Daguerreotypes, Ambrotypes, and Tintypes

All photographic processes start with the same basic ingredients: light-sensitive chemicals are applied to a surface which is then exposed to light in a camera. That surface is then developed using a series of chemicals, resulting in either a single completed image or a “negative” which can then be used to print infinite copies of an original image.

It’s the specifics that vary between different types of antique photography. Daguerreotypes, ambrotypes, and tintypes were the three most popular early methods of photography.

Daguerreotypes

Daguerreotypes were the original popular photographic process. They are printed on a carefully-polished silver plate which gives the finished product a distinctive, mirror-like quality. The actual image is recorded on a very thin, fragile layer of silver-mercury amalgam. This makes them prone to damage, so the plate would be put in a protective case behind glass. Daguerreotypes in museum collections today are typically stored away from light to prevent any additional deterioration of the image.

Louisa Wylie Boisen Daguerreotype

A cased daguerreotype of Louisa Wylie Boisen as a girl.

Louisa Wylie Boisen Daguerreotype

When viewed from a different angle, the mirror-like quality of the daguerreotype is easily seen.

Daguerreotypes were extremely popular for those who could afford to have theirs taken, but they were very fragile. This made it difficult to share them with loved ones far away. Susan Salter Smith, mother-in-law to Theophilus Wylie, writes to the Bloomington Wylies on two occasions in 1852 about her satisfaction with her daguerreotype and her concerns with sending it through the post.

Susan Saltar Smith Dennis Daguerreotype

This cased daguerreotype of Susan Salter Smith Dennis may be one referenced in her letters to the Bloomington Wylies.

Susan Salter Dennis to Elizabeth Sergeant Dennis, 09 January 1852




“I had my daguerreotype taken by one of the best hands, and left it with Caroline for you, so that you can get it whenever an opportunity offers. Tis thought to be an excellent likeness. I gave one to Cornelia (a Christmas present). It was my 2d sitting. Thought a good likeness yet not as true as yours. They are seldom as exact the second time.”1

Susan Salter Dennis to Elizabeth Sergeant Dennis, 03 April 1852




“Tell Rebecca to write me. Her epistles are like angels visits few and far between. I am afraid to risk my beautiful daguerreotype by mail setting aside the expence, which would perhaps be a good deal. Though I don't know what the postage would be.”2

Ambrotypes

Samuel Brown Wylie Ambrotype

A small ambrotype of Samuel Brown Wylie IV as a child, ca. 1860.

Ambrotypes arose in the mid-1850s as a more economical alternative to daguerreotypes. Like daguerreotypes, they are a positive image that is typically housed within a protective case. However, where daguerreotypes are printed on a polished silver plate, ambrotypes are printed on a translucent glass plate. The glass plate is then framed against a dark backing, often black velvet or lacquer, which provides the shadows for the photograph. The silver emulsion and glass plate are just as fragile as their daguerreotype predecessors, but by eliminating some of the more labor-intensive steps from the process (such as carefully polishing a silver plate), ambrotypes lowered the cost of photographic portraiture.

Theophilus Adam Wylie Ambrotype

Cased ambrotype of Theophilus Adam Wylie, ca. 1855.

Tintypes

Tintypes are the last of the three major mid-19th century photographic processes. Tintypes were the cheapest and most durable of the three, and so they quickly became very popular. However, they were regarded as a “lower” form of photography due to their ease of access.

Tintype of Unknown Woman

Cased tintype of unknown woman.

The exposure and fixing process is very similar to an ambrotype, but the support is a thin plate of iron rather than glass. Some tintypes would be housed in a hinged case like a daguerreotype or ambrotype, but the durability of the iron plate meant that this was an optional expense. Often they would be stored in paper envelopes instead. Tintypes could be cheaply produced as an attraction at fairs or festivals.

Tintypes are strongly associated with Civil War photography. Many documentary photographers on the battlefront preferred tintypes for their economy and durability in rough conditions.

Daguerreotypes, ambrotypes, and tintypes were by far the most popular and mainstream of early photography methods, but they weren’t the only options. Wylie House Museum has a few Crystoleoum photographs in our collection dating from the late 1870s.

Anton T. Boisen Crystoleum

A hand-painted crystoleum photograph of Anton T. Boisen as a baby.

Hermann B. Boisen Crystoleum

A crystoleum portrait of Hermann B. Boisen.

Crystoleum

Crystoleum was a later innovation, arising in the 1870s. It was an early attempt at producing color photography, but it relied on significant artistic ability. Crystoleum images make use of a two-layer image: a photographic emulsion on a concave piece of glass and a backing, painted layer that provides both color and depth. Because this method required a patient and artistic hand, it was something of a niche medium. However, Louisa Wylie Boisen, daughter of Theophilus Wylie, had both the skill and inclination to produce these charming portraits of her husband and son.

In August of 1870, Louisa Wylie sought out lessons to learn this emerging artistic skill. She traveled to Oxford, Ohio and engaged the services of a Mr. A Beaugureau to learn "to paint photographs in India Ink and Water Colors [...] at the rate of 50 cts the lesson, half day, or $1 the lesson whole day."3

Louisa carried out the coloration by hand, but she engaged the services of local Bloomington photographer, J.B. Allison, to supply the photographs. In a letter to her father written shortly after arriving in Oxford, Louisa writes that she "had better write to Mr. Allison to hurry up the pictures for coloring."4

J.B. Allison was a prolific Bloomington studio photographer who supplied the Wylies with many of their calling and cabinet cards in the later decades of the 19th century.

1. Susan Salter Dennis to Elizabeth Sergeant Dennis, 09 January 1852. Theophilus Adam Wylie Family Correspondence, Wylie House Museum.

2. Susan Salter Dennis to Elizabeth Sergeant Dennis, 03 April 1852. Theophilus Adam Wylie Family Correspondence, Wylie House Museum.

3. A. Beaugureau to Louisa Wylie Boisen, 15 August 1870. Theophilus Adam Wylie Family Correspondence, Wylie House Museum.

4. Louisa Wylie Boisen to Theophilus Adam Wylie, 26 August 1870. Theophilus Adam Wylie Family Correspondence, Wylie House Museum.