A Short History of Photographic Processes - up to 1900 by Mike
Ware Buxton U3A February 2014 Photo by Mark Osterman
Slide 2
Alhazens Camera Obscura ca. 1000 AD
Slide 3
Camera Obscura with Lens ~1550
Slide 4
The Raw Materials of Proto-photography Sunlight Silver chloride
(Angelo Sala 1612)
Slide 5
The Gernsheim Question (Photohistorians Helmut and Alison
Gernsheim) 1000 Camera obscura known with pinhole 1512 (Girolamo
Cardano) with lens 1610 Silver chloride darkening in sunlight 1839
Announcement of photography Why was photography not invented long
before the early 19 th century?
Slide 6
Tom Wedgwood (1771-1805) Contact-printed images on silver
nitrate coated on paper and white leather ca. 1799. Unfixed none
survive? No camera images made Published with H. Davy Royal
Institution 1802
Slide 7
Joseph Nicphore Nipce (1765-1833) Bitumen of Judaea coated on a
pewter plate is hardened by light-exposure. Rendered insoluble in
oil of cloves. Exposure many hours Ca. 1822-27
Slide 8
Nipces Heliographic Process The First Photograph 1826
Niepceotype
Slide 9
William Henry Fox Talbot (1800-1877) Inventor of silver halide
photography on paper (1834) Chief contributions: Sensitized by
excess Ag + Fixed by excess halide Negative-positive process
Collection of National Media Museum RPS Collection
Slide 10
Talbots First Negative on paper
Slide 11
Talbot s Working Method Photogenic Drawing Paper 1)Immerse
writing paper in ~1% salt for 2 minutes 2)Blot dry 3)Brush over
with 20% silver nitrate (a 6x excess): AgNO 3 + NaCl AgCl + NaNO 3
4)Expose for ~10 minutes in sunlight to darken UV + AgCl(s) Ag(s) +
Cl 2 (g) 5)Fix with ~30% salt or ~2% potassium iodide
Slide 12
Photogenic Drawings by Talbot ca 1839 Thiosulphate fixed?
Chloride fixed?
Slide 13
Iodide fixed Photogenic Drawing WHF Talbot Agrostis Gigantea On
verso: H.F. Talbot Photogr. 1839 Paper is J. Whatman Turkey Mill
1838 National Media Museum UK
Slide 14
Sir John F. W. Herschel (1792-1871) Invented Hypo fixation in
1839. Based on chemical experiments of 1819 with hyposulphites (now
thiosulphates) which dissolve silver chloride. Still used in fixer
today. Portrait, Royal Society 1843
Slide 15
Thiosulphate-fixed Salt Print WHF Talbot Melrose Abbey National
Media Museum UK
Slide 16
Proto-photography Prints-out Sun supplies all the energy of
image formation Exposure by direct solar irradiation ~1 minute
AgCl(s) + UV Ag(s) + 1 / 2 Cl 2 (g) For contact prints: Photogenic
Drawings Prints from engravings and camera negatives Exposures in
the camera are very lengthy lens only captures 1/100 to 1/1000 of
the light
Slide 17
Camera Exposure Factors Given only proto-photographic
materials: contact exposures take about 1 minute camera exposures
(at f/4) take 1-2 hours (at f/11) 10 hours Camera photography is
nearly impossible A marginal technology, at best, as Talbot &
Daguerre found independently - until they separately discovered
different ways of: Development of latent images in silver
iodide
Slide 18
Louis Jacques Mand Daguerre (1789-1851) Daguerreotype Silvered
metal plate Iodized with I 2 vapour to Give coat of silver iodide.
