Daguerreotype

By Deane Barker • • tags: photography •
Updates
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(Credit: The Getty Museum)

This was the predecessor to the modern photograph. It dated from the 1840s and 1950s, when it was super-ceded by better methods.

Daguerreotypes are the classic “old style” of photograph, which appear to be shot through a sepia or silver filter.

Why I Looked It Up

From Uncle Tom’s Cabin:

It was a daguerreotype, clear and soft as an engraving, representing Eva and her father sitting hand in hand.

Update

In a Buzzfeed article (item #4), a picture was captioned with this:

This picture, taken in 1838 by Louis Daguerre, is the first-ever photo to have a person in it.

So, that explains the name, which makes me wonder why I didn’t look that up before.

From Wikipedia:

Louis-Jacques-Mandé Daguerre was a French artist and photographer, recognized for his invention of the eponymous daguerreotype process of photography.

Links from this – Uncle Tom's Cabin December 20, 2022
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