People always wanted to capture the happiest moments of their lives, to keep pleasant moments in their memory and to visualize how the world around them has been changing over the years. The desire to find such a way to automatically capture memories led to the invention of photography.
Today, high digital technology allows you to not make much effort to take a good picture. But recently, creating a frame required bulky equipment and the use of chemical compounds. The development of photographic art began with the use of the daguerreotype, the pioneer of modern cameras.
The invention of the daguerreotype. How did the art of photography develop?
The loudest name associated with the invention of photography is Louis Jacques Mande Daguerre. The French artist-decorator devoted his life to the creation of paintings, translucent on both sides from a thin fabric, called dioramas.
Pursuing the creation of the next scenery, the artist drew attention to the fact that a picture of the street suddenly reflected on a fresh layer of paint. The pinhole camera was a small hole in the curtain. Due to the fact that the paint has dried, the image was preserved until the next day. This accidentally caught and fixed moment was a turning point in the fate of the decorator. Daguerre began to look for ever new ways of “holding” everything that the light could draw.
Similar experiments were carried out by another inventor - Joseph Nisephor Nieps. For many years he tried to capture the image in a "dark room." He conducted his experiments with stones and metal plates, since at that time he was fascinated by engraving of relief images on hard surfaces. Niepce even invented a new type of varnish, which is destroyed during the exposure process, and thereby allows you to get a copy of the original picture on the surface. This method of transferring a recorded episode is called heliograving.
The joint work of two great inventors led to the discovery of a new principle of light painting. In 1831, Dagher experimentally determined that the light effect on silver iodide is strong enough to obtain, albeit a slightly pronounced image, but easily amenable to adjustment using saline. According to the stories, such an amazing method was discovered randomly: Daguerre simply forgot a spoon on a silver stand with drops of iodine. Under direct sunlight, a copy of the image of the spoon “imprinted” on the surface of silver. Nieps tried to conduct similar experiments in the camera obscura. But he failed to repeat the successful result of a colleague.
Daguerre continued to search for options for fixing various episodes, and in 1827 gave the world a new discovery on the manifesting effect of mercury. It turned out that chemical vapors of a substance, reacting with a plate material, are capable of showing an image in much better quality than silver iodine did.
In 1839, the technique for obtaining copies of images in the "dark room" was finalized, dubbed daguerreotype.
Daguerreotype process - taking photos
The process of creating a daguerreotype image is carried out in several stages:
- In the pinhole camera, conditions are created for the silver material of the plate and iodine vapor to react. After some time, a photosensitive layer of silver iodide forms on the surface of the plate.
- The plate is exposed for 15 minutes to half an hour under bright light. Under strong light exposure, the destruction of silver iodide molecules occurs, as well as the vaporization of iodine vapor. Thanks to microscopic grains of silver, an “illusory” (hidden) picture is formed.
- After the plate is sent for “development” in pairs of heated mercury (from 50 to 80 ° C), which is able to dissolve silver, thereby forming a special, gray-colored alloy - an amalgam.
- Then the plate is fixed and washed in hot saline solution, due to which the remains of silver iodide are removed and the polished silver surface is exposed.
- The structure of the amalgam film is fragile, and silver is easily susceptible to oxidation in open air. In this regard, gold chloride is additionally applied to the daguerreotype, which makes the photo durable and colors it in the color of ocher with a red-brown tint. So the picture on the daguerreotype is mirrored.
The main drawback of daguerreotypes was the lack of the ability to multiply them. The low degree of sensitivity of the plates required a great deal of time to compose the exposure, so the face and hair of the person whose portrait they wanted to capture in the picture had to be covered with a thick layer of powder or chalk. Such manipulations allowed reflected light to enter the pinhole camera. In addition, daguerreotypes were heavy and cost a lot of money.
The development of the daguerreotype. How the art of photography has changed
The popularity of daguerreotypes did not help to establish the production of images on a massive scale. The director of the Observatory in Paris, Domenic Francois Argo, helped assess the prospects for the development of daguerreotypes.
The idea of the inventor of photography was supported by Louis Joseph Gay-Lussac, who announced the discovery of Daguerre as a new trend in art. With its help, a new era has been created - a symbol of the glory of civilization.
In search of new ways to effectively “dry” daguerreotypes, the researchers resorted to using gelatin as a bonding layer. In 1871, Richard Madox was the first to use gelatin emulsion to increase the photosensitivity of plates, which made it possible to store them dry. Progress continued to move forward, and by 1840 a mixture of iodine and bromine replaced the gelatin.
Great merit in the development of photographic art belongs to the Englishman William Henry Fox Talbot, who proposed his technology for creating photographs. His calotypy, or “Talbotypia,” is an intermediate way of taking photographs, after daguerreotype, but before film machines. This method is distinguished by the appearance of another point - the creation of a negative that allows you to "stamp" photos in unlimited quantities.
