Glossary

Calotype

Calotype

Also known as talbotype, this was an early photographic technique invented by William Henry Fox Talbot and patented in 1841. The technique involved coating a sheet of paper with silver chloride and exposing it to light in a camera obscura; the areas exposed to light acquire a darker tone, creating a negative image. The negative was then used to develop photographs through contact printing on another sheet coated with gallic acid. The paper would also be coated with beeswax to improve the translucency of the base. Due to the texture of paper, images produced using this process were less clear than their contemporary counterpart, daguerreotypes. From the Greek kalos, meaning “beautiful” and tupos, meaning “impression.”

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