Historical Photography Processes
Process↕ | Inventor↕ | Year Introduced↕ | Surface↕ | Characteristic Tone↕ | Known For↕ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Daguerreotype | Louis Daguerre | 1839 | Silver-coated copper plate | Mirror-like silver | First commercially practical photo process, incredibly sharp detail, one-of-a-kind images |
Calotype (Talbotype) | William Henry Fox Talbot | 1841 | Paper coated with silver iodide | Warm brown | First negative-positive process enabling multiple prints from one exposure |
Wet Plate Collodion | Frederick Scott Archer | 1851 | Glass plate coated with collodion | Cool silver-gray | Civil War photography, must be exposed and developed while wet, sharp and fast |
Tintype (Ferrotype) | Adolphe-Alexandre Martin | 1856 | Thin iron sheet with dark lacquer | Dark gray, slightly warm | Affordable portraits for masses, carnival and fair photography, Civil War soldiers |
Ambrotype | James Ambrose Cutting | 1854 | Glass with dark backing | Grayish, appears positive | Cheaper alternative to daguerreotype, underexposed collodion on glass, cased like daguerreotypes |
Albumen Print | Louis Desire Blanquart-Evrard | 1850 | Paper coated with egg white and silver nitrate | Rich reddish-brown | Dominant print process 1855-1890, carte-de-visite portraits, glossy surface |
Cyanotype | Sir John Herschel | 1842 | Paper coated with iron salts | Prussian blue | Anna Atkins botanical prints, blueprint process, simple UV-light exposure |
Carbon Print | Alphonse Poitevin | 1855 | Gelatin with carbon pigment on paper | Deep black, any pigment possible | Permanent prints immune to fading, Edward Steichen favorite, rich tonal range |
Platinum Print (Platinotype) | William Willis | 1873 | Paper with platinum or palladium salts | Soft silvery-gray, warm | Longest tonal range of any process, archival permanence, prized by fine art photographers |
Gum Bichromate | Alphonse Poitevin (refined by Robert Demachy) | 1858 | Paper with gum arabic and watercolor pigment | Any color (pigment choice) | Pictorialist movement favorite, painterly handmade look, multiple coatings for depth |
Photogravure | Karel Klic | 1879 | Copper plate etched and inked | Rich velvety black | Alfred Stieglitz Camera Work reproductions, finest tonal reproduction in print |
Gelatin Silver Print | Richard Leach Maddox | 1871 | Paper with gelatin and silver halide emulsion | Neutral to cool black-and-white | Dominant 20th-century process, Ansel Adams, still the standard darkroom print |
Autochrome | Auguste and Louis Lumiere | 1907 | Glass plate with dyed starch grains | Soft, pointillist color | First practical color photography, WWI-era color images, dreamy impressionistic look |
Salt Print | William Henry Fox Talbot | 1834 | Paper soaked in salt and silver nitrate | Warm reddish-brown to purple | Earliest photographic print method, soft matte finish, often paired with paper negatives |
Bromoil Print | C. Welborne Piper | 1907 | Gelatin silver print re-inked with oil pigment | Varies by ink choice | Hand-inking for painterly control, pictorialist art photography, each print unique |
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