Scientists have made great inventions in various fields of human life, such as industry, agriculture, or medicine. Each of them has undoubtedly made some impact, to a greater or lesser extent, on human generation. One of the inventions that have brought profound changes to the world of photography was the invention of daguerreotype camera. A camera refers to a piece of equipment, which records, stores and can transmit pictures to a given setting. The images can be either static or mobile. Over the years, scientists created cameras that are more sophisticated in order to satisfy the need for better images. Photographic cameras evolved during the primordial Chinese and Greek civilizations. They used a pinhole to cast pictures on a screening surface. Prior to the discovery of photographic procedures, there was lack of viable mechanisms to store or make pictures durable. The initial cameras were huge and could cover an entire room; however, technological advancements have led to significant reduction of the size and shape of cameras. Zhan was probably the first individual to create a compact and portable camera in 1685. In the following paper, the invention of daguerreotypes or the old camera will be discussed. Overall, the work on the daguerreotypes began in 1727, when Schulze introduced his important innovations into photography; it continued in the beginning of the 1800s, when the rudimentary camera obscura was created and actively used; its triumph occurred in 1837, when Daguerre managed to create a camera that became the main prototype of the daguerreotypes, and in 1839, when Daguerre officially demonstrated his achievements to members of the French Academy of Science; it continued after 1839 until 1850, when numerous corrections and improvements were introduced to advance its characteristics; and it ended in the 1850, when inventors developed versions of the daguerreotypes, still known nowadays and stopped there because they found a number of downsides of the daguerreotypes.
(The argument begins; this section discusses the first steps, leading to creating the daguerreotype) Speaking about the invention of the daguerreotype camera, it is important to note that modern picture making activities started in 1727 because of Johann Heinrich Schulze innovations in photography. Schulze noticed that silver nitrate was sensitive to light. In around 1813, Nicephore who attempted to create a camera photograph, made another remarkable development. He made this discovery in response to the surging demand for reliable and economical ways of creating pictures. Nicephore used a sliding box camera made of wood in 1826. Nonetheless, it was not until 1826, when Nicephore developed a durable camera photograph. He used bitumen to cover a pewter plate and exposed it to the camera. The bitumen solidified the sections of the plate, which light struck. This picture has remained intact until present. During the same period, the camera obscura was in common usage before the daguerreotype model. Camera obscura is a visual machine, which projects pictures close to it on a screen. It mainly assisted in leisure activities. The inventor of this device mounted it inside a box with a sizeable opening on one surface. “Light from an external scene passes through the hole and strikes a surface inside where it is produced onto paper, and can then be traced to produce a highly accurate representation” (Bates & Barrett, 1998, pp. 160-178). The picture is casted on a piece of paper and drawn to give a representation of the picture. A different moveable type is a container with a slanting mirror projected onto a tracing material mounted on a glass surface, the picture appears vertical from the rear view. Although the obscura camera became popular in the 1800s, the ancient scholars like Aristotle and Mozi discovered the pinhole principle, which later aided the creation of the obscuras. Aristotle demonstrated a proper understanding of the principles behind the functioning of the pinhole camera. For instance, he observed the falcate figure of the moderately eclipsed sun reflected on the earth surface through the openings in a strainer. Another famous scholar known as Theon also did a similar study on the functions of the pinhole. Theon found that a light from a candle creates illuminated spots on a screen, situated directly in relation to the centre of the candle and directly in sequence to the aperture, in case it passes through a the aperture. These two studies suggest that the camera technology had its origins in the ancient world.
Daguerre’s work and its results
The next, and the most important step in creating daguerreotypes, was made by Daguerre and his mates, who believed in the future of the use of the paper, sensitive to silver chloride (Dinius, 2012; Zault, 2008). Daguerre was an ingenious master of art, known for a variety of great works in different fields including the creation of incredible romantic paintings, mind-boggling printmaking, and the participation in the Diorama spectacle, very popular those days. However, the name of this inimitable master of art was imprinted in history due to the creation of images of vividness, unprecedented for the first half of the XX century. In 1833, there was a little setback in the development of cameras following the death of Niepces, one of the most successful Daguerre’s collaborators. Nonetheless, Daguerre remained focused on studying the techniques and the chemistry of making pictures by lining copper plates using various materials such as iodized silver. Daguerre’s initial experiments on producing camera images took several hours and demanded many resources. In 1837, Daguerre came up with the first practical daguerreotype portrait after effectively accomplishing his experiment. Until 1838, Daguerre proceeded with his experiments to the moment, when he began to feel ready to show the results of his work to the wide public including members of the National Academy of Science and potential investors (Wickliff, 2006). As a result of his first presentations of the new invention, Daguerre managed to find support that became crucial for the future success of the whole project. This support was from François Arago, one of the most influential members of the French Academy of Science and the National legislature. Due to Arago’s help and his gigantic efforts to find more supporters for Daguerre, the triumph of the whole project did