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from the group: Daguerreotype

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Pre-photographic

Intaglio
Planographic
Relief

Photomechanical

Collotype
Letterpress
Offset Lithography
Photogravure
Rotogravure
Woodburytype

Photographic

Albumen
Ambrotype
Bromoil
Bromoil Transfer
Carbon
Carbro
Chromogenic
Collodion POP
Cyanotype
Daguerreotype
Direct Carbon (Fresson)
Dye Imbibition
Gelatin Dry Plate
Gelatin POP
Gum Dichromate
Instant (Diffusion Transfer)
Instant (Dye Diffusion Transfer)
Instant (Internal Dye Diffusion Transfer)
Matte Collodion
Platinum
Salted Paper
Screen Plate
Silver Dye Bleach
Silver Gelatin DOP
Tintype
Wet Plate Collodion

Digital

Electrophotography
Inkjet
Thermal

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Notes on this view:

This group portrait depicts three sitters. Notice the man on the left is slightly blurred and the man on the right has a book in his hand. Improvements to daguerreotype chemistry and camera technology reduced exposure times from 30 minutes to several seconds making portraiture possible by the early 1840s. Nonetheless sitting perfectly still for an exposure of several seconds could be challenging. The man on the left must have moved slightly during the exposure. While a daguerreotype was expensive, it was considerably less expensive than painted portraiture making self-representation accessible to the middle classes. Sitters often chose to be imaged with objects that in some way reflected on their identity, like books or trade tools.