Photography began in 1793 when Nicéphore Niépce experimented with light-sensitive compounds and captured the first photograph of his home garden in 1826. Key early developments included the camera obscura, cyanotype process invented by John Herschel in 1842, and the daguerreotype process which produced the first known photo of a person. Henry Fox Talbot invented the first negative in 1841. Eadweard Muybridge took the first moving photographs by placing multiple cameras along a track. The first mass market camera, the Brownie, was invented in 1900 and made cameras affordable to the public.

1. The History of Photography
Photography is seen anywhere you
look, all images and posters have
usually been taken by a photographer.
Here is a brief history of photography

2. Nicéphore Niépce
Nicéphore Niépce was a middle class citizen who
had interest in training the military. His ideas for
‘photography’ began in 1793 with him testing
light sensitive compounds that could be
imprinted with an image. His breakthrough
came with the first recorded photograph of his
home garden in 1826.

4. Camera Obscurer
• The device Niépce used during his work was
the camera obscurer. It was a simple box with
a small whole in the front to take in light.
Inside the box was a piece of treated paper
which was coated in a thick, light sensitive
compound to capture the image onto.

6. Cyanotype
• Cyanotype was invented in
1842 by the famous astronomer
sir John Herschel. Herschel
needed a way to copy notes
from his Astronomy research. He created what is
commonly known as a blue print.

7. Daguerreotype
• Since the Renaissance, artists and inventors
had been looking for a method of capturing
visual scenes. Previously, Artist traced images
using a camera obscura but Daguerre had
thought of a better system. A process which
was eventually named the Daguerreotype
used a thin silver- plated piece of copper, he
then exposed it to the vapour produced by
iodine crystals, producing a light sensitive
piece of metal which could capture an image.

8. The first known photo of a person

9. The first Negative
• The inventor of the first negative was Henry Fox
Talbot, an English botanist and mathematician.
• Talbot sensitized paper to light with a silver salt
solution. He then exposed the paper to light. The
background became black, the colours became
shades of grey. This was a negative image, and
from the paper negative, Talbot made prints,
reversing the light and shadows to create a
detailed picture. In 1841, he perfected this paper-
negative process.

11. The first moving photograph
• Eadweard Muybridge wanted to prove that
when animals ran, all four legs came off the
ground at once.
• To do this he used somewhere between 12
and 24 cameras placed along a track and took
all of the photos consecutively. Here is the
result.

13. Louis Daguerre
• A friend of Nicephore Niepce was also
experimenting to find a way to capture an
image, but it would take years before he could
perfect a permanent image in under 30
minuets. Louis Daguerre was the inventor of
the first practical process of photography. In
1829 became partners with with Joseph
Nicephore Niepce to improve the process
Niepce had developed.

14. First mass market camera
• The first mass market camera, also known as
the Brownie, was invented in 1900 by Kodak.
It was an inexpensive camera that cost one
dollar and went on until 1966 when it was
discontinued.
• This was historically significant
since it proved that cameras
could be afforded by anyone.

15. Conclusion
• So in the end we can take stunning pictures,
learn about animal life and even take pictures
from space. All this is possible thanks to
Nicéphore Niépce, sir John Herschel, Henry
Fox Talbot and Eadweard Muybridge not to
mention all of the unsung heroes who made
photography is today.