20 first photos from the history of photography

On May 17, 1961, a color photograph made using the method of the Scottish physicist James Maxwell was publicly shown for the first time in London. The first photo showed a tartan bow against a background of black velvet. 

Photography has always been and remains a means of limitless possibilities since the very first day of its invention in the 1800s. The camera has allowed people to capture historical moments and change the way humanity views the world around them. Today, we pay homage to the fascinating history of photography and the science behind it — with this selection of 20 "firsts" from the past two centuries.

The first photo.

The world's first photograph was taken in 1826 by the Frenchman Joseph Nicephore Niepce from the top floor window of his mansion in Burgundy. The image was taken using a process known as heliography, in which a layer of bitumen is applied to glass or metal. The bitumen then hardens in proportion to the amount of light that falls on it.

The first color photo.

The first color photograph was taken by the mathematical physicist James Clerk Maxwell. This image is considered the first solid color photo and was presented at the Maxwell lecture in 1861. The button was pressed by Thomas Sutton, the inventor of the single-lens reflex camera, but Maxwell is credited with developing the scientific process that made the image possible. If anyone has not yet understood what is in the photo — it is a three-color bow.

The first photo of a rocket launch at Cape Canaveral.

NASA photographers took the first picture of a rocket launch from Cape Canaveral in July 1950. The launched space object — "Bumper-2" ‑is a two-stage rocket consisting of the bottom part of the V-2 and the WAC Corporate rocket itself. The photo also shows other photographers ready to take their pictures.

The first digital photo.

The first digital photo was taken in 1957, almost 20 years before a Kodak engineer invented the first digital camera. This photo is the result of a digital scan of the image that was originally taken on film. The picture shows Russell Kirsch's son; the resolution of the picture is 176 × 176, a square photo worthy of being on Instagram.

The first photo of a person.

The first photograph of the man was taken by Louis Daguerre. The exhibition lasted about seven minutes, the subject was the Boulevard du Temple in Paris. Because of the long exposure, all the people who were then on the boulevard literally "disappeared" in the photo. However, in the lower left corner, you can see a man who is being shined shoes. Further analysis of the photo revealed several more figures in the image. Can you find them?

The first "selfie".

Long before the selfie, Robert Cornelius installed a camera and took the world's first self-portrait at his factory on Chestnut Street in Center City, Philadelphia. Cornelius sat in front of the lens for a little more than a minute, and then left the seat and closed the lens. This iconic photo was taken 186 years ago, in 1839.

The first photo is a fake.

It was made in 1840 by Hippolyte Bayard. Both Bayard and Louis Daguerre fought for the title of "father of photography". Presumably, Bayard developed his own photography process before Daguerre presented his daguerreotype. However, the announcement of the author of the invention was postponed, and Daguerre took advantage of the moment to seize the palm. In retaliation, Bayard presented this picture of the drowned man, claiming that he committed suicide because of Daguerre's deception.

The first aerial photo.

The first aerial photograph was taken not from an airplane, but from a balloon, in 1860. This image shows Boston from a height of 609 meters. Photographer James Wallace Black called the photo "Boston as it is seen by eagles and wild geese".

The first photo of the Sun.

The first photo of the Sun was taken by French physicists Louis Fizeau and Leon Foucault on April 2, 1845. The picture was taken using the daguerreotype process (just don't tell Bayard) with a shutter speed of 1/60 of a second. If you look closely, you can see a few spots in the Sun.

The first space photo.

It was made by the V‑2 rocket #13, launched on October 24, 1946. The black-and-white photo shows the planet Earth from an altitude of 104 km. The picture was taken on a 35-millimeter movie camera, which took a frame every one and a half seconds while the rocket was rising into the atmosphere.

First news photos.

Although the name of the photojournalist is lost, his work has forever entered the history of photography. This photo was taken in 1847 using the daguerreotype process and is considered to be the world's first photo taken for a newspaper. It depicts the arrest of a man in France.

The first photo of the president.

John Quincy Adams, the 6th President of the United States, became the first president to be photographed. This daguerreotype was made in 1843, after Adams left the presidency in 1829. The first sitting U.S. president pictured was the 11th President, James Polk, in 1849.

The first photo of lightning.

Lightning can be an interesting subject, and its first picture was taken in 1882. Photographer William Jennings used this photo to prove that lightning is a much more complex phenomenon than previously thought-pay attention to its ramifications.

The first photo of the plane crash.

Of course, not the most pleasant object for shooting, but with the help of such images, you can learn from mistakes. This 1908 photo shows the death of aviator Thomas Selfridge. His aircraft was a model of the Air Experimental Association, which was part of the U.S. Army. The plane was also flown by American aviation pioneer Orville Wright, but he survived.

The first photo of the Moon.

The daguerreotype image was taken by John W. Draper on March 26, 1840, from the roof of his observatory at New York University. Since then, the photo has been badly damaged.

The first color photo of the landscape.

It was made in 1877. Photographer Louis Arthur Ducos du Oron was a pioneer of color photography and the inventor of the process by which this photo was created. The picture shows Southern France. The name of the picture is quite original: "Landscape of Southern France".

The first photo of the Earth from the Moon.

The Earth was photographed from the Moon in all its glory on August 23, 1966. A lunar lander circling the moon took this picture and then sent it to Spain. This was the lunar vehicle's 16th orbit around the Moon.

The first photo of the tornado.

Nature can be destructive, as this picture of a tornado taken in 1884 clearly demonstrates. The tornado was photographed by a local farmer from Anderson County, Kansas. Amateur photographer A. A. Adams assembled his body camera and took a photo at a distance of 22 km from the tornado.

The first photo from Mars.

The first image of the planet Mars was taken by the Viking 1 spacecraft shortly after it landed on the Red Planet. The image was taken on July 20, 1976, when NASA completed a mission to obtain a high-resolution photo of the surface of Mars. The images were used to study the Martian surface and its structure.

The first 3D photo of an American president.

Computer experts from the Smithsonian and the Institute for Creative Technology have teamed up to create the world's first 3D portrait of the president. Eight "sports" cameras and six wide-angle cameras were used to shoot Barack Obama. Then the picture was printed on a 3D printer and displayed at the Smithsonian Institution.