A Clustering of Innovation

1
1840 - 1860

• A Clustering of Innovation

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Let the Clustering Begin!

• 1841 Calotype (Talbot)
• 1842 Cyanotype (Herschel)
• 1840s Albumen (Talbot, Niepce,
  Blanquart- Evard)
• 1851 Collodion (Archer)
• 1850s Ambrotype (Archer, Fry)
• 1853 Tintype (Martin)
• 1856 Oxymel (Llewelyn)

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1841 - Calotype Process

• Positive/Negative process introduced by Fox
  Talbot
• Paper brushed with weak salt and silver nitrate
  solution
• Competed with the Daguerreotype

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Calotype vs. Daguerreotype

• Advantages
• could make an unlimited number of prints
• retouching could be done on negative or print
• prints on paper were easier to examine, less
  delicate
• had warmer tones
• Disadvantages
• arrested by patent restrictions
• materials less sensitive to light, longer
  exposure time
• imperfections of paper reduced quality
• process had two stages positive/negative, took
  longer
• prints tended to fade with time

5
1842 - Cyanotype

• Introduced by Sir John Herschel
• Used iron salts instead of silver compounds
• Highly stable
• Brilliant blue images
• Most popular around the turn of the century
• Used for architectural blueprints

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Late 1840s - Albumen

• Introduced by Abel Niepce
• Search to combine best of Daguerreotype and
  Calotype
• Albumen (the white of an egg) used as a binder on
  glass
• Fine detail, improved quality, but slow process
  time
• Blanquart-Evrard took albumen and used it on
  paper
• Process kept chemical on the paper, not in it
  which produced finer detail and glossy
• Some critics of the glossy image

7
1851 - Collodion

• Introduced by Frederick Scott Archer
• Used gun cotton as a binding agent
• Used glass plates, very sharp images, better
  quality than Daguerreotype and Calotype
• Difficult process and somewhat dangerous
• Never patented, allowed further innovations to
  spawn from it

8
1850s - Ambrotype

• Introduced by Fred Scott Archer and Peter Fry
• Inexpensive
• No lateral reversal
• Could be viewed from any angle

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1853 - Tintype

• Introduced by Adolphe Alexandre Martin
• Used enamelled tinplate instead of glass
• One step process, no negative
• Inexpensive
• Robust

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1856 - Oxymel

• Introduced by J. D. Llewelyn
• One of the first Dry processes to be used
• Illustrated Evening News hailed it as a
  considerable advance
• Negatives prepared in advance and later developed
  at leisure