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World's First Photo
Posted by
michael
on Thu Jun 27, 2002 08:04 AM
from the say-cheese dept.
from the say-cheese dept.
angkor cut-and-pastes
"'The image acknowledged as the world's first photograph - taken by a French inventor in 1826 - has passed its first full-scale analysis with flying colors and is now awaiting an airtight case that will keep it safe for centuries to come, scientists said Wednesday.'" See also the first color photography.
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I'm willing to bet 20 francs... (Score:5, Funny)
I've lost track of the humber of technologies that were initially driven by porn. BBS's, Video CD's, e-commerce, and of course, the amazing X10 camera.
Here's one . . . (Score:2, Funny)
World's second photo (Score:1, Redundant)
The second photo was taken 15 minutes later when his mistress finally finished taking off her many layers of undergarments.
inventor info (Score:3, Informative)
Too bad that... (Score:4, Insightful)
Do you think in 5 years I'll be able to pull these pictures off my CDR's? Much less to show my grandchildren...
airtight case? (Score:2, Funny)
Damn Time Travellers (Score:1)
Short on facts (Score:1)
I have read about this before, but most of the details aren't coming to me so I won't even try to pass them on and I don't seem to be able to find an article on this at the moment, but I do know that it took a very, _very_ long time to expose it. Can't remember the exact number but it was at least a full day.
I wonder... (Score:2, Funny)
This is really the second photo (Score:3, Funny)
another stupid Pr0n joke. (First on this story) (Score:1, Redundant)
Ultimately (Score:1)
I Wonder (Score:1)
"If you think of all the history of photographs, the development of film and television, they all come from this first image," said senior Getty scientist Dusan Stulik.
Excellent, *tenting fingers*, soon the MPAA will be infringing on my copyright.
"Oh no Mr. Smithers, the MPAA is coming, help me Smithers!"
A thing to note... (Score:5, Interesting)
That's because he exposed the "Film" over the entire day in order to actually make a picture, thus tracking every daylight condition and them changing with the path of the sun.
This is indeed an amazing inovative feat. I would have liked to meet this guy.
actually... (Score:1, Funny)
The second link (Score:2, Interesting)
Beat's the hell out of Ted Turner's colorization of old movies.
outrageous... (Score:4, Insightful)
Capitalism is no excuse for the privatisation of the commons. Signing this photo reuters instead of Niepce is clearly stealing.
First photo? Wild Turin Shroud theories... (Score:4, Interesting)
Given the above, I remember reading that one possibility for the Turin Shroud was that it was an early, and I mean early, photograph. Apparently, the Turks had developed a method of photography involving canvas and I -think- silver nitrate (maybe mercury?). This was in use during the 1500s, as far as I recally the article saying.
Now, the photography they were talking about wouldn't bear much resemblence to a camera as we would recognise it. I believe the subject had to be very still, covered in this impregnated cloth and then the light would do the rest.
I realise this is a very sketchy post, but I'm at work right now and really am not able to spend ages chasing down the relevant information. Just chucking this one out for a bit of interest really...
Cheers,
Ian
rumors of earlier photographs (Score:3, Interesting)
See the various links one [shroud.com], two [petech.ac.za], three [pixelworks.com.ph].
Grain of salt not provided. This quickly wanders off into the land of wierdos, as there is also a lot of political infighting in the land of psuedo science. The Idea of the Shroud being a hoax is politically loaded.
Dangers of early photography (Score:4, Interesting)
error and more info about the photo (Score:2, Informative)
You can get more information [utexas.edu] about the Ransom Center's photographic collections.
Hidden Photos (Score:4, Informative)
Should be seen in person (Score:5, Informative)
I saw the real thing several years ago in a lobby to one of the upper floors of the Harry Ransom Center here at UT. The picture is tiny, and the image faint, looking for all the world like a scrap of tinfoil with the image only visible from certain angles, manifested as a slight difference in the gloss of the surface. I can't help but wonder what it looked like when it was new.
