01.Cameras that captured the Moon’s surface for the first time were left there because of their weight.
The Moon serves as a cosmic graveyard for 12 Hasselbald cameras – astronauts abandoned them when leaving the Earth’s satellite. These cameras shot iconic images of the Moon’s surface and were left behind to allow for the 25kg of lunar rock samples to be carried back instead.
02.The most viewed photograph in history is the Windows XP’s default wallpaper called “Bliss”.
Bliss was taken in 1996 (years before Windows XP was launched) in Sonoma County, California by an American photographer Charles O’Rear. He snapped the picture on film with a medium-format camera. Although many claim that the photo was digitally manipulated, O’Rear claims it never was. Right now the landscape looks different – grapevines were planted on the hill so now Bliss is impossible to duplicate.
03.The forerunner to the photographic camera was the camera obscura. Camera obscura (Latin for "dark room") is the natural optical phenomenon that occurs when an image of a scene at the other side of a screen (or for instance a wall) is projected through a small hole in that screen and forms an inverted image (left to right and upside down) on a surface opposite to the opening. The oldest known record of this principle is a description by Han Chinese philosopher Mozi (ca. 470 to ca. 391 BC). Mozi correctly asserted that the camera obscura image is inverted because light travels in straight lines from its source. In the 11th century Arab physicist Ibn al-Haytham (Alhazen)'s wrote very influential books about optics, including experiments with light through a small opening in a darkened room.
The use of a lens in the opening of a wall or closed window shutter of a darkened room to project images used as a drawing aid has been traced back to circa 1550. Since the late 17th century portable camera obscura devices in tents and boxes were used as a drawing aid.
- the world's most expensive camera, as sold at auction in May 2012 for €2,160,000 (that's around AU$2.6 million, with current conversion rates). Fittingly, it was a Leica 0-series from 1923 that took the crown, setting a new world record. An anonymous bidder took home the spoils.
05.Cheerleader effect: Individuals seem more attractive on group photos than on individual portraits.
Thinking about uploading a new photo on Facebook? Better pick one where you are around friends! According to the research of Drew Walker and Edward Vul at the University of California, individual faces appear more attractive when presented in a group than when presented alone. This phenomenon was called the “Cheerleader effect”. 👯
