The Two Ways of Life

The Two Ways of Life is a photograph by Oscar Rejlander. This was a new movement of art that had many art critics not liking. Many people believed that photograph was going to replace painting. The purpose of this photograph is to resemble that of a painting. Artist would first sketch out their ideas and then try to mimic it as close as possible. At that time there was no way to capture a scene of such extravagant complexity in a single exposure, so Rejlander photographed each model and background section separately, yielding more than thirty negatives, which he meticulously combined into a single large print. I wouldn't think that photographs could replace paintings. Paintings contain so many elements that you can never find in a photograph, like texture, tone, and rich colors.  

Here is an example of a sketch before producing the photograph

sketch

final photograph

Sources:

http://www.codex99.com/photography/10.html

http://metmuseum.org/exhibitions/view?exhibitionId=%7B36d81705-241d-4934-ab02-fd7c8dbbb3e5%7D&oid=190049213&pg=7&rpp=20&pos=127&ft=*