Vivex

1928

|

Dr. Douglas Arthur Spencer (Color Photographs Limited of London)

Subtractive 3 color: pigment process, still photography

“Vivex prints were introduced by Color Photographs Limited of London in 1928. One of the most important features of this printing method, invented by Douglas Arthur Spencer (1902–1980), was the introduction in 1929 of cellophane, instead of ...

Access detailed information ›

Pénichon, Sylvie (2013): Twentieth Century Colour Photographs. The Complete Guide to Processes, Identification & Preservation. London, Los Angeles: Thames & Hudson, p. 105.

1 Image

Uvatype

1929

|

Arthur Traube (Uvachrome)

Subtractive 3 color: dye imbibition process, still photography

“Uvatype was yet another variation of the dye imbibition process, introduced by the Uvachrome Company of Germany in 1929 (Fig. 4.12). Its inventor, the German chemist Arthur Traube, worked diligently to improve the then-available imbibition ...

Access detailed information ›

Pénichon, Sylvie (2013): Twentieth Century Colour Photographs. The Complete Guide to Processes, Identification & Preservation. London, Los Angeles: Thames & Hudson, p. 138.

1 Image

UltraStable Color Systems

1992

|

Charles Berger, Richard Newmark Kauffman

Subtractive 4 color: pigment process, still photography

“Berger then started to work with the master carbro printer Richard Newmark Kauffman (1916−1998), and together they founded Ultrastable Color Systems, Inc. In 1992 they introduced presensitized UltraStable material for four-color carbon ...

Access detailed information ›

Pénichon, Sylvie (2013): Twentieth Century Colour Photographs. The Complete Guide to Processes, Identification & Preservation. London, Los Angeles: Thames & Hudson, p. 95.

1 Image

Triadochrome

1921

|

J. F. Shepherd

Subtractive 3 color: dye mordanting and silver toning process, still photography

“After the war, in 1921, J. F. Shepherd introduced in England a printing method called the Triadochrome Color Process, which was very similar to Hamburger’s Polychromide.10 To make a print, a cyan impression obtained from an iron-toned ...

Access detailed information ›

Traube / Uvachrome

1922

|

Arthur Traube (Uvachrom)

Subtractive 3 color: Mordanting, dye transfer, wash-off relief, still photography

“In 1916 Traube found that copper toning baths3 were especially suitable for dye mordanting and patented the Uvachrome process.4 At the time, Germany was at war with most of Europe, and little commercial progress was made until the end of ...

Access detailed information ›

Source: Pénichon, Sylvie (2013): Twentieth Century Colour Photographs. The Complete Guide to Processes, Identification & Preservation. London, Los Angeles: Thames & Hudson, p. 103.
Source: Pénichon, Sylvie (2013): Twentieth Century Colour Photographs. The Complete Guide to Processes, Identification & Preservation. London, Los Angeles: Thames & Hudson, p. 277.
Source: Pénichon, Sylvie (2013): Twentieth Century Colour Photographs. The Complete Guide to Processes, Identification & Preservation. London, Los Angeles: Thames & Hudson, p. 138.

3 Images

Technicolor No. VI: Dye-transfer prints from enhanced process

1997

|

Technicolor

Subtractive 3 color: dye transfer

In 1994, Technicolor announced the development of an enhanced dye-transfer process. This process became effective in June 1997. There was no official denomination, so “Technicolor No. VI” is not to be confused with statements from the mid ...

Access detailed information ›

Technicolor No. V: Dye transfer prints from chromogenic negative

1954

|

(Technicolor)

|

USA

Subtractive 3 color: Dye transfer

With the introduction of the chromogenic Eastmancolor negative/positive process it became possible to shoot with a normal one-strip camera. Three b/w color separations were produced from the Eastmancolor negative and printed by dye transfer on blank ...

