In the gum dichromate process, paper is coated with a sensitized gum solution containing pigment, printed in sunlight in direct contact with a negative, and developed in water. It allows a photographer to manipulate the image during development and to layer pigments in order to produce a more colorful, painterly print. The process was particularly popular among Pictorialist photographers of the 1890s and 1900s, who sought to create photographs that could hold their own alongside more traditional media. Clarence White, for example, linked this photograph to high art by choosing a light orange gum dichromate that resembles pastel or red chalk. His vision of youthful feminine grace also recalls works in other media, specifically William Merritt Chase's painting of the same subject made three years earlier.