Photography on glass plates

Dry Glass Plate Photography is Back

In the era of the “selfie”, of the relentless click-and-publish images on social media, of the mega sensors replete with megapixels, we are witnessing an unpredictable resurgence of many ancient photographic devices and techniques.

Wet collodion (tintypes) and many other alternative photo processes are being keenly rediscovered today and there is an ever-growing plethora of workshop available to those who want to learn and practice them.

A primitive photographer myself, a practitioner of what I like to define “slow photography” for most of my professional life, I observe this phenomenon with great interest, wondering about what its deepest rationale might be.

The amazing and light-fast technology that permeates our lives can become overwhelming at times. Images are indeed one of the most widespread and immediate forms of communication nowadays, when an ever-decreasing attention span makes just reading a few paragraphs a daunting task for many.

At the same time, creating digital images is devoid of the tactile, hand-dirtying, artisanal, alchemic qualities typical of the silver process heritage.

Today lenses and cameras are precisely designed and built by computers, there is no more space for the serendipitous human error neither in the photographic machines nor in the images they produce. Everything is simplified and automated, bringing the original Kodak Brownie advertising promise “ you press the button- we do the rest” to an almost dystopian level, thus hampering some peoples’ vision and their enjoyment of the creative process.

That is certainly my case and, given the choice, I’ll always opt for an ancient glass and wood large format view camera versus the latest digital device.

I suppose there are other factors too: In analog photography the creative process doesn’t end downloading your files to a computer or uploading them to social media, lost in a binary void forever, but it continues in the darkroom, where one carefully chosen image undergoes a complex voyage towards becoming a print, a tactile, permanent, often unique expression of the photographer’s vision.

To sum up, it appears that the impermanence of digital is finally starting to feel uncomfortable to some, hence a reversal to think more, click less, dabble with wet techniques from the past to create images that can actually still exist in the future.

Along those lines, I am happy to report the recent re-introduction on the market of a long gone photographic medium: dry glass plates.

Dry glass plates, invented by Dr. Richard L. Maddox in 1871, were a major advancement for photographers who until then were mostly using the wet collodion process. Wet collodion required to be poured just before taking the photograph and developed shortly afterward, something rather difficult and time-consuming outside of a studio environment.

Dry glass plates instead, being pre-coated with a light-sensitive gelatin could be easily transported to external locations and the photos developed at a later time, back in the darkroom, greatly helping photographers to expand their business in outside locations. You can admire a nearly unknown itinerant seed vendor-photographer exquisite dry plates photos taken on the Italian Alps here.

While I am familiar and have practiced in the past wet collodion photography, I too, a century later, find dry plates portability a great advantage over tintypes. With dry plates, I can even fly commercially, without having to worry about the strict Airlines regulations against the poisonous and explosive wet collodion chemistry.

Shooting these new old dry plates is not completely devoid of problems, yet, but things are improving rapidly. The first batches had some flaws and coating issues but that, by now, has been completely resolved.

The man that made dry plates photography possible again is Mr. Jason Lane, a brilliant optical engineer based in New Hampshire, who has a deep love and understanding of photographic media and techniques from a bygone era.

Mr. Lane’s production is still completely artisanal and made in U. S.A.: he painstakingly hand-coats his dry plates, boxes them and ships them.

A one-man operation fuels this unexpected and welcome renaissance inspired by the past but with an eye to the future, giving us the opportunity to experiment with one of the most archival-stable and fascinating photographic technology from the beginning of last century.

In a world that is often keen to forget and foolishly dismiss as useless many valuable assets from the heritage of mankind, not only in photography but also in everything else, including oral tradition, popular culture, and art, I find Mr. Lane’s work extremely remarkable and inspiring.

Editor’s note: Jason Lane has been selling his dry plates for several months now. The emulsion has a “normal” sensitivity, so it responds to UV and blue.

“In this way, it shares a lot of characteristics with wet plate, combining them with characteristics of film I really enjoy the look of the handmade plate era, and it seems I’m not the only one,” Lane told PetaPixel back in January.

Lane is selling a few standard formats and is also open to making custom plates of all sizes — he has made and delivered plates as large as 12×20″ and as small as 35mm.

You can find out more about Lane’s plates and purchase you own through his website, Facebook page, and Etsy store.

