Mrs Richard Hart-Davis, as Ariel, raises her bangled arm holding teal fabric overhead

Yevonde: Mrs Richard Hart-Davis as Ariel, 1935

Light and Magic: The Birth of Art Photography runs at Tate Modern until 21 February 2027Photograph: National Portrait Gallery, London

A figure carries baskets on a pole along a misty riverbank, mountains fading into fog

Long Chin-San: Riverside Spring 1942

Close-up black-and-white photo of two overlapping seashells, by Edward Weston

Edward Weston: Shells, 1927

female figure in revealing costume seen in profile, her hands bound and raised above her

William Mortensen: Nymph 1920s

Two people gather water lilies from a rowing boat

Peter Henry Emerson and Thomas Frederick Goodall: Gathering Water-Lilies, 1885

Lizzie Avery smiles, wearing a beaded headband and surrounded by flowers

Cavendish Morton: Lizzie Avery in In Dahomey, 1903

Silhouetted figures ascend a smoky, light-streaked staircase towards a bright doorway in Hong Kong

Ho Fan: Smoky World, 1959

more herePhotograph: M+, Hong Kong, Estate of Ho Fan

A butterfly with patterned wings rests amid sparkling scattered powder, with another chrysalis nearby

Iwata Nakayama: Composition (Butterflies), c 1941

Six teacups and saucers cast long dramatic shadows on a curved surface, in black and white

Olive Cotton: Teacup Ballet, 1935

A mother lies on sand with eyes closed, cradling her baby against her chest

Max Dupain: Mother and Child, 1952

Miss Thomson rests her head against a wooden post, eyes downcast, amid leaves

Paul Strand: Miss Thomson, New Mexico, c 1922

A horse and figures cross an arched bridge over Regent’s Canal, with reflections below

Alvin Langdon Coburn: Regents Canal, 1909

A worker crouches silhouetted amid towering criss-crossed steel construction beams

Wu Peng Seng: Construction, 1958

A faint, translucent nude figure stands beneath a flowering branch against a patterned background

Luo Bonian: Drawing Water from a Well, May 1932

A sepia photograph, titled The Mystic Sign, shows women in saris watching a turbaned man gesture

Shapoor N Bhedwar: The Mystic Sign from Art Studies Album c 1890s

Read ourreview of Light and Magic herePhotograph: The Alkazi Collection of Photography