THE BASIC COMPONENTS OF PHOTOGRAPHY

1. Light – the days of creation

“In the beginning, God, and created the heavens and the earth. Now the
earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the spirit of God
was hovering over the waters.
And God said, “Let’s there be light” and there was light. God saw the light
was good, and he separated the light from the darkness. God called the light “day”, and the
darkness he called “night”. And there was morning – The first day. (Genesis, chapter 1, verses 1-
3)

2. Equipment (1700)
The portable Camera Obscura (Latin for dark chamber) was used by artist
or painters to get accurate perspective of natural scene and scale of their subject.
Darkened room with a small hole or lens at one side through which an
image is projected onto a wall or table opposite the hole.

3. Chemicals (1726 -1777)

Light sensitivity of silver nitrate and silver chloride solution was
discovered and investigated. In 1800 Thomas Wedgewood and Humphey Davy produced
photograms.
The Camera Obscura
DEVELOPMENT OF TRUE PHOTOGRAPHY
- About 1000 BC- Alhazen Ibn Al-Haitham, an Arab scholar recorded
one of the earliest uses of a “dark room” that later called as “Camera
Obscura” from the Latin word for “room” or “chamber” and from a
Middle English word “obscure” meaning “dark” or lacking in
illumination.

1727 - Johann Heinrich Schulze discovered that light changes the nature
of chemical substances.
He found out that light turned the color of a
mixture of chalk, silver and nitric acid from white to yellow.
The said theory was verified after 52 years with the
use of silver chloride by a Swedish chemist by the name of Carl W.
Scheele.
He also found out that light from the violet end of
the spectrum darkened the silver chloride faster than light of other
spectral colors.
DEVELOPMENT OF TRUE PHOTOGRAPHY

1839 - is generally as the birth year of photography.

Willam Henry Fox Talbot explained a process he had

invented (calotype) at the Royal Society of London.

- produces negative photograph of a window at

Lacock Abbey, Wiltshire, using paper sensitized by
silver chloride.

- The “Calotype” later called as “Talbotype” used paper

with its surface fibers impregnated with light sensitive
compounds.
WILLIAM HENRY FOX TALBOT A picture taken by William Fox Talbot
in 1853.
DEVELOPMENT OF TRUE PHOTOGRAPHY
Louis Jacques Mande Daguerre made a public
demonstration in Paris “Daguerreotype” in
collaboration with Joseph Nicephore Niepce who first
patented the “Heliograph” in 1826.

The “Daguerreotype” formed an image directly on

the silver surface of a metal plate.
Heliograph
JOSEPH NICEPHORE NIEPCE

A photograph taken using the art of Niepce

Louis Jacques Mande Daguerre
He is commonly known as the
Father of Modern photography.
Robert Cornelius, self-portrait, Oct. or
Nov. 1839, approximate quarter plate
A calotype print showing the
daguerreotype. The back reads, "The
American photographer Frederick
first light picture ever taken." This
Langenheim (circa 1849). Note, the
self-portrait is the first photographic
caption on the photo calls the
portrait image of a human ever
process Talbotype
produced.
Roger Fenton's assistant Mid 19th century "Brady stand" photo
seated on Fenton's model's armrest table, meant to keep
photographic van, Crimea, portrait models more still during long
1855 exposure times (studio equipment
nicknamed after the famed US
photographer, Mathew Brady).
1848 – Abel Niece de Saint – introduced a process of negative
on glass using albumen (egg white) as binding medium.

1850 – Louis Desirie Blanquart – introduced a printing paper

coated with albumen to achieve a glossy surface.

1851 – Frederick Scott Archer – published a “wet plate”

process when collodion - a viscous liquid that dries to a
tough flexible and transparent film – replaced albumen.

1885 – Gelatin emulsion printing paper was commercially

introduced based film in 1889.
 It was in 1856 when John F.W. Herschel coined the word
“ photography”.
phos – light
graphia – write
- He is also responsible for the use of sodium
thiosulphate as “fixer” .

1861 – James Clark Maxwell researched on colors.

1890 – full corrected lenses were introduced.

