Francis Frith opened a photographic studio in Liverpool, known as Frith & Hayward, and was a founding member of the Liverpool Photographic Society. He established a business publishing landscape views from around the world as prints, portfolios, and photographically-illustrated books. Many of his published works were made by his network of travelling photographers, including Frank Mason Good, Frederick William Sutton, and Hugo Lewis Pearson. Frith also bought the negative stocks of established photographers such as Roger Fenton and Francis Bedford. At its peak, the company published a 670 page catalogue of stock.

Bourne & Shepherd was a photographic studio opened in Calcutta in 1863 by Samuel Bourne and Charles Shepherd. William Howard joined the studio in 1864, briefly becoming Howard, Bourne and Shepherd until his departure in 1866.