The role of portraits in the early days of photography and portraits today

1.      What are the main differences and similarities between portraits in the early days of photography and portraits today?

The similarities between portraits in the early days and portraits today are that the popular subjects are still people, places, and sceneries. If you look at earlier photographs they seem to focus on people which the definition of portraits. I believe that portraits from the earlier days and today are very different. It is because to technological advances of the hardware in the camera itself such as memory cards and different types of lenses. It is also because there are many changes in the software used to edit the photographs. This pushes the artist to develop the photograph to the best of its quality.

2.       Who was the photographer and who was the subject of photographs in the past and today?

Back when photography was new to the world primary subjects of photographs were royalty and people who were high up in society it concentrated only on people.  Now days subjects of photographs are unimaginable it can be anyone or anything. This is due to the fact the ad agencies need pictures of models and their products together. Another reason being new point and shot cameras anyone can take photographs almost all cell phones tablets laptops have them now. This allows anyone to capture a moment anytime and anywhere.

3.      What was the impact of technology on the portraits in the past and today?

Technology has had a huge impact on portraits. In the 19^th century there were no computers and special cameras to actually edit photographs, but today there are different types of cameras and lenses to take different types of portraits there is special mood lighting which create the mood that the photographer want. Not mention the great software like Photoshop and all the other adobe editing software the ad agencies use to get their message out to the public. I am sure there are many more differences if we go into more depth because the technology is moving very fast in this industry. So far these are the major differences on the portraits of today and the past.