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100 year old colour photography of the Russian Empire

Not sure if this has been posted here before or not. This is a series of colour photographs taken a century ago by Russian photographer Sergei Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorskii. Using black and white glass negatives, he photographed a scene three times, using red, blue and green filters for the three exposures. Positive transparencies were made from the negatives and projected with the same colour filters. When the three images were aligned on the screen, a single colour image was formed.

http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2010/08/russia_in_color_a_century_ago.html
 

edftwin

Member
Not sure if this has been posted here before or not. This is a series of colour photographs taken a century ago by Russian photographer Sergei Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorskii. Using black and white glass negatives, he photographed a scene three times, using red, blue and green filters for the three exposures. Positive transparencies were made from the negatives and projected with the same colour filters. When the three images were aligned on the screen, a single colour image was formed.

http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2010/08/russia_in_color_a_century_ago.html
Thanks for sharing !!

I must say WOW ! Glad to see people and things in colour in the past century ! Never really seen any photo which is a century back in colour !! I'm really amazed by it's quality and the true colour ! They are really popping out !
 
Thanks for sharing !!
I'm really amazed by it's quality and the true colour ! They are really popping out !
Yea, those colours almost look three dimensional. I'm actually inspired to try this same technique myself and see if I can get that sort of 'look.' Ive already got a red filter and Ive just ordered a blue and green filter from eBay, along with some Ilford film. Creating colour the old fashioned way!
 

edftwin

Member
Yea, those colours almost look three dimensional. I'm actually inspired to try this same technique myself and see if I can get that sort of 'look.' Ive already got a red filter and Ive just ordered a blue and green filter from eBay, along with some Ilford film. Creating colour the old fashioned way!
Wow, hope you can post some photos here when you are done ! Can't wait to see !
 

Ben Rubinstein

Active member
I can't find the adjectives to describe what those pictures do for me. It makes history real, scarily real. An incredible eye opener.
 

seakayaker

Active member
Thanks for the link to the article. Great to read about a piece of photography history as well as a take a look at life in color of pre-revolotion Russia.
 

Cindy Flood

Super Moderator
I enjoyed the photos for their beauty and history. I can't imagine how hard it was to take 3 exposures of human subjects and have them register perfectly. I noticed that there were some registration problems on the moving water on one, but overall, the technique really worked well. Tribal-warrior, I will be looking forward to hearing how your experiment works out.
 
It's just like travelling back in time with a time machine.

Tribal-warrior, I will be looking forward to hearing how your experiment works out.
I'll keep you updated. Actually, I have been shooting the tri-colour images over the last two days with some Ilford FP4. I know I'm a sucker for punishment but Ive been using screw-in filters (really testing the steadiness of my hands when adding and removing these filters.)
 

JSRockit

New member
That's great... this has to be, by far, the furthest back I've seen anything in color...and it is eye opening. People don't seem as ancient in color as they do in B&W. :D
 
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