No one knows when exactly the first camera-type device was made. In fact, no one even knows what device came first in the market. The earliest recorded camera-device was the obscura, which became really popular during the Renaissance age when the artists in that era used it to trace the image that it projects from the tiny hole.

Daguerre's positive process

Photography, as a word, was used during the 1800s. In fact, it was in the year 1839 that the first photographic process was made public. After which, a number of light-sensitive materials were created and tested to capture the same image as that of the obscura. Eventually, the first successful photograph done was made by Louis Daguerre.

The picture that Daguerre made was captured in a silver-coated sheet of copper that used positive image. The photograph, which was entitled “The Artist's Studio, was really fragile and difficult to reproduce.

Talbot's negative process

In 1839, other artists and scientists had discovered other photographic imaging techniques that they used in their profession. William Henry Fox Talbot, for instance, created the Calotype process, which used light-sensitive paper and produced instead a negative image in contrast to Daguerre's. Talbot's method, however, required long exposure time and will only work with inanimate objects. A person cannot hold still long enough for the photo to be taken. This is why the first recorded photographs taken using Talbot's process were all architectural and landscape.

By the year 1840, man began to discover more sophisticated techniques. The procedure improved and the exposure time began to shorten. This is the time when portrait became the rage especially among the rich class who can afford the procedure.

Discoveries that changed the face of photography

Photography became a separate and thriving field in the arts. Starting from black and white cameras to Polaroid cameras that can produce the picture in an instant, the field had one important discovery after another. This helped the field flourish from being used in portraits, photographs have now become important tools in media.

Digital photograohy

Then, digital photography came into the scene and made the process of photography even easier than before. With the digital process, there is no need to buy films and develop pictures in the dark room. One can store the images in the computer and print them the same way one would print any file in the computer.