Color photography

Portrait of painter Albert Bierstadt, made by his brother Edward Bierstadt. This collotype print was sent in 1895 to Elbridge T. Gerry. It may be the oldest surviving color portrait photograph.

The three-color method, which is the foundation of virtually all practical color processes whether chemical or electronic, was first suggested in an 1855 paper on color vision by Scottish physicist James Clerk Maxwell.[1][2]

In his studies of color vision, Maxwell showed, by using a rotating disk with which he could alter the proportions, that any visible hue or gray tone could be made by mixing only three pure colors of light – red, green and blue – in proportions that would stimulate the three types of cells to the same degrees under particular lighting conditions.[3] To emphasize that each type of cell by itself did not actually see color but was simply more or less stimulated, he drew an analogy to black-and-white photography: if three colorless photographs of the same scene were taken through red, green and blue filters, and transparencies ("slides") made from them were projected through the same filters and superimposed on a screen, the result would be an image reproducing not only red, green and blue, but all of the colors in the original scene.[4]

The first color photograph made according to Maxwell's prescription, a set of three monochrome "color separations", was taken by Thomas Sutton in 1861 for use in illustrating a lecture on color by Maxwell, where it was shown in color by the triple projection method.[5] The test subject was a bow made of ribbon with stripes of various colors, apparently including red and green. During the lecture about physics and physiology, not photography, Maxwell commented on the inadequacy of the results and the need for a photographic material more sensitive to red and green light. A century later, historians were mystified by the reproduction of any red at all because the photographic process used by Sutton was, for all practical purposes, insensitive to red light and only marginally sensitive to green. In 1961, researchers found that many red dyes also reflect ultraviolet light, coincidentally transmitted by Sutton's red filter, and surmised that the three images were probably due to ultra-violet, blue-green and blue wavelengths, rather than to red, green and blue.[6]

A color photograph made by Gabriel Lippmann in the 1890s, containing no pigments or dyes of any kind.

The Joly screen process emerged as a simpler and somewhat more economical alternative, requiring no specialized camera or viewer. Instead, it necessitated a unique color-compensating filter for the camera lens and a particular holder for the photographic plates. The core of the system resided within the holder: a clear glass plate meticulously ruled with fine lines of three colors, creating a consistent, repeating pattern across its entire surface. Rather than capturing three separate photographs through individual colored filters, this method employed numerous narrow strips (the colored lines) to allow the essential color information to be recorded in a single, composite image. After developing the negative, a positive transparency was produced, and a viewing screen—with red, green, and blue lines matching the taking screen's pattern—was precisely aligned and applied, rendering the colors visible. The transparency and screen were notably similar to the monochrome liquid crystal elements and overlay of ultra-thin red, green, and blue color filter stripes that generate the color image in a typical LCD display. This invention was attributed to Irish scientist John Joly, who, like many inventors, ultimately discovered that the fundamental concept had been preemptively outlined in Louis Ducos du Hauron's 1868 patent, which had since expired.[7]

Paul Outerbridge was an American photographer prominent for his early use and experiments in color photography. He began writing a monthly column on color photography for the U.S. Camera Magazine around 1930. Outerbridge became known for the high quality of his color illustrations, made by a highly complex tri-color carbro process.[8] In 1940 he published his seminal book Photographing in Color, using high quality illustrations to explain his techniques.[9]

Ferenc Berko, a classic photographer who lived during the rise of color film, was one of the photographers who immediately recognized the potential of color film. He saw it as a new way to frame the world; a way to experiment with the subjects he photographed and how he conveyed emotion in the photograph.[10]

John Hedgecoe, another photographer who lived during this time period, was another example of those who preferred color. He published a book entitled The Art of Color Photography, which explained the importance of understanding the "special and often subtle relationships between different colors". He also described the psychological and emotional power of color on the viewer since certain colors, he argues, can make people feel a certain way.[11]

According to Eggleston, his former idol, Henri Cartier-Bresson, said to him at a party, “William, color is bullshit”, and then not another word.[12]

Harold Baquet, for instance—a relatively current photographer known best for documenting New Orleans civil rights—was not keen on color. He preferred to take pictures mainly using black-and-white film. When asked about his reasoning for this preference during an interview, he replied, “The less is more. Sometimes the color distracts from the essential subject. Sometimes, light, line, and form is enough, allowing you to explore the sculptural qualities of that third dimension, that illusional dimension of depth. And it’s fun”.[13] This aversion to color was due mainly to a fear of losing simplicity in his pictures. He worried that color gave the eye too much to take in.[13]