Why do people take pictures?

The first photograph - took 8 hours to expose.

What was the purpose of taking this photograph?

The Camera Obscura - is this science or art?

The Daguerreotype – the first photographic process that was commercially viable – earlier techniques took too long and were not good for taking

people’s portraits.

The main reason for all of these photographs was the desire to improve upon or invent new ways of making pictures, or better yet, to

preserve time.

In 1839, Robert Cornelius,

a Dutch chemist who immigrated to Philadelphia,

took a daguerreotype portrait of himself outside of his family’s store and

made history: he made the world’s first

human photograph!

More history

Dorothy Catherine Draper - sister of NYU professor John Draper and model for the first daguerreotype portrait of a woman in the United States in 1839.

She was the first woman to be photographed with her eyes open!

Yet another reason for taking pictures, to record or create portraits.

At the time the previous pictures were taken, they were the highest form of picture making technology available.

The image here is a pinhole photograph (on film) – using the same concept as the camera obscura – on a much smaller scale – a pinhole camera now is the lowest form of technology available.

But both served the same purpose, to make an image and to document a time or place- or person….although now, pinhole photography is considered more

of an art form than ever before.

Fine Art Photography

Justin Quinnell - taking the pinhole camera to extremes --- now it’s about how LITTLE do we need to make a picture!

The reason for using this low form of technology has changed – now artists use it to create fine art – rather than for scientific reasons.

One of the most famous documentary photographs of all time:

Migrant Mother, Nipomo, California, photograph by Dorothea Lange, 1936; in the Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.

By Dorthea Lange

Documentary

& Photo Journalism

Documentary Photography raises social & global awareness…

What do you notice about COMPOSITION, even though these are DOCUMENTARY

photographs?

"What is the difference between a documentary photographer and a photojournalist?“ • Documentary photographers tend to stick with a particular subject for a length of

time doing nothing else. • Their focus and attention is narrower than a typical photojournalist. • The photojournalist tells stories wherever he finds them and probably goes into an

area for a few hours, a week, maybe a month and then moves on to the next story. • The photojournalist is concerned with bringing the story to a wide public audience.• A documentary photographer wants to record something for prosperity or

sometimes a specific audience. • Documentary photographers usually take images for publication, but sometimes

only for an exhibition in an art gallery or other public forum..

Even a candid shot like this is a

form of photo journalistic

photography

How do you know that the

photographer thought about composition

when taking this photo?

What other choices did the photographer make with this photograph?

Portrait/Event Photographer

Helps people to preserve memories, documents events.

How do “portraits” taken of your family differ from

“snapshots” ?

Photos are taken for advertisement – again – composition is always the most important aspect.

Advertising/Commercial Photography

Light Box Photography

What does this do to the object you are photographing?

Fashion Photography is a type of Advertising…

Fashion photography also combines fine art with

advertising

What is the goal of

FASHION PHOTOGRAPH

Y?

Choose props that HIGHLIGHT the objects you are shooting.

Remember what you know about Depth of Field

Action or Sports

Photography is a very popular field and reason people shoot photos.

This is a famous shot of Muhammad Ali winning a boxing match!

What camera setting do Sports photographers NEED to adjust?

Since you do not have to be an artist or a scientist to take photos, and nearly everyone has a camera, photography has become the

most widely used art medium.

1. You’ll begin to see the world Differently - with a camera in your pocket or bag you’ll find yourself looking for opportunities to use it and when you start looking at the world in that way you’ll start to see if differently.

2. You’ll take more pictures - it sounds obvious - and it is - but the result of more pictures is that you’ll improve your averages of taking a good one!

3. You’ll be more likely to get out of Auto mode - the more you use your camera and see your results the more you’ll find yourself wanting to stretch yourself out of auto mode into using the full potential of your camera.

4. You’ll get to know your camera - the more you use your camera the more familiar you’ll become with it and what it’s capable of. I find that after an intense week with my camera that changing settings becomes second nature and much faster.

5. You’ll miss less ‘Kodak moments’ - you don’t realize just how many opportunities you miss to capture moments photographically until you start carrying your camera around.