1839: The 19th Century Polaroid

Daguerre presents the first daguerreotype

In the early 19th century, Louis-Jacques Daguerre partnered with Joseph Nicéphore Niépce to take the photographic method to the next level. After Niépce died, Daguerre developed a means of printing an image on a mirror-like surface using an improbable list of ingredients: salt water, mercury, iodine, and more. The resulting image produced on the daguerreotype was reversed, as though seen in a mirror.

Because of the way the process worked, people sitting to have their faces captured on daguerreotype had to sit absolutely still. And the image also had to be stored in an airtight box to protect it—oxygen or fingerprints would ruin the daguerreotype. Still, this method of making early photos caught on around the world, until the less complex tintype process succeeded it.