Early colour techniques from Russia
Discussion
This URL was posted in another place and I thought you might like to see what it relates to.
www.loc.gov/exhibits/empire/
Suberb colour targeted photography technique from about 100 years ago that used 3 filtered B&W frames which, when projected with the appropriate filters, presented as colour slides.
I found the technique, the content, the original project and the project to create the images and present them on line all quite fascinating.
The content and historic record are remarkable and add to the overall value of the entire project. Certainly worth at least a few minutes browsing.
www.loc.gov/exhibits/empire/
Suberb colour targeted photography technique from about 100 years ago that used 3 filtered B&W frames which, when projected with the appropriate filters, presented as colour slides.
I found the technique, the content, the original project and the project to create the images and present them on line all quite fascinating.
The content and historic record are remarkable and add to the overall value of the entire project. Certainly worth at least a few minutes browsing.
LongQ said:
I found the technique, the content, the original project and the project to create the images and present them on line all quite fascinating.
The content and historic record are remarkable and add to the overall value of the entire project. Certainly worth at least a few minutes browsing.
Absolutly. Great site and a really interesting technique.
Very nice, along with the 3 coloured plate technique that he used there were two others used at the time. The Autochrome system (developed by film pioneers the Lumiere Brothers) and the Paget Plate system.
Autochrome:
was a single piece of glass comprising both the colour screen and the photographic emulsion, or coating. The colour screen was made up of dyed potato starch grains that had been separated to a uniform size, dyed red-orange, green and blue-violet, and thoroughly mixed together. The mixture was applied to a varnished glass plate while the varnish was still tacky. The excess mixture was brushed off and the plate passed between steel rollers to flatten the grains, resulting in tiny colour filters between 0.006 and 0.025 millimetres across. Any space between the filter elements was filled with carbon powder. The plate was then varnished, and when dried, a standard black-and-white emulsion was overlaid. The plate was exposed in reverse; that is, with the glass side of the plate to the lens so that light entering the camera passed first through the colour filters before exposing the negative. The exposed plate would then be processed in reverse, so that the image produced was a positive. When viewed with a light source behind it, a colour image was displayed.
Paget Plate:
The Paget system was a development of the classic colour screen plate system using two glass plates, one of which was the colour screen while the other was a standard black-and-white negative. The Paget colour screen plate comprised a series of red, green and blue filters, laid down in a regular pattern of lines to form a réseau, or matrix. One of the claimed advantages of the Paget system was the use of separate “taking” and “viewing” screen plates. Because the negatives of the time were so “slow”, the colours in the taking screen plate were diluted, which let more light through to the negative, resulting in a quicker exposure. The viewing screen with more intense colour was used in combination with the positive image.
The sale of Paget colour plates enjoyed moderate success up to 1914. In 1920 this plate was renamed Duplex and continued to be sold for a few more years.
Autochrome:
was a single piece of glass comprising both the colour screen and the photographic emulsion, or coating. The colour screen was made up of dyed potato starch grains that had been separated to a uniform size, dyed red-orange, green and blue-violet, and thoroughly mixed together. The mixture was applied to a varnished glass plate while the varnish was still tacky. The excess mixture was brushed off and the plate passed between steel rollers to flatten the grains, resulting in tiny colour filters between 0.006 and 0.025 millimetres across. Any space between the filter elements was filled with carbon powder. The plate was then varnished, and when dried, a standard black-and-white emulsion was overlaid. The plate was exposed in reverse; that is, with the glass side of the plate to the lens so that light entering the camera passed first through the colour filters before exposing the negative. The exposed plate would then be processed in reverse, so that the image produced was a positive. When viewed with a light source behind it, a colour image was displayed.
Paget Plate:
The Paget system was a development of the classic colour screen plate system using two glass plates, one of which was the colour screen while the other was a standard black-and-white negative. The Paget colour screen plate comprised a series of red, green and blue filters, laid down in a regular pattern of lines to form a réseau, or matrix. One of the claimed advantages of the Paget system was the use of separate “taking” and “viewing” screen plates. Because the negatives of the time were so “slow”, the colours in the taking screen plate were diluted, which let more light through to the negative, resulting in a quicker exposure. The viewing screen with more intense colour was used in combination with the positive image.
The sale of Paget colour plates enjoyed moderate success up to 1914. In 1920 this plate was renamed Duplex and continued to be sold for a few more years.
Amazing - I spend years wondering about the colour slides I have and finally information turns up on PistonHeads.
I thought you might be interested in these images, they are scans of colour plates taken of my Grandmother on her honeymoon in 1916. The plates are approx 4" x 3" and use the Autochrome Method. We also have the viewer and the camera that took the images as well. The scans were done on my Epson 3200 photoscanner, all I have done post scan is to boost the levels a bit as the scans came out a little dark.
www.brightimages.co.uk/grandma/
This is my first post of PistonHeads - it looks to be a fascinating place to be!!
I thought you might be interested in these images, they are scans of colour plates taken of my Grandmother on her honeymoon in 1916. The plates are approx 4" x 3" and use the Autochrome Method. We also have the viewer and the camera that took the images as well. The scans were done on my Epson 3200 photoscanner, all I have done post scan is to boost the levels a bit as the scans came out a little dark.
www.brightimages.co.uk/grandma/
This is my first post of PistonHeads - it looks to be a fascinating place to be!!
Nice images lorac.
I wish my family had some colour stuff back them. All we have are a few reasonable size B&W or sepia (probably faded) and a load of tiny prints. mostly sepia, many of which were taken in India in the late twenties or the thirties when my Great Aunt was nursing in the Army.
It is odd what turns up unexpectedly on PH ...
I wish my family had some colour stuff back them. All we have are a few reasonable size B&W or sepia (probably faded) and a load of tiny prints. mostly sepia, many of which were taken in India in the late twenties or the thirties when my Great Aunt was nursing in the Army.
It is odd what turns up unexpectedly on PH ...
I contacted them years ago when I first inherited the plates. At the time they weren't very helpful (might just have been the particular person). I should give them another try as the plates are sitting in the same wooden cigar box as they have been for the last 70 odd years. It was very interesting to make scans of them though and it has meant that my brother and sister have copies now. My Grandad - who was a 'Gentleman Photographer' and loved cars and gadgets would love what is happening now in photography - and motoring!
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