Thursday, February 21, 2019

Daguerreotype History

Daguerreotype History

The daguerreotype, invented by the French chemist and artist Louis Daguerre, is an early photographic process introduced in 1839. The daguerreotype, easily identified by its shiny, mirror-like quality, is widely considered the first practical and successful photographic process. The term "daguerreotype" is occasionally misused to denote all early cased photographs; the term instead refers to the chemical process by which the photographs are made, and not the presentation case.

History

    Library of Congress

    In 1724, the German scientist Johann Heinrich Schultz had discovered that certain silvers darkened upon exposure to light, but had not determined how to fix an image. The true ancestor of all modern photographic processes traces back to France in 1826 when Nicephore Niepce produced a photographic image by placing a light-sensitized pewter plate in a window. He called the resulting photograph a heliograph. Niepce began collaborating with Louis Daguerre in 1829, and continued to do so until his death four years later. Daguerre continued to experiment until he arrived at a working photographic process in 1839. The French government purchased the rights to the invention as a gift to the world; in exchange, Daguerre received a lifetime pension.

Process

    Photograph of James Buchanan, ca. 1944-1960. Library of Congress.

    Daguerreotypes were made by coating a copper plate with a light-sensitive substance, in this case silver. The coated plate was placed in a small box and sensitized by exposure to iodine vapors, resulting in silver iodide. The plate was then inserted into a camera and exposed to light for five minutes to over an hour. Improvements in lenses and plates eventually brought exposure times down to between five and 40 seconds. Following exposure, the plate was placed in another box and held at a 45-degree angle over a pan of heated mercury. The image was removed once the mercury vapors developed the image, which was then placed in a bath of distilled water. After this, the plate was coated in salt and dried. Finally, the image was placed in a frame-like case for protection, as the surface of the daguerreotype was easily smudged.

Portraiture

    Daguerreotype, unidentified man, ca. 1840-1860. Library of Congress.

    Daguerreotype was primarily used for portraits. Subjects often appear stiff and expressionless because they had to sit completely still during the exposure time. A headrest stand was often placed behind subjects to steady their heads.

Identification

    Daguerreotypes were made in a variety of sizes, ranging from a full plate at 8-1/2 by 6- inches to 1/16 of a plate. The silvered plate's shiny mirrorlike quality makes daguerreotypes difficult to view, and they had to be held at an angle. The images are also laterally reversed, so a wedding band would seem to appear on the wrong hand and words would be seen in reverse.

Popularity

    The daguerreotype was in common use from 1839 until the late 1850s, when other more practical photographic processes like the tintype, ambrotype and albumen prints were introduced, though some daguerreotypes were still being made into the late 1800s.


Daguerreotype History

The daguerreotype, invented by the French chemist and artist Louis Daguerre, is an early photographic process introduced in 1839. The daguerreotype, easily identified by its shiny, mirror-like quality, is widely considered the first practical and successful photographic process. The term "daguerreotype" is occasionally misused to denote all early cased photographs; the term instead refers to the chemical process by which the photographs are made, and not the presentation case.

History

    Library of Congress

    In 1724, the German scientist Johann Heinrich Schultz had discovered that certain silvers darkened upon exposure to light, but had not determined how to fix an image. The true ancestor of all modern photographic processes traces back to France in 1826 when Nicephore Niepce produced a photographic image by placing a light-sensitized pewter plate in a window. He called the resulting photograph a heliograph. Niepce began collaborating with Louis Daguerre in 1829, and continued to do so until his death four years later. Daguerre continued to experiment until he arrived at a working photographic process in 1839. The French government purchased the rights to the invention as a gift to the world; in exchange, Daguerre received a lifetime pension.

Process

    Photograph of James Buchanan, ca. 1944-1960. Library of Congress.

    Daguerreotypes were made by coating a copper plate with a light-sensitive substance, in this case silver. The coated plate was placed in a small box and sensitized by exposure to iodine vapors, resulting in silver iodide. The plate was then inserted into a camera and exposed to light for five minutes to over an hour.

    Enhance your photography skill,The Top Secret Photography Techniques

    . Improvements in lenses and plates eventually brought exposure times down to between five and 40 seconds. Following exposure, the plate was placed in another box and held at a 45-degree angle over a pan of heated mercury. The image was removed once the mercury vapors developed the image, which was then placed in a bath of distilled water. After this, the plate was coated in salt and dried. Finally, the image was placed in a frame-like case for protection, as the surface of the daguerreotype was easily smudged.

Portraiture

    Daguerreotype, unidentified man, ca. 1840-1860. Library of Congress.

    Daguerreotype was primarily used for portraits. Subjects often appear stiff and expressionless because they had to sit completely still during the exposure time. A headrest stand was often placed behind subjects to steady their heads.

Identification

    Daguerreotypes were made in a variety of sizes, ranging from a full plate at 8-1/2 by 6- inches to 1/16 of a plate. The silvered plate's shiny mirrorlike quality makes daguerreotypes difficult to view, and they had to be held at an angle. The images are also laterally reversed, so a wedding band would seem to appear on the wrong hand and words would be seen in reverse.

Popularity

    The daguerreotype was in common use from 1839 until the late 1850s, when other more practical photographic processes like the tintype, ambrotype and albumen prints were introduced, though some daguerreotypes were still being made into the late 1800s.



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