Joseph Nicephore Niepce produced the first image ever created. He produced this image in June-July of 1827. He had to find a way of getting images which he called Heliographs. “Heliographs were a simple but highly effective instrument for instantaneous optical communication over fifty miles or more in the 19th century” (http://www.dself.dsl.pipex.com/MUSEUM/COMMS/heliograph/heliograph.htm). He began working on his research starting in 1814. That same year he traveled to England thinking it would be better to promote his invention to the Royal Society. Because his invention had an “undisclosed secret” (http://www.geog.ucsb.edu/~jeff/115a/history/niepce.html), the Heliograph they would not make his invention public. After that he returned to France and partnered up with Louis Daguerre in 1829. Joseph Nicephore Niepce was a devoted enthusiast of the new art of lithography. He studied Alois Senefelder who was a pioneering lithographer. Joseph tried to make the lithograph process better by adding tin plates. Joseph couldn’t draw and had his son do all the drawing for him, when his son was drafted for the war he was left without a hope of drawing. He then heard of photochemical drawing and focused on silver salts. During the next decade he struggled to fix an early form of photolithography. The research that followed drained his funds, but he ended up being able to fix images using acid baths. He then made a permanent image in 1822 using a camera obscura. “After exposing coated pewter plates to a camera image, he used the vapors from heated iodine crystals to darken the silver and heighten contrast. The method would inspire Louis Daguerre's highly successful mercury vapor development process” (http://www.geog.ucsb.edu/~jeff/115a/history/niepce.html). In the future the two men would be partners in inventing.

"Heliographs." The Douglas Self Site. Web. 07 Dec. 2009. .
"Joseph Nicephore Niepce." UC Santa Barbara Geography. Web. 07 Dec. 2009. .