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A Brief History of Photography

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Foundations of Photography

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Abstract

The origins of photography in its current form can be traced back to the early 19th century, with the first permanent photographic recordings. Sir John Frederick William Herschel is credited for naming this n , combining the Greek words φως+φλογιστόν, demoting to inscribe, to write or to draw with light; he is also credited for the words negative and positive in photography. Evidence suggests that the history of photography is not at all a brief one, but this chapter focuses on presenting a concise account of the major developments that led to modern photography. Apparently, this history is still being written, and the presentation in this chapter is just an account of milestones. As more and more advanced light capturing devices become available in various forms and technologies for a wide range of purposes, nowadays, imaging devices acquire and process digital images, which are collections of discrete-time, discrete-space and intensity-quantised samples of the amount of light detected.

Plato, The Republic

\(^{b}\)And above all, such people would not believe anything real, except only those shadows.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    This figure is based on Fig. 3 of Hermann Wilhelm Vogel’s 1875 The Chemistry of Light and Photography.

  2. 2.

    Matt Gatton maintains a website dedicated to what is called archaeo-optics at http://paleo-camera.com (last accessed March 2022).

  3. 3.

    See Aaron Watsons’ archaeo-optics website at https://www.aaronwatson.co.uk/archaeooptics-overview (last accessed March 2022), and also Matt Gatton’s site.

  4. 4.

    The original text with an English translation can be found online in the Chinese Text Project page at https://ctext.org/mozi (last accessed March 2022).

  5. 5.

      .

  6. 6.

    Alhazen used the term  (Al-Bayt al-Muthlim), which translates to dark room.

  7. 7.

    See for example in https://bit.ly/3qN9nY5 (last accessed March 2022) and https://bit.ly/3wOuRVa (last accessed March 2022).

  8. 8.

    This figure is based on the Public Domain figure attributed to the Welcome Collection, which was downloaded from https://bit.ly/30Pq2PO (last accessed March 2022). Nicaise le Fèvre (1610–1669), a.k.a. Nicasius or Nicolas le Febure or le Fevre, was a French chemist and alchemist.

  9. 9.

    Here, vegetation relates to the crystalline structure of plants growing out of salt solutions.

  10. 10.

    Like the etymology of phosphorus (φως, phōs, light + -φόρος, -phoros, -bringer), scotophorus comes from the Greek σκότος, skotos, darkness + -φόρος, -phoros -bringer.

  11. 11.

    See Scheele (1780) for an English edition, Scheele (1781) for a French edition, and Scheele (1894) for a German edition of Scheele’s dissertation.

  12. 12.

    This figure was based on the public domain Wikimedia file at https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:ScheeleRoyalSwdAcadChemObservatnsAir%26Fire.jpg (last accessed March 2022).

  13. 13.

    The phlogiston theory hypothesised the existence of a fire-like element called phlogiston (from the Greek φλογιστόν, flammable), contained within combustible bodies and released during combustion. This theory led to experiments that concluded with the discovery of oxygen.

  14. 14.

    The thermoelectric effect is the direct conversion of temperature differences to electric voltage and vice versa.

  15. 15.

    A fundus is a part of a hollow object (particularly an organ) that is furthest from the opening. In the context of vision, a fundus image of the eye shows the retina, the part of the eye that is opposite to the opening, the pupil.

  16. 16.

    Also in subsequent smaller treatises like Ueber die Theorie der zusammengesetzten Farben (On the Theory of Compound Colours) and The recent progress of the theory of vision (von Helmholtz, 1852a, b, 1885).

  17. 17.

    The Niépce brothers in 1807 invented and patented the Pyréolophore, the world’s first internal combustion engine that was actually built and applied to a river boat; ten years later, they were the first to develop a fuel injection system and made an engine work with it.

  18. 18.

    As Hunt (1854) pointed out, heliography (sun-drawing) would be a more appropriate name than photography, since it was still a problem in that era, whether light, or some agent associated with light (like the sun-helios), is active in producing the chemical changes we are considering.

  19. 19.

    This is a composite image based on two Public Domain Wikipedia photos (a) https://bit.ly/3wGTtzh (last accessed March 2022) and (b) https://bit.ly/3oqNx9E (last accessed March 2022). The two images where superimposed and slightly coloured to match the appearance of the original exhibited at the Harry Ransom Center, the University of Texas, https://www.hrc.utexas.edu/niepce-heliograph/ (last accessed March 2022).

