1. A Brief History of Early
Photographic Technology
FROM INCEPTION THROUGH
T H E T U R N O F T H E 1 9 TH
CENTURY.

2. Invented by: Alhazen
(Ibn Al-Haytham)
Unlike others before
him, he was able to
explain why the
images were upside
down.
However, around 330
B.C.E., Aristotle
questioned why the
sun could make a
circular image when it
shined through a
square hole.
1000 C.E.
The Camera Obscuraa.k.a the
Pinhole Camera

3. Invented by: Joseph
NicéphoreNiépce(Fr
ance)
Exposed the image
of the countryside at
his estate onto a
chemical-coated
pewter plate for
eight hours.
Named his
technique
"heliography,"
meaning "sun 1826
drawing.” First Permanent Image
View from the Window at Le Gras (France, 1826) Joseph NicéphoreNiépce

4. Invented by: Louis-
Jacques-Mandé
Daguerre (France)
Using a camera
obscura and his
newly invented
daguerreotype
process, exposed an
image of a Paris
street for 10
minutes.
1839
The Daguerreotype
Boulevard du Temple (1838/39) Louis Daguerre

5. Made by exposing
the image on a
sensitized silver-
plated sheet of
copper, and as a
result, the surface of
a daguerreotype is
highly reflective.
There is no negative
used in this process,
and the image is
almost always
reversed left to
right. The Daguerreotype

6. First Self-
Portrait
Robert Cornelius,
Oct. or Nov. 1839.
This self-portrait is
the first
photographic
portrait image of a
human ever
produced.

7. Invented by: Henry
Fox Talbot (England)
Sensitized paper to
light with a silver
salt solution and
exposed the paper
to light. Produced a
negative image, and
from the paper
negative, Talbot
made contact prints,
reversing the light
and shadows to
create a detailed 1841
picture. The Calotype
Window in the South Gallery of Lacock Abbey made from the oldest photographic negative in existence Henry Fox Talbot 1835

8. Invented by: Anna
Atkins
Atkins placed
specimens directly
onto coated paper,
allowing the action
of light to create a
sillhouette effect.
By using this
photogram process,
Anna Atkins is
regarded as the first
female 1842
photographer. Cyanotype

9. Invented by:
Frederick Scoff
Archer (English)
Coated glass with
light-sensitive silver
salts. Because it was
glass and not paper,
this wet plate
created a more
stable and detailed
negative. However,
wet plates had to be
developed quickly
before the emulsion 1851
dried. Wet Plate Photography

10. Photography
in the Field
Because wet-plate
photographs had to
be taken before the
emulsion dried, the
needed supplies
and chemicals had
to be transported
with the
photographer.
Roger Fenton's assistant seated on Fenton's photographic van, 1855.

12. This is a version of
wet-plate
photography.
The finished plate
produced a negative
image that appeared
positive when
backed with velvet,
paper, metal or
varnish.
1854
The Ambrotype

13. Patented by:
Hamilton Smith
A thin sheet of
iron was used to
provide a base
for light-
sensitive
material,
yielding a
positive image.
1856
The Tintype
Tintype Photograph of Members of the 75th Ohio Infantry in Jacksonville Florida State Archives

14. Photographed by:
James Clerk Maxwell
(Scottish)
Created a
rudimentary color
image by
superimposing onto
a single screen three
black-and-white
images each passed
through three
filters—red, green,
and blue.
1861
First Color Photo

15. This invention
produced a glass
negative plate with a
dried gelatin emulsion.
Dry plates could be
stored for a period of
time. Photographers
no longer needed
portable darkrooms
and could now hire
technicians to develop
their photographs.
Dry processes
absorbed light quickly
so rapidly that the 1879
hand-held camera was Dry Plate Photography
now possible.