At a time in history when millions of images are being taken around the world every second, perhaps it is a good time to stop and think a bit and look back. What better than wondering what was the first photo in history. You know which is?
If you want to find out, keep reading. I tell you this and much more.
INSIDE THIS ARTICLE… 📖
first photo ever
The first photo in history The one that survives is from 1826 and is entitled Point de vue du Gras (View from Le Gras).
Most widespread modern reproduction
Original captured by Niépce
The inventor of photography took it from the window of his house (now converted into a museum) after eight hours of exposure. It is kept at the University of Texas at Austin.
In fact, this is the first photo in the most official history, since there are two others that are vying for the position of first photo. One is a reproduction of a Dutch engraving dating from 1825, sold two decades ago for a whopping half a million euros for being the first photo in history, and the other is “The table set” that Roland Barthes, in his work The camera lucida, concludes that it is from 1822.
the table set
pulling a horse
Year up, year down, what is clear is that they are all the work of the same author, the one we can consider the inventor of photography.
Then…
niepce
Who was the inventor of photography?
The inventor of photography is French Josep-Nicéphore Niépce. Before this first (official) photograph, around 1824 he took other photographs that are not preserved, although they are known from the correspondence he had with his brother. In addition to the other two that I just mentioned above, 1822 and 1825.
When was photography invented?
This leads us to wonder when photography was actually invented.
The first photographic procedure or heliographic dates from 1824by niepce. These images were obtained by placing bitumen-coated lithographic stones from Judea on a silver plate at the bottom of a camera obscura. In this way, she obtained the first imperishable image of a landscape. The main drawback is that too long an exposure time was needed, several days in full sun.
From 1825, he regularly uses copper as a support. Later, in the year 1826, the tin, making engraved images.
But we have to look a little further back, 1816, when the world’s first negative (unfixed) was createdan image of nature that Niépce himself takes from his window and that fades as the paper blackens with light.
First photograph in history with people
The extremely long exposure times needed to achieve these first images made it impossible for people to appear in them.
It’s not until 1839 when Daguerre get the first photo in which people appear. Actually, two people, a shoe shiner and his client, who can be seen in the lower left corner. The rest of the passersby disappear from the scene because the exposure time, much shorter, was still somewhat slow, about 10 minutes. Quite an advance.
Boulevard du Temple, first photo with people
First fake photo in history
As a curiosity, you may want to know that the first montage of the story is from 1840 and is entitled “Self-portrait of a drowned man” where its author author, Hippolyte Bayardpretended to be dead.
first self portrait
His goal was to protest the lack of support from the French government for his invention of the direct positive on paper.
First color photo in history
Tartan Ribbon is how the title is first color photo in history and it was done in 1861 by Thomas Sutton, following the instructions of the physicist James Clerk Maxwell. To do this, they used three negatives with green, red and blue filters that were projected at the same time to get a single image.
This is how the first permanent color photo was born and this system of three colors was called trichomy.
First color photo in history
However, the first color film came in 1935, Kodakchrome, from Kodak.
First underwater photo in history
Incredible as it may seem, the first photograph taken underwater is from 1893. The person responsible, the biologist Louis Boutan, did not cease his efforts until, with the help of his engineer brother, he achieved his goal.
First underwater photo
First digital photo in history
first digital photo
Contrary to what you probably think, the first digital photo dates back to 1957. The American computer scientist Russel Kirsch is responsible for this milestone, with an image of his son measuring 176 pixels and 5×5 cm.
Actually, this image was not taken with a camera but scanned or made through a prototype scanner. However, it was the beginning not only of digital photography, but of satellite images, scanners, editing, etc.
The first digital camera came a couple of decades later, in 1975, created by Steve Sasson, an engineer at Kodak. This invention was patented by the brand in 1978 and marketed in 1991.
You already know the most important milestones in the history of photography. In addition to who invented what you feel so passionate about, photography.
It may seem like a most modern invention, but as you can see, it has more than two centuries of evolution behind it, not counting everything that preceded it from the dark room in the Middle Ages.
To learn more about the history of photography, do not miss this article.
Surely now you value the millions of pixels that your camera has a little more 😜 .
If it has been of interest to you, I invite you to share it, it is possible that someone will appreciate the information as much as I do for you to share it.
