The camera obscura, meaning ''dark chamber'', have been around since about the 1500's, but they weren't used to take photograph's yet. At first, the camera obscura just provided an upside-down image for the artist to trace and later create a painting for. portable versions were later created in the 1660's.
Daguerreotype
The Daguerreotype, created by Louis Jacques Mande Daguerre, is one of the first types of photography which involved using chemicals to permanently place a clear image onto a piece of silver. The only downsides to the Daguerreotype was the length of time it took to put the image onto the silver(about 2 hours a piece) and that you could only make one image at a time.
Calotype
The Calotype, created by William Henry Fox Talbot, is a photo process that includes transferring the photo onto paper and this process is able to make many copies of the photos. Since images created were not as clear as the daguerreotype, this was the fall of the Calotype.
Collodian
The Collodian wet-plate process, created by Frederick Scott Archer, is the best technique because it produces a clear image and multiples of an image. The process was a hard one but most people find it to be worth it because the image turns out very clear.
Dorothea Lange
Dorothea Lange was famous for her works of photography during the Great Depression. Her photos showed the living conditions of farmers who had escaped a drought known as the Dust Bowl that ruined most of their farmlands and livestock.
Lewis Hine
Lewis Hine was famous for his photos that showed the harsh working environment for children, who were far too young to be working such jobs. His photos helped change child labor laws in the United States.
Mathew Brady
Mathew Brady was best known for his photographs taken during the American Civil War. His photos included some from the battlefield, some of the camps, and some portraits of famous individuals during his time such as Abraham Lincoln.
Eadweard Muybridge
Eadweard Muybridge was most famous for his series of photos displaying a horse in full gallop, which he strung together creating motion-picture projection. For the early stages in film creation, and during Muybridges work, the photos used in the projections were kept on a disk, that resembled a record, and the pictures were on the edges and were curved slightly so they could fit on the disk.