Paper negative

The paper negative process consists of using a negative printed on paper (either photographically or digitally) to create the final print of a photograph, as opposed to using

a traditional negative on a base of plastic acetate.  The plastic acetate negative (which is
what modern films produce) enable the printing of a very sharp image intended to be as close a 

representation of the actual subject as is possible. By using a negative based on paper instead, there is the possibility of creating a more ethereal image, simply by using a paper with a very visible grain, or by drawing on the paper, or distressing it in some way.

One of the original forms of photography was based on the paper negative process. Talbot's waxed-paper negative process, which was used to create his work "The Pencil of Nature", used a negative created on paper treated with silver salts, which was exposed in a camera obscura to create the negative and then contact printed on a similar paper to produce a positive image.

When Talbot created this process it was intended to be a way to reproduce nature as accurately as possible (hence the name of his work, "The Pencil of Nature"). Through the years afterward, however, better and more accurate ways of producing exact replicas of nature were developed, and these processes relegated the paper negative process to obsolescence. Now that we have mega-mega pixel digital cameras sporting the finest of Zeiss lenses and super-fine- grained emulsion films being used in state-of-the-art autofocus cameras, we have achieved the clarity and exactness of detail that Talbot and his contemporaries could only have dreamed of.

The process of the paper negative is still relevent, though, in the realm of alternative- process photography. Photographers employing alternative processes reject the idea of the exact replica of nature and seek to use the inherent inexactness of antiquated processes to create a more personal and emotional image. The paper negative is an extremely versatile process that allows all manner of reworking and retouching of an image, and is the perfect medium to bridge the gap between camera operator and artist.

References

The Book of Alternative Photographic Processes by Christopher James

Photo-Imaging: A Complete Guide to Alternative Processes (Photography for All Levels: Advanced) by Jill Enfield

Alternative Photographic Processes: A Working Guide for Image Makers by Randall Webb, Martin Reed