'Photography' is derived from the Greek meaning 'light' and 'to draw'; the word was first used by a scientist called Sir John F. W Herschel in 1839. It was used to describe the method in which images are recorded by the action of light on to a sensitive material. Today, photographs and photo prints are used everywhere for many different purposes and digital photography has now enabled us to upload and print them via a computer. Here in this article we look at the beginnings of photography.

The first type of cameras, known as camera obscura or pin hole cameras were invented around 1000AD in the middle ages. The first ever casual reference to this technology was noted by the philosopher Aristotle in 330 BC when he questioned why the sun could make a circular image when shining through a square hole. But it wasn't until much later in 1827 that the first photographic image was made by Joseph Nicephore Niepce with a camera obscura. Before that point images had only ever been made by drawing what was seen through a pin hole camera.

Niepce placed an engraving on a metal plate that was coated with bitumen, and then exposed it to light. The shadowy areas of the engraving ended up blocking the light, the lighter areas allowed the light to react with the chemicals on the plate. When Niepce placed the metal plate into a solvent then slowly an image appeared. However, Niepce photo prints took eight hours of sunlight to appear and would then fade away. At the same time a fellow Frenchman known as Louis Daguerre was also experimenting with different technique to capture images but it would take him another 12 years to reduce exposure time with his photo prints and to keep the image from disappearing afterward.

Louis Daguerre was the first inventor of the practical way to create photography; by 1829 he formed a friendship with Niepce to improve the process that he had been exploring. In 1839 after many years of experimentation and the death of Niepce, Daguerre managed to develop a convenient way of photography naming it after himself, 'The Daguerreotype'.

The process 'fixed' the images onto a sheet of silver-plated copper, which was coated in iodine. This then created a surface that was sensitive to light; he would put the plate into the camera for a few minutes, after the image was painted by light he would bath the plate in silver chloride. This process created long lasting photo prints and started the world's obsession with photography.

Dominic Donaldson is an expert in photography. Find out more about Photo Prints and how the services available can help with creating photo gifts.

Tags: photography, hobbies, photo prints, photo books