William Henry Fox Talbot

          William Henry Fox Talbot was a British inventor and an important figure in photography.  He invented the calotype process which became the precursor to many of the photographic processes of the 19th and 20th centuries.  He was also a photographer and made developments in photography as a artistic medium.  The calotype process uses paper coated with silver iodide, creating a negative from which positives could be printed.  It drastically lowered the exposure time from an hour to 1-3 minutes.  This invention became superior to the daguerreotype which could only make one positive image.  Talbot  obtained a patent for the calotype which is another way in which he is remembered and could be said to have affected the early development of commercial photography in Britain.  His patent could also be said to be the reason in which the calotype never became as popular as the daguerreotype.  His reputation is somewhat tarnished by his attempts to enforce his patent.

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