. These images, such as packshots, are generally done with an , design firm or with an in-house corporate design team.
* Fashion and glamour photography: This type of photography usually incorporates models. Fashion photography emphasizes the clothes or product, glamour emphasizes the model. Glamour photography is popular in advertising and in men's magazines. Models in glamour photography may be nude, but this is not always the case.
* Crime Scene Photography: This type of photography consists of photographing scenes of crime such as robberies and murders. A black and white camera or an infrared camera may be used to capture specific details.
* Still life photography usually depicts inanimate subject matter, typically commonplace objects which may be either natural or man-made.
* Food photography can be used for editorial, packaging or advertising use. Food photography is similar to still life photography, but requires some special skills.
* Editorial photography: photographs made to illustrate a story or idea within the context of a magazine. These are usually assigned by the magazine.
* Photojournalism: this can be considered a subset of editorial photography. Photographs made in this context are accepted as a documentation of a news story.
* Portrait and wedding photography: photographs made and sold directly to the end user of the images.
* Landscape photography: photographs of different locations.
* Wildlife photography that demonstrates life of the animals.
* Photo sharing: publishing or transfer of a user's digital photos online.
* paparazzi
The market for photographic services demonstrates the aphorism "one picture is worth a thousand words," which has an interesting basis in the history of photography. Magazines and newspapers, companies putting up Web sites, advertising agencies and other groups pay for photography.
Many people take photographs for self-fulfillment or for commercial purposes. Organizations with a budget and a need for photography have several options: they can employ a photographer directly, organize a public competition, or obtain rights to stock photographs. Photo stock can be procured through traditional stock giants, such as Getty Images or Corbis; smaller microstock agencies, such as Fotolia; or web marketplaces, such as Cutcaster.
[edit] As an art form
Classic Alfred Stieglitz photograph, The Steerage shows unique aesthetic of black and white photos.
Modern photography has raised a number of concerns on its impact on society. The concept of the camera being a 'phallic' tool has been exemplified in a number of Hollywood productions. In Alfred Hitchcock's Rear Window (1954), the camera is presented as a promoter of voyeuristic inhibitions. 'Although the camera is an observation station, the act of photographing is more than passive observing' [Sontag Susan 1977: p 12]. Michal Powell's Peeping Tom (1960) portrays the camera as both sexual and sadistically violent technology that literally kills in this picture and at the same time captures images of the pain and anguish evident on the faces of the female victims.
"The camera doesn't rape or even possess, though it may presume, intrude, trespass, distort, exploit, and, at the farthest reach of metaphor, assasinate- all activities that, unike the sexual push and shove, can be conducted from a distance, and with some detachment" [Sontag Susan 1977: p 12]
Photography is one of the new media forms that changes perception and changes the structure of society (Levinson, 1997). Further unease has been caused around cameras in regards to desensitization. Fears that disturbing or explicit images are widely accessible to children and society at large have been raised. Particularly, photos of war and pornography are causing a stir. (Sontag). Sontag is concerned that �to photograph is to turn people into objects that can be symbolically possessed�. Desensitization discussion goes hand in hand with debates about censored images. Sontag writes of her concern that the ability to censor pictures means the photographer has the ability to construct reality.
[edit] Photography and the law
Main article: Photography and the law
Photography is both restricted and protected by the law in many jurisdictions. Protection of photographs is typically achieved through the granting of copyright or moral rights to the photographer.
[edit] See also
[edit] Technical principles
* Angle of view
* Aperture
* Color temperature
* Depth of field
* Depth of focus
* Digital versus film photography
* Double exposure
* Exposure
* F-number
* Film format
* Film speed
* Perspective distortion
* Photographic printing
* Photographic processes
* Pinhole camera
* Reciprocity (photography)
* Red-eye effect
* Rule of thirds
* Science of photography
* Shutter speed
* Zone System
[edit] Forms
* Architectural photography
* Candid photography
* Cloudscape photography
* Documentary photography
* Erotic photography
* Fashion photography
* Fine art photography
* Fire photography
* Forensic photography
* Food photography
* Glamour photography
* Head shot
* Landscape art
* Miksang (contemplative photography)
* Nature photography
* Nude photography
* Photojournalism
* Portrait photography
* Sports photography
* Still life photography
* Stock photography
* Street photography
* Travel photography
* Underwater photography
* Vernacular photography
* VR photography
* War photography
* Wedding photography
* Wildlife photography
[edit] Techniques
* Aerial Photography
* Astrophotography
* Bokeh
* Contre-jour
* Cross processing
* Cyanotype
* Digiscoping
* Film developing
* Full spectrum photography
* Harris Shutter
* High dynamic range imaging
* High speed photography
* Infrared photography
* Kinetic photography
* Kite aerial photography
* Lead room
* Light painting
* Lith-Print
* Macro photography
* Monochrome Photography
* Motion blur
* Night photography
* Panning
* Panoramic photography
* Photogram
* Photographic mosaic
* Photographic print toning
* Push printing
* Push processing
* Rephotography
* Rollout photography
* Sabatier Effect
* Schlieren photography
* Stereoscopy
* Sun printing
* Ultraviolet photography
* Tilted plane focus
* Time-lapse
* Zoom burst
[edit] Photographers and photographs
* List of photographers
* List of most expensive photographs
[edit] Historical
* Daguerreotype
* Timeline of photography technology
[edit] Cameras and related equipment
* Camera
* Camera Phone
* Color chart
* Digital camera
* Digital single-lens reflex camera
* Dry box
* Film
* Film base
* Film format
* Film holder
* Film scanner
* Film stock
* Filter
* Flash
* Gray card
* Lenses for SLR and DSLR cameras
* Monopod
* Movie projector
* Perspective control lens
* Photographic film
* Photographic lens
* Rangefinder camera
* Single-lens reflex camera
* Slide projector
* Still camera
* Toy camera
* Tripod
* Video camera
* View camera
* Zone plate
* List of photographic equipment makers
[edit] Basic concepts
* Camera obscura
* Composition in visual arts
* Diana camera
* Early photographers of York
* Gelatin-silver process
* Gum printing
* Hand-coloring
* Holography
* Kirlian photography
* Lomography
* Mourning portraits
* Negative
* North American Nature Photography Association
* Photograph
* Print permanence
* Vignetting
[edit] References and additional reading
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photography"
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Art
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This article is about the general concept of art. For the categories of different expressive disciplines, see The arts. For the arts that are visual in nature, see Visual arts. For other uses, see Art (disambiguation).
Pompeii, House VII, 2, 6: Paquius Proculus and his wife. National Archaeological Museum of Naples in Naples, Italy, 1st century fresco.
Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres, Le Bain turc (The Turkish baths), 1862
Vincent van Gogh, The Café Terrace on the Place du Forum, Arles, at Night, September 1888.Art is the process or product of deliberately arranging elements in a way that appeals to the senses or emotions. It encompasses a diverse range of human activities, creations, and modes of expression, including music and literature. The meaning of art is explored in a branch of philosophy known as Aesthetics.
The definition and evaluation of art has become especially problematic since the early 20th century. Richard Wollheim distinguishes three approaches: the Realist, whereby aesthetic quality is an absolute value independent of any human view; the Objectivist, whereby it is also an absolute value, but is dependent on general human experience; and the Relativist position, whereby it is not an absolute value, but depends on, and varies with, the human experience of different humans.[1] An object may be characterized by the intentions, or lack thereof, of its creator, regardless of its apparent purpose. A cup, which ostensibly can be used as a container, may be considered art if intended solely as an ornament, while a painting may be deemed craft if mass-produced.