Aim, smile, click: The photograph turns 200

Nicephore Niepce took the world's first recognisable photograph in 1826 using heliography, a method that used light to harden and darken metal plates coated with asphalt.

Louis Daguerre invented the daguerreotype, which used mercury vapour to produce detailed images in 30 minutes; his 1838 Boulevard du Temple contains the first human captured accidentally.

Daguerre sold his process to the French government in 1839, which released it to the public as a gift.

Robert Cornelius took the world's first selfie in 1839, standing motionless for 15 minutes.

Cyanotypes emerged in the 1840s as camera-less photographs using photosensitive paper and sunlight to create blue-background images.