  20. 20.

    The principle and do-it-yourself information can be found at the website of the Maison Nicéphore Niépce museum of photography, at https://photo-museum.org/niepce-invention-photography/ (last accessed March 2022).

  21. 21.

    It is considered that the term panorama was coined around 1792 by painter Robert Barker (1739–1806), from the Greek παν (all) and όραμα (view). Barker used this term to describe his paintings of Edinburgh, displayed on a cylindrical surface.

  22. 22.

    Charles Chevalier (1804–1859), was a French optician who built the first daguerreotype lenses.

  23. 23.

    In the photography terminology, development is the chemical process by which the initially invisible effect of light on a photosensitive material becomes visible.

  24. 24.

    Here, fixing is used to denote that the material was made insensitive to further exposure to light, thus no alteration of the formed image could occur.

  25. 25.

    This figure is based on the Public Domain Wikipedia file at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Daguerreotype_Daguerre_Atelier_1837.jpg (last accessed March 2022).

  26. 26.

    This figure is based on the Public Domain Wikipedia file at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Boulevard_du_Temple_by_Daguerre_(unmirrored).jpg (last accessed March 2022).

  27. 27.

    Library of Congress, online at https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2004664400/ (last accessed March 2022).

  28. 28.

    Europeana, online at https://www.europeana.eu/en/item/2058401/_providedCHO_f8077e99_2b64_8dd9_720d_a4f104be55a4 (last accessed March 2022).

  29. 29.

    Library of Congress, online at https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2004664419/ (last accessed March 2022).

  30. 30.

    Library of Congress, online at https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2004664346/ (last accessed March 2022).

  31. 31.

    Europeana, online at https://www.europeana.eu/en/item/2058401/_providedCHO_efc107f1_a8c6_4439_16a4_2b1f1ef3aa40 (last accessed March 2022).

  32. 32.

    Europeana, online at https://www.europeana.eu/en/item/2058401/_providedCHO_0029253f_3b38_0559_0f56_24f14e7343df (last accessed March 2022).

  33. 33.

    This figure is based on the Public Domain lithograph 84.XP.983.28 at the J. Paul Getty Museum, Gift of Samuel J. Wagstaff, Jr., online at https://www.getty.edu/art/collection/objects/46529/theodore-maurisset-la-daguerreotypomanie-daguerreotypomania-french-december-1839/ (last accessed March 2022).

  34. 34.

    Although the principles of camera lucida were known since Kepler, it was William Hyde Wollaston (1766–1828) who patented it, as his invention, in 1807.

  35. 35.

    This figure is an enhanced and processed version made by the Public Domain figure available in various sources.

  36. 36.

    This figure is an enhanced and processed version of the figure in Dollond et al. (1830).

  37. 37.

    This figure is a processed version of the Public Domain image, exhibited online at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/282004 (last accessed March 2022).

  38. 38.

    All works presented here are Public Domain.

  39. 39.

    This is a composite of the negative photo found as a Public Domain Wikipedia picture at https://bit.ly/3kx8Fdf (last accessed March 2022), on the left, and the corresponding positive, on the right.

  40. 40.

    From the Greek φυτο- (phyto-) the plant and -τυπία (-typia, -type).

  41. 41.

    From the Greek - (antho-) the flower and -τυπία (-typia, -type).

  42. 42.

    This is a processed picture based on the photo exhibited by the History of Science Museum, Inventory number 31765, online at https://www.mhs.ox.ac.uk/collections/imu-search-page/record-details/?TitInventoryNo=31765 (last accessed March 2022).

  43. 43.

    This picture is based on the Public Domain Wikipedia picture https://bit.ly/3HdQh2W originating in the New York Public Library Digital Collections at https://on.nypl.org/3CaRFj2 (last accessed March 2022).

  44. 44.

    The terms is a combination of the Greek (chryso-) gold, and τύπος/τυπία (typia) type.

  45. 45.

    This is a processed part of the exhibit found at the Google Arts and Culture Institute, of Herschel’s experimental prints featuring a contact copies of engravings, dated 1840, owned by he Royal Society London.

  46. 46.

    This is a processed part of the Experimental photogenic drawing (chrysotype) by Sir John Herschel, c.1842, a contact copy of an engraving, Inventory number 21518, History of Science Museum.

