The History of Photography .... William Henry Fox Talbot.

The History of Photography

William Henry Fox Talbot

William Henry Fox Talbot was born on February the 11^th 1800 in Melbury Sampford, Dorset, England. Talbot an English chemist and pioneer in photography developed the calotype also known as the talbotype in 1840, an early process that improved on the daguerreotype. It involved the use of a negative from which multiple prints could be made. In 1835 he published his first article documenting a photographic discovery; that of the paper negative.

The pencil of nature was the first book with photographic illustrations which he published in 1844 -1846.Talbot also published many articles on mathematics, astronomy and physics.

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An Introduction to the calotype process

Having had some success with his photogenic drawing, sometimes placing an image directly onto his paper and photographing it with one of his small wooden camera’s in the mid 1830’s, he turned his attention to some of his other interests. It was not until Daguerre’s process was announced in 1839 that he seriously decided to try and find an improved process of the daguerreotype.

The attraction of the calotype process was that it allowed a latent image on the paper to be turned into an actual image after the paper had been removed from the camera. The calotype used much shorter exposure times than the photogenic drawing that required an exposure of an hour.

Throughout the 1840’s, the processes used were daguerreotype and calotype, but by the 1850’s most photographers were using the newly introduced and patent free wet collodion process. However John Dillwyn Llewelyn, married to Talbots cousin continued to use calotype for landscape photography believing that it produced better results.

The Calotype process

The Calotype was not Talbots first photographic process (introduced in 1839) but is the one for which he became best known for. Talbot developed the calotype in the autumn of 1840, he perfected the process by the time it was made public in mid 1841. It was then patented but the patent didn’t extend to Scotland.

The base of a calotype negative was high quality writing paper, carefully selected to have a smooth and uniform texture. The first stage was to prepare what he called his iodized paper. The paper was washed with a solution of potassium iodide for 2-3 minutes, rinsed and dried again. As long as the paper was stored carefully it could be kept for a long time, so it was prepared in batches ahead of time. Before taking a Photograph, a new solution of gallo-nitrate of silver was made. This solution was equal quantities of silver nitrate and gallic acid; the solution was unstable and had to be used immediately. In dim candle light, a sheet of iodized paper was coated with this solution, left to sit for about 30 seconds and then dipped in water.

Then partially dried in a dark room often using blotting paper. The calotype paper could be used completely dry, but was more sensitive when it was still moist, in either case it had to be exposed in the camera within a few hours of preparation.

William Henry Fox Talbot Died September 17^th 1877 at Laycock Abbey near Chippenham Wiltshire.

Three Calotype Images