This was invisible to the eye but did register on the emulsion. While the fundamental theory may have been understood, however, a practical method of colour photography remained elusive. Some experimenters pursued the idea of a direct method of colour reproduction which did not rely on mixing primary colours.
In Gabriel Lippmann, a professor of physics at the Sorbonne, demonstrated a colour process which was based on the phenomenon of light interference—the interaction of light waves that produces the brilliant colours seen in soap bubbles.
This process won Lippmann a Nobel Prize in and was marketed commercially for a short time around the turn of the century.
However, the extremely long exposure times required meant that the process was to remain little more than a scientific curiosity. The future of colour photography lay with three-colour processes that relied on mixing the primary colours of light.
These negatives were used to make three positive, separately-dyed images which, when superimposed, combined to give a coloured photograph. Initially, the work of Maxwell, Du Hauron and others, despite its theoretical importance, was to be of limited practical value.
This was largely due to the fact that the photographic emulsions in use at the time were very limited in their colour sensitivity. Before their methods would work in practice, photographic materials that were sensitive to the whole colour range of the spectrum had to be introduced.
By the s, plates that were sensitive to blue and green light were commercially available. It was not until the early years of the 20th century, however, following the work of Dr H W Vogel, that the first fully panchromatic plates, sensitive to all colours, were sold.
At last it seemed that the way lay clear for the future possibility of a practicable and commercially viable method of colour photography. The first processes for colour photography appeared in the s. Based on the theory demonstrated in thes by Maxwell, these reproduced colour by mixing red, green and blue light. The American photographer and inventor Frederic Ives devised a system based on three colour-separation negatives taken through coloured filters. From these negatives, positive transparencies were made which were placed in a special viewer, called a Kromskop.
Mirrors in the Kromskop superimposed the images on the three transparencies and a second set of filters restored the colours. Instead of making three separate exposures through red, green and blue filters, a simpler, alternative approach was to make just one exposure through a filter that combined all three primary colours.
The first process to use this method was devised by Dr John Joly of Dublin, in Joly covered a glass plate with very fine red, green and blue lines less than 0. When taking a photograph, this screen was placed in the camera in front of the plate.
After exposure and reversal processing, the black and white positive image was carefully placed in register with another filter screen. The result was a colour transparency which could be viewed by transmitted light. The Joly process was introduced commercially in , and remained on the market for a few years. However, the limited colour sensitivity of the plates then in use meant that the results were not very successful.
In they gave the first presentation of their process to the French Academy of Science and by had begun to produce autochrome plates commercially. News of their discovery soon spread and examples of the new plates were eagerly sought. Critical reaction was rapturous. Alfred Stieglitz wrote:. Manufacturing autochrome plates was a complex process.
First, pulverised starch grains were passed through a sieve to isolate individual grains between 10—15 microns in diameter. Many different types of starch were tried, but the humble potato gave the best results. These microscopic grains were then dyed red, green and blue-violet, mixed and spread over a glass plate, and coated with a sticky varnish. Next, charcoal powder was spread over the plate to fill any gaps between the coloured starch grains.
A roller submitted the plate to a pressure of five tons per square centimetre to flatten out and spread the grains before the plate was varnished to make it waterproof.
The final plate was a three-coloured filter screen, on every square inch of which were about four million transparent starch grains, each one acting as a coloured filter. The final stage was to coat the plate with a panchromatic emulsion. Autochrome plates were simple to use. They required no special apparatus and photographers were able to use their existing cameras.
Exposure times, however, were long—about 30 times those of conventional plates. Even in bright sunshine, an exposure of at least one second was needed, and in cloudy weather this could be increased to 10 seconds or more.
Even in a well-lit studio, portraits could require an exposure of as long as 30 seconds. Following exposure, autochrome plates were reversal-processed to produce a positive image. When viewed by transmitted light passing through the plate, the millions of tiny red, green and blue-violet grains combined to give a full-colour photograph, accurately reproducing the colours of the original subject. In theory, the grains were mixed and distributed randomly on the surface of the plate. In practice, however, mathematical probability meant some grouping of grains of the same colour was inevitable.
These screens used either a random grain pattern or, more commonly, different geometric patterns of lines and squares. Most of these processes are now long forgotten, but one remained popular for years.
Dufaycolor first appeared in as a 16mm cine film, followed in , by a rollfilm version. Devised by Louis Dufay, Dufaycolor employed a regular geometric screen of red lines alternating with rows of green and blue rectangles.
Colour reproduction was good and it was comparatively fast—although only one-third of the speed of contemporary black and white film. Whereas autochromes appealed to photographers who liked to do their own processing, Dufaycolor was aimed at the snapshot market. A processing service which returned finished transparencies, mounted and ready for viewing, opened up colour photography to a whole new class of photographers. Dufaycolor, the last of the screen processes, remained on the market up to the s.
Most early colour processes worked on the principle of mixing, or adding together, appropriate combinations of red, green and blue light. While The Wizard of Oz wasn't the first color film, it surely was the most influential.
Every Wizard of Oz adaptation has failed to compare to the original, in great part because they don't present any innovation that compares to the achievement of the film. Even by today's standards, the land of Oz continues to be a breathtaking paradise thanks to the sense of childlike wonder that its color evokes.
Nicolas Ayala is a writer with a passion for blockbusters and big-screen adaptations. The cheesier the movie, the better. When not writing, he's probably coming up with new ideas for the next writing sessions. By Nicolas Ayala Published Jun 01, Share Share Tweet Email 0. Related Topics SR Originals the wizard of oz.
Eastman Kodak's own color film process Eastmancolor rivaled the popularity of Technicolor, and Eastmancolor was compatible with the new widescreen CinemaScope format. Both widescreen film and color movies were the industry's way of battling against the growing popularity of the small, black and white screens of television. By the late s, most Hollywood productions were being shot in color—so much so that by the mids new black and white releases were less a budgetary choice than they were an artistic choice.
That has continued in the subsequent decades, with new black and white movies mainly appearing from indie filmmakers. Today, shooting on digital formats renders color film processes nearly obsolete. Still, audiences will continue to associate black and white film with classic Hollywood storytelling and also marvel at the bright, vibrant colors of early color movies. Actively scan device characteristics for identification.
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Develop and improve products. List of Partners vendors. Christopher McKittrick. Christopher McKittrick is a film writer whose work has been featured in anthologies such as Entertainers Who Changed America. Featured Video. The Most Important Movies of the s.
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