Photography, artistic as it sounds, comes from two ancient Greek words φῶς (photos) "light" and γραφή (graphé) "representation by means of lines" or "drawing", together meaning "drawing with light" ("Photography," n.d.). The word was coined by Sir John Frederick William Herschel in 1839.
The Early Days Portraits
In the early days, portrait is an artistic representation of a person, which could be a painting, photograph, or even a sculpture. The use of portrait is to represent the face and expression of the person. In photography a portrait is generally not a snapshot, but a composed image of a person in a still position ("Portrait," n.d.). When mentioned about still position in photograph portraits, this is one of the reasons that made people’s photos difficult to take in the early days. Before 1837, it required hours and hours of successful exposure a photo, so based on these techniques, taking a photo for people is not quite possible. In 1837, a new technique – Daguerreotype came into the world. It was developed by Louis Daguerre together with Joseph Nicéphore Niépce. Daguerreotype made human photos possible; however, it wasn’t easy to pose for a daguerreotype since it still takes about 15 minutes to exposure (Santoso, 2006). An interesting method was invented to help posing – a clamp was used to hold the subject’s head still.
In the same year Daguerreotype was invented, the world’s first human portrait was born.
Robert Cornelius's self-portrait - "The first light picture ever taken"
In 1839, Robert Cornelius, took a daguerreotype portrait of himself outside of his family’s store and made the world’s first human photograph (Santoso, 2006)!
Portraits Today
Portraits Today
Today, portrait is still an artistic representation, but more. Portraits nowadays are developed to be more courageous and creative.
In the early days, portraits typically display a person’s external likeness; they also indicated his or her standing in society through clothing, setting, or the choice of surrounding objects. As time passed by, artists started to express more than just surface impressions, but also invisible elements such as a person's character, mood or state of mind in portraits. Like other traditional artistic genres, portraiture was radically transformed with the advent of modern art ("Modern Portraits in Photography," n.d.).
In the early days, a portrait often shows a person looking directly at the camera, but nowadays it comes in many ways and angles with the expression of modern art.The Early Days Photographer - Yousuf Karsh
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Yousuf Karsh (1908-2002) is one of the masters of 20th century photography. His body of work includes portraits of statesmen, artists, musicians, authors, scientists, and men and women of accomplishment ("Yousuf Karsh," n.d.).
Portrait of Yousuf Karsh by George O'Neill
Yousuf Karsh's Work - Portraits
Winston Churchill, 1941 Pablo Picasso, 1954 Ernest Hemingway, 1957
Modern Time Photographer - Nadav Kander
Nadav Kander, a London based photographer, artist and director, whose work is internationally recognized in portraiture and landscapes.
Nadav Kander's Work - Portraits
Florence Welc Rebecca Hall David Cameron
In the early days, the photographer was mostly a scientist, an artist, or later photographers and travelers, such as Robert Cornelius, a Dutch chemist, who made the world’s first human portrait. The subject of early days photos are mainly people, landscapes, and natural. In modern time, photography connects with human lives in so many ways - it is more than an art. As photographic techniques developed, photography has become more prevalent than ever. With the accessibility of cameras, anyone can be a photographer. The subject of modern photograph is unrestricted; it can be chosen by photographers at will.
Impact of Technology
Today, portraits are taken by numerous kinds of digital cameras and other electronic devices, and edited by computer software such as Photoshop. We added backgrounds, edit colors, adjust exposure rate, and lighting easily through the computer. However, the idea of using unusual colors and other attributes to prettify portraits also appeared in the early days. From the 1890s onward, people have already begun the use of unnatural colors, distorted physical features, and abstract or nonrealistic settings as the hallmarks of portraiture ("Modern Portraits in Photography," n.d.).
By the end of the 20th century, digital imaging and processing and computer-based techniques had made it possible to manipulate images in many ways, creating revolutionary changes in photography ("Digital Technology," n.d.). In the early days, different lighting devices might be required when taking photos; but nowadays, instead of light passing through a lens and striking emulsion on film, digital photography uses sensors and color filters. Digital technology allowed for a fundamental change in the nature of photographic technique.
A portrait of ME by using photo editor.
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A portrait of ME by using photo editor.
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References
Digital Technology. (n.d.). Retrieved January 26, 2012, from Infoplease.com, http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/ent/A0860375.html
Modern Portraits in Photography. (n.d.). Retrieved January 26, 2012, from National Gallery of Art, http://www.nga.gov/collection/gallery/ggmodphoto/ggmodphoto-over1.html
Portrait. (n.d.). In Wikipedia. Retrieved January 26, 2012, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portrait
Photography. (n.d.). In Wikipedia. Retrieved January 26, 2012, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photography
Santoso A. (2006, Aug. 29). The Wonderful World of Early Photography. In Neatorama. Retrieved January 27, 2012, from http://www.neatorama.com/2006/08/29/the-wonderful-world-of-early-photography
Taylor Thomas Ltd. (n.d.). Nadav Kander. Retrieved January 27, 2012, from http://www.nadavkander.com/nadav_kander_small_screen.html
Yousuf Karsh. (n.d.). Retrieved January 27, 2012, from Ykarsh, http://www.karsh.org
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