  47. 47.

    It has been suggested that Herschel was outrun in coining the term by H’ercules Florence (1804–1879) who has supposedly independently invented photography in Brazil and coined the term photographie (French) in 1834, although he never published formally for this invention and terminology (Kossoy 2004).

  48. 48.

    Collodion is a flammable, syrupy solution of nitrocellulose \(\big (\text {C}_{6}\text {H}_{7}\text {O}_{2}(\text {ONO}_{2})_{3}(\text {Tri}_{\text {n}}\text {itrat})\big )\) in ether \(\big ((\text {C}_{2}\text {H}_{5})_{2}\text {O}\big )\) and alcohol \((\text {C}_{2}\text {H}_{5}\text {OH})\). There is flexible collodion, typically used in surgery, and non-flexible collodion, often used in theatrical make-up.

  49. 49.

    The text of this publication can be found online at http://www.samackenna.co.uk/fsa/thechemist.html (last accessed March 2022).

  50. 50.

    Frederick Scott Archer, [Castle], about 1851, Albumen silver print, 16.3 \(\times \) 21.8 cm (6 7/16 \(\times \) 8 9/16 in.), 84.XP.1006.2, The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, online at http://www.getty.edu/art/collection/objects/46989/frederick-scott-archer-castle-british-about-1851/ (last accessed March 2022).

  51. 51.

    Left: Frederick Scott Archer, [Castle, Kenilworth], 1851, Albumen silver print, 23 \(\times \) 18 cm (9 1/16 \(\times \) 7 1/16 in.), 84.XP.1006.5, The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, online at http://www.getty.edu/art/collection/objects/46988/frederick-scott-archer-the-grand-entrance-kenilworth-british-1851/?dz=0.5000,0.5000,0.63 (last accessed March 2022). Right: Frederick Scott Archer, [The Grand Entrance, Kenilworth], 1851, Albumen silver print, 23 \(\times \) 18 cm (9 1/16 \(\times \) 7 1/16 in.), 84.XP.1006.1, The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, online at http://www.getty.edu/art/collection/objects/46992/frederick-scott-archer-castle-kenilworth-british-1851/ (last accessed March 2022).

  52. 52.

    Both photographs are provided as Public Domain by the Rijksmuseum at https://www.rijksmuseum.nl/en/collection/RP-F-F80368 (last accessed March 2022) and https://www.rijksmuseum.nl/en/collection/RP-F-AB12280-M (last accessed March 2022) respectively.

  53. 53.

    This figure is based on the Public Domain photograph at the Nordiska museet, online at https://digitaltmuseum.se/011013850387/portratt-av-man-sittande-med-vanstra-handen-stucken-inannfor-rocken-ambrotyp (last accessed March 2022).

  54. 54.

    This figure is based on the Public Domain photograph available online at https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:1860_Anonyme_Un_vétéran_et_sa_femme_Ambrotype.jpg (last accessed March 2022).

  55. 55.

    This figure is based on the Public Domain negative wet collodion negative owned by the Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales and found online at https://digital.sl.nsw.gov.au/delivery/DeliveryManagerServlet?embedded=true &toolbar=false &dps_pid=FL9207437 (last accessed March 2022).

  56. 56.

    More on Le Gray in the following sections.

  57. 57.

    Combination printing is the photographic technique of using two or more negatives for the creation of a single image, using a blending approach. This was a rather useful method to tackle high dynamic range scenes, in which parts of the scene might be under- and other parts over-exposed. By careful planning of the exposure, the photographer could capture the photographs needed to make the envisioned composite image.

  58. 58.

    These figures are based on the corresponding Public Domain photographs exhibited at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, online at https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/285467 (last accessed March 2022), https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/265065 (last accessed March 2022), https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/261941 (last accessed March 2022), https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/306320 (last accessed March 2022), https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/284986 (last accessed March 2022).

  59. 59.

    As described in the Encyclopædia Britannica’s corresponding lemma (https://www.britannica.com/technology/gelatin-process (last accessed March 2022)), gelatine is still the standard binding medium for the silver halide crystals used in ordinary photographic film.

  60. 60.

    These figures are based on the Public Domain photographs exhibited at the Museum of New Zealand, Te Papa Tongarewa Website, online at https://collections.tepapa.govt.nz/category/314538 (last accessed March 2022).

  61. 61.

