The first photograph ever taken was in 1826, captured by Joseph Nicéphore Niépce, a French inventor. Niépce utilized a pewter plate which he covered with bitumen of Judea, a derivative of petroleum, which he used white petroleum to dissolve. As bitumen becomes hard with light exposure, when the unhardened material is washed away, an image remains on the pewter plate composed of dark regions of bare pewter and light regions of the hardened bitumen. Unfortunately, Niépce’s first successful image on pewter was accidentally destroyed. The photo below is the earliest existing image he produced.
In 1827 Johann Heinrich Schultz discovered that silver nitrate (AGNO3) becomes dark when it is exposed to light. Niépce, in partnership with Louis Daguerre, succeeded in refining this silver process discovered by Shultz. The following year Niépce passed away after a stroke leaving Daguerre to develop the process further which he did, inventing the daguerreotype which the French government quickly purchased the patent of on August 19th 1839. It truly makes one appreciate how easy it is to take a photo in this day and age, if one has a li-42b charger that is!
0 Comments on The first photograph ever