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All photographers work today with historical perspective. Th ey know that the technology they use has an origin in the distant past. Th ey know photography has progressed and transformed over time, and they believe the current system of photography must be superior to that of the past. Th ey are sure they will witness further progress in photography. Th ese are the lessons of history understood by all, and none need inquire any further in order to photograph.

This edition of the Focal Encyclopedia of Photography has been written at a time when the industrial production of silver halide materials is rapidly declining as a result of digital photographic technologies and practices. At this same time, the movement to preserve the technology of handmade processes from the 19th century is becoming stronger. The greatest challenge for future photohistorians will not be the understanding of photographic processes of the 1800s but rather the photographic industry of the 20th century that is being dismantled at this time.

Whereas the observation of numerous light-sensitive substances and the formative evolution of the camera obscura predate 1800, the invention of photography, as we know it, was essentially a 19th-century phenomenon. Who actually invented photography has been disputed from the very beginning, though the task would have been easier had there been a universally accepted definition of photograph.