    Thermoplastic, or thermosoft plastic, is a plastic polymer material, which when heated softens and becomes pliable or even mouldable, while being solid in normal temperature conditions. Celluloid represents a family of materials, which are produced by mixing nitrocellulose and camphor \((\text {C}_{10}\text {H}_{16}\text {O})\), a source of various common materials and crucial for the development of the photographic film.

  62. 62.

    A collection of the 1862 Parkes’ parkesine objects can be found at the Website of the Science Museum Group Collection, at https://collection.sciencemuseumgroup.org.uk/search/objects/makers/alexander%20parkes/date[from]/1862/date[to]/1862?q=parkesine (last accessed March 2022).

  63. 63.

    This composite figure is based on Public Domain photos retrieved from the Library of Congress, at https://www.loc.gov/item/2002722872/ (last accessed March 2022) and https://www.loc.gov/item/2005675917/ (last accessed March 2022) respectively, belonging to the collection Stereographs made under the auspices of the Union Pacific rail road company on the Excursion to the 100th meridian, October, 1866.

  64. 64.

    William Kennedy Dickson (1860–1935) was a Scottish inventor, the creator of the Kinetoscope, during his employment by Thomas Edison.

  65. 65.

    The Kinetoscope was an early motion-picture device with the capability to present motion pictures to a single individual spectator; although not a projection device, it set the basic principles for all cinematic projection.

  66. 66.

    It has been suggested that the work Kodak has no particular meaning, and Eastman coined it to represent a strong, uncommon, memorable name.

  67. 67.

    Painter, U. H., photographer. (1889) Waffle vendor near U.S. Treasury, Washington, D.C. [Photograph] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/2002723170/ (last accessed March 2022).

  68. 68.

    Painter, U. H., photographer. (1889) Franklin Square, Washington, D.C., snow view. [Photograph] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/90712663/ (last accessed March 2022).

  69. 69.

    Left: Painter, U. H., photographer. (1889) Two boys on horses at corner of 14th St. and I St. N.W., Washington, D.C. View looking east on I St. [Photograph] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/90712665/ (last accessed March 2022). Right: Painter, U. H., photographer. (1889) Market scene, Washington, D.C., snow view. [Photograph] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/90712666/ (last accessed March 2022).

  70. 70.

    Photographische Mitteilungen or Photographic Communications was a leading technical journal founded by Vogel in 1864, which he edited until his death. For those interested, the 1868 whole fourth year edition, covering issues 37–48, can be accessed online at https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_SnRKAAAAYAAJ (last accessed March 2022).

  71. 71.

    Paul Elter’s article can be accessed online at http://www.elter.ca/alizarin/2021/12/7/maxwells-first-colour-photograph-part-one (last accessed March 2022).

  72. 72.

    Creation of this composite image was based on the following process: (a) the three channel images were downloaded from Paul Elter’s article at http://www.elter.ca/alizarin/2021/12/7/ebkt9istvpqp3bnhzk3sn5q1l78wvg (last accessed March 2022); (b) the channel images, which are actually colour images, where converted to the HSV colour space representation, and the third channel-V was only selected, as this channel represents the brightness in the images; (c) the three channels were combined to create a new colour image.

  73. 73.

    Museums Victoria Collections, https://collections.museumsvictoria.com.au/items/407437 (last accessed March 2022).

  74. 74.

    Single lens for using just one and the same lens for focusing, composition and exposure, and reflex (from reflection) for using a mirror to reflect the incoming light to the viewfinder during composition.

  75. 75.

    Based on the Greek ήλιος for helios, the sun and χρώμα for chroma, the colour.

  76. 76.

    This figure is an adaptation of the Public Domain Wikipedia photograph published online at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Duhauron1877.jpg (last accessed March 2022).

  77. 77.

    Several sources refer to this invention, which appears to have been filed for a patent concurrently with Edison’s phonograph. Cros, unlike Edison, did not complement his idea with drawings or a prototype, and never really implemented it. Initially he did not even have a name for the invention, which he eventually named the paléophone, from the Greek παλαιό- paleo- (old, ancient) and -φωνη -phon (voice).

  78. 78.

    Eder (1945) also informs about the story behind those developments. Cros’ 1867 letter to the Academy of sciences contained a report of his experiments, but provided no details of the process, which Cros kept as a secret. He was, eventually, ‘forced’ to disclose the details after du Hauron patented his process in 1868 and published his first articles on the subject in the beginning of 1869.

