History of Lens Based Image Making- The Camera Obscura

History of Lens Based Image Making

Photography took many years and many different people, from around the world, to develop into a substantial process.

The Camera Obscura

 

 

Aristotle, a Greek philosopher (4BC), found that a sunbeam shining through a small hole in a darkroom’s wall, would project an image (of the view outside the hole) onto a surface. The image is exactly to scale, and includes all of the same colors, but is upside down.

Glasses were a crucial invention, and are known to have been invented during the 1300s. Russian inventor Lomonosov then developed optics (such as fast lenses) from the technology discovered through the invention of glasses. This led to biconvex lenses being used in miniaturised camera obscuras (which were around 1m long). These smaller camera obscuras were used to trace real life objects- the picture was projected onto semi-transparent paper or opal glass at the back, through from the biconvex lens at the front. Mirrors could be positioned within the device to turn the image the right way up (as it was projected upside-down).

 Russian chemist Bestuzhev-Rjumin (1693-1766), and German anatomist J.H. Schulze (1687-1744) discovered how to transform an optical pattern (e.g. one on a camera obscura) into a chemical process in a light-sensitive layer. Whilst developing treatments in 1725, the pair noticed how iron salt solutions change colour when exposed to sunlight- marking the start of their photography experimentation.

It wasn’t until the beginning of the 19^th century when scientists began intentionally working on chemical fixing of a camera obscura light image. Joseph Nicephore Niepce (1765 - 1833) and Louis Jacques Mande Daugerre (1787 - 1851) of France, aswell as Englishman William Fox Talbot (1800 - 1877), are the scientists known as obtaining the best results from these early developments, and are therefore recognised as the inventors of photography. The year of photography invention is considered to be 1839- where a photograph of a man in Paris was produced by Louis Daugerre (however there was no negative- meaning very few copies were produced).

Camera Obscura Diagrams and Pictures:

 

 

A drawing of a camera obscura, possibly comparable to one found during the 1300s.

 

Four Drawings representing Campo San Giovanni e Paolo in Venice. Produced by Canaletto, obtained using a camera obscura.

 An image of a modern-day camera obscura.

By the 18^th century, smaller, more portable camera obscuras became available (around the size of a book). This made it easier for amateur artists to use them while on their travels.