History of Photography

Invented by Louis Daguerre and introduced worldwide in 1839,the daguerreotype was almost completely superseded by 1860 with new, less expensive processes (Ambrotype) yielding more readily viewable images. There was a revival of daguerreotype in the late 20th century by a small number of photographers interested in making artistic use of early photographic processes.

To make the image, a daguerreotypist would polish a sheet of silver-plated copper to a mirror finish, treat it with fumes that made its surface light sensitive, expose it in a camera for as long as was judged to be necessary, which could be as little as a few seconds for brightly sunlit subjects or much longer with less intense lighting; make the resulting latent image on it visible by fuming it with mercury vapor; remove its sensitivity to light by liquid chemical treatment, rinse and dry it, then seal the easily marred result behind glass in a protective enclosure.

Photography studios then opened as people began to have their portraits taken and this was the start of the photography business as we know it today