Photography – An interesting hobby
The word photography really means “writing or drawing by means of light”. And this is a good job, for the picture we get in a photograph has really been drawn or printed on the “film” (or specially prepared substance) by the light of the sun.
The art of photography was first discovered in 1839 by a French man called Daguerre, and the first photographs were therefore called ” daguerreotypes”. The first pictures taken were, of course, very crude and imperfect; but since then the art has been immensely improved, and the photographs taken today are very beautiful and well finished.
Photography is of great use in many different ways. By means of it, we can get accurate pictures of our friends, of famous people, and of buildings and natural scenery. From these photographs, printing blocks are made, by which books and magazines and newspapers are filled with beautiful and true pictures, at very little cost.
Photography is of great use in science. Photographs are taken through the microscope of minute parts of plants and animals, and of tiny germs, which cannot be seen by the naked eye. And in astronomy, photos of stars can be taken with the camera, which cannot be seen even through the telescope by the human eye.
The picture in the bioscope, which delights millions of people all over the world, would be impossible without photography. The “living pictures” in the cinema are a wonderful creation of the art of photography. The cinema picture is made by taking thousands of photographs of moving things on long reels of films so that every movement is shown in a separate picture. Then this long film of pictures is passed at the same speed through a magic lantern, which enlarges the pictures on the screen.
Photography can be made an interesting and useful hobby; for good cameras are so cheap now, and so easy to work, that anyone can become a good photographer with a little care and patience. It adds greatly to the enjoyment of a holiday to take snapshots of the new places and people and animals we see and keep the pictures in an album. Years after we can thus enjoy the holiday again by looking at these pictures we have taken.
