History of Photography #2

Go to the library or search on the Internet and find a photograph from the 19th century (taken before 1900). Write a short “think piece” about this photograph. You are free to select any image you would like to write about, as long as the photograph was taken during the 19th century. Examine the photograph carefully and write about what you see and what the photograph makes you think about.

This assignment is to be written in a word processor (doc, docx or pdf) and uploaded to your WordPress blog. The image you are writing about should be included as an embedded image in your paper.

Francisco Van Camp

 

SOURCES:

http://www.messynessychic.com/2012/09/17/exotic-beauty-circa-1875/

History of Photography #1

“Pick three events in the timeline from this week’s lesson History of Photography: An Introduction, and find photographs of the event on the Internet or in the library and write a paragraph explaining the event in more detail. Include your photographs in the description.”

 

THE PROCESS OF NEGATIVES AND POSITIVES

 

– CALOTYPE 1841

William Henry Fox Talbot was a British scientist, inventor and photography pioneer.

He invented the first process for creating light-fast and permanent photographs – which he also made available to the public. This was called the calotype (from the Greek word meaning “beautiful picture”)

 

Definition of Calotype:

“An early photographic process in which negatives were made using paper coated with silver iodide.”

 

Here are some examples of a calotype photo:

 

DRY PLATE NEGATIVES AND HAND-HELD CAMERAS 1879

 

The “dry plate” was invented, by Dr. Richard L. Maddox, in 1871. This was an improved type of photographic plate and by 1879, the first dry plate factory had been established. This simplified the work of photographers, and this allowed them to expand their business.

This plate consisted of a glass negative plate with a dried gelatin emulsion. These dry plates could be stored for longer periods of time. Before the dry plate, photographers needed to carry around portable darkrooms because the wet plates they used had to be developed quickly. They had to develop the picture before the solution had dried. So this new process had definitely simplified things.

 

 

This is when the hand-held camera was introduced. It was a man named George Eastman who introduced this new contraption, manufacturing paper film in 1885. He later switched to celluloid in 1889. His first camera was called the “Kodak”.

 

 

COLOUR PHOTOGRAPHS 1930-1940’S

 

In contrast to monochrome photography, which only records brightness and uses media that’s only capable of showing shades of grey, colour photography is photography that uses media capable of reproducing colours.

Light-sensitive chemicals record colour information at the time of exposure. This process imitates the way the human eye senses colour, analyzing the spectrum of colours into three channels of information – red, green, blue (RGB).

Colour photography has been the dominant form of photography since the 1970’s.

 

 

SOURCES:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Fox_Talbot

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dry_plate

History of Photography: An Introduction

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Color_photography

Color Theory Learning Activities

PART 1:

“Describe, in your own words, what each of these colour systems means: RGB and CMYK.”

R – red

G – green

B – Blue

– Colors that are used to make colors on TV screens, computers etc. These colors, put together, create white light.

C – cyan (greenish-blue)

M – magenta (redish-purple)

Y – yellow

K – key (black)

– A full-color printing process is made up of these four colours. These create black, when combined.

( http://www.peterverdone.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/RGBvCMYK.jpg )

Make use of Kuler and develop four different colour schemes. You must hand in screen shots of your schemes:

Monochromatic

Complementary

Triadic

Analogous

PART 2:

Use a colour photo of your choice and create the following colour effects – you should hand in four separate works of the same photo with the following effects:

Create an “Andy Warhol” look

Apply a sepia look

Split toning of the image

Freestyle: a colour effect of your choice

My original picture is of me and my late mother.

Andy Warhol look:

Split toning:

Sepia look:

Freestyle:

PART 3:

“Design a book cover for one of the following:

a.) “To the Lighthouse” by Virginia Wolf: use complementary colours to express anguish and uncertainty.

b.) “The Maiden’s Tale” by Margaret Atwood: use analogous colours with a contrasting accent to express disagreement and discontent.

c.) “The Little Prince” by Antoine de Saint-Exupery: use secondary colours to express naivety, honesty and harmony.

The book cover must contain the title and the author’s name.

You must clearly make use of colour to express the desired effects.”

I chose the book “To the Lighthouse” by Virginia Wolf.

I didn’t finish this part of the assignment, so I’m going to continue working on this. But I will show what I’ve done, and try to explain my vision.

Basically I wanted to create the feeling of uncertainty and anguish by using complementary colors. These colors are orange and grey-blue, and grey-black and white. These colors would only be hints on what would mostly be and black background. They would be used to outline objects and lines of waves, clouds, rocks etc.