1825-1849: The dawn of photography : In the beginning ; Capturing an image ; The first photographs ; Daguerreotype camera ; In focus: Boulevard du Temple, Louis-Jacques Daguerre ; In profile: William Henry Fox Talbot ; Facing the camera ; In profile: Hill and Adamson ; In focus: Fishergate, St Andrews, Hill and Adamson -- 1850-1879: Gathering momentum : Stretching photography ; In focus: The Great Wave, Gustave Le Gray ; Architectural archives ; Exploring the world ; Aiguilles de Charmoz, Auguste-Rosalie Bisson ; Framing the unknown ; In profile: Felice Beato ; In focus: Sumo Training, Felice Beato ; Cartes de visite ; Seeing double ; In profile: Nadar ; Reality or painterly? ; In focus: Two Ways of Life, Oscar Gustav Rejlander ; In profile: Julia Margaret Cameron ; Photographing children ; War souvenirs ; Dry plate -- 1880-1914: Art or science? : Picturing motion ; In profile: Étienne-Jules Marey ; Retina of science ; Criminal evidence ; Artistic licence ; Camera of conscience ; Little Spinner Girl in Globe Cotton Mill, Lewis Hine ; The Box Brownie ; People's photography ; Charmed lives ; Linked ideas ; In focus: Désespoir, Robert Demachy ; Auto Graflex ; In profile: Alfred Stieglitz ; In focus: The Steerage, Alfred Stieglitz ; Withdrawing from reality ; Minuet, Frank Eugene ; Women pioneers ; In profile: Edward Steichen ; Out in the cold ; Early colour photography ; In profile: Sergei Prokudin-Gorskii ; Triumphant Aviator, Léon Gimpel ; In profile: Eugène Atget ; In focus: Quai d'Anjou, Eugène Atget -- 1915-1939: Forging an identity : World at war ; In focus: Rurales, Agustín Casasola ; Temples of modernism ; In profile: Alexandr Rodchenko ; Mounting conviction ; Irrational photography ; In profile: Man Ray ; Leica 1 ; Seeing straight ; In profile: August Sander ; Walking the streets ; In focus: Meudon, André Kertész ; Small aperture, big ambition ; In profile: Ansel Adams ; In focus: Clearing Winter Storm, Ansel Adams ; Kodachrome ; The bitter years ; Vermont State Fair, Rutland, Jack Delano ; In focus: Migrant Mother, Dorothea Lange ; In profile: Walker Evans ; Flash synchronizer ; Hindenberg Explosion, Sam Shere ; Illustrated magazines ; In focus: Mainbocher Corset, Horst P. Horst -- Effortlessly gorgeous ; In profile: Manuel Álvarez Bravo ; Partisan objectivity ; Winning hearts and minds --

1940-1959: Spirit of the time : Close to conflict ; In focus: Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima, Joe Rosenthal ; Flashes of light ; In profile: Henri Cartier-Bresson -- Pulse of the time ; In profile: Werner Bischof ; In focus: Kiss by the Hôtel de Ville, Robert Doisneau ; Zeiss 80mm Planar ; Subjective photography ; In profile: Josef Sudek ; Midtown Manhattan seen from Weehawken, New Jersey, Andreas Feininger ; In focus: Belgravia, London, 1951, Bill Brandt ; Theatre of the street ; Big Face, Big Buttons, New York, William Klein ; The family of man ; In focus: Hot Shot Eastbound, O. Winston Link ; Rise of fashion magazines ; Charles James gowns, Cecil Beaton ; In focus: Carmen (Homage to Munkácsi), coat by Cardin, Place François-Premier, Paris, August 1957, Richard Avedon ; Staging a portrait ; In profile: Alfred Eisenstaedt ; Nikon F -- 1960-1979: Diversity and conflict : Rolleiflex ; In profile: Eugene Smith ; Japan reconstructs ; Shomei Tomatsu ; Cult of celebrity ; Marilyn Monroe and Clark Gable, Eve Arnold ; The anti-portrait ; In focus: Human Foetus, Lennart Nilsson ; In profile: Elliott Erwitt ; In focus: Queen, Brian Duffy ; In profile: Guy Bourdin ; Muhammad Ali vs Sonny Liston, Neil Leifer ; Nikon 80-200mm f/4.5 ; Fly me to the moon ; Polaroid SX-70 ; The Vietnam War ; Trang Bang, Nick Ut ; Protest photography ; In focus: The Soiling of Old Glory, Stanley Forman ; Anti-Vietnam March, Marc Riboud ; In focus: Green Lacewing, Stephen Dalton ; Seeing the invisible ; In profile: Ernst Haas ; In focus: Puglia, Italia, Franco Fontana -- 1980-1999: Challenge and change : Controlled compositions ; In profile: Frans Lanting ; Too clever for words ; In profile: Steve McCurry ; In focus: Sharbat Gula, Steve McCurry ; Cool gaze of objectivity ; Documentary as art ; In profile: Eugene Richards ; Crisis of identity ; Public intimacy ; Mourning in Kosovo, Georges Mérillon ; In profile: Wolfgang Tillmans ; Colour in the streets ; In focus: Pavement Mirror Shop, Howrah, West Bengal, Raghubir Singh ; In profile: Raghu Rai ; Multiple exposures ; In profile: Pedro Meyer ; Landscape of emotion ; Aerial abstractions ; Sunrise over Owens Valley, California, Galen Rowell -- 2000-present: The digital age : Canon D30 ; In focus: Twin Towers, Thomas Höpker ; Recomposing truth ; In profile: Cindy Sherman ; iPhone 3GS ; Citizen journalist ; Live action ; In profile: Cristina García Rodero ; In focus: Hell from Heaven, Akintunde Akinleye ; Portraying nature ; In focus: Baby Green Sea Turtle, David Doubilet ; Oriental perspectives ; China's New Wave ; In profile: Sebastião Salgado ; In focus: Group of Zo'e, Pará, Brazil, Sebastião Salgado ; Evidence of damage ; Ice, Daniel Beltrá ; Ends of the universe ; Photography trends.

Tracing the history of photography from its origins in the 1800s to the digital age, "Photography: The Definitive Visual History" is the only book of its kind to give a comprehensive account of the people, the photographs, and the technologies that have shaped the history of photography. From the first black-and-white photography to photojournalism and contemporary street photography, "Photography" celebrates the most iconic photographs and profiles 50 of the most famous photographers, with special features on Pulitzer Prize-winners and thematic timelines on portrait, war, advertising, and fashion photography.