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Photograph Using the Dry Plate Process

Made from Glass Negatives and Gelatine Dry Plate

By , About.com Guide

Gelatine dry plates were usable when dry and needed less exposure to light than the wet plates.
Example of a Dry Plate Photograph

Example of a Dry Plate Photograph

Leonard Dakin 1887
In 1879, the dry plate was invented, a glass negative plate with a dried gelatin emulsion. Dry plates could be stored for a period of time. Photographers no longer needed portable darkrooms and could now hire technicians to develop their photographs. Dry processes absorbed light quickly and so rapidly that the hand-held camera was now possible.

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