Lenticular Screen

1896

|

Raphael E. Liesegang

Additive 3 color: Lenticular screen

“Every element of a cross-lined screen acts as a pinhole camera, and reproduces an image of the aperture of the objective in whose rear focal plane it is placed. Thus, when using a square stop, the dots in the halftone produced will be square ...

Access detailed information ›

Credit: Illustration by Sarah Steinbacher, Multimedia & E-Learning-Services, University of Zurich. Source: Ede, François (1994): Jour de fête ou la couleur retrouvée. Cahiers du Cinéma: Paris.
Principle of capturing and projecting lenticular film. Credit: Joakim Reuteler and Rudolf Gschwind, Digital Humanities Lab, University of Basel, Switzerland. Illustration by Sarah Steinbacher, Multimedia & E-Learning-Services, University of Zurich.
Principle of capturing and projecting lenticular film. Credit: Joakim Reuteler and Rudolf Gschwind, Digital Humanities Lab, University of Basel, Switzerland. Illustration by Sarah Steinbacher, Multimedia & E-Learning-Services, University of Zurich.
Principle of capturing and projecting lenticular film. Credit: Joakim Reuteler and Rudolf Gschwind, Digital Humanities Lab, University of Basel, Switzerland. Illustration by Sarah Steinbacher, Multimedia & E-Learning-Services, University of Zurich.

4 Images

Toning / metallic toning (French: virage, German: Tonung)

1896

Applied colors: Replacement of silver

In contrast to tinting, toning is not the simple immersion of a film into a dye bath but involves a chemical reaction converting the silver image. In this reaction the neutral silver image in the emulsion of the positive film is replaced by one consisting of colored metal compounds. These were usually iron ferrocyanide (Prussian Blue) for blue, copper ferrocyanide for red/brown, silver sulfide for sepia or rarely uranium ferrocyanide for reddish brown. Toning had been used in still photography before. But since film was projected on the screen it required translucent toning compounds.

Access detailed information ›

Hongarije (FRA 1926, Anonymous). Credit: EYE Film Museum. Photographs of the tinted, toned and stencil colored nitrate print by Olivia Kristina Stutz, ERC Advanced Grant FilmColors.
Virages sur films à support teinté Pathé, Film teinté lavande (virage bleu) lavender tinted stock with blue toning, the same image from a different copy of the book, combination of tungsten backlight with daylight toplight. Photograph by Barbara Flueckiger. Source: Didiée, L. (1926): Le Film vierge Pathé. Manuel de développement et de tirage. Paris: Pathé. [quote id='16']
Photomicrograph, 25x. Credit: Norbert Wey, Institute of Pathology, University of Zurich.
Photomicrograph, 50x. Credit: Norbert Wey, Institute of Pathology, University of Zurich.
Photomicrograph, 100x. Credit: Norbert Wey, Institute of Pathology, University of Zurich.
Toning samples from the Tinting and Toning Workshop by Ulrich Ruedel, Seminar "Materiality of Film" by Barbara Flueckiger and Bregt Lameris, Department of Film Studies, University of Zurich, in collaboration with Lichtspiel / Kinemathek Bern, David Landolf and Brigitte Paulowitz.
Toning samples from the Tinting and Toning Workshop by Ulrich Ruedel, Seminar "Materiality of Film" by Barbara Flueckiger and Bregt Lameris, Department of Film Studies, University of Zurich, in collaboration with Lichtspiel / Kinemathek Bern, David Landolf and Brigitte Paulowitz.

1550 Images in 63 Galleries

Tinting (French: teintage, German: Virage)

1896

Applied colors: Dyed gelatin

For tinting, the positive print is immersed into a variety of dye baths, scene by scene. To this end, the print has to be cut into the corresponding fragments and reassembled after the dyeing process. The dye homogeneously attaches over the entire image’s gelatin including the perforation area. Usually synthetic dyes were dissolved in a weak acid solution to form a chemical bond with the gelatin.

