The Daguerreotype - Photographic Processes Series - Chapter 2 of 12

Summary

The video explains how the daguerreotype emerged, how it was made, and why it mattered to photography and everyday life.

Photography and memory

Early photographs offered remarkably lifelike records of people and places. They made it possible, for example, to see what deceased relatives had looked like. The video emphasizes how significant it was when photography became available to ordinary people.

Early experiments and Daguerre’s work

In the 1810s, Nicéphore Niépce discovered that asphalt hardened when exposed to light. Using an engraving, he created an image: light hardened the asphalt in exposed areas, and a solvent removed the unhardened parts. The video identifies an image Niépce made on pewter—a view from a window—as the earliest known photograph.

Niépce partnered with Louis Daguerre, who was already known in Paris for his theatrical dioramas. After Niépce’s death, Daguerre continued experimenting and had a fully developed photographic process by 1839.

How the daguerreotype was made

1. Prepare the plate: Coat a copper plate with silver and polish it until highly reflective.
2. Make it light-sensitive: Fume the plate with iodine to form a yellow layer of silver iodide.
3. Expose it in a camera: Place the plate in a camera obscura and expose it to the scene. The image is not visible at this stage.
4. Develop the image: In a darkroom, place the plate in a box with heated mercury. Mercury fumes reveal the image.
5. Fix the image: Treat the plate with a fixing solution, described in the video as “hypo,” to stop it from continuing to change when exposed to light.
6. Protect the plate: Place the finished image in a special case to limit contact with air, which can tarnish the silver.

The process and its spread

Daguerre gave the process to the French government, which made it available around the world. In England, however, users had to pay a fee. The video features the Giroux daguerreotype camera, described as the first commercially manufactured camera, and stresses that making daguerreotypes required both a camera and the equipment and procedures for preparing and processing plates.

Distinctive qualities

A daguerreotype can appear as either a positive or a negative image, depending on how it is viewed. It has exceptional detail and is a direct image rather than a print made from a negative. Because the plate was present in the room with the person being photographed, the speakers describe the object as intimate and as retaining a sense of the sitter’s presence. Its reflective surface can even show the viewer’s own reflection.

Cultural importance and preservation

The video notes that the process was especially embraced in the United States. People moving west could keep photographs as reminders of the people and places they had left behind.

When properly protected, daguerreotypes can remain in excellent condition for a very long time. The George Eastman House collection shown includes more than 3,500 daguerreotypes, including 1,500 French examples. The video describes it as the largest collection of French daguerreotypes outside France.

Speakers and sources featured

• Several unidentified speakers and interviewees discuss the history, process, significance, and collections of daguerreotypes. The subtitles do not provide their names or formal titles.
• George Eastman House is identified as the location of the photography vault and the collection shown.
• Background music is heard, but no musical source is identified.