Wolfgg
Even though it doesn’t quite fit in with a photography forum, it’s simply worth a look. As early as 1909, a Russian photographer immortalised his country in colour by capturing RGB images on three black-and-white plates – the only way to do it at the time. Great photos:
http://www.damninteresting.com/?p=245
http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/empire/
Wolfgang
dr_megavolt
Thanks for the link, that’s really fascinating; it’s amazing what you can get out of those 100-year-old plates…
It’s actually a brilliant idea, I think – if Diaroll film ever stops being made, I’ll have to make do with this… ;)
Roland
Gast
It’s particularly interesting, given that in our minds everything around that time was grey or muddy-coloured. It just goes to show how wrong we can be.
SamuliSchielke
What does this teach us? That the present should be photographed in black and white to create a sense of detachment, but the past should be documented in colour to appear contemporary?
Stagirit
With slides, I don’t have the same creative freedom in the darkroom as I do with black and white.
Otherwise, I’d love to work more in colour, but you have to accept significant compromises, and it’s almost on a par with just snapping away.
The best colour material, Cibachrome (now Ilfochrome), isn’t processed anymore. And it hasn’t been available as a film for decades.
Gast
The best colour material, Cibachrome (now Ilfochrome), isn’t processed anymore.
Strange, PPS in Hamburg still had a machine running last autumn. Though only with roll stock from Lamda.
And the competition in Hatten is apparently able to supply it, though I know 5-litre soup bags are a bit unwieldy for home use.
Regards
Martin
Gast
By the way,
the colours in the pictures look suspiciously good.
Just how well the primary colours could be reproduced for projection back then will probably remain a mystery...
Best regards
Martin
Stagirit
Re Cibachrome: That was also the reason I threw the Colenda away.
Since the projection from the black-and-white slides uses additive mixing, it should actually work quite well, as the individual light sources don’t need to be as bright.
Perhaps he used carbide lamps for this; they’re incredibly bright.
Gast
In my opinion, the most ingenious thing about this process is that the colour information is, in a sense, encoded within the three black-and-white images; so you have the archival stability of a black-and-white film, yet still retain the colour information, which can be extracted again through projection, optical enlargement, or scanning and digital post-processing. As far as durability is concerned, this is likely to be far superior to today’s colour films.
dr_megavolt
Not logged in... as there are two Rolands here... I was the one above... ;)
uworischki
"Colour photograph:
.....is any photographic image intended to produce a colour (usually true-to-life) reproduction. This is achieved using today’s multilayer negative or colour reversal films, the early lens-grating, line-grating or grain-grating films or plates, as well as standard Panchromatic materials behind colour separation filters, e.g. in beam-splitting cameras and the Lippmann process. ..."
Source: FOTO-KINO-Lexikon, Fotokinoverlag, 1st edition 1960, page 113
So it’s not exactly THE big hit. Because:
Wilhelm Bermpohl had been manufacturing the Bermpohl 3-colour camera since 1899. The camera worked with semi-transparent mirrors and upstream colour separation filters....
if anyone is interested – I can scan a sketch of the operating principle and a photo of the camera and send them over.
uwe.
Stagirit
Yes, yes, and colour photography has actually been around since about 1870, using chromium salts, but it wasn’t possible to fix the images.
Anyway, I find Produkin’s work impressive even so; hardly anyone bothered with colour photography, and he also maintained a proper composition.
So he wasn’t entirely daft.
And that shot in the turbine room of a power station – let’s see someone try to replicate that with transparency.
dr_megavolt
Uwe, that’s exactly the encyclopaedia entry I was looking for ;-). But could you upload the sketch? It would certainly be interesting...
Wasn’t it actually Goethe who came up with the theory of colours? Apparently he was also a keen amateur photographer (“More light!”).
The turbine room impressed me too – that reflection in the tiled floor and the glow from the windows; the picture has real atmosphere...
The wooden chapel in the tundra against an almost white sky is brilliant too; it has a sort of Becher-esque quality to it...
I’m wasting your bandwidth with my ramblings, I’ll stop now ;-)
Roland
PhilippReichmuth
And the Bukhara pictures are pretty much the only colour images we have from Central Asia (apart from Vereshchagin’s paintings and postcards that have been hand-coloured).
Philipp
mephisto
Let anyone try and tell me the Russians are after us now! These pictures are a real treat for the eyes. Thanks, Wolfgang, for this link. I only found it today, though, so it’s a belated Easter present for me! :ph34r:
Wolfgg
Interestingly, one thing has remained unchanged to this day: if you want to leave colour photographs for posterity that will last for centuries (perhaps even 1,000 years), this is the only method available – that is, three colour separations on black-and-white material. The greatest possible longevity is likely achieved by producing a platinotype print from each of the three colour separations.
Best regards, Wolfgang
cfb_de
Hello Wolfgang,
A decent sulphur toner is sufficient here too. The result is actually better electrochemically (i.e. in terms of environmental factors) than a plate print, and the system works well with colour separations too. You just have to factor the sulphur toner into the reproduction.
I don’t do anything like that; black and white is perfectly fine for me.
Best regards,
Franz
Wolfgg
Hello Franz,
Isn’t gelatin also one of the factors limiting shelf life (in terms of centuries)? Or is there a process using silver sulphide that doesn’t require gelatin? As far as I know, fine art printing processes now consist solely of a substrate (e.g. cotton paper) with an image made of a precious metal such as platinum adhered to it. I’ve never actually worked with this myself, though.
Best regards, Wolfgang
cfb_de
Hello Wolfgang,
isn’t gelatin also one of the factors limiting shelf life (in terms of centuries)?
Yes. It’s susceptible to bacteria and mould, and as far as I know, it can’t be replaced in the silver process (although: wet collodion paper? That should actually work).
But I was thinking of something else: sulphur toning produces silver sulphide. The silver is oxidised and thus protected from any further influences. You can’t say the same for platinum prints (and platinum isn’t that inert either).
In both cases, however, it’s likely the support material that limits the lifespan.
Best regards,
Franz
perforiert
The best colour material, Cibachrome (now Ilfochrome), is no longer processed. And it hasn’t been available as film for decades.
That is not true, however. Ilfochrome film is available in 16mm (unperforated) and 35mm (perforated and unperforated), each in two gradients. The material is used in the archival sector for reproductions. However, it is not suitable for ‘normal’ photography due to its extremely low speed. Its shelf life is said to be at least 300 to 500 years.
