Color Photographs circa 1911 (1 Viewer)

[Jagan Seshadri]

This site is cool. When you think of the early 1900s, you probably envision it in black-and-white, owing to the film technology of the era.

This Russian photographer, Sergei Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorskii, captured images in color by shooting scenes three times over, using red, green, and blue filters for each respective pass.

These photographics records have been 'digitally remastered' (probably using Photoshop) and the results are impressive!

Check it out. It's like having a time machine into the world roughly 100 years ago. In full color

Early Color Photography

-JNS

 

[Jefferson]

I was pointed to that site a few months ago, and i couldn't believe it. It is somewhat eerie to see images
from that era that are clear, and in color.

 

[Cam S]

Wow, that is almost creepy looking. When looking at old pictures in B&W you often wonder what colors they wore, etc etc, now I know. It's amazing how nice they look considering it was done 100 years ago!

 

[Scott L]

What a cool site, thanks Jagan! That is really eerie looking at these old images in crisp color. No one smiled back then during a photo and with color it seems so lifelike.

 

[Dennis Reno]

Very cool, thanks for sharing it! It is amazing how color adds "reality" to the photos, at least for me.

 

[Greg_Y]

Wow, those are great. Thanks!

 

[Van Patton]

Those are amazing!!! You perspective changes when color is added to those pictures!

 

[Nate Anderson]

It's amazing what color can do for a picture. Some of those I would swear were taken recently, however some do have the more traditional poses of the era.

 

[Lowell_B]

Neat site. The color really makes the pictures seem more real for some reason. Thanks Jagan.

 

[Rob Lutter]

No one smiled back then

Could you hold a smile for the 15-20 minutes it took to take one photo back then? (God knows how long color photos took)

 

[Craig Robertson]

thanks for the link, those are amazing pics and fascinating subject matter.

 

[Julie K]

I would prefer to see how these pictures would look when projected with the appropriate filters. There's too much image processing and enhancement going on in the pictures on the website. They're pretty, but I wish a comparison with what the original projected versions might have looked like was shown.

 

[Jason_Els]

These are simply marvelous. It's like they were taken yesterday. The people look like real people, not historical figures. I'm just blown away. I hope some other photographers did this too. Hand tints just don't do it.

Seeing those shots of Ekaterinberg was chilling. I can just imagine Czar Nicholas looking at them and thinking he must visit that happy and propsperous city someday.

 

[Rob Lutter]

Julie, there is also a search function w/ more photos + all the photos in TIFF format (which is simply AMAZING).

That said, I have a pretty nice semi-professional 35MM camera (Canon AE-1) and this guy's photos are superior in every way to the shots I can take. It really does look they they were taken yesterday (I can't believe how GOOD the people look back then, I was expecting tattered clothes/dull colors but DAMN... it is like revelation)

 

[Karl_Luph]

Another reason they might not of smiled was that their teeth or lack of, might not have been very photogenic, LOL!

 

[Julie K]

this guy's photos are superior in every way to the shots I can take.

They've been digitally processed. They've been corrected for under/overexposure and all sorts of things. If someone tweaked around your negative digitally it would look that good too.

From the description on the site, the images were meant to be projected onto a screen through three lenses, each equipped with the appropriate color filters. This will give something close to the color images on the site, perhaps not quite as stunning but certainly more real. That is what I want to see - a recreation of how these pictures would have appeared in 1911. Hey, aren't we all supposed to demand the original theatrical presentation?

 

[Joe McKeown]

No one smiled back then

What I learned of this in school was that having your picture taken was a real event. The idea was to appear dignified. For instance, If you were to be interviewed by local reporters at the TV station, would you show up in cut-offs and a T? No, you would get your nicest suit/dress and maybe even get new shoes/tie/jewelry et cetera.

In that day, getting your picture taken with a big toothy grin would make you appear foolish. Even painted portrats were somewhat more sober.

As for how long it took, compared to painting or sketching a picture, photographs were damn-near instant.