About the author: Giovanni Savino is a New York-based photographer and cinematographer. The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author. You can find more of Savino’s work on his website and Instagram. This article was also published here.

Image credits: Header photos by Giovanni Savino. All other photos by Jason Lane.

Glass Plate Negatives (1850s to 1920s) - Early Photographic Formats and Processes in the Special Collections and Archives Research Center

Benjamin A. Gifford Photographs, circa 1885-circa 1920
The Benjamin A. Gifford Photographs consist of photographs made by Gifford during his career as a photographer in Portland and The Dalles, Oregon. The images depict Native Americans, primarily of the Columbia Plateau region; the Columbia River and the Historic Columbia River Highway; Central and Eastern Oregon; Gifford Family members; and many unidentified individuals and groups. Gifford arrived in Oregon and worked first in Portland until 1895, when he opened a studio in The Dalles. He returned to Portland in 1910. Images from this collection have been digitized and are available in Oregon Digital. Glass negatives comprise the majority of the collection, and can be found in Boxes 17 - 58.

Horticulture Department Photographs, 1900-1980
The Horticulture Department Photographs consist of images taken and assembled by horticulture faculty for teaching and research and depict a variety of horticultural topics as well as the Oregon Agricultural College campus. The Department of Horticulture and Botany was established in 1888; a separate Horticulture Department formed in 1909.Images from this collection have been digitized and are available in Oregon Digital. Glass negatives can be found in Boxes 07 - 29.

Oregon State University Historical Photographs, 1868-1980
The Oregon State University Historical Photographs Collection is an artificial collection comprised of images gathered from multiple sources. The collection provides visual documentation for a number of noteworthy individuals, activities and events dotting the history of Oregon State University for nearly one century. Images from this collection have been digitized and are available in Oregon Digital. Glass plate negatives can be found in Boxes 15 - 34.

Walter R. Baker Photographs, circa 1863 - circa 1930
The Walter R. Baker Photographs consists of images taken or collected by Baker during and soon after his student years at Oregon Agricultural College (OAC). The collection includes images of campus buildings and students as well photographs of buildings in and near Salem, Oregon, and of the Portland, Oregon, waterfront. Baker attended OAC from 1904 to 1909; he earned a BS in Electrical Engineering in 1908 and completed graduate work in 1909 leading to designation as an Electrical Engineer. Images from this collection have been digitized and are available in Oregon Digital. Glass negatives can be found in Boxes 05 - 15.

E. E. Wilson Photographic Collection, circa 1855-1953
The E. E. Wilson Photographic Collection consists of images of Wilson, a Corvallis native and Oregon Agricultural College (OAC) alum, as well as his family and friends, the OAC campus, Corvallis, and other locations around the Pacific Northwest. The collection also includes images of the 1915 Panama Pacific Exposition in San Francisco and photos of Siletz tribe members. Glass plate negatives can be found in Boxes 06 - 26.

Sydney Trask Photograph Collection, 1871-1932
This personal collection of photographs taken (and assembled) by Sydney Trask includes many notable images from the 1890s through 1910s of Oregon Agricultural College buildings, campus views, classrooms, and laboratories. Trask attended Oregon Agricultural College in 1894-1896. Before coming to Corvallis in 1894, he was a photographer for the railroad in eastern Oregon; in the late 1890s, he had a photographic studio in Corvallis. Images from this collection have been digitized and are available in Oregon Digital. The majority of the collection is comprised of glass plate negatives, housed in Boxes 02 - 13.

Herman T. Bohlman Photograph Collection, circa 1890-1928
The Herman T. Bohlman Photograph Collection consists of images taken and assembled by Bohlman documenting bird species and his travels, primarily in the Pacific Northwest. Bohlman was a lifelong friend and collaborator of renowned ornithologist, naturalist, and conservationist William L. Finley. Many of the photographs are available online in the Oregon Digital collection Reuniting Finley and Bohlman. Glass plate negatives can be found in Boxes 01 - 09, and Box 15.

Oregon State University Military Photographs Collection, 1875-1975
The Oregon State University Military Photographs Collection consists of images of military education and cadets at Oregon State from various sources and time periods. Individual images include portraits and group shots of military cadets and officers, as well as reviews, formations, training, and instructional materials. Photographs are arranged chronologically by historical era. Courses in military science have been taught at Oregon State since the early 1870s. Images from this collection have been digitized and are available in Oregon Digital. Glass negatives can be found in Boxes 05 - 09.

