Daguerreotype

Google honored Louis Daguerre last Friday with a doodle depicting a daguerreotype image for his supposedly 224th year. I had to look at my uploads to see if what I had once taken a photo of is a Daguerreotype…it is! And two of them. Only I didn’t know which year these two are from.

Daguerreotype images are a direct positive made in the camera on a silvered copper plate. No negatives – making it impossible to recopy…And since it uses slow lenses, one needs longer exposure and it also means no moving, no smiling, no blinking for the subject whose portrait is being taken.

This reminds me of the laser engraved photo on crystal glass we had during our trip to Disneyland Paris. We had to stay motionless for about 5 or was it 10 seconds. The facial movement restriction when photographing made Daguerreotype images formal…just as this portrait of Louis Daguerre in 1884.

 To better understand the process please click here.