History of Photography Timeline

  • 400

    400- 500 B.C

    400- 500 B.C
    Plato and Mo Ti, a Chinese scholar, were one of the first people to envision the idea of a pinhole camera which was used in the later centuries for the creation of the modern day cameras.
  • Jan 1, 1000

    Camera Obscura, 1000 A.D.

    Camera Obscura, 1000 A.D.
    Alhazen (ibn Al-Haytham) invented the first pinhole camera which is also known as the camera obscura. This helped to explain the observation which Aristotle made around 330 BC about how a square hole could make a circular image when light passes through it.
  • Jan 1, 1500

    The usage of the camera obsura, 1500 A.D

    The usage of the camera obsura, 1500 A.D
    AD People started using camera obscuras to create traces which help them paint portraits, landscapes and other scenes. Prior to that scientist used it to conduct scientific experiments and research to study the sky and eclipses.
  • Jan 1, 1568

    Daniello Barbara, 1568

    Daniello Barbara, 1568
    Daniello Barbara, a professor at the University of Padua, discovered that by placing a glass lens rather than having a pinhole in the camera obscura produced a brighter and much sharper image.
  • Christopher Adolph Balduin, 1674

    Christopher Adolph Balduin, 1674
    Christopher Adolph Balduin accidentally discovered the light observing property of Calcium Nitrate.
  • Johann Heinrich Schulze, 1727

    Johann Heinrich Schulze, 1727
    German anatomy professor Johann Heinrich Schulze repeated Baldiun’s experiment and coincidentally he used a solution of nitric acid which contained traces silver. He observe that the solution darkened after it was left out in the sun.
  • Thomas Wedgwood, 1771

    Thomas Wedgwood, 1771
    Thomas Wedgwood, Known to be one of the first pioneers of photography, is born. He was able to create a negative impermanent copy of any art works unto the paper coated with Silver nitrate.
  • Joseph Nicephore Niepce, 1827

    Joseph Nicephore Niepce, 1827
    Joseph Nicephore Niepce made the first known photographic image using the camera obscura.
  • Louis Daguerre, 1829

    Louis Daguerre, 1829
    Louis Daguerre, a professional scene painter for the opera, joined forces with Joseph Niepce to aid the development of photography.
  • Daguerreotype, 1839

    Daguerreotype, 1839
    Louis Daguerre introduced the daguerreotype process, several years of experimentation and Niepce's death. Daguerre then sold the rights for the daguerreotype to the French government and published a booklet describing the process.
  • Henry Fox Talbot, 1841

    Henry Fox Talbot, 1841
    Henry Fox Talbot, an English botanist and mathematician and a contemporary of Daguerre, sensitized paper to light with a silver salt solution. This created a negative image which he then reversed to create a detailed picture. He named this process the calotype.
  • Tintype, 1870

    Tintype, 1870
    The tintype dry plate is invented. This made photograph a lot easier because rather than messing around with a wet plate to capture the image which was a hustle. The dry plate allowed for a much quicker exposure of light.
  • George Eastman, 1889

    George Eastman, 1889
    George Eastman invented film with a base that was flexible, unbreakable, and could be rolled. This was the predecessor for the modern day film.
  • Oskar Barnack, 1905

    Oskar Barnack, 1905
    Oskar Barnack introduced the 35mm camera. This camera was a game changer because it was easy to carry it around as well as it simplified the way which people could take pictures.
  • Polariod photograpy, 1948

    Polariod photograpy, 1948
    Polaroid photography was invented by Edwin Herbert Land. This brought about instant photography.
  • Canon, 1984

    Canon, 1984
    Canon demonstrated first digital electronic still camera.
  • Fiji, 1986

    Fiji, 1986
    Fiji introduced the single-use camera.