Object of the month

WE ARE COLOURFUL

December 2024

WE ARE COLOURFUL

COLOUR PHOTOGRAPHY

GRAIN and NOISE

 

Author:

Unknown.

Publisher:

Non-commercial. Image by a private individual.
Dating:
1930
Dimensions:
6x13 cm.
Inscribed:
None.
Type of object:
Stereoscopic pair on glass, protected and encapsulated.
Technique:
Lumière-type autochrome.
Material:
Treated glass [selection screen (consisting of a layer of adhesive coating, tinted starch grains, carbon powder and final adhesive varnish), emulsion], protective glass, strips of treated paper for encapsulation.
Property:
FBS Collection.

We identify as Autochrome plates of the Lumière type those photographs (stereoscopic or monoscopic) of unknown author which when enlarging an area, acquire the same typology as described in the Manual/catalogue of the Société A. Lumière & ses Fils, and which is translated in the booklet that belonged to the photographer Enrique García de Movellan from Cádiz; from them we know that they were ‘. … specially prepared for photographing objects with their natural colours …’, in the manufacture of which two parts were identified: 1. the selection screen containing the dyed potato starch grains and 2. the emulsion (panchromatic and isochromatic). See diagrams.

The formats of the plates (French and English) were very diverse, from stereoscopic 45×107 cm, 9×18 cm, to monoscopic 4.5×6 cm, 6×6.5 cm …12×16.5 cm up to 18×24 cm.

The Lumière brothers made some adaptations to the cameras, chassis and plate-holders in order to obtain the autochromes, since their format differed from that of ordinary plates:

● The light from the lens had to hit the back of the plate (glass glued to the emulsion) directly before reaching the sensitive layer.

→ Solution provided in the manual: focus correction (obtained by means of the screen – specific instructions with table).

●● The plates were supplied along with a special coloured screen, in order to obtain the real colouring of the photographed model.

●●● All Autochrome Lumière plates were prepared on glass thicker than the market standard. Their thickness was approximately 1.2 to 1.8 mm and they could not be supplied in extra-thin glass.

→ Solutions provided in the manual: when the chassis had springs to maintain the verticality of the plates and when the plates were placed directly on the plate carrier.

●●●●  Exposure times had to be long, so snapshots were not possible.

→ Solution provided in the manual: use tripods for lengthy shots.

To conclude with the convulsive year 2024, let’s fill December with stereoscopic (and monoscopic, with some examples of what the future holds) colour; thus we begin a series of pieces of the month that will cast coloured light on the Decembers of the years to come.

From the emergence of photography (which is detectable, at least, during the period between 1826 and 1839), another challenge faced by scientists/photographers was the capture of colours.

For many centuries, the theory existed that any initiation of some technique and/or knowledge was produced by spontaneous generation, and that this imposition on how ‘novel or original observations’ were produced responded to certain interests in maintaining knowledge within very specific spheres of power.

It is in the 13th century that historians situate the break with this casual movement, in a generalised way, due to the development of another very different one, which is that of experimental and deductive dynamics based on empirical experiences, which intertwine with each other and also include experiences belonging to other cultures and fields: physics, chemistry, optics, medicine, etc. Many of these experiences are recorded in paintings and engravings, with their own symbolism.

Thus, we could understand that there is a ‘biogenesis of technical ideas’, as another deductive product of living beings. The proposal we make is: the way in which Colour is arrived at in Photography is once again the confluence of several sciences investigating the same problem, but from different perspectives.

James Clerk Maxwell (1831-1879) carried out his research on colour from about 1855, and 6 years later (1861) demonstrated that any colour can be formed by the combination (additive system) of three light sources R (red), G (green) and B (blue) – trichromacy, thus identifying the primary colours of additive synthesis.

Previous to Maxwell, there were: the results of the work of Thomas Young (1773-1829) on colour vision had already been published in 1801, as well as his work on ocular astigmatism and his conclusions after deciphering Egyptian hieroglyphs, based on the discovery of the rosetta stone; those of Thomas Johann Seebeck (1770-1831) who studied the behaviour of colour and how to record it on photosensitive plates (results published in 1810); and those of J.F.W. Herschel (1792-1871), who built on Seebeck’s work and published his own conclusions in 1840.

