Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)/Color Photography

COLOR PHOTOGRAPHY, a system of photographic reproduction of objects in their own colors, which should not be confused with colored photographs. The successful accomplishment of this has long been desired, and has been the subject of much research and investigation, but even to-day it is generally felt that the best solution has not been found. Although one large manufacturer of photographic apparatus and camera has had a staff of scientists at work on this problem for years, and has had several exhibitions of the work of this laboratory, there has been no introduction of a popular system of color photography.

Early experimenters, such as Edmond Becquerel, G. W. Sempson, and Robert Hunt, produced daguerreotypes and other prints in which colors other than the customary gray or brown appeared.

Modern investigation is along two general lines, one the principles of which were laid down by Gabriel Lippmann, of Paris, which system utilizes the difference in wave number of the different colors.

The other system is founded upon the work of Dr. J. Clark Maxwell, of Cambridge, who proved that, by the proper adjustment of red, green, and blue, any desired color of the spectrum could be produced.

In 1915 Frederick E. Ives introduced a process in which the print is made directly from the negatives upon the print paper, which was a marked improvement. In the Ives process a camera with plates sensitized to red, green, and blue. After exposure the three plates are developed in a tank, and the print from the blue plate is made upon specially prepared paper, while the prints of the red and green negatives are made upon transparent films, which are then laid over the blue print and properly located. From this combined film, any number of prints may be made.