Combination Printing

Combination printing is the result of spending time in a dark room, building images from separate negatives.

Oscar Gustave Rejlander was from Sweden. He moved to England in the 1840's, after spending time in Rome studying painting. He turned to photography in 1855 when he saw how a photo could capture the fold of a sleeve.
His most famous photograph is allegorical, called "The Two Ways of Life" It depicts a sage guiding two men towards manhood. One man looks eagerly into a life of debauchery, while the other man looks with less enthusiasm into a life of morality.
This photo provoked a lot of controversy when it was exhibited in 1857. People were used to seeing paintings of this nature, but not photographs of real people, it was too much, But opinions changed when the queen purchased a copy for her Husband.

What makes the photo so extraordinary is that the event never took place. It is a combination print of no fewer than thirty negatives. The groups were photographed separately.