What type of photography was used during the Civil War?

The type of photography used during the civil war was known as wet-plate photography. The process of capturing photos was complicated and time consuming. Photographers had to carry all of their heavy equipment, including a portable dark room, to the battlefield on a wagon.

How did the photography affect the Civil War?

It allowed families to have a keepsake representation of their fathers or sons as they were away from home. Photography also enhanced the image of political figures like President Lincoln, who famously joked that he wouldn’t have been re-elected without the portrait of him taken by photographer Matthew Brady.

What were the 2 most common types of photography during the Civil War?

The first was portraiture, which is, by far and away, was the most common form of photography during the war. The second was the photography of battlefields, camps, outdoor group scenes, forts and landscapes – the documentary photography of the Civil War —most commonly marketed at the time as stereoscopic views.

When was stereo photography invented?

1832
Sir Charles Wheatstone first introduced stereoscopic photography in 1832 when he tried to create a three-dimensional effect by inventing a binocular device that he named a Stereoscope.

How did photographers take pictures of Civil War?

Almost 70 percent of photographs taken during the Civil War were stereoviews, which were essentially 19th century three-dimensional photos. To take a stereoview, a photographer used a twin lens camera with its lenses an eye-width apart to capture the same image from slightly different angles, much as our own eyes do.

When was photography first used in war?

The first photographs of war were made in 1847, when an unknown American photographer produced a series of fifty daguerreotypes depicting scenes from the Mexican-American war in Saltillo, Mexico.

Why is photography important in war?

And as time developed, photographers captured clearer photos of war, seeing the violence these soldiers experienced. These photos stopped many from believing that war was a path to hope and peace, and they started to suspect that war might actually simply lead to more violence.

How was photography used in war?

The proliferation of the photographic images allowed the public to be well informed in the discourses of war. The advent of mass-reproduced images of war were not only used to inform the public but they served as imprints of the time and as historical recordings. Mass-produced images did have consequences.

What photographic process did Alexander Gardner use?

wet plate collodion
Gardner was born in Scotland on October 17, 1821. Apprenticed to a jeweler in his youth, he worked at that trade before changing careers and taking a job for a finance company. At some point in the mid-1850s he became very interested in photography and learned to use the new “wet plate collodion” process.

What are stereo photos?

Stereoscopy is the production of the illusion of depth in a photograph, movie, or other two-dimensional image by the presentation of a slightly different image to each eye, which adds the first of these cues (stereopsis). The two images are then combined in the brain to give the perception of depth.

What were Stereographs used for?

Viewing stereographs was a common activity, much like watching television or going to the movies today. Stereoviews were also used as an education tool in classrooms. Stereographs were meant to be viewed in 3-D with a stereoscope.

Who took photos during the Civil War?

Mathew Brady and his associates, most notably Alexander Gardner, George Barnard, and Timothy O’Sullivan, photographed many battlefields, camps, towns, and people touched by the war. Their images depict the multiple aspects of the war except one crucial element: battle.