History of photography.

The word photography was first used in the year 1839, "the year the invention of the photographic process was made public".

During the prior decades, a number of light-sensitive materials were tested to capture the image from the camera obscura, but the first successful permanent photograph is usually credited to Louis Daguerre.

By the time the details of this process were made public, in 1839, other artists and scientists had discovered additional photographic imaging techniques. William Henry Fox Talbot's Calotype process used light-sensitive paper and produced a 'negative image' that could be used to create positive prints. These methods required long exposure time, animate objects could not be recorded. No one could hold still long enough! The earliest photographic recordings were architectural and landscape scenes.

By 1840, when techniques had improved and exposure times were shortened, portrait photography became fashionable. Since that time, photography has become an important tool in many fields, with sophisticated techniques and equipment continuing to evolve.