The final part in this three-part series on Orthochromatic Photography, describes how scientists used new light and color measurement techniques to characterize photographic plates and determine the precise specifications required for color photography and color printing. Many of the concepts developed during this period can be seen reflected in the work of the CIE that defined modern colorimetry decades later.
View More Orthochromatic Photography, Part 3: Prelude to the CIE…
Orthochromatic Photography, Part 2, traces the graphic arts community’s quest to understand the nature of photographic materials and develop a system for accurate light and color measurement. We can clearly see the origins of what developed into modern spectrophotometry, densitometry, and the CIE system of Colorimetry, through the work of William Abney, Leon Warnerke, and others.
View More Orthochromatic Photography, Part 2: Measuring Light and Color
The development of orthochromatic photography, using plates sensitive to a broad range of colors, had a drastic impact on the ways in which photographers were able to capture the world around them and made possible the development of color photography. This article tells the story of orthochromatic photography’s early development.
View More Orthochromatic Photography, Part 1: True Color in Black and White