It was made 200 years ago and it was not with any iPhone

The first photograph in history was taken in 1827, almost 200 years have passed since then

Nowadays, it is very difficult to conceive life without photography.. In the beginning it was a unique art, but with the development of cheaper cameras or mobile phones, anyone can capture unique snapshots. However, almost 200 years ago that was not the case. The story of The first photograph dates back to 1827 and what was captured was not surprising at all.

As we said, mobile phones like the iPhone 15 Pro or the Samsung Galaxy S24 are devices that can capture images like never before. The incorporation of technology supported by artificial intelligence has made photography a qualitative leap and quantitative, leaving it within the reach of anyone.

Some blurry roofs were the protagonists of the first photograph

However, the tools to capture photographs appeared 200 years ago and were much more rudimentary than those of today. Photography appeared in the mid-19th century and since then its development has been exponential. To go back to The history of the first photography must be transferred to France in 1827.

Here, the amateur scientist Joseph Nicéphore Niépce would be the first to get a photograph, although not sharp, that captured a landscape. To achieve this, this French scientist used the camera obscura system by placing a plate covered in bitumen with photosensitive material inside the device.

The camera obscura was a device that allowed magnified images to be reflected through light but could not take regular photographs. Niépce changed that forever. Thanks to the bitumen-coated plate, he placed the machine on the window of his home and left it for 8 hours. After that time, the projected image had stuck to the plate. The scientist named this technique heliography.

The first photograph in history taken in 1827

According to a recent National Geographic article, Niépce titled his work “View from the window at Le Gras” and certainly, the only thing that could be seen was a series of roofs surrounding the scientist’s house. From this first photograph, an in-depth study followed to improve the original technique.

In the decades that followed, materials were improved and photographs increasingly had better resolution. In 1853-1856, The Crimean War became the first armed conflict to be photographed. After that, in the 1861-1865 American Civil War, photography was very common and there is much evidence of it.

The most curious thing about Niépce’s design is that a few decades later, his invention was acquired by the French state and placed in the public domain. This allowed any citizen to use this technology, making photography extend to what we know it today.

The history of photography is impressive and even more so if we compare the image that Niépce was able to take and the one that mobile phones like the realme 12 Pro+ 5G can take, which has up to six magnifications in the camera. Definitely We can conclude by saying that:

• The first photograph in history was taken in 1827 by an amateur scientist
• From there the technique was improved and it became public domain
• Today it is impossible to understand human being without the photos they take with their mobile phones

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