What is Dry plate?
[[File:Reisekamera 18x24.jpg|thumb|right|250px|A Reisekamera {{circa|1860}} capable of using dry plates]] '''Dry plate,''' also known as '''gelatin process''', is an improved type of [[photographic plate]]. It was invented by Dr. [[Richard Leach Maddox|Richard L. Maddox]] in 1871. By 1879 the first dry plate [[factory]] had been established. With much of the complex [[chemical]] work done at the factory, the new process simplified the work of [[photographer]]s. == History == The first practical way to take photographs was called the [[daguerreotype]].<ref>Marvin J. Rosen; David L. Devries, ''Photography and Digital Imaging'' (Dubuque, IA: Kendall/Hunt Publishing Co., 2005), pp. 4–6</ref> It was introduced in 1839. It used sheets of [[copper]] coated with [[silver]]. The plate was then exposed to chemical [[Vapor|fumes]], then taken to the camera. Introduced in the 1850s the [[Collodion process]] was introduced.<ref name=Hannavy33>''Encyclopedia of Nineteenth-Century Photography'', Vol. 1, ed. John Hannavy (London: Routledge, 2007), p. 33</ref> It used what were called [[wet plate]]s. But a wet plate had to be prepared and used within minutes. It also had a very slow photographic speed. The preparation of wet plates required numerous chemicals. These had to be mixed in the dark in a portable [[tent]] if the photographer was planning on photographing away from the studio. In the 1880s the [[gelatin]] dry plate replaced the wet plates.<ref name=Hannavy33/> The dry plate allowed much faster [[Exposure (photography)|exposure]] times.<ref>Helmut Gernsheim, ''Creative Photography: Aesthetic Trends, 1839-1960'' (New York: Dover Publications, 1991), p. 250</ref> Now a moving subject could be captured on film. The dry plates could be [[manufacture]]d in a factory and used whenever the photographer wanted. == References == {{reflist}} [[Category:Photography]]