Photography

It is hard to imagine what the world would be like without photography. It is used in almost every activity that is of interest to people.

Photography records events that make world history. It shows you faraway places and people you have never met. It also records your personal history. Photography preserves yesterday’s documents and today’s findings. It illustrates schoolbooks, magazines, and every other kind of publication. It sells products through advertising and catalogs.

Photography also enables us to see things that we cannot normally see. Cameras carried by satellites spot the beginning of a tropical storm from above the earth. Cameras carried by spacecraft have photographed several of the planets. Photography looks closely at microbes and molecules that are too small to be seen with the naked eye—and at vast galaxies that are too far away.

Skilled and imaginative photographers have made photography an art form. The beautiful pictures they take increase our appreciation and understanding of the world.

Photography is so much a part of your daily life that you may take it for granted. But it was not developed until the 1800’s. Before that time, people had to rely on drawings and paintings. The accuracy of these pictures depended on how well a person could craw. Today, anyone can take good photographs.

A photograph is a picture made through the action of light.  The word “photography” comes from the Greek words meaning “light” and “writing.”

To take photographs of a subject, you need only three things—light, film, and a camera. The film is made of transparent plastic, coated with crystals of a silver compound that are sensitive to light. The camera is a tool. Its job is to produce an image on the film.

When you take a picture, light rays reflected form your subject enter the camera through the lenses, which focuses them on the film. The light rays form a latent (unseen) image of the subject on the film. The film has now been “exposed.”

To make the latent image visible, the film must be developed, or treated with chemicals.

The most important pieces of photographic equipment are, of course, the camera and the film. Without these, you would not be able to take photographs. But there are many other pieces of equipment that help photographers take good pictures. These include special lenses, filters, lighting equipment, attachments for taking close-ups, and tripods. Photography can be quite expensive but it can be an exciting hobby