There were many wonders to behold in that building. On that particular visit, I was "behind the ropes" to do some maintenance work on a database server sitting in the corner of one of the center's conservation rooms. Sitting near me were a remarkable array of items, ranging from a model sailboat used in the making of an old John Huston film, to a collection of original Edgar Allen Poe manuscripts. And these were items that weren't even on display. I would've love to have just spent months rummaging around in that one room...
Sadly, much of the collection of the Harry Ransom Center is accessible on to scholars on a by-reservation basis. Fortunately, plans are in place to make the collects more accessible to the public.
An Idea (Score:2)
Once they've done that, they should figgure out where the window from which the picture was taken was and take a new (8 hour) exposure with the old technology, as a comparason.
I wonder when the LAST photograph will be taken? (Score:2)
I know that won't be a very well-defined event, since undoubtedly researchers, historians, and dedicate hobbyists will periodically rediscover and revive it... there's never any point at which you can say "the last daguerrotype has been taken."
Let's put it this way. At the end, there will still be photo stores that carry film--but only specialty, boutique stores, and only in large cities, and the film they carry will be from the last manufacturer that will continue to make it for aficionados. Then that last manufacturer will pull the plug and you won't be able to make a "photo" unless you're prepared to make the emulsion and film yourself.
How long until that happens? My guess: fifteen years.
Is this fake? (Score:2)
It's funny, laugh!
Why? (Score:1)
Why? Is there some need for antiquated photo processing? While the photograph is of significant historical value, I can see no value in re-creating the process. We have no shortage of poor quality photographs today. Even todays poorest quality is FAR superior to this. Why would anyone waste research dollars trying to reproduce the process.
Taken in France by a Frenchman and its in... TEXAS (Score:5, Interesting)
In fact the town (Chalon sur Saone, in Burgundy) is a quiet place with very little tourism. Should that photo be there, however, perhaps it would be taken more often for what it is - the birthplace of modern photography. There is a little Museum there (The Niepce Museum [museeniepce.com]) which is fantastically interesting. Sadly its piece de resistance is in Texas.
Chalon sur Saone still has a big Kodak factory though. A lot of you who may have toured in Paris etc may have bought film manufactured there.
Sergei Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorskii (Score:2)
I feel like monkey #100 right now...
Cheers,
Jim in Tokyo
Still More Hidden Photos (Score:2)
Another interesting early photograph (Score:2)
This guy [lincolnportrait.com] claims to have found a very early Daguerreotype of Abraham Lincoln as young man. He's been trying to sell it for a lot of money, so he's been in the news. Hard to say absolutely, but I have to admit he makes an interesting case.
Shoot... (Score:1)
Nikon or Canon? (Score:2)
Lipmann Plates (Score:3, Interesting)
In my opinion, the RGB separation is not nearly as cool as the roughly contemporary work of Gabriel Lipmann. His 1891 system achieved full accurate color using no dyed materials in either the film or the viewing system (I.e. no color filters etc.)
Lipmann turned a clear glass B&W film plate so the emulsion faced away from the lens (I.e. the light had to travel through the thickness of the light to reach the emulsion). He placed the emulsion in contact with a reflecting mercury bath. Light from the lens traveled through the emulsion twice, once on its way from the lens, and again bouncing back from the mercury mirror thus forming....standing waves through the thickness of the emulsion.
In other words, color was recorded according in the third plane...through the thickness of the exposed material. Blue light = tightly spaced waves, red = less tight. The plate is viewed by again sandwiching against the mercury reflector, and viewing in white lite. The interference causes the colors to reappear.
Note that these colors are 100% accurate as long as the dimensions of the emulsion are stable. Of course, the balance can change if the viewing light isn't white.
I read about this in a Pop Photo in the 1960's, I think. One of the most beautiful pieces of scientific/photographic work I've heard of. He won a Nobel prize for this in 1908.
Coincidence (Score:1)
Re:No flying colors in the 1800s (Score:1)
Birds must have had a real tough time of it.
Re:What an amazing piece of engineering!!! (Score:2)
Put this in perspective, man. In 170 years, do you think anyone will be discussing your work?
Re:Old News (Score:2)