Facts About Photography
July 27th, 2009 Posted in Camera Obscure
Welcome to Camera Obscure. No, not obscura - obscure. This is the place where we collect all the weird and wonderful photography facts that you’ve sent us, fun little things that make you go “hmmm”, “really?” or “yeah, right!” and entertain our photographic brain. Have a peek, all facts are in the comments section below.
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Admitedly, we haven’t got loads of photography facts and obscurities yet, so please feel free to share any of your gems with us. We’re so keen to hear from you that we’re even given away a free Photoframe Keyring for the best fact, just fill in the form.
FaceBook has more than 24 million photos uploaded daily
Photons take 20,000 years to travel from the centre of the sun to the surface. This means that the average speed of light inside the sun is 4 metres per hour. There are also photons in the Sun that were formed five billion years ago, but have still not made it out.
In an average lifetime there will be over 50 000 images of you on photos you’ll never see.
The most expensive photograph ever sold was Andreas Gursky’s 99 Cent II Diptychon which displays the interior of a supermarket with numerous aisles depicting a colourful array of goods. The work became famous as being the most expensive photograph in the world when it was auctioned at Sotheby’s on February 7 in 2007 for a price of US$3.34 million.
The owner of Kodak (George Eastman) named his company after the sound the he thought the camera shutter made.
To help pupils i teach, i tell them that the T & W on the cameras can mean towards and withdraw to help them remember!
If you have children like me and they lick your camera lens without you knowing after eating chocolate, the next time you go to take a picture, at least one of the first three words you will say will begin with an F and end in a K.
Aberystwyth has the world’s largest camera obscura
Kodak designed a special camera and film for use on the Apollo 11 moon landings.
It had no viewfinder and took photos in ’stereo’ which meant taking 2 pictures at once and combining them to get extra depth.
To save weight on the journey back the camera was left behind.
You can develope a photo on a geranium leaf
Hasselblad EDC (Electric Data Camera)
This is a specially designed version of the motorized 500EL intended for use on the surface of the moon, where the first lunar pictures were taken on 20 July 1969 by Neil Armstrong. The camera is equipped with a specially designed Biogon lens with a focal length of 60 mm, with a polarization filter mounted on the lens. A glass plate (Reseau-Plate), provided with reference crosses which are recorded on the film during exposure, is in contact with the film, and these crosses can be seen on all the pictures taken on the moon from 1969 to 1972. The 12 HEDC cameras used on the surface of the moon were left there. Only the film magazines were brought back.
Daguerre discovered how to develop a latent image by accident - he stored an exposed plate in his chemical cupboard and found an image had developed some days later. He eventually realized this was because of the presence of mercury vapour.
The man who invented the moving pictures (Eadweard Muybridge) murdered his wife’s lover, but the jury let him off because they thought it was reasonable under the circumstances.
The first camera film was developed on the surface of Mars in the Cassini crater. However, the development lab was soon closed when boffins realised all the pictures had a red tinge to them.
The Leica IIIf was the last screw-mount Leica camera.
did you know that an anagram of funeral is real fun
worcester cathedrale is on the back of a £20 note
radioactivity was discovered because of a photographic plate
The most expensive portable camera in the world is a Leica 107 O series produced in 1923, sold for $500,000 USD. Reason? Only 20 ever made.
Gorillas (Genus Gorilla) should not be mixed up with Gorilla Pods as they have four legs and yet surprisingly do not make good stable or static attachments for cameras.
To photograph Turtles visit Redang Island in Malaysia.
Sepia colour was originaly produced using cuttlefish ink
The first flip phone with a built in camera released in the uk was the sharp gx10.
Bulletproof vests, windscreen wipers and fire escapes were all invented by women
Kodak engineer Steven Sasson developed the first digital camera prototype in 1975. It weighed 8 lbs. and had a resolution of .01 megapixels.
The first Canon camera was called the Kwanon.
Photography was used to prove a bet a horse has all four hooves off the ground when it is galloping.
The first couple to be shown in bed together on prime time television were Fred and Wilma Flintstone.
The standard tripod thread is one of a series of standard size threads originally proposed by Joseph Whitworth in 1841, it is one of very few British standards still used by the USA.
(Leica screw fit lenses are also a Whitworth standard size)
If there is only one paparazzi waiting for a celeb, then he/she shouldbe called a paparazzo.
An eye for an eye certainly does make the whole world blind by Gandhi’s standards:
“I believe in equality for everyone, except reporters and photographers” - Gandhi
In an average lifetime there will be over 50 000 images of you on photos you’ll never see.
Is this one really true?
I am extremely amazed at this fact.
A permit is required for aerial photography in India, which normally takes over a month to acquire.
The tie for fastest production lens ever made for pictorial photography is between the Leice Noctilux and the S-mount Canon lense of 1961.
joseph nicephore niepce is the man behind the camera that is believed to have taken the first ever photographs back in 1825. however he also invented the ‘velocipede’; a bike without pedals that never really took off…
More than half of the world’s silver is used in photographic processes