Photography is a relative new art form that has its beginnings in the scientific experiments of a few dedicated people. It is a constantly evolving and shifting media that has undergone more change in the past few years than over its entire history. The art of photography has evolved since its humble beginnings with the invention of a pin-hole camera, to the advanced technology such as digital cameras and Photoshop that so many photographers use today. The way a photograph is presented has also changed dramatically over the years. With the technology available today, a photographer can enhance, change colour and change lighting amongst many other things. While early photographs were black and white and editing was limited to unavailable. The ethical nature of photography has also been something that has changed significantly with time. With social networks such as Facebook and MySpace, many people no longer have control over photographic images of themselves that may be put out into the public arena. It’s the combination of all these advances and changes that have helped shape the face of what we know as photography today.
The beginnings of photography started with the pinhole camera. A simple idea that paved the path for a much more complex art form that would, in years to come, be one of the most popular and widely used art forms in the world. The first permanent photograph was an image produced in 1826 by the French inventor Joseph Nicéphore Niépce. This was a major discovery for the time and opened doors into the photographic world. Photography started to become very popular in the 1800’s due to the demand of portraiture that emerged from the middle classes during the industrial revolution. This demand could not be met in volume and in cost of oil paintings, which then paved the path for the popularity of photographs. In 1849, Levitsky was the first man to propose the idea of artificially lighting the subjects in a studio using electrical lighting in conjunction with natural lighting. This was of course adopted by other photographers worldwide because of its simplicity and practicality. This then led onto flash photography. Colour photography was another big leap into what we know of photography today. The 1960’s was when colour photography became popularized. In time cameras evolved and advanced with the changing technology into what we know as digital and film photography today. Back when the pinhole camera was invented, people would have never thought photography could have made such an impact on the modern world.
In the past few years the technological advances in photography have been phenomenal. As of now, in present day, photographs can be digitally enhanced and manipulated using Photoshop or other computer software. When people were first coming to grips with photography, editing and manipulating was limited and close to unavailable for most. From black and white to digitally enhanced and coloured images, the way a photograph is presented has changed dramatically in the past few years more than ever. This can be due to the availability and popularization on coloured photographs, which came about to the general public in the 1960’s. People began photographing subjects in every-day life. Making photography less staged and more of documenting and capturing the essence of what was going on in that moment. With cameras and photographs being so easily accessed by anyone, the money value of a photograph has declined in the past few years more so than ever. Instead of paying a professional photographer to take a family portrait, you can just as easily and more cheaply, take your own using you own digital camera and print it off at the nearest Big W store. With the technological advances seeming to make the market rise, the value of a single photograph has declined rapidly, and the market for photographers a much tougher industry.
Ethics could be described as the rules for best practice that any photographer should