Very early photographic images of humans discovered

Very early photographic images of humans discovered - In the steady barrage of images that make up the digital age, it's almost impossible to fathom a time when photographs of people were nonexistent. But rest assured, kids, that such a time did exist -- and it really wasn't that long ago in the grand scheme of things.


So the recent discovery of what appears to be two men near the river's edge in a photo of Cincinnati taken in 1848 is kind of a big deal among photography historians.


As reported by NPR's Robert Krulwich last month, the photo was taken by Charles Fontayne and William Porter -- who were standing on the other side of the Ohio River -- on Sunday, September 24th, 1848, 162 years prior to Krulwich's post about it. The photo is what's known as a daguerreotype -- an image developed via an early photographic process developed in France. When zooming in on the photo, Krulwich noticed what appeared to be two human figures. You can see them in a close-up image below:

A reader of Krulwich's blog took the photo and "lightened it up a bit and messed with the contrast a little" and posted a clearer version of it on his own blog. He thinks that "the man on the left is standing behind the wooden beam wall (wharf? dock?) with his left leg up on the wall and his left hand resting on his knee, while the man on the right is standing on top of that wall."


In case you're wondering if this is the earliest photograph taken of a human -- as Krulwich himself did in a recent headline -- well, it's not. The credit for photographing a human for the first time is generally given to Louis Daguerre, the inventor of the daguerreotype process. In an 1838 photo he took of Paris, Daguerre caught an image of a man who appears to be getting his shoes or boots shined at a street corner. You can see the figure -- together with that of the shoeshiner -- in the bottom left of the image here.


Daguerre's process involved exposing a chemically treated metal plate for several minutes. If someone or something was moving within the frame, it wouldn't show up in a daguerreotype photo. But since this person remained relatively stationary as the image was captured, he showed up in the picture. The anonymous Parisian thus gets credit for being the first person ever to have his picture taken. ( news.yahoo.com )

Other Article's

• Is the Effort to Send Messages to an Alien Civilization a Threat to Earth?Is the Effort to Send Messages to an Alien Civilization a Threat to Earth? - Earth's attempts to contact intelligent, extraterrestrial life could be too disorganised or cryptic for non-human beings to decode, US physicists have reported. In a sub ...
• Music of the sun recorded by scientistsMusic of the sun recorded by scientists. The sun has been the inspiration for hundreds of songs, but now scientists have discovered that the star at the centre of our solar system produces its own music.Astronomers at the University of Sheffield hav ...
• A little crusty - but with life in him yet: Meet the world's oldest creature... a British SHRIMPA little crusty - but with life in him yet: Meet the world's oldest creature... a British SHRIMP - Thought to be the oldest species on the planet, it has stayed virtually unchanged since the first days of the dinosaurs.And after 200million years the ...
• Biologists head to bunkers to fight bat diseaseBiologists head to bunkers to fight bat disease – Biologist Susi von Oettingen walked into the dark World War II-era military bunker and took out her flashlight. Among the old pipes, wires and machinery parts, she saw some bats hanging from cracks i ...
• Success rate elusive on frozen eggsSuccess rate elusive on frozen eggs - The chances of bringing home a baby after harvesting and preserving a woman's eggs remain unknown. Often eggs are never retrieved.Freezing eggs for non-medical reasons — in which a healthy woman harvests and pre ...
• Scientists uncover the secret behind taking the perfect penaltyEngland, take note: Scientists uncover the secret behind taking the perfect penalty. It seemed inevitable England would face the old foe, Germany, in the World Cup finals in South Africa.And after being beaten twice on a penalties by them in two maj ...
• New species discovered in AmazonNew species discovered in Amazon"Ranitomeya amazonica", a frog with an incredible burst of flames on its head, and contrasting water-patterned legs. Spectacular species previously unknown to the outside world are being discovered in the Amazon r ...
• New snub-nosed monkey found in MyanmarNew snub-nosed monkey found in Myanmar – A new species of monkey with an upturned nose that causes it to sneeze when it rains has been found in northern Myanmar, conservationists said Wednesday.The animal is almost entirely black with white tufts on ...
• How mammals got big in a post-dinosaur worldHow mammals got big in a post-dinosaur world – Free from competition from massive reptiles, mammals ate a lot and used their new size to stay warm and fend off predators, according to a global study released Thursday on how mammals grew after the ex ...
• Ancient human remains found in IsraelAncient human remains found in Israel – Israeli archaeologists said Monday they may have found the earliest evidence yet for the existence of modern man, and if so, it could upset theories of the origin of humans.A Tel Aviv University team excavatin ...
• Flying Snakes' Secret RevealedFlying Snakes' Secret Revealed - The snake dangles 49 feet (15 meters) off the ground, tail entwined around a branch. Suddenly, the animal rears up and launches, flinging its body toward the forest floor.In other reptiles, the leap would be suicidal ...
• Chinese vase fetches $69.3 million at UK auctionChinese vase fetches $69.3 million at UK auction - An 18th century Chinese porcelain vase discovered when a house was cleared out was sold Thursday at a London auction for 43 million pounds ($69.3 million).Bainbridges, the auction house, said that t ...
• Life on Earth wiped out every 27 million years (but we've got about 16 million years until the next one)Life on Earth wiped out every 27 million years (but we've got about 16 million years until the next one). Life on Earth is wiped out every 27 million years – and we have about 16 million years left until the next extinction, according to scientists. ...
• The incredible deep-sea fish discovered under the Great Barrier ReefThe incredible deep-sea fish discovered under the Great Barrier Reef. You wouldn't want to bump into any of these fish while snorkelling on holiday. A deep-sea anglerfish with its razor-sharp teethBut these amazing pictures of creatures of the deep ...
• Mummified forest provides climate change cluesMummified forest provides climate change clues – On a remote island in the Canadian Arctic where no trees now grow, a newly unearthed mummified forest is giving researchers a peek into how plants reacted to ancient climate change.That knowledge will ...