Daguerreotype

Daguerre succeeded in developing a high-contrast and extremely sharp image by exposing on a plate coated with silver iodide and exposing this plate again to mercury vapor. By 1837, he was able to fix the images with a common salt solution. He called this process Daguerreotype and tried unsuccessfully for a couple of years to commercialize it. Eventually, with the help of the scientist and politician François Arago, the French government acquired Daguerre's process for public release. In exchange, pensions were provided to Daguerre as well as Niépce's son, Isidore.