College of Agricultural Sciences Photographs, 1892-2001
The College of Agricultural Sciences Photographs were taken or assembled by College staff and faculty to document the Oregon State University's academic and research programs in agriculture; Branch Experiment Stations in Oregon; faculty, students, and alumni; international programs; and special events, conferences, and workshops. The bulk of the images are b/w prints and color slides; the collection also includes nitrate and glass negatives; some film negatives; and a few color prints. Images from this collection have been digitized and are available in Oregon Digital. Sub-series 1 in the collection, consists of 63 plate glass negatives; these negatives can be found in Boxes 03 - 05.

Herbarium Photographs, 1904-1963
The Herbarium Photographs were made or assembled by curators of the Herbarium and students in the Department of Botany and Plant Pathology. The images depict a variety of subjects including Pacific Northwest species of plants and trees, the Oregon Agricultural College greenhouses, botany research and teaching, and logging operations. Images from this collection have been digitized and are available in Oregon Digital. Glass negatives in the collection can be found in Boxes 02 - 03.

Buildings Photographic Collection, 1880-2002
The Building Photographs collection documents Oregon State University buildings, grounds, and facilities as well as a limited number of other notable buildings in Corvallis. The collection also includes approximately 20 line drawings of buildings located on other Oregon University System campuses. Images from this collection have been digitized and are available in Oregon Digital. There are 25 glass negatives in the collection: image #2, 37-45, 142, 149, 171, 255, 1104-1113, and 1251.

Gerald W. Williams Glass Negatives Collection, circa 1910
The Gerald W. Williams Glass Negatives Collection consists of eight glass negatives of the Oregon coast assembled and acquired by Williams due to his avocational interest in the history of the Pacific Northwest region. The photographer is not identified. Gerald Williams worked for the U.S. Forest Service from 1979 to 2005 as a sociologist (1979-1998) and historian (1998-2005). Images from this collection have been digitized and are available in Oregon Digital.

Photographic plate - frwiki.wiki

Photographic plate is a photographic support consisting of a glass plate of a certain size and a layer of photographic emulsion.

Photo negatives on glass plates of the coastline of Neuchâtel at the end of XIX - century, with their container (Milvignes archive).

An example of a photograph taken from a glass plate negative: a portrait of the composer Paul Lacombe (1837-1927).

Summary

1 History
2 In science
- 2.1 Astronomy
- 2.2 Physics
- 2.3 Medicine
3 formats
- 3.1 Regular formats
- 3.2 Derived stereoscopic formats
4 Notes and references
5 Applications

Historical

Center of High Memory Verrerie d'en - gelatin-silver bromide photographic plate. nine0005

In the early days of photography, the glass plate was first wet: the photographer had to prepare it on the spot, that is, properly distribute the photographic emulsion on the glass during use. Then dry spots appear, first with collodion. In the 1870s Richard Leach Maddox created the so-called gelatin-silver bromide dry plates.

Then the brothers Auguste and Louis Lumiere invented the blue label, commercially available from the 1890s until around 1950. This is a dry plate with an exposure time of 1/60 second. He would bring success to the Lumiere family before the invention of cinema. It was gradually replaced at the beginning of XX - ^th century, film (supplied with paper) due to George Eastman and film (paperless) borrowed from film.

For the needs of photographers working in large format in the camera, a semi-rigid support called "film plane" replaced the glass plate. It, inserted into a rigid frame, provides lightness and flatness, combining the qualities of a film and a plate.

Because of its superior performance over film, the emulsion plate was used by professional astronomers until early 1990s.

In science

Photographic plates were the first detectors of radioactivity, and ionization of radiation was able to capture the plates, as Henri Becquerel noticed in 1896 by chance with uranium salts, confirming the existence of radioactivity, which until then was unknown.

Astronomy

Several observatories, including Harvard University and Sonneberg, have a large number of astronomical photographic plates. The University Observatory at Harvard University began in 2001 with a plan to digitize the approximately 500,000 plaques in its possession. nine0005

Physical

Gamma interactions.

In particular, photographic plates are used in particle physics, since ionizing radiation can leave dark traces on them. So Victor Franz Hess discovered cosmic rays in the 1910s, that is, by placing photographic plates at high altitude.

