How was photography invented in Daguerre?

On August 1839 and 19, the French Academy of Sciences and the Academy of Art held a special meeting to announce the Daguerre photography law to the public, announcing the official birth of photography. Since then, photography has been widely used as a practical method.

I. Daguerre and Nipps

Louis Jacobs, inventor of photography in Daguerre? Mundi? Daguerre (1787 ~ 185 1) is a French painter.

Daguerre was famous for inventing the "peep show" in his early years. He used large-scale landscape pictures and specially controlled lighting effects to let the audience see some famous buildings and strange places in the world through a small hole, thus achieving the purpose of entertainment.

When making these large-scale landscape paintings, in order to pursue realistic and realistic effects, Daguerre often draws the first draft with the help of a black box, and then enlarges it in proportion. Gradually, he became interested in black boxes, and began to study ways to make the images appearing on the display screen of "black boxes" permanently preserved. After an accident, he met Nipps who took the first photo. With the help of Nipps, he invented Daguerre photography.

(1) Chevalier Optical Equipment Store

At that time, there was an optical equipment store in Paris, and the owner Chevalier (1804 ~ 1859) was a famous optician. Therefore, many people who are interested in camera obscura often visit this optical equipment store and ask Chevalier some optical problems, such as camera obscura, lens and image definition. Daguerre is also a frequent visitor here. He comes here almost every week to discuss with Chevalier.

The original photographers in Paris regarded Chevalier's optical equipment store as a place for communication and gathering, and many latest news about black box research were exchanged and spread here.

(2) From acquaintance to cooperation

1826 one day, a colonel officer walked into the shop. He came to buy glasses. The colonel's name is David? Nipps, cousin of Nipps, the photographer of the first photo.

After seeing the black box in the counter, Colonel David told his boss Chevalier that his cousin had been able to repair the image in the black box. Hearing the news, Chevalier quickly took out a pen and paper and carefully wrote down the name and address of the colonel's cousin.

A few days later, Daguerre came to the store, and Chevalier told him that one person had been able to repair the image in the black box. Daguerre hurriedly asked the man's name, and Xie Vallier wrote down his name and address: his name is Nipps and he lives in the salon.

Daguerre quickly wrote a letter to Nipps, asking Nipps how to repair the image in the black box. Nipps didn't reply after receiving the letter. He burned the letter because he thought "another Parisian tried to take my invention away". Good things always wear people down, so the first contact between the two inventors died.

Daguerre waited for nearly a year and didn't receive Nipps's reply, so at the end of 1827 1, he tried to write a letter to Nipps, in which he explicitly stated that he wanted to repair the images in the black box. He said that he had tried many times and made some progress, but it was still not enough. He sincerely hopes that two people will cooperate to complete this great invention. Nipps finally wrote back this time, and since then, their correspondence has become frequent.

1827 In August, another accident happened, and two inventors met in Paris. Because Nipps's brother in England was seriously ill, Nipps and his wife went to London to visit him. Nips first went to Paris and applied for a visa to London, but it would take eight days to get the visa. Perhaps it was the opportunity created by history that allowed the two inventors to meet. During the eight days waiting for the visa, Nipps met Daguerre, and they hit it off and exchanged research results.

1829 12 14, this is a memorable day. Nipps and Daguerre signed an agreement in the salon, and they officially started cooperation. To this end, they set up a company called "Nipps-Daguerre" with its registered address in Paris. According to the agreement, both parties are obliged to inform each other of their invention methods and test results, and the income will be shared equally by both parties.

(3) unexpected discoveries

After signing the agreement, Nipps told Daguerre about his "solar etching method" and its manufacturing process, and said that this method is still very rudimentary. Daguerre returned to Paris to continue his research after finishing his studies. At this time, an unexpected discovery made great progress in his research.

That day, when Daguerre left the laboratory after work, he accidentally put a silver coffee spoon on the silver-plated plate, and at the same time, he forgot to cover a mercury bottle. The next day, when he returned to the laboratory, he accidentally found that the silver-plated plate was printed with the shape of a spoon. He immediately looked for the relationship between these substances in the laboratory, and finally found that mercury vapor developed this object.

This discovery made Daguerre a treasure, and he immediately told Nipps, while Nipps was dubious. So, Daguerre had to study alone. Unfortunately, before his success, Nipps died of cerebral hemorrhage on July 5th, 833/kloc-0. After Nipps died, the cooperation agreement with Daguerre was inherited by his son.

Second, the silver plate photography method came out.

After discovering the secret of mercury vapor developing objects, Daguerre successfully invented the method of fixing images in 1837 after repeated experiments, and he named this method "Daguerre Photography-Silver Disc Photography".

Daguerre photography is a direct positive method. Its basic method is to plate a layer of silver on a copper plate and fumigate it with iodine vapor to obtain a silver iodide photoreceptor. Then expose the silver iodide photoreceptor in a black box, fumigate and develop it with mercury vapor, and finally wash off the unexposed silver iodide with hypo solution to fix the image.

Silver seal has high definition, rich layers and delicate images, but it also has some congenital defects. Even so, as the first photography at that time, Daguerre photography has made outstanding contributions in the history of photography.

Next, Daguerre began to look for shareholders, hoping to popularize and realize his invention through social fund-raising. However, people at that time didn't know much about photography, and no one was willing to invest in this project. So, Daguerre thought of selling the invention patent right to the government. He believes that if the invention patent right belongs to individuals, it will never benefit society. Only when it is acquired by the state and published in the world can its value be realized through the strength of all people.

Daguerre found astronomer and congressman arago (1786 ~ 1853), hoping that he could come forward to persuade the government to buy his own invention. After seeing the image on the metal plate, the visionary arago "almost fainted with excitement", and he immediately realized that it was an epoch-making invention.

1839, strongly recommended by arago and another member of parliament, Guy Lussac, the French government bought the patent right of Daguerre's photography, and announced it to the whole country, so that everyone could use the invention for free. As a reward, the French government pays Daguerre 6000 francs a year and Nipps's son 4000 francs for life.

Shortly after Daguerre's photography method was published, Daguerre's photography manual was also published. It is the earliest book introducing photography in the world. It sold out as soon as it came out. It published 29 editions in four months and was translated into many languages, including English, German, Italian, Spanish, Swedish, Hungarian and Polish.

For a time, people set off an upsurge of learning photography, and photography became the fashion in European and American cities.