It is difficult to find an aspect of the humanities that photography has not had an impact on. Throughout history and technological advances, photography has been used for everything from proving a scientific theory to recording a special event in a person's life. In today's modern world the impact of photography can be seen on a daily basis. Developments such as photographic identification, films, photojournalism, and thousands of other advances in life all come from photography. While all of these aspects of photography are amazing in themselves, the real element of photography that made it such an impactful advancement in the humanities was its ability to capture a moment in time and offer the middle class a new medium understandable artistic and relatively economical. .Although the discovery that an image could be reflected on another surface occurred in the early 5th century (Hirsh, 2000), it was not until around 1800 that inventors began to really try to create something that both scientists and middle class could use to capture an accurate image of their subjects (Kleiner & Maymiam, 2005). During this time period only the wealthy upper class were able to capture images of their families and important aspects of their lives through a type of art called realism. This technique required many hours of painting and placing in one area for a long time and was very expensive. Scientists also had problems with their studies because they did not have accurate methods for recording key findings, which is why the inventors realized that photography would be an invention that people would be willing to invest in. If they found a way to create a device that would capture images like a painting they would not only sell them to scientists, but...middle of paper......ce and have effects on how we see history, how we live today and about how we will live in the future cannot be denied. Photography brought new challenges for artists, created new artists and with it new forms of artwork. Photography has also recorded great moments in history and scientific discoveries that, if not captured, would have been lost forever. Photography also helped develop advertising and spread news around the world; contributed to the development of new inventions such as films and digital artworks. Like many other great advances, photography has not only become more advanced as time has gone on, but has spawned many new inventions and technological advances that may not have been found before. These advances have impacted the world of the humanities in countless ways and will most likely continue to do so throughout humanity's existence..