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Types of Photographs & History
Listed here are the main types of historic photographs
one is likely to encounter. Probably 80% of the 19th century portrait photos
found will be card mounted, particularly CDV's and Cabinet Cards; and another 10
to 15% will be tintypes.
I have found this information extremely resourceful when
researching photo types. I hope you will also enjoy the time below on the
history of photography.
AMBROTYPE
The Ambrotype is essentially a glass negative with a
black background that makes the image appear positive. It is a cased photo.
Invented about 1854, the form lost popularity in the early 1860's when tintypes
and CDV's replaced them.
. There are some wonderful ambrotype portraits still in existence, yet the
process is much neglected by authors. The only book I know on the process is out
of print, but worth searching for if you can find a used copy: Ambrotype, Old
and New by Thomas P. Feldvebel.
CALOTYPE
The Calotype, sometimes called the Talbotype after its
inventor, William H. F. Talbot, is a paper print made from a paper negative.
Never widely popular in the U.S., this format was more common in England in the
1840's. The image produced lacks sharp detail, the soft focus being due to use
of a paper negative. If you would like to learn more about the process, or even
try it yourself, see the book Primitive Photography: A Guide to Making Cameras,
Lenses, and Calotypes by Alan Greene.
CABINET CARD
Cabinet Cards are a card mounted photograph introduced
in 1866, and tremendously popular, especially in the U.S., from its introduction
until just after the turn of the century. The Cabinet Card is easily
distinguished from other card mounted photos by its size, typically 4.25 x 6.5
inches (108 x 164 mm). Like the CDV, the vast majority are portraits, and most
of them are not identified with the subjects name. Many do have a photographers
imprint.
CARD MOUNTED
In addition to the Carte-de-Visite, Cabinet Card, and
Stereotype, which are described individually, there were a variety of other card
mounted photos, in more-or-less standardized sizes, some of the most common
being called Victoria, Imperial, Prominade, Panel, and Boudoir. Panoramic photos
were also often card mounted, though the size was not standardized. None of
these other sizes are as common as the CDV, Cabinet Card and Stereotype.
CARTE-De-VISITE
Carte-de-Visite's, or CDV's, are a type of card mounted
photograph introduced in the mid 1850's and tremendously popular especially in
America and Europe from 1860 until almost the turn of the century. The CDV is
easily distinguished from other card mounted photos by its size, typically 2.5 x
4 inches (63 x 100 mm) or slightly less. The various characteristics of card
mount, image and photographer's imprint often allows these images to be
correctly dated to within a few years of their origin. The vast majority are
portraits; unfortunately most of them are not identified with the subject's
name. Even this is not always an insurmountable problem however, if a collection
of photos from one photographer are compared to images in county histories or
previously identified images from the same area, it is sometimes possible to
match them up.
CASE MOUNTED
Daguerreotypes and Ambrotypes, and occasionally the
earliest tintypes, were sold in cases, usually made of leather over a wood and
cardboard framwork. In 1854 the "Union" case was introduced, sometimes described
as being made of gutta-percha, this hard black material can be viewed as one of
the first commercial uses of plastic. The Union case was molded with various
designs, and have unfortunately become so popular with collectors that the
photographs are often removed, leaving them susceptible to damage.
S If you want to
learn more about Union cases see the book Union Cases : A Collector's Guide to
the Art of America's First Plastics by Clifford Krainik and Carl Walvoord.
DAGUERREOTYPE
Many believe the daguerreotype to be the most beautiful
of photographic processes. Introduced in 1839, it was the first widely used
means of photography. The daguerreotype uses a polished, silver plated sheet of
metal, and once seen is easily recognized by its mirror-like surface. The plate
has to be held at the correct angle to the light for the image to be visible.
That image is extremely sharp and detailed. Daguerreotypes fell out of favour
after 1860 as less expensive techniques supplanted it. For a detailed look at
this process with an emphasis on the science and chemistry, see the book The
Daguerreotype: Nineteenth-Century Technology and Modern Science by M. Susan
Barger and William B. White.
FILM
In the late 1800's, gelatin, and later plastic films
gradually began to replace glass plate negatives. Gelatin sheet film was
introduced in 1884, roll film in 1889. Geletin was found to be too fragile, and
was supplanted by Nitrate based films, which are highly flammable. In 1939
"Safety" film was introduced, a non- flammable plastic based material.
GLASS PLATE NEGATIVES
Most 19th century photographs were made on glass plate
negatives, excepting of course the Calotype, which used a paper negative, and
the Daguerreotype and Tintype, neither of which required negatives. Early glass
plate negatives used a process that required them to be coated just before use,
and hence were known as "wet-plate" negatives. Although dry plate negatives were
introduced as early as 1864, they were not very sensitive, and it was not until
after improvements were made that dry plates began to be widely used in the
early 1880's. Both wet and dry plates may be further classified according to the
emulsions used, usually albument, gelatin or Collodian.
