Famous Photographer #5: Frederick Scott Archer

Frederick Scott Archer invented the photographic collodion process also known as wet plate collodion process.He invented the new process in 1848 and published it in The Chemist in March of 1851. It allowed photographers to combine the fine detail of the daguerreotype with the ability to print multiple paper copies like calotype. He did not patent the invention and so it was a gift to the world. He later developed the ambrotype with Peter Fry. An ambrotype is a photograph that creates a positive image on a sheet of glass using the wet plate collodion process. Because he did not patent his invention, he died impoverished.