Access detailed information ›

Written on the Wind (1956). Credit: Harvard Film Archive, item no. 3663. Photograph by Barbara Flueckiger.
Credit: Harvard Film Archive, item no. 1781. Film: Le Ballon rouge (1956). Photograph by Barbara Flueckiger.
Credit: Harvard Film Archive, item no. 1781. Film: Le Ballon rouge (1956). Photograph by Barbara Flueckiger.
Surface emulsion side, raking light (tungsten). Credit: Carsta Knaack, HTW Berlin. Film: Robin Hood, 1973.
Photomicrograph 16x, raking light. Credit: Carsta Knaack, HTW Berlin. Film: Robin Hood, 1973.
Photomicrograph, toplight on white background. Credit: Carsta Knaack, HTW Berlin. Film: Robin Hood, 1973.
Photomicrograph 6,4x, top light on white background: picture and perforation area with spots of dye, yellow edge. Credit: Carsta Knaack, HTW Berlin. Film: Ssssss (1973).
Photomicrograph 10x, top light on white background: picture and perforation area with spots of dye, yellow edge, yellow dye in frame line. Credit: Carsta Knaack, HTW Berlin. Film: Ssssss (1973).
Photomicrograph 16x, top light on white background: sound track and perforation area with spots of dye, yellow edge. Credit: Carsta Knaack, HTW Berlin. Film: Ssssss (1973).
Raking light: surface of picture and perforation area with small spots of dye, yellow edge. Credit: Carsta Knaack, HTW Berlin. Film: Ssssss (1973).
Surface emulsion side, raking light (tungsten). Credit: Carsta Knaack, HTW Berlin. Film: Robin Hood, 1973.
Vertigo (USA 1958, Alfred Hitchcock). Credit: Harvard Film Archive, item no. 246. HDR photograph by Barbara Flueckiger.

2181 Images in 41 Galleries

Technicolor No. IV: Three-strip

1932

|

(Technicolor)

Subtractive 3 color: Color separation, beam-splitter, dye transfer

With the fourth Technicolor process the company dominated the market for color films from the mid-1930s to the 1950s. In a special camera, three b/w negative films were exposed through a beam-splitter that consisted of two prisms to form a cube. One ...

Access detailed information ›

Credit: Image courtesy of the Academy Film Archive. Film: Gone with the Wind (USA 1939, Victor Fleming). Photograph by Barbara Flueckiger.
Film: Samson and Delilah (US 1949, Cecil B. DeMille), trailer.
Photomicrograph, 50x. Credit: Norbert Wey, Institute of Pathology, University of Zurich.
Photomicrograph, 100x. Credit: Norbert Wey, Institute of Pathology, University of Zurich.

1887 Images in 65 Galleries

Technicolor No. III

1927

|

(Technicolor)

Subtractive 2 color: Beam-splitter, dye transfer

The third Technicolor process used the same camera as process no. II to combine a pair of frames of the red and green record respectively on the b/w negative (see image). In contrast to the former process, however, the two images were printed on one side of the positive by the dye transfer or imbibition process.

Access detailed information ›

King of Jazz (USA 1930, John Murray Anderson). Credit: Library of Congress. Photographs of the Technicolor No. III dye-tranfer nitrate print from 1930 and 1931 by Olivia Kristina Stutz, ERC Advanced Grant FilmColors.
Credit: Images courtesy of the Margaret Herrick Library. Film: Corrine Griffith in The Garden of Eden. Photograph: Barbara Flueckiger.
Credit: George Eastman House Motion Picture Department Collection. Film: Buffalo Bill’s Last Fight (USA 1927, John W. Noble).
Technicolor ad in Photoplay, 1930. Source: Photoplay, 1930, see Media History Digital Library
Technicolor ad in Photoplay, 1930. Source: Photoplay, 1930, see Media History Digital Library
Photomicrograph, 10x. Credit: Silvana Konermann.
Photomicrograph, 20x. Credit: Silvana Konermann.
Doctor X (USA 1932, Michael Curtiz). Credit: UCLA Film & Television Archive. Photographs of the Technicolor No. III dye-tranfer nitrate print by Barbara Flueckiger.
Doctor X (USA 1932, Michael Curtiz). Credit: UCLA Film & Television Archive. Photographs of the Technicolor No. III dye-tranfer nitrate print by Barbara Flueckiger.

1298 Images in 38 Galleries

Technichrome

1948

|

(Technicolor)

Subtractive 2 color: Dye transfer, 2 color bi-pack, 3 color printing

Access detailed information ›

Technichrome, three-color print of bi-pack negatives, 1948. Credit: Gert Koshofer Collection. Sample No. 89. Photograph by Barbara Flueckiger

4 Images in 1 Gallery

Sanger-Shepherd

1900

|

Edward Sanger-Shepherd

Subtractive 3 color: dye imbibition process, still photography

“In 1900 Edward Sanger-Shepherd (ca. 1869−1927), a London scientific instrument maker, started to offer complete outfits for making natural color lantern slides with a dye imbibition printing method that became known as the Sanger-Shepherd ...

