[Eug]

So, with a little effort, people did take colour pictures 100 years ago. Very nice.

Russia in color, a century ago - The Big Picture - Boston.com



The one on the right looks like a guy in drag.

[The Final Dakar]

Originally Posted by Eug 

The one on the right looks like a guy in drag.

I was about to comment before I scrolled down and saw yours.

[Spheric Harlot]

Much more:

Digichromatography: Restoring Prokudin-Gorskii's Photographs

[Phileas]

Comment on Boston.com:

These were probably not Autochromes (for more info on the process, refer to John Wood's excellent book on the Autochrome), which are glass plate negatives, upon which were laid three primary-colored layers of microscopic grains of potato starch. Following the exposure, the negative was developed through a color-reversal process (similar to what Eastman Kodak introduced in 1939 to Kodachrome), to create a glass slide for the purpose of projection onto a screen.
These beautiful pictures were more likely taken with an Ives Chromoscope camera (introduced in 1898) - or a copy of one - which, as was mentioned above, used three separate glass negatives positioned behind different colored filters, which subtracted from each plate the remaining portion of the spectrum.

Comment on macnn:

OMG transvestites, LOL

I kid, I kid. Mostly.

[Spheric Harlot]

From the gridenko.com link:


Born in St. Petersburg and educated as a chemist, Prokudin-Gorskii devoted his career to the advancement of photography. In the early 1900s, he developed an ingenious technique of taking colour photographs. The same object was captured in black and white on glass plate negatives, using red, green and blue filters. He then presented these images in colour in slide lectures using a light-projection system involving the same three filters.

[Spheric Harlot]

BTW, one of my ever favorite sites on the whole internet:

Shorpy Historic Photo Archive | Vintage Fine Art Prints

[ShortcutToMoncton]

Awesome stuff

[andi*pandi]

cool.

[Chongo]

Amazing pictures. This portfolio contains many pics of churches and convents/monasteries. I wonder how many survived the October Revolution.

Here's the Library of Congress full collection link
The Empire That Was Russia: The Prokudin-Gorskii Photographic Record Recreated (A Library of Congress Exhibition)

[Chongo]

I bet no messed with these guys!

Kush-Beggi (Minister of the Interior). [Bukhara, Russian Empire]

Emir Seyyid Mir Mohammed Alim Khan, the Emir of Bukhara, seated holding a sword in Bukhara, (present-day Uzbekistan), ca. 1910.

[FireWire]

wow, really impressive! Some of them look like they were taken with a good camera in present day! I always pictured photos from that era as being grainy and of crappy quality.

Did they use pig skin to carry water?

[The Final Dakar]

I'm curious if they had to do much color-correcting. It disturbingly vivid.

[Brien]

It's like Technicolor for still photos. I doubt they had to do much CC.

[FireWire]

Originally Posted by The Final Dakar 

I'm curious if they had to do much color-correcting. It disturbingly vivid.

Sadly it appears they had to. Here's the process, taken from Chongo's link : Making Color Images from Prokudin-Gorskii's Negatives - The Empire That Was Russia: The Prokudin-Gorskii PhotographicRecord Recreated (A Library of Congress Exhibition)

[The Final Dakar]

Originally Posted by FireWire 

Sadly it appears they had to. Here's the process, taken from Chongo's link : Making Color Images from Prokudin-Gorskii's Negatives - The Empire That Was Russia: The Prokudin-Gorskii PhotographicRecord Recreated (A Library of Congress Exhibition)

[Chongo]

Originally Posted by FireWire 

Sadly it appears they had to. Here's the process, taken from Chongo's link : Making Color Images from Prokudin-Gorskii's Negatives - The Empire That Was Russia: The Prokudin-Gorskii PhotographicRecord Recreated (A Library of Congress Exhibition)

This is very similar to the process used to restore "The Godfather" and "the Godfather II"(B&W separation masters)
YouTube - Revealing The Godfather Part 1 of 2

[FireWire]

Originally Posted by The Final Dakar 

[The Final Dakar]

Busted for hotlinking.

[FireWire]

What? I don't understand what's wrong!