The exposure is believed to have lasted at least eight hours, up to several days.
Instead of hours, daguerreotype reduced exposure time to mere minutes and produced clear, finely detailed results.
The year Louis Daguerre introduced the daguerreotype, 1839, is accepted as the birth year of practical photography.
But it was his ill-fated associated Nicephore Niepce, who was the worlds first photographer.
Nicephore Niepce
Niepce was born in Chalon-sur-Saone, Saone-et-Loire, France, in 1765, to a wealthy family.
In 1795, Niepce resigned from his post to pursue scientific research with his brother Claude.
The two brothers created the Pyreolophore, a very complicated machine considered the worlds first internal-combustion engine.
After they successfully powered a boat upstream on the river Saone, a patent was granted to their name.
The brothers spent the next 20 years improving and trying to commercialize the Pyreolophore without success.
Meanwhile, his brother Nicephore developed an interest in capturing light on a plate.
The oldest heliographic engraving known in the world.
Thus the engraving on paper was transferred on to the plate by the action of sunlight.
Niepce called his process heliography, which literally means sun drawing.
Niepce enhanced the image further by etching the exposed parts with acid to create a more pronounced image.
The excess bitumen was washed away from the metal base to keep only the etched drawing on it.
An enhanced version of the original photograph.
He named it the daguerreotype, after himself.
The photographView from the Window at Le Graswas finally exhibited at the Royal Society in 1839.
It is currently on display in the main lobby of the Harry Ransom Center in Austin, Texas.
The Niepce plate in the Harry Ransom Center.
Photo: Harry Ransom Center
References:# Harald Johnson,The First Photo,PetaPixel#Wikipedia