Access detailed information ›

Pénichon, Sylvie (2013): Twentieth Century Colour Photographs. The Complete Guide to Processes, Identification & Preservation. London, Los Angeles: Thames & Hudson, p. 128.
Pénichon, Sylvie (2013): Twentieth Century Colour Photographs. The Complete Guide to Processes, Identification & Preservation. London, Los Angeles: Thames & Hudson, p. 129.
Pénichon, Sylvie (2013): Twentieth Century Colour Photographs. The Complete Guide to Processes, Identification & Preservation. London, Los Angeles: Thames & Hudson, p. 130.

3 Images

Russian three-color process

1936

|

Pavel Mershin (Mosfilm), Fedor Provorov (NIKFI) and Avenir Min (Leningradskii zavod kino-apparatury, Leningrad Film Factory LenKinAp)

Subtractive three color

Access detailed information ›

Zaveshchanie/The Testament (7 June 1937). Credit: Courtesy of Nikolai Mayorov.
Zaveshchanie/The Testament (7 June 1937). Credit: Courtesy of Nikolai Mayorov. Credit: Courtesy of Nikolai Mayorov.
The Miraculous Traffic Light (1938). Credit: courtesy of Nikolai Mayorov
The Wolf and Seven Goat-Kids (1938). Credit: Courtesy of Nikolai Mayorov.
The Fox and the Wolf (1937). Credit: Courtesy of Nikolai Mayorov.
The Fox and the Wolf (1937). Credit: Courtesy of Nikolai Mayorov.

6 Images

Raylo

ca. 1922

|

Hiram Codd Joseph Deeks (American Raylo Corporation)

Subtractive 3 color: pigment process, still photography

“Raylo was a material developed by Hiram Codd Joseph Deeks (1880−1952) of the American Raylo Corporation, New York. It was introduced in 1922 for a printing service for users of the Raylo Camera, a one-shot camera that made three negatives ...

Access detailed information ›

Pénichon, Sylvie (2013): Twentieth Century Colour Photographs. The Complete Guide to Processes, Identification & Preservation. London, Los Angeles: Thames & Hudson, p. 87.

1 Image

Polychrome

1932

|

Frederic Eugene Ives

Subtractive 3 color: dye mordanting and silver toning process, still photography

“In 1932 Frederic Eugene Ives published details of his Polychrome printing system for making three-color paper prints or transparencies from two separation negatives made through a red and a green-blue filter. The process, described by its ...

Access detailed information ›

Pénichon, Sylvie (2013): Twentieth Century Colour Photographs. The Complete Guide to Processes, Identification & Preservation. London, Los Angeles: Thames & Hudson, p. 281.

1 Image

Pinatype / Pinatypie

1903

|

Léon Didier (Meister Lucius & Brüning)

Subtractive 3 color: Dye transfer, still photography

“In the imbibition process, a dye image is transferred from a gelatin relief image to a receiving layer made either of paper or film. Charles Cros described this method of “hydrotypie” transfer printing in 1880 and suggested it ...

Access detailed information ›

Cyan and magenta combined, third layer, yellow missing. Source: Meister Lucius & Brüning (1905): Pinatypie. Positiv-Verfahren für die Dreifarbenphotographie. Höchst am Main.
Source: Pénichon, Sylvie (2013): Twentieth Century Colour Photographs. The Complete Guide to Processes, Identification & Preservation. London, Los Angeles: Thames & Hudson, p. 235.
Source: Pénichon, Sylvie (2013): Twentieth Century Colour Photographs. The Complete Guide to Processes, Identification & Preservation. London, Los Angeles: Thames & Hudson, p. 235.
Source: Pénichon, Sylvie (2013): Twentieth Century Colour Photographs. The Complete Guide to Processes, Identification & Preservation. London, Los Angeles: Thames & Hudson, p. 132.

4 Images

Ozotype

1895

Subtractive 3 color: pigment process, still photography

Access detailed information ›

Ozobrome 1905–ca. 1910, after 1913 renamed Raydex

1905

|

Thomas Manly

Subtractive 3 color: pigment process, still photography

“In 1905 Thomas Manly (d. 1932) of London introduced the Ozobrome process,21 which was a modification of his earlier Ozotype, patented in 1898.22 The process was based on a carbon printing method proposed in 1873 by Auguste Marion (1835–1917) ...