Medicine

The sensitivity of some photographic plates to X-rays is used in medical imaging and materials science. However, they have been superseded by reusable computer formats such as radioluminescent memory screens and other X-ray detectors. nine0005

Formats

Negative silver bromide gelatin plate 9×12, 1900 by Eugène Trutat, held in the photo library of the Toulouse Museum.

Regular sizes

24 × 30 cm
18 × 24 cm
13 × 18 cm
9 × 12 cm
6 × 9 cm
4. 5 × 6 cm

Derived stereoscopic formats nine0065

6 × 13 cm (this is a 13 × 18 cm plate, cut into three parts)
45 × 107 mm

Notes and links

↑ ^{a and b} (in) Harvard College Observatory Astronomical Plate Stacks - Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory

Applications

Photo on wet plates

Sir John Herschel is not very successful, but did experiments on the use of glass, not paper or metal, as a basis for applying photosensitive silver salts. In 1847 Niepce de Saint Victor, cousin of Nicephorus Niepce, having studied Herschel's report, published in the Royal magazine society "Journel", found out that sir John could not find a suitable organic material that can was to coat the glass as binder for photosensitive silver. nine0005

Professional military and amateur scientist by vocation, Niepce de Saint Victor lost his laboratories during the revolution of 1848, when the barracks were destroyed, in which he lived. However, he continued his classes, experimenting first with starch and gelatin, and then more successful with egg white. In egg white he added a few drops of iodide potassium and potassium bromide, a few grains ordinary salt, carefully shake it all up until foamy, and then filtered through calico. nine0005

This iodized egg white solution he applied to glass, and when the solution dried out, he immersed this glass plate in silver nitrate, and she became photosensitive. The plate could be inserted into the chamber wet or dry but dry plate required more exposure time, than a daguerreotype or calotype. Convinced, that his invention will play a certain role in photography, Niepce de Saint Victor announced his protein process to the Academy of Sciences in Paris in June 1848. nine0005

Straightaway same after the publication of this process various modifications have been proposed and improvements for faster obtaining a photosensitive protein so that they can use when creating portraits and drawings, when photography of architectural objects and landscapes.

For elimination of graininess and other paper imperfections L. D. Blancart-Evrard proposed to coat the paper with protein for positives. After development, he dipped imprint in a solution of gold chloride, to receive calm and pleasant brown and gray tones, as well as for to make the image more sustainable. nine0005

Paper the negative was once again improved, but, like the daguerreotype and all the others early processes, he was consigned to oblivion after creation by Scott Archer wet collodion process, about which reported the magazine "Kemist" in March 1851.

Scott Archer, British sculptor and photographer, dissolved pyroxylin, ether and alcohol, to get collodion (this formula has been known for several years medicine), and then mixed it with solution of silver iodide and iodide gland. With this mixture he covered the clean glass plate, which is then immersed in a solution of distilled water and silver nitrate and wet exposed in the camera The plate needs to be was to show while the collodion was still wet. The new process was much faster than using egg squirrel or some other photographic method. He demanded just two to three second exposure in direct sunlight, and the resulting as a result, the tonality did not go into what comparison with the results of any other existing processes. nine0005

As Scott Archer was generous! He could get a patent for your invention and become the owner of unheard-of wealth, sufficient for himself and his heirs, since wet collodion the process has not been surpassed for more than thirty years before dry gelatin plates. Archer announced his invention without any conditions and died in poverty at the age of forty four years old in 1857.

Because the ether very quickly evaporated from the collodion, the plate had to be developed immediately after exposure. In extreme climatic conditions of the desert or mountains it was associated with significant difficulties, especially since all the preparation the plate was to be held in complete darkness or almost complete darkness. The photographer had to not only move around with cameras, tripods, lenses, chemicals, glass plates of various sizes, suitable for his chambers, distilled water, measuring jars and trays, but and had to carry with him a "dark room" - and all these accessories weighed about 120 pounds. In many cases the tent was a dark room, although wicker baskets, boats, railway wagons, carriages and handcarts also often served this purpose. nine0005

