The history of photography has roots in remote antiquity with the discovery of two critical principles, that of the camera obscura (darkened or obscured room or chamber) and the fact that some substances are visibly altered by exposure to light, as discovered by observation.
As far as is known, nobody thought of bringing these two phenomena
together to capture camera images in permanent form until around 1800,
when Thomas Wedgwood made the first reliably documented, although
unsuccessful attempt. In the mid-1820s, Nicéphore Niépce succeeded, but
several days of exposure in the camera were required and the earliest
results were very crude.
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