Illuminating photography: From camera obscura to camera phone - Eva Timothy

看清攝影的一切：從暗箱到照相手機 - Eva Timothy

Transcriber: Andrea McDonough Reviewer: Bedirhan Cinar

譯者: 柏愷 邱 審譯者: 庭芝 梁

Let me guess,

讓我猜猜看：

you've got Facebook albums full of photos.

你的臉書相簿裡有很多照片，

You have photos on your computer desktop,

你的桌上電腦裡也有很多照片，

on your mobile phone,

在你的手機裡，

on your bedroom wall.

或是在臥室牆壁上都有照片。

You see photos in magazines and newspapers,

你可以在雜誌和報紙上，

或是公車的側面看到照片，

on the side of buses,

and of course, in your family albums.

當然，在你的家庭相本裡也有。

We take photos for granted in a major way.

我們將現在的照相技術視為理所當然，

But, creating a picture

但是，要創造出一幅 看起來和人或事物完全一樣的圖像，

that looked exactly like the person or thing

that you were photographing wasn't always obvious.

也就是你所謂的"攝影"， 並非一開始就這麼簡單。

In fact, in the past, it was a big mystery.

事實上，在過去，

攝影就像是一個很大的謎團。

How could you, in essence,

從本質上來看，

take your reflection in the mirror

你怎麼可能將鏡子反射的影像

and freeze it in there?

凍結在那並且帶走？

In the 9th century,

在西元九世紀，

the Arab scientist Alhazen

阿拉伯科學家 Alhazen

had come up with the idea

想到了一個點子，

of using the camera obscura,

並製作出暗箱式照相機。

which was literally a dark room, or box,

和字面上的意思一樣， 它是個黑暗的空間或是箱子，

with a single, small hole in one side that let light through.

其中一側有個小洞，可以讓光透進去，

This would project the image outside into the wall inside.

這可以讓外面的影像投影在內部的牆上。

在文藝復興時期，

During the Renaissance,

artists like Leonardo DaVinci used this method

像達文西這樣的藝術家利用了這個原理，

to introduce 3-D scenes onto a flat plane

將三維的場景投影在平面上，

so that they could copy things,

於是他們就能利用透視法，

like perspective, more easily.

輕易地複製影像。

In 1724, Johann Heinrich Schultz discovered

在1724年， Johann Heinrich Schultz發現了

that exposing certain silver compounds to light

當某種銀的化合物暴露在光線之下，

altered their appearance

它們的外觀會改變，

and left marks wherever the light touched.

並且會在接觸到光線的地方留下痕跡。

Essentially, Schultz found a way to record the images

實際上，Schultz所找到的這個方法，

that Alhazen was able to project,

可以記錄下Alhazen所投影出來的影像，

but only for a little while.

但卻只能維持很短的時間。

Schultz's images disappeared soon after he had made them.

Schultz的影像技術， 在他發明之後沒多久就消失了。

It wasn't until 1839 that people figured out

一直到了1839年，才有人找到方法，

how to project images onto light-sensitive surfaces

能夠讓影像投影在對光敏感的物體表面，

that would retain the image after exposure,

並且讓影像在曝光後依然能夠保留。

and thus, photography was born.

自此，攝影技術誕生了。

At that point, it was mostly two inventors

在當時，有兩位發明家

who fought for the best way to make photos.

競相研發最好的攝影技術。

One was British scientist Henry Fox Talbot,

一位是英國科學家Henry Fox Talbot，

whose calotype process used paper

他的"卡羅版攝影法" 以紙張為材料，

and allowed many copies to be made

能夠從單一的負片，製作出多張相片。

from a single negative.

The other inventor, Louis Daguerre,

另一位發明家Louis Daguerre，

was an artist and chemist in France.

是一位法國藝術家與化學家，

He developed something called a daguerreotype,

他發明的技術稱之為"銀版攝影"，

which used a silvered plate

就是使用鍍銀的銅板，

and which produced a sharper image.

