Rejlander’s composite photograph
Oscar Gustave Rejlander, *The Two Ways of Life* (1857), composite photograph. Wikimedia Commons file page: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Oscar_Gustave_Rejlander,_The_Two_Ways_of_Life,_1857.jpg ; identifies Princeton University Art Museum as the source and marks the work and faithful reproduction public domain. Creator: Oscar Gustave Rejlander. Attribution: Oscar Gustave Rejlander / Princeton University Art Museum / Wikimedia Commons. Image visually checked 2026-10-28.
In 1857, photographer Oscar Gustave Rejlander made the elaborate staged photograph *The Two Ways of Life*. He photographed figures and background sections separately, then combined more than 30 negatives in one print. This let him create a scene that could not have been captured in a single exposure.