Daguerreotype

A Daguerreotype is one of the earliest photographic devices used to recreate images. Using a mirror polished with silver halide, a daguerreotype uses either iodine, bromine or chlorine vapors to render an image on the silver plate. Unlike modern cameras, the daguerreotype only produced positive images, meaning that no negative was available. As a result, an image couldn’t be reprinted; instead, it could only be recreated once.

Although more rudimentary photographic devices had existed for years before, the daguerreotype was the first widespread commercially available tool that had exposure times conducive to portrait photography. By 1839, French artist and inventor Louis Daguerre had perfected and patented the daguerreotype.

While images had been effectively reproduced, people were only able to recreate their own (or another’s) likeness by sitting for a portrait painting. Not only would this require the subject to sit for hours on end, but it would also take weeks to complete. The daguerreotype was crucial to quickly and efficiently taking portrait pictures. In generally, a subject would have to pose anywhere from sixty to ninety seconds to ensure that the daguerreotype had captured the image.

A few years after the popularization of the daguerreotype, photographic technology continued to thrive with the invention of the negative that allowed the reproduction of images.