River Market ArtSpace

How'd They Do That? -- Photography

Photography had its earliest beginnings with the Camera Obscura, which was basically a darkened room with an inverted image projected on a wall opposite a pinhole. A bit later a lens filled the hole. In the early 1800's photosensitive paper came into use. The first images demanded a great deal of patience on the part of both photographer and subject, since long exposures were necessary to produce a picture on slow emulsions. In many of the older portraits you will notice movement since it was hard for people to hold still that long. The earliest processes produced images utilizing various chemicals on copper, glass, and tin. By the middle 1800's positive images on glass and metal were gaining popularity in portrait studios. Around 1860 color photography began to evolve. Just before the turn of the century, Kodak introduced roll film, and in 1900, the "Brownie" camera. Various sizes and shapes of cameras and film have been used since that period, with a resulting dramatic improvement in quality and ease of use. Now we are in the era of the digital image, where photographers are recording images on discs, and printing them using pigmented inks. Photography is still a means for an artist to record a moment of personal vision, the tools have merely changed with the times.

Basic photography begins with two things - composition and exposure. Composition is the creative or artistic bit where you arrange all of the elements of your picture within the frame or viewfinder to produce what should hopefully be a pleasing composition. Expose is the scientific and mechanical bit where you expose your film to light through the lens of your camera and preserve the image for posterity.

Modern cameras, especially digital cameras, make life easy. For example, photographers no longer have to be able to look at the light levels and make a judgment of the exposure needed based on their experience. Light meters have been around for a long time, and have long been built into cameras. Automatic exposure means that photographers don't even need to think about exposure if they don't want to - at least most of the time.

Advances in camera design both require some new skills from photographers and create new opportunities. Digital is now replacing film for most applications, and its use is increasing rapidly, providing new challenges. And, as our own Jim Mayfield can attest, darkrooms have moved from the dark chemical laden room to the computer keyboard!