Techniques and formats

In the 19th century, photographers keen on experimenting developed several versions of this new way of photographing reality. They differ in the use of various chemicals and technical methods. However, a number of techniques and formats soon emerged that became both widespread and popular.

In the beginning there was the daguerreotype, developed by Louis Daguerre in collaboration with Joseph Niépce, which was made available to the world public by the French state in 1839 and thus became the first photographic process to become generally known and widely used.

Silver-plated copper plates, whose mirror-like polished surface was made light-sensitive by vapour deposition with iodine, chlorine or bromine, served as the carrier material. The image developed using mercury vapour was highly sensitive to touch, which is why it was mounted behind glass. As silvery, shiny unique specimens with a sharp and natural expression, daguerreotypes were able to take over the function of miniature painting, which had been popular until then.

It was not until the invention of the carte de visite format that photography established itself as a mass medium. These photographs on paper the size of visiting cards were inexpensive to produce because a photographic plate was exposed divided into fragments, creating many small-format photographs for a low raw material price. The small pictures were given and collected among family members, friends and acquaintances from 1854. You could even buy visiting card photographs of famous people and add them to your own album.

In addition to these formative photographic techniques, the Tucher family collection includes many other processes and formats, which are examined in more detail in this section of the exhibition.

Lisa Reinhard