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Joseph Nicéphore Niépce is recognized with having taken what is known as the first photograph. This image had an exposure time of 8 hours. Due to the fact that photographs took so long at this point in time, their subjects tended to be landscapes/cityscapes.
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This process was generally favored over the daguerreotoype for landscape photography as it required much shorter exposures. As well as daguerreotypes requiring heavy fragile glass while the calotype "relied on a paper support." Calotypes were also reproducible.
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William Henry Jackson was an American photographer and explorer and is widely known for his photography of the American West.
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Charles Fontayne and William S. Porter are accounted with having taken extremely detailed Daguerreotypes especially with the city landscape of Cincinnati. Daguerreotypes are know as the first photographic process and were invented by Louis-Jaques-Mandé Daguerre.
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The one drawback from the calotype process was its blurriness in detail due to "the paper fiber support." This was improved by Louis Blanquart-Evrard and Gustav Le Gray. They discovered that "waxng the paper prior to exposure would obsucre the texture of the paper support" (The History of Photography, Davenport). It then held a prominent role in landscape photography.
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As technology improved in the photography world, photographers were able to take cityscape pictures that included people that were in motion instead of htme being completely blurred out. One of these photographers included Edward Anthony.
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During the 1860' and 70's, some landscape photographers were concerned with traveling to the Western territory of America. Specifically William Henry Jackson, whose goal was to document facts rather than beauty due to their purpose of capturing topography.
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The industrial revolution brought about a lot of change to the landscapes of bigger cities as new infrastructures arose and designs changed. Cityscapes changed drastically in appearance.
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Edward Weston is known as "one of the most innovative and influential" American Photographers. His subjects varied but included landscapes. Weston contriubuted to history of landscape photography by adding on photography influenced by abstract painting. His photography emphasized elements of depth of field and composition specifically in landscape photgraphy.
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The promotion of photography as an art form separate from painting was pushed forward by Peter Henry Emerson. He is known for his photograph of natural settings and for defining photography. He believed one should look to nature for inspiration.
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Eliot Porter is another famous American photographer who is best known for his color photographs of nature. His work was mostly made through the dye transfer process and he continued to use it for the entirety of his career.
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A very important photographer in the history of landscape photography, especially nature photography, is Ansel Adams. Ansel Adams was a deeply passionate environmentalist that photographed famous photos of locations such as Yosemite National Park. His landscape photography was predominantly black and white.
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The dye-transfer processes was popularized by Eastman Kodak. This process became important in the history of landscape photography because of Eliot Porter's constant use of it for his color nature photography.
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A technique that was improved and refined by the photographer Ansel Adams. It helped his photography of nature "achieve an excellent tonal balance and great depth of field."
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A significant move in landscape photography is from a more nature based subject to urban landscapes and city skylines. The move brings landscape photography into a more modern era.
