Albumen Print: Invented in 1850, and commonly used in the late nineteenth century, the albumen print is a type of photographic print made from paper coated with albumen (egg white) to prevent the chemicals from sinking into the papers surface. Subsequently the texture of the paper does then not appear in the image, leaving a sharper finish. The print has a long exposure scale, which gives it a possibility of various progressions of tones, and they vary in colour from reddish/yellow/purple browns to greys and blue/black. Initially, there was some anxiety amongst some photographers as they saw the glossiness of the finish as vulgar and would sometimes diluted their prints to minimise the gloss.

Ambrotype: A cheaper alternative to the Daguerreotype technique which is similar as it a direct-image photograph, but does not have a mirror-like surface. It is an underexposed or "thin" collodion glass negative with dark material placed behind it. This causes the negative to appear as a positive image.

Cabinet Card: Cabinet prints replaced the carte de visite as the more standard studio portrait format in the 1870s, and were larger than there predecessor being mounted on card of around the size 6 1/4 x 4 1/4 inches (15.9 x 10.8 cm).

Carte de Visite: Invented in 1854 by A.A.E. Disderi, they were a small visiting card that measured around 4 1/2 x 2 1/2 inches (11.4 x 6.3 cm), with a black-and-white photograph attached, it was typically of a famous individual or a family member. They were greatly popular in the late 1850s and 1860s, and were collected and often put within a photo album. They would also typically feature the name, address and logo of the photographer, they were replaced in popularity with the cabinet card.

Calotype: This process was patented in 1841 by William Henry Fox Talbot, sometimes called the talbotype, it was the original positive and negative process, and the forerunner of today’s photographic processes. It involved using high quality writing paper, which was sensitized with the chemical solutions potassium iodide and silver nitrate and then exposed in the camera. The paper negative was processed, then printed onto salted paper. A feature of prints made from calotype process is the lack of clarity in the details and sometimes unclear tones, this was caused by the paper fibres showing through.

Collodion Print: Introduced in 1851 by F. Scott Archer, the process gave the opportunity for a high resolution of detail. The process involved using a sheet of glass hand-coated with a thin film of collodion on this was made up of the rather unusual sounding guncotton dissolved in ether, which contained potassium iodide and is sensitised on location with silver nitrate. For maximum sensitivity, the plate had to be exposed while still wet and developed immediately. There was a dry process that was developed later, which involved covering the print with a layer of albumen or gelatin.

Daguerreotype: This is considered the first commercially successful photographic process, developed in 1839 by Louis Jacques Mandé Daguerre, where the name of the technique comes from. An image was created by using a silver plated sheet which was coated in the light sensitive material of iodine vapour. It required a long exposure in the camera, and the image was the developed over heated mercury and fixed in a solution of common salt. The image that was subsequently produced had a strong clarity which made it popular as a portrait medium until the mid 1850s. It has a reflective surface which means it is best to be viewed from certain angles to avoid reflections.

Ferrotype (Tintype): The tintype is similar to the daguerreotype and ambrotype, since it is an image formed directly on a sheet of metal (a positive), and is sometimes found in a case. The tintype was a cheaper alternative to paper prints made from a negative.

Full Plate: 19th century photographic glass plate that is 6.5 x 8.5 inches (16.5 x 21.5 cm)

Half Plate: Glass plate measuring 4¾ in x 6½ in (120 mm x 165 mm)

Postcard: A piece of card or thick paper used for sending messages, often with an image on the reverse of the message and address. They were created in 1870 and quickly became popular as was a quick and cheap form of communication, and also as something to collect also. In 1871 around 75 million postcards were sent in Britain and volumes increased vastly to numbers over 800 million a year by the end of King Edward VII’s reign in 1910.

Quarter Plate: 19th century photographic glass plate that is 6.5 x 8.5 inches (16.5 x 21.5 cm) 3.25 x 4.25 inches (8 x 11 cm)

Stereograph: This was a technique where a pair of photographic images were on a single card next to each other. When viewed through a specially designed stereoscope, it gives the appearance of a single three-dimensional image. The photographs are not identical but have a slight lateral shift having been made with a dual lens camera.

References:

https://www.tate.org.uk/art/art-terms

‘Popular Photographic Print Processes Represented in the Prints and Photographs Division’ https://www.loc.gov/rr//print/coll/589_intro.html

Grace Seiberling, Amateurs, Photography, & the Mid–Victorian Imagination - Hardcover, University of Chicago Press, 1986.

James M. Reilly, The History, Technique and Structure of Albumen Prints, AIC Preprints. May 1980. pp.93-98.

‘Art materials’ National Portrait Gallery, https://www.npg.org.uk/collections/explore/glossary-of-art-terms/?_gl=1*imr0cf*_up*MQ..*_ga*MTA0OTc3MDkxMC4xNzM2MDA3OTMw*_ga_3D53N72CHJ*MTczNjAwNzkyNy4xLjEuMTczNjAwODI4NS4wLjAuMA..

Daguerreobase, http://www.daguerreobase.org/en/knowledge-base/what-is-a-daguerreotype

https://www.postalmuseum.org/collections/highlights/postcards/