Nicéphore Niépce
Born 1765, French photographic inventor Nicéphore Niépce was fascinated by lithography but not an excelling skilful drawer. He found a way to collect images from nature. In 1826-27, he captured the view from his workroom window using light-sensitive chemicals on a piece of metal. This was the first permanent photograph, he or anyone else had ever produced. Niépce kept his process a secret until 1829, when he partnered with Louis-Jacques-Mandé Daguerre.
When lithography became a fashionable hobby in France in 1813, Niépce began to experiment and trial with the then-novel printing technique. Unskilled in drawing, and unable to collect proper lithographic stone near to where he was situated, he discovered a way to provide images automatically. He coated pewter with various light-sensitive substances with an effort to copy superimposed engravings in sunlight. After this he progressed in April 1816 to attempt photography, which he called heliography (sundrawing) with a camera. He recorded a view from his workroom window on paper coated with silver chloride but was only partially able to fix the image. Because of this coincidence he then tried various types of supports for the light-sensitive material bitumen of Judea, a kind of asphalt, which quickly hardens on exposure to light. Using this material he succeeded in 1822 in obtaining a single photographic copy of an engraving which was superimposed on glass. In 1826 to 1827 when using a camera, he made a view from his workroom on a pewter plate, this was the first permanently fixed image from nature that had ever been created. Metal had the advantage of being unbreakable, a whole lot more robust and was a better material to use for the etching process to produce a printing plate, which was Niépce’s final aim. In 1826, he had produced another heliograph, a reproduction of an engraved portrait, which was then etched by the Parisian engraver Augustin-François Lemaître, who pulled two prints.
When lithography became a fashionable hobby in France in 1813, Niépce began to experiment and trial with the then-novel printing technique. Unskilled in drawing, and unable to collect proper lithographic stone near to where he was situated, he discovered a way to provide images automatically. He coated pewter with various light-sensitive substances with an effort to copy superimposed engravings in sunlight. After this he progressed in April 1816 to attempt photography, which he called heliography (sundrawing) with a camera. He recorded a view from his workroom window on paper coated with silver chloride but was only partially able to fix the image. Because of this coincidence he then tried various types of supports for the light-sensitive material bitumen of Judea, a kind of asphalt, which quickly hardens on exposure to light. Using this material he succeeded in 1822 in obtaining a single photographic copy of an engraving which was superimposed on glass. In 1826 to 1827 when using a camera, he made a view from his workroom on a pewter plate, this was the first permanently fixed image from nature that had ever been created. Metal had the advantage of being unbreakable, a whole lot more robust and was a better material to use for the etching process to produce a printing plate, which was Niépce’s final aim. In 1826, he had produced another heliograph, a reproduction of an engraved portrait, which was then etched by the Parisian engraver Augustin-François Lemaître, who pulled two prints.
Camera
This is the camera used by Neipce himself when capturing the image to then develop and create his own heliographs in the early 1800's.
Nicéphore Niépce Workflow
This the oldest living photograph in history created by Nicephore Niepce, with a wooden box camera and developed on a