Camera Coloring Page

The first photograph that lasted was taken in France around 1826 by Nicéphore Niépce. He pointed a camera out of an upstairs window and waited for hours while the picture appeared on a metal plate. In 1839 Louis Daguerre announced a faster method, called the daguerreotype, that needed only a few minutes.

That's why people in early photographs look so stiff. They had to stay perfectly still while the picture was taken. Before cameras, only people who could pay a painter could have their portrait made, and photography let ordinary families keep pictures of each other.