First Photograph

[suffragette]

Does anyone know who took the first photograph and what was the subject?

[dot.hawkes]

this isn't as simple as answer as u think, technically and scientifically, the earliest photograph was in a different form that we would generally recognise, but anyway, here is a time line:
http://www.photo.net/history/timeline

[citygrounder]

Taken by Nicephore Niepce from a upper-storey window at his house in Gras, near Chalon-sur Saone, France in summer of 1826,with a view of a courtyard, with a pigeon loft on the left,a pear tree, a barn in the centre , and another wing of the house to the rightof the picture.He used a camera obscura and exposed a light sensitive metal plate with solution of bitumen of Judea for 8 hours.

[suffragette]

I'm interested in the production of a permanent image that can still be seen today, or can at least be verified by historical record if the image has decayed or been destroyed/lost. Thanks for the answers. Excellent!

[citygrounder]

Re:-the latent image was developed by washing the plate with a mix of oil of lavender andwhite petroleum, which dissolved away parts of the bitumen that had not been hardened by light,creating a permanent direct positive.Plate was lost on a trip to Engand in 1898 but recovered in 1952, hidden in a trunk unopened since 1917.Worlds 1st true photo is now in the Gernsheim Collection at the University of Texas.

[Peter Pedant]

Yeah the Frogs claim Niepce. His photos although first werent really recognisable.

As a west country boy I am surprised that no-one has championed Fox Talbot at ****** who got the whole thing on the road. He is the one with the oriel window, which when first done, you could count all the panes.

[g7vgg]

A few more firsts in the world of photography:

The first B&W photograph (Well at least the first surviving one) is attributed to Nicephore Niepce (France) 1826 on Pewter covered by Bitumen of Judea (a petroleum derivative) but afterwards he started using Silver compounds based on the work of Johann Heinrich Schultz in 1724.
Due to the large span of time between Schultzes discovery that a silver and chalk mixture darkens when exposed to light it is tempting to think that someone could have beat Niepce to it but for some reason or other they were not able patent their work unlike Niepce?
(Just as there are many inventors today who cannot afford to patent their ideas, so they hang on to their ideas, perhaps until death and they are then lost forever, or until someone else thinks of the same idea)

The first Colour photograph is attributed to James Clerk Maxwell in 1861 (Scotland) (But some dispute this).

The first B&W movie/moving image camera using rolls of celluloid film was invented by William Friese-Greene (England) in june 1889.
Greene was also the first man in the world to witness moving pictures projected onto a screen.

The first colour movie camera called "Kinemacolor" was invented by George Albert Smith (England) in 1906.