Photography history

Photography is the science art application and practice of creating durable images by recording light or other electromagnetic radiation either electronically by means of an image sensor or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film.

Lens is used to focus the light

Typically a lens is used to focus the light reflected or emitted from objects into a real image on the light-sensitive surface inside a camera during a timed exposure. With an electronic image sensor this produces an electrical charge at each pixel which is electronically processed and stored in a digital image file for subsequent display or processing.

The result with photographic emulsion is an invisible latent image which is later chemically “developed” into a visible image either negative or positive depending on the purpose of the photographic material and the method of processing. A negative image on film is traditionally used to photographically create a positive image on a paper base known as a print either by using an enlarger or by contact printing.

Photography is employed in many fields

Photography is employed in many fields of science and business as well as its more direct uses for art film and video production recreational purposes hobby and mass communication.

Documentary Photography

Photography can be used as a mechanism of expression of space organization, perceptions and sensations. With the advent of the camera, architecture was able to documented with extreme precision.

This type of documentation was defined by the author André Rouillé. Rouillé defined documentary photography, in the context of the 19th century, as the record strictly truthful of the reality. It is a mechanism that archives, informs, organize, fragment and unifies. Symbolizes the passage of the imprecision of the manual action of men towards the exact record of reality by an instrument.

Commercial photography

Photography for which the photographer is paid

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
  • Fashion and glamour photography
  • Concert Photography
  • Crime scene photography
  • Still life photography
  • Food photography
  • Photojournalism
  • Portrait and wedding photography
  • Landscape photography
  • Wildlife photography
  • Paparazzi photography
  • Pet photography

The aesthetics of photography

The aesthetics of photography is a matter that continues to be discussed regularly especially in artistic circles. Many artists argued that photography was the mechanical reproduction of an image. If photography is authentically art then photography in the context of art would need redefinition such as determining what component of a photograph makes it beautiful to the viewer.

Image editing

Process of altering images

Image editing encompasses the processes of altering images whether they are digital photographs traditional photochemical photographs or illustrations. Traditional analog image editing is known as photo retouching using tools such as an airbrush to modify photographs or editing illustrations with any traditional art medium.

Graphic software programs

Graphic software programs which can be broadly grouped into vector graphics editors raster graphics editors and 3D modelers are the primary tools with which a user may manipulate enhance and transform images. Many image editing programs are also used to render or create computer art from scratch.