Thursday, October 17, 2013

How Photography Has Changed Over the Past 200 Years


Taking pictures throughout one's life has been a part of American culture for over a hundred years now. The camera was first introduced in the United States in the early 1800s and was commercialized later in the century. From the time it was first put into the American market until now, the camera and the technology of the camera has changed significantly. Also, with the camera, the items that hold the photographs have changed significantly as well. For example, picture frame lighting is now available to highlight the photographs they hold and there is also such thing as a led picture light which really emphasizes the photograph. The art light is something which has most certainly changed with the technology that came with the modern day camera. However, it is the camera that has dictated these changes in the frames.

The first official camera was invented in 1814. The big, clunky machine was used to take still life pictures in black and white. The photographs almost always came out scratchy and faded looking, but for the time, this machine was very impressive. No one probably could have imagined how photography would have changed over the next 200 years.

The next big accomplishment in photography came with the introduction of color to the photographs in 1861. In fact, some photographs from the American Civil War can be found in color. It took awhile for color cameras to be readily available to the public, so for the next thirty years, color photographs were still a relatively new, revolutionary technology.

A change in the way photography was done happened when the disposable camera was invented. This camera enabled travelers to take inexpensive cameras on vacations without carrying a big, expensive one with them instead. Also, many of these disposable cameras were made to be waterproof, so people could take photographs underwater on a snorkeling or scuba diving trip.

Next in the photography world came the introduction of the digital camera. This made it so that photographs could be taken and then loaded into the computer to be sent to people via the internet or they could be sent to most drug stores to be developed at a specific time, usually set by the customer. This new technology revolutionized the way people stored and used their photographs.

Finally, today there have been many new additions to the camera technology. Cell phones now have a picture-taking capability to them. Also, there is such thing as high definition photographs, which makes the photograph even clearer than it already was before this digital technique. Probably the newest thing to the world of photography is the camera that has a view on both sides of it for those who do not want to have to rely on strangers to take a picture for them and their friends. With all of these advancements coming in shorter and shorter amounts of time, it will be interesting, in the upcoming decade, to see what other changes will be made in this market.

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