Dumb it down for me if you can.

[Brian37]

I have never gotten the science behind why old photography works. I only know that light hits an object and some things get absorbed and the other waves bounce off. I know that as a basic principle of how light interacts with objects/molecules. But even in the old days before digital technology, I see all the old movies/tv shows  where the photographer puts the white paper in the chemical mix and waits for an image to develop. How do you get from the tiny film in the camera, to the giant white paper the picture ends up on?

[AFTT47]

https://thetartan.org/2019/2/18/scitech/how-stuff-works

[Brian37]

https://thetartan.org/2019/2/18/scitech/how-stuff-works

I am not concerned about the artistic process.

I simply want to know how photography went from light hitting an object, which is what film is, to the ability to put that film into chemicals and replicate the original open aperture.

How did photography go from basically giant slabs to film to paper?

---

Long ago, long before the internet, when I was a kid, one of my biggest fascinations with old photography happened in Jaws when Brody processed the film from the divers when he thought he saw a shark in the photo.

To this day I don't understand the process of how you capture light on film, first hand, but then transfer it to bigger print.

[BrianSoddingBoru4]

https://thetartan.org/2019/2/18/scitech/how-stuff-works

I am not concerned about the artistic process.

I simply want to know how photography went from light hitting an object, which is what film is, to the ability to put that film into chemicals and replicate the original open aperture.

How did photography go from basically giant slabs to film to paper?

---

Long ago, long before the internet, when I was a kid, one of my biggest fascinations with old photography happened in Jaws when Brody processed the film from the divers when he thought he saw a shark in the photo.

To this day I don't understand the process of how you capture light on film, first hand, but then transfer it to bigger print.

The article isn't about the artistic process.  It's about how light reacts with the emulsion on film to create an image.  It's EXACTLY what you asked for.

Boru

[brewer]

[Brian37]

I am not concerned about the artistic process.

I simply want to know how photography went from light hitting an object, which is what film is, to the ability to put that film into chemicals and replicate the original open aperture.

How did photography go from basically giant slabs to film to paper?

---

Long ago, long before the internet, when I was a kid, one of my biggest fascinations with old photography happened in Jaws when Brody processed the film from the divers when he thought he saw a shark in the photo.

To this day I don't understand the process of how you capture light on film, first hand, but then transfer it to bigger print.

The article isn't about the artistic process.  It's about how light reacts with the emulsion on film to create an image.  It's EXACTLY what you asked for.

Boru

There is also a reason one can crop an image and make it your tiny avatar. Back in the 70s an ABBA ALBUM jacket would be as big as a 1800s film square. I am trying to understand how you go from light being absorbed or refracted from an original source, being early photography, to copying that same film to larger pieces of paper through chemical process.

[Aoi Magi]

There is also a reason one can crop an image and make it your tiny avatar. Back in the 70s an ABBA ALBUM jacket would be as big as a 1800s film square. I am trying to understand how you go from light being absorbed or refracted from an original source, being early photography, to copying that same film to larger pieces of paper through chemical process.

It's the same way the light got on to the tiny film, just played in reverse.

Essentially you put the "developed film" (where it is stopped from absorbing or being effected by light through chemical treatment) in a enlarger and shine light through it on to a larger photo-sensitive piece of paper and then put this paper in a chemical bath to lock it's photo-reactive state.

[arewethereyet]

There is also a reason one can crop an image and make it your tiny avatar. Back in the 70s an ABBA ALBUM jacket would be as big as a 1800s film square. I am trying to understand how you go from light being absorbed or refracted from an original source, being early photography, to copying that same film to larger pieces of paper through chemical process.

It's the same way the light got on to the tiny film, just played in reverse.

Essentially you put the "developed film" (where it is stopped from absorbing or being effected by light through chemical treatment) in a enlarger and shine light through it on to a larger photo-sensitive piece of paper and then put this paper in a chemical bath to lock it's photo-reactive state.

Wow - thank you for that.  Great explanation!

I posted an old picture of myself recently that was taken by a friend who was into photography and had his own dark room.  I have a collection of 5x7s and 8x10s from the photo shoot he did.  He wanted to use one animal as his subject (all in black and white) and asked if he could photograph my dog.  He brought me a sheet of tiny little pictures and told me to select the ones I wanted and let him know what size.  For all I knew he using some sort of voodoo magic to make it happen.

[Brian37]

There is also a reason one can crop an image and make it your tiny avatar. Back in the 70s an ABBA ALBUM jacket would be as big as a 1800s film square. I am trying to understand how you go from light being absorbed or refracted from an original source, being early photography, to copying that same film to larger pieces of paper through chemical process.

It's the same way the light got on to the tiny film, just played in reverse.

Essentially you put the "developed film" (where it is stopped from absorbing or being effected by light through chemical treatment) in a enlarger and shine light through it on to a larger photo-sensitive piece of paper and then put this paper in a chemical bath to lock it's photo-reactive state.

Obviously it works, otherwise we wouldn't observe it.

I also can't explain how computers went from punch cards to "0s" and "1s" , but I do know all computer language is a result of manipulating positive and native charges. I simply don't understand how film went from capturing to replicating.

[BrianSoddingBoru4]

The article isn't about the artistic process.  It's about how light reacts with the emulsion on film to create an image.  It's EXACTLY what you asked for.

Boru

There is also a reason one can crop an image and make it your tiny avatar. Back in the 70s an ABBA ALBUM jacket would be as big as a 1800s film square. I am trying to understand how you go from light being absorbed or refracted from an original source, being early photography, to copying that same film to larger pieces of paper through chemical process.

Have a wee Google, then.

Boru