1837: DaguerreotypeThe daguerreotype process (named after Louis Jacques Mande Daguerre) produces a unique image, as there is no negative created. After coating a copper plate with light-sensitive silver iodide, the plate is exposed to an image for over 20 minutes and then treated with fumes from heated mercury. The longer the exposure to light, the more mercury fumes are adsorbed by the silver iodide. After the plate is washed with salt water, the image appears, reversed. This was the earliest photographic process to gain popularity in America. It was used until around 1860.