1806 – a plate was placed on the market that could

reproduced all color in equivalent shade of gray.
1907 – Lummiere color process was introduced, a
panchromatic film was used but with blue, green,
and red filter.
1914 - U.S. Eastern Kodak made a color subtractive
process called Kodachrome.
1935 – color process come out together with electronic
flash.
1947 – Edwin H Land Introduced “Polaroid’ the one-step
photography.
1960 – LASER was invented making possible Holograms
(three dimensional pictures).
1988 – The arrival of true digital cameras.
 The first true digital camera that recorded
images as a computerized file was likely the Fuji DS –
1P of 1988, which recorded to a 16 MB internal
memory card that used a battery to keep the data in
memory. This camera was never marketed in the
USA. The first commercially available digital camera
was the 1992 Kodak DCS – 100. It used a 1.3 megapixel
sensor and was priced at $ 13,00.
- The first consumer camera with a Liquid Crystal
Display (LCD) on the back was the Casio QV – 10
in 1995
- the first camera to use compact flash was the
Kodak DC – 25 in 1996.
- In 1999 the Nikon D1 a 2.74 megapixel camera was
the first digital with a price of under $ 6,000. This
camera also used Nikon – F-mount lenses which
meant that film based Photographers could
introduced the 300D camera also known as digital
rebel, a 6 megapixel and the first DSLR priced
under $ 1,000 to consumers.
Criminal Applications
“The history of forensic science and criminal
investigation is both rich and exciting. The discoveries
and observations of our predecessors is likewise
surprising and comforting. The great men and women
who paved a path of enlightenment in crime
investigation continue to teach us long after their deaths.
These are the aspirations that we should aspire to endow.
We are fortunate to work in a profession with a strong
foundation and a bright and seemingly endless future.”
(Thomas W. Adir, Editor ‘The scene’)
1854– An Englishman, Richard Leech Maddox, development a dry plate
photography eclipsing Daguerre’s wet plate on tin method. This made
practical photography of inmates for prison records.

1859 – In the United States, one of the earliest applied Forensic Science was in
photography. It was used to demonstrate evidence in a California case.
Enlarged photographs of signature was presented in a court case involving
forgery.

1864 – Odelbrecht first advocate the use of photography for the identification of
criminals and the documents of evidence and crime scenes.

Early photographs of accused and arrested persons were beautifully

posed as example of the Victorian photographers at 20 to 30 years. Later,
every major police force in England and the United States has “Rogues’
galleries” – full face, profile and full body shot.
1882 – Alphonse Bertillion who initiated anthropometric measurements
for personal identification was also involved in various means of
documentation by photography which developed into a fine science for
criminalistics when he photographed crime scenes and formulated a
technique of contact photography to demonstrate erasure on documents.

1902 – Dr. R.A Reis, a German scientist trained in Chemistry and Physics
at Lausanne University in Switzerland. He contributed heavily to the use of
photography in forensic science and established the world’s earliest crime
laboratory that serviced the academic community and the Swiss police. His
interests included photography of crime scenes, corpses, and blood stains.
He made a trip to Brazil in 1913 where his experience in criminalistics was
presented to the Western Hemisphere for the first time.
1910 – Victor Baltazard developed a method of
photographic comparison of bullets and cartridge
cases which act as an early foundation of the field of
ballistics .

A Professor of forensic medicine at Sorborne,

used photographic enlargements of bullets and
cartridge cases to determine weapon type and was
among the first to attempt to individualize a bullet to
a weapon.
Criminology Education
1902 – Dr. R.A Reis professor at the University of Lausanne Switzerland
set up one of the first academic curricular in forensic science. His
Forensic Photography Department grew into Lausanne Institute of
Police Science.

1950 – August Vollmer, Chief of Police of Berkeley, Califonia

established the School of Criminology at the University of Califonia,
Berkeley.
Paul Kirk presided over the major of Criminalistics within
the school.

1954 – In the Philippines, the school which pioneered criminology

education is the Plaridel Educational Institution now the Philippine
College of Criminology at 641 Sales St., Sta. Cruz, Manila.
CRIMINOLOGY EDUCATION
1902 – Dr. R.A Reis, professor at the University of
Laussanne Switzerland set up one of the first
academic curricular in forensic science. His Forensic
Photography Department grew into Laussanne
Institute of Police Science.

1950 – August Vollmer, Chief of Police of Bekerly,

California established the School of Criminology at
the University of California. Paul Kirk presided over
the major of criminalistics with in the school.
In the Philippines
1954 – the school which pioneered criminology
education is the Plaridel Educational Institution now
the Philippine College of Criminology.
Principles of Photography
A photograph is a mechanical and chemical result of
photography.
 To produce a photograph, light is needed aside from
sensitized materials.
 Light reflected or radiated by subject must reach the

sensitized materials while all other lights must be

excluded by placing the sensitized material inside a
camera.
 The amount of light on the sensitized material after

exposure is not immediately visible to the eyes, it

must undergo the development process.