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The Photography Portal

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The first photograph was an image produced in 1826 by the French inventor Nicéphore Niépce on a polished pewter plate covered with a petroleum derivative called bitumen of Judea. But for centuries images had been projected onto surfaces - artists used the camera obscura and camera lucida to trace scenes as early as the 16th century. These early "cameras" did not fix an image, but only projected images from an opening in the wall of a darkened room onto a surface, turning the room into a large pinhole camera.

The advent of photography, from the Ancient Greek words φως phos ("light"), and γραφη graphê ("stylus", "paintbrush") or γραφω graphō (the verb, "I write/draw"), together meaning "drawing with light" or "representation by means of lines" or "drawing", has gained the interest of scientists and artists from its inception. Scientists have used photography to record and study movements, such as Eadweard Muybridge's study of human and animal locomotion (1887). Artists are equally interested in these aspects but also try to explore avenues other than the photo-mechanical representation of reality, such as the pictorialist movement. Military, police and security forces use photography for surveillance, recognition and data storage. Photography is used to preserve favorite memories and as a source of entertainment.

  

Selected picture

Snow crystals

Snow flakes highly magnified by a low-temperature scanning electron microscope (SEM). The colours are called "pseudo colours", they are computer generated and are a standard technique used with SEM images. Photo Credit: United States Department of Agriculture

  

Selected biography

Jacob Riis
Jacob August Riis (May 3, 1849 - May 26, 1914), a Danish-American muckraker journalist, photographer, and social reformer, was born in Ribe, Denmark. He is known for his dedication to using his photographic and journalistic talents to help the less fortunate in New York City, which was the subject of most of his prolific writings and photographic essays. As one of the first photographers to use flash, he is considered a pioneer in photography. [1]

Riis held various jobs before he landed a position as a police reporter in 1873 with the New York Evening Sun newspaper. In 1874, he joined the news bureau of the Brooklyn News. In 1877 he served as police reporter, this time for the New York Tribune. During these stints as a police reporter, Riis worked the most crime-ridden and impoverished slums of the city.[2] Through his own experiences in the poor houses, and witnessing the conditions of the poor in the city slums, he decided to make a difference for those who had no voice.[1] He was one of the first Americans to use flash powder, allowing his documentation of New York City slums to penetrate the dark of night, and helping him capture the hardships faced by the poor and criminal along his police beats, especially on the notorious Mulberry Street. In 1889, Scribner's Magazine published Riis's photographic essay on city life, which Riis later expanded to create his magnum opus How the Other Half Lives.[3] This work was directly responsible for convincing then-Commissioner of Police Theodore Roosevelt to close the police-run poor houses in which Riis suffered during his first months as an American. After reading it, Roosevelt was so deeply moved by Riis's sense of justice that he met Riis and befriended him for life, calling him "the best American I ever knew."[3] Roosevelt himself coined the term "muckraking journalism", of which Riis is a recognized protagonist, in 1906.[2]

  

Did you know

  • ...that the first real zoom lens, which retained near-sharp focus while the effective focal length of the lens assembly was changed, was patented in 1902 by Clile. C. Allen (U.S. Patent 696,788 )?
  

Quotes

Photography is a reality so subtle that it becomes more real than reality.
  

Selected article

Zoom lens
A zoom lens is a mechanical assembly of lens elements with the ability to vary its focal length, as opposed to a prime lens which has a fixed focal length. They are commonly used with still, video, and motion picture cameras, some binoculars and telescopes, and other optical instruments.

The first real zoom lens, which retained near-sharp focus while the effective focal length of the lens assembly was changed, was patented in 1902 by Clile. C. Allen (U.S. Patent 696,788 ). The first industrial production was the Bell and Howell Cooke "Varo" 40-120mm Lens for 35mm movie cameras introduced in 1932. The Kilfitt 36-82mm/2.8 Zoomar introduced in 1959 was the first zoom lens in regular production for still 35mm photography.

Since then, advances in optical design, particularly the use of computers for optical ray tracing, has made the design and construction of zoom lenses much easier, and they are now used widely in professional and amateur photography.

  

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Photography Topics

Concepts and Principles Photography forms Photography techniques
Camera and photography equipment Miscellaneous Photographers and photographs
  

Categories

Genres of photography Aerial photography | Astrophotography | Aviation photography | Candid photography | Chronophotography | Color photography | Commercial photography | Computational photography (artistic) | Fashion photography | Fine art photography | Glamour photography | Infrared photography | Kirlian photography | Kite aerial photography | Macro photography | Nature photography | New Topography | Night photography | Non-nude photography | Panoramic photography | Portrait photography | Post-mortem photography | Rollout photography | Secret photography | Still life photography | Stock photography | Straight photography | Street photography | Strip aerial photography | Subminiature photography | Ultraviolet photography | Underwater photography | Vernacular photography | War photography | Wedding photography | Wildlife photography
Photographic techniques Airbrush | Background light | Backlighting (lighting design) | Bracketing | Burned (image) | Chemography | Color correction | Composograph | Contre-jour | Deep focus | Digiscoping | Digiscopy birding | Double exposure | Dutch angle | Exposure compensation | Fill flash | Fill light | Framing | Hand-colouring | Harris Shutter | High dynamic range imaging | High-key lighting | Infinity cove | Kallitype | Key light | Kite aerial photography | Lenticular printing | Light painting | Manual focus | Multiple exposure | Perspective correction | Photo manipulation | Photogram | Photographic print toning | Push printing | Push processing | Rephotography | Rule of thirds | Sandwich printing | Shallow focus | Simplicity | Slit-scan photography | Stereoscopy | Stopping down | Sunny 16 rule | Three-point lighting | Tinted photograph | Zone system
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