Exploring Photography : Photographic Processes : Photogenic drawing   » Select Photographic Process     » Albumen print» Autochrome» C-type print» Calotype» Carbon print» Collage and Montage» Collodion negative» Collotype» Cyanotype» Daguerreotype» Digital image» Dye destruction print» Dye transfer print» Gelatin-silver print» Photogenic drawing» Photogram» Photogravure» Platinum print» Polaroid» Salt print» Woodburytype » Photographers' Stories     » Theme Tours     » Personal Tours » Photographic Processes     » Photographers Photogenic drawing Previous   Next Lace (Plate XX in 'The Pencil of Nature', 1844-46), 1844 William Henry Fox Talbot, 1800 - 1877 Photogenic drawing Photogenic drawing was William Henry Fox Talbot’s name for the results of his first cameraless photographic process which he announced in 1839. In its simplest form a smooth high quality sheet of writing paper was immersed in a solution of table salt and then dried. Talbot brushed the paper with a solution of silver nitrate. This combined with the salt to produce silver chloride which is light sensitive. Small objects such as leaves and lace could then be placed on the paper and exposed to sunlight. This produced a light image of the object against a dark background; in other words, a negative image. RCR.1 National Art Library © V&A