Access detailed information ›

Pénichon, Sylvie (2013): Twentieth Century Colour Photographs. The Complete Guide to Processes, Identification & Preservation. London, Los Angeles: Thames & Hudson, p. 100.

1 Image

N.P.G.

1902

|

Robert Krayn, Neue Photographische Gesellschaft

Subtractive 3 color: pigment process, still photography

“In 1902 Robert Krayn of Berlin described and patented his Naturfarben-Photographie System, a carbon printing system that was commercially introduced around 1905 by the German manufacturer of photographic paper Neue Photographische ...

Access detailed information ›

Pénichon, Sylvie (2013): Twentieth Century Colour Photographs. The Complete Guide to Processes, Identification & Preservation. London, Los Angeles: Thames & Hudson, p. 85.

1 Image

Kwik-Print

1977

|

Light Impressions Corporation

Subtractive 3 color: pigment process, still photography

“In 1977 Light Impressions Corporation of Rochester, New York, introduced Kwik-Print, a contact speed color printing material. This was a modification of the Kwik-Proof graphic arts proofing system made by Direct Reproductions Corporation of ...

Access detailed information ›

Pénichon, Sylvie (2013): Twentieth Century Colour Photographs. The Complete Guide to Processes, Identification & Preservation. London, Los Angeles: Thames & Hudson, p. 110.

1 Image

Kodak Dye Transfer

1946

|

Louis M. Condax, Eastman Kodak Company

Subtractive 3 color: dye imbibition process, still photography

“Kodak Dye Transfer materials were introduced by Eastman Kodak Company in February 1946 and replaced Eastman Wash-Off Relief. Principal improvements over the previous material included a simplified registration procedure, more rapidly ...

Access detailed information ›

Pénichon, Sylvie (2013): Twentieth Century Colour Photographs. The Complete Guide to Processes, Identification & Preservation. London, Los Angeles: Thames & Hudson, p. 148.

1 Image

Kelleycolor

1923

|

William van Doren Kelley (Kelleycolor Company)

Subtractive 2 color: Dye transfer

“In 1919 Kelley produced a series of coloured cartoons which were drawn by Pinto Colvig. In 1924 he introduced “Kelleycolor,” which was an imbibition process. Two colours were imbibed on a black-and-white key image. In 1926 he ...

Access detailed information ›

Credit: George Eastman House Motion Picture Department Collection. Film: The Old Family Toothbrush (USA 1925).

1 Image

Jos-Pé

1924

|

G. Koppmann

Subtractive 3 color: dye imbibition process, still photography

“Invented by G. Koppmann and introduced in Hamburg in 1924 by the German financier Josef-Peter Welker, from whom the product took its name (Wall and Jordan 1940: 330), Jos-Pé was a complete color system that included a one-exposure camera, ...

Access detailed information ›

Pénichon, Sylvie (2013): Twentieth Century Colour Photographs. The Complete Guide to Processes, Identification & Preservation. London, Los Angeles: Thames & Hudson, p. 135.

1 Image

Irix-Farbenfilm

1933/34

|

Richard Gschöpf, Karl Pokorny

|

Austria

Subtractive three-color process: imbibition

Three matrices in the subtractive primary colors are printed on the gelatin of the final print. Supposedly, the used dyes were particularly fast and able to prevent color bleeding. Pokorny started working on color cinematography in the 1920s, often ...

Access detailed information ›

Hydrotypie / Hydrotype

1880

|

Charles Cros

Subtractive 3 color: dye transfer, still photography

“In the imbibition process, a dye image is transferred from a gelatin relief image to a receiving layer made either of paper or film. Charles Cros described this method of ‘hydrotypie’ transfer printing in 1880 and suggested it ...

Access detailed information ›

Hicrography / Hicrome

1915

|

Frederic Eugene Ives

Subtractive 3 color: dye imbibition process, still photography

“In 1915 the company launched a hybrid dye imbibition color printing system called Hicrography.9 From the separation negatives, positive impressions were made through the base on the presensitized dichromated film (Hicro Film), which also ...

