Let's take a look at Louis Daguerre...- For a short period of time between the 1830s and 1860s, Daguerre's process was used as an innovative way to record images
- Introduced to the world in 1839 - Recording images at the time took hours or even days of exposure, but Daguerre discovered a way to create just the basis for an image (a latent image) which could then later be exposed to chemicals that allowed the image to develop fully - The daguerreotype process: 1. polish a sheet of silver-plated copper to a mirror finish 2. treat the sheet with vapor given off by iodine crystals, producing a coating of light-sensitive silver iodide 3. expose the sheet in a camera (ranged from one to fifteen minutes) 4. After exposure to light, the plate was developed using the vapor of heated mercury until an image appeared 5. the plate was immersed in a solution of sodium thiosulfate, also known as hyposulphite of soda, to fully develop the image - Images were laterally reversed, like images in mirrors - The daguerreotype was the first photographic process available to the public - Daguerre applied for a British patent days before France unveiled the invention as available to the public which hindered the use of the process in Britain |