History's First Photograph

1. History's First Photograph By Mark W. Decker

2. Introduction Photographer Mark W. Decker pursues interests in both the techniques and history of photography. Mark W. Decker has learned much about how the art originally developed. The world's first known photograph came about because early-19th century French farmer and inventor Joseph Nicéphore Niépce could not draw well. Interested in the then-new art of lithography, he had tried his hand at copying engravings using stones and a light-sensitive varnish. In the summer of 1826, he incorporated the camera obscura to create a new technique: coating a polished pewter plate with bitumen of Judea (a petroleum derivative that hardened with light), he placed the plate inside a camera obscura , uncovered the lens, and left it in the window of his home.

3. History's First Photograph Eight hours later, Niépce removed the plate and washed it with white petroleum and oil of lavender. This mixture removed the unhardened bitumen and created a positive image of the view from his window. He brought his invention to the Royal Society in England in 1827, but the Society expressed no interest and Niépce left the photograph behind with his host, Sir Francis Bauer. Bauer noted Niépce's name and information on the plate's frame, which slipped into obscurity until photohistorian Helmut Gernsheim tracked its location in the 1950s.