First Photograph Taken
Photograph by Joseph Nicéphore Niépce

Ever wonder what the first photograph taken looked like?  As crued as it may be, it's still remarkable for it's time.  In 1826, French scientist Joseph Nicéphore Niépce, took that photograph, titled View from the Window at Le Gras, at his family’s country home. Niépce produced his photo—a view of a courtyard and outbuildings seen from the house’s upstairs window—by exposing a bitumen-coated plate in a camera obscura for several hours on his windowsill.
  





 

First Color Photograph
Photograph by James Clerk Maxwell

Best known for his development of electromagnetic theory, Scottish physicist James Clerk Maxwell dabbled in color theory throughout his life, eventually producing the first color photograph in 1861. Maxwell created the image of the tartan ribbon shown here by photographing it three times through red, blue, and yellow filters, then recombining the images into one color composite.




 

 



    

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