Anna Atkins

Anna Atkins created this cyanotype of the hay-scented buckler fern, or Lastroea Foenisecii, by treating sensitized paper with a combination of iron salts that together produce a brilliant blue. To capture the image without a camera, Atkins placed the fern and label on the paper and exposed it to sunlight, then rinsed it to fix the image. As the image dried, the chemical mixture turned bright blue.

Atkins learned the cyanotype method from the astronomer and scientist Sir John Herschel, who invented the process in 1842. Recognizing photography’s value for botanical documentation, Atkins was one of the first scientists to use light-sensitive materials for illustration. She printed many of her specimens in a series of encyclopedias on British ferns and algae.