  79. 79.

    Cros coated a glass plate with bichromated gelatine, exposed under a glass diapositive, washed with water, and soaked the coating with suitable dye solutions, which were absorbed only in the non-exposed parts, thus he obtained diapositives in colour, which he called hydrotypes (Eder, 1945).

  80. 80.

    The Nobel Prize in Physics 1908, https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/1908/summary/ (last accessed March 2022).

  81. 81.

    Gabriel Lippmann, December 14, 1908, Nobel Lecture, available online at https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/1908/lippmann/lecture/ (last accessed March 2022).

  82. 82.

    Light field cameras (or plenoptic cameras), are devices that capture not only the intensity of light, like ordinary cameras, but also the direction that the light rays are travelling in space.

  83. 83.

    Lenticular printing is a process that uses lenticular lenses, arrays of lenses, meant to be viewed from slightly different angles, to produce the effect of parallax or motion.

  84. 84.

    The source of the text is the National Science and Media Museum 2009 article History of the Autochrome: the Dawn of Colour Photography, online at https://blog.scienceandmediamuseum.org.uk/autochromes-the-dawn-of-colour-photography/ (last accessed March 2022).

  85. 85.

    Based on the Public Domain photograph exhibited online at http://www.getty.edu/art/collection/objects/62792/alfred-stieglitz-kitty-stieglitz-american-1907/ (last accessed March 2022).

  86. 86.

    Based on the Public Domain photograph exhibited online at https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/270349 (last accessed March 2022).

  87. 87.

    Based on the Public Domain photograph exhibited online at https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/270350 (last accessed March 2022).

  88. 88.

    Based on the Public Domain photograph exhibited online at https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/270348 (last accessed March 2022).

  89. 89.

    Based on the Public Domain photograph exhibited online at https://digitaltmuseum.se/021016633463/ (last accessed March 2022).

  90. 90.

    Based on the Public Domain photograph exhibited online at https://digitaltmuseum.se/021016633324 (last accessed March 2022).

  91. 91.

    Based on the Public Domain photograph exhibited online at https://digitaltmuseum.se/021016633584 (last accessed March 2022).

  92. 92.

    Based on the Public Domain photograph, online at https://picryl.com/media/mervyn-ogorman-color-photography-454211 (last accessed March 2022).

  93. 93.

    Based on the Public Domain photograph, online at https://picryl.com/media/mervyn-ogorman-color-photography-c0bfed (last accessed March 2022).

  94. 94.

    See for example the article about Christina at https://blog.scienceandmediamuseum.org.uk/christina-mervyn-o-gorman-1913-photograph-girl-in-red/ (last accessed March 2022) and at https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-3066019/Who-lady-red-Mystery-young-woman-cascading-blonde-hair-earliest-colour-photos.html (last accessed March 2022).

  95. 95.

    Based on the Public Domain colour photograph found in the Library of Congress, at https://www.loc.gov/pictures/resource/ds.02147/ (last accessed March 2022), as part of record 2012647142 https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2012647142/ (last accessed March 2022).

  96. 96.

    Gorskii’s photographs in the U.S. Library of Congress can be accessed online at https://bit.ly/34x2VeL (last accessed March 2022).

  97. 97.

    Digital colour composite from the three registered Public Domain monochrome originals found in the Library of Congress, at https://www.loc.gov/pictures/resource/prok.01043/ (last accessed March 2022), as part of record 2018678943 https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2018678943/ (last accessed March 2022).

  98. 98.

    Digital colour composite from the three registered Public Domain monochrome originals found in the Library of Congress, at https://www.loc.gov/pictures/resource/prok.00023/ (last accessed March 2022), as part of record 2018681190 https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2018681190/ (last accessed March 2022).

  99. 99.

    Digital colour composite from the three registered Public Domain monochrome originals found in the Library of Congress, at https://www.loc.gov/pictures/resource/prok.00507/ (last accessed March 2022), as part of record 2018679475 https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2018679475/ (last accessed March 2022).

  100. 100.

    Digital colour composite from the three registered Public Domain monochrome originals found in the Library of Congress, at https://www.loc.gov/pictures/resource/prok.01167/ (last accessed March 2022), as part of record 2018680428 https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2018680428/ (last accessed March 2022).

  101. 101.