Wet collodion process immediately began to be used to create portraits. In America where the daguerreotype has been in vogue for much longer than anywhere else in Europe, a patent was issued for the production of ambrotype portraits, which were made the same size as and daguerreotypes. As advertised, these portraits had the advantage that they could be considered any lighting, while silver images on mirror surfaces daguerreotypes could only be seen under certain lighting. nine0005

Ambrotypes (from the Greek word "indestructible, eternal") are negative portraits on glass, deliberately underexposed, to get a faint image. On the back of these negatives black paper or corduroy, and sometimes this reverse side just painted over with black paint. Since the image was upside down, then they usually put a glass negative face down on paper or corduroy to get a positive image. Above covered with glass, and all this was placed into a specially prepared "branded" a box in which this negative is very looked like an expensive daguerreotype. nine0005

Three the photographers took great pictures, using the collodion process, one filmed in the deserts of Egypt, and two - in the Swiss Alps. It was Francis Frith from England and the Bisson brothers from France.

Near The East was a big attraction for tourists at the end of the nineteenth century, and this created an endless demand for photographs of Egyptian antiquities, views rivers Nile and Jerusalem. Europe Publishers and England sent entire expeditions photographers to somehow satisfy this public demand, which gave them significant profits. Publisher Francis Frith from London who was both talented photographer, in 1856 traveled to the head of the Nile, taking pictures with cameras various sizes, one of which could take pictures on huge 16" x 20" plates. (Only for contact prints. Magnifications were not made, although Fox Talbot included increase process in your application to patent in 1843.) Having begun his journey in the delta, he went up the river more than 800 miles to Fifth Falls, beyond Egypt's current border with Sudan. He took excellent pictures of the pyramids and Great Sphinx at Giza, temples at Karnak and Luxor, monumental sculptures, half-buried by sands in Tebes, as well as architectural remains, seen against the background of the Nile water in Fillet. nine0005

Which great series of photos! Which fortitude and ingenuity were required from Francis Frith to get them! In the dry heat of Egypt, wet collodion the plate dries out faster than conventional ten minutes on a hot summer day England. Every movement in the dark stuffy the tent had to be calculated. Strong the smells of ether inside the tent were suffocating. Temperatures in the desert often reached 110 degrees (Fahrenheit), and inside the tent 130 degrees, collodion boiled. Sometimes with unexpected sandy storms, sand fell on the plates and left his marks or made them completely unsuitable. In spite of all these difficulties, Frith managed to save enough negatives to make a selection of exceptional photos and publish next year them in a book about Egypt, in which there were not only original photographs, but also descriptions of his experiences As a result of his three journeys to Egypt and Jerusalem Frith has published seven books. nine0005

For some photographers who used collodion process, hot light sun and other difficult working conditions in the desert were no match for cold light of the sun and difficulties work in the mountains. How much stamina do you need had to take photos in in the terrible cold of ice and snow, on wind-blown winds of mountain peaks about 16,000 feet, in the rarefied atmosphere of the Alps One of the best photographs mountain landscapes ever made, include the works of Louis Auguste Bisson and his brother Auguste Rosalie. nine0005

Twenty four photographs sized 9x15 and 12x17 inches were made by the Bisson brothers in 1860 during a high mountain expedition in Switzerland. They covered the plates collodion, which in the alpine frost hardly flowed out of the can, and after developing they washed them with melted snow. Despite the poor coating of the plates, which affected the quality of the reproduced the sky, the photos of the mountains are superb demonstrated artistic the skill of these authors, their ability dramatic composition in world of bare rocks and white snows. nine0005

Other courageous photographer, the first to shoot military action, was Roger Fenton, who photographed the Crimean War in 1855. He had a van served as a darkroom, which was it says "Photographic van", and he filmed fortifications, ships and warehouses, military installations, battlefields, officers and privates and the most attractive kitchen workers in the rear who spoke at war also in the role of sisters of mercy. The heat that stood on the Crimean peninsula on the Black Sea, as well as the need long exposures - all this created difficulties in the preparation of collodion glass plates. They couldn't take long stored, and during the hottest daylight hours Fenton didn't shoot And yet, despite all the inconvenience, despite on disease epidemics in the area, Fenton did more in four months 300 negatives. nine0005

