The invention of photography
I can explain what photography is and why historians find it interesting.
The invention of photography
I can explain what photography is and why historians find it interesting.
These resources will be removed by end of Summer Term 2025.
Lesson details
Key learning points
- Photography is the process of capturing an image using a camera.
- This process produces a photograph, a picture of whatever the camera was pointed at.
- Photography is quite a recent invention, and has only been used for about 200 years.
- Photographs are interesting to historians because they have captured ways of life that have now disappeared.
Keywords
Photography - photography is the process of taking a photograph
Photograph - a picture made using a camera
Camera - a camera is a device used for taking photographs
Historian - an historian is someone who studies and writes about the past
Common misconception
Pupils may assume that people have always been able to take photographs.
Explain that photography was invented 200 years ago and, before that, photographs did not exist. People would have drawn or painted to record what they could see in front of them.
Licence
This content is © Oak National Academy Limited (2024), licensed on Open Government Licence version 3.0 except where otherwise stated. See Oak's terms & conditions (Collection 2).
Lesson video
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Starter quiz
6 Questions
something you have had for a long time or has existed for a long time
something you have just been given, just bought or just made
the past
the present
the future
Exit quiz
6 Questions
the process of taking a photograph
a picture created with a camera
a device used to take a photograph
someone who studies and writes about the past