
A short history of flash photography - prismatic
https://www.spectator.co.uk/2017/11/a-short-history-of-flash-photography/
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nathanallen
Reminds me of this anecdote about Salvador Dali:

> In the 1940s [Salvador Dali] was commissioned by Max Factor to create a
> brand name and a bottle for their latest perfume. Dali accepted the
> commission but refused to follow any of the procedures most designs would
> consider useful in achieving a successful result. He refused to meet his
> client. He showed no interest in developing an understanding of the product
> itself, its target audience, where it was to be sold or how it was to be
> marketed. ... Four weeks later, the world's press descended up the Astoria
> Hotel on Fifth Avenue, flashbulbs at the ready.

> Dali arrived nearly an hour late, visibly bereft of any object resembling a
> perfume bottle. As he strode towards the lectern, journalists fired
> questions while flashbulbs were discharged all around him. Just before he
> reached the lectern, Dali conjured a handkerchief from his pocket and bent
> over to pick up a still-glowing expended flashbulb. He pressed the bulb
> gently against the lectern to flatten its tip and paused to allow it to
> cool. Once the bulb was cold enough to handle, Dali held it aloft and
> announced, "Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you Max Factor's _Electrique_!"

Source:
[https://books.google.com/books?id=PJYk8PFtZf8C&pg=PT86](https://books.google.com/books?id=PJYk8PFtZf8C&pg=PT86)

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paulmd
If you want to curb the invasiveness of flash photography, use infrared film
and infrared flashbulbs.

"The Lurking Park Voyeurs of 1970s Tokyo" (moderately NWS) \-
[http://www.slate.com/blogs/behold/2013/04/02/kohei_yoskiyuki...](http://www.slate.com/blogs/behold/2013/04/02/kohei_yoskiyuki_park_uses_infrared_flash_to_document_voyeurs_watching_couples.html)

Oddly, this is something that we have lost in modern times, because xenon
(electronic) strobes don't throw enough infrared to be worthwhile, and most of
the infrared film stocks were actually originally designed for the military to
use for spotting tanks and other camoflauged installations. You can still put
an IR-pass filter over a xenon strobe and shoot with an IR-modified camera but
it is not as easy nor as effective as purpose-built film+lighting.

~~~
michrassena
A famous example of this technique is Weegee's photos from a movie theater.
You can tell infrared film was being used by looking at the subjects' eyes.

[http://www.slate.com/blogs/behold/2015/01/19/weegee_captures...](http://www.slate.com/blogs/behold/2015/01/19/weegee_captures_new_york_moviegoers_in_the_1940s_in_photographs_from_the.html)

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teh_klev
This was a good article featured a while back on HN:

[http://www.photomemorabilia.co.uk/Ilford/Flash_History.html](http://www.photomemorabilia.co.uk/Ilford/Flash_History.html)

Discussion:

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15137945](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15137945)

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Finnucane
It amuses me occasionally to get out some GE #5’s or M2’s and the young’ns are
always shocked at how much light they put out.

