第2108期:Photography through the years

Now, pretty much everyone has a camera in their back pocket – in the form of a smartphone. It's easy to take hundreds of photos without needing to really consider set up or storage. And it's very hard to imagine that, at one time, capturing an image was an almost impossible process.

现在，几乎每个人的后口袋里都有一个相机——以智能手机的形式。 您可以轻松拍摄数百张照片，而无需真正考虑设置或存储。 很难想象，捕捉图像曾经是一个几乎不可能的过程。

Going back even before traditional film cameras, there were camera obscuras. These were boxes with a small hole in them. Through one side, an image could be projected onto a wall on the opposite side of the box. However, the picture was upside down, very faint, and couldn't be captured in physical form – a bit like the images we see on modern projectors. In 1839, a French artist managed to work out a way to store and save photographs. He projected the image onto a shiny metal plate treated with chemicals. These images were in black and white. The first colour photo ever taken was of a tartan ribbon. The image was composed of three black and white photographs, each taken through a red, blue or green filter.

甚至在传统胶片相机出现之前，就已经有暗箱了。 这些是上面有一个小孔的盒子。 通过一侧，图像可以投影到盒子另一侧的墙上。 然而，图像是颠倒的，非常微弱，无法以物理形式捕捉——有点像我们在现代投影仪上看到的图像。 1839年，一位法国艺术家设法找到了一种存储和保存照片的方法。 他将图像投影到经过化学处理的闪亮金属板上。 这些图像是黑白的。 有史以来拍摄的第一张彩色照片是一条格子呢丝带。 该图像由三张黑白照片组成，每张照片都经过红色、蓝色或绿色滤镜拍摄。

So, how did we get from these early photographs to the kind we put into a frame and keep? Before the digital revolution, an image was captured on a negative, and this method is still chosen by some photographers today. A negative is an inverted image on a small strip of glass or plastic film which can then be exposed to light and processed onto photographic paper. When this was the main source of obtaining physical copies of photographs, it was a lengthy process with customers having to take the negatives to a shop and wait for their pictures to be developed.

那么，我们是如何从这些早期照片变成我们放入相框并保存的照片的呢？ 在数字革命之前，图像是在底片上拍摄的，如今一些摄影师仍然选择这种方法。 负片是一小片玻璃或塑料胶片上的倒置图像，然后可以将其曝光并冲洗到相纸上。 当这是获取照片实体副本的主要来源时，这是一个漫长的过程，顾客必须将底片带到商店并等待照片冲洗。

That was until digital photography came along in the 70s. Digital cameras captured images that could be saved as files and manipulated on a computer. Those are the kind of photos we take today on our phones.

直到 70 年代数码摄影出现。 数码相机捕获的图像可以保存为文件并在计算机上进行操作。 这些就是我们今天用手机拍摄的照片。

So, don't take the camera in your pocket for granted. It's been years in the making.

因此，不要认为口袋里有相机是理所当然的。 它已经酝酿多年了。

词汇表

smartphone 智能手机
set up 设置
storage 储存
capture 拍摄，捕捉
film cameras 胶片相机
camera obscura 暗箱
project 投映
upside down 上下颠倒的
faint 虚的，不清晰的
projector 投影仪
treat （用特殊物质）处理
colour photo 彩照
filter 滤镜
frame 相框
digital 数字的
negative 底片
inverted 颠倒的
film 胶卷
expose to 暴露于…
process 冲洗加工（底片）
photographic paper 相纸
develop 冲洗（底片）
manipulate 处理，修饰