TYPES OF PHOTOGRAPHS

By

Karen Utter Jennings

            When you look at a family photograph collection, you will see all types of pictures: tintypes, paper prints, cased images, Polaroids, black-and-white, color, and digitalized. Through the years, types of photographs came and went quickly. That is why there is a good market for buying, selling, and collecting photographs today.

            Here is an overview of types of photographs.

            Daguerreotypes were made from about 1839 to 1870. The sitting time for these types of photographs could be anywhere from five minutes to 30 minutes. Photographers sometimes used clamps to help their subjects sit still.

            Calotypes were the first paper images and were made from about 1841 to the late 1850s. These types of photos were not very popular. The ones surviving today are usually found in museums.

            Ambrotypes were the negative images made on glass plates with a dark coating on the backs. They lasted from about 1852 to the early 1870s.

            The tintypes, also called ferrotypes or melainotypes, were actually created on a thin, blackened iron sheet, then coated with chemicals, and varnished to protect the image. There is much more information about the popular tintype photographs, which I will cover in a future column.

            Albumen prints, from about 1850 to the early 1900s, helped make photography a profitable venture. They were also printed on paper.

            Stereographs were prints were nearly identical images mounted beside each other and viewed through a viewer called a stereograph. They were popular from about 1854 to 1938.

            Cabinet card photographs were made from about 1866 to 1906. The photographic images were put on large, oversized card stock. I have quite a few of these cabinet cards in my collection.

            George Eastman founded the new age of photography with black-and-white snapshots. During the late 1880s to the present, these prints were taken with box cameras that were easy to use. Eastman named his new camera the Kodak and the company’s promotion was geared to specifically women and children.

            Photo postcards are a special class to me. I own a precious photo postcard dated February 1912. The photo shows my paternal great-grandmother, 17, holding her son, my grandfather, Perry Utter. On the postcard side, she wrote to her younger sister in Rocky Comfort. There is a lot of information pertaining to photo postcards, which I will write about in a future column.

            Auto-chrome photographs were the first color prints and dated between 1904 to the later 1930s. There are special handling tips for owners of these types of prints.

            Color paper prints are well known to us today. The Kodak Company introduced Kodachrome 16mm movie film in 1935 and color prints with negatives in 1941. The popularity of Digital Imaging in today’s market ended the manufacture of Kodachrome film.

            From 1947 to the present, an instant photo is recognizable due to the photo having a thick black pouch-like backing. Polaroids became popular due to the consumer snapping a photo and waiting for a few seconds while the photo developed inside the camera, not needing to take film to the store for development. Special care is necessary for these types of photos.

            Today, using digital cameras is the popular way for photographers to take their family photos. Digital imaging goes along with scrap booking treasured photos for fun and easy creative projects. While many people embrace digital cameras, the cameras requiring film continue to be popular. 

Sources: “Photography as a Tool in Genealogy,” by Ron and Maureen Taylor and “Getting Up To Date,” Family Tree Magazine, Volume 11, Issue 7, November 2010.

             

THE BOOM OF PHOTOGRAPHY

By

Karen Utter Jennings

            Humans are visual beings. We like pictures to help illustrate what we are reading or listening to. When photography was born, it is no wonder that humans bought into the new invention. The first photographs our ancestors saw amazed them and they marveled over the detail the photographs captured.

            The word photography means “light” and “to write.” The earliest cameras were actually boxes that used light to project images through a small hole onto surfaces. Rather than recording an image, they were projectors of light.

            A French inventor, Niepce, made the first permanent photograph in 1825 and Louis Daguerre collaborated with him to refine the process. When Niepce died, Daguerre continued to experiment. In 1839, he developed photographic plates and discovered an image could be made permanent by immersing it in salt. You may recognize the name Daguerre, for his invention produced the type of photograph known as the daguerreotype.

            Society first looked at the new photographic process as a threat to painting and drawing, but the interest outweighed the negativity. When our ancestors embraced photography, they liked its qualities. The demand for the new images spurred inventors to develop new and better ways to produce photographs.

            An interesting fact I found is that in the 1850 US Federal Census, there are 938 males over the age of 15 listed with an occupation of daguerreotypist.

            By 1840 William Henry Fox Talbert made the first paper print, called either a talbotype or a calotype. Those prints were produced from a waxed paper negative. Those images lacked sharpness and clarity. But it was the beginning of a wonderful way to capture people, places, events, and things on paper for posterity.

            Ambrotypes appeared in the mid-1850s, but by 1860, the tintype method was the most popular images to own. The tintypes were more durable and could be carried in a pocket or sent through the mail to loved one.

            I own three tintypes in my photograph collection. One is a small wallet size tintype of my great, great-grandfather, Thomas Nathaniel Johnson, who lived in Kings Valley, McDonald County. Another tintype is a large, 8x10 and the last is a 3 x 4 size cased image of a mother and daughter.

            

The above photo is Thomas Nathaniel Johnson, my paternal great, great-grandfather. Notice his tie has been hand-painted by the photographer. That was popular with tintypes. 

             After paper prints were invented, card photographs became popular; the paper print was mounted onto cardboard stock. Carte de viste, cabinet cards and stereographs are the three types of card photographs. I have many of these in my collection, also.

            Through time, it became the goal of the early photographers to simply the process of photography. The large cameras and heavy equipment was a cumbersome task to undertake.

            George Eastman, considered the father of photography, ushered in the age of candid photography with the slogan, “You push the button, we do the rest.” Eastman developed the roll film camera that anybody could operate and called it the Kodak camera.

            The Kodak Company is instrumental in the age of photography. They marketed their cameras to women and I’m glad they did. My great-grandmother owned a camera at a very young age and it became one of her passions. Through that passion, today I have a wonderful photograph collection!

            Cameras, film and photography has evolved into the digital wonders we enjoy today. But make no mistake; photography truly is an art form! I admire award-winning photographers, for there is nothing more breath taking than seeing a person or animal, place or event captured and saved to a paper print.            

            In coming posts, I will describe each of the types of photographs that has been listed. It is necessary to have an understanding of which types of photographs you may own, so you can identify and study them.

             I hope you enjoy collecting old photographs as much as I do and better yet, I hope you use your camera and snap those pictures that tell your family story.