Eight early photographic printing techniques

Now that digital photography has gained such popularity, there will soon be a generation for whom getting photos “developed” will seem entirely foreign. It’s just a fact of life that as a new technology gains popularity, it overshadows the previous one, and that is especially true in the case of photography. Early photographic processes may seem quite strange to us now (egg white and salt?), but soon our children and grandchildren will start asking us, if they haven’t already, to explain why we ever needed to go to the store (or darkroom) to create the family photo.

1. Daguerrotype
   Printed on: Silver-plated copper
   Materials used: iodine, mercury, chlorine and bromine vapors
   Inventors: Louis J.M. Daguerre in collaboration with Joseph Nicephore Niepce (1839)
2. Calotype/Talbotype
   Printed on: Paper
   Materials used: silver nitrate, potassium iodide, gallic acid
   Inventor: William Henry Fox Talbot (1840)
3. Wet Collodion Process
   Printed on: Glass
   Materials used: collodion, potassium iodide, silver nitrate
   Inventor: Frederick Scott Archer (1848)
4. Albumen Prints
   Printed on: Paper
   Materials used: egg white, salt, silver nitrate
   Inventor: Louis Desire Blanquart-Evrard (1850)
5. Ambrotype
   Printed on: Glass
   Materials used: iodized collodion, silver nitrate, chemical developer
   Inventor: Frederick Scott Archer (1854)
6. Tintypes
   Printed on: Thin sheet of iron, covered with black paint
   Materials used: iodized collodion, silver nitrate
   First used: 1856
7. Carbon Prints
   Printed on: Carbon “tissue”
   Materials used: gelatin, potassium bichromate
   Inventor: Joseph Wilson Swan (1864)
8. Autochrome
   Printed on: Glass
   Materials used: potato starch. silver-halide emulsion
   Inventors: Auguste and Louis Lumiere (1904)

For more information, go here or here.