As outlined above, most early coloration photos processes have been ‘additive’—they relied on the principle of together with collectively purple, inexperienced and blue mild.
Nonetheless, there could also be one other strategy of reproducing coloration photographically: ‘subtractive’ coloration synthesis.
What have been the drawbacks of additive coloration?
Additive coloration processes had quite a lot of disadvantages:
They relied on utilizing filters, which block out mild
This resulted in prolonged publicity cases and actually dense transparencies
The colour footage made using these processes may solely be thought of by transmitted mild—i.e. by projection or by using explicit viewing items
What’s subtractive coloration copy?
The distinctive precept for subtractive coloration copy may very well be traced once more to the French physicist and inventor Louis Ducos du Hauron, who outlined the tactic in his e e book Les couleurs en photographie, reply du problème (1869). Du Hauron proposed that coloration separation negatives should be used to produce three constructive footage, which could then be dyed the complementary colours of cyan (bluegreen), magenta (blue-red) and yellow.
Each of these complementary colours absorbs—or subtracts (subsequently the establish)—considered one of many fundamental colours. Cyan absorbs purple mild, reflecting a mixture of blue and inexperienced mild. A cyan image, subsequently, performs the similar carry out as a result of the purple filter utilized in an additive course of. Equally, magenta absorbs inexperienced mild and yellow absorbs blue mild. By exactly superimposing these three complementary colours, all totally different colours may very well be reproduced. The colour in subtractive processes comes from dyes or pigments fairly than coloured filters.
With subtractive coloration, white, for example, is represented by clear glass or white paper fairly than by mild passing by the use of three filters. Which signifies that subtractive processes are loads a lot much less wasteful of sunshine.
Additional importantly, they work with mirrored fairly than transmitted mild, which means they are often utilized to produce coloration footage on paper.
How did subtractive coloration processes work?
The occasion of subtractive coloration processes adopted two distinct paths. Firstly, the design of specialised cameras—for taking items of coloration separation negatives—and secondly, the search for wise methods of establishing and superimposing three constructive footage throughout the complementary colours.
When taking coloration separation negatives of stationary matters—e.g. a vase of flowers—an ordinary digital digicam might very properly be used. The colour filter merely needed to be modified after each publicity. This course of might very properly be made simpler by the use of utilizing a ‘repeating once more’, a shifting part of the digital digicam which allowed filters of varied colours to drop into place.
A wide range of items of this kind have been marketed. The very best form have been prolonged plateholders, fitted with three filters, which the photographer would manually slide alongside the digital digicam once more in three steps. Most likely probably the most superior have been fitted with clockwork motors, enabling three negatives to be uncovered in speedy succession in as little as two or three seconds.
Science Museum Group Assortment Gandolfi extending bellows digital digicam fitted with a repeating once more, 1930
When photographing matters the place movement was extra more likely to occur—harking back to portraits—even computerized repeating backs weren’t fast adequate. For these, a digital digicam which may expose all three negatives concurrently was needed.
Via the years, many designs for such ‘one-shot’ cameras have been patented, and a amount have been produced commercially. These used quite a few preparations of mirrors and prisms to separate the sunshine coming into the digital digicam into three separate beams, each of which went to a plateholder fitted with a singular coloured filter. Among the many many most worthwhile designs have been the Jos-Pe, Bermpohl, Klein and Mirkut cameras.