Photography was the first totally mechanical method by which the image in the viewfinder could be recorded objectively – without human intervention (apart from throwing a switch to start the recording). There were limits as to what photography could record (fast moving subjects, for example), though these became fewer as the technology improved.
Over the years, photographers have dealt with photographic limitations in a variety of ways. Their approaches may be put broadly into five categories: Scientific, Pictorial, Naturalistic, Pure, and Automatic. These will be discussed in turn in the following chapters. This part of the book starts with a chapter about Fox Talbot, who made an important step forward when he invented the first permanent negative.