Daguerreotype

The first successful photographic process , named after Louis Jacques Mande Daguerre. He invented the technique in collaboration with Nicephore Niepce in the 1830s after experimenting of over a decade. Niepce died before the daguerreotype process was realised.He was known for his invention of the heliograph, the process by which the “first photograph” was made in 1826.

Still Life, daguerreotype by Louis-Jacques-Mandé Daguerre, 1837; in the collection of the Société Française de Photographie, Paris.

Daguerre and Niepce found that if a copper plate coated with silver iodide and was exposed to light in a camera, then fumed with mercury vapour and fixed by a solution of common salt, a permanent image would be formed.Therefore it became an expensive process that only wealthy class could afford. The highly-reflective plate is kept in a special case to protect the silver from air.

In comparison to photographic paper, its inflexible , rather heavy and fragile .