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The World's First Photograph (PIC)

photography.nationalgeographic… — Centuries of advances in chemistry and optics, including the invention of the camera obscura, set the stage for the world’s first photograph. In 1826, French scientist Joseph Nicéphore Niépce, took that photograph, titled View from the Window at Le Gras at his family’s country home. It's pretty cool, check it out.

Who dugg this? Made popular Sep 4, 2008

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  • aflaks, on 09/03/2008, -2/+192Doesn't look like much now, though i am sure the first person to see that probably ***** his pants
  • tacotomato, on 09/04/2008, -4/+121If you look closely, you can see the photographer's naked reflection in the window. Rookie mistake.
  • StarThirteen, on 09/04/2008, -0/+84You're forgetting that ***** your pants was a sign of respect in 1826 France.
  • sopadeelle, on 09/03/2008, -3/+59what the heck did he take a picture of?
  • franklymister, on 09/03/2008, -0/+56It's amazing, even if there's not a lot to see in it.

    Here's a great resource for early photography from the 1830s onward: http://lcweb2.loc.gov/ammem/daghtml/daghome.html

    Including this self-portrait photographed in 1839: http://memory.loc.gov/service/pnp/cph/3f00000/3f04 ...
    Just think - the guy in that photo was born when Thomas Jefferson was still president.
  • DigSomeMore, on 09/03/2008, -3/+48Wow, what a collector's item...
  • RevLoki, on 09/04/2008, -2/+45Who knew they had Imperial Star Destroyers back then?!?!
  • DemDude, on 09/04/2008, -2/+36Now look at that, the world's first photograph, and there's already a UFO in it. What does that tell us?



    ...but I'll have to admit, I did expect the world's first photograph to be of titties.
  • OwdenBowden, on 09/04/2008, -1/+33Picture of the picture being taken or it did not happen.
  • xsecretfiles, on 09/04/2008, -0/+31That's why I right click > Save


    You never know.....
  • araza13, on 09/04/2008, -2/+31
    Its technically not the first photograph.
    He actually took others before this one, this was the first one he took that could remain fixed.
    He positioned obscura sheets of silver salts coated paper at the back of a camera , which he knew would blacken with daylight . In May 1816 he produced the first image of nature : a view from a window . It was a negative and the image vanished because in broad daylight the coated paper became completely black .
    He called these images “retinas“ (Non Fixed Images)
    This was taken in either 1826 or 1827 and is the first permanent photograph.


  • DephexTwin, on 09/04/2008, -4/+31Bricks, actually.
  • stewpac, on 09/04/2008, -1/+27Higher Quality from Wikipedia: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5c ...
  • gn0stik, on 09/04/2008, -0/+23imperial battle cruiser. apparently people in star wars are very very tiny.
  • Aguyinachair, on 09/04/2008, -7/+29It's bigfoot standing next to a UFO!
  • lefthandpisces, on 09/04/2008, -7/+28he didn't even use a flash... noob.
  • ObamaWins08, on 09/03/2008, -5/+22When you see it, you blah blah bricks blah blah...
  • bstew22, on 09/04/2008, -2/+19the grass??? what a noob.

    :)
  • PacketPaul, on 09/04/2008, -2/+18It reminds me of the Internet's first pictures ... ASCII art.
  • kraftj, on 09/04/2008, -0/+16That dude looks bad ass.
  • Wangarang, on 09/04/2008, -4/+20It wasn't HDR?
  • Crushkilla, on 09/04/2008, -2/+15That guy in the self-portrait looks so indie
  • Cyori, on 09/04/2008, -1/+13He looks like a cool guy.
  • Nenb, on 09/04/2008, -0/+10Le Gras (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/View_from_the_Window_at_Le_Gras)
  • mastazed, on 09/04/2008, -1/+11well it did happen a long time ago
  • haentz, on 09/04/2008, -0/+9Ah, much better!
  • Doodleshanks, on 09/04/2008, -2/+11Can't really make out what I'm seeing......so I wanna see the world's 2nd or 3rd photograph.

    Or maybe the first Photoshop?
  • ViperCTW, on 09/04/2008, -1/+9And the award for most random comment of the day goes to...
  • TheClassic, on 09/04/2008, -2/+10I've seen this before (probably on digg). Last time I saw it though, they had a recent picture intended to be of the same view. Much more interesting than the old photo on its own.
  • JDRay, on 09/04/2008, -1/+9Kinda looks like bigfoot in the background there...
  • Aroundtheworls, on 09/04/2008, -0/+7'Representationally the subject matter includes [from left to right]: the upper loft (or, so-called "pigeon-house") of the family home; a pear tree with a patch of sky showing through an opening in the branches; the slanting roof of the barn, with the long roof and low chimney of the bake house behind it; and, on the right, another wing of the family house. Details in the original image are very faint, due not to fading—the heliographic process is a relatively permanent one—but rather to Niepce's underexposure of the original plate.'

    from:http://www.hrc.utexas.edu/exhibitions/permanent/wf ...

    Still looks like a Star Destroyer to me
  • slaverynin, on 09/04/2008, -1/+8It's things like this that make you realize exactly how far we have come in a field such as photography.
  • Greengoo, on 09/04/2008, -0/+7Egyptians taking pictures? Sounds like you're in denile.
  • abarysh2, on 09/04/2008, -2/+9soo... what is it?
  • jezzman, on 09/04/2008, -2/+9Isn't it a Star Destroyer? (that was a long time ago)
  • kamikazicondon, on 09/04/2008, -6/+131E-100000 megapixels
  • worldchanger, on 09/04/2008, -1/+7only noobs use a flash.
  • illdourmum, on 09/04/2008, -0/+6in film photography, it is called 'grains'
  • LemonChicken, on 09/04/2008, -1/+7...all piled on top of the Lochness monster.
  • hellopenny, on 09/04/2008, -0/+6This picture can be found at the Harry Ransom Center in Austin, TX.

    http://www.hrc.utexas.edu/exhibitions/permanent/wf ...
  • _skin_, on 09/04/2008, -0/+5The second picture was porn. The dancing lady had to stand still for eight hours to get the proper exposure.
  • josephbloseph, on 09/04/2008, -0/+5Oh, did you also hear about their battery operated lamps?
  • DemDude, on 09/04/2008, -0/+51) ...so there really is a crappy version of an inexplicably crappy picture ^^
    How the hell did they manage to get it even blurrier?

    2) That REALLY is a ***** spaceship!
  • worldchanger, on 09/04/2008, -0/+5was waiting for that...
  • Greengoo, on 09/04/2008, -1/+6This looks photoshopped...
  • inactive, on 09/03/2008, -2/+7Very cool
  • xcpleprechaun, on 09/04/2008, -0/+5Given the 8-hour exposure time, I think it's a pretty impressive picture! Yay for the camera obscura (pinhole camera)!
  • arjie, on 09/04/2008, -0/+5I'm pretty sure that I read that an assistant of Louis Daguerre (the man who invented the daguerrotype, worked with the fellow taking this photo) got arrested for distributing pictures of naked women or whatever the equivalent for the time was. Probably took a photo without them wearing a stocking or something.
  • ChaSchva, on 09/04/2008, -3/+8Concentrate all fire on that Super Star Destroyer!
  • worldchanger, on 09/04/2008, -0/+4I love lamp.
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