Famous vintage shots. The first daguerreotypes of famous people
1839 is a significant date in the history of photographic art. It was at this time that the first portrait photographs of men and women began to appear. Of all the daguerreotypes preserved to this day, the following photo portraits are of particular value:
| Year snapshot | Whose portrait is captured in the photograph | Description, interesting facts about daguerreotypes |
|---|---|---|
| 1839 | The photo shows a woman of American descent - Dorothy Katherine Draper. She was captured in the picture by her colleague. | This daguerreotype is considered the first photographic portrait of a woman with open eyes. The exposure time was a little more than a minute, so a dense layer of white was applied to the face. |
| In another photograph dated the same year - - Robert Cornelius, the Dutch chemist managed to capture a self-portrait. | This experimental shot, in comparison with modern counterparts - "selfie", looks much more relaxed and expressive.The earliest daguerreotypes express the sincere state of a person at the time of shooting, later, static posing replaced the naturalness. | |
| Great Mozart with his family. | One of the most interesting assumptions regarding this image is that the composer’s wife, Constantia (an elderly woman sitting in the front row), is depicted on a daguerreotype. | |
| 1846 | Dynasty of the Adams family. | By the 40s of the 19th century, the art of photography was penetrating the masses, becoming accessible to most people in a way to capture themselves and their families by taking a memorable picture. Thanks to such daguerreotypes, today people can see how citizens looked in the past century. |
| 1852 | Conrad Heyer is the first "white American" born on the continent. | Hare posed for his photographer at a venerable age, at the time of shooting the man was 103 years old. His eyes reflect the past era of the distant 1700s. |
Among the vintage photographs of the last century, the archives, for the most part of private collections or museums, contain daguerreotypes of politicians, Hollywood stars and other famous people:
- Image of Stalin at the age of 28, captured during the funeral procession of his first wife in 1907.
- A dynamic 1908 photograph of Claude Monet and his wife busy feeding pigeons.
- 25 year old Adolf Hitler.
- Passport photo of Ernest Hemingway.
- The young 18-year-old Agnes Gongja Boyagiu, known around the world as Mother Teresa - a living symbol of mercy and hope, - 1928.
- A 1938 photograph of a young Fidel Castro.
- Daguerreotype Pablo Picasso and Bridget Bardot at the dinner table.
- In 1840, a daguerreotype of Igor Stravninsky, arrested by the Boston police, was made for trying to make changes to the arrangement of the national anthem.
- The 1994 photograph illustrates how a simple working Frenchman lights a cigarette for Winston Churchill in Cheryur.
- Daguerreotype of Nikita Khrushchev during a visit to India - 1956.
- Vintage picture of a Hollywood actor Leonard DiCaprio with his grandmother of Russian descent (Perm native Elena Smirnova, later Helen Indenbirken).
- Photo of Tom Cruise with Nicole Kidman and Stanley Kubrick during the filming of the cult film "Eyes Wide Shut" - 1999.
Domestic daguerreotype
Russian inventor Alexei Grekov is the first creator of the domestic camera, which consists of two boxes: with a photosensitive plate and a lens. The degree of sharpness of the picture also changed from their displacement relative to the position to each other. Alexey Grekov was the founder of the first Russian art room in which portrait photography was carried out.
Another compatriot and world-famous specialist in photographic equipment, Sergey Levitsky, in 1847 changed the design of the photographic apparatus, adding folding fur, which allows you to adjust the sharpness of the daguerreotype.
Daguerreotypes of famous people in Russia
The first photography studio was opened in Moscow in 1840. Due to the excellent preservation of daguerreotypes, today there is the opportunity to see portraits of famous Russian figures who lived more than a hundred years ago:
- N.V. Gogol, surrounded by representatives of the Russian community in 1845, Levitsky created a group portrait, from which one can draw a conclusion about the quality resolution of the source.
- Decembrists in the city of Irkutsk, captured in the picture by A. Davignon, during his first photo trip through Russia.
- Panov Nikolai Alekseevich - from the same series of portraits of A. Davignon about the Decembrists, made in 1845.
- Young Turgenev, shot by the hand of photographer Bisson.
- Russian religious philosopher, literary critic and publicist I.V. Kirievsky.
- Alexander Herzen, P.A. Vyazemsky, F.I. Tyutcheva, D.I. Mendeleev and many other prominent Russian figures, writers and scientists of the 19th century.
Interesting Facts
- It is believed that the first photograph depicting a man, taken in 1838, belongs to Louis Dagger.
- The first vintage “selfie” - a self-portrait, was made by Robert Cornelius in 1839, who was awarded the title of “pioneer of photography”.
- The first shot under water was able to take William Tomposn in 1856 using a pole on which the camera was mounted.
- The first photograph taken in 1858 by aerial photography, depicting Parisian streets, belongs to Gaspard Turnas.
- The first successful photograph of the moon was taken by J.W. Draper in 1840.
- In all its splendor, our planet was captured in a photograph in 1972.
- The first image made by the daguerreotype in Russia is a photograph of St. Isaac's Cathedral in St. Petersburg.
Daguerreotype today
Over the entire period of existence of daguerreotypes - more than 20 years since the beginning of its invention, scientists have not been able to achieve the effect of enhanced definition in the images produced by the device. Compared to the capabilities of modern camera models, the classic daguerreotype did not have a high-tech matrix. However, the popularity of daguerreotypes does not disappear.
More and more enthusiasts are trying to revive the public interest in this technology for taking photos. Moreover, the enthusiasm for “vintage” photographic equipment has become an expensive pleasure, which proves its value. Previously used materials for the manifestation of personnel, and especially chemicals, are difficult to purchase in a store. Around the world, you can find a handful of professionals who masterfully master the daguerreotype, the most famous - J. Spanolli, C. Close, and B. Galasso.
The modern world is impossible to imagine without the art of photography. From luxury goods, cameras have turned into something ordinary. You will not surprise anyone even with the most modern photographic equipment. But no "sophisticated" gadgets will be able to replace the unique daguerreotype - the discoverer of the world of photography, a real "mirror of memory", which made it possible to capture the moment of history on photographs.
