photogenic drawing
Quick Summary
The term "photogenic drawing" refers to early photographic processes. Before photography was formally invented, experiments were conducted to record images chemically. In 1802, Thomas Wedgwood sensitized paper with silver nitrate to capture silhouettes, but he couldn't make the images permanent.1
Later, in 1833, Hercules Florence in Brazil developed a process he called "photography," using silver salt-sensitized paper. However, his work was lost to history until much later.1
William Henry Fox Talbot, unable to draw well, developed his own photographic method by 1835. He created light-sensitive paper using salt and silver nitrate, producing a negative image. His initial fixing method was inadequate, but with help from Sir John Herschel, he improved it using sodium thiosulfate. This process, which he called "photogenic drawing," was published before Louis Daguerre's daguerreotype process became widely known.1
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William Henry Fox TalbotThese so-called photogenic drawings were basically contact prints on light-sensitive paper, which unfortunately produced dark and spotty images. In 1840 he modified and improved this process and called it the calotype (later the talbotype). Unlike the original process, it used a much shorter exposure time and a…
Read MoreThese so-called photogenic drawings were basically contact prints on light-sensitive paper, which unfortunately produced dark and spotty images. In 1840 he modified and improved this process and called it the calotype (later the talbotype). Unlike the original process, it used a much shorter exposure time and a…
Read More
history of photographyPhotogenic drawingThe antecedents of photogenic drawing can be traced back to 1802, when Thomas Wedgwood, son of the famous potter Josiah Wedgwood, reported his experiments in recording images on paper or leather sensitized with silver nitrate. He could record silhouettes of objects placed on…
Read MoreThe antecedents of photogenic drawing can be traced back to 1802, when Thomas Wedgwood, son of the famous potter Josiah Wedgwood, reported his experiments in recording images on paper or leather sensitized with silver nitrate. He could record silhouettes of objects placed on…
Read More