The invention of photography

The invention of photography was presented to the Royal Society by Sir Henry Fox Talbot in 1839.

This important paper highlights his experiments and invention.

'In the Spring of 1834 I put into practice a method which I had devised some time previously... By employing a property which has been long known to chemists.

'I proposed to spread on a sheet of paper a sufficient quantity of the nitrate of silver, and then to set the paper in the sunshine having first placed before it some object casting a well defined shadow.'

Sir John Herschel (1792-1871) was a Fellow of the Royal Society and a renowned astronomer and physicist, with a passion for light.

He became a key partner in Talbot’s development of photography.

Talbot struggled with stabilising his photographic images. John Herschel realised that the required fixing agent was sodium thiosulphate, or Hypo (hyposulphite of soda). In many respects, Herschel was the co-inventor of photography.

He also popularised the term photography, from the Greek words photo (light) and graph (draw).

John Herschel invented several other photographic processes notable for their beautiful colouring. The deep Prussian blue created by the reaction of ammonium ferric citrate and potassium ferricyanide gave rise to the term blueprint.


He called the outcome a cyanotype. Variations of the process were throughout the early twentieth century for copying architectural plans and engineering drawings.

The calotype, or talbotype, became the basis of modern photography.

John Herschel also invented the chrysotype, using salts of gold and iron. Here, by applying oil to engraved prints, Herschel rendered the original paper translucent, and could capture a contact print on sensitized paper.

The process created a 'purple of Cassius' colour.

Goddard's focus on attending to artistic sensibility was mirrored by other scientists, for example Henry Fox Talbot who believed that every man should be his own publisher.

In his notes, Goddard states that the outcome appears as if ‘printed from the ordinary process of copper plate printing’.

The photograph illustrates an article entitled ‘Natural History of Ancient Purple’. He used this old dye on a silk material and exposed the image, which turned the colour of the dye a brighter Tyrian purple.

This diagram shows a dissection of the mollusc from the Mediterranean sea and the gland which the pigment is secreted from.

The dye was an ancient treasure and only used on robes of emperors.

This is a photogenic drawing of two plant specimens.

Leaves are placed on sensitised paper and exposed to sunlight. This is an early use of the process developed by Fox Talbot. This image belonged to the naturalist and geologist Caleb Burrell Rose (1790-1872), who practised as a surgeon in Swaffham, Norfolk. The photographer is unknown.

The prussian blue harmonises with the subject matter of marine botany.

For Atkins it was clear that this book was positioned between art and science.

Specimens might be identified using the work, but it had aesthetic qualities too.

These photographs were collected by Robert Mallet FRS (1810-1881) on his expedition to the region of Naples in 1857 to document the aftermath of a major earthquake. They are as much landscape photography as being part of a scientific record.

The photographs are attributed to the French photographer Alphonse Bernoud (1820-1889) or "Grellier" [possibly J. Grillet]

Cameron was born in Calcutta in 1815. She obtained her first camera at the age of 48, as a gift, and began to create stunning work.

Her photography mainly consists of tableaux, including historical, religious and mythical portraits. She is particularly remembered for her experimentation with the medium, and leaving bare the traces of the artist’s process which is influential on art photography today.