The role of portraits in the early days of photography and portraits today

Photography is one of the big inventions throughout the history. The first photograph was made by Joseph Nicephore Niepce in 1827. In early days, photographs can be only taken once since they all used films to store the images instead of digital storage. They didn’t reveal the colour therefore all the photographs were white and black. However, what was captured in the picture was true and real because photo editing was very limited and unpopular back in the days. People treasure every moment and every emotion that they captured for the reason that films and cameras were precious.



An old camera in early days








New cameras

   

In today’s society, digital cameras become very common and affordable. Basically everyone has at least one including the ones on cell phones. Moreover, photos can be shared very easily through social networking websites. With the developments of photography technologies and techniques, photos become more colourful and beautiful. High definition, contrasts adjustments, and effects have been a very big revolution of photography. Personally, I believe that the meaning of true photography is to reveal the truth that we capture. With the photo editing technologies, varieties of effects can be added in the picture. Not saying adding effects on the photos is hiding the truth; appropriate uses off effects can emphasize the emotions and meaning of what was captured. However, some people might choose to hide the truth using photo editing software in order to make the pictures more wonderful and prefect. A great and common example is self portraits (as known as profile pictures) on Facebook. Most of the people on Facebook have experienced a big difference between the pictures and the real person (hiding pimples, making eyes bigger, etc...) thanks to the technologies.

Although photography is common today, people don’t tend to treat photography as art, instead, they treat it as part of their life. Either way, photographs are still very wonderful because they keep the moment that we treasure forever.



Family picture back in the days




Family picture today