Processes of Photography

PROCESSES OF PHOTOGRAPHY

DERIVED FROM THE GREEK WORDS photos (light) and graphein (to write), a photograph is created through the controlled action of light on a light-sensitive surface which is then processed to create a permanent, fixed image. Making silver sensitive to light through a chemical reaction, such as exposure to chlorine or iodine fumes, was experimented with for centuries prior to the invention of photography: understanding how to stabilize (or fix) the image and halt the process through additional chemical reactions was integral to the medium’s future.

The first successful photograph was created by Joseph Nicéphore Niépce (1765–1833) in 1826.

Creating a camera obscura in his house and using a pewter plate that he coated with lightsensitive bitumen of Judea, he created a multi-hour exposure to produce a one-of-a-kind image of the view outside his window (Point de Vue, Harry Ransom Center, Austin, TX).

Through a collaboration with another Frenchman, Louis-Jacques-Mandé Daguerre (1787–1857), the process was refined and eventually the “daguerreotype” was introduced to the French Academy of Science—and subsequently the world—in 1839. Almost simultaneously, Englishman William Henry Fox Talbot (1800–1877) developed a salted paper process, which would become the basis of reproducible photographs that have a separate negative and positive print. In 1888, George Eastman created the Kodak camera and roll film, placing photography in the hands of the masses.

Photography has taken many forms as technologies have improved or changed. This pamphlet includes some of the various photographic processes housed in the DAI’s collection.

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CAMERA OBSCURA Camera obscura, meaning “dark chamber” in Latin, serves as the basis for mechanical cameras. Describing a natural, optical phenomenon, the principle has been known for millennia, with the first written record dating to a 4th century BCE Chinese text. When a darkened room or container has a small hole (aperture) on one wall, an image of the exterior space is projected on the opposite wall and is seen upside down and laterally flipped.

The size of the darkened chamber can vary and the phenomenon led to numerous applications. Camera obscuras have been used to study eclipses and serve as a drawing or painting aid (as seen below). The addition of a glass lens on the aperture in the 17th century allowed for more focused control of light emitted within the chamber. Once the chemistry of photography was understood, light-sensitive materials could be placed within the darkened chamber for exposure, capturing a photographic image. The light-sensitive material then needed to be processed to halt the continual absorption of light.

IMAGE SOURCE: Ellsworth D. Foster, ed., The American Educator (vol. 2), Chicago: Ralph Durham Company (1921).

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DAGUERREOTYPE (Popular: 1839–1860s)

The first photographic process was announced to the world on August 19, 1839. Named after its inventor, LouisJacques-Mandé Daguerre (1787–1857), daguerreotypes are unique, one-of-a-kind objects that are not reproducible. A highly polished copper plate is coated with silver and then exposed to fumes (typically iodine and bromide crystals), making it light-sensitive. The plate is placed in a camera for exposure to light, which could last a few seconds or several minutes depending on the light source.

The plate is then removed from the camera and exposed to mercury fumes, causing the latent image to appear, then stabilized with a chemical solution, or fixer, to stop further development. The final image is laterally reversed, like a mirror. A high-quality daguerreotype can have incredibly sharp resolution.

Daguerreotypes are extremely fragile as the silver image can be destroyed by a finger touch; they are placed under protective glass in decorative cases. Their popularity decreased as other technologies entered the market, particularly the albumen silver process (see page 7).

Unknown photographer, Dayton Courthouse, about 1850, quarter-plate daguerreotype.

Gift of Richard and Marlene Carlile, 2009.9

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AMBROTYPE & TINTYPE (Popular: 1854–70; 1854–1920s)

In 1851, English photographer and sculptor Frederick Scott Archer (1813–1857) published an article regarding his wet-collodion process. This significant development created glass-plate negatives that produced crisper details than previous paper negatives and reduced exposure times.

Collodion is a syrupy-solution of nitrocellulose dissolved with ether or alcohol to create a clear, flexible film (its first application was as a medical dressing for wounds).

It was then poured onto a glass plate which needed to then be sensitized, exposed and developed before the collodion dried.

Along with its use as glass-plate negatives, collodion was also used to create unique photographic objects, such as ambrotypes and tintypes. Both processes have similarities to daguerreotypes, but they were less expensive and do not have the same level of detail.

An ambrotype is a negative image on a glass plate that is then backed with a dark fabric to give the appearance of a positive image. Similarly, a tintype is a piece of iron with darkened enamel to make the image appear as a positive.

Unknown photographer, Physician Daniel Seymour McArthur (1859–1941) as a child, about 1865, tintype in a Union case. Gift of Mr. and Mrs. David Mears, 2002.56.3

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CYANOTYPE

(Popular: 1885–1920s) Invented in 1842 by Sir John Frederick Herschel (1792– 1871), cyanotypes are easily identifiable by their blue-tones, created by using iron salts (ferric ammonium citrate and potassium ferricyanide) as the light-sensitive material.