SAMPLE
HYALOTYPE
The Hyalotype was a positive image on a glass plate.
Used in "Magic Lanterns" the image was projected onto a screen, the precursor of
modern slides. Invented in the 1850's, this format did not become popular until
after 1875 when they began to be widely used.
MECHANICAL PRINTS
Various means of mechanically printing photographic
images on paper were developed, such as halftone, photogravure,
photolithography, and others. The first American Biographical Dictionary to be
illustrated with photos was published in Chicago in 1869. Since these techniques
were developed for the publishing trade, they were produced in vast quantities,
usually published in books and magazines, but sometimes produced as individual
sheets that may be found framed.
PAPER PRINTS
The earliest paper prints were Calotypes, which also
used a paper negative. Paper photographs are often classified according the
emulsion used to coat the paper. Albumen prints were introduced about 1850, and
was widely used from 1860 to 1890. This emulsion was usually placed on very thin
paper, and the drying emulsion tended to cause the paper to curl, hence the
practice of pasting these papers to cardboard backings. Other papers may be
called Salted, Carbon, Platinum, Bromide, etc. Modern "paper" prints are often
not paper at all, but plastic.
POSTCARDS
The common picture postcard can be a source of
historical documentation. In the period from about 1910 to 1925 cameras were
sold that took a postcard-sized image, and photographers provided prints on
postcard stock, so there are many personal snapshot images from that period.
Mass produced postcards were often photomechanical prints, usually lithographs.
STEREOTYPE
Also called stereo cards when mounted on cardboard (as
the vast majority are) these images are easily recognized by having two nearly
identical images mounted side by side. When looked at through a stereo viewer
they give a three-dimensional image. Most popular from 1854 to 1938, they were
produced in vast quantities, and many are of historical interest.
TINTYPE
The tintype was introduced in 1856, and enjoyed
widespread popularity until about 1900. The tintype gets its name from the fact
that the image is produced on a thin metal plate. Like the Daguerreotyp and
Ambrotype, the emulsion was directly exposed in the camera, without any need for
a negative, so the images are often unique. (In later years, cameras with
multiple lenses were developed so that as many as a dozen tintypes could be
exposed at once.) During the 1860's and 70's small tintypes were often placed in
CDV sized cardboard mounts.
- ancient times: camera obscuras used to form images on
walls in darkened rooms; image formation via a pinhole
- 16th century: brightness and clarity of camera
obscuras improved by enlarging the hole inserting a telescope lens
- 17th century: camera obscuras in frequent use by
artists and made portable in the form of sedan chairs
- 1727: Professor J. Schulze mixes chalk, nitric acid,
and silver in a flask; notices darkening on side of flask exposed to sunlight.
Accidental creation of the first photo-sensitive compound.
- 1800: Thomas Wedgwood makes "sun pictures" by placing
opaque objects on leather treated with silver nitrate; resulting images
deteriorated rapidly, however, if displayed under light stronger than from
candles.
- 1816: Nicéphore Niépce combines the camera obscura
with photosensitive paper
- 1826: Niépce creates a permanent image
- 1834: Henry Fox Talbot creates permanent (negative)
images using paper soaked in silver chloride and fixed with a salt solution.
Talbot created positive images by contact printing onto another sheet of
paper.
- 1837: Louis Daguerre creates images on silver-plated
copper, coated with silver iodide and "developed" with warmed mercury;
Daguerre is awarded a state pension by the French government in exchange for
publication of methods and the rights by other French citizens to use the
Daguerreotype process.
- 1841: Talbot patents his process under the name "calotype".
- 1851: Frederick Scott Archer, a sculptor in London,
improves photographic resolution by spreading a mixture of collodion (nitrated
cotton dissolved in ether and alcoohol) and chemicals on sheets of glass. Wet
plate collodion photography was much cheaper than daguerreotypes, the
negative/positive process permitted unlimited reproductions, and the process
was published but not patented.
- 1853: Nada (Felix Toumachon) opens his portrait
studio in Paris
- 1854: Adolphe Disderi develops carte-de-visite
photography in Paris, leading to worldwide boom in portrait studios for the
next decade
- 1855: beginning of stereoscopic era
- 1855-57: Direct positive images on glass (ambrotypes)
and metal (tintypes or ferrotypes) popular in the US.
- 1861: Scottish physicist James Clerk-Maxwell
demonstrates a color photography system involving three black and white
photographs, each taken through a red, green, or blue filter. The photos were
turned into lantern slides and projected in registration with the same color
filters. This is the "color separation" method.
- 1861-65: Mathew Brady and staff (mostly staff) covers
the American Civil War, exposing 7000 negatives
- 1868: Ducas de Hauron publishes a book proposing a
variety of methods for color photography.
- 1870: center of period in which the US Congress sent
photographers out to the West. The most famous images were taken by William
Jackson and Tim O'Sullivan.
