1727 Professor J. Schulze mixes chalk, nitric acid, and silver in a flask and notices darkening on side of flask exposed to sunlight. This event becomes the accidental creation of the first photo-sensitive compound.

1765 Joseph Nicephore Niépce who loved lithography but couldn't draw, invented the process by which a projected image that could be affixed to light sensitive material. By the age of 53, the major technical elements were present in his work: camera, biconvex lens, and diaphragm. He was able to produce a sharp negative onto silver chloride and make it permanent enough to mail to his brother in 1833.

1771 Thomas Wedgwood experiments proved that chemically transferring images of objects and pictures with the aid of light that could be achieved. Wedgwood used nitrate of silver on white paper or leather. The only drawback was that the image was not permanent and faded to black if exposed to any further light.

1787 Louis Jacques Mandé Daguerre Building on Niépce's work, Daguerre was able to produce the first permanent positive image made from nature, thus creating the daguerrotype. 

1796 Aloys Senefeldr Invents the term lithography.

1834 William Henry Fox Talbot Invents a salted paper prints which is a printing out process.

1821 Alexander Gardner becomes employed by famed photographer Matthew Brady, and becomes an expert in the then-new collodion (wet-plate) process. When the Civil War breaks out, Gardner is sent into the field and produces some of the first modern war photos of evidence.