The process is generally used as a contact print—a 1:1 ratio in which the negative is the same size as the positive image. Cyanotypes are also frequently used to make sunprints, a camera-less technique of placing objects such as leaves or flowers directly on the paper and using the resulting image as the final object (rather than using that as a negative to then create positive reproductions).

Originally the process had limited appeal as the blue tones seemed inappropriate for portraiture. It gained popularity around the turn of the twentieth century, due to the ease of the process and its relatively low cost.

Fun fact: all photographs remain light-sensitive and will fade over time if continually exposed to light. However, cyanotypes can slightly regenerate when left to rest in the dark.

Jane Reece (American, 1868–1961), Washday: Women and Children, North Carolina, 1903, cyanotype on cotton. Gift of Miss Jane Reece, 1952.19.408

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ALBUMEN SILVER PRINT (Popular: 1850–1900)

The name of this process refers to the use of egg white (albumen) to coat the paper, providing a smoother surface for more detailed prints. The process was invented in 1850

by Louis-Désiré Blanquart-Evard (1802–1872) and was the first successful form of mass-produced photography paper.

To create the final image, the albumen paper, which has an additional coating of light-sensitized silver, is placed in a contact frame with the negative (usually a wet collodion glass plate of the same size) and exposed, then fixed and washed. This process is considered a printed-out, rather than develop-out photograph (the latter requiring the use of a developer to bring out a latent image from an exposed light sensitive paper, such as the gelatin silver process). The resultant image has a tonal range of reddish to purplish brown. The photographs were often toned in gold chloride to enrich and stabilize their color.

Édouard Baldus (French, 1813–1889), Église St. Sulpice, Paris, about 1860, albumen print from a collodion negative. Gift of Dr. Daveed D. Frazier, 2018.133

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PLATINUM PRINT (Popular: 1873–1915)

Platinum is an unreactive, precious metal that, when reduced to a light-sensitive platinum salt, creates stable photographic prints that resist tarnishing. In comparison to albumen prints, this process does not use an initial coating or binder to float the light-sensitive material, making the paper fibers of the object visible.

Invented in 1873 by William Willis (1841–1923), who created a company to mass produce platinum-coated papers, the process was expensive and fell out of favor around 1914 with the beginning of World War I when metals were in high demand. Photographers interested in a similar tonal range began purchasing palladium coated papers, another silver-white metal, though the later gelatin silver print process would dominate the market starting in the 1920s.

Edgar K. Horton (American, 1847–1915), Untitled, 1906, platinum print. Gift of Dr. Jon Mendelsohn, 2003.100.89

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PHOTOGRAVURE (Popular: 1878–Present)

There are various ways to reproduce an image, including photomechanical processes that use photography to create a printing plate. Technically these are not “true” photographs as they do not have a light-sensitive chemical reaction as part of the positive print’s production. Invented in 1878 by Karl Klic (1841–1926), these reproductions are generally printed on thin tissue paper and were popular for publications, most notably the photographic periodicals Camera Works and Camera Notes produced by Alfred Stieglitz (1864–1946).

Photogravures are an intaglio process, in which an image is incised into a material to then create multiple reproductions. To begin, a highly polished copper plate is coated with an acid-resisting resin, then another coat of light-sensitive gelatin. It is then exposed to a photographic negative. During this process, the resin bonds with portions of the gelatin layer (the denser areas of exposure), and when placed in an acid bath of ferric chloride, those sections wash away, leaving an acid-etched plate which can be inked to create multiple positive reproductions.

Karl Blossfeldt (German, 1865–1932), Achillea clypeolata. Yarrow. (15x), 1928, from the portfolio Urformen der Kunst (Art Forms in Nature), photogravure, printed after 1928.

Gift of Randle and Cristina Egbert, 2005.66.12

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GELATIN SILVER PRINT (Popular: 1880s–2000s)

The gelatin silver process, which suspends light-sensitive silver in gelatin, revolutionized photography. Commercially produced gelatin silver paper has three layers: the paper support, a coating of baryta to smooth the paper surface to provide crisp details, and the gelatin silver layer.

Gelatin silver negatives could be made with a glass plate or more flexible support. Its increased sensitivity usurped previous methods and became the dominant process of the 20th century.

Sensitized paper for the positive image is created through a developing-out process, rather than the previous contact print technique. This process uses a chemical solution that causes the latent image to appear after the emulsion has been exposed to light (or the negative). The sensitivity of the gelatin silver also allowed for enlargement, creating larger positive prints than the negative. This further led to smaller negatives, which made camera technology more compact and user friendly.

Elliot Erwitt (American, born 1928), Soldier, Fort Dix, New Jersey, 1951, gelatin silver print.

Gift of Mr. Edward Bluestone, 1979.203

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AUTOCHROME (Popular: 1907–34)

The first reliable type of color photography, autochromes were patented by Louis Lumière (1864–1948) in 1904.

