Chemistry in Art
Chemistry of Film Photography:
The Chemistry of Film Photography
Cedar Fisher and Teo Van Tyn
History: The history of photography goes back beyond even film, all the way back to the early 1800s. The heliograph was invented in 1822 by a Frenchman named Joseph Nicéphore Niépce, and it was used to take the oldest recorded photograph in 1827. The first true roll of film was invented in 1885 by Louis le Prince. It was commercially available to the public by 1908.
The Chemistry behind film: The activation of film is based around the chemical reaction it experiences when exposed to light. That's why when developing photos, if the negatives are exposed to light too early, it will ruin the picture. When the bromine inside of the film is exposed to light, it loses an electron, causing it to lose its negative charge. The silver inside the film, however, gains an electron. This causes a reduction oxidation reaction between the silver and bromine, meaning that the silver gets reduced and the bromine becomes oxidized. This reaction is visible to the human eye as creating the color black.
Artistic Process Reflection: We chose to do this art project because we both have a lot of interest in photography. We wanted to explore film photography because it was an area neither of us had very much experience in beforehand. We were interested in the chemistry behind what it takes to develop a film photo. Our photos are centered around nature, with an emphasis on landscape shots. Through this project, we were hoping to get some good photos, as well as educate ourselves on how film works practically, and the history behind film photography. We want to display a few on a board, in a creative way. Hopefully by the end it will look like a neat collage of photos with some captions and information or something.
Cedar Fisher and Teo Van Tyn
History: The history of photography goes back beyond even film, all the way back to the early 1800s. The heliograph was invented in 1822 by a Frenchman named Joseph Nicéphore Niépce, and it was used to take the oldest recorded photograph in 1827. The first true roll of film was invented in 1885 by Louis le Prince. It was commercially available to the public by 1908.
The Chemistry behind film: The activation of film is based around the chemical reaction it experiences when exposed to light. That's why when developing photos, if the negatives are exposed to light too early, it will ruin the picture. When the bromine inside of the film is exposed to light, it loses an electron, causing it to lose its negative charge. The silver inside the film, however, gains an electron. This causes a reduction oxidation reaction between the silver and bromine, meaning that the silver gets reduced and the bromine becomes oxidized. This reaction is visible to the human eye as creating the color black.
Artistic Process Reflection: We chose to do this art project because we both have a lot of interest in photography. We wanted to explore film photography because it was an area neither of us had very much experience in beforehand. We were interested in the chemistry behind what it takes to develop a film photo. Our photos are centered around nature, with an emphasis on landscape shots. Through this project, we were hoping to get some good photos, as well as educate ourselves on how film works practically, and the history behind film photography. We want to display a few on a board, in a creative way. Hopefully by the end it will look like a neat collage of photos with some captions and information or something.