A. D. White Photographs, Albumen Gustave Lancelot, Troyes Cathedral Outer Gallery Passage , ca. Albumen print photograph. Andrew Dickson White Architectural Photographs Collection, Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections, Cornell University Library. Most of the albumen prints in the A. D. White Architectural Photographs Collection were produced between 1865 and 1895. A subsequent immersion in a bath of silver nitrate renders the paper light-sensitive.
Albumen prints are thus contact printed , or placed in direct contact with the negative.
A bath of sodium thiosulfate then fixes the print's exposure and prevents further darkening. Finally, gold toning improves the photograph's tone and helps protect it from fading. During the first stage of preparation, the viscous albumen coating fills in the pores of the paper and produces an even, slightly glossy surface. Because the albumen covers the paper fibers so smoothly, the process is particularly well suited to capturing fine detail. On very close examination, however, the surface may be covered with tiny fissures, as the albumen layer sometimes cracks as it dries.