Photography
Photography is the art and science of making images by recording light by means of a photographic film or an image sensor. The word photography comes from the Greek words “photos” meaning light and “graphe” which means drawing. To engage in photography, one must own a camera -- which is the image-forming device.
History of Photography
The first photograph was produced by French inventor Joseph Nicephore Niepce in 1826 but long before this was made, descriptions of a pinhole camera have already been made as early as the 5th and 4th centuries BC by Chinese philosopher Mo Ti and Greek mathematicians Aristotle and Euclid. Photography has become the result of different combined several techniques and discoveries before evolving to what is now known as modern photography.
The first photograph was produced on a polished pewter plate covered with a petroleum derivative called bitumen of Judea, which was then dissolved in white petroleum. The bitumen hardens with exposure to light and the unhardened portion is washed away, leaving a positive image with light regions of hard bitumen and dark regions of pewter.
The most famous type of monochrome photography was the Daguerrotype. Photographs created using the daguerre method take less time to develop as compared to the photographs created by Niepce which takes around eight hours for the image to expose. The Daguerrotype was a project created in conjuction with Louis Daguerre.
Most photographs were in monochrome until the introduction of color photography in the 19th century. The first color photograph was taken in 1861 by Scottish physicist James Clerk Maxwell. In 1884, George Eastman developed the use of film in place of plates in photography, which led to the process and materials used in film photography today. In 1969, the charged-couple device (CCD) was invented by Willard Boyle and George Smith and paved the way for digital photography.
Modern photography around the world
All photography was originally created in monochrome. Even until the time the colored photographs were developed, black-and-white photography still dominated the market due to its low cost and classic appeal. Many photographers still continue to use black-and-white photography; some full color digital images are even processed using different techniques to create black-and-white photos. Some manufacturers also produce cameras that exclusively shoot in monochrome.
With the advent of modern photography and the availability of many digital cameras, people from all around the world have become more engaged in capturing images and preserving moments. Photography is one way to document what is happening at a certain time, in a certain place, and it sure has been an easy way for people to preserve different moments for different purposes. Amateur photography has become popular with the advent of digital photography. Photography, like any other art form, serves as a major part of developing and preserving a country’s culture. Westerns have used photography as a means of expression as well as for other purposes. In Asia, leading the development of photography are Japan and Malaysia. Photography in Malaysia has become so popular that preserving captured memories through photographs have also been developed.
