Motivated by the growing popular demand for affordable pictures, Niépce's photographic experiments were conducted with the dual aims of copying prints and recording scenes from real life in the camera.
Over the next decade he tried an array of chemicals, materials, and techniques to advance the process he ultimately called héliographie, or 'sun writing.' It was not a camera, but it did produce photographs. Niépce used a chemical reaction to create them. The black-and white exposure takes eight hours and fades significantly.
In 1825, using his technique called heliography, Niépce created the world’s oldest surviving photograph of a real-world scene. The first successful photograph was taken by Niépce on a pewter plate, using his professionally- made camera supplied by the Parisian optician Charles Chevalier. It shows the view from Niepce’s workroom window.
In 1829, Niépce signed a partnership agreement with Louis Jacques- Mande Daguerre, for the purpose of perfecting Heliography (a photographic process). Daguerre continued to make vital improvements after Niepce's death and introduced his "Daguerreotype" process in 1839.
Invention of heliography by Nicéphore Niépce
