History of photography

Dezirea. W

The first photograph, or the earliest known surviving photograph made in a camera was taken by Joseph Nicephore Niepce in 1826 or 1827. The image depicts the view from an upstairs window at Niepce's estate, in the Burgundy region of France.

How long did it take for the first camera to take a picture?

The grainy picture above is the world's first photograph called "View from the Window at Le Gras" taken and developed by French photographer pioneer Joseph Nicephore Niepce. He called this process "heliography" or sun drawing. It certainly was a long process: the exposure time was about 8 hours.

Originally all photographs were monochromatic or hand-painted in color. Although methods for developing color photos were available as early as 1861, they didn’t come widely available until the 1940s or 1950s. That being said most photographs were taken in black and white.

                Who invented camera? Johann Zahn designed the first camera in 1685. But the first photo was “clicked” by Joseph Nicephore Niepce in 1814.

                The first recorded attempt at building a digital camera was in 1975 by Steven Sasson, an engineer at Eastman Kodak.

                The use of photographic film was pioneered by George Eastman, who started manufacturing paper film in 1885 before switching to celluloid in 1888-1889. His first camera, which he called the "Kodak," was first offered for sale in 1888.

NASA photographers snapped the first photograph of a Cape Canaveral launch in July of 1950. The rocket being launched was known as the Bumper 2, it was a two-stage rocket comprising a V-2 missile based and a WAC Corporal rocket. The shot also clearly showcases other photographers lined up and ready to get their images of the event.

The first photograph of a human appeared above in and was captured by Louis Daguerre. The exposure lasted around seven minutes and was aimed at capturing the Boulevard du Temple, a thoroughfare in Paris. Due to the long exposure time, many individuals who walked the street where not in place long enough to make an impression. However, in the lower left of the photograph we can see a man standing and getting his shoe’s polished.  Further analysis of the picture later found a few other figures..

                               

                                                  This photo from 1908 showcases the death of Aviator Thomas Selfridge. The plane was an experimental design by the Aerial Experimental Association, which was part of the US Army. The plane was also carrying Orville Wright when it crashed however, he survived.

                                                 

                                   The invention of photography would revolutionise culture and communication in the West forever. For the first time, images of real life could be captured for posterity and sent around the world. Portraits of royalty and other celebrities allowed members of the public to feel they were viewing these people ‘in the flesh’. The dead could be remembered, the fleeting could be fixed.

                The British inventor Fox Talbot produced his first successful photographic images in 1834, without a camera, by placing objects onto paper brushed with light-sensitive silver chloride, which he then exposed to sunlight. By 1840, Talbot had succeeded in producing photogenic drawings in a camera, with short exposures yielding an invisible or ‘latent’ image that could be developed to producea usable negative.