It is a widely known fact that making photos is a growing hobby nowadays since it freezes the valuable moments of people’s lives which are unique and pass quite unnoticeably. Without doubt, photography enables people to jump into the past for a minute to recall the moments and experience the same unique emotions while observing the old photos. Judging from this fact, photos play an integral part in people’s lives, thus the modern technologies of making photos are developing at an unprecedented rate. However, it still makes sense to investigate the evolution of photography and define which factors contributed to such great popularity of photography. That is why, the primary aims of the paper are to explore how photography appeared, what technological advances have been made and how modern photography looks like nowadays.
To begin with, it should be noted that people did not know the principles of how the photographs could be made since they were not aware of this phenomenon at all. Though, the invention of photography has been made and laid a foundation for further development of such an art. In fact, the inventor of photography who has made a first photo was Joseph Nicephore Niepce in 1826. It is worth mentioning that the image taken depicted the view from an upstair’s window at Niepce’s estate (John Werge, 2015) Though, his process needed eight hours of exposure to light and, eventually, the picture was fuzzy. Nevertheless, the great contribution to the development of photography has been made that is why there should be given credit to Joseph Nicephore Niepce.
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"Evolution of Photography".
Besides, it is important to underline that Joseph Niepce has made his first photo with the help of the so-called camera obscura which was invented by Alhazen in the Middle Ages. However, the camera obscura was used before but only for viewing or drawing purposes that is why Joseph Niepce showed people another ways of implementation of camera obscura ( Gerry Badger ,2007). Still, it is significant to state that camera obscura enabled to obseve the image only in real time that is why the artists traced the image by hand inside the camera to record it permanently. As a result, it should be stated that the first camera was camera obscura which laid a foundation for further development of new models of cameras which are available nowadays.
In addition, it goes without saying that the process of making photos has been changed due to various technological advances which are beneficial for society. The changes made in the field of making photos determine the quality of the photography in general that is why the investigation of technological advances is crucial. In particular, there were invented different types of lenses which help capture sharp and detailed photos( Robert Hirsch, 2017). In the past, the optical construction of lenses was not that perfect but nowadays the construction of them became advanced. Also, another technological advance that broke little new ground was the invention of digital camera which has almost replaced the conventional one. In brief, a digital camera shoots video and gives an instant access to different social networks where people may share their photos as well as videos.
Furthermore, editing software is at the peak of its popularity nowadays since different photo-editing programs allow to make the photo perfect by removing red eyes, adding contrast, changing the color of the eyes , adding the professional effects etc. In fact, editing software’s popularity will definitely grow even faster since more and more people use social networks and want their photos to be perfect in their profiles. In general, the above-mentioned technological advances are the most crucial as they allow to make the photos of decent quality as well as share them instantly.
Also, I would like to point out some styles in photography which were changing in the course of history. For instance, black and white photography style is a classic one and did not undergo significant changes but nowadays there is used more contrast to make the photos realistic ones. Besides, underwater photography was not used in the past since the cameras were not waterproof but nowadays such photos are at an advantage as they are easy to be made. In addition, HDR photography is another photography style which is unique since it brings out amazing contrast to the photos. In the past, people were not familiar with such a style. Eventually, some styles in photography have undergone some changes due to the technological advances and improvements in photo industry.
As to modern photography, it should be mentioned that it has become a new set of trends that differ from the photography of the past times. Nowadays photographers turn to making pictures on the streets, in urban environments and natural landscapes (Margaret Vallencourt, 2015). The so-called subject photos are also popular in case there is minimalism on the photo. Also, the pictures of food is a new trend in photo industry which is really brand new. Generally speaking, the modern photos reflect reality, minimalism, details and are considered to be of pretty decent quality since the modern cameras enable people to achieve a desired result.
To sum up, it is important to underline that the evolution of photography was gradual and only constant technological advances contributed to the great development of photography in the 21st century. Different photographers, including Joseph Niepce, have made a great contribution to photo industry since their invention is considered to be a base for the development of photography in the future. All in all, modern photography experience prosperity due to the technological advances as well as scientists’ contribution to the photography on the whole.
- Badger Gerry.( 2007). The Genius of Photography: How Photography Has Changed Our Lives. Quadrille, 11-13.
- Hirsch Robert. (2017). Seizing The Light :A Social Aesthetic History of Photography. Taylor& Francis, 42-43.
- Vallencourt Margaret.( 2015). The History of Photography. Encyclopaedia Britannica, 20-23.
- Werge John. (2015). Evolution of Photography. CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 87-89.
