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A photographic studio is often a business owned and represented by one or more
photographer
A photographer (the Greek language, Greek φῶς (''phos''), meaning "light", and γραφή (''graphê''), meaning "drawing, writing", together meaning "drawing with light") is a person who makes photographs.
Duties and types of photographe ...
s, possibly accompanied by assistants and pupils, who create and sell their own and sometimes others’ photographs.
Since the early years of the 20th century the business functions of a photographic studio have increasingly been called a
photographic agency leaving the term "photographic studio" to refer almost exclusively to the workspace.
The history of photographic studios and photography dates back to the 1840s with the invention of processes for recording camera pictures, by
Henry Fox Talbot
William Henry Fox Talbot FRS FRSE FRAS (; 11 February 180017 September 1877) was an English scientist, inventor, and photography pioneer who invented the salted paper and calotype processes, precursors to photographic processes of the later ...
and
Louis Daguerre
Louis-Jacques-Mandé Daguerre ( , ; 18 November 1787 – 10 July 1851) was a French artist and photographer, recognized for his invention of the eponymous daguerreotype process of photography. He became known as one of the fathers of photog ...
. The earliest photographic studios made use of natural daylight to create photographic portraits. As already used by artists, a northern light with no direct sunlight was favoured.
The first use of a "flash" dates back to 1839 when L.
Ibbetson used
limelight
Limelight (also known as Drummond light or calcium light)James R. Smith (2004). ''San Francisco's Lost Landmarks'', Quill Driver Books. is a type of stage lighting once used in theatres and music halls. An intense illumination is created when ...
to photograph very small objects. Limelight was produced by placing a piece of lime into a flame fuelled with
oxy-hydrogen
Oxyhydrogen is a mixture of hydrogen (H2) and oxygen (O2) gases. This gaseous mixture is used for torches to process refractory materials and was the first
gaseous mixture used for welding. Theoretically, a ratio of 2:1 hydrogen:oxygen is enough ...
. Photographic studios started using flashes in 1840 and in 1864 the next technological breakthrough,
magnesium
Magnesium is a chemical element with the symbol Mg and atomic number 12. It is a shiny gray metal having a low density, low melting point and high chemical reactivity. Like the other alkaline earth metals (group 2 of the periodic ta ...
wire, became the new artificial light source. However, not everyone could afford it as they were quite expensive and dangerous. These flashes were also known as 'hot lights' and could have exploded. By 1860s they were in common use in professional studios. '
Tungsten
Tungsten, or wolfram, is a chemical element with the symbol W and atomic number 74. Tungsten is a rare metal found naturally on Earth almost exclusively as compounds with other elements. It was identified as a new element in 1781 and first isolat ...
Lights' or 'Hot Lights' were still in use. Around the 1870s even smaller studios got access to flash lights or
strobes.
People tried many things from time to time when setting up studios to cope up with different hurdles in photography. However, lighting was a big hurdle.
Flash powder
Flash powder is a pyrotechnic composition, a mixture of oxidizer and metallic fuel, which burns quickly and produces a loud noise regardless of confinement. It is widely used in theatrical pyrotechnics and fireworks (namely salutes, e.g., cherry ...
was the first means of artificial lighting that allowed to produce sufficient brightness to capture the action of the film. However, this industry developed at a faster rate. With advancement in camera lenses, lighting and other techniques and equipment, studio photography gained hold and it became quite easier to produce images within a studio.
The first commercial use of photography was in the production of
portrait
A portrait is a portrait painting, painting, portrait photography, photograph, sculpture, or other artistic representation of a person, in which the face and its expressions are predominant. The intent is to display the likeness, Personality type ...
s. Photography replaced painting almost completely from the 1840s, with fully equipped studios in existence. The photography process was much shorter and simpler compared to painting, in which the subject and even the painter used to suffer.
It became relatively easy and cheap to set up a photographic studio, so by the 1870s there were many thousands of portrait studios in Europe and America. Despite this, remarkably few of the studios have survived to this day in a recognisable form.
The
'Calotypes' process was introduced in 1840s. With the introduction of calotypes the production of negatives enabled the photographers to print as many copies as customer required, hence strengthening the very base for the studios. In 1850s small portraits called
'Ambrotypes' were being produced. The exposure time varied between 2 and 20 seconds in comparison to 8 hr long exposure when the first still portrait photograph was taken in 1826.
Gallery
File:Photography studio in Ouagadougou.jpg, Photography studio with green screen backdrop.
File:Studioarrangement for product photography and video 2298.jpg, Studio arrangement for product photography and video.
File:Woman worker from the General Engineering Company (Canada) being photographed (I0004912).tif, A photography studio in Ontario, Canada (c. 1943).
References
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Photography equipment
Studios