The American Chemical Society has released a fascinating new video entitled “The Chemical History of Photography.” In the video, produced by Kirk Zamieroski, photo conservation scientist Art Kaplan shows us some samples of early technical processes like daguerreotypes, ambrotypes, and tintypes, along with some other more rare and interesting photographic techniques. “As it turns out, photography was really born out of chemical experimentation in back rooms, completely out of the lab setting,” Kirk says. “Early photography certainly wasn’t know at the time to have been a very daring craft; however photographers were frequently handling toxic and dangerous chemicals without any safety precautions.” Click through / scroll down to watch the video.

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