來產生清晰的圖像。

But the daguerreotype could only make positive images

但銀版照相只能產生正像，

so copies had to be made by taking another photo.

所以要複製照片時，只能再拍一次照片。

In the end, the daguerreotype won out

最後，銀版攝影法勝出，

as the first commercially successful photographic process

成為史上第一個成功商業化的攝影技術，

mostly because the government made it freely available to the public.

最主要的原因， 是政府將技術免費提供給民眾使用。

So now that photography was available,

所以，現在有了攝影技術，

getting a picture of yourself would be a snap, right?

拍照變得輕而易舉了嗎？

Well, not exactly!

好吧，並非如此！

This process still required a whole dark room

在拍照的地方，仍然需要有暗房，

at the location of the photograph,

which was a big hassle.

這會是個大麻煩。

Picture the early photographers lugging

從圖片可以看到，早期的攝影師

enormous trailers with all their equipment

必須拖著巨大的拖車，

wherever they wanted to take a picture.

載著所有的設備， 到他們想要拍照的地點。

Not only that, but the early processes

不只如此，早期的攝影技術，

had extremely long exposure times.

需要特別長的曝光時間。

To get a good photo, you would have to stand perfectly still

如果你想要拍攝一張好照片，

for up to two minutes!

你必須靜止不動兩分鐘的時間！

This led to development of inventions like

這導致了一項特殊的發明：

the head holder,

頭部支撐架。

a wire frame that would hide behind you

一個藏在你背後的金屬架，

while supporting your head.

用來支撐你的頭。

It's also why you don't see people smiling

這就說明了為何在以前的照片中，

in early photographs.

裡面的人都不會笑。

It's not that life was that bad,

並不是因為當時的生活過得不好，

it was just hard to keep a steady grin

而是要維持一個穩定的笑容好幾分鐘，

for more than a few seconds,

是很困難的，

so people opted for a straight-faced look.

所以，大家只好面無表情的看著鏡頭。

And then George Eastman came along.

接著，輪到喬治‧伊士曼登場，

Eastman believed that everyone

伊士曼認為，

should have access to photography,

攝影應該普及到所有人，

and he spent many late nights

因此，他不眠不休好幾個夜晚，

mixing chemicals in his mother's kitchen

在媽媽的廚房裡混合各種化學物質，

to try to achieve a dry plate photographic process.

嘗試製作出攝影用的乾式銀版。

This would allow exposed negatives

這可以讓感光之後的底片，

to be stored and developed later

可以送到更方便的地方去保存和沖洗。

at a more convenient place

instead of carting those dark rooms,

這取代了以往使用濕式銀版時，

necessary for wet plates, around.

需要將暗房運送到各地的情形。

After starting a business,

伊士曼起初的攝影事業，

which initially made dry plates,

是使用乾式銀版，

Eastman eventually discovered plastic roll film

後來，他發明了膠捲底片，

that would fit in hand-held, inexpensive cameras.

這樣就能用在手持、平價的相機上。

These cameras sold by the millions under the tag line,

這些相機總共賣了幾百萬台，

當時打出的廣告詞是：

"You push the button,

你只要按下按鈕， 其餘的交給我們！

we do the rest."

While Eastman was largely responsible

雖然在當時，

for making photography a universal pastime,

是由於伊士曼才讓攝影變得普及，

even he could not have dreamed of the ways

但是就算他沒有想到這些方法，

photography had since shaped the world.

攝影技術的出現，仍然型塑了這個世界。

It's now estimated that over 380 billion photographs

據估計，目前每年拍攝的照片總數

超過 3800 億張。

are taken each year.

That's more photographs each day

也就是說，現在每一天增加的照片數量

than were taken in the first hundred years

比攝影術發明之後的100年內，

after photography was invented.

所拍的照片數量加起來還要多！

Say cheese!

笑一個！