Throughout the 18th and 19th centuries, leading up to the creation of chemical photography, innovations were made steadily to the camera to help ordinary people who lacked artistic training draw scenes from life. As it became more sophisticated, the room became a box, and the pinhole was replaced with a lens. Certain models even used a mirror, placed at a 45 degree angle, to reflect the image from the lens up on to a sheet of ground or frosted glass.  The camera was now portable and allowed artists to travel to their subjects as opposed to their subjects coming to them.

Camera Obscura Illustration

Written by Dan Epstein and Caley Taylor

Newhall, Beaumont.  ”History of Photography: 1859 to Present”.