Color Photography

Processes of color photography are divided generally into the additive and subtractive processes. The additive processes involve the production from the original subject of three negatives, each made by means of one of the three primary colors—red, green, and blue-violet. From these negatives, positives are made which are projected in superposition on the screen through filters of the same color as those by which the negatives were taken. — In the subtractive processes, the three negatives are printed in such a way that colored images can be produced, each positive being printed in a color complementary to that of the filter through which the corresponding negative was taken, the red being printed in blue-green, green in magenta, and blue in yellow. These color positives are superposed to produce the color picture. — The screen plate process is a variety of the additive; the filters being extremely small and distributed over the surface of the emulsion. — All these methods have been used for motion picture work, but owing to commercial considerations the process which has developed furthest is the subtractive process in which only two colors are used instead of three, and these are on opposite sides of the film.

Print ISSN

0096-6460

Published

1922-05

Content type

Original Research

DOI

10.5594/J12460