Access detailed information ›

Salomé (USA 1922, Charles Bryant). Credit: George Eastman Museum. Photographs of the tinted, toned and Handschiegl nitrate print by Barbara Flueckiger.
Photograph by Barbara Flueckiger. Source: Agfa Kine-Handbuch. Berlin: Actien-Gesellschaft für Anilin-Fabrikation. (around 1927, estimated).
See Mazzanti (2009: 71). Credit: Cineteca di Bologna. Film: Lyda Borelli in Malombra (Italy, 1917).
As coloured for South America, see Mazzanti (2009: 71). Credit: Cineteca di Bologna.
As coloured for the domestic Italian market, see Mazzanti (2009: 71). Credit: Cineteca di Bologna.
Photomicrograph, 25x. Credit: Norbert Wey, Institute of Pathology, University of Zurich.
Photomicrograph, 50x. Credit: Norbert Wey, Institute of Pathology, University of Zurich.
Photomicrograph, 50x. Credit: Norbert Wey, Institute of Pathology, University of Zurich.
Credit: Lichtspiel / Kinemathek Bern. Film: Dagli Appennini alle Ande (ITA 1916, Umberto Paradisi). Photograph by Barbara Flueckiger.
Credit: Lichtspiel / Kinemathek Bern. Film: Dagli Appennini alle Ande (ITA 1916, Umberto Paradisi). Photograph by Barbara Flueckiger.
Credit: Lichtspiel / Kinemathek Bern. Film: Dagli Appennini alle Ande (ITA 1916, Umberto Paradisi). Photograph by Barbara Flueckiger.
Credit: Lichtspiel / Kinemathek Bern. Film: Dagli Appennini alle Ande (ITA 1916, Umberto Paradisi). Photograph by Barbara Flueckiger.
Credit: Lichtspiel / Kinemathek Bern. Film: Dagli Appennini alle Ande (ITA 1916, Umberto Paradisi). Photograph by Barbara Flueckiger.
Credit: Lichtspiel / Kinemathek Bern. Film: Dagli Appennini alle Ande (ITA 1916, Umberto Paradisi). Photograph by Barbara Flueckiger.
Credit: Lichtspiel / Kinemathek Bern. Film: Gaumont Woche.
Credit: Lichtspiel / Kinemathek Bern. Film: Gaumont Woche.
Credit: Lichtspiel / Kinemathek Bern. Film: Gaumont Woche.
Credit: Lichtspiel / Kinemathek Bern. Film: Gaumont Woche.
Credit: Lichtspiel / Kinemathek Bern. Film: Selznick News.

4499 Images in 113 Galleries

Joly

1896

|

John Joly

Additive 3 color: Line screen process, still photography

“In 1894 Professor John Joly of Dublin patented a process for producing a screen of red, green and blue-violet lines by ruling them on a gelatin-coated glass plate. Joly used ruling machines of great accuracy, with drawing pens trailed across ...

Access detailed information ›

Photomicrograph (20x) of a Joly screen. Credit: Courtesy of George Eastman House, International Museum of Photography and Film.
Credit: Courtesy of George Eastman House, International Museum of Photography and Film.
Source: Coe, Brian (1978): Colour Photography. The First Hundred Years 1840-1940. London: Ash & Grant.
Credit: Gawain Weaver, Photograph Conservator, Gawain Weaver Art Conservation, San Anselmo, CA.
Source: Pénichon, Sylvie (2013): Twentieth Century Colour Photographs. The Complete Guide to Processes, Identification & Preservation. London, Los Angeles: Thames & Hudson, p. 69.
Source: Pénichon, Sylvie (2013): Twentieth Century Colour Photographs. The Complete Guide to Processes, Identification & Preservation. London, Los Angeles: Thames & Hudson, p. 22.
Source: Pénichon, Sylvie (2013): Twentieth Century Colour Photographs. The Complete Guide to Processes, Identification & Preservation. London, Los Angeles: Thames & Hudson, p. 23.

