To illustrate the artistic concerns shared by painters and photographs and new artistic freedoms that emerged from their relationship, The Impressionists and Photography is divided into nine sections. The section The Forest compares the landscape paintings of the forerunners of Impressionism, such as Gustave Courbet, Camille Corot, Théodore Rousseau and Charles Daubigny, with the photography work of Le Gray, Cuvelier and Le Secq, who carted their photographic equipment into the forest.