Figure 1.--Photograph in the 19th century was dominated by studio photograophy. The great majority of phoitograpgs were taken in studios. Photography at the time was too compicated for amateurs. Over time we begin to see photographs being taken outside the stufio, but not very many. And only men with some technical skill and a littkle money could engage in amateur photography, even at thev end of the century. The problenm working outside the studio was the bulky camefras and all the chemicals needed. Here we see a tin-type taken in the early-1860s.

The early research on photography was done in Europe. Americans while they did not participate in the initial research, took to the European developments and the potential for a new industry with a vengence. And Americans also began doing their own research. Processes developed in Europe appeared in America within months. The first commercial process was the Daguerreotypr (1839). Almost immediately Daguerreotype studios appeared in America and by the mid-1840s there were more studios in America than all of Europe combined. Developers in Europe were able with varying degress of success to enforce patents. American photographers, however, paid no attention to patents in the early stages of the industry. And European inventors were unable to enforece their pantents in the United States. We note large numbers of cased Dags in America from the 1840s and 50s. We find far fewer dags, especially cased Dags in Europe, even France where the process was developed. We are not sure just why this is. It may reflected a greater reluctance of European dealers, including France, to sell their items over the internet rather than an actual differerence in the number of portraits made. But we think there were probably far more Dags made in America. An American Reverend Hill claims to have create the first color process (about 1850s). New processes appeared in the 1850s. The most imprtant as the Ambrotype developed by English photographer, Frederick Scott Archer, although others werev involved which it iswht it is not naned the Archertype. It was much less expensive than the a Dag ton produce. American Prof. Hamilton L. Smith in America developed the tintype or ferrotype process (1856). He patented the process. The albumen process used for CDVs and cabinets cards was developed in Europe and quickly adopted in America (early-1860s). The albumen process involved negatives, a huge advatage as cooies could be made to sent to family and friends. It also was a simler process and gradually began to be used outside the studio, although throughout the 19th century, the vasst bnunber of photographs were studuo portraits taken in a studio. The cabinet card appeared only a few years after the CDV (1866). And unlike Europe quickly became the standard type of studio portrait. The cabinet cards had mounts done in a classic style. Both CDVs and cabinet cards had stanfardized sizes because people had albums for them. The tintype was an almost instant process, ideal for both small-scale local and itinerant street photographers. We see far more photographs outside the studios (1890s), however, they were still a small fraction of the photgraphs taken. And many of those photograsphs taken outsude the studio were group portraits taken by studio phtographers. This was the case because anateur photigraphy was just too expensive and complicated for the averahe person. This would change fundamentally at the turn-of-the century when Kodak introduced the Brownie box camera (1900).

Created: 11:02 AM 3/18/2023
Last updated: 11:02 AM 3/18/2023