Photographic Timeline

Photographic Timeline


The Daguerreotype:

The invention of photography is credited to a man named Louis Daguerre. He took a polished copper plate coated with silver and exposed it to iodine. He then used mercury films to produce and image then washed the image with table salt to stop the plate from staying light sensitive, fixing the plate. It was then washed in water to remove excess chemicals. Exposure times were about 4-5 minutes. Daguerre announced this invention to the world in 1839 and it was very popular until the invention of the wet plate in 1851. Daguerreotypes were a one time image. They coulnd't be reproduced, so any that are left today are the originals taken back then.

The Calotype:

The Calotype was created by a man named Henry Fox Talbot around the same time as the Daguerreotype. Talbot used paper that was soaked with a solution of silver nitrate, let it dry, and then the exposed paper would reacted with sodium chloride producing an image. This created paper negatives that could be reproduced, but since they were made of paper, they were out of focus and imperfect from the grains in the paper. Talbot produced a book called the Pencil of Nature in 1841 with the details of his process. Though not as popular as the Daguerreotype, people used this process until the invention of the wet plate.


Wet Plate Photography:


Wet plate photography was created by Fredrick Scott Archer in 1851. Solving both the problems of the unreproducable Daguerreotype and the softness of the Calotype, once the wet plate process started, it took over as the major form of photography. The process was to take a glass plate and pour iodine/bromide onto the glass. You had to make sure the solution was smooth and pour off any excess. Then the plate had to sit for 3 to 5 minutes to become sensitized. Once that happened, you were able to take the picture. Exposure times ranged between less than a second up to a couple of minutes. Once the plate has been exposed, you had to develop it before the chemicals dried up. The plate needed to be developed with ferrous sulfate and then fixed with cyanide. Once the plate was washed in fresh water, you had a sharp negative image that could be reproduced. The problems were that the glass negatives were extremely fragile and you had to carry your darkroom with you in order to develop your prints right away. Wet plate photography was used until it was replaced by dry plate photography in 1871.

The Ambrotype:



The Ambrotype was created by James Ambrose Cutting in 1854. This process was similar to the wet plate process. It was a glass plate covered in collodian then dipped in silver nitrate solutions. The back was painted black on one side to create the illusion that the image was a positive. This process wasn't as popular as the tintypes.

The Tintype:

The Tintype was created in 1853 by Adolphe-alexandre Martin, but was patented by Hamilton Smith. Even though the process was called a "tintype" no tin was actually involved. It was black-enameled iron which was more durable than the glass of the other wet plate processes. The process also appears positive against the black background even though the plate is actually a negative image. These dried faster and didn't break as easily, so these were vastly popular until the creation of the dry plate process in 1871.

The Dry Plate:

The Dry Plate process was created by Dr. Richard Lee Maddox in 1871, although it was perfected by other people. He used gelatin that had been exposed to heat to make it very light-sensitive and more resisitant to friction. George Eastman later developed a machine to coat the plates. Dry Plate photography took over wet plate photography because you didn't have to take your darkroom with you or develop your film right away. It was popular until the invention of the Brownie camera, and the creation of paper-based film in 1900.

Paper Based Film:

Paper based film was created by Peter Houston in 1900, but he sold the invention to George Eastman. Eastman created the Brownie camera. "You push the button, we do the rest!" All people has to do was get a brownie camera, take pictures and sent back to George Eastman (the creator of Kodak) to have their film processed. This made photography common for everyone. Photography exploded since it was easily accessible to anyone that wanted to take pictures. Paper based film didn't last long, however. George Eastman kept creating better ways to make the Brownie camera better. He did that with film on cellulose instead of the paper film in the original Brownie.

Film on cellulose:

George Eastman created film on cellulose in 1909. He used it in his later Brownie models to make them better. Film on cellulose is still available today, although there are many other forms of film that came from the creation of this one. Film was very widely used until the creation of digital photography. Even though some people still use it, it is sadly becoming a dying art form.