Photography gets its name from Greek, meaning “drawing with light.”

The first photo ever taken was in 1826 and took 8 hours to develop. Later, the world record for the longest photo development time was 8 years.

For some of its early history, having a photo taken was sometimes more expensive than commissioning a painted portrait. But it quickly became more inexpensive and accessible.

A pinhole camera doesn’t use a lens—just a tiny hole and a lot of light.

The first color photo was achieved in 1861—long before color photography became mainstream. For many years afterward, color images were often hand-painted over black-and-white photos, a technique also used in early motion pictures.

Polaroid invented the first instant camera in 1948, which became popular because there was no need to wait or pay to have the photos developed.

Kodak invented the first digital camera in 1975. It was the size of a toaster, but the company refused to release it to the public, knowing it would hurt their film sales—which turned out to be absolutely true.

The oldest surviving photo dates back to 1838 and ironically depicts a man who was accidentally captured.

Outdoor photographers have a term called the “golden hour”—a brief window of time during sunrise or sunset when lighting is especially flattering.

The first underwater camera was invented in 1893.

The first selfie was taken in 1839.

While people today say “cheese” when taking a picture, early photographers used to tell subjects to say “prunes” to keep a more serious facial expression.

Slow-motion video is simply high-speed photography—typically 1,000 frames per second—played back at a standard speed.

Capturing a bird in flight with high detail requires a shutter speed of 1/2000 of a second.

A gigapixel photo contains over a billion pixels, offering an insane level of detail.

The first aerial photograph was taken in 1858 from the basket of a hot air balloon.

X-ray photography was invented just a few months after the discovery of X-rays.

One of the most popular early consumer cameras was the Brownie, released in 1900. It cost about $1 at the time—roughly $35 today.

The Leica was the first widely popular camera to use 35mm film, revolutionizing photography in the 1920s.

Some old camera lenses actually contain radioactive elements, such as thorium.

Militaries once used pigeons with cameras strapped to them to spy on enemy nations during both peace and wartime.

The fastest camera in the world can capture events at around 1 trillionth of a second.

A National Geographic photographer typically takes about 20,000 photos per story.

The most viewed photo in history is the Windows XP “Bliss” wallpaper, used as the default background by Microsoft.

Technically, the most popular camera in the world isn’t a standalone camera—it’s a smartphone: Apple’s iPhone.