not take long to wait. On January 7, 1839, Daguerre officially presented the results of his findings to members of The French Academy of Sciences at the specially organized assembly. Prominent French scientists were astonished with what they saw – the image was remarkably precise and clear-cut. This date in the history of humanity was officially acknowledged as the date of creation of the first real photography, the amazing fruitage of close cooperation between art and science (Wickliff, 2006). Thus, the daguerreotype process was announced by The French Academy of Sciences in 1839 after the official explanation of its stages, the significance of each of its stages, and its chemical and physical background. The same year, the other famous inventor, William Fox Talbot announced the daguerreotype process, which he saw in using paper, sensitive to silver chloride. Daguerre named his invention after himself by simply calling it the daguerreotype. On the other hand, Talbot named his photographic process the calotype. However, the difference between the two devices was in the fact that they worked in a dissimilar way in producing images. The daguerreotype reproduced images from left to right, and calotype did so by reproducing images from positive prints to negative ones on the paper. Whereas Daguerre auctioned his innovations to the government of France, which decided to share it with the rest of the world, Talbot was quite conservative and ‘jealous’ about his discoveries. So, Talbot restricted other scientists from accessing his achivemnts. The introduction of the daguerreotype camera was because of the challenges associated with using the camera obscura. Indeed, the daguerreotype brought profound changes in photography. It marked the onset of modern photographic procedures. Photography refers to both the science and art of making durable pictures. “It involves recording light or other electromagnetic radiation, either chemically by means of light-sensitive material such as photographic film, or electronically by means of an image sensor” (Colin, 2009, p. 78). Characteristically, a lens assists in centering light reflected from items into actual pictures in the interior section of the camera that is light sensitive. The outcome of this process is a digital picture file for further processing into clear pictures. Further, speaking about the history of the daguerreotype, it is necessary to describe this device and the principles of its work. The daguerreotype is the camera, working on a principle of using a silver copper plate for making direct positives on a special material, known as Sheffield plate (Batchen, 2004). The outside section of the daguerreotype resembles a mirror. The picture is directly prepared on the surface with a silver coating; this section is delicate and can easily be wiped off. The tilted coated surface reflects a dark section to make the image visible. “Depending on the angle viewed, and the color of the surface reflected into it, the image can change from a positive to a negative” (Susan, 1979, p. 189).
The correction of the daguerreotypes
Addressing the corrections that were important for improving the functioning of daguerreotypes, decreasing of exposure duration is to be discussed. The initial daguerreotypes had weak lenses called Chevalier and the silver iodide acted as the light sensitive substance. This implied that the camera consumed much time in taking pictures; hence, it was less viable for commercial use. Moreover, the first daguerreotypes pictures were those of static scenes like streets. The challenge of time wastage that was associated with the use of daguerreotypes reduced significantly as result of two significant modifications on the camera. The first adjustment involved mounting lenses with wider diameters on the daguerreotypes. The second modification involved changing the chemical procedures applied in the creation of the pictures. Making of commercial daguerreotypes started from 1841 after the invention of a better lens, which had a wider and efficient aperture. “An alloy of mercury and silver creates images in a daguerreotype because mercury vapor from a pool of heated mercury develops the plate; but the Becquerel process is an alternative of making daguerreotypes in the absence of mercury” (Beaumount, 1984, p. 298). The daguerreotype pictures were distinct; however, duplication of the pictures was possible through some chemical processes. The other important improvement of daguerreotypes was proliferation. The daguerreotype technology increasingly gained prominence in the early 1800s, and many individuals in other countries in Europe adopted it. Johann Baptist who was a visual artist in Switzerland later became a professional daguerreotypist and he received great acknowledged for having made the initial colored daguerreotype in1840. He mixed and fixed several pigments on the fragile exterior section of the daguerreotype by heating it. The outcome of his experiment was among the first produced hand-colored pictures. In England, Beard who established the first picture-making studio first introduced the daguerreotype technology. Indeed, existing daguerreotypes that he claimed to have produced are largely other people’s creations. Apart from the British, the Americans also embraced the daguerreotype picture making processes. In the USA, Samuel Morse introduced various artists to the art of daguerreotype. In America, daguerreotype gained much prominence and over two million daguerreotypes were made annually. “For the first time in history, people could obtain an exact likeness of themselves or their loved ones for a modest cost, making portrait photographs extremely popular with those of modest means” (Mary, 2010, p. 456). In Europe, some people erroneously thought that the daguerreotype was the overriding pictographic procedure from 1850s. Nonetheless, proof from the era indicates that people used it extensively for about twenty years and then adopted better techniques. For example, in 1841 there was invention of the calotype that involved the use of both negative and positive procedures. Later in 1851, “the collodion wet plate process was introduced, and it involved a negative-positive process and using halide-impregnated collodion poured from a bottle onto a glass plate sensitized by the immersion in a silver nitrate bath” (Naomi, 2008, p. 678). This procedure facilitated the making of ambrotypes.
