History of photo worksheet | PDF - Free Printable

Let’s go step by step to fill in the table for each numbered item (7 through 12). We’ll identify:

- The image shown (based on common history of photography milestones)
- Invention/Discovery/Advancement
- Description
- Person(s) involved
- Date
- What else was going on in the world? (brief historical context)

We’ll use known facts from the history of photography. Since this is a school-level task, we’ll keep it simple and accurate.

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Item 7: First photograph ever taken

Image: Likely shows “View from the Window at Le Gras” — first permanent photo.

→ Invention/Discovery/Advancement: First successful permanent photograph
→ Description: A view from a window, captured using a camera obscura and light-sensitive material (bitumen-coated pewter plate), exposed for several hours.
→ Person: Joseph Nicéphore Niépce
→ Date: 1826 or 1827 (commonly cited as 1826)
→ What else was going on in the world? Industrial Revolution underway; steam engines becoming common; U.S. had just elected John Quincy Adams president (1825); Greece fighting for independence from Ottoman Empire.

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Item 8: First portrait photograph

Image: Likely shows Robert Cornelius’s self-portrait — first human portrait photo.

→ Invention/Discovery/Advancement: First photographic portrait of a person
→ Description: Self-portrait taken outdoors with long exposure time (~1 minute); subject had to stay very still. Used daguerreotype process.
→ Person: Robert Cornelius
→ Date: 1839
→ What else was going on in the world? Daguerre announced his process publicly in Paris same year; Queen Victoria began reign in UK (1837); Texas declared independence from Mexico (1836); telegraph being developed by Samuel Morse.

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Item 9: First war photographed

Image: Likely Crimean War scenes — Roger Fenton’s photos.

→ Invention/Discovery/Advancement: First major conflict documented with photographs
→ Description: Photographs showed landscapes, soldiers, camps — not battle scenes due to technical limits. Helped bring realism to public understanding of war.
→ Person: Roger Fenton
→ Date: 1855
→ What else was going on in the world? Crimean War ongoing (1853–1856); Florence Nightingale nursing wounded soldiers; U.S. Compromise of 1850 trying to settle slavery issues; transatlantic cable project starting.

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Item 10: First motion picture / sequence of movement

Image: Likely Eadweard Muybridge’s horse galloping sequence.

→ Invention/Discovery/Advancement: First sequential photographs capturing motion
→ Description: Multiple cameras triggered by tripwires captured a horse mid-gallop to prove all four hooves leave ground simultaneously. Led to development of cinema.
→ Person: Eadweard Muybridge
→ Date: 1878
→ What else was going on in the world? Thomas Edison inventing phonograph (1877); Alexander Graham Bell patented telephone (1876); Great Sioux War ended; Statue of Liberty construction begun in France.

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Item 11: First color photograph

Image: Likely James Clerk Maxwell’s tartan ribbon demonstration.

→ Invention/Discovery/Advancement: First durable color photograph
→ Description: Used red, green, and blue filters to take three separate images, then projected them together to create full-color image. Proved additive color theory.
→ Person: James Clerk Maxwell (with photographer Thomas Sutton)
→ Date: 1861
→ What else was going on in the world? American Civil War started (1861); Charles Darwin published “On the Origin of Species” (1859); Russia emancipated serfs (1861); Suez Canal construction began.

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Item 12: First digital camera prototype

Image: Likely Kodak’s early digital camera prototype (boxy device).

→ Invention/Discovery/Advancement: First working digital camera
→ Description: Captured black-and-white images onto cassette tape; resolution ~0.01 megapixel; took 23 seconds to record image. Never sold commercially but proved concept.
→ Person: Steven Sasson (engineer at Kodak)
→ Date: 1975
→ What else was going on in the world? End of Vietnam War (1975); Microsoft founded (1975); Apple I computer released (1976); Cold War tensions high; oil crisis affecting global economy.

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Now let’s compile this into clean answers for each row.

Final Answer:

7.
Invention/Discovery/Advancement: First permanent photograph
Description: View from a window, made with bitumen-coated plate after 8-hour exposure
Person: Joseph Nicéphore Niépce
Date: 1826
What else was going on in the world?: Industrial Revolution growing; Greece fighting for independence

8.
Invention/Discovery/Advancement: First photographic portrait
Description: Self-portrait using daguerreotype process, required staying still for ~1 minute
Person: Robert Cornelius
Date: 1839
What else was going on in the world?: Daguerreotype process announced; Queen Victoria reigning; Texas independent

9.
Invention/Discovery/Advancement: First war photographed
Description: Photos of Crimean War scenes — camps, soldiers, no battles due to tech limits
Person: Roger Fenton
Date: 1855
What else was going on in the world?: Crimean War ongoing; Florence Nightingale helping wounded; telegraph developing

10.
Invention/Discovery/Advancement: First motion capture via photography
Description: Sequence showing horse galloping — proved all hooves leave ground at once
Person: Eadweard Muybridge
Date: 1878
What else was going on in the world?: Edison invented phonograph; Bell patented phone; Statue of Liberty being built

11.
Invention/Discovery/Advancement: First color photograph
Description: Three filtered images combined to show full color — proved color theory
Person: James Clerk Maxwell & Thomas Sutton
Date: 1861
What else was going on in the world?: U.S. Civil War started; Darwin’s book published; Russia freed serfs

12.
Invention/Discovery/Advancement: First digital camera
Description: Box-shaped prototype that stored B&W images on tape; slow and low-res
Person: Steven Sasson (Kodak engineer)
Date: 1975
What else was going on in the world?: Vietnam War ended; Microsoft founded; Apple I coming soon