Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, Prokudin-Gorskii Collection, [reproduction number, LC-DIG-prokc-21620]
Sergey’s images of early 1900 Russia were made by taking three exposures in succession using Red, Green and Blue filters. The glass negatives captured looked like this.
Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, Prokudin-Gorskii Collection, [reproduction number, LC-DIG-prokc-21620]
Rather normal looking at first glance. Until you project colored light thru them to create a somewhat accurate appearance of having shot a true full color image as shown above. What an amazing thing it must have been to see a slideshow such as this nearly a century ago.
Want to see more?
- Color Separation Negatives in the Library of Congress
- Prokudin-Gorskii Collection (2606 images)
- Russia in Color at Boston.com
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2 Comments at "Photographer to the Tsar"
How cool are these images! Imagine the pressure this photographer had.
Off the top of my head, I’d bet the registration he experienced while viewing the images in the early part of the 20th century wasn’t nearly as tight as the digital renditions of today (see images with smoke and moving water reflections). But they were probably still special in the mono/handcoloured world back then.
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