The development of the art of photography did not occur overnight. It was the result of a long series of related developments ranging from the invention of the Camera Obscura to the discovery that light can darken certain chemicals. These two discoveries can be traced back to early Chinese and Greek philosophers in the 4th and 5th centuries BCE. However, it was not until the 19th century that a French inventor, Joseph Nicéphore Niépce, combined them to form the basis of photography.;Joseph Nicéphore Niépce was a French inventor who is believed to have taken the world’s first photographs, one of which has survived and is entitled View From The Window at Le Gras. He eventually began collaborating with Louis Daguerre to improve his process. Niépce's name and contributions to the development of photography have largely been forgotten and it is only the recent work of historians that have shed light upon his work again. The partnership was based on two different goals for photography. Niépce wanted to find a faster way to produce printing plates and Daguerre wished to find a quicker means to produce his famous Dioramas.;Daguerreotype is an image projected onto a silver mirror coated with silver halide for an extended period. After exposure, the silver plate was held over a heated cup of mercury at which time the vapor would stick to the plate making the image in the silver halide visible. The final step was to make the image permanent through a chemical bath. The result was a negative image on the silver plate that would appear to be a positive image in the proper light. The complex nature of the Daguerreotype process and the fact that no copies could be produced contributed to its quick demise. A tintype, also known as a melainotype or ferrotype, is a photograph made by creating a direct positive on a thin sheet of metal coated with a dark lacquer or enamel and used as the support for the photographic emulsion. The ambrotype also known as a collodion positive in the UK, is a positive photograph on glass made by a variant of the wet plate collodion process. Like a print on paper, it is viewed by reflected light. A real photo postcard (RPPC) is a continuous-tone photographic image printed on postcard stock. The term recognizes a distinction between the real photo process and the lithographic or offset printing processes employed in the manufacture of most postcard images. A snapshot is a photograph that is "shot" spontaneously and quickly, most often without artistic or journalistic intent and usually made with a relatively cheap and compact camera.