Daguerreotype remains a fascinating photographic process to this day, and recent research gives us more reasons to remain impressed.
It’s been nearly two centuries since Louis Daguerre introduced his daguerreotypes, yet the allure of the early photographic process remains as strong as ever. In fact, it intrigued an interdisciplinary team of scientists to conduct research on the unique characteristics of the images produced on silver plates, particularly how they can look slightly different depending on the viewing angle. They discovered that this curious optical effect is created by the presence of metallic nanoparticles — 19th-century nanotechnology, as they decided to call it.