AT 1860s William Notman became famous all over the world with their pictures of the first Canadian settlers. He made a series pictures of elk and bison hunters near the tent "in the thickets", traps and guides in high fur boots and polar fox fur coats on snow made of salt, Indian boy with a loaded toboggan - all were photographed in very harsh and difficult poses in his studio in Montreal. He skillfully created the situation, considered more realistic than nature could create. Relatively fast wet collodion process unleashed skill and imagination photographers who left amazing testimonies of those days. nine0005

Alexander Hesler, Chicago's first photographer, was considered in the 1850s "one of the greatest daguerreotypists of America". In 1851 he photographed the border in the upper reaches Mississippi, where he made large daguerreotypes pictures of St. Anthony's Falls, fort Snelling and Minnehag Falls. snapshot Minnehaga Falls, which demonstrated in his Chicago studio two years later, approved nationwide his reputation as a thinking photographer. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow in a letter also in the first edition of Hiawatha, which he sent autographed to Hesler, recognized that the daguerreotype of the Minnehaga Falls inspired him to write a poem Hiawatha

Was born Hesler in Montreal but still a boy moved to the city with his parents Reisin, Wisconsin and beyond years (he died in 1895) became a photographer Middle West, who had studios in different areas of Chicago. He had his first studio opened in 1853. Success accompanied to him. He opened another studio and invited for the work of a miniature painter. Hesler mastered photography on negatives paper, wet collodion process, stereograph, and this allowed him to assert in advertising that he can fulfill anyone photographic order - from miniature portraits to portraits of the largest sizes. nine0005

AT 1857 he made a portrait of Abraham Lincoln. Two photographs of Lincoln which Hesler made from wet plates in 1860 and on which Lincoln is depicted well dressed, combed and without a beard, were seriously damaged in 1933 when forwarding by mail. broken glass plates were stored in Smithsonian Institution. In 1958 there were found two copies of the negatives, which Hesler made with the best prints and kept to himself. These copies are purchased Chicago Historical Society. nine0005

Color photo photos > Exploring new horizon

On for two-thirds of a century, appearance of a new film developed shortly after World War II, the color process was very specific and labor intensive. To get color photographs required three different negative, but for color print on paper had to be turned three black and white negatives in three layers colored gelatin, precisely matched together. Many different chemicals and methods kept the great masters black and white photography from being turn to color film, and they were only a few photos were taken. The color photographs belonged to almost completely to the world of technical and applied Photo. They have been used in scientific work, in advertising, in color reproductions. And the main goal of theory, practice and printing color photography was absolutely accurate reproduction of the natural colors. nine0005

All color photography is based on that each shade can be obtained by a combination of just three "primary" colors. Practically this principle was put into practice in eighteenth century when inexpensive prints from well-known paintings, made intaglio, tinted. In 1855 James Clark Maxwell anticipated color photography by pointing out which can be combined in the same way light from its primary colors, and in 1861 he projected the image of the piece Scottish fabric on the screen, while three color images (each of them conveyed one of the primary colors) were superimposed on one another. In 1868 in Paris, Louis Ducos du Auron designed a number of techniques for the production color photographs on paper. These techniques were the basis color photography up to 1930 years old when Mannes and Godowsky proposed for film positive imaging method on one film. In 1938 the film "Kodakhrom" and the same "Agfacolor", developed almost simultaneously Germany, became public. Exactly then became widely used color film, although photographers must were to return both "Kodakhr" and "Agfacolor" company for holding complex process that included self-expression, re-exposure, coloring and whitening of all three photosensitive film layers. At 1950 appeared on sale color reversible film "Ektachrome", developed by the same Mannes and Godowsky. She let the photographers do the show yourself. Soon there were films "Kodacolor" and "Ectacolor". But these were negative materials, that is the film after development had colors, opposite of natural. This "opposite" had to be reversed, i.e. make the colors look natural printing, just like black and white negatives turn to positives prints. In 1963, Polaroid released film "Polacolor" with processing time 60 seconds, developed by Edwin G. Land. And four years earlier, Land debunked the classic tricolor theory of color vision, proving that the human eye sees full color image and when only two color separation photographs of this objects are superimposed on one another, and one of the photos is illuminated longer wavelength than another. nine0005

Climax the inventive genius of Edwin Land became his SC-70 camera, which appeared in 1973 year, which automatically issues, after pressing the electronic button shutter, color square print 3.125 inches.

