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What Did Photographers Use Before Flash Powder was Invented?

by | Jul 25, 2017 | Ask the Marshall, Departments

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What did photographers use before flash powder was invented? Allen Fossenkemper – Fountain Hills, Arizona. Around 1836, photographers burned lime to create a light source, just as theatres and music halls did to light their stages. It gave an intense illumination when an oxyhydrogen flame was directed at a cylinder of quicklime. Its use inspired the term “in the limelight.” Limelight never caught on as a photography light source. It required a full-time operator to regulate the oxygen


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