viernes, 19 de marzo de 2010

Autocromos














El Autocromo fue un procedimiento fotográfico que conseguía reproducir colores gracias al uso de almidón de patata, aunque requería paciencia para su elaboración porque era un proceso largo y artesanal. Patentado en 1903 por los hermanos Lumiere y comercializado en 1907, estuvo vigente hasta 1935. Se pueden ver algunos ejemplos en Belgium Autochromes, The Wonderful World of Albert Khan y Mediathèque de l'Architecture et du Patrimonie.

The Autochrome was a photographic transparency film
created in 1903 by Lumiére brothers and patented in 1906 in America, sold in 1907. Like other techniques of the time, it employed the additive method, recording a scene as separate black and white images representing red, green and blue, and then reconstituting color with the help of filters. To do this on a single plate, the Lumiéres dusted it with millions of microscopic transparent grains of potato starch that they had dyed red, green and blue. This screen of grains worked as a light filter to interpret the scene when the light passed through them exposing a panchromatic B&W emulsion. It was used until 1935.


[vía Early Visual Media]



"Lo que convierte a la fotografía en un invento extraño -de imprevisibles consecuencias- es que su materia prima son la luz y el tiempo.", John Berger. "What makes photography a strange invention - with unforeseeable consequences - is that its primary raw materials are light and time."