By Bill Dobbinshttp://www.billdobbinsphotography.comAbraham Lincoln was one of the many celebrities of the age who sat for daguerreotype portraits. | LOUIS DAGUERRE
Evolution often proceeds in fits and starts, with many extinctions and dead ends. This is true in the biology of life. And it is true in photography as well.
Edgar Allan Poe: Quoth the author, take my photo. | LOUIS DAGUERRE
The knowledge of how to project and image onto a surface using a lens has been available for centuries. Starting around 1800 there were a series of attempts to chemically fix such an image. One of the earliest successful attempts was by Louis-Jacques-Mandé Daguerre, who introduced the Daguerrotype in 1839 – a system that would dominate photography for decades until superseded by the sliver-halide process.
The daguerreotypist in his studio.
According to Wikipedia:
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 resultinglatent 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.
It goes on to explain: The image is on a mirror-like silver surface, normally kept under glass, and will appear either positive or negative, depending on the angle at which it is viewed, how it is lit and whether a light or dark background is being reflected in the metal. The darkest areas of the image are simply bare silver; lighter areas have a microscopically fine light-scattering texture. The surface is very delicate, and even the lightest wiping can permanently scuff it. Some tarnish around the edges is normal.
An advantage of the Daguerrotype is its permanence. A disadvantage is that is that it creates a single original and it isn’t possible to produce copies.
The daguerrotype mostly died out in the 1860s but it has never completely gone away. In fact, this is a system that is still occasionally used by photographers for specialized purposes today.
Subjects needed to hold still for long periods for daguerreotype portraits. Shooting still lives this was not a problem.
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Bill Dobbins is a pro photographer located in Los Angeles. He is a veteran photographer and videographer who has exhibited his fine art in two museums and a number of galleries and who has published eight books, including two fine art photo books:
Poet Emily Dicknson | LOUIS DAGUERREVictorian photographer Julia Margaret Cameron.Photos of soldiers during the Civil War were sought after in part because many never returned from battle.
April 20, 2017
About the Author
Bill Dobbins
Bill Dobbins THE BODY PHOTOGAPHER became well known for his male and female physique photos - images of the aesthetic, athletic body.
Using the same distinctive personal style, characterized by strong graphics and a classic look in both color and BW, Bill Dobbins has also developed a body of work featuring fashion, beauty and glamor photos In a world in which so many images create a level of "noise" that makes it hard for advertisers to be noticed, Bill's work cuts right through the confusion and grabs the eye.
Bill has created two art photos books: The Women: Photographs of the Top Female Bodybuilders (Artisan) and Modern Amazons (Taschen) and his fine art work has appeared in two museums and several galleries.
WEBSITES
BILL DOBBINS PHOTOGRAPHY
www.billdobbinsphotography.com
BILL DOBBINS ART
www.billdobbinsart.com
THE FEMALE PHYSIQUE WEBZINE/GALLERY
www.billdobbins.com
EMAIL: billdobbinsphoto@gmail.com
