The first flexible photographic roll film was marketed by George Eastman, founder of Kodak in 1885, but this original “film” was actually a coating on a paper base. As part of the processing, the image-bearing layer was stripped from the paper and transferred to a hardened gelatin support. It was made from highly flammable nitrocellulose known as nitrate film. Because Niépce’s camera photographs required an extremely long exposure , he sought to greatly improve his bitumen process or replace it with one that was more practical. With an eye to eventual commercial exploitation, the partners opted for total secrecy. The first permanent photoetching was an image produced in 1822 by the French inventor Nicéphore Niépce, but it was destroyed in a later attempt to make prints from it.
- Over the recent months we’ve been presenting various showcases of photography – while many readers hated the showcases, most readers found them
