Joseph Nicephore Niepce

Niepce was born in 1765. He is credited with producing the first successful photograph in June and July of 1827. He was fascinated with lithography, but he could not draw. So he had his son render images for the lithographs. His son was later drafted into the army in 1814. Niepce then started hearing about photochemical drawing. He soon turned his attention to silver salts. For the next decade he worked with photo-lithography. He found a way to fix images using acid baths. Niepce's breakthrough came in 1822 when he made a permanent image using a camera obscura. After exposing coated pewter plates to a camera image, he used the vapors from heated iodine crystals to darken the silver and heighten contrast. For his first photograph, it is believed that he used the lens of a crude camera and a pewtar plate with a few drops of bitumen (a tar like substance) on it and exposed the plate for eight hours. Niepce died of a stroke in 1833.
        
           http://www.geog.ucsb.edu/~jeff/115a/history/niepce.html

                                                             

 

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