Calotype

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A photographic method that utilizes paper negatives to create multiple positive images through a development process involving silver salts
2. An early technique in photography that enables the reproduction of images on paper, leveraging specialized chemical treatments
3. A historical photographic process that employs light-sensitive paper to produce negatives, which are then used to create various positive prints through chemical development

Etymology: The calotype was the invention of William Henry Fox Talbot, who patented it in 1841, and its name was his own coinage. He built it from two Greek words: "kalós", meaning "good" or "beautiful", and "túpos", meaning "impression" or "type". The result was a name that promised a beautiful impression, an apt label for a process that produced a picture on paper rather than on metal or glass. The method itself was a reversal of what came before. Earlier photographic processes, such as the daguerreotype, produced a single fixed image on a silvered plate. Talbot's process first made a paper negative, in which light and dark were inverted, and then printed positives from that negative. Because one negative could yield many copies, the technique anticipated the reproducibility of modern photography, and the paper-based approach gave it a softer, more textured look than its rivals.

Synonyms: paper negative