Figure 1.--All of the different photogrhic types could be colorized. Some were just mildly tinted. Others like this tintype were heavily painted over. Usually there is no information associated with tintype, but in this case there is information available added in modern times. The child is Ethel Wall (1879-1973). As she looks about 5 years old, the portrait was taken about 1884. She had a brother. The shas long hair with bangs, a lacy white dress and black long stocking.

Color photography was attempted almost as soon as commercial photography first appeared with the Daguerrotype (1839). The first expermimebts began almost immediately (1840s). Much of the ensuing effort at first occurred in Europe. There was, however, one early American experimenter--American Daguerreotypist Levi Hill. The resulting Hillotype like most early processes were complicated and produced results that had some color reproduction, but hardly full color images. Most color photography in the 19th century and early-20th century were tinted black and white images. There were efforts to tint from the very beginning. Studios tunted all the different kinds of photograhs beginning with the Daguerreotype. Real color photogaphy was based on the three-color method. It is the foundation of virtually all commercial color processes (both chemical and electronic). It was first theorized by Scottish physicist James Clerk Maxwell (1855). Maxwell's theory was based on the fact that the human eye produces signals to the brain which are interpreted as color. The signals are produced by the inner surface (retina) produced by millions of cone cells. There are three types. One type is most sensitive to the end of the spectrum (red), another sensitive to the middle (green), and the third is higly sensitive to the beginning of the spectrum (blue). These three types of cone cells are intermingled throughout the retina. It is the brain that that takes these three basic signals are produces the vast array of tints abnd hues which we see as color. This greatly simplified the work of experimenters. They only had to worry about three colors--not millions. Even this, however, was a major undertaking. A Russian developed a true color process, but it was very complicated and not viable commercially. Color photographs soon began to appear in Europe. The color reproduction was not very effective and the processes involved very complicated. The first commercial was French--Autochrome. It was very expensive andonly prodduced slides, not prints. Agfa (Germany, Ilford (Britain), and Kodak (United States) began working on color photography. Kodak would dominate theAmerican market and become a worldwide brand. Kodak began marketingcolorfilm (1935). It was, however, very expensive and not stable. Thus black and and white photography contined to dominate for some time. Finally colorphotographybecame inexpensive use for widespread adoption (1970s).

Early Experiments

Color photography was attempted almost as soon as commercial photography first appeared with the Daguerrotype (1839). The first expermimebts began almost immediately (1840s). Much of the ensuing effort at first occurred in Europe. There was, however, one early American experimenter--American Daguerreotypist Levi Hill. The resulting Hillotype like most early processes were complicated and produced results that had some color reproduction, but hardly full color images. Most color photography in the 19th century and early-20th century were tinted black and white images. There were efforts to tint from the very beginning. Studios tunted all the different kinds of photograhs beginning with the Daguerreotype. Real color photogaphy was based on the three-color method. It is the foundation of virtually all commercial color processes (both chemical and electronic). It was first theorized by Scottish physicist James Clerk Maxwell (1855). Maxwell's theory was based on the fact that the human eye produces signals to the brain which are interpreted as color. The signals are produced by the inner surface (retina) produced by millions of cone cells. There are three types. One type is most sensitive to the end of the spectrum (red), another sensitive to the middle (green), and the third is higly sensitive to the beginning of the spectrum (blue). These three types of cone cells are intermingled throughout the retina. It is the brain that that takes these three basic signals are produces the vast array of tints abnd hues which we see as color. This greatly simplified the work of experimenters. They only had to worry about three colors--not millions. Even this, however, was a major undertaking.

First Color Systems

Russian inventor, Sergei Mikhailovich Prokudin, developed a true color process. It produced beautiful results, but was very complicated and not viable commercially. Color photographs soon began to appear in Europe. The color reproduction was not very effective and the processes involved very complicated. The first commercial was French--Autochrome. It was very expensive and only produced slides, not prints. None of these colorprocess had any impact on America.

Competing Systems

Agfa (Germany, Ilford (Britain), and Kodak (United States) began working on color photography. Kodak would dominate the American market and become a worldwide brand. Agfa competed in some countries. It was not until Fuji entetedthe film industry that Kodak had a major competitor (1970s).

Kodak

Kodak would be the company to bring color photography to America. Kodak's first color product was Kodachrome, a color slide film (1935). Leopold Godowsky Jr. and Leopold Mannes at the Kodak Research Laboratories brought Americ into themodern age of colorphotography with Kodachrome, a another slide (positice) film. They developed a subtractive photographic process. Dye couplers were added during processing. This requiring that the film be processed by specially equipped Kodak labs, reducung the possibility of competition. The absence of dye couplers in the emulsion gavetheKodakchrome film theability to captured fine details. Kodachrome yielded images with rich warm tones and sharpness and was a popular film for 70 years until the advent of digital photography. It was, however, aslidefilm popularwith photographic enthusiasts. What the public really wanted was a negative film that could be used for prints. Prints could be made from Kodachrome slides, but the prints were very expensive. The Agfa company in Germany developed a color negative process--Agfacolor (1936). The rise of the NAZIs and eventually the war Hitler and Stalin launched meant that it was not available commercially until after the War (1949). This opened the field to Kodakwhich was behind Kodak. Until World War II German companies dominated many chemical fields. Kodak finally released a color negative film -- Kodacolor (1942). Significant commerciual production was not possible during the War. And the cost as well as instability limited consumer adoption. Thus black and and white photography contined to dominate for some time. Kodak improved the quality, speed, and price and Kodacolor became the leading color film and because it produced prints, the most popular film among for family snap shots. Color negative film was what the public wanted if the price could be brought down. Kodacolor was a forgiving medium, perfect for both amateurs and casual photographers. And the price eventually fell enough for many people to pursue (1960s). Kodak produced simple point and shoot cameras like the new Brownie. Eventually color film became standard (1970s). It is at this time that Fuji films began to compete with Kodak in the U.S. market.

Digital Colorization

With the perfection of color photography, interest turmed to ways colorizing black and white film. Film colorization is the y process that adds color to monochrome moving-picture images. It may be done as a special effect, to "modernize" black-and-white films, or to restore color films. The first examples date from the early 20th century, but colorization has become common with the advent of digital photography. This began with movies and then turned to old still photographs. This was possible through digital efforts. Computerized colorization began (1970s). The first technique was invented by Wilson Markle. These earliest attempts at colorization had soft contrast and were fairly pale, flat, washed-out color. They were easily identifuable as colorized images. The technology has improved steadily since the 1980s. Half-tone values were asigned colors. The problem is that no half-tone valur has unique color characteristics. Light blue and grey, for exaple, can not be distinguished. Thus there is no way of making colorization automatic. Some of the decisions were obvios, blue sky, green grass and foliage, flesh tones, etc. These are known as 'memory' colors. But many other colors have to be assigned by individual artists working with the process. Thus colorized images can look realistic, but the actual color choices are in actuality mostly guesses. he way the process works, a colotization artist begins by dividing the image into regions, and he then gives a color to each region. This technique is known as the segmentation method. It is certainly not automatiuc. It is extremely laborious and time-consuming, especially if there are no fully automatic algorithms to identify fuzzy or complex region boundaries. The area between a subject's hair and face is complicated to deal with. Colorization of movies with multiple frames probvides unique issues. They require motion compensation. This means tracking regions as movement occurs from frame to frame.

Created: 10:32 AM 3/17/2017
Last updated: 1:43 PM 11/24/2019