7 Images

Hand coloring

1895

|

(technique inherited from lantern slides)

Applied colors: Manual application

Coloring of individual frames by the use of very fine brushes. The process was previously applied to lantern slides. Any water based translucent dye was suited for the process, most often the coloring was done with acid dyes.

Access detailed information ›

Loïe Fuller (FRA 1905, Anonymous). Credit: BFI National Archive. Photographs of the hand colored nitrate print by Olivia Kristina Stutz, ERC Advanced Grant FilmColors.
Métamorphoses du papillon (FRA 1904, Gaston Velle). Credit: Library of Congress. Photograph of the nitrate prints by Barbara Flueckiger.
Credit: Turconi Collection by courtesy of George Eastman Museum, Moving Image Collection. Film: Zara.
Credit: Paolo Cherchi Usai. Source: Cherchi Usai, Paolo (2000): Silent Cinema. London: BFI.
Source: Coe, Brian (1981): The History of Movie Photography. Westfield, N.J.: Eastview Editions.

310 Images in 19 Galleries

Chromogenic development

1895

|

Raphael E. Liesegang

Subtractive 3 color: Chromogenic development

Access detailed information ›

Ozotype

1895

Subtractive 3 color: pigment process, still photography

Access detailed information ›

Lippmann

1891

|

Gabriel Lippmann

Direct color photography: Interference, still photography

“In 1891, Professor Gabriel Lippmann demonstrated to the French Académie des Sciences interference colour photographs of the spectrum and of stained glass windows, taken by a modification of Wiener’s method. An exceedingly fine grained, ...

Access detailed information ›

Source: Coe, Brian (1978): Colour Photography. The First Hundred Years 1840-1940. London: Ash & Grant.
Source: Lavédrine, Bertrand (2009): Photographs of the Past. Process and Preservation. Los Angeles: Getty Publications.
Source: Coote, Jack H. (1993): The Illustrated History of Colour Photography. Surbiton, Surrey: Fountain Press.
Source: Pénichon, Sylvie (2013): Twentieth Century Colour Photographs. The Complete Guide to Processes, Identification & Preservation. London, Los Angeles: Thames & Hudson, p. 19.
Source: Pénichon, Sylvie (2013): Twentieth Century Colour Photographs. The Complete Guide to Processes, Identification & Preservation. London, Los Angeles: Thames & Hudson, p. 235.

5 Images

Silver dye-bleach

1889

|

Raphael E. Liesegang

Subtractive 3 color: Dye-bleach

“Probably the first use of the catalytic property of silver was in 1889, when E. Howard Farmer disclosed the action of a silver image upon strong dichromate solutions (Eng. P. 17773/89). When a plate or film, containing a silver image, is immersed ...

Access detailed information ›

Sensitizing theory

1885

|

Hermann Wilhelm Vogel

Color theory

“Dr. H. W. Vogel, the discoverer of colour sensitizers, made three-colour photography possible, and has been the first to recognise the relation between colour sensitiveness of plate and printing colour in the following principle made known in ...

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 ›

Dye Imbibition Process

1875

|

Ernest Edwards

Access detailed information ›

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

1 Image

Orthochromatic stock

1873

|

Hermann Wilhelm Vogel

b/w photography: Orthochromatic b/w stock

“In 1873 Dr Vogel discovered that by adding dyes to the sensitive material, its sensitivity could be extended, so that it would record green as well as blue. The new ‘orthochromatic’ plates were available commercially from 1882. The ...

Access detailed information ›

„Film orthochromatique (film négatif Pathé Standard)“ (orthochromatic stock). Source: Didiée, L. (1926): Le Film vierge Pathé. Manuel de développement et de tirage. Paris: Pathé.
„Film ordinaire (non orthochromatique)“ (Normal, non-orthochromatic stock). Source: Didiée, L. (1926): Le Film vierge Pathé. Manuel de développement et de tirage. Paris: Pathé.

