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Today so many devices contain cameras that it is easy to forget that the art of photography began with a simple pinhole camera and a science of fixing images that bordered on sheer alchemy. Due to the interesting materials and methods of protecting or framing often used, antique photographs have a unique look that is prized among enthusiasts.

The original cameras were pinhole cameras or camera obscura. These were simple boxes with either a pinhole or lens which was used to project an inverted image on the inside for drawing purposes. These devices were described as early as 300 BC. In the 13th century, Albertus Magnus and later Georges Fabricius discovered silver nitrate and silver chloride, which would prove valuable for the development of photographic images. These technologies combined with the work of Daniel Barbaro on the diaphragm in 1568 and Wilhelm Homberg in 1694 on photochemical effect helped bring about the antique camera.

The French inventor Joseph Nicephore Niepce produced the first photograph in 1826. He used a polish pewter plate covered with a resin compound made from bitumen of Judea and a light colored petroleum base. When exposed to light, the resin would harden and the excess could be washed away, leaving light areas of resin and dark areas of pewter. Niepce combined his work with Louis Jacques Mande Daguerre, who was an artist working with similar technologies and the camera obscura. Niepce died in 1833 before the success of their partnership could be realized, but Daguerre continued with the work and produced the daguerrotype process by 1837.

Daguerrotypes were created by treating silver coated copper plates with iodine in order to make them light sensitive, then exposing these plates to light in the camera obscura. The plates were developed in warm mercury vapor. The French government bought the process and offered it into the public domain by 1839.

Daguerrotypes became the dominant photographic technology world wide. They allowed families who could not afford the higher price of oil painting to have access to portrait miniatures. They were often packaged under glass in a gilt mat with a protective leather cover, so daguerrotypes were easily portable.

Daguerrotypes themselves lost popularity after a time as new techniques emerged. The layer of thick metal plus glass was not only heavy, but it also acted like a mirror. This aspect of the daguerrotype acts to pull the viewer into the piece, but in practical terms it also made the image harder to view. Another serious drawback was that the silver coating would easily tarnish, which also made the image harder to view.

Images on glass plates became highly sought after, whether the desired result was a negative or positive image. Glass negatives came about roughly in the same time frame as the Daguerrotype, but the original process, created by John Herschel, was difficult to reproduce. In 1847, Niepce St. Victor, cousin of Joseph Nicephore Niepce, published his process for creating glass plates with albumen emulsion. By the mid 1840s, two other methods for creative glass plate negatives came out of the United States; one method was created by the Langenheim brothers of Philadelphia and another by John Whipple of Boston.

Frederick Scott Archer created a workable negative that would replace the daguerrotype. Ambrotypes used a sheet of glass dipped in silver nitrate solution. The plate could be exposed while it still wet, producing a negative image that was developed and fixed. Rather than using this glass plate negative to expose another image, however, the ambrotype relied on a trick of the eye to turn the glass negative into a positive. The back of the glass was coated with a black varnish which made dark areas of the negative seem lighter in contrast. Because the photographic surface was still very fragile, packaging was similar to the daguerrotype.

The ambrotype was seen as superior to the daguerrotype, but it quickly gave way to a similar process called the tintype. The backing of a tintype is not tin at all. It is really iron that has been painted, lacquered or enameled in black before being dipping in a colloidal emulsion. Often the negative image used could be underexposed which allowed for increased shutter speeds. In portraiture, a shorter exposure time can be a big incentive. It allows for more natural poses because the portrait sitter does not have to remain still quite as long. The tintype did not need to be dried during the development process, so many of the photographers at fairs and other events could take the photograph and deliver to the customer within minutes. The emulsion on the surface of the tintype proved to be tough enough that the elaborate cases of daguerrotypes and ambrotypes were not needed. Tintypes were often packaged in simple black sleeves instead.

The carte de viste and later the cabinet card used a method called albumen print or albumen silver print, which was invented by Louis Desire Blanquart-Evrad in 1850. This was the first commercial method of producing a photographic print on paper using a negative. The albumen from egg whites formed the binder for photographic chemicals. The carte de viste became a popular photograph for exchange purposes, although it was soon replaced by the larger cabinet card.

Prior to the innovation of albumen prints, Fox Talbot invented the calotype process. Talbot used silver chloride to coat sheets of paper and create negative images. The calotype negative could be used to make multiple positive prints much like the negatives that film cameras create today. The final images produced had a softened look because the translucent paper was unable to create fine detail that a transparent negatives make. Talbot's process did not increase in popularity during his lifetime because his patents limited its use. Later, George Eastman would adopt Talbot's calotype process and refine it to create the technology used in modern film cameras.

Antique photographs can be valuable for a variety of reasons. Many daguerrotypes were taken inside studios, so images that show outdoor scenes are more prized than the standard portrait. Images depicting historical figures and events are highly prized by antique photograph collectors. Even the standard portrait can be of value because those accurately portray period costume. Photographs that can be traced to a particular photographer or studio are more valuable than prints that have no particular history.

Many of the famous early photographers were responsible for producing or popularizing some of the photographic methods. Fox Talbot prints are highly prized, among some of the other pioneers of the different processes. Andre Disdéri popularized the carte de viste from his Paris studio. Photojournalism prints by John Thomson or the American Civil War photographer Matthew Brady are very sought after. Condition of the photograph and any standard framing materials also plays a part in the overall worth of any piece.

The photographic process came into its own from a few preexisting technologies in the early to middle nineteenth century. As new processes developed, materials and methods of presentation changed. This can make many early images relatively easy to date. Each technique has its own interest for the collector as an art form. Value comes from subject matter and condition as well as the studio or photographer who produced the image.