Photograph

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For other uses, see Photograph (disambiguation).

A sepia-toned photograph taken in England in 1895

A photograph (often shortened to photo) is an image created using a record of light falling on a light-sensitive surface, usually photographic film or a CCD. The most common photographs are those created using a camera, which uses a lens to focus the scene's visible wavelengths of light into a faithful reproduction of what the human eye would see. The process of creating photographs is called photography.

1 Types of photographs
2 Myths and superstition
- 2.1 Myths in rural India
3 See also

[edit] Types of photographs

Today, most traditional photographs are produced with a two-step chemical process. In the two-step process the film holds a negative image (colours and lights/darks are inverted), which is then transferred onto photographic paper as a positive image. Another widely used film is the positive film used for producing transparencies, usually mounted in cardboard or plastic frames called slides. Slides are widely used by professionals mostly due to their sharpness and accuracy of colour rendition. Most photographs published in magazines are taken on colour transparency film

Originally all photographs were monochromatic, if not hand-painted in color. Although methods for developing color photos were available as early as the late 19th century, they did not become widely available until the 1940s or 50s, and even so, until the 1960s most photographs were taken in black and white. Since then, color photography has dominated popular photography, although the black and white format remains popular for amateur photographers and artists. Black and white film is considerably easier to develop than colour.

Panoramic format Images can be taken by using special cameras like the Hasselblad Xpan on standard film. Since the 1990s, panoramic photos have been relatively easy for the general population to take on Advanced Photo System film. APS was developed by several of the major film manufacturers to provide a "smart" film with different formats and computerized options available, though APS panoramas were created using a mask in panorama-capable cameras, far less desirable than a true panoramic camera which achieves its effect through wider film format. As with many past ideas in consumer film formats, APS has become less popular and will be discontinued in the near future.

Digital photos are stored on computers in various file formats, of which JPEG is one of the most popular. Many other graphic formats are used, including TIFF and RAW.

[edit] Myths and superstition

During the early years of photography when the daguerreotype was the state of the art, many new photo studios were opened by fledgling daguerreotypists. The public was enamored of this new art form, and quite naturally, most people wanted to have their portraits taken. Until then, having one’s image recorded required hiring a skilled painter to do the job. The photograph had leveled the playing field so that even the common man could afford to capture his likeness for posterity.

Even more fascinating to the people of that era was the fact that photographs captured a life-like likeness of the subject. Paintings were subject to the interpretations and level of skill each painter commanded. Photography, on the other hand, simply rendered an exact life-like image of the subject. Thus, due to the fact that daguerreotypes were rendered on a mirrored surface as well as the sheer novelty of photography, many spiritualists also became practitioners of the new art form. Spiritualists would claim that the human image on the mirrored surface was akin to looking into one's soul.

[edit] Myths in rural India

Few people residing in the rural India still believe that taking a photograph of a person reduces his lifetime. This myth was spread even with the educated community till the early twentieth century, and they started giving up this idea only when they started seeing personalities and leaders as photographs in newspapers.

Another famous myth is associated with Vallalar, a saint who lived in the British era in South India, that his image could not be captured by a camera. Moreover his image when seen as a reflection in a mirror was reputed to be that of Lord Muruga, the Hindu God of war.