Photography
Inventor
Inventor William Henry Fox Talbot
William Henry Fox Talbot
Born11 February 1800
Melbury, Dorset
Died17 September 1877 | Age 77

Henry Fox Talbot 1835


William Henry Fox Talbot (11 February 1800 – 17 September 1877) took the first reproducible photograph in 1835. He was born in Melbury, Dorset and invented the salted paper and calotype process that allowed images to be permanently fixed.

Thomas Wedgwood had already made photograms - silhouettes of leaves and other objects - but these faded quickly. Talbot process based the prints on paper that had been made light sensitive, rather than bitumen or copper-paper. He mastered the three primary elements of photography: developing, fixing, and printing.

First photograph - Lacock abbey 1935
First photograph - Lacock abbey 1935


First Negative

Fox Talbot wanted to be able to reproduce the images he captured and searched for a method to achieve this. Using various chemicals he was able to capture images with long exposures. But by accident, he discovered that there was an image after a very short exposure.
Although it could not be seen, he found he could chemically speed up the process to develop a useful negative. The image on this negative was then fixed with a chemical solution. This removed the light-sensitive silver making it safe to view the picture in bright light. With the negative image, Fox Talbot found he could then repeat the process of printing from the negative.
He called this the 'calotype' and patented the process in 1841. This was the basis for all photography for 130 years until the invention of 'Digital photography'.
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In History
  • 21 September 1936.
    This month 87 years ago the world lost Frank Hornby
  • 01 September 1976.
    This month 47 years ago the world lost Percy Shaw
  • 10 September 1960.
    This month 63 years ago the world lost Harold Gillies
  • 01 September 1806.
    This month 217 years ago the world lost Edward Nairne
  • 21 September 1836.
    This month 187 years ago the world lost John Stafford Smith
  • 01 September 1846.
    This month 177 years ago the world lost Edwin Beard Budding
  • 25 September 1936.
    This month 87 years ago the world lost William Horlick
  • Christmas Cracker. 200 years ago 18/10/1823 Tom Smith was born
  • 17 September 1877.
    This month 146 years ago the world lost William Henry Fox Talbot
  • 18 September 1938.
    This month 85 years ago the world lost William Fletcher
  • Marshall Amplification. 100 years ago 29/7/1923 Jim Marshall was born
  • 10 September 1938.
    This month 85 years ago the world lost Charles Cruft
  • 18 September 1967.
    This month 56 years ago the world lost John Cockcroft
  • 16 September 1890.
    This month 133 years ago the world lost Louis Le Prince
  • 50 years ago in 1973 The first stable LCD is announced to the world.
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