In this research trajectory we find: Claude Félix Abel Niepce de Saint-Victor (1805-1870), Niépce’s nephew, who exhibited colour photographs at the Paris Exhibition of 1863 (ephemeral due to fixative problems); Louis Ducos du Hauron (1837-1920) who published his book Les Couleurs en Photographie in 1867; and Charles Cros (1842-1888) who, according to the sources consulted, researched but was unable to put his conclusions into practice; and, finally, we come to Gabriel Lippmann (1845-1921), who in 1891 developed a photographic process based on ‘the interferential behaviour of light’, a process which was marketed for a few years.

Skipping many other researchers who contributed their science to these experiments and achievements, both before and after those mentioned, we come to the Lumière Brothers, Auguste Marie Louis Nicolas (1862-1954) and Louis Jean (1864-1948), because they were the ones who patented, in 1903, a process for making colour photographs called Autochrome Lumière.

They were sons of the photographer Antoine Lumière (1840 – 1911), who was associated with Emile Lebeau (no dates known); the latter appears on page 173 of the book RÉPERTOIRE DES PHOTOGRAPHES PARISIENS DU XIXe SIÈCLE, where it is stated that he was active from 1875, when he worked with Leopold Jullien (no dates known) as an operator in the photographic studio.

In 1907, the Lumière autochrome plates began to be marketed, with which photographs could be obtained directly, since, despite the manufacturers’ explanations, the process by which the plates were produced presented a multitude of variables and therefore required mechanical and mass production in order to be able to use factory-sensitised plates to obtain acceptable, guaranteed results.

Parallel to the types of colour production, there also grew the need to adapt the supports, calculate and produce the emulsions to sensitise them to light, and all of this with the consequent instrumentation for capturing and developing: cameras, chassis, lenses, enlargers, developers, image upload stops and fixers suitable for maintaining the image over time.

The concept of how to obtain the colour image has changed; from the challenge of the 19th century to its achievement in the 20th century and its improvement in the 21st century. The modes of production have been reversed, as it is now common to generate images in colour and, from colour, to switch to black and white.

Portrait on plate 9×12 cm – Constant Mathis(1871-1955)

To learn more:
  • Handbook/catalogue, LA PHOTOGRAPHIE DES COULEURS ET LES PLAQUES AUTOCHROMES, Société A. Lumière & ses Fils. Lyon
  • Handbook, Las Placas Autócromas. OPÚSCULO SOBRE SU EMPLEO, Union Photographique Industrielle, Establissements LUMIERE & JOUGLA réunis. With an ink stamp of the Gaditan Photographer E.G. de Movellan.
  • Rafael Garófano – Researcher, Enrique García de Movellán. Cadiz’s first agency photographer (1894 – 1967), DIARIO DE CADIZ, HISTORIA, 13 de febrero 2022.
  • S. Ramón Cajal (de la Real Academia de Ciencias), FOTOGRAFIA DE LOS COLORES. BASES CIENTÍFICAS Y REGLAS PRÁCTICAS, Imprenta y Librería de Nicolás Moya, Madrid, 1912.
  • Preliminary study by Gerardo, F. Kurtz, Santiago Ramón y Cajal, LA FOTOGRAFIA DE LOS COLORES. BASES CIENTÍFICAS Y REGLAS PRÁCTICAS, Clan – Técnicas Artísticas, Madrid, 1994.
  • Aaron Scharf, Arte y Fotografía, Alianza Forma, 1994, (pags. 45 -49, 185-)
  • François Boisjoly, Répertoire des Photographers – de XIXE siècle, París, Les Editions de l´Amateur, 2009.
  • Lee Fontanella, Fotografía y Ciencia: algunos pioneros del color, Gráficas Astarriaga, Agosto 2023.
  • Esquemas, libros. Pdf. Yolanda Fernández-Barredo Sevilla/Juan José Sánchez García.