Camera Obscura
The camera obscura (means dark chamber) was a room or a box with no windows. One tiny hole fitted with a lens, projected images from outside of the room to the far wall inside it. The image was upside down and not very clear, but it was good enough to become an artist's tool. The image could be traced providing an accurate sketch which could be turned into a painting. Portable versions were developed by the 1660s. The camera existed, but photography had not been imagined yet.
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Collodion wet-plate ProcessThis process was a combination of the the last two listed, it was just as clear as the daguerreotype method, and could be reproduced like the talbotype method.
A clean glass plate was evenly coated with collodion, plate was dipped in a silver nitrate solution, inserted into the camera and exposed to light. It then had to be developed immediately and allowed to dry. If the plate dried before the process was complete, the emulsion would harden and the photo would be ruined. The process was not easy, but worked very effectively. |