Ambrotype

Ambrotype

The ambrotype process from Greek ambrotos, "immortal" is a photographic process invented in the mid-1850´s by Frederick Scott Archer. The process creates a glass negative, which appears as a positive when placed against a black background. The ambrotype was much less expensive to produce than the daguerreotype, but it lacked the daguerreotype's shiny metallic surface. By the late 1850’s, the ambrotype was overtaking the daguerreotype in popularity and by the mid-1860’s, the ambrotype itself was supplanted by the tintype and other processes. Ambrotypes were often hand-tinted. Untinted ambrotypes are grayish-white and have less contrast and brilliance than daguerreotypes.