Portrait of a Man, Charles Nègre, 1850 - 1855

paper, h 222mm × w 131mm More details

Photography is the art of building up images in areas of light and dark. This is particularly clear to see in these backlit paper negatives with pronounced contrasts. The negative can sometimes be more exciting than the positive! The photographer placed the negative and the printing paper in a printing frame and then exposed it to daylight, whereby the positive image gradually appeared. Just how the positive would turn out was always a surprise.