The reasons of the daguerreotypes downfall
With regards to the reasons of the downfall of daguerreotypes, it is important to note that the complicated, multifaceted, and manual daguerreotype process encouraged various artists to seek alternative techniques of picture making; thus, its weaknesses contributed significantly to the quick shift to better techniques of photography such as ambrotype and later tintype. The ambrotype is a type of camera that makes a positive picture on a glass surface through a collodion procedure, which uses a wet plate. Ambrotypes first gained commercial success in the early 1850s. One primary advantage that ambrotype had over the daguerreotype was its cost effectiveness in the sense that it was economical to produce. Second, it never had the shiny metallic plate, which many daguerreotype users found so unappealing. Towards the end of the 1850, the daguerreotypes lost considerable fame since many camera users switched to the newly created ambrotypes. Nonetheless, the popularity of the ambroytype was short-lived and people started abandoning it just like its precursor and adopted the tintype photographic system. “The tintype is a photograph made by creating a direct positive on a sheet of iron metal that is blackened by painting, lacquering, and is used as a support for collodion photographic emulsion” (Susan, 1979, p. 98). During the Civil War, many individuals in the USA embraced the usage of the tintype because it was affordable to most of them. The tintype is an advanced version of the ambrotype, which uses a slim coating of iron instead of the glass plate. The discovery of the iron coating mitigated the costs of photography and the collodion picture became more durable than before. The difference between the ambrotype and the tintype’s pictures is in the fact that the tintype is a positive due to the use of the black background for it and it can be negative as well, but the ambrotype does not feature such important options (Grushkin, 2012; Daguerreotype Limited, 2012). Unlike the daguerreotypes, the tintype is not cumbersome to develop since a simple technique is required in developing it. Moreover, the tintype does not consume much time like the daguerreotypes. Lastly, it gradually became more compact and portable; hence, it was less cumbersome to use in various settings. Indeed, the bulky nature of the daguerreotype made some people to shy away from using it. The daguerreotypes did not have a negative picture for making numerous positive prints. This was a challenge also witnessed in the tintype model, but it did not necessarily cause the downfall of the daguerreotypes. The wet plate photo making technique is the one that caused the sudden shift from daguerreotypes to other photographic techniques. Lastly, daguerreotype also posed serious health hazards, especially, to its regular users. The initial daguerreotypes as mentioned earlier, extensively used mercury in processing the images; this was particularly dangerous to the daguerreotypists who sometimes inhaled the lethal mercury fumes when they were conducting the heating activities. Many early users collapsed and died due the precarious nature of the daguerreotype technique.
The daguerreotypes as it is known nowadays
Speaking about the contemporary daguerreotypes, it should be stated that many individuals contend that the daguerreotype became extinct after 1850, but documentary evidence suggests that people partially used it until the next one and half centuries (Barger & White, 1992). Some daguerreotypists were not willing to get rid of their old pictures when they begun producing better ones. “Historically minded photographers of subsequent generations, fascinated by daguerreotypes, sometimes experimented with making their own or even revived the process commercially as a “retro” portraiture option for their clients” (Beaumount, 1984, p. 90). The daguerreotype underwent a slight renaissance towards the end of the 20th century and a few of passionate devotees who are arguably less than one hundred globally are still partially applying that technique in making pictures.
In conclusion, the above discussion demonstrates that the art of making and using cameras began in the ancient culture, and it has been improving over the years. Although many hurdles characterized the development of the daguerreotype, it eventually transformed photographic processes. The success of the early daguerreotypists was because of their resilience and enthusiasm to make better and more appealing images. The challenges associated with using various models of cameras starting with the obscura and later daguerreotypes created the need for cheap and compact photographic techniques. The second half of the 18th century witnessed more changes in photographic procedures and this was because of the industrial revolution that made mass production of sophisticated gadgets possible. Today, cameras have become indispensable devices in society because they aid our security systems and they are part of our daily entertainment activities. Indeed, if it were not for the early camera techniques, there would be no television broadcasts today. The modern technological advancements have produced very reliable and user-friendly cameras, which produce sharp images that are more durable (Colin, 2009).
References
Barger, M., & White, W. (1992). The daguerreotype. Nineteenth-century technology and modern science. American Association for the Advancement of Science, 257, 1569-1570. (article – this source is from your list)
Batchen, G. (2004). Light and dark: The daguerreotype and art history. Art Bulletin, 86(4), 764-776. (article)
Bates, I., & Barrett, L. (1998). The silver canvas: Daguerreotype masterpieces from the J. Paul Getty Museum. New York: Wiley. (book)
Beaumount, N. (1984). The history of photography: From 1839 to the present. New York: The Museum of Modern Art. (book)
Colin, H. (2009). Classic cameras. New York: Photographers’ Institute Press. (book)
Daguerreotype Limited, having its registers. (2012). Web.
Dinius, J. (2012). The camera and the press: American visual and print culture in the age of the daguerreotype. The United Sates: University of Pennsylvania Press. (book – this source is from your list)
Grushkin, D. (2012). The Case of the Disappearing Daguerreotypes. Scientific American, 307(6), 70-73. (article)
Mary, M. (2010). Photography: A cultural history. Routledge: Laurence King. (book)
Naomi, R. (2008). World history of photography. New York: Abbeville Press. (book)
Susan, S. (1979). On photography. New York: Penguin. (book)
Wickliff, G. A. (2006). Light Writing: Technology Transfer and Photography to 1845. Technical Communication Quarterly, 15(3), 293-313. (article)
Zault, K. (2008). The Daguerreotype Process. Web.