The History of Photography ..Louis Daguerre and the Daguerreotype Process

The History of Photography

Louis-Jacques-Mande Daguerre

The Daguerreotype Process

Louis-Jacques-Mande Daguerre also known as Louis Daguerre was born on the 18^th of November 1787 in Cormeilles France. A professional scene painter for the Opera with an interest in lighting effects began experimenting with the effects of light upon translucent paintings in the 1820’s. He regularly used a camera obscura as an aid to painting in perspective and this led him to think about ways to keep the image still. In 1826 he discovered the work of Joseph Nicephore Niepce and in 1829 began a partnership with him.

Niepce produced the first photographic image of nature in 1826-1827; however they faded quickly, were of poor quality and required roughly 8 hours exposure time, the process Daguerre developed required only 20 to 30 minutes. After Niepce’s death in 1833 Daguerre kept experimenting and developed a more convenient and effective method, naming it after himself.

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Da-guerre-o-type

A photograph taken by an early process using iodine sensitized silvered plate and mercury vapour.

Daguerre experimented with copperplates coated with silver iodide to produce direct positive pictures. He discovered that the latent image on an exposed plate could be developed with the fumes from warmed mercury. The vapour meant the images could be produced in 20 to 30 minutes. In 1837 he found a way of “fixing” the image with a solution of common salt. Two years later he followed the suggestion of Sir John Herschel (1792-1871) and used hyposulphate of soda (now thiosulphate of soda) as the fixing agent. He began using this improved process from 1837 and on the 19^th of August 1839 the Daguerreotype was revealed to the world. No negative was produced; copies could not be made so each image was unique. In 1839 Louis Daguerre and Niepce’s son sold the rights for the Daguerreotype to the French Government and published a booklet describing the process.

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Louis –Jacques-Mande-Daguerre died July 10^th 1851 in Bry-Sur-Marne in France.

Three examples of Daguerreotype images