Exposed in the camera for a few minutes. Latent Image in the AgI
developed with Mercury vapour Ag/Hg amalgam Ca. 1837. Published
1839
Slide 19
Talbot s Waterloo Paper Annotated w : uses silver bromide
sensitizer
Slide 20
Photographic Development Talbot in 1840 discovered that gallic
acid can bring out an invisible dormant picture impressed on silver
iodide by very little light The developer supplies the chemical
energy His camera exposure times reduced by 100x An extraordinary
fluke - not predictable Photography was practice-led: No theory of
latent image until the mid-C20 th
Slide 21
Gallic acid Developer 3,4,5-trihydroxybenzoic acid C 6 H 2 (OH)
3 COOH Oak Galls
Slide 22
Chemistry of Talbot s Calotype 1) Iodize: AgNO 3 + KI AgI + KNO
3 silver nitrate + potassium iodide silver iodide + potassium
nitrate 2) Excite: Talbot s Gallo-nitrate of silver AgNO 3 + acetic
acid + gallic acid 3) Expose: Moist or dry ~1 minute @ f/15 4)
Develop: Gallo-nitrate of silver reduces Ag + + e - Ag silver
cation + electron silver atom 5) Fix: KBr (or hot strong
thiosulphate) Ag + + Br - AgBr silver cation + bromide anion silver
bromide 6) Wax: Less refractive index difference
Slide 23
The Black Art of Development Surely you deal with the Naughty
One Sir John F.W. Herschel (16th March 1841) William Henry Fox
Talbot
Slide 24
Outline of Silver Development Silver halide microscopic
crystals suspended in a photographic emulsion - a colloidal binder
A small amount of image light striking any crystal sensitizes it -
forming a latent image - an invisible cluster of ~10 atoms of
silver Developers chemically reduce the sensitized crystals of AgX
entirely to grains of Ag metal A Crystal may contain 10,000,000
AgI, so amplification is 1,000,000 & Exposure becomes ~ 1 hour
1,000,000 = 1/300 second
Slide 25
Albumen Print of Buxton UK
Slide 26
Cartoon from Punch 1847 Behold thy portrait - day by day, I ve
seen its features die; First the moustachios go away, Then off the
whiskers fly
Slide 27
Processes for Camera Negatives
ProcessInventorDateHalideSurfaceBinderDeveloper Photogenic Drawing
Talbot1834AgClpapernoneNone Print-out Daguerreo- type
Daguerre1837AgImetalnoneHg vapour
CalotypeTalbot1840AgIpapernonegallic acid + AgNO 3 AlbumenNipce de
Saint Victor 1847AgIglassalbumengallic acid + AgNO 3 Wet Collodion
Scott Archer 1851AgIglasscellulose nitrate pyrogallol or Fe 2+ +
AgNO 3 Gelatin Dry Plate Maddox1871AgBrglassgelatinPyrogallol
(alkaline)
Slide 28
Relative Exposure Times ProcessASA speed Projection (f/number)
2 Contact Modern film10010.001 Modern paper11000.1 Gelatin dry
plate3300.03 Wet collodion0.33000.3 Calotype Daguerreotype
0.0110,00010 Photogenic drawing Proto-photography 10 -5
10,000,00010,000
Slide 29
Chromium-based Printing 1839 Mungo Ponton ( 1801-1880 ) Paper
coated with a soluble dichromate is light-sensitive. Chromium(VI)
is reduced and hardens organic colloids gelatin, gum etc Pigments
may be bound in to form a photograph. Carbon & gum
processes.
Slide 30
Iron-based Printing 1842 Sir John F.W. Herschel Ferric salts of
vegetable acids e.g. citric, oxalic, tartaric, are light-sensitive
and form ferrous salts. The photoproduct can reduce salts of noble
metals (silver, gold, platinum) to an image in the metal. Ferrous
can couple with ferricyanide Prussian blue
Slide 31
Photochemistry of Iron(III) Salts e.g. Citrate, Oxalate,
Tartrate UV Light Fe(III) Salt > Fe(II) salt ferric ferrous The
Fe(II) photoproduct can:- 1. Precipitate a noble metal from its
solution 2. Couple with ferricyanide > Prussian blue 3. Leave
Fe(III) to form inks with gallic acid
Slide 32
Historical Iron-based Processes 1842 Herschel Cyanotype
Prussian blue 1842 Herschel Argentotype Silver 1842 Herschel
Chrysotype Gold 1842 Herschel Celaenotype Mercury 1861 Colas
Ferrogallate Iron-gall ink 1873 Willis Platinotype Platinum 1889
Nicol Kallitype Silver 1916 Willis Palladiotype Palladium
Slide 33
Characteristics of Siderotypes [Iron-Based Printing Processes]
Aqueous sensitizer no colloidal binder Plain paper matte surface
texture No amplification contact printing only Large format
negative required Sensitive only to UV and blue light Archival
permanence with Pt, Pd, and Au
Slide 34
Chemicals for Cyanotype
Slide 35
Cyanotype from an Engraving
Slide 36
Anna Atkins (1799-1871) Botanical illustrator Sun-printed
sea-weeds in Herschels cyanotype to make the first book which was
illustrated photographically.
Slide 37
Anna Atkins - British Algae
Slide 38
An Aesthetic Blueprint !
Slide 39
Made in Scotland from Girders
Slide 40
Scotlands other National Beverage! Contains 0.002% Ammonium
Ferric Citrate
Slide 41
New York Subway - Brooklyn
Slide 42
Prussian blue in art & science
Slide 43
William Willis jr Used sensitivity to light of ferric oxalate
to make prints in platinum metal. The most stable and most
beautiful photographs ever seen
Slide 44
Commercial Platinotype ca. 1900
Slide 45
The Artists go on boldly, and are not afraid to be Chemists,
the Chemists gain courage and long to be Artists. The Athenaeum,
1858
