This photo, taken by Gustave Le Gray in 1857, is one of the first examples of a combination print. To produce this image, Le Gray combined two separate negatives (one of the sea and one of the sky) into one composite seascape. During this time period, photography was often regarded as an objective record of truth and reality, a notion that Le Gray challenged in performing this manipulation. In addition, by working with two separate negatives, Le Gray was able to overcome the inability of early photographic technology to accurately render the tonal qualities of both the sky and the sea in one negative. The photo above shows a wide range of tone and a careful attention to the many gradations of light and dark that exist in nature, from the soft