2 Images

Proposal of a variety of processes of three-color photography

1869

|

Louis Ducos du Hauron

Theory: still photography

“Louis Ducos du Hauron is reported to have become interested in the reproduction of colors by photography in 1859, when he was twentyone years old (Potonniée, 1939). In 1862 he submitted to a friend of his family, M. Lelut, a paper embodying ...

Access detailed information ›

"Du Hauron invented his Chromographoscope in 1874. It could be used either as a camera or an additive viewer." Source: Coote, Jack H. (1993): The Illustrated History of Colour Photography. Surbiton, Surrey: Fountain Press.
An early three-color print by Louis Ducros Du Hauron, 1877.

2 Images

Proposal of a variety of processes of three-color photography

1869

|

Charles Cros

Theory

Description of a variety of color processes, even for images in motion by the use of a rotary shutter.

Access detailed information ›

Color theory

1861

|

James Clerk Maxwell

Additive 3 color: Additive 3 color, still photography

“In a lecture on the theory of three primary colors, given at the Royal Institution of Great Britain on May 17, 1861, Maxwell presented the first demonstration of a photograph in color. According to the records of that meeting (Maxwell, 1890c, ...

Access detailed information ›

Source: Coe, Brian (1981): The History of Movie Photography. Westfield, N.J.: Eastview Editions.

1 Image

Trichromatic vision

1802

|

Thomas Young

Theory: Color vision

Theory of trichromatic vision proposed by Thomas Young.

Access detailed information ›

Kingston Process

191?

|

Arthur Kingston

|

England

Additive three color process: rotary filters

Three black-and-white color separations were printed consecutively on one film strip and projected through the corresponding color filters, thus combining to one color image on screen.

Access detailed information ›

Autotype Dyebro

ca. 1929

|

Owen Wheeler, Autotype Company

Subtractive 3 color: dye imbibition process, still photography

“Autotype Dyebro Introduced around the same time as Colorsnap and Uvatype, Autotype Dyebro combined the three-color carbro and dye imbibition processes. The method was invented by Owen Wheeler (1859–1932) and commercialized by the Autotype ...

Access detailed information ›

Projection light

Theory

Access detailed information ›

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 ›

Belcolor

ca. 1935

|

George Murphy

Subtractive 3 color: pigment process, still photography

“Introduced in the mid-1930s by George Murphy, Inc., of New York City, Belcolor was considered one of the simplest ways to obtain color transparencies, as it required no special equipment or expert technique and could be used successfully ...

Access detailed information ›

Condax-Dytrol

ca. 1940

|

Louis M. Condax, Condax-Speck, Inc., New York, Robert P. Speck

Subtractive 3 color: dye imbibition process, still photography

“Around 1940, Condax-Speck, Inc., of New York started to market dyes and mordant for the Condax-Dytrol system of dye imbibition printing (Fig. 4.19). The system, developed by company owners Louis M. Condax (1897–1971) and Robert P. Speck, ...

Access detailed information ›

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

Kodachrome used for duplication

[1964]

Access detailed information ›

Finlay Positive Color Screen / Finlaychrome

ca. 1933

|

Clare L. Finlay

Additive 3 color: regular mosaic screen, combined system, still photography

“The launching of a combined version of the product called Finlaychrome was announced in 1931 but was still unavailable three years later; it is unclear if it was ever marketed.28 Instead, it seems that the company produced a viewing screen ...

Access detailed information ›

Source: Pénichon, Sylvie (2013): Twentieth Century Colour Photographs. The Complete Guide to Processes, Identification & Preservation. London, Los Angeles: Thames & Hudson, p. 235.
Pénichon, Sylvie (2013): Twentieth Century Colour Photographs. The Complete Guide to Processes, Identification & Preservation. London, Los Angeles: Thames & Hudson, p. 39.
Pénichon, Sylvie (2013): Twentieth Century Colour Photographs. The Complete Guide to Processes, Identification & Preservation. London, Los Angeles: Thames & Hudson, p. 40.

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