    Digital colour composite from the three registered Public Domain monochrome originals found in the Library of Congress, at https://www.loc.gov/pictures/resource/prok.00402/ (last accessed March 2022), as part of record 2018680009 https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2018680009/ (last accessed March 2022).

  102. 102.

    Digital colour composite from the three registered Public Domain monochrome originals found in the Library of Congress, at https://www.loc.gov/pictures/resource/prok.01886/ (last accessed March 2022), as part of record 2018681340 https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2018681340/ (last accessed March 2022).

  103. 103.

    Some of Edgerton’s iconic high strobe light photographs can be accessed online at the J. Paul Getty Museum (https://www.getty.edu/art/collection/artists/1669/harold-edgerton-american-1903-1990/, last accessed March 2022), and in the Library of Congress (https://www.loc.gov/photos/?q=Harold+Edgerton, last accessed March 2022).

  104. 104.

    The figure is a composite of a TLR diagram and a photo of a Rolleiflex K1 of 1928 found at the RolleiClub library, http://www.rolleiclub.com/thedarkroom/?p=2927 (last accessed March 2022).

  105. 105.

    A focal-plane shutter camera is equipped with a shutter immediately in front of the focal plane, or the photographic film.

  106. 106.

    Earth Rising over the Moon’s Horizon, NASA photograph, accessed online at https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/apollo/40th/images/apollo_image_11a.html (last accessed March 2022). A close-up view of astronaut Buzz Aldrin’s bootprint in the lunar soil, NASA photograph, accessed online at https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/apollo/40th/images/apollo_image_11a.html (last accessed March 2022). Regarding, the Apollo 11 image library, ‘no copyright is asserted for NASA photographs’, https://www.hq.nasa.gov/alsj/a11/images11.html (last accessed March 2022).

  107. 107.

    Figure based on the Contax S camera, made by VEB Zeiss Ikon in Germany, 1949, part of the Kodak Collection at the National Media Museum, Bradford, online at https://collection.sciencemuseumgroup.org.uk/objects/co8210865/contax-s-camera-35mm-camera-single-lens-ref-lex-camera (last accessed March 2022).

  108. 108.

    SLR cameras are equipped with a mirror to reflect the incoming light from the lens to the viewfinder for the composition and focusing.

  109. 109.

    A microprism is an aid to focusing, built in to a focusing screen, with the role of exaggerating the blur in unfocused images.

  110. 110.

    Figure based on the Public Domain Wikipedia photograph provided by the National Insitute of Standards and Technology, online at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:SEACComputer_020.jpg (last accessed March 2022).

  111. 111.

    The paper is provided in Public Domain by NIST, online at https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=821692 (last accessed March 2022).

  112. 112.

    Figure based on the NIST Digital Archives record titled Image of infant son of Russell A. Kirsch, first picture fed into SEAC in early 1957, online at https://nistdigitalarchives.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/p16009coll19/id/1541/rec/3 (last accessed March 2022), National Institute of Standards and Technology Digital Archives, Gaithersburg, MD 20899.

  113. 113.

    The Metal–Oxide Semiconductor Field-Effect Transistor (MOSFET), also known as the Metal–Oxide Silicon transistor (MOS transistor, or MOS), represent an insulated gate field effect transistor, with the ability to change conductivity that can be used for amplifying or switching electronic signals. It was introduced in 1960, by its inventors Mohamed M. Atalla (1924–2009) and Dawon Kahng (1931–1992) that constructed it in 1959 at Bell Labs. MOSFET technology was highly influential and has since been the basic building block of modern electronics, the most frequently manufactured device in history.

  114. 114.

    Photodiodes are p–n junctions, interfaces of two types of semiconductor materials, a p-type (for ‘positive’, with excess of holes) and an n-type (for negative, with excess of electrons), that converts light into electrical current, due to the photoelectric effect. When photodiodes absorb photons of a certain energy, electric current is produced. The response time of photodiodes is inversely proportional to their surface area.

  115. 115.

    It is reminded that one megapixel (MP) is one million pixels. Mega- is a unit prefix in metric systems denoting a factor of one million (\(10^6\)), and comes from Greek: μέγας for great.

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  1. Athena Research Centre, University Campus at Kimmeria, Xanthi, Greece

    George Pavlidis

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Pavlidis, G. (2022). A Brief History of Photography. In: Foundations of Photography. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-06252-0_2

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