The resulting image can have a matte finish like a calotype, with the finer detail and tonality of an albumen print. Photogenic drawing was the name William Henry Fox Talbot gave to his initial photographic invention. As early as 1834, Talbot was making salt prints by placing lace, leaves and other objects on light-sensitive paper and exposing it to the sun. The method, one of the finest ever developed, transferred the photographic image to a copper printing plate, which was then etched to retain ink in areas corresponding to the blacks of the picture. Photogravure was invented by Karl Klic in Austria in 1879.
Platinum prints are among the most beautiful and permanent of all photographs.
Thus, like salt prints and cyanotypes, the surfaces of platinum prints have no natural sheen or gloss. Because the finished image is made of metallic platinum which is highly stable, these photographs are resistant to fading. Their tones are generally silvery to black, but warmer brown tones were also achieved. Salt print refers to the positive printing procedure invented by Talbot. The negative is placed in contact with a sheet of writing paper which has been floated on salt water and then coated with silver nitrate.