The First Photograph

Joseph Nicéphore Niépce was a French chemist who originated a process of photography. In 1826 he produced the first known photograph, which he called a heliograph, using bitumen of Judea (an asphalt derivative of petroleum) on on a pewter plate. In the window of his upper-story workroom at his country house he set up a camera obscura and uncapped the lens.

After at least a day-long exposure of eight hours, the plate was removed and the latent image of the view from the window was rendered visible by washing it with a mixture of oil of lavender and white petroleum which dissolved away the parts of the bitumen which had not been hardened by light.

The result was the permanent direct positive picture you see here, a one-of-a-kind photograph on pewter. The first photograph renders a view of the outbuildings, courtyard, trees and landscape as seen from that upstairs window.

(via plep)