Although the camera obscura has existed since before Christ (BC), capturing images permanently proved to be challenging up to the early 1800.
Joseph Nicéphore Niépce, born in 1765, found a way to use hydrocarbon coating known as bitumen to permanently capture images. He called this process heliograph.
Man leading a horse (1825) |
The bitumen coated glass or metal plate hardens when exposed to light. Once the plate is washed with a lavender oil, the hardened bitumen produces a photograph.
Source: Wikipedia