- 1871: Richard Leach Maddox, an English doctor,
proposes the use of an emulsion of gelatin and silver bromide on a glass
plate, the "dry plate" process.
- 1877: Edweard Muybridge, born in England as Edward
Muggridge, settles "do a horse's four hooves ever leave the ground at once"
bet among rich San Franciscans by time-sequenced photography of Leland
Stanford's horse.
- 1878: Dry plates being manufactured commercially.
- 1880: George Eastman, age 24, sets up Eastman Dry
Plate Company in Rochester, New York. First half-tone photograph appears in a
daily newspaper, the New York Graphic.
- 1888: first Kodak camera, containing a 20-foot roll
of paper, enough for 100 2.5-inch diameter circular pictures.
- 1889: Improved Kodak camera with roll of film instead
of paper
- 1890: Jacob Riis publishes How the Other Half
Lives, images of tenament life in New york City
- 1900: Kodak Brownie box roll-film camera introduced.
- 1902: Alfred Stieglitz organizes "Photo Secessionist"
show in New York City
- 1906: Availability of panchromatic black and white
film and therefore high quality color separation color photography.
- 1907: first commercial color film, the Autochrome
plates, manufactured by Lumiere brothers in France
- 1909: Lewis Hine hired by US National Child Labor
Committee to photograph children working mjills.
- 1914: Oscar Barnack, employed by German microscope
manufacturer Leitz, develops camera using the modern 24x36mm frame and
sprocketed 35mm movie film.
- 1917: Nippon Kogaku K.K., which will eventually
become Nikon, established in Tokyo.
- 1921: Man Ray begins making photograms ("rayographs")
by placing objects on photographic paper and exposing the shadow cast by a
distant light bulb; Eugegrave;ne Atget, aged 64, assigned to photograph the
brothels of Paris
- 1924: Leitz markets a derivative of Barnack's camera
commercially as the "Leica", the first high quality 35mm camera.
- 1925: André Kertész moves from his native Hungary to
Paris, where he begins an 11-year project photographing street life
- 1928: Albert Renger-Patzsch publishes The World
is Beautiful, close-ups emphasizing the form of natural and man-made
objects; Rollei introduces the Rolleiflex twin-lens reflex producing a 6x6 cm
image on rollfilm.
- 1931: development of strobe photography by Harold
("Doc") Edgerton at MIT
- 1932: inception of Technicolor for movies, where
three black and white negatives were made in the same camera under different
filters; Ansel Adams, Imogen Cunningham, Willard Van Dyke, Edward Weston, et
al, form Group f/64 dedicated to "straight photographic thought and
production".; Henri Cartier-Bresson buys a Leica and begins a 60-year career
photographing people; On March 14, George Eastman, aged 77, writes suicide
note--"My work is done. Why wait?"--and shoots himself.
- 1933: Brassaï publishes Paris de nuit
- 1934: Fuji Photo Film founded. By 1938, Fuji is
making cameras and lenses in addition to film.
- 1935: Farm Security Administration hires Roy Stryker
to run a historical section. Stryker would hire Walker Evans, Dorothea Lange,
Arthur Rothstein, et al. to photograph rural hardships over the next six
years.
- 1936: development of Kodachrome, the first color
multi-layered color film; development of Exakta, pioneering 35mm single-lens
reflex (SLR) camera
- World War II:
- development of multi-layer color negative films
- Margaret Bourke-White, Robert Capa, Carl Mydans,
and W. Eugene Smith cover the war for LIFE magazine
- 1947: Henri Cartier-Bresson, Robert Capa, and David
Seymour start the photographer-owned Magnum picture agency
- 1948: Hasselblad in Sweden offers its first
medium-format SLR for commercial sale; Pentax in Japan introduces the
automatic diaphragm
- 1949: East German Zeiss develops the Contax S, first
SLR with an unreversed image in a pentaprism viewfinder
- 1955: Edward Steichen curates Family of Man exhibit
at New York's Museum of Modern Art
- 1959: Nikon F introduced.
- 1960: Garry Winogrand begins photographing women on
the streets of New York City.
- 1963: first color instant film developed by Polaroid;
Instamatic released by Kodak; first purpose-built underwater introduced, the
Nikonos
- 1972: 110-format cameras introduced by Kodak with a
13x17mm frame
- 1973: C-41 color negative process introduced,
replacing C-22
- 1975: Nicholas Nixon takes his first annual
photograph of his wife and her sisters
- 1977: Cindy Sherman begins work on Untitled
Film Stills, completed in 1980
- 1980: Elsa Dorfman begins making portraits with the
20x24" Polaroid
- 1982: Sony demonstrates Mavica "still video" camera
- 1983: Kodak introduces disk camera, using an 8x11mm
frame (the same as in the Minox spy camera)
- 1985: Minolta markets the world's first autofocus SLR
system (called "Maxxum" in the US)
- 1992: Kodak introduces PhotoCD
- 1997: Rob Silvers publishes Photomosaics
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