The Daguerreotype

Louis Jacques Mandé Daguerre (1789-1851)

The first commercial photographic process was the daguerreotype. It was announced to the public in 1839.

In 1829, the painter, actor and entrepreneur Louis Jacques Mandé Daguerre and his fellow Frenchman Joseph Nicéphore Niépce signed a ten-year partnership agreement to share their research on capturing camera images using light. Their collaboration was cut short by Niépce's death in 1833. Daguerre continued the partnership with Niépce's son, Isidore.

After many unsuccessful attempts, Daguerre settled on a process that could "fix" the light image in the camera. He coated a copper plate with silver and polished it highly. He exposed the plate to iodine fumes, creating a layer of light-sensitive silver iodide. After exposing the plate in the camera for 20 to 30 minutes, he developed it with mercury vapour. Then he fixed the image with a solution of common salt. This prevented the silver from further reacting to light. Finally, he washed the plate in water.

Daguerre's process was announced in the January 6th edition of the French newspaper Gazette de France. The news quickly spread. Daguerre called his images daguerreotypes. They have also been referred to a "the mirror with a memory" due to their fragility and startling clarity.

The lengthy exposure times meant that the first daguerreotypes were mainly of architecture. This did little to satisfy the public's desire for portraits. By 1840, improved lenses and chemistry reduced the exposure time to about two minutes. This made portraiture possible. Portrait studios opened around the world and daguerreotypists thrived until the mid 1850s.

In 1839, the French government awarded Daguerre an annual pension for life of 6000 francs in recognition of his contribution to the invention of photography.