When was photography invented?

Photography plays a major role in modern times. It can be hard to think of a time before there was photography. With that being said, let's look at the key events and people who led to the creation and invention of photography...

When was photography invented?

There isn't a single year that definitively marks the invention of photography. As with most things, it was a gradual process with key milestones over several decades.

Let's look at the key milestones and a brief timeline of important events leading to the invention of photography as we know it today.

1826-1827: The first permanent photograph

The first permanent photograph can be credited to a French inventor by the name of Joseph Nicéphore Niépce.^[1]

He captured the first permanent photograph, titled View from the Window at Le Gras.^[2] Niépce used a process called heliography which involves coating a pewter plate with bitumen of Judea which is a light-sensitive material that hardens when it's exposed to sunlight.^[3]

Niépce exposed the pewter plate to sun for about eight hours,^[4] and after those eight hours, he successfully captured an image that depicted the courtyard outside his window.

This photo is considered to be the first known permanent image and therefore marks the beginning of photography.

1829: The Niépce-Daguerre partnership

In 1829, Niépce recognized that further advancement in the photography process was needed, which led to a partnership between him and Louis Daguerre, an artist and scientist who shared his interest in capturing images.^[5]

The two began working on refining the heliographic process.

As mentioned earlier, the current heliographic process at the time required very long exposure times and produced faint, low-contrast images as can be seen with the View from the Window at Le Gras.

To improve upon this process, they experimented with new materials and chemical treatments in order to create a clearer, more practical process.

Unfortunately, Niépce passed away in 1833, but Daguerre continued their efforts and introduced techniques that involved using highly polished, silver-coated copper plates, which were treated with iodine vapor to make them light-sensitive.^[6]

This process significantly shortened exposure times and produced much sharper and more detailed images than Niépce’s original method.

Daguerre would then evolve this process into the daguerreotype which was publicly released in 1839.

1839: Introduction of the Daguerreotype

In 1839, Daguerre unveiled the daguerreotype process which became the first commercially viable form of photography.^[7]

Unlike Niépce's heliographs, daguerreotypes produced sharp, direct-positive images on silver-plated copper. Here is a daguerreotype of Abraham Lincoln as U.S. Congressman-elect in 1846, attributed to Nicholas H. Shepard:

The process involved in making daguerreotypes involved treating the plates with iodine vapors, then exposing them to light, and finally developing the image using mercury fumes.

The French government purchased the rights to the daguerreotype process and declared it “a gift to the world,” accelerating photography’s accessibility and popularity.^[8] Because of this, this year is often cited as the birth of public photography.

Around this same time, there was another inventor named Henry Fox Talbot, who was working on his own process...

1840: Henry Fox Talbot and the Calotype process

Around the same time as Daguerre's developments of the Daguerreotype, British inventor Henry Fox Talbot was creating his calotype process.

Unlike daguerreotypes, which produced single images, calotypes used paper coated with silver chloride to create negatives. This allowed for the production of multiple prints from a single exposure.^[9]

This process was a revolutionary concept because it formed the basis for modern photographic reproduction. Talbot’s calotypes provided an alternative to the daguerreotype and expanded the possibilities for photographic art and documentation.

Fast forward a decade and a new process came along...

1851: The Wet Collodion Process and Frederick Scott Archer

In 1851, Frederick Scott Archer, an English photographer and sculptor, introduced the wet collodion process. This method involved coating a glass plate with collodion (a mixture of guncotton and ether), then exposing and developing it while still wet.^[10]

Archer's process significantly reduced exposure time, allowing for clearer and more detailed images. Because of this, wet collodion quickly became the dominant photographic method until the advent of dry plates in the 1870s.

Here's a graphic showing the basic steps of the Collodion process:

1871: Richard Leach Maddox and the Dry Plate

In 1871, Richard Leach Maddox, an English photographer and physician, invented the dry plate method which replaced the wet collodion process with gelatin-coated glass plates.

Unlike the wet plate, which had to be exposed and developed immediately, dry plates could be prepared in advance and stored until use.^[11] This advancement not only made photography more convenient but also allowed photographers to capture images more spontaneously.

The dry plate was a crucial step toward making photography accessible to amateurs and paved the way for modern film.

1888: Kodak and the Roll Film Camera

In 1888, George Eastman, American entrepreneur who founded the Eastman Kodak Company, introduced the Kodak camera, which used roll film instead of plates. With the slogan “You press the button, we do the rest,”^[12] Eastman democratized photography by making it easy for the general public to take pictures.

The roll film camera eliminated the need for glass plates, and its portability transformed photography from a professional pursuit into a popular hobby. This innovation marked the beginning of the mass-market era of photography.

1907: The first commercial color photography

Color photography became commercially available in 1907 with the introduction of the Autochrome plate by the Lumière brothers.^[13]

The Autochrome process used dyed grains of starch to create color images, making it the first successful commercial color process. Though complex, it represented a significant step forward and eventually led to the vibrant color photography we know today.

Conclusion

The invention of photography was not the work of a single individual or moment but rather the result of a series of innovations spanning several decades.

Beginning with Niépce’s first permanent image, the evolution of photographic processes—from Daguerre’s detailed daguerreotypes to Eastman’s roll film and the Lumières’ color plates—has transformed how we capture, share, and preserve memories.

These pioneering advancements laid the foundation for photography as both a form of documentation and an expressive art, revolutionizing our visual culture and history.