Many professionals narrow their "palette" and limited to dark colors highlighted by only a few bright beams of colored light. Conscious use of the unexpected color changes, intentional violation film manufacturers' instructions for the sake of in order to get colors that no one has seen yet, it has become a composite part of the technical skill of the whole a number of talented photographers such as Ale Joel, Michelle Vaccaro, Fred Lyon Erwin Blumenfeld, Nina Lin, Marc Riboud and many others. Particularly bright color range of the new very sensitive color film delights lovers seeking to have the most realistic pictures. nine0005

First color photography - 150 years

150 years ago at a lecture “On the theory of three primary colors”, which took place May 17, 1861 at the Royal Institution, was publicly shown for the first time in the world of color photography. Photo was taken by an English photographer and the inventor of the SLR camera, Thomas Sutton (Thomas Sutton) under the direct the leadership of the famous Scottish physics and mathematics by James Clerk Maxwell (James Clerk Maxwell). that you are here you see - this is the very first color in the world photo. It features a bow of checkered tartan on a black background velvet. nine0005

Ribbon from tartan ("Tartan ribbon") - world's first color photograph

Idea the method by which this photography originated with Maxwell in 1855. The essence of the method was as follows. The ribbon was photographed successively through three color filters - red, green and blue. After that, the three received images were projected onto a screen three projectors, each which was also equipped with color light filter - red, green or blue. Combining three projections into one the image resulted in one full color picture. Thus Maxwell made a clear confirmation of his theory that everyone knows about now - all the colors of the world, it turns out, can be convey as a combination of the three main colors - red, green and blue. nine0005

For shooting negatives Maxwell and Sutton used glass coated photographic emulsion (collodion), these three plates are currently kept in a small museum in Edinburgh, in the house where Maxwell was born. As solutions were used for light filters salts of various metals. Many later, almost 100 years after the shooting first color photography, specialists Kodak repeated Maxwell's experiment and Sutton and concluded that with the help of materials available at the time. get red and green image it was impossible. The red exposure was produced by ultraviolet the light reflected by the red dyes in Scotch, and to which was sensitive plate, and green filter partially passed blue rays. However, in research Maxwell contained the correct principle color separation to obtain color Photo. Correct after 40 years this method was proven first classics of color photography. AT especially at the beginning of the twentieth century Russian photographer, chemist and inventor Sergei Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorsky used a similar but significantly advanced technology for taking color photographs. Difficult believe that the photograph shown below was made 100 years ago - at 1911:

open Maxwell principles of color separation used to this day for shooting color photographs. In particular, in ubiquitous digital photographs of photosensitive element is a monochrome electronic table, the individual elements of which covered with color filters red, green and blue. array such filters is called a filter Bayer.

Photography today photos > new forms art

Photo gave us not only new bright forms art, but also found great application in science, industry, trade. AT in these areas it has revolutionized means of communication, deepened and expanded scientific research and created new public institutions. This process started a long time ago, since applied a photograph as old as itself photo. Blueprints of engineering drawings and architects were used by builders and entrepreneurs for over a century back. At the same time, astronomers began install cameras on star telescopes to photograph the sky. nine0005

Technical the photographer's arsenal these days is so developed that outfit that photojournalist wears hung on his chest - in the sense of technical opportunities, the great Brady during civil war could not load and a dozen of their vans. Today's the photographer may bring three or four cameras. To one of the four chambers a stroboscope can be connected with powered by simple batteries provides excellent illumination for short exposures like one millionth seconds. Cameras have lenses large resolving power - normal, wide angle and telephoto lenses. Rangefinder attached to the lens focuses the subject within one or two seconds. Exposure meter built into the camera can automatically provide the desired aperture for selected speed shutter. You can move your finger move exposed frame and put a new frame in its place, ready to shoot, or if this procedure too slow and inappropriate the speed of a moving object required work can be done automatically with the help of a motor at a speed of thirty six frames over several seconds. It should be noted that such rigging is not uncommon, and it not very expensive. nine0005

Camera and photosensitive emulsion can now fix what it doesn't catch human eye: invisible radiation (X-ray, space, ultraviolet and infrared rays) detects objects in total darkness, sees bones under the skin, the structure of the universe, captures events too fast to the naked eye - a bullet, overcoming the shock wave of sound barrier, small ball compressed by impact sticks.