The Process
In chemical photography, a negative refers to the visible developed image on a strip of film or that piece of film itself after it has been developed. When a photograph is taken in a film-based camera, light enters the chamber containing the film. The chemicals on the film react to the light. Depending on the nature of the film, various chemicals are used; all of these chemicals can be described as reagents. The more light the reagent encounters, the more strongly it will react.
During film development, these activated reagents adhere to the film while the rest are washed away. Consequently, the brighter a given section of a photograph, the more reagent will remain after development.
This results in the negative. Because the reagent is opaque after it is activated by light, development produces a "negative" version of whatever was photographed--the brightest areas will appear darkest and vice versa.
Making a Photo Print
As part of creating a finished photograph from a chemical negative, light passes through the negative onto a piece of photoreactive paper. As the light passes through the negative, it is obscured by the darkest areas and passes unobstructed through the brightest. Because the light is shining through a negative version of the desired photograph, this means that more light hits the areas of the paper corresponding to dark areas and less in areas that are meant to be bright.
Processing the Print
On the paper essentially the same reaction--though the chemistry is different the principle is the same--occurs as in the film itself: The more light the paper receives, the more the chemical treatment will react. This results in a latent image. As with film, the image will not be visible until the paper is processed. A final chemical bath will reveal the print of the photograph.
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