An Incredible Invention Photography: 1837-1918
Dec 28, 2015
An Incredible Invention
Photography: 1837-1918
Daguerreotypes Ambrotypes Tintypes Albumens (CDVS, cabinet cards) Real photo postcards
Types of Photographic Images
Invented by a French chemist named Louis Daguerre The first photo ever taken was a street scene in Paris The daguerreotype was made on a copper plate
coated with polished silver It took approximately 3-4 minutes for the image to
be burned onto the plate (longer if the lighting was poor)
The sitter had a neck brace to keep them still Studios had huge skylights to let in as much light as
possible.
Daguerreotypes (1837-1860)
Portraits of people are the most
common
Portraits of animals and outdoor images
are rare
Ambrotypes were really just daguerreotypes
done on glass. They were much cheaper to produce and
cheaper to make They are really a negative image on a glass
plate backed with black paint or black fabric to make them into a “positive”
Ambrotypes (1854-1865)
Why do you think the ambrotype was not popular for very long?
Tintypes (1854-1900)
Tintypes replaced ambrotypes and
daguerreotypes because they were much more durable and cheaper to produce.
They were made on a thin plate of sheet iron coated with a thin black varnish
Albumens, Carte de visites ( CDVs), and
Cabinet Cards A glass negative was used to produce
numerous paper “positives” The paper was coated with egg whites and
other chemicals Very popular because you could leave the
photographers studio with more than one image. You could also write messages on them and give them away
Images on paper
Do you recognize these two famous personalities both taken
in cdv format?
Rare cdv of a locomotive in Pennsylvania
Examples of Rare Cabinet Cards
Real Photo PostcardsThis was a gimmick that became very popular: Have a picture taken of yourself and send it off to someone you love as a postcard!
Post mortems were a part of 19th century
culture. For some, this was the only picture they may have of a loved one.
Post Mortem Photography