Pre-History Notes

In 1839, photography was officially introduced to the world.  Although people were able to see ghostly photographic shadows before the 19th century, they were unable to permanently fix these images on to a solid surface.  By the mid 19th century, society was ready for realistic representations of the world.  The invention of photography revolutionized daily life.  Today, doctors, athletes, scientists, investigators, artists, anthropologists, advertisers, and journalists (to name only a few) rely on the medium for information and publicity.  

The illustration above pictures a camera obscura, which literally means in Latin, "dark chamber."  Originally, the camera was a light-tight, four-walled room with a small, circular opening (or aperture).  An upside-down image of the world in front of the hole was cast on to the far wall.  The earliest known written evidence of such images dates from 350 BCE when Aristotle made observations on an eclipse.

In 1558, Giovanni Battista della Porta (pictured above) published Natural Magic.  In his book, he argued that the camera obscura would become useful to draftsmen and artists who sought realistic depictions of perspective space.

(Replica of Fox Talbot's Camera Obscura)

In 1676, Johann Christoph Sturm incorporated a 45 degree angle mirror into the camera design.  The mirror corrected image reversal and reflected the image on to a horizontal glass surface.

In the late 1600s, an adjustable aperture was added to the camera obscura to control image sharpness and brightness.  The lens was fitted in an adjustable tube for focus control.

In the early 18th century, Johann Heinrich Schultz discovered that certain silver salts, most notable silver chloride and silver nitrate, darkened in the presence of light.  

Friedrich Risner described the first transportable camera obscura as a light, wooden "hut" that could be moved to suite desired scenes.  The camera obscura evolved rapidly from moveable rooms to portable tents.  By the end of the 18th century, small, hand-held camera obscuras became popular.

In 1807, William Hyde Wollaston introduced the camera lucida (pictured above), an optical device designed specifically for renderers who wanted to create true-to-life drawings.  The camera lucida consisted of an extendable telescopic tube in three pieces, with a 45 degree prism and sighting lens.  The camera lucida quickly gained popularity.

Click here to learn more about the camera lucida.

In the 1790s, Thomas Wedgwood experimented with silver chloride and the camera obscura.  Initially, his experiments grew out of his desire to make faithful art reproductions.  He successfully created faint, weak images, but they could only be viewed for short intervals in dimly lit rooms.  Otherwise, they would turn to black.  Although Wedgwood came close to discovering modern-day photography he was unabvle to resolve the issue of permanence.