One of the key components of photography is light. Literally without light the field would not
exist. In the early days natural light
was what photographers used to illuminate their subjects. This was accomplished either by taking an
image outdoors during daylight or in a studio with a large skylight to allow as
much light into the room as possible.
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| Photo studios were usually on the top floor of a building to take advantage of sunlight. |
There had to be a better way that didn’t require the photographer
to be at the mercy of Mother Nature. In
pursuit of artificial lighting there were many steps that needed to be
taken. What I find remarkable is that the
development of flash technology followed in a similar trajectory as that of
photographic technology. Experimentation
with chemicals allowed for methods of artificial lighting. Magnesium was one such element that was
used. In 1887 Adolf Miethe and Johannes
Gaedicke invented Blitzlichtpulver or flashlight powder. When it is ignited, it burns brightly. But the fumes that were given off were toxic,
the material was explosive killing some photographers, and the length of time
could be long forcing subjects to close their eyes to avoid being blinded. The technology was developed further and in
1899 Joshua Cohen patented the flash lamp which was a device which would
trigger a burn of the flashlight powder.
Cohen’s device help further control the amount of light given off by the
flashlight powder, but it was still very dangerous. To view Cohen's patent click on the following link.
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| Image of a Vacublitz. |
In the vein of making flash photography safer there arose an
Austrian inventor named Paul Vierkotter.
He patented the first flashbulb in 1925.
It looked very similar to a light bulb, but used a magnesium filament
instead of tungsten. By 1929 the first
commercially available flashbulb was patented by Johannes Ostermeier. His version of the bulb involved aluminum
foil instead of magnesium and was named Vacublitz. General Electric created a US version called the
Sashalite. These bulbs were noiseless,
smokeless, and significantly safer than the flashlight powder and by the 1950s
completely took over the marketplace for artificial lighting. The early flashbulbs were one time use only,
and throughout the decades there have been improvements to the flashbulb. One variation that became very popular from
the 1960’s and onward was the Kodak Flashcube or Magicube, which housed four
bulbs within the cube, although I suspect its popularity may have been for childhood
mischievous reasons than anything else.
A few of my friends set up the cubes inside of desk drawers so they
would go off whenever it was opened and momentarily blind the person. It seems this blogger
had the same idea.
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| To view more photographs taken by Dr. Edgerton click here. |
Modern flashes use technology that was developed by Harold
“Doc” Edgerton. The electronic flash was
invented Dr. Edgerton was working at MIT.
It is a tube filled with a gas such as xenon. When electricity is introduced to the gas, an
arc is produced giving off high intensity light. Who knew Boston had such a big hand in
photography. Dr. Edgerton started his
research working with strobe lighting and from there he was able to create a
high speed flash. This revolutionized
flash photography, because it did not require bulbs to be replaced, just time
to recharge the flash. Electronic flash
was also cheaper to manufacture than flashbulbs which opened it to a larger audience.
The future of flash photography is still in
development. One promising path is the
use of LED flash. An example of such is
turning over your phone and if you have a flash, it is guaranteed to be an LED
flash. Maybe one day flash may not even
be needed, gone will be the days of red eye and momentary blindness.
Additional Links
Life and Work of Harold "Doc" Edgerton's
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