Autochromes are colored transparent images between glass. A sticky varnish coated a glass plate, then a thin layer of dyed potato starch was applied (which had been dyed red-orange, blue-violet, or green in a mosaic pattern, as noted in the below left detail). Next, another layer of gelatin bromide emulsion was applied as the light-sensitive material for the photograph, for which the potato starches served as light filters.

Autochromes are unique, one-of-a-kind objects. They were viewed in mirrored cases or held up to a light to be seen.

The museum houses numerous autochromes by Dayton photographer Jane Reece, but only displays facsimiles due to their delicate nature and fugitive colors.

Jane Reece (American, 1868–1961), Still Life: Fruit, around 1924, autochrome on glass. Gift of Miss Jane Reece, 1952.19.570

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DYE COUPLER

(Popular: 1936–2000s) Also known as chromogenic prints or c-prints, this type of color photography was the most common prior to the advent of inkjet prints (described on page 15). The colors of the print are not as stable as other types of color photography and tend to have an overall yellowing as they age.

The dye coupler process uses color negatives that are then enlarged onto sensitized paper. This paper has a multilayer gelatin silver emulsion, with three layers sensitive to each of the primary colors of light: red, blue and green. These layers also have chemicals, known as dye couplers, that react to the oxidized silver. The chemical reaction creates dyes in the emulsion layers: cyan, magenta and yellow.

The silver is then bleached away to create the final, positive image.

Jack D. Teemer, Jr. (American, 1948–1992), Cincinnati, 1981, 1981 chromogenic dye coupler print. Gift of the artist, 1990.34

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DYE IMBIBITION (Popular: 1945–1993)

Also known as dye transfers, dye imbibition prints are a complex, labor-intensive process known for excellent color saturation and stability. Like photogravures, dye imbibition prints begin with photographic techniques, yet the final object does not contain light-sensitive materials.

Dye imbibition prints are made by combining dyes in exact registration through three matrices onto a paper sheet coated with gelatin. The process can begin with a black and white negative or color transparency (produced by Kodak 1946–1993). Three separate negatives, using a red, green or blue filter, are created from the original object and then used to make three relief matrices that can be inked for multiple reproductions, using yellow, magenta or cyan dyes (the complements of the negative filter colors). As each color is applied separately, this allows the printer greater control of color balance and contrast.

Dr. Harold Edgerton (American, 1903–1990), .30 Bullet Piercing an Apple, 1964, dye transfer print, edition 142/150. Gift of the Harold and Esther Edgerton Family Foundation, 1996.201.6

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DYE DESTRUCTION (Popular: 1963–2012)

This process is also known as silver dye bleach prints and includes Cibachrome and Ilfochrome. Less common and more expensive than the previously mentioned dye coupler prints, dye destructions are stable color images noted for their vibrancy.

A color transparency is projected onto a sensitized, multilayered gelatin surface. Each layer is sensitized to a specific color: red, green and blue. Unlike the dye coupler print that relies on a chemical reaction to create the dyes, the three sensitized layers of dye destruction paper already have the dyes present. Through the processing, unnecessary dye is bleached away (destroyed) to create the final color image.

Patricia Carroll (American, born 1946), Untitled, 1983, Cibachrome print. Museum purchase, 1987.202

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INKJET PRINT

(Popular: 1990–Present) Today, most photographs are taken and printed with digital technologies. Inkjet prints utilize a computercontrolled printer that sprays tiny drops of ink onto paper (or another support material). The size of the dots, the number and quality of color inks used all play a role in the overall sharpness and details of the final image. Unlike true light-sensitive photographs which have continual tone, these works can be identified by the fine dot matrices that create the final image.

While many photographs are now taken with digital cameras, particularly those embedded in cell phones, not all inkjet prints start as digital files. Many contemporary artists continue to use film negatives and analog cameras, then scan and digitize those negatives to be later printed as inkjets.

Amy Powell, There is no danger here, 2008, from the series Erica & I, archival inkjet print from medium format color film negative, printed 2010. Museum purchase with funds provided by The Kettering Fund, 2019.34

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SINCE THE MUSEUM’S FOUNDING IN 1919, the Dayton Art Institute has been committed to the presentation of photography.

The DAI currently houses over 19,500 photographic objects and serves as the largest repository of photographs by Dayton photographer Jane Reece. With examples spanning photography’s history, the museum continues to grow its collection to present the media’s full range of possibilities.

Dornith Doherty (American, born 1957), Peppers, National Centre for Genetic Resources, Wageningen, the Netherlands, 2012, from the series Archiving Eden, archival inkjet print.

Museum purchase with funds provided from the Mr. and Mrs. J. Edw. Hoffman Fund, 2021.4 COVER: Jane Reece (American, 1868–1961), The Pointsettia Girl, 1907, hand-painted opaltype. Gift of Miss Jane Reece, 1952.19.573

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