Access detailed information ›

Pénichon, Sylvie (2013): Twentieth Century Colour Photographs. The Complete Guide to Processes, Identification & Preservation. London, Los Angeles: Thames & Hudson, p. 134.

1 Image

Handschiegl / DeMille-Wyckoff / Wyckoff Process

1916

|

Max Handschiegl and Alvin Wyckoff

Applied color: Imbibition

Similar to stenciling, the Handschiegl process was applied mechanically to manually defined image parts. Therefore it is an applied color process. After the film was shot and edited, for each color applied a separate print was made. In contrast to ...

Access detailed information ›

Black-and-white with Handschiegl in Lights of Old Broadway (USA 1925, Monta Bell). Credit: Library of Congress. Photograph of the nitrate print by Barbara Flueckiger.
Credit: Geo. Willeman, Nitrate Film Vault Manager, Library of Congress. Film: Trail of '98 (USA 1929, Clarence Brown).
Credit: Geo. Willeman, Nitrate Film Vault Manager, Library of Congress. Film: Trail of '98 (USA 1929, Clarence Brown).
Credit: Paolo Cherchi Usai. Source: Cherchi Usai, Paolo (2000): Silent Cinema. London: BFI. Film: Greed (USA 1925, Erich von Stroheim).
Credit: Geo. Willeman, Nitrate Film Vault Manager, Library of Congress. Film: Forbidden Fruit (USA 1921, Cecil B. DeMille).
Credit: Geo. Willeman, Nitrate Film Vault Manager, Library of Congress. Film: Forbidden Fruit (USA 1921, Cecil B. DeMille).
Source: Ryan, Roderick T. (1977): A History of Motion Picture Color Technology. London: Focal Press, p. 24.
Credit: Geo. Willeman, Nitrate Film Vault Manager, Library of Congress. Film: Trail of '98 (USA 1929, Clarence Brown).

142 Images in 8 Galleries

Fuji Dyecolor

ca. 1975

|

(Fuji Photo Film Company)

Subtractive 3 color: dye imbibition process, still photography

“Around 1975, Fuji Photo Film Company introduced Fuji Dyecolor, a dye imbibition printing service available only in Japan. A feature of the process was that the transfer of the dyes was done automatically in a special rotary machine developed ...

Access detailed information ›

Fresson Quadrichromy

1959

|

Pierre Fresson; Atelier Fresson

Subtractive 4 color: pigment process, still photography

“In 1951, when pigment processes were falling into disfavor, Pierre Fresson (1904–1983) of Atelier Fresson developed Fresson Quadrichromy, a four-color printing method based on the monochrome direct carbon process (charbon-satin) that had ...

Access detailed information ›

Pénichon, Sylvie (2013): Twentieth Century Colour Photographs. The Complete Guide to Processes, Identification & Preservation. London, Los Angeles: Thames & Hudson, p. 91.

1 Image

EverColor

1993

|

William Nordstrom

Subtractive 4 color: pigment process, still photography

“Also during the 1990s, William (Bill) Nordstrom started to experiment with a carbon process called Agfa-Proof, a four-color proprietary prepress color proofing system. He founded the EverColor Corporation in El Dorado Hills, California, in ...

Access detailed information ›

Pénichon, Sylvie (2013): Twentieth Century Colour Photographs. The Complete Guide to Processes, Identification & Preservation. London, Los Angeles: Thames & Hudson, p. 96.

1 Image

Eastman Wash-Off Relief

1935

Subtractive 3 color: dye imbibition process, still photography

“In October 1935 Eastman Kodak Company introduced Eastman Wash-Off Relief. For years the company had been producing matrices and blank films for Technicolor motion pictures, and Kodak engineers were familiar with the requirement of the dye ...

Access detailed information ›

Pénichon, Sylvie (2013): Twentieth Century Colour Photographs. The Complete Guide to Processes, Identification & Preservation. London, Los Angeles: Thames & Hudson, p. 140.

Home

About this Project

Scan2Screen

Compare

Filter

Color Mania Book

News and Blog

Acknowledgements

Experts, scholars, institutions

Sponsors, supporters, patrons of the crowdfunding campaign

ERC Advanced Grant FilmColors

Film Colors. Technologies, Cultures, Institutions

Budget / Sponsors

Important copyright notice

Contact

Timeline of Historical Film Colors

Donate

[wp-legacy-stripe]

Search Modifiers