The existence of photography can be traced back as early as the 16th century, when the camera obscura was used, as a mechanism for projecting images. These early cameras did not fix an image, but only projected images from an opening in the wall of a darkened room onto a surface, turning the room into a large pinhole camera. Later experiments started and the process of photography became more technologically advanced.

Mostly the photography in the early years of India was specially tied to the colonial regime. Photographers who went to India were mainly from the British government. Some photographed as amateurs, while others were actually employed to take photographs. The company actively encouraged the employees to photograph, and record archaeological sites. Thus, it was due to this that photography became a key element of the `Archaeological Survey of India`, established in 1861 (following on from the activities of the `Asiatic Society` dating from 1784) and still in existence.

Many missionaries coming from Britain to bring Christianity to India were keen and sometimes very competent amateur photographers. These few westerners in India formed the major market for photography in India and they were largely those with the money to buy photographs. Many bought photographs to paste into albums, so as to make a visual record of their visit to India, which they would take back to the home country at the end of their tour of duty.

During the period of `Indian Mutiny`, there was a considerable public interest about India in Britain, creating an increased market for photographs about the culture and lifestyle in India. Thus, this was a key event in the development of photography in India - as well as a milestone in the struggle for independence. People who read stories in the newspapers about Delhi or Lucknow wanted to see what these places looked like and wanted to see pictures of the Indians.

Later on, in the 19th century, India was at the forefront of photographic development and a wide range of arresting images about India had been captured the photographers, many of which had never been seen in public before. The photographs drawn from the British Library and the Howard and Jane Ricketts Collection, reflected the major preoccupations and achievements of 19th century Indian photography. They included: the early amateurs who first introduced the medium; the documentation of India`s architectural and ethnic diversity; the achievements of commercial photographers such as Samuel Bourne; and Princely India.

Other themes included natural history, panoramas, trade and the industrialization of India and the Durbars. Since the 18th century people, events and landscapes in India had been keenly observed and documented by both Indian and European artists in paintings, drawings, aquatints and lithographs. Within a few years of its introduction in Europe in 1839, however, photography had become the new recording medium. After which, anyone could take a photograph and photography became available for the mass-market in 1901.

Since then, the color film has become standard, as well as the automatic focus and automatic exposure cameras. And today, with the introduction of Digital cameras, the digital recording of images is becoming increasingly common in india as well.