The Englishman William Henry Fox Talbot (1800–1877) invented salt prints in the 1830s. The process is as follows:
- Cover one side of the paper (an acid-free paper that can take a lot of water rinses is to be preferred) in a salt solution. This solution can be made stirring table salt into distilled water (2g:100g).
- After the paper has dried, it is covered with a solution of silver nitrate and distilled water (12g:100g). Leave to dry in dark place.
- Place negative on top of paper, in printing frame. Or place it on top of paper and cover with a glass plate. Expose in sunlight until the treated